All The Tropes

Smashing Hallway Traps of Doom: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Smashing Hallway Traps of Doom (view source)

Revision as of 19:02, 20 February 2024

463 bytes removed ,  3 months ago
standardized section heads and order
VisualWikitext
m (categories and general cleanup)
(standardized section heads and order)
 
(9 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown)
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:SuperMarioWorld_hallway_9202SuperMarioWorld hallway 9202.gif|link=Super Mario World (Videovideo Gamegame)|frame|All that running through scenes like this in all his games and he hasn't lost a pound...]]
 
{{quote|'''Gwen:''' What is this thing? There's no useful purpose for there to be a bunch of chompy, crushy things in the middle of a hallway! <br />
'''Jason:''' Gwen — <br />
'''Gwen:''' No! I mean, we shouldn't have to do this! It makes no logical sense! Why is it here?! <br />
'''Jason:''' Because it's on the television show. <br />
'''Gwen:''' Well, forget it! I'm not doing it! This episode was ''[[Who Writes This Crap?|badly written!]]''|''[[Galaxy Quest (Film)|Galaxy Quest]]'' }}
 
This is a [[Booby Trap]] in which big stone blocks, spiked walls or sharp blades [[Durable Deathtrap|repeatedly]] ram into each other in a narrow hallway. The way past them is to either immediately run through when they separate or find a way to jam them. Multiple traps lined up may require some pattern memorization.
Line 14:
Having large items appear on a conveyor belt that crush down are also common... which makes one wonder what these factories are supposed to be making that require so much repeated crushing to make. It also sometimes appears in [[Womb Level|settings that are within giant monsters]], which could be justified because you're within the monster's digestive tract and that the smashing/pounding things are part of its pre-digestion chewing process.
 
When devices commonly found in this trope are implemented as [[Death Trap|Death Traps]]s and won't retract, they're usually either a [[Descending Ceiling]] or [[The Walls Are Closing In]].
 
A one-stop [[Death Course]].
 
{{examples}}
 
== [[Film]] ==
* Part of the [[Death Course]] parody in ''[[Galaxy Quest (Film)|Galaxy Quest]]''.
* In ''[[Attack of the Clones]]'' the stamping presses on the conveyor belt of the droid factory qualifies. It also has the bladed kind later on. Also, one wonders how a machine designed to stamp metal plates into a flat shapes actually molds said metal ''around'' his squishy squishy non-robotic arm.
 
== Folklore[[Live-Action and MythologyTV]] ==
* The ''[[Warehouse 13]]'' episode "Buried" had a [[Death Course]] with swinging blades and blasts of fire. Instead of jumping through it, [[Cutting the Knot|the team gets by it by zip-lining over the top.]]▼
 
== [[Oral Tradition|Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends]] ==
* The Argonauts from Greek mythology had to avoid a similar obstacle on their way to Colchis — the Symplegades, a pair of rocks clashing together to destroy ships attempting to cross the Hellespont. This, of course, makes this [[Older Than Feudalism]].
* The Filipino [[Strong Man]] Bernardo Carpio was trapped for eternity between two mountains who had nothing else to do but bounce their bodies together.
 
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
▲* The ''[[Warehouse 13]]'' episode "Buried" had a [[Death Course]] with swinging blades and blasts of fire. Instead of jumping through it, [[Cutting the Knot|the team gets by it by zip-lining over the top.]]
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Resident Evil 4]]''.
* ''[[God of War (Video Gameseries)|God of War]]''. Oddly, they didn't do much damage if they slammed on the player. This, of course, could be [[Hand Wave|Hand Waved]]d {{spoiler|by saying that Kratos is half-god}}.
** In ''Ghost of Sparta'', there is an underwater section of Atlantis that features these. They cause instant death, thus [[Death Is a Slap Onon The Wrist|setting you back a few seconds]] to right in front of the trapped area.
* ''[[Eternal Darkness]]: Sanity's Requiem''. Same as above, but less justification.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' series. Most memorably, in the Shadow Temple of ''[[Ocarina of Time]]'', where you had to block the falling trap with a block hidden behind a fake wall, which a sign referred to as "the stone umbrella".
Line 40 ⟶ 39:
* ''[[Hexen]]''. Oh so very much.
** Not to mention the revolving doors that can crush you, the bottomless pits, the earthquakes, the cave-ins, the collapsing bridges, the impaling [[Spikes of Doom|spikes]]...
* The Thwomps in the ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' games. Oddly enough, though, the Thwomps were cognizant villains, with eyes and a mouth. Usually, rather then constantly moving up and down, Thwomps would see Mario approaching, and slam themselves down when he was near. It would take them a while to raise themselves again, during which time Mario would be able to pass through. Also, depending on which Mario game you happen to be playing, the Thwomps may deviate from their up-down-up-down pattern of moving; the most recent example being ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'', in which certain levels had Thwomp-shaped cubes called Tox Boxes actually rolling around the landscape like gigantic dice. These cubes also appeared in the [[Shifting Sand Land]] level of ''[[Super Mario 64]]''.
** The castle levels of ''[[Super Mario World (Videovideo Gamegame)|Super Mario World]]'' also had big crushers and spiked pillars which repeatedly crashed into the floor.
** Taken to extremes in ''[[New Super Mario Bros Wii (Video Game)|New Super Mario Bros. Wii]]'', where every other castle has a spiked pillar or falling spiked object trap of some sort, culminating with World 7 Castle's hallway of pillars that only give you a one-square-high gap in a certain spot to dodge them.
** And probably impossible to pass in ''[[Super Paper Mario (Video Game)|Super Paper Mario]]'' in one scene, they move up and down faster than you can pass through! Though flipping into 3D reveals you can just walk behind them.
* The guillotine-like crashing blades in the original ''[[Prince of Persia]]''.
** ''The Shadow and the Flame'' has (slow-moving) crushing walls in its [[Temple of Doom]].
** Deconstructed in ''Sands of Time'', where a soldier instructs the Prince to do a puzzle to activate the castle's "defense system." During the puzzle, the Prince asks, specifically, what the system does, and the soldier reiterates that it's for the "defense system." Turns out it activates the various traps in the castle, which are actually more dangerous to the Prince than the creatures he's facing. ([[Karmic Death|Incidentally, activating the system lets in a creature that kills the guard]].)
*** Justified in ''Warrior Within'', when the Prince is using a castle whose owner is actively trying to kill him.
*** Used in the palace segments of ''Two Thrones'', which take place ''in the Prince's home''. You'd think he'd know how to bypass the traps, except for the completely inexplicable ones in the palace ''[[Absurdly Spacious Sewer|well]]''. One possible explanation is that the traps had never been activated during his lifetime, and/or he hadn't really been paying attention when instructed about the bypasses, being kind of an arrogant jerk before SOT. "Who on Earth would dare to attack Babylon?", [[Tempting Fate|he may have said]].
** In the Next-Gen PoP, the traps are actually [[The Corruption]], sentient, and can sometimes actively move toward the Prince.
* Various inexplicable crushing traps in ''[[Duke Nukem 3D (Video Game)|Duke Nukem 3D]]''. In some places, you can be reduced to [[Ludicrous Gibs]] by getting caught in a ''[[Everything Trying to Kill You|door]]''.
* Grunty Industries in ''[[Banjo -Kazooie|Banjo-Tooie]]'' has several, including a pair of crushers that span the entire hallway.
* Subverted in ''[[Portal (Video Gameseries)|Portal]]'' where an impossible to pass series of pistons can simply be portalled around.
** Of course, in the ''Portal: The Flash Version'' map pack, the trope is played straight.
*** Only because the trailer for ''Portal'' featured rectangular [[Descending Ceiling]] traps and they weren't in the final game.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcf99_DZZew The Propulsion Gel video] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A88YiZdXugA the co-op trailer] for ''[[Portal 2 (Video Game)|Portal 2]]'' show off what appear to be hydraulically-powered spike-encrusted hallways which spring forward from their panels in the wall to crush the player. Needless to say, not being turned into instant hamburger is another fine motivator to quickly learn how to mess with physics as we know it.
*** "Ooh! Did that kill you? It would be so awesome if it did!'" This appears all over {{spoiler|the second half of the game, when Wheatley is trying to kill you}}.
* In ''[[Dark Messiah (Videoof Game)Might and Magic|Dark Messiah]]'', you use a rope bow to climb above the walls.
* One appears in ''[[Doom (Video Gameseries)|Doom 3]]: The Resurrection of Evil'' expansion right after you gain the ability to slow down time in respect to yourself. It more or less serves as a tutorial for using that power.
* ''[[Quake II (Video Game)|Quake II]]'' has this in at least one level.
** So had the original ''[[Quake (Video Gameseries)|Quake]]'', although this dates all the way back to ''[[Doom (Video Gameseries)|Doom]]''. Come to think of it most FPS by id and Raven are fond of this trope.
* Any ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' game. Because of Dante's near-instant healing reducing this trope to a mere annoyance, this is usually complimented with a healthy serving of demons.
* The ''[[Metroid Prime (Video Game)|Metroid Prime]]'' series has a few of these. It's worth noting that with the exception of the ''Hunters'' installment, these traps would merely do approximately ten damage and screw with your morph ball's momentum for a few seconds.
** This being said, in ''Hunters'' these are absolutely '''horrible'''. These alone make the second run through the planet that they are on ''[[That One Level|unbearable]]''. Going through not 1, not 2, not even 3, no, '''4''' sets of these. With no checkpoints. And you die instantly if they even GRAZE you.
* Occur every so often in the classic ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' games, and one of the few ways in which he can die instantly [[Chunky Salsa Rule|regardless]] of rings, shield, invincibility or even Super form... less common in the modern Sonic games, but that's just as well given the rise and rise of the [[Bottomless Pit]].
** Which isn't to say they're entirely absent, of course. The Evil Foundry level in ''[[Sonic Storybook Series|Secret Rings]]'' has vertical crushers bordered on either side by [[Bottomless Pit|Bottomless Pits]]s, establishing that it is, in fact, an ''evil'' foundry.
** ''[[Sonic CD]]'' has some blocks in Wacky Workbench that ''look'' like these, but will actually just drop you into the area below if you [[Violation of Common Sense|let them "crush" you]]. This is actually necessary to [[Guide Dang It|reach a Robotizer]].
*** There are some real crushers that look almost identical to the fake ones in the later level [[Eternal Engine|Metallic Madness]].
** The ''[[Sonic Generations]]'' reprise of [[Sonic Unleashed|Rooftop Run]] has a long corridor with a spike-laced [[Descending Ceiling]]. Modern Sonic must boost through this corridor in order to avoid getting flattened.
* Konquest mode in ''[[Mortal Kombat Armageddon (Video Game)|Mortal Kombat Armageddon]]'' has quite a few of these.
* The Waste Disposal section of ''[[Half-Life 1 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Half-Life 1]]'' had the crushing piston variety.
** The moving walls in ''[[Half-Life 2 (Video Game)|Half-Life 2]]'' just as you go from the old Nova Prospekt building to the new one also count, although they're slow-moving enough to get out of the way in plenty of time if you don't panic.
** In ''[[Freemans Mind (Machinima)|FreemansFreeman's Mind]]'', Gordon thought some of the walls at Black Mesa look like they're designed to do this. They don't, of course.
* ''[[Painkiller]]'' also features the "series of stone blocks smashing down" variety. The trap can be subverted with a physics bug, though - they can be stopped and pushed away using the Painkiller like they were chunks of styrofoam gliding on ice.
* Not so smashy in the ''[[Crusader: (VideoNo Game)Remorse|Crusader]]'' games. Like most of everything else in the game, [[Stuff Blowing Up|more explody]].
* ''[[Gears of War]] 2'', inside the giant worm. Possibly justified because you're inside its digestive track, so it would naturally have to grind stuff up in there.
* Inside the giant worm-body of the Many in ''[[System Shock 2]]'', you also see smashing grinding pillars, which are explicitly supposed to be part of its way of digesting organic material.
* Similarly, the interior of the Zone Eater in ''[[Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VI]]'' leads to a cave with smashing ceilings, which have [[Corridor Cubbyhole Run|convenient gaps for the party to use as safe spots]].
* Appears here and there in ''[[Mega Man (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mega Man]]'''s world, from the trash compactors in Dust Man's stage to the death-traps set up specifically to stop him.
* [[Orcs Must Die]] has both of these, both the 'coming down from the ceiling' kind and the 'coming out from the walls' kind are avaiable for purchase, [[Death Course|in unlimited numbers..]] - [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]] anyone?
* The Spellhold asylum in ''[[BaldursBaldur's Gate]] 2'' has one corridor that randomly smashes shut anyone who wants in there.It is the only trap of this sort in the game, and there is nothing to indicate it will happen. There's also a group of enemies nearby that casts Confusion, causing you to wander around randomly.
* This is very common in ''[[Castlevania]]''. Earlier entries featured instant-kill versions, but in interests of accessibility, they were toned down to dealing heavy damage by ''[[Symphony of the Night]]''.
* ''[[Cave Story (Video Game)|Cave Story]]'' had the Presses, which are Thwomps [[Expy|in all but name]]. The most notable uses of them are found right before and right at the end of the Last Cave, the latter of which had a {{spoiler|string of Presses one had to make carefully controlled Boosts past}}. Heavy Press {{spoiler|the penultimate boss in Hell/the Sacred Grounds}} is a minor deviation, in that it doesn't fall on you until you kill it, which happens to be the world's most blatantly-telegraphed [[Kaizo Trap]].
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion (Video Game)|The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'' has lots of these. In one [[Escort Mission]], the NPC you're escorting [[Leeroy Jenkins|charges straight into one, dying instantly]].
* You can build these in ''[[Dwarf Fortress (Video Game)|Dwarf Fortress]]''. In addition to old standbys like the "stone-fall trap" and weapon traps loaded with ten +iron warhammers+, a bit of creativity leads to things like the Dwarven Atomsmasher (a drawbridge that slams down on an enemy, obliterating them from existence due to a [[Good Bad Bug]]) or artificially-engineered cave-ins.
* The Earth Shrine in ''[[Final Fantasy IX (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IX]]'' is booby-trapped this way, forcing Zidane and Quina to jump past the traps in order to get to the inner sanctum:
{{quote| '''Quina''': Aiya! We almost flat like pancake!}}
* ''[[Serious Sam (Video Game)|Serious Sam]] - The Second Encounter'' has smashing ceilings in quite a few places. Most notably, in the first level.
* ''[[Contra]]'' games have them making rather frequent appearances. For an example, in area 7 of the first game on the NES.
* ''[[Evil Genius (Videovideo Gamegame)|Evil Genius]]'' allows you to fill your hallways with deadly devices that can comically grind anyone who falls into them. These are explicitly traps, however, rather than something that has a flimsier justification.
* ''[[An Untitled Story (Video Game)|An Untitled Story]]'' has [[Super Mario Bros.|Thwomp]]-like enemies which come crashing down when approached. They even come in [[Underground Monkey|three flavours]].
* The first screen of ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]'' features four spiked walls that quickly zip across about 90 percent of the screen, resulting in the usual [[Ludicrous Gibs|messy demise]] of The Kid if he's not already in the safe 10 percent when that happens.
* ''[[Bug! (Video Game)|Bug]]!'' has them. Interestingly enough, there were two kinds- stomper-looking things (non-fatal, does 1 &nbsp;hp damage) and moving terrain (fatal). Later levels would remove the former and use the latter, upping the difficulty. Both would make Bug get [[Squashed Flat]], of course.
* In ''[[Miner 2049 er (Video Game)|Miner 2049 er2049er]]'', one station has a whole row of these traps to walk through.
* ''[[Marathon (Video Game)Trilogy|Marathon]]'' occasionally uses these, such as the final gauntlet in Defend THIS!. In a few levels, such as By Committee in ''Infinity'', the doors can crush you.
* One level of the unlicensed Famicom/NES game ''Thunder Warrior'' has Thwomp [[Expy|expies]].
* The crush pillars in the ''Monty Mole'' series.
* In ''[[Toontown Online]]'', the Sellbot Factory and Cashbot Mint had stompers. The latter had the possibility of a stomper ''filling an entire hallway''.
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
Line 103:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Death Course]]
[[Category:DoomyDoomed Dooms of DoomTropes]]
[[Category:Video Game Difficulty Tropes]]
[[Category:This Index Is in The Way]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
[[Category:Smashing Hallway Traps of Doom{{PAGENAME}}]]
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/868631...2046819"