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Self-Imposed Challenge: Difference between revisions
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== [[Fighting Game]] ==
* The ''[[Super Smash Bros]].'' games distribute points based on your performance in battles; high points for playing well, and you can actually lose points for relying too much on a single move. Unless, of course, you ''only'' use a single move, or any number of other self imposed challenges. One of the trickiest was called "Switzerland" and asked you to finish the round without ever attacking or taking damage.
* ''[[No More Heroes]]'' has the interesting challenge of completing the game using the most basic weapon, the Blood Berry. This can range from being [[Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels|mildly easy on Sweet to insanely hard on Bitter.]] On Bitter, towards the end of the game, bosses can have around 400% more health than normal, and even mooks become walking brick walls.
** Fortunately, there are several ''[[One-Hit Kill]]'' moves a player can use on mooks, which become nearly essential in the later stages. However, [[Useless Useful Spell|bosses are immune to these moves.]]
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** In ''Diablo 2'', a user on the inc.gamers forum demonstrated the story of [http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480035 Anna Goanna]. She was an Amazon-class hardcore, as in "if you die you die permanently," character who completed the game on all difficulty levels with only cracked/low-quality items, a summonable NPC support fighter and a hireling fighter. Some bosses took hours to finish. When she finally beat the last boss on the [[Harder Than Hard]] difficulty, her name-personalized cracked sash sold in-game for multiple high-value items.
** One player, going by the name Sirian, decided to create a whole [http://web.archive.org/web/20071012223800/sirian.warpcore.org/diablo2/diablo2.html host of restricted D2 characters], such as Ember, the firebolt-only Sorceress.
* Several challenges have popped up in the ''[[Monster Hunter]]'' series once they have their strongest set of armor and weaponry. The most common are the naked run (no armor at all), to use a really bad weapon against a certain monster (Greatsword vs. [[That One Boss|Plesioth]], no felynes), a marathon run (specialized quest that require you to kill 2 or more of a certain monster simultaneously) and the ''Arrowhead Cutoff'' (using only the Circle attack of a Bow, which swings one of your bolts like a makeshift sword, to cut off the tail of a monster, most often a Tigrex.)
== MMORPG ==
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** The 'Bees Hate You' run, where enemies with the letter 'b' in their name are tougher, equipment with 'b's in their names hurt the PC at the beginning of every fight, you cannot use any consumable items with a 'b' in their name, except for quest-specific ones, that now deal damage when used, and tough bee enemies will randomly appear.
*** Bees Hate You is the first seasonal challenge path, where every three months there is a new one. If you complete a challenge run when it is still is season, you get enough karma to get you halfway to a new permed skill. Another example is the Way of the Surprising Fist, where you can get virtually no money and can't use weapons.
* ''[[Guild Wars]]'' has several types of [[Bragging Rights Reward]] completely nailing this Trope. [[Level Grinding]] to the maximum level in the [[Forced Tutorial]] of Prophecies where you can only get XP past certain point by leveling monsters on your character to point where they become high enough level to grant you xp for killing them, getting the maximum level without dying even once (and getting XP worth of 10 times reaching maximum level without dying.), completing all missions with bonus in the [[Nintendo Hard]] mode to name a few.
== [[Platform Game]] ==
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* ''[[Rolling Thunder]]'' has been completed [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SEAHjYuEo4 without the machine gun].
* The flexible sequence of ''[[La-Mulana]]'' lends itself well to many self-imposed challenges, which range from the easy (no Scalesphere/Ice Cape? Pfff) to the murderous (''No Life Jewels?!'').
* ''[[Yoshi's Story]]'' has an "official" self-imposed challenge, the Melon Run. This requires eating all 30 Melons hidden in a level. The game goes out of its way to encourage this behavior, and it is the way to get high scores on levels.
** However, there's ''also'' the Thirty Lucky Fruit challenge, which is more true to the trope. This challenge requires eating 30 Lucky Fruit instead on a level. However, each level only contains 12 Lucky Fruit normally. The way to get the others is via an [[Easter Egg]]: When you do a [[Ground Pound]] near a [[The Goomba|Shy Guy]] while invincible, it turns into a Lucky Fruit. Actually making sure you're in the vicinity of several Shy Guys while invincible is another story entirely. It's not even possible on all levels, or with all Lucky Fruit on a particular level.
== [[Puzzle Game]] ==
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== [[Real Time Strategy]] ==
* It is possible to complete ''[[Pikmin]]'' without ever getting Blue Pikmin, though you still do need to use them in some sense--there's a flower that allows you to transform a handful of pikmin into blues, but they only appear at very rare points in the game.
** It's possible to beat Pikmin 2 (collecting 10,000 Pokos) without ever leaving the Valley of Repose. This takes a while since eventually your only source of treasure will be mook corpses, which go for 10-15 Pokos each.
* ''[[Warcraft]] III'' allows a player to set the max HP on EVERYTHING they make (units, heroes, buildings, etc.) to be 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, or the standard 100% before the match begins.
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== [[Rhythm Game]] ==
* ''[[Guitar Hero]] 2'' and III have a cheat code called "Performance Mode," which removes the fret board, requiring you to play by ''memory''.
** ''GH III'' also has a "precision mode" which cuts down the lax (if not too lax) default timing window to a very picky one.
** Also, the strumming in ''GH'' and ''[[Rock Band]]'' becomes trickier if you use a pick (or actually strum with your hands, as opposed to gripping onto the strum bar).
** Instead of using all of the fingers on their fretting hand to hold down notes, some players make things more difficult by choosing to forgo the use of their pinky, or their pinky AND ring fingers, the latter of which is sometimes called 'Django Mode' after the guitarist Django Reinhardt, who only had full use of two of his fingers. Amazingly, at least one player has five-starred every song on Expert using only two fingers.
** ''[[Dance Dance Revolution]]'', in a similar vein, has similar self-imposed customization options for the absurdly hardcore. Would you like to play this dance backwards with no visible steps at several times the normal step speed?
*** If you're playing backwards, then the "increased step speed" doesn't make much of a difference -- it only changes the rate of speed the arrows scroll at. It doesn't change the song's actual tempo. BUT! What about playing with the arrows at an inconsistent scroll speed (Boost/wave), with the pattern randomized (Shuffle), and the arrows appearing -just before they're supposed to be hit- (Sudden)?
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** Unlimited Indalecio is widely regarded as one of the most difficult bosses in any RPG ever made; add in a higher difficulty level ("Universe" mode) where all enemies' strength, defense, blocking ability and health is doubled for a new level of controller-meets-wall. And that's with a full party of mini-gods armed with their best moves and [[Infinity+1 Sword|ultimate weapons]].
** Additionally, you can refuse recruitment of all other characters, leaving you with only the two forced upon you (Claude and Rena). Combined with the above, controllers will be snapped.
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'' has the "Chuck Norris" challenge. You play as a fighter with no weapons or armour throughout the whole game. ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' series is ''made'' for this sort of thing.
** This is easier than it sounds. Hand-To-Hand has some surprising bonuses that other weapons don't, spells can make one very resistant to all types of damage, and not wearing armor makes you practically undetectable when using stealth. In fact, the Monk character class basically revolves around this challenge.
*** There's an additional 'Live Off The Land' challenge, begun by ''[[Morrowind]]'' players, that requires leaving ''all'' possessions and gold in town, traveling on foot, and surviving missions only with what the player comes across. A monk/alchemist build has the most success at making the use of any possible scavengings and loot. This challenge is also doable in Oblivion, but without unarmed skill the player needs to rely on acrobatics, athletics, and arcade reflexes. Also, it's permissible to use alchemy equipment only if left where it's found; looting it means that it has to be left in town, and inaccessible for future adventures.
*** Quite possible in ''[[Fallout 3]]'', when using the 'paralysing palm' perk and V.A.T.S ([[Fun with Acronyms|vault assisted targeting system]]).
** A blogger named Christopher Livingston decided to play ''[[Oblivion]]'' as a [[Non-Player Character]], and [http://livinginoblivion.wordpress.com wrote about it here.] ''PC Gamer'' magazine later hired him to give ''[[Skyrim]]'' the same treatment ([http://www.pcgamer.com/author/clivingston/ look here]).
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* Having all characters be the same job is a popular one for ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'', and pretty much all of the games that have a job system.
** Especially having them all remain with the beginning job, which typically doesn't gain new abilities.
* ''[[Vagrant Story]]'' has an in-game list of challenges, most of which can only be completed in New Game + mode. These range from using a specific weapon type thousands of times, to finishing the game in less than 10 hours, to doing each block puzzle in record time, to completing the bestiary, to getting the ultimate sword from one enemy in one room of a mapless dungeon, to playing the whole game without saving.
* ''[[Contact (video game)|Contact]]'' can be made so much more fun by limiting yourself to using only one costume and one type of weapon. Since the game only forces you to use other suits/weapons once (Aegis), there really isn't anything stopping you from doing this. A further challenge could be to use the costumes and weapons not designed for battle. Literal [[Lethal Chef]], anyone?
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'': The Critical Mode ([[Nintendo Hard]]) Lvl. 1 Challenge with NO DAMAGE for scripted fights, boss fights and Data battles (''more'' [[Nintendo Hard]]) from KHIIFM+.
** Enter [http://www.youtube.com/user/Bizkit047 Bizkit047], who meets the above description and has ''more restrictions'' for several of these fights.
*** Want to get an idea of what it takes to be this good? Watch some of these hard Lvl. 1 CM no damage fights with restrictions: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG1UGrpfLRY&feature=PlayList&p=9698BB755A437CB9&index=113 Terra] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYxuneOic_0&feature=PlayList&p=9698BB755A437CB9&index=101 Saix Data].
*** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xlYZotba7U&feature=PlayList&p=9698BB755A437CB9&index=94 Xigbar Data]with all these restrictions is simply insane.
*** Do not forget his several hacked fights. One Sephiroth? Make it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=engLExDtZto&feature=related two]. Watch this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq-HgzQ0d-4 Xigbar x2 + Xaldin fight]. Make sure to look at related videos and look at the other hacked fights from there (such as triple Sephiroth and quintuple Sephiroth/Terra).
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** ''358 Days/2'' features an item called the Extreme Ring, which puts your HP down to one, and seems to have been made for this trope.
*** Likewise, because of the game's unique level-up system, Days is quite easy to do a [[Low-Level Run]] with.
* The flexible nature of ''[[Baten Kaitos]] Origins'' lends itself well to various types of challenges. Given [[Sequel Difficulty Spike|how hard]] ''Origins'' is normally, these tend to be murderously [[Nintendo Hard]].
** Single character run (those [[Auto Revive|Cross Pendants]] are a ''godsend''), no specials run, specials-only run, basic attack only run...
* Since the discovery of a glitch making it possible to skip most of Mercury Lighthouse (where Mia is recruited), "no Mia" runs of the first game have become mildly popular among ''[[Golden Sun]]'' enthusiasts, along with the usual "minimum Djinn" or "[[With This Herring|starting equipment only]]" runs for the rest of the series.
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* ''[[Ikaruga]]'', or at least the Xbox 360 version, actually provides for an entire ''scoreboard'' for [[Pacifist Run|"Dot Eater"]] play - meaning you don't fire a single shot, collecting points by surviving and by using your shield to absorb every last bullet you can.
* Many hardcore [[Shoot Em Ups|Shoot-Em-Up]] fans attempt to beat Shoot-Em-Ups on a single credit. In fact, one could argue that this is the only legitimate way to beat such a game, since having and utilizing unlimited continues defeats the challenge of avoiding enemies and enemy fire.
* Certain [[Shoot Em Ups]] where it's possible (e.g. the ''[[Touhou Project]]'' games) have challenges such as No Horizontal/No Vertical, which, depending on the stage or the game, can be deadly hard, if not outright impossible, even on Easy. Others include no Focusing, which requires innate knowledge of the player's hitbox, 1lc, which is not dying at all, 0b1lc, which is the same thing... but no bombing either.
** For a particularly masochistic challenge, try hacking ''Embodiment of Scarlet Devil'''s [http://touhouwiki.net/wiki/Embodiment_of_Scarlet_Devil:_Gameplay#Rank rank] to the highest point, as seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iknyy3R2eA8 here] (or [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRNkJTUInAU worse]) -- Flandre's formerly simplistic non-spell patterns turn into nigh-unavoidable death traps, and her final card is nightmarishly fast.
** Scoring high in the games itself is a [[Self-Imposed Challenge]]. Scoring high in ''[[Touhou]]'' involves making things as dangerous as possible: grazing thousands of bullets, often using your bombs to clear away bullets, then ''suiciding'' to reset your bomb count and get even more points. A compendium of [http://touhouwiki.net/wiki/High_scores world records can be found at TouhouWiki.] If you download the replays on the page, you will be ''astounded'' at the challenges the players put themselves through. The world-record ''Subterranean Animism'' replay by "yukarin" is particularly notable, getting very close to maxing out the graze counter at ''97,585 grazes.''
* [[Giga Wing]] is infamous for its [[Pinball Scoring|ridiculously inflated scores]]. Some players play just the opposite of the way it was meant to be played; by aiming for the lowest score possible, or even not scoring at all for as long as possible. The latter is essentially a [[Pacifist Run]] on steroids; you get awarded points for having bombs at the end of a stage.
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== Film ==
* ''[[Super Size Me]]'' is pretty much one giant self-imposed challenge where a guy goes for an all-[[McDonald's]] diet for about a month. He even has his own rules and everything, such as walking 5,000 steps a day, supersizing his food when asked <ref>Which after the movie was released was discontinued</ref>, trying out every single item on the [[McDonald's]] menu, and finishing everything on the plate.
== [[Literature]] ==
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[[Category:Rule of Fun]]
[[Category:Videogame Culture]]
[[Category:index]]
[[Category:Self-Imposed Challenge]]
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