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'''Kirk:''' A no-win situation is a possibility every commander may face. [...] [[Arc Words|How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life]], wouldn't you say?
'''Saavik:''' (stiffly) As I indicated, Admiral, that thought had not occured to me.
'''Kirk:''' Well, now you have something new to think about. Carry on.
|Informal debriefing from the former [[Trope Namer]] exam, "Kobayashi Maru", in ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]''}}
Our hero is executing an impossible mission. It's full of action and adventure, and he gets to show off how heroic he is, but at the last minute, something unexpected goes badly -- [[Diabolus Ex Machina|often ridiculously so]]. The killer robot swoops down to off [[The Hero]] and...
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Such a scene shows that the character is not invincible but has a critical flaw which might lead to his demise later without actually affecting the [[Plot]]. This will cause additional suspense later on when the character inevitably gets into a similar "real" situation and must show that he overcame this flaw (or is able to [[Take a Third Option|find a clever workaround]] for it).
The former [[Trope Namer]] is the training simulation shown in the first scenes of ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]'' where a bunch of Starfleet cadets attempt a simulated rescue of the space freighter ''Kobayashi Maru'' in hostile Klingon space. Compare [[Danger Room Cold Open]], in which an '''Unwinnable Training Simulation''' (or some other "safe" action scene) is used to introduce the characters and their abilities before the real action starts.
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A type of [[False Crucible]]. See also [[Endless Game]] and [[Secret Test of Character]]. If the simulation becomes legitimately dangerous, that's a [[Holodeck Malfunction]]. If the simulation was legitimately dangerous all along, it's [[Deadly Training Area]]. If the situation is not a simulation, but instead a real life situation where the character is set up to fail, it may be [[A Lesson in Defeat]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Dragonball Z]]'': In the Vegeta saga, Kami used a simulation to introduce Kuririn, Yamucha, Tenshinhan, Chaozu and Yajirobe to the capabilities of Saiyans.
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* ''[[Code Geass]]'' doesn't use it, but in one interview the show's director offered a Unwinnable Training Simulation situation to illustrate the differences between the two male leads. As the story goes, there's a car wreck and two men are injured, one worse than the other; there's also a hospital some distance away. Lelouch, an "end justifies the means" type, would consider the factors, then take the man with less severe injuries to the hospital; that man lives, and Lelouch consoles himself over the other's death with the knowledge that at least he saved one person. Suzaku, a "means justifies the ends" type, would do his best to get both of them to the hospital, but they'd both die along the way; at first he'd curse his own weakness, but then he'd assuage himself by saying that he did the right thing.
* In ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' the titular ship has landed on the surface above an underground refugee camp and Captain Yurika Misumaru attempts to save everyone underground, but the ship is crippled and she must face the choice of taking off and retreating (thus causing the ground to collapse and kill everyone below) or the ship itself getting blown up; only it's ''not'' a training simulation. Lest the series end early, she chooses to retreat.
* ''[[Crest of the Stars|Banner of the Stars]]'' opens with a fierce battle which results in the [[Main Character|main characters]]' ship being destroyed. It turns out it was a mock engagement.
== Comic Books ==
* Try to count how many times the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] did this in their Danger Room. Between the comics and cartoons, Wolverine has had his butt kicked by simulated robots in order to learn an important lesson at least once per [[Story Arc]].
{{quote|"Bang! You're dead."}}
* This appears in one of the flashback sequences of ''[[Ex Machina]]'', with Bradbury and Kremlin acting as well-equipped robbers to test out Mitchell's equipment and reflexes.
* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]] [[Star Trek Elite Force|Elite Force]]'' had a comic which begins with this. The scenario was that the Voyager is attacked by a Borg Cube (complete with exterior shot) and Hazard Team is sent to plant explosives around the cube to distract them long enough for the Voyager to escape. During the attack, Munro falls into a assimilation chamber, where he finds an assimilated Foster and not wanting to [[Shoot the Dog]], fails. Tuvok even points this scenario out and [[Continuity Nod|notes its similarity to the test the trope is named for]]. This was called back when {{spoiler|Foster did get assimilated and Tuvok calls Munro out for not shooting him.}}
* Played with in ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)|Preacher]]''. Herr Starr must take unarmed combat lessons with an instructor infamous for badly injuring students on the first day. Starr “beats” him by shooting him in both knees. Perhaps not a straight example though as while it supposed to be an unwinnable situation it was never officially sanctioned.
* Many [[Fan Fiction]] writers have written their take on how they would win the ''Kobayashi Maru'' scenario, but very few have felt as within the realm of the possible as [http://www.eyrie-productions.com/Forum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=71&forum=DCForumID24&omm=15&viewmode= "The Final Simulation
▲== Fan Fiction ==
▲* Many [[Fan Fiction]] writers have written their take on how they would win the ''Kobayashi Maru'' scenario, but very few have felt as within the realm of the possible as "The Final Simulation," a mini-story featured in the [http://www.eyrie.net/ Eyrie Productions] universe, ''[[Undocumented Features]]''. In this story, Ben Hutchins' [[Author Avatar]], Gryphon, captains the simulated ''Enterprise'' through the encounter with Klingons menacing the wayward fuel carrier with a plan to beat the "no-win scenario." Monitoring them are Admirals Christopher Pike (the original Jeffrey Hunter version) and Roger Cartwright (from the classic ''[[Star Trek|Trek]]'' movies) as he and his crew pull off the ultimate Starfleet Academy stunt - outsmarting the scenario '''without cheating'''. Aiding him are fellow Starfleet cadets from a wide range of sources:
** Science officer Saavik (the [[Star Trek III: The Search For Spock|Robin]] [[Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home|Curtis]] incarnation), helmsman John Harriman (before his stint as captain of the ''Enterprise-B'' in ''[[Star Trek Generations]]'') and engineer Peter Preston (''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]'') come from the classic ''[[Star Trek|Trek]]'' movies.
** Orion navigator Gaila comes from the [[Star Trek (film)|2009 ''Trek'' movie reboot]], as does the inspiration for their transporter officer - {{spoiler|Valentina Andre'evna Chekova, the imagined daughter of the new movie's Pavel Chekov}}.
** Tactical Officer Winston Zeddemore (yep, from ''[[Ghostbusters]]'').
* A Warhammer/Mass Effect crossover called Hammerfall has a Space Marine trying to beat one of these. The AI tries to persuade him that "winning" the simulation is impossible, since it has no ends and simply keeps spawning more and more (and more powerful) enemies until you die. The point is to die as late as possible.
== Film ==
* The former [[Trope Namer]] was the "Kobayashi Maru" training scenario seen in ''[[Star Trek II: The
** Responses to the scenario are varied, with several characters improvising solutions but losing anyway (Scotty, for instance, used a physics trick that worked on paper but not in the real world; the computer's response was to spawn more ships than the entire Klingon fleet ''had''). Only [[The Kirk|James T. Kirk]] ever defeated it, and that was by [[Take a Third Option|reprogramming the simulation beforehand]] so that the Klingons would be respectful of the reputation he intended to have. Computer cheats? [[The Kirk|Kirk]] cheats back. (According to semi-canonical novels by [[William Shatner|Shatner]] himself, the test later becomes used to encourage this sort of outside-the-box thinking.)
*** Other ''[[Star Trek]]'' novels give [[The Kirk|Kirk]] the [[Freudian Excuse]] that his traumatic memories of the executions on Tarsus IV (from "Conscience of the King") led him to not believe in the No-Win Scenario.
*** In [[Star Trek (film)|the reboot]], [[The Kirk|Kirk]] reprograms the simulation so that the Klingons have no shields. He then photon-torpedoes the ships and "wins". Also worth noting is that here ''[[The Spock|Spock]]'' designs the test every year to be unbeatable, with the point of the no-win situation being to know what it's like to face certain death, while [[The Kirk|Kirk]] (like in the aforementioned novels) explicitly believes there is no such thing as a no-win situation.
*** As [[The Kirk|Kirk]] himself says in the 2009 reboot, "It depends on how you define 'winning', doesn't it?"
** The novels had Sulu go the diplomatic route, the most
*** Two characters ''deliberately'' blew it up, [[Star Trek: New Frontier|one]] rationalizing that either it was screwed to hell anyway, or that it was actually working with the enemy to lure him into a trap. The other was completely apathetic to the plight of the Maru's crew, and simply exploited the ship's volatile cargo to win the fight with the Klingons.
*** Scotty in the [[Expanded Universe]] is mentioned to have beaten it by constantly improvising new and ingenious engineering solutions, forcing the computer to respond by amping up the stakes, leading Scotty to perform yet another off-the-cuff fix and so forth. This kept Scotty and the Computer at a stalemate for ''hours'' until it was shut down by the Examiners who determined that the only way that the Computer could ''potentially'' beat Scotty would be if he spent ''[[Determinator|several days]]'' of outwitting it before collapsing out of sheer exhaustion.
*** [[The Spock|Spock]] comments in ''[[Star Trek II: The
*** One of the novels has [[The Kirk|Kirk's]] nephew {{spoiler|save the ship by [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrificing himself]], challenging the enemy commander (Romulan rather than Klingon in this version) to single combat and having the ''Enterprise'' beam off the ''Kobayashi Maru'' crew and run away while he fights to the death. The admiral in command assumes he must have cheated like his uncle, but [[The Spock|Spock]] explains that it all would've worked. It's just that Peter Kirk knew far more about Romulan culture (including a challenge that - if properly given - is punishable by death to refuse, even if issued by a non-Romulan) than a cadet normally would.}}
*** A recent ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' novel depicts the origin of the Kobayashi Maru scenario, which is ''not'' a simulation. {{spoiler|In addition to being outnumbered, Captain Archer discovers that the enemy ships have a device that can take remote control of his ship's systems. He ends up having to flee and allow the ''Kobayashi Maru'' to be destroyed.}}
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** In [[Real Life]], initially, the only rule the simulation supervisors had was that they couldn't throw a Kobayashi Maru situation at the astronauts and [[Mission Control]]; the logic was that a no-win scenario would simply demoralize the team to no good purpose. There had to be at least one solution; however, there was no rule stating that the solution had to be obvious or logical or even remotely fair, just that there had to be a point where the controllers and astronauts could be shown: "This is where you screwed up; now learn from it." In the aftermath of Apollo 13, they realized that if they'd been thrown that particular scenario (total loss of oxygen and power in the command/service module), it would have been rejected as [[Unwinnable]]; from Apollo 14 forwards, the new rule for simulation disaster scenarios was: "anything goes".
*** They did, however, go through a variation of the "lunar lifeboat" procedure in at least one training scenario, where there was a pressure drop (but not a loss of power) in the command module, which helped when things went to pot on the actual flight.
* The Agent training scenario in ''[[The Matrix]]''. ("Were you listening to me, Neo, or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?") Even Neo is fooled into thinking it was the real thing. The scenario is designed to always end with the trainee's death, because a human ''cannot'' beat an Agent. The only recourse when faced with one is to attempt escape, and even that is iffy at best.
* The virtual reality wargaming scenes in ''[[Avalon (film)|Avalon]]''.
* The beginning of ''[[The Avengers (1998 film)|The Avengers
* Used at the very beginning of ''[[Mindhunters]]''.
* ''[[Sherlock Holmes]] A Game of Shadows''. Sherlock is capable of deducing what an opponent would do in response to his own actions, simulating entire fistfights in his head before committing to them. When he concludes the final fight is unwinnable, {{spoiler|he just jumps off the balcony taking his opponent with him}}.
* In ''Moving Violations'', the corrupt judge and policeman set up an unwinnable driving course to ensure the traffic-school students will all fail, allowing the pair to sell off their cars and keep the money.
== Literature ==
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* In the novel ''Reach'' by Edward Gibson the Wayfarer 2 astronauts are approaching their destination when one looks out the window to find they're about to collide with...his house! It turns out they're in the simulator, and the people running it were trying to demonstrate the importance of staying focused even when something unexpected happens.
* Mentioned in one of the ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'' books. In one of her LEP exams, Holly defeated a simulation that pitted her against insurmountable numbers by [[Take a Third Option|blasting the projector]]. The computer recorded defeat of all enemies, so she passed.
* ''[[Ender's Game]]'': Pretty much all of the games in the school when Ender is given his own team are designed to be unwinnable. {{spoiler|Of course, he wins them all.}}
** Also inverted at the end, when {{spoiler|Ender discovers all the "simulations" were actual space battles. The deception was crucial because the final "simulation" was unwinninable by any conventional means. Ender, thinking that it was all just a game and that he nothing to lose, destroys the enemy homeworld by sacrificing his own fleet in a kamikaze attack. When he finds out that he ordered ''actual'' soldiers to their deaths - as well as utterly destroying an entire alien race - Ender feels incredibly guilty.}}
** The battle school also has a fantasy game that all the children play (used to monitor their psychological development and stability). Within this game is a section called "The Giant's Drink". A giant offers the [[Player Character]] a choice of two drinks, claiming one is poison and the other leads to Fairyland. Of course, [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|no matter what the player chooses]], they die [[The Many Deaths of You|a gruesome death]]. {{spoiler|Ender ultimately confounds this, forcing the game to invent entirely new sections that had never existed before and generally freaking out the [[Powers That Be]].}}
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* In [[The Culture]] novel ''Surface Detail'' a protagonist in an Orbital militia does one of these and complains that it serves no purpose.
== Live
* In addition to its original appearance, the Kobayashi Maru simulation is found or mentioned in a number of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episodes. (''TNG'' also includes fresh instances and variations of the trope; for instance, the Bridge Officer qualification test on the Holodeck in the episode "Thine Own Self", in which Troi realizes that she can only succeed if she {{spoiler|1=orders holographic LaForge to his death}}).
** The holodeck in general made for a convenient and simple premise for a lot of invocations of this trope in many of the series. In the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode ''The Magnificent Ferengi'' where the Ferengi are shown in a botched attempt to rescue Quark and Rom's mother, in which she ends up being shot by one of her rescuers, before it is revealed that they are practicing for the real thing
** ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' is particularly guilty of someone dying in a [[Batman Cold Open]] only to be revealed as a simulation
*** The failed invasion of a Borg ship to steal some [[Phlebotinum]] that leads to Borg storming the ''Voyager'' proves to be a simulation. Also, "Learning Curves" subverts the No Win Scenario with a test similar, but not identical to, the original Kobayashi Maru is used by Tuvok when assigned to instruct some unruly ex-Maquis in the Starfleet way. It ends the way the original Kobayashi did. However, Tuvok suggests that the test is built with a victory condition: retreating. had they tried to run they'd have lived and passed, while [[Stupid Sacrifice|dying pointlessly]] helped no one.
*** Tuvok provides an interesting twist in the episode
*** [[Fridge Logic]]: Why is it so easy to remove all safety locks but [[Are These Wires Important?|so hard to just turn it off?]]
*** "Threshold" starts off with Tom Paris trying to break the Warp 10 limit in a shuttle. As he reaches Warp 9.95 the nacelles are ripped off and the shuttle explodes. Paris appears sitting on the holodeck floor and B'Elanna Torres says "You're dead." How they were able to program a simulation for what would happen at Warp 10 without any data one what happens when you approach Warp 10 is unclear, but that's the least of the problems the infamous episode has.
** Mackenzie Calhoun found an interesting way to get through the Kobayashi Maru in ''[[Expanded Universe|Stone And Anvil]]'': {{spoiler|he gives the orders to destroy the ship himself.}}
** There is also a Super Nintendo videogame based on Starfleet command training. One of the missions the player must complete is the actual Kobayashi Maru scenario, and it
*** It's worth noting that while you can't save the Kobayashi Maru, you can prevent its destruction indefinitely if you're good enough. Unfortunately as the enemy infinitely respawns there's very little point.
** Proving that Starfleet isn't blind to all those "How I Flunked The ''Kobayashi Maru'' Test" stories circulating among cadets, Wesley Crusher on TNG was subjected to a different kind of simulated no-win scenario during his Academy training. A faked "accident" left two technicians trapped in a room that would soon flood with radiation, and Wesley was given time to save only one of them. Unable to talk the more terrified man into moving, he helped the injured one to safety and reluctantly left the other behind. Unlike the traditional test this was just for entrance into the academy, and designed to make him face what they had determined was his greatest fear (being in the situation Picard had faced when unable to save Wesley's father on an away mission).
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* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' does it with "Avatar", wherein Teal'c is trapped in a training simulation designed to learn from him and become harder to beat as a result. It did this by either spawning enemies right around corners to shoot him, spawning new enemies after the conditions of the simulation had been beaten, and adding factors to make the enemies harder to beat. It took Daniel being added in as an ally (with the ability to see the future as a cheat) for the computer to finally give Teal'c a victory scenario.
** Worse, it turns out {{spoiler|it was a reverse-[[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]] scenario. Since Teal'c's mind was driving the game, it turns out that Teal'c had to ''believe'' he'd won}} or every time, he'd find that [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]] and would change the rules on him. And he {{spoiler|could ''never'' see the battle against the Goa'uld finally being over.}}
** ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' has a blatant one in Progeny where
** ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' also uses the trope in "Trial and Error". {{spoiler|''Destiny'' projects a battle scenario into Young's dreams wherein the ship is attacked by aliens. Young tries to attack them, but they overpower and destroy the ship. Young tries to turtle behind the shields until the ship can jump to FTL, but the simulation just generates more ships. Then he tries to agree to their demands (handing over Chloe), but that just causes the shields to drop, allowing the aliens to board and kill everyone. Young never wins; Rush just shuts it off when he gets tired of it interfering with the ship.}}
* ''[[War of the Worlds (TV series)|War of the Worlds]]''{{context}}
* ''[[MacGyver]]'', multiple times ("Lost Love", "The Survivors").
* In the short-lived series ''Heist'', a cliffhanger has professional thief Mickey locking himself in a vault to motivate his team members to figure out how to open it quickly before he suffocates. The next episode begins with the team members apparently failing to unlock the vault in time, only for Mickey to yell at them and for the camera to reveal the giant hole they had cut in the vault to get him out.
* In ''[[The Listener]]'', paramedic main character Toby and his partner get stuck while trying to reach a woman with a head wound. She is annoyed, but amused; if it hadn't been an exam, she could have died.
* In ''[[Leverage]]'', it is mentioned that a master hacker with the handle "Chaos" is referred to as the Kobayashi Maru by CIA and NSA computer specialists, in reference to the fact that Chaos' hacking methods are unstoppable.
** Becomes a [[Shout-Out]] when you realize that Chaos is [[Wil Wheaton]].
** The scene where this is revealed could also be viewed as a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] for that episode.
* In ''[[CSI]]'', David Hodges also mentions that he called his cat Kobayashi Maru (affectionately known as 'Kobe' or 'Mr. K').
* The third season premiere of ''[[Chuck]]''.{{context}}
* Happened a few times in ''[[ER]]''. Abby was working with a dying patient, with [[Dr. Jerk|Romano]] briskly telling at her to move faster, only for the patient to die. Then, just as Romano solemnly and brutally told her that the patient was dead, the camera swivelled around to show us that the patient was a dummy.
** Another time was when Sam and a much taller, muscular man were yelling at each other when suddenly the man tackled Sam to the ground, where we can see that there are mats on the ground. Turns out it was a training session for nurses to deal with violent patients.
* One episode of ''[[Cleopatra 2525]]'' featured a variant of this trope where one character had to learn the nearly impossible route and hazards of a rescue mission using a virtual reality simulator (in time to actually make the run and save a teammate). Of course, nobody bothers to tell her it's a simulation the first time so for her the trope is in effect like she's in the audience until she fails and sees her friend die before the simulation resets.
* An episode of ''[[JAG]]'' ends with Harm crashing on a carrier landing. Turns out Harm was running a simulation of the doomed flight of the Defendant of The Week. It's implied that Harm's run the simulation several times, crashed every time, and went down with the jet, rather than eject, every time.
* In the blow-off for
== Video Games ==
* Arguably the most famous cutscene from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]] [[Crisis Core]]'' involves a [[Melee a Trois]] between Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth. Everybody was just plain fighting when Genesis entered [[Let's Get Dangerous]] mode and Sephiroth started ''slicing off the Sister Ray'' in retaliation (they were fighting on top of it). During the climax, Angeal's sword broke off blocking Genesis's attack, the piece cuts Genesis' shoulder, and the "sky" came off as bright color pieces. It was all just a training simulator.
** Not to mention how the game itself begins with one of these, with Zack and Angeal on a simulated mission to the Sector 1 train station ([[Continuity Nod|which was not entirely unlike that of the original game...]]). At least it explains [[Violation of Common Sense|why Zack was acting so casual with a dozen soldiers firing machine guns at him...]] At the end of the mission he engages Sephiroth who viciously and effortlessly defeats him, only for Angeal to end the simulation as Sephiroth holds his sword business-edge over Zack's face.
* ''[[James Bond]]'' likes this trope. The first mission in ''[[GoldenEye: Rogue Agent]]'' is one of these. Afterward, the titular agent is fired from MI6 for allowing Bond to be "killed" during the simulated mission at Fort Knox.
** Which is entirely silly for so many reasons, including the fact that the death wasn't really caused by him (IIRC, Bond is hanging on to a ledge and falls) and getting fired caused the agent to turn evil.
*** Specifically, the helicopter was shot down and crashed through the roof of Fort Knox. Bond was barely hanging from the hanging chopper, and Goldeneye was too far to reach out to him. He had no choice but to let the craft fall on Bond.
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* ''[[Demon's Souls]]'' all the way.
** To clarify, the tutorial takes you through all the basics: movement, attacking, defending, counters, items, etc... Then you face your very first boss, who is capable killing you in one hit, no matter what armor you have on, and is very likely to do so... On the off chance that you manage to survive the fight and defeat him, you are transported to another area where a massive (were talking as big as the ''whole frickin room'') delivers a single instant death punch right to your face in a cutscene, resulting in your death.
== Western Animation ==
* An opening sequence on ''[[Batman: The
* ''[[Kids Next Door]]'', "Operation T.U.R.N.I.P.", where an attack by a hostile mecha turns out to just be Numbuh 3 testing the treehouse defenses.
* The ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (TV series)|Legion of Super Heroes]]'' [[Season Finale]] "Sundown: Part 1" opens with the entire team being destroyed one by one by the Fatal Five. Then the simulation ends, and they prep to start again. Phantom Girl is not amused. "There's only so many times a girl can face her simulated doom in one day!"
** And "The Man From The Edge of Tomorrow: Part 1" opens with Brainiac 5 seemingly [[Ho Yay|dying tragically in Superman's arms]], complete with melodramatic music [[
* ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'' does this the most times in its short run, twice forming the plot for the episode. (In the first, Cyclops doesn't want to train against Rogue's simulation, and in the second, the young'uns learn teamwork.)
* The 1990's ''[[X-Men (animation)|X-Men]]'' cartoon and the concurrently-running ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series|Spider-Man]]'' cartoon once did a [[Crossover]]: ''The Mutant Agenda'' introduces Spidey to the X-Men by his sneaking into the mansion to find Professor X... and getting waylaid by Sentinels. Turns out it's the Danger Room, of course.
* Used in the "Glitter N' Gold" episode of ''[[Jem]]''. Jerrica wants to tell her boyfriend, Rio, that she is Jem's secret identity. She uses Synergy, her hologram-making super-computer to make an illusion of Rio to see what will happen; it goes badly. Synergy assumes that she might be wrong—but then the real Rio explodes at Kimber after she reveals that she made a mistake - using almost the exact same words the holographic Rio did. This came from Christy Marx, the writer of most of the episodes of the ''Jem'' series, who wanted Jerrica to have a reason to keep her other identity a secret from Rio.
* ''[[Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends]]'', in keeping with its Marvel Comics roots, pulled a Danger Room on Iceman in a late episode.
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' two
** Lampshaded when Brian describes it as "a huge middle finger to the viewers."
* The [[Powerpuff Girls]] use a holographic training room in one episode as a [[Shout-Out]] to X-men.{{context}}<!-- How is this an example of "Unwinnable"? -->
* One ''[[Time Squad]]'' episode began with the heroes fighting a pyromaniac George Washington in a training simulation (bizarrely this ''wasn't'' part of the simulation's design: Larry just wanted to see what would happen if they invited "virtual Washington" for a tour of the space station...)
* The episode "Failsafe" of ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' is one of these that had [[Gone Horribly Wrong]]. No matter what, winning was completely impossible. no matter what they did, the situation would continue to get worse and worse until they failed. That said, the simulation ended up having to [[Ass Pull]] a second alien mothership to win, so they did pretty well. As for the [[Gone Horribly Wrong]] part? It wasn't supposed to be ''really'' dangerous but Miss Martian's subconscious hijacked the simulation and made it so.
* The direct-to-video/pilot episode three-parter "The Adventure Begins" of ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'' has this. At Star Command's training deck, Commander Nebula calls Buzz up to watch one of the rookies, Mira, with the intention of making her Buzz's new partner. Mira beats Buzz's level, Level 9, and goes on to Level 10, which is comprised of three huge and presumably impenetrable robots. {{spoiler|Where any normal Ranger, even Buzz (since we never hear that he beat it), would have been blasted to Game Over, Mira succeeds by using her ghosting abilities.}}
* ''[[My Little Pony:
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* [[Erfworld]]: ''The Battle for Gobwin Knob''
* ''[[Full Frontal Nerdity]]'' has [http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=538 its own version] of [[Konami Code|how]] Kirk cheated that test in ''Star Trek''.
== Web Original ==
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*** It's turned into a [[Noodle Incident]], but Team Kimba used what Ayla learned in "Ayla and the Birthday Brawl" to come up with two ways to win that sim. And apparently, Jade's [[Crazy Awesome]] 'Radioactive Condor Girl' idea ''actually worked''. And completely freaked out the people running the sims.
== Other Media ==▼
▲== Other ==
* A prank puzzle called "The Inescapable Island". The teller begins with "imagine that you are stranded on a tiny little island", then goes on to describe with detail how the surrounding sea is vast and borderless and filled with hungry sharks and how the island is a bare spot of sand with thousands of poisonous scorpions and this and that. Once the situation is inescapeable enough, the teller then asks the victim to find out a way to save themself. The only acceptable solution is along the lines of "stop imagining".
▲== Real life ==
* Part of a typical NASA Astronaut's [[Training from Hell]] involves dealing with emergencies in a simulator, though in this case the scenarios used have obscure or complicated solutions, as opposed to no solution at all. The idea here is training the astronauts in Olympic-standard mental gymnastics rather than training them to face death stoically. The latter is [[Danger Deadpan|part of the job description]] anyway.
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[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]▼
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[[Category:These Tropes Are Impossible]]
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