Rank Inflation: Difference between revisions

* Ninja missions in ''[[Naruto]]'' are ranked anywhere from D (picking up trash, catching stray cats) to S (there's a ''very'' good chance you'll die.)

** There was some confusion (and a bit of a [[Hatedom]]) when the third Databook came out and the mission to capture or kill Akatsuki members Hidan and Kakuzu- S-Class criminals- was classified as an A-Rank mission, the same as Team 7's first big mission against the weaker duo of Zabuza and Haku. The reason however was that missions are ranked not just by difficulty of the task but also the strength of the ninja assigned to the task; in this case, one had a team of three fresh Genin and a slightly out-of-shape Jounin, the other involved teams of seasoned Chuunin and a more in-shape Jounin with another such group behind them as back-up.

*** Jutsu are not ranked by strength, but difficulty; Kakashi's ''Raikiri'', for example, is the same strength as Kakuzu's ''Raiton: Gian'', yet that is B-Rank while Kakashi's is S-Rank. Higher ranked justu are obviously as powerful as they are difficult- it would be a waste of time learning them otherwise- but there are easier jutsu to learn that are just as strong and useful. There are also several powerful jutsu that are not learned, but derived from unique bloodline traits, such as Amateratsu, Tsukiyomi and Susanoo which are jutsu unique to the Mangekyou Sharingan, and in and of themselves don't require any skill to use, though they do require practice to perfect.

**** Usually the stronger jutsus are either forbidden (I.E the first incarnation of "Fuuton: Rasen Shuriken") or new/not heard of, so they can't be easily categorized.

** ''DDR SuperNOVA 2'' loosened the requirements on a AAA to 99% score, while a perfect run now earns you an AAA with a gold circle mark, plus the results screen will show "Perfect Full Combo" overlaid on it.

** official ''[http://stepmania.com/ Stepmania]'' builds under default settings go even further (with AAAA ranks), and one particular 3rd-party build also added a "AAAAA" rank and another "timing judgement" known as "Ridiculous timing", which (again, under default settings) can be best described as "barely hitting the note on Justice judgement rank".

** Avoided in ''Dance Dance Revolution 4thMIX'' and its derivatives (''4thMIX PLUS'', ''Extra Mix'', and ''Konamix''), which has a very narrow grading scale: D for failing a song, C for doing somewhat poorly, B for any good score that is not a Full Combo, A for a Full Combo, and AA for a perfect score; a mere five grades. If you miss a step and pass, you're guaranteed to get only a B or a C, whereas in newer mixes you can get any grade between D and AA even if you miss a step, since grade is determined by a hidden points system rather than combo.

* The [[Nintendo Hard]] ''[[Beatmania]] IIDX'' uses a similar ranking to DDR's, but you only need 88.8% of maximum "EX points" for a AAA. However, the timing judgments in this game are extremely strict (rendering perfect scores impossible on any song that is more than a complete walk in the park), and it's easy to be offbeat enough to get more "Great"s (worth half credit) than "Just Great"s. The US [[PlayStation 2]] version does literally inflate your rank by 1 level unless you got less than 11% of the EX points in a song (half of the cutoff for "E" in all other versions)

* Also done in a similar way in ''[[Okami]]''. (''Another'' game designed by Hideki Kamiya). Rank is divided into two categories: [[Timed Mission|Time]] and [[No Damage Run|Damage]]. And the ranks are shown by a tree's growth stage (A [[Epic Fail|sprout]] being the lowest and a [[Cherry Blossoms|Cherry Blossom tree]] being the highest.) The higher the rank: the more money rewarded at the end of the battle.

** ''"[[Chuggaaconroy|WHAT DO YA MEAN I DID BADLY ON TIME!?]]"''

** This happens in-universe in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'', in which {{spoiler|Naked Snake, for defeating The Boss, is awarded the newly-created rank of Big Boss (even though she actually allowed herself to be killed by him, so he hadn't truly surpassed her at all)}}.

 

* ''[[Cross Edge]]'' takes this both directions—you can get an S rank above A, but also a rank below F, and it goes down at least as far as I, if you do bad enough.

* The ''[[Naruto]]'' parody MMORPG ''[[Billy vs. SNAKEMAN]]'' ranks missions from D through A, then AA, then S. There are also mission ranks not named after letter grades, to indicate they tie into plotlines other than the core "become Sannin" plot, which are (save for Reaper and Burger Ninja missions) as hard if not harder than AA and S rank missions.

** Since Patch 1.2, even Diamond has been demoted, with the Master and Grandmaster leagues taking the top tiers. Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum are now all considered "beginner" leagues, and Diamond is just the lowest of the "good" players.

* ''[[Pokémon Ranger]]: Guardian Signs'' grades you on how well you perform a capture, ether "B", "A" or "S".

* The ''[[Galaxy Angel (video game)|Galaxy Angel]] Gameverse'' has an [[Stat-O-Vision|Intel]] option which displays the stats of every [[Cool Ship|Ship]], both yours and your opponent's, such as "Offense", "Armor" and "Evasion" with values going from E to A with the corresponding plus/minus modifiers.

 

== Western Animation ==

* The Starbucks example below was parodied in ''[[Animaniacs]]'' in an episode where Doctor Scratchensniff went to the movies with the Warners. Scratchensniff asks for a small popcorn; the attendant tells him that the popcorn only comes in Large, Super Chubby, and Double Super Chubby sizes. A frustrated Scratchensniff asks why they don't call the Large a Small then, and is greeted with "I'll have to ask my manager." Of course, it finally seems to sink in at the end; Scratchensniff says "Just give me a Large!" and the attendant hands him a truly colossal tub of popcorn.

* In ''Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law'' Phil Ken Sebben has an Alert level system parodying the color based Terror Alert System used in the US. Above red was "Blackwatch Plaid," which he later pushed even further to "The cover of [[Rush]]'s seminal album, "Moving Pictures"."

* In the [[South Park]] episode ''TMI'', the official average size was lowered so far that basically every guy had one that was above-average.