Interchangeable Antimatter Keys: Difference between revisions

** ''Shadow Dragon'' has two others: bridge keys (guess) and master keys (open anything, and have five uses each).

* Keys and locked doors appear in several [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]] games, including ''[[Super Mario Bros. 2]]'', ''[[Super Mario World (video game)|Super Mario World]]'' and ''[[Mario vs. Donkey Kong]]''.

** Except, annoyingly, this fact was only explained in the first game, although the entire series used them. If you started with, say, the fourth game, you'd have no idea why something called a duplicator opens magic boxes.

* In ''[[Diablo]] II'', all keys in the game are identical and can be used to open any locked chest in the game. Yes, they disappear afterwards. The only exceptions are the special keys that are sometimes dropped by the Countess, the Summoner and Nihlathak on Hell difficulty. They don't open anything, at least not in the conventional way.

* Played straight in the ''[[Eye of the Beholder]]'' series as well as its spiritual successor ''Lands of Lore'' (at least the first one). The first ''Eye of the Beholder'' game was notable because each level had multiple keys and each could be used interchangeably on most of the level's lock. Since some locked doors eventually connected to the same area it paid to only unlock doors when you need to (thereby saving the trouble of looking for additional keys).

** The keys in ''Lands of Lore'' aren't interchangeable, but they are anti-matter. Also worth noting is one particular dungeon, the White Tower; while most keys in the game are noticeably unique in appearance, this area uses special "Mystic Keys". These keys are all shaped exactly alike and are only differentiated by their color, but since nothing in the Tower is color-coded, figuring out which key goes into which lock is a matter of trial and error.

* The first ''[[Dragon Quest I]]'' game had one-use keys, though later games in the series allowed single keys to open multiple doors (and [[A Wizard Did It|they were magic]], which explains one key fitting every door in the world).

** Then you run into [[Fridge Logic]] in ''[[Dragon Quest III]]'', the prequel to the first game. You take ''your'' magic key, which can be used infinitely but ''doesn't'' open every door in the game (you need the Final Key for that), and show it to the guy who, by ''[[Dragon Quest I]]'', is selling magic keys. Presumably, he copies it, but makes them one-time use ''and'' capable of opening any door in the world. In other words, his copy attempt ''failed completely''.

* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' now has this in the form of Mann Co. Supply Crate Keys. You can get locked crates from the [[Randomly Drops|Random Drop System]], which in turn can be opened by these one-use keys. The problem? You have to buy the keys. [[Revenue Enhancing Devices|With real money.]]

* ''[[Lost Odyssey]]'' features this in one dungeon with "gate pass" items you have to [[Video Game Stealing|steal from enemies]] to deactivate some electric gates. All the passes fit all the gates, and are consumed in the process.

* ''[[Pocky and Rocky|Pocky & Rocky]] 2'' had locked chests and occasionally locked doors that could all be opened with identical keys. Keys could be found in baskets, dropped by enemies, or bought in stores, but if you had Little Ninja as your partner, you could use her magic to pick the locks and bypass the need for keys.

* ''[[Wonder Boy III the Dragons Trap]]'' is an [[Egregious]] example, as the locks actually look different, but are all opened with the same keys. (The different locks indicate whether a door has to be unlocked just once or every time you open it.)

== Aversions, Subversions, and Other Deviant Uses ==

* ''[[Ultima Online]]''. Since a key allows accessing a specific player house, it is useless for anything but one specific door. More keys can be made for the same door by copying the pattern from an existing key to a "blank key".

*** Which was a ''massive'' pain in the hind-end, because the game had a deliberately difficult inventory system and the character ended up with dozens of keys taking up space in it, each of which had to be hunted down and clicked on in the inventory before opening its target. As a result, the greatest treasure in the sequel's expansion pack was a magic keyring, which simply automagically gathered the keys and gave the character a "use whichever key fits" function.

** ''[[Ultima VII Part Two]]: Serpent Isle'' had even more keys. Thankfully its add-in pack ''Silver Seed'' introduced a keyring where all keys could go. The keyring could then be used directly on a lock and if would open if the key was on the ring. ''Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds'' had already introduced a keyring but in that game the keys still had to be tested individually.

* In the [[Steampunk]] [[RPG]] ''[[Arcanum]]'', each key is can only be used on specific locks, and continue to exist once they have been used. Due to this, an accomplished thief (or brutal murderer) can collect upwards of 30-40 keys by the end of the game. (They take up a bit of room until you get a key ring, though...)

* Averted in both ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'': ''[[The Elder Scrolls Morrowind|Morrowind]]'' and ''[[The Elder Scrolls Oblivion|Oblivion]]''. Almost every locked door in the game has a specific key to open it, usually held by an NPC; once you obtain the key, you can use it as much as you like. Due to [[Good Bad Bugs]] in the latter game, you'll generally end up with a lot of keys that you can't get rid of by the end; thankfully, there exist mods that place all keys onto a keyring.

* All ''[[Commander Keen]]'' games (except ''Keen Dreams'', which has only one type of key) have several colours of keycards or keygems that open a door of the same colour. In case of the gems the gem doesn't actually disappear, it just becomes stuck to the pedestal you place it on.

* The skeleton keys of ''[[Nethack]]'' don't disappear on use, which makes them all the more useful - they work on every door and box in the game. The variant ''Slash'EM'' occasionally has these keys break in the lock, but eventually you can find up to three unbreakable artifact keys, each one of which unlocks almost everything in your way. The few things they can't unlock...well, that's why there's [[Rule of Three|three of them.]]

** And yet you are still asked what key to use out of the keys that fit. Every single time.

** The second game actually has a lock on the front door to someone's house...because he's lost his key. Finding it for him is one of the game's many sidequests.

* In ''[[Chip's Challenge]]'' there are four key colours. Red, yellow and blue keys vanish when used, but green ones don't.

** This has the effect of making certain puzzles [[Unwinnable]] if the player opens certain locks at the wrong time (for example, opening the doors to the chip door or the goal in Elementary before getting all the chips behind the other doors).

* The ''[[Fallout]]'' series is probably the best example of realistic key use in games. A key or keycard will only work with specific doors, and you can keep the keys afterwards. You can even find keycards which have no use in game, or find keys well before (or after) you find the door they're used on. Oddly, you can sell some keycards afterwards.

* One aspect of this trope is averted in the original ''[[Star Ocean 1]]'' for SNES; you do see a locked door which never opens. This is simply due to the developers running out of time. In the PSP remake the door does open once you've finished the game.

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has just about every sort of version imaginable. Many dungeons have doors that require a specific key to open, and that key, once obtained, remains with the player forever unless discarded. Certain "keys" don't actually open a door but instead act as [[Plot Coupon]]s that unlock harder difficulty modes. Still other dungeons have keys that only exist within that dungeon and must be obtained ''every time'' the player enters; these are consumed once used or if the player leaves. Many, many quests involve obtaining keys that can only be used for that quest and are consumed as they are used; leftover keys also spontaneously vanish once you complete the quest. There are randomly scattered chests and lockboxes throughout the game; these can be opened by a Rogue with lockpicks, Engineers with blasting charges, or Blacksmiths with skeleton keys. Those same methods may ''also'' be used on many—but not all—doors (with no particular explanation for the difference), and only the Rogue's is reusable as it doesn't involve a consumable item. Ironically, the cost of crafting a blasting charge or skeleton key is frequently greater than the value of the items you obtain from using them.

* In ''[[Wizardry]] VII'' all keys self-destruct (some has several uses, some one) upon unlocking, but there's mix of "unique" and several "common" keys (latter can even appear in [[Randomly Drops|random loot]]).

** Not all that bad, though, as there are only four keys you can get anyway (your inn room key, the key to Dr. Cranium's lab, {{spoiler|the crypt key}}, and the key to the adventurer's guild).

* Mostly averted in ''Trapped'', to an irritatingly realistic extent: Most doors start off locked, with the entirely ordinary keys hidden around the house. When you find a key, you pretty much have to try every door until you find the right one.

* Most [[MUD]]s have locks and doors that can only be opened by a specific key (unless you can pick the lock).

* ''Crash Team Racing'' averted the anti-matter part, so by the end of the game, you have 4 identical keys, and need to use it on a [[Voodoo Shark|door with 4 locks on it]].

* Also true of the NES game ''[[Deja Vu]]'', a FP Puzzle game. There are some 5 or 6 different keys that are used for various doors, etc.--you know, the sort of things you'd expect keys to open. Part of the puzzle is determining which key opens which door. ''[[Shadowgate]]'', by the same developers, does likewise.

* ''[[Jagged Alliance]]'' games have plenty of keys to be found. The original ''Jagged Alliance 2'' campaign has over 100 different sets of keys to be found, and each unlocks one or more doors, so they never disappear and it can get confusing. Some keys have duplicates, and some are useless (?). However, it is impossible to lock a door once it's been unlocked, and enemies are able to pass through locked (or trapped) doors without any key, effort, or lock-picking equipment. Another interesting aspect is that the character opening the door needs to be carrying the key (no [[Bag of Sharing|shared inventory]]), which can be very frustrating during combat.

* The hybrid FPS/Driving game ''Redline'' didn't even bother with keys at all. In one mission, after coming across a locked door, your [[Mission Control]] flat out tells you not to waste your time searching the level for a key and to just blast the door down with a rocket launcher.

* Averted in ''Pokémon''. Every locked door is opened by a different key, and once you've unlocked a door, the key just sits uselessly in your inventory forever. (Exception: In ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]'', the key that lets you into the back of Team Galactic's lair explicitly breaks off in the lock, likely to avoid confusion with the key you find there that lets you into the rest of the lair. Justified in that it's an old key and lock.) Also, I'm pretty sure there are locked doors that can never be opened.

* Averted in ''[[Cave Story]]'', where each key you find is used to unlock a specific door...to be never used again.

* Averted in ''[[Arcanum]]'' - every key realistically opens a single door (or chest) and you can store them all on your key ring. The advantage to this is that if you're caught picking locks, you tend to get arrested, but if you have a key (say, to the shop owner's back room) nobody notices you stealing their stuff. No matter how many times you do it. It's a handy way to get items identified for free.

[[Category:Door Tropes]]

[[Category:Video Game Items and Inventory]]