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{{trope}}
{{Video Game Examples Need Sorting}}
== A-F ==
* ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'' {{spoiler|Episode 12. The little girl and the village Asura was protecting is completely destroyed by Olga of the deities and all the inhabitants are dead. Asura goes even more apeshit then usual and completely annilhates Olga's fleet.}}
* At the very end of the normal ending of ''[[Aquaria (video game)|Aquaria]],'' the protagonist, Naija, says a short sentence about how you need to search the game more closely. The sentence ends with two little words that turn the world upside down.
{{quote|"You've reached an end, but it is not all I have to share. You've become lost along the way, concerned only with the immediate facts. Return to the waters, and follow the trails hidden in my memories...the story of my childhood. Find me...before the world is lost...my son..."}}
* ''[[Arc the Lad|Arc the Lad 2]]'''s first scene shows the slaughter of Elc's (the game's hero) people. Then the game's makers apparently decided to beat the record of Wham Moments done in a single video game, by repeatedly [[Player Punch|punching the player]].
* The ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series have plenty of whams:
** ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'', Exdeath squashes two worlds together and combines this with the death of Galuf and a rare lack of [[Forgot About His Powers]].
** It didn't stop. {{spoiler|1=Add in the first scene at North Crater where Cloud [[Heroic BSOD|loses his sanity]], gives Sephiroth the Black Materia which lets him cast Meteor, causes the WEAPONs to be unleashed, and wrapped in the candy coating that is Sephiroth has actually been dead this whole time and the one who you've been chasing around the world was actually ''Jenova'' (Who, admittedly, was under the control of [[Puppet Master]] Sephiroth)}}.▼
**''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'': {{spoiler|Kefka destroys the world}}, and the game continues after this.
▲** Before [[It
** Half of ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'' consists of this. {{spoiler|one city's population slaughtered in a surprise assault, another one nuked, summoned [[Eldritch Abomination]] crushes one more city...}} and the situation goes even more downhill from there. Every time you think "This can't be going on any more!" you get the next wham.▼
**
▲**
** Chapter 8 of ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' starts out as a [[Breather Episode]]. [[The Reveal|It doesn't]] [[Tear Jerker|stay that way]].▼
** Chapter 9, {{spoiler|The Primarch is a fal'Cie, one of you must become Ragnarok.}}▼
** In ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' when the party reaches Giruvegan and Ashe has a meeting with the Occuria.
** ''[[Final Fantasy
▲*** Chapter 8 of
*** At the end of Chapter 1, Delita and Ramza's lives get changed in a major way. ▼
▲*** Chapter 9, {{spoiler|The Primarch is a fal'Cie, one of you must become Ragnarok.}}
*** About three storyline battles later, you learn that Gafgarion is not what he seems. ▼
** ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' might challenge ''IX'' for the most Wham-tastic game in the series.
*** Then, in the last battle of Chapter 2, you learn what the Church is really hiding. Those are just selections. There's Wham candidates after just about every battle.
* ''[[Ape Escape]]'''s Trick Castle. Though it seems like the last level, no sooner do you reach Specter and Buzz before they ditch you, leave you to fight an armoured warrior, you get transported back to the present day where the monkeys are already in charge of the city and the professor and Katie have been kidnapped.
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** From ''Dawn of War II'', Davian Thule being killed by a Warrior Beast counts. Of course, then there's him returning as a Dreadnought. And gentlemen, it is glorious.
** The original wham episode was well...in the original. When it was revealed at the end of the game that Gabriel had inadvertently released the Daemon of the Maledictum in the first place.
** ''DoW II: Retribution''. You've tracked the [[Big Bad]] to Typhon, and you've caught him alone! But he's...pleased? And then the Ordo Malleus fleet arrives..."and so I sign the death warrant of an entire world and consign a billion souls to oblivion."
* ''[[Baten Kaitos]]'' did this very well. Various events occur that would easily be explained if there was a spy in the party, you sit through quite a few cutscenes where the party wonders who the spy is...essentially it's so blatantly obvious, you feel it is likely a [[Red Herring]]. But there probably weren't any gamers who would have expected that {{spoiler|not only was it NOT a [[Red Herring]], but the spy in question was Kalas, the ''main character''}}.
** And then there was ''Origins''. Pretty much the entirety of the Heart-to-Heart scene qualifies as solid wham all over. See it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoj8hgsd7gY here], if you don't mind the enormous spoilers. The magnitude of the wham in question can be summarized by one simple observation: the revelation that {{spoiler|the hero's main love interest is actually a spy for (and the daughter of) the [[Big Bad]]}} is most likely the '''least''' shocking plot twist.
** Another one is {{spoiler|the scene after the defeat of Baelheit, where Verus reveals himself. It puts about two-thirds of the plot in a completely different light}}.
* ''[[
** ''[[
* The last level of ''[[Braid]]''. Especially when getting the final secret star.
* ''[[Call of Duty]] 4: [[Modern Warfare]]'' - "Shock and Awe". Also one helluva [[Player Punch]].
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*** "No Russian" would have been a massive wham, if not for the PR-stunt/controversy regarding that particular level.
*** At the End of "Takedown" American radar and satellites pick up massive numbers of hostile contacts at both coasts. And it's not a computer error.
**** Actually, the first two were deliberate [[Red Herring
*** In "The Gulag" it turns out that the mysterious Prisoner 627 is Captain Price.
*** "Of Their Own Accord" starts in a wet and dimly lit basement that is filled with wounded soldiers and sporadically shaken by explosions on the surface. After leaving the basement and climbing out of a trench with your squad, you're faced with a panorama view of the destroyed Washington Monument before a dark sky, lit by the fires of burning Capitol Hill. Behind burning tanks and uprooted trees is the partly destroyed Department of Commerce, which US soldiers are desperately trying to recapture from Russian forces.
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* Chapter 5 of ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Genealogy of the Holy War''. See [[Player Punch]] for details.
* The ''[[Free Space]]'' space sims are filled with Wham Missions. Especially the first nebula mission and the final mission in ''Freespace 2''.
* The worst ending of ''[[Disgaea
* The introduction of the Dji Cantos in ''[[Albion]]'' counts. Shortly after that, we find out that the company owning the ship knew that the planet they are trying to destroy had intelligent life on it, and is willing to destroy it regardless. It turns out the ship's on board computer has also been programmed to use any means necessary to keep the truth about the world a secret from the crew, killing everyone if necessary.
* ''[[Command
* ''[[Alice: Madness Returns]]'' has Alice's final trip into the burning house to discover who or what caused the fire that killed her family ten years ago: her current therapist, Dr. Bumby, who was attempting to cover up the rape of Alice's sister.
** Later, the encounter with the Dollmaker, the Wonderland representation of Dr. Bumby. Turns out his memory alteration experiments were to make sure his patients (all of them children) didn't remember being used as prostitutes.
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** Ulysses is a walking, talking WHAM moment. He's heavily foreshadowed, the first time you directly talk to him he berate you for {{spoiler|destroying the Divide}} and his last action is to give you a [[Hannibal Lecture|disturbingly spot-on speech]] about how individual men can shape the destiny of nations {{spoiler|right before nuking the NCR.}}
** You can opt to {{spoiler|nuke}} the NCR, Legion, both, or neither (in which case the second ED-E makes a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to {{spoiler|disable all of the rockets}}).
* ''[[Fate/stay night
** Surely the biggest one in HF is the middle part of day 9. Inside several hours of gameplay, you discover that Sakura (the love interest) is Rin's sister and the true master of Rider, and that she's ''also'' been the victim of eleven years of horrific abuse. Then, you find out that, unless you [[Shoot the Dog|kill her]], she's likely to eventually go insane and kill many innocent people, and Rin decides that she will be forced to go through with it, and thus Shirou will have to fight her ''too''.
** Don't forget the biggest Wham Episode of Unlimited Blade Works, Day 14. Archer all but outright states that his true identity is none other than {{spoiler|a [[Future Badass|future version of]] Shirou Emiya and his goal is [[I Hate Past Me|to kill his past self]]}}. And then the next day, he ''does'' state it outright.
* In many of ''[[
* ''[[Ace Attorney]]: Justice For All'', case four. Not only is the true murderer [[Complete Monster|one of the most vile people in the series]], with a totally unexpected [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|personality revelation]], but he's also {{spoiler|''your client''}}, which also serves as a Wham Episode to Phoenix himself. The case also brings back {{spoiler|Miles Edgeworth,}} previously thought to be dead.
** And the fifth case of ''Trials and Tribulations''. The first part of the final trial reveals that Iris {{spoiler|was indeed in two places at once. One of them was her channeled dead sister Dahlia.}}
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** The Joining was a Wham too, for a few reasons - The nature of the Joining itself, the temporary player characters (who you've been with long enough to have developed a care for how they fare) develop a bad case of dead, one courtesy of the Joining and the other courtesy of Duncan [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb-stomping him]].
*** Same thing in ''Awakening'', where one of the companions you start the initial quest with dies in the Joining.
** [[The Reveal]] that a Grey Warden must sacrifice his/her life and ''soul'' to permanently end a Blight, and the deal Morrigan offers as a loophole. This is when it becomes painfully clear that a truly happy ending isn't going to
*** Unless you managed to turn Loghain - though in that case, you'd have gotten an early bit of Wham from Alistair leaving your group, [[So Long and Thanks For All the Gear|taking his equipment with him]].
* ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' has a few of these, but really, what else can you say but {{spoiler|Anders plants a bomb in the Chantry and murders all the priestesses and probably lots of bystanders to remove the only thing that kept the conflict between the mages and the templars from turning violent. As the status quo is unacceptable, he thinks its better for the mages to die trying to destroy the templars, then to slowly be killed or made tranquil by the templars one by one.}}
** To a lesser degree Isabellas quests at the end of Act 2. {{spoiler|The Qunari have been in the city for all these years because Isabella stole a sacred relic from them and they know the thief is still somewhere in the city. When they find out that the thief is a companion of the inoffical representative the city has send to negotiate with them, relations turn sour quickly and the Arishok decides the time for a descrete search is over and he has to take control of the city himself.}}
** One of the worst is the quest All That Remains, in which you discover that {{spoiler|Leandra's unnamed suitor is actually a serial killer, and has made her his next victim because she looks like his dead wife, whom he's trying to recreate through stitching women together through necromancy. Leandra provides the face.}} The game's especially brutal about giving you hope that she's still alive, right until the climax of the quest in the killer's lair. This quest also leads to another [[Wham! Episode]] late in the game, when {{spoiler|First Enchanter Orsino uses the killer's research--which he'd been secretly helping--to become a Harvester monster to fight off Meredith's templars}}. And if that isn't enough, there's also {{spoiler|the infamous scene of Anders blowing up the Kirkwall Chantry, which really hits hard if your Hawke is in a romance with him}}.
* Everything after Leblanc's hideout and before Chapter 3 in [[Final Fantasy X
** Also, the Den of Woe. Still freaky, even if you know it's coming. And it makes so much of the game (and Paine's backstory) make much more sense.
* The ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' series is usually good for a [[Wham! Episode]] about anyhwere from halfway to the endpoint of each game.
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** ''[[Breath of Fire IV]]'': Again, toward the end, when you learn that {{spoiler|Elina is still alive...if you could call it that.}}
* ''[[Epic Mickey]]'' has about halfway through the game the discovery of the original bottle of paint and thinner that fell into Wasteland during Mickey's original mischief. {{spoiler|Oswald learns that Mickey was the one who unleashed the Blot, angrily jumps on the lid of the bottle and unleashes the complete Phantom Blot. Everything else, including the huge blot that dragged Mickey into Wasteland were only drippings escaping from the loose bottle. The freed Blot then pulls a [[Hostage for Macguffin]] by threatening to kill Gus and Oswald if he doesn't get Mickey's heart, to which Mickey complies, setting the stage for the rest of the game.}}
* In ''[[Arc Rise Fantasia]]'', things kind of go downhill when Adelle gets [[
* ''[[Ace Combat]] Zero'' has a mission like this about halfway through. Belka becomes desperate enough that they want to end the war by [[Nuke'Em|dropping nuclear weapons]] on their own cities to stave off the advancing allied forces. Your squadron shoots down the bombers carrying the nukes, suddenly the music stops, the sky lights up, the radio dies, the HUD becomes distorted and your [[Wing Man]] starts trying to shoot you down.
** Even before that mission. Mission 9-10 are both awesome missions taking down superweapons and an ace squadron as well as participating in a massive dogfight. Immediately after that, mission 11 is dark. The only light is provided by a city that's BURNING TO THE GROUND. The music is oppressive and the radio chatter just screams to say how desperate Belka is. Plus one transmission at the end has the army being ordered to ignore the civilians...yeesh.
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** ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' ends with Ezio entering the vault beneath the Vatican in hopes of discovering the secret purpose of the Apple of Eden, only to see a hologram of a representative of [[Precursors|an ancient and advanced civilization]] speak to Desmond through him and inform him that it is his purpose to help in preventing [[The End of the World as We Know It]]. This astonishes both Ezio (who of course has no idea that a long-distant descendant of his will be viewing his life via [[Genetic Memory]] as a VR simulation) and Desmond, who is said descendant.
** ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood|Assassin's Creed Brotherhood]]'' ends with Desmond discovering Ezio's Apple. However, instead of having its secrets revealed, another representative of the First Civilization appears to him, tells him he is not ready, and forces him to {{spoiler|stab and kill Lucy with his hidden blade}}.
** ''[[Assassin's Creed: Revelations]]'' gives us the surprising conclusion to Altaïr and Ezio's stories (not to mention Subject 16's) and confirms that their purpose in life was to pass on the message of the First Civilization. However, the real whammy comes in the DLC, "The Lost Archive", which reveals that {{spoiler|Lucy, whom Desmond was forced to kill in ''Brotherhood'', was in fact a Templar agent}}.
* ''[[Dead Rising]]'' somehow manages to have ''three'' in rapid succession, late in the game near the end of 72 Hour Mode. First, {{spoiler|the military isn't coming to rescue anyone in the mall, but are instead deployed to clean up any evidence of an outbreak}}. Then, {{spoiler|Frank's rescue helicopter is taken out}}. ''Then'', {{spoiler|Frank learns that he's been infected}}.
** [[Dead Rising 2|The sequel]] has one near the end. {{spoiler|Raymond Sullivan is revealed to be an employee for Phenotrans and planned the firebombing to destroy the evidence}}.
*** ''Off the Record'' has the same thing except {{spoiler|Stacey Forsythe is the agent for Phenotrans}}.
* ''[[Avalon Code]]'' begins with a very schizophrenic
* ''[[Call of Duty: Black Ops|Call of Duty Black Ops]]'' has two levels of plot twists:
** "Rebirth" reveals {{spoiler|Mason killing Steiner while yelling he is Viktor Reznov and what else is that Reznov himself isn't present}}.
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** "Where is Jade?" reveals Lucas didn't survive from the roller coaster fall. His body has been found and resuscitated; in order words, he ''is'' dead. The one who resuscitated him isn't Agatha, but it's an AI impersonating her after her death in her apartment.
* ''[[Amnesia: The Dark Descent]]'' slowly becomes this, as it's revealed through Daniel's later diary entries and flashbacks that [[What the Hell, Hero?|he helped Alexander kidnap, torture, and murder innocent civilians]] in order to ward off [[Eldritch Abomination|the Shadow]] and in effect save his own life. And then flipped on its head when it's also revealed that Alexander was only using Daniel to obtain both the orb he found in Algeria and mass amounts of vitae to open a portal back to his home world, and that he was planning on leaving Daniel to die once he had what he needed.
== G-L ==
* ''[[Grandia II]]'' is packed to the ''gills'' with them. The evil god-fragment possessing the main character's brother? Moves to possess the main character instead. The evil god separated into fragments and sealed away? Never died and the "seals" are actually devices to infect people with the fragments. The god of light who defeated the god of darkness before retiring to rest? LOST the war in the heavens. The kindly Pope who directs your party on your quest to save the world? Actually the [[Big Bad]] who wants to resurrect and then [[A God Am I|become the god of darkness]]. Well done, everyone!
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'':
** ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days
** The biggest [[Wham! Episode]] in ''Kingdom Hearts'' history, and one that will [[That Came Out Wrong|''actually'' impact the storyline of the entire series]] is most definitely the "[[Fridge Brilliance|Reconnect]][[This Is for Emphasis, Bitch|.]] [[Gambit Pileup|Kingdom Hearts]]" [[Sequel Hook|Secret Ending]]. After watching it for the first time, and with the general [[Doomed by Canon|knowledge of what happened]] in ''[[Birth By Sleep]]'', as well as the rest of the series, you'd understand the feeling of watching [[The Hero|the kid who was looking for his friends]] become [[Messianic Archetype|someone who has to save]] ''any'' good person who has received a [[Fate Worse Than Death]]. Oh Dear. The [[Kingdom Hearts]] universe has just been [[Mind Screw|turned upside down]], all served in a box decorated with [[Kingdom Hearts/Awesome|Crow]][[Tear Jerker|nin]][[Kingdom Hearts/Awesome Music|g Mo]][[Kingdom Hearts/Heartwarming|ments]].
** The Hollow Bastion chapter of the first ''[[Kingdom Hearts (video game)|Kingdom Hearts]]'' game. Maleficent dies (or so we think), it's revealed that Ansem (Xehanort's Heartless) is the real [[Big Bad]] and Kairi's heart was inside Sora all along, Riku loses his body, Sora turns himself into a heartless to bring Kairi back, Kairi [[Cooldown Hug|hugs Sora to save him]], and they leave Hollow Bastion but leave the keyhole open, allowing a lot more powerful Heartless to flood through.
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** ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]:Recoded'''s secret ending is one as well. {{spoiler|Xehanort is ''alive''.}}
** Wait until after the credits of ''[[Kingdom Hearts 3D]]''. {{spoiler|''Ventus is waking up.''}}
* The end of ''[[Half-Life 2]]: Episode 2'' qualifies it as a Wham Episode. If not [[His Name Is--|Eli Vance's death]], the unambiguous confirmation that Gordon Freeman is not the only human on Earth familiar with the G-man.
** "Dooctor Freeeman..." The G-man not only rescued Alyx from Black Mesa but he is seen implanting information into her mind apparently without her realising. The very deliberate use of the phrase "Unforeseen Consequences" also gives some strange meta implications as to the g-man's involvement into the very chapter names of the games you are playing. Oh, yeah, and did I mention that [[Paranoia Fuel|the g-man seems to have a way of influencing Alyx's mind without her realising.]]
* ''[[Halo]]'' has a couple of these. The Flood introduction from ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved|Halo 1]]'' definitely fits, and even comes with a [[Genre Shift]]. The conversation with the Gravemind probably counts from ''[[Halo 2]]''. The entire last half of the level "The Covenant" from ''[[Halo 3]]'' is another good one. This level (well, most of it) and the one after it arguably epitomize [[Scenery Porn]] and [[Scenery Gorn]], respectively, more so than anything else in the entire game.
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* ''[[Jade Empire]]''. When Master Li KILLS you after you've defeated the [[Big Bad]], as you were an expendable part of Sun Li's [[Xanatos Gambit]]. And the way he does this is particularly nasty, as he exploits the flaws that he [[Sabotutor|deliberately built into your fighting style]]. You can see the obvious clues during additional playthroughs where a lot of the things he does and says have additional subtext and weight.
** Before that, the dooming of the [[Doomed Hometown]] is pretty extreme, even if you saw it coming. ([[BioWare]] [[Signature Style|often]] blows up the first zone; they don't often make you go back through and look for survivors...)
* In ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising]]'', Chapter 18. The previous 3 chapters were a series of [[
* The ending to ''[[Killzone]] 2''. Fan favorite Garza is dead, the ISA invasion has fallen apart, the Visari is dead (no more [[Large Ham|epic speeches]]), your favorite characters from the first game are dead and the Helghans are very pissed off at the death of their leader.
* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'' has a Wham Level after you're found the second-last Star Map when you're captured by Saul Karath, find out that the Jedi academy on Dantooine has been destroyed in your absence, Bastila is captured by [[Big Bad|Darth Malak]], and [[The Reveal]] that the main character is an amnesiac Revan.
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** For that matter in ''Defiance'', how about the fact that the heart of Janos Audron that Raziel was searching for to revive the ancient vampire (Who incidentally he himself killed as a human) was actually -inside- Kain the whole time keeping him alive? {{spoiler|The fact that Kain doesn't ''need'' that heart to survive was pretty whammy too}}.
* ''[[Live a Live]]'', at the climax of Oersted's chapter.
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening|Link's Awakening]]'': Between the fifth and sixth dungeons, it turns out that the whole game is a dream, [[Dream Apocalypse|and by finishing your quest, you'll effectively destroy the island and everyone on it.]]
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past|
▲** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]'': A few come to mind.
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|Skyward Sword]]'': A few come to mind.
*** Link finally catches up to Zelda, and instead of simply saving her/seeing her get captured, he's ''reprimanded'' by Impa for being too late and not being strong enough to watch over Zelda, as well as having to watch his childhood friend disappear, ''yet again''. Ouch.
*** When Link catches up to Zelda once again, this time after proving he has enough strength to help Zelda, you'd expect a happy reunion, but what does he get? A stab in the back when Zelda confesses she manipulated Link with his feelings for her, as well as the awfulness of having to watch Zelda seal herself in a crystal for goodness knows how long. The look on Link's face says it all.
* ''[[Hellgate:London]]'' attempts to end on
* ''[[The King of Fighters]] XIII'' is considered to be THE [[Wham! Episode]] by many fans.
** The entire "Tales of Ash" [[Arc|saga]] was one long string of WHAM: [[Complete Monster|Rugal]] has ''children'', Ash Crimson [[Brought Down to Normal|steals]] Chizuru and Iori's powers, [[Standard Evil Organization Squad|Those from the Past]] [[Brainwashed and Crazy|manipulate]] Chizuru into breaking [[Sealed Evil in a Can|the seal on]] [[Orochi]], etc. ''XIII'' and its climax just happened to be the icing on the cake.
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** Chapter 15 is pretty wham. 14 ends with you questioning what you knew about your own identity. 15 starts with you arriving at the superintendent's office and {{spoiler|seeing ''yourself'' giving the villain monologue to Cabanela.}}
** The chapter where you finally discover the identity of "the man in red" {{spoiler|and that you're not him.}}
* ''[[Heavy Rain]]'', ye gods. You finally discover the identity of the killer... {{spoiler|
* ''[[Gears of War]] 3'' has the chapter appropriately titled "Brothers To The End." {{spoiler|Dom sacrifices himself to save Marcus and his comrades against an unstoppable horde of Locust and Lambent.}}
** The realization/reveal that {{spoiler|Imulsion - the "miracle fuel" and Lambent creator found all throughout Sera - is actually a single, planet-wide parasitic entity that [[Bigger Bad|won't stop until every other living thing on Sera has been either killed or infected]].}}
** In ''2'', there is scene where Dom {{spoiler|finds Maria. After a brief shot of her looking young and healthy, Dom admits the truth: She is a broken and tortured wreck. The scene ends when he is forced to [[Mercy Kill]] her.}}
* ''[[
** The newspapers would count, too.
* ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]''
** [[Grand Theft Auto Vice City|Vice City]]: Lance Vance's betrayal.
** ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'' has a big damn WHAM in the mission ''The Green Sabre''. Not only are your best friends Ryder and Big Smoke revealed as working with the enemies (Tenpenny, C.R.A.S.H. and the Ballas) and responsible for the death of your mother in that fateful driveby, but your brother Sweet is shot and arrested, Grove Street goes to shit, you lose all the territory you'd captured up to this point, and you're taken out in the middle of nowhere by Tenpenny and Pulaski to kill a witness who has discovered their corrupt activities.
** ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' has one near the end when either you choose to side with Roman or Kate, the one you choose to side with gets killed in the wedding scenario.
** ''[[Grand Theft Auto:
* Discovering the ruins of {{spoiler|Sandover Village}} in ''[[Jak II Renegade]]''.
** Damas asking Jak to find his son in ''[[Jak 3]]'' and {{spoiler|realising it's Jak himself}}.
* ''[[Hatoful Boyfriend]]'': The Bad Boys Love Route is essentially this.
** Let's just put it this way: The game's primary concept is a [[dating sim]] where everyone but your character ''is a bird.'' The various routes include, amongst other things, a snobbish aristocrat, a narcoleptic teacher, a bookworm, and a dove with a ''severe'' craving for pudding. This route completely ''shatters'' any sense of silliness the others had. {{spoiler|For example, the very first thing that happens in it is that ''your character is murdered.''}}
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* In ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' when you discover the primary enemy is not behind the Luskans and Githyanki who have been chasing you the entire adventure. And when you discover the secret of the Spirit-eater curse in Mask of the Betrayer.
* ''[[Mother 3]]''. Chapter 1. The first level of the game is a [[Wham! Episode]] that sets the game's surprisingly dark tone.
** And the end of Chapter 8, though there are more which are not as shocking. As for [[MOTHER|the prequels]], even though not that dark and sad, bosses in the endgames tend to be whammy.
**
* ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'': STARTS with a wham when The Normandy is destroyed and Shepard DIES in the first five minutes of the game, then pulls a classic [[Unexplained Recovery]]. It then goes on to throw another wham in halfway through with the revelation that The Collectors are actually the supposedly extinct Protheans before the various possible endings, in one of which the entire team INCLUDING THE MAIN CHARACTER can all die and the game still ends with a "mission successful". Also? The Collector General is controlled by a Reaper and the Collectors are abducting human colonies so they can melt billions of them down into genetic paste, which they will use to build a new Reaper... this one modeled after humanity.
*** Mordin's loyalty mission, full stop. At first, Mordin is shown to be a morally gray but genuinely affable person and has moments and one-liners where he comes off as the game's designated comic relief. When you approach {{spoiler|a tarp containing a dead female krogan who willingly gave her life in experiments to cure the genophage}} in said mission, the wham moment hits and the normally talkative Mordin has a [[Heroic BSOD]]. He moves on and is back to his old self after the mission's conclusion, though.▼
▲** In short, the whole Mass Effect series is more like a series of Wham episodes in rapid succession.
*** Not to mention [[And Now for Someone Completely Different|Joker's mini-level]] just after the Reaper IFF is installed: Collectors invade the ''Normandy'' and abduct your ''entire crew''. Joker also has a disease that makes his bones brittle, so you can only move at a painful walk, in addition to having no weapons and being forced to watch helplessly as the crew gets dragged away. He pretty much said it best...▼
▲** Mordin's loyalty mission, full stop. At first, Mordin is shown to be a morally gray but genuinely affable person and has moments and one-liners where he comes off as the game's designated comic relief. When you approach {{spoiler|a tarp containing a dead female krogan who willingly gave her life in experiments to cure the genophage}} in said mission, the wham moment hits and the normally talkative Mordin has a [[Heroic BSOD]]. He moves on and is back to his old self after the mission's conclusion, though.
▲** Not to mention [[And Now for Someone Completely Different|Joker's mini-level]] just after the Reaper IFF is installed: Collectors invade the ''Normandy'' and abduct your ''entire crew''. Joker also has a disease that makes his bones brittle, so you can only move at a painful walk, in addition to having no weapons and being forced to watch helplessly as the crew gets dragged away. He pretty much said it best...
{{quote|''"Shitshitshitshit...."''}}
*** Aaaand then comes [[The Stinger]] at the end of ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', showing the Reapers [[Oh Crap|ALL activating and heading for the Milky Way.]] THEN comes Arrival, in which you find out that [[It Got Worse|the Reapers are hours away from the Alpha Relay (and thus hours away from Earth)...and your SadisticChoice of sacrificing 300,000 lives to buy two months-to-a-year of time.]] Cue [[Mass Effect 3]] teaser trailer (and [[Word of God]] about the beginning of the game), showing that the Reapers ''are already attacking Earth en masse''.
** In ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', every time the storyline swings back to the Citadel, things go awry. The first time, you learn of the galaxy-wide scope of the Reaper invasion and how no other species is capable of sending help to Earth. The second time, Councilor Udina {{spoiler|is a mole for Cerberus and has helped them launch a coup against the Council}}. The [[Rule of Three|third time]], you're sent to {{spoiler|Thessia where Shepard suffers his/her first real [[The Bad Guy Wins|defeat]] complete with an extra serving of [[Gut Punch]]}}. [[Four Is Death|The fourth time]] the Citadel is once again {{spoiler|the [[Very Definitely Final Dungeon]], the Catalyst, and you discover who created the Reapers -- and [[Turned Against Their Masters|why]]}}.
* In ''[[Mortal Kombat: Deception]]'' you find out that Noob Saibot is actually the original Sub-Zero from ''[[Mortal Kombat (video game)|MK1]]''.
** Oh, there's so many more whammy stuff in the games than that, practically one in each game:
** ''MK1'': Reptile.
** ''MK3'': Shao Kahn slips into Earthrealm and slaughters almost the entire population of the planet.
** ''MK4/MK Gold'': Raiden's ascension to Elder God Status, Quan Chi's reveal that he slaughtered Scorpion's clan and family and has the true amulet of Shinnok's, and Kitana's peace treaty between the Shokan and Centaurs.
** ''[[Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance]]'': [[Our Hero Is Dead|Liu Kang's death.]]
** ''[[Mortal Kombat: Deception]]'': [[The Bad Guy Wins|Our heroes fall, the Dragon King rises]].
** ''[[Mortal Kombat Armageddon]]'': Taven's ending.
** ''[[Mortal Kombat 9|Mortal Kombat (2011)]]'' {{spoiler|If the intro is to be believed, then Shao Kahn [[The Bad Guy Wins|won the events of]] ''Armageddon''. That's why Raiden contacted his past self to try and keep it all from happening...}}
*** And that [[Blatant Lies|minor detail]] is just ''[[Beyond the Impossible|the tip of the iceberg]]''. About halfway through the story, the game kicks WHAM into overdrive and never looks back. {{spoiler|
* The death of Wheely Engberg in ''[[Myst]] Online'' certainly qualifies: trapped underground for a few days, kept alive by a beast who the players weren't sure was helping her or just keeping her alive, then brutally slaughtered moments before rescue. Yeeeah.
* ''[[No More Heroes]]'' has the conclusion of the rank 6 battle: When Travis Touchdown [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl|can't bring himself to finish off Holly Summers]], she commits suicide via a grenade in her mouth. Afterwards, he respectfully gives her a proper burial. This is the first sign that Travis might not be such a [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath|unsympathetic jerk]] [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|after all]].
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** Similarly, [[Portal 2|the sequel]] smacks you with similar wham episodes. Some of the whammiest, organised by chapter:
*** "The Courtesy Call": GLaDOS wakes up. {{spoiler|Wheatley}} dies, and Chell's thrown back in the [[Death Course]].
*** "The Escape:" More running around behind the scenes, which ends with Chell {{spoiler|
*** "The Reunion:" {{spoiler|
*** "[[This Is the Part Where|The Part Where]] {{spoiler|He Kills You}}: The final-boss fight. {{spoiler|
* The ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' series' fame is based to a very high degree on it's numerous Wham Levels.
** In the first game, Sniper Wolf has not just one but two, and she appears in only three scenes. In the first one, she shots Meryl in the middle of a conversation and keeps shoting at her arms and legs to draw Snake out from cover, while at the same time Meryl tells him to leave her and run. Which you have to do. A few hours later, you get back on her by fatally shoting her with your own new sniper rifle. Her death scene lasts almost 8 minutes and despite what she did to Meryl is still a contender for the biggest [[Tear Jerker]] of the series.
** Later there is the fight with the Metal Gear, which isn't so remarkable for being the games boss fight, but for the death of the Cyborg Ninja in the preceding cutscene. {{spoiler|He was revealed to be Snakes only true friend, whom he thought he killed, but had been brainwashed and turned into a cyborg. In his last attempt to resists his controllers, he saves Snakes life, but in turn is crushed under Metal Gear's foot. And he also revealed that his adopted sister is actually the daughter of two farmers he murdered.}}
** The reveals that {{spoiler|Master Miller}} was dead the whole time and that {{spoiler|Naomi}} is still the traitor.
** ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' has its own fair share, particularly when Vamp comes out of nowhere and fatally stabs {{spoiler|Emma}} in the back. As in the first game, death isn't instantly but comes only about a quarter hour later.
** Later, the death of Olga, which is much shorter, but no less tragic than that of Sniper Wolf. Yes, she was an enemy as well.
** ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]''. The first Wham comes at the end of the James Bond style prolog level when it is revealed that Snakes best friend and teacher The Boss defects to a rogue russian colonel, stole two atomic bombs, then proceeds to beat Snake close to death in a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] and throws him from a bridge into a river far below. And then the russian colonel fires one of the nukes.
** After beating The Boss in the games final boss fight, she is (again) still alive and forces Snake to finish her. The cutscene stops for just a moment when Snake puts the gun at her head, but every button but 'fire' is disabled.
** After finishing his mission and escaping with his [[Bond Girl]] EVA, Snakes wakes up the next morning to find that she had drugged him and stole the [[MacGuffin]] everything had been about, but she left him with a tape explaining her actions. To make things even worse, she also tells him {{spoiler|that the Boss was only a [[Fake Defector]] and loyal to America all the time. But since unexpectedly american nukes were fired at russian bases, they needed a scapegoat and convince everyone that she was an actual traitor. Having her executed by her pupil and best friend was regarded as the only way to make sure of that.}}
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* ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'''s Web Of Intrigue videos go from interesting background to holy-shit-mindfuckery in a single sentence: "Tell me about PARIAH."
** The reveal that Alex Mercer {{spoiler|not only released Blacklight, but also really ''did'' die. You're just the virus animating his corpse and using his memories}}.
* ''[[Phantasy Star II]]'': There are several, some of which have become pretty common in [[RPG
* In ''[[Okami]]'', there's a series of "Wham" moments after the Water Dragon dies. First you learn that the dragon was actually the King of the Dragonians. Then Otohime has a vision of Rao being attacked by a monster. You run off to save her, discovering a tunnel leading to the queen's palace from Rao's temple. When you reach the throne room, you discover that Himiko has been murdered, ''then'' that the Rao you've known all along is actually the Demon Lord Ninetails, who killed the original and replaced her, and you played straight into his hands by retrieving and ''giving him'' the Fox Rods. Finally, after a boss fight with him, he declares that [[The Battle Didn't Count]], and escapes to Oni Island, which is now inaccessible because the Water Dragon, who could break the barrier around the island, and Himiko, who could determine where Oni Island is, are both dead. [[Unwitting Pawn|Well,]] [[Oh Crap|crap]].
* ''[[Mega Man X|Mega Man X4]]'' is the [[Wham! Episode]] of the series. [[Narm|Most of it anyway.]] Mavericks that have more to do with a political standpoint instead of [[The Virus]], making the aforementioned Mavericks in this game even more tragic, [[I Let Gwen Stacy Die|Iris' death]] where it was the first time [[Heroic BSOD|Zero ever felt grief]], and [[Foreshadowing|X wondering if he can keep doing the same thing over and over]] (although the last one [[Fauxshadow|was subverted]]). The whole thing even ''started off'' with a WHAM: A [[Nightmare Sequence]] where ''Dr. Wily'' appears for the first time in the ''X'' series, and to his "masterpiece" Zero, no less!
* ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl|Pokémon Platinum]]'' pulls this off during one of the final battles against Cyrus. "Gotta stop the bad guy from taking over/destroying the universe...Eh, wait? Did he just awaken [[Eldritch Abomination|an inter-dimensional]] ''[[Eldritch Abomination|god (IE: Giratina)]]''?! And is now going into an [[Alien Geometries|alternate-universe where the laws of physics are completely screwed-up?]] [[Oh Crap|Damn...]]"
** Not to mention the three lakes arc. "Oh, that organization with the silly dress code is up to no good? No worries, just point me in the direction of their secret base and I'll go take care of them after this next gym--wait, what was that tremor just now? Sweet mother of mercy, did they just ''blow up Lake Valor?''" At that point, the game proceeds to [[Player Punch|repeatedly sock you in the gut]] as you try and fail to protect the Lake Trio. ''Then'' [[It Got Worse|you learn why Cyrus went after them in the first place.]] Compared to these guys, Team Rocket was a bunch of [[Rule-Abiding Rebel|Rule Abiding Rebels]].
** ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver|Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver]]'' pull this off as well. Remember Silver? Your rival? Guess what... he's Giovanni's son.
*** And how do you figure that out? You travel back in time and fight him, after which he may or may not have committed suicide.
** And in ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue]]'', when everything was new. A lot of people went [[Heroic BSOD]] when they discovered that Giovanni was the last Gym Leader.
** Also back in the first generation, though this is now standard knowledge amongst even the most casual of fans, the fact that there is a final boss ''beyond'' the Elite Four, and that it's ''your [[The Rival|Rival]]'', likely caused some jaws to drop.
** Remember how the Elite Four and championship run usually goes in these games? Well it doesn't go so smoothly in ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]''. You see, after defeating the Elite Four, you then go to take on the champion, Alder... who has already lost to the now champion N. Then a ''gigantic goddamn castle rises out of the ground.'' Then his version's legendary shows up to take you on. Just then, yours awakens, forcing you to catch it. After this, you battle and defeat N. Story over? Not quite. Then Ghestis shows up and tells N that he'd been a tool his entire life for just the purpose of fulfilling the requirements of the legend and basically throws him out. Then Ghestis battles you, after which he disappears and N flies away with his dragon.
* ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers]] Of Time/Darkness/Sky'' has a rather (in)famous one. The game starts off with you mysteriously becoming a Pokémon and deciding to help your new friends rescue other Pokémon and arrest small-time crocks. And then you find out that the God Of Time is going insane, you're from the future, one of the criminals you're trying to arrest is your former partner back when you were human... Oh, and an unspeakable evil wants to KILL you so that he can plunge the world into eternal darkness.
* In ''[[Opoona]]'' for most of the game Landroll seems to be a pretty nice place, besides little signs of corruption and bureaucracy. Once you reach four-star rank your finally able to go to Sanctuary where your parents are recovering, and meet with the planet's leader. At which point he suddenly blasts you both with an energy ball and turns you into [[Stepford Smiler
* ''[[The Neverhood]]'''s "Battle of Robot Bil" cutscene probably counts as this. The game is a [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?]] [[Widget Series]] full of bizarre humour, so it's quite hard to be emotionally prepared for {{spoiler|Klaymen's two allies abruptly getting killed off by the [[Big Bad]]}}.
* The ending of the cargo ship level in ''[[Mirror's Edge]]'' reveals that {{spoiler|the runners have been sold out to the cops by other runners who decided to rather submit to corrupt government than to die fighting a battle they cannot win. In an unusual subversion of [[La Résistance]], [[Les Collaborateurs]] may actually be right.}}
* The final act of ''[[
* ''[[Manhunt]] 2'': "Origins" reveals {{spoiler|Leo is a serial killer split personality implanted to Danny}}.
** The levels where you play as Leo really counts: {{spoiler|having killed Michael, Danny's best friend, destroying his records, and killing Danny's wife}}.
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* ''[[Warriors Orochi|Musou Orochi 2]]''. So let's say that the game begins with the description that Da Ji came back with a 9-headed gigantic dragon that [[Everybody's Dead, Dave|killed everybody from WO originals, all characters from DW2-7XL, all characters from SW1-3XL]]. With just Ma Chao, Sima Zhao and Takenaka Hanbei being sent to the past by Kaguya to prevent the onslaught. At that point, the "[[Excuse Plot]] of uniting DW and SW together in one game" evolves into a much more serious story.
* ''[[The Reconstruction]]'' has multiple ones, usually [[Mood Whiplash|dispelling any pretenses that the game is going to be a happy-go-lucky adventure story]].
** The first (and therefore, most prominent) is "To Ascend", the final quest of chapter 3. Up until that point, the story reads like a fairly typical [[Heroic Fantasy]] adventure story, with a few hints of a greater, overarching plot and only a few very serious moments. You'll probably think that it'll maintain the fairly carefree, happy-go-lucky vibe the heroes have going on. Well, at least, until {{spoiler|[[Sacrificial Lamb|Metzino]] ''[[Mood Whiplash|gets thrown off the Faithall Tower]]'', you fight your first boss fight with a human character (who dies bloodily), and the entire mess ends in a giant [[Downer Ending]] revealing that the characters were [[Unwitting Pawn
** The second is interlude 4, the resolution of Dehl's backstory that delivers on tons of foreshadowing dropped throughout the game. It starts off innocuously enough, with peaceful humans arriving on Dehl's island, and Dehl then going off to find his father. {{spoiler|In the process, he discovers his father's secret 'laboratory', which is ''swathed in blood and has bloody Sikohlon corpses chained to the walls''. Dehl's father rambles about how he killed everyone to try and isolate a cure for the Blue Plague, and Dehl is just barely able to come out alive through the manifestation of his pseudo-magic powers -- which causes his father to be graphically impaled by a sword and die. Then Dehl makes it to the mainland and accidentally infects Skint with the Blue Plague, who then causes an outbreak when he is stabbed [[In the Back]], since the Plague is spread by bloodshed.}}
** Finally, there is chapter 6, wherein {{spoiler|the entire plot goes [[Off the Rails]] as the Watchers are murdered, ten years pass in the blink of an eye for the characters, and [[The End of the World as We Know It|the world ends]].}} It happens very late in the story, though.
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== S-Z ==
* What happens after you defeat Rouge or lose to him in ''[[
** If you lost to Rouge it becomes a Triple [[Wham! Episode]].
* Seriously? No mention at all of ''[[Silent Hill 2]]''? {{spoiler|The fact that James had killed Mary all along and the letter was just a hallucination?}} Dang.
* The ending of the second ''[[Sly Cooper]]'' game has [[Big Bad|Clockwerk]] killed for good, Bentley crippled, Murray leaving the team, and Sly in apparent custody (although he quickly escapes).
* ''[[
** And the Zerg invasion on Aiur. And Tassadar's sacrifice. And the UED's arrival. And Raynor rescuing Mengsk from them. And the alliance with Kerrigan. And Kerrigan's betrayal. Not to ''speak'' of "Dark Origins".
** After all the 'Romance that cannot be' between Raynor and Kerrigan, Raynor (after Kerrigan kills his closest friend Fenix) telling Kerrigan with deadly seriousness that he is going to kill her. Unfortunately they seemed to have Retconned this in ''[[
* ''StarCraft II'' has many:
** The secret mission "Piercing the Shroud" in which we see that {{spoiler|Megnsk is creating protoss/zergs hybrids, although it's implied thta he had external help}}.
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** ''[[Tales of Graces]]'': Right in the prologue: Sophie dies (okay EXPLODES) after a mostly fun light-hearted adventurous day. Asbel's brother is also forcibly leaving the family to join another. Asbel runs away to join a knight academy. Everything else afterwards just spirals into a whole WHAM game.
* After clearing Day 7 of ''[[The World Ends With You]]'', Neku starts the game all over again, from Day 1, and Shiki is his new entry fee. Worsening matters is [[And Now for Someone Completely Different|his new partner]], [[Replacement Scrappy|Joshua]].
** Is that all? What, you thought the game was going to be only one week and all those other characters we had been shown would have just been forgotten? A much bigger wham is Day 4's ending, where, with no lead-up at all, Rhyme
*** The ending of Day 5 qualifies as well, when you find out that [[Dead to Begin With|everyone playing the Game is dead, including the protagonists]].
** The end of the game, where you find out the villain is actually very sympathetic, ''succeed'' in pulling an epic [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]], discover that a certain character is neither dead nor anything like you thought he was, ''and'' that Neku has only convinced him that Shibuya needs to be erased.
** The 21st Secret Report, obtainable on the post-game scenario. ''[[Alternate Universe|Another Week]]''. To explain: the Secret Reports are a series of [[Backstory|internal documents]], [[Guide Dang It|obtainables under certain conditions]], that tell the story of some angel from [[Another Dimension|a different existential plane]] that was sent to investigate the Shibuya game, retrieve the Composer, and [[Set Right What Once Was Wrong|set everything right]]. {{Spoiler|Turns out that this individual entered in cahoots with the Composer, which makes him now a [[Fallen Angels|fallen angel]], helped another character to learn a [[Forbidden Technique]], and has to live in a dimension where [[Alternate Self|another version of him who]] exists, so he has to live hidden since [[Never the Selves Shall Meet]] (as they may report and arrest him). Oh, and the identity of this individual? Sanae Hanekoma, the creator of Gatito and one of the most helpful characters in the game}}
* The climax of Chapter 3 of ''[[World of Goo]]'', "Product Launcher." 'Product Z will change the world,' [[Mega Corp|they]] said. Ohhhh, yeah.
* ''[[Tenchu]] 2''. Tatsumaru's amnesia induced [[Face Heel Turn]].
* ''[[TIE Fighter]]'': The minesweeping mission where your entire wing turns against you. Including the Star Destroyer. Most of the rest of the game is taken up by dealing with the treacherous Imperials. It is the only mission in the entire series where the only primary objective is to survive.
* ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'' has Chapter 6 where you actually ''fail'' at recovering the [[MacGuffin]] before the Void destroys Sammer's Kingdom.
** And if that's not bad enough, right after you finish ''that'' chapter, one of the members of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] pops in and ''kills your entire party'' with a snap of his fingers in a ''brutal'' subversion of [[No Sneak Attacks]]. You all get better, but still, ''damn.''
* The moment in ''[[Wild
* ''[[The Witcher]]'' ends each chapter with a Wham, but the end of chapter four, when hostilities between sects reach flashpoint indicates just how significantly everything will change. It accelerates from there through the crumbling, blazing city.
* ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' season one had the last-but-one episode reveal the [[Big Bad]] of the season, the magician Hugh Bliss. This being a [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?|Sam and Max]] game, we can expect [[Mind Screw|mindscrews]], but still.
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** Every episode ending in season 3. The skeleton, Sam discovering Max brainless. Suddenly a certain futurevision at Mama Boscos lab makes sense.
* ''Ultima VII: Part 2'': You finally catch up to Batlin, in order to stop him from performing the ritual to summon the Guardian. You fail, he fails, and your companions become avatars of unbalanced Chaos, bringing about near-Armageddon for the world.
* The end of ''[[Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge]]'' and beginning of ''[[Monkey Island 3]]''. You learn that {{spoiler|
* Episode 4 of ''[[Tales of Monkey Island]]'', featuring Morgan Le Flay's death, the revelation that the Voodoo Lady has apparently been behind everything in the entire series ever, the Marquis De Singe's death, LeChuck revealing he never had a [[Heel Face Turn]] after all by killing Guybrush...and on top of that, Demon LeChuck is once again voiced by Earl Boen, who had been replaced with two other actors!
** Especially well played considering they managed to name the episode ''[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood]]'' and STILL keep it a shocker. Considering this series' history, you might expect the "execution" to either be cleverly staged, immediately undone with voodoo, or an [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]. Nope. As of the end of the episode, ''Guybrush is dead.''
* While we're on [[Nasuverse|Type-Moon]] Visual Novels, ''[[Tsukihime]]''. Hisui's route, True End. Kohaku did it. She did EVERYTHING.
* The [[Twist Ending|Trick Twist]] in ''[[Silent Hill: Shattered Memories]]'' definitely qualifies. Not only do you get the [[Wham! Episode|Wham Moment]] of having been ''Cheryl'' in the psychiatrist's office, but that's coupled with the fact that you then realize that everything you encountered on the way there was something ''she actually experienced''! Climax Studios earned its name with that one.
* Throughout the game, ''[[Tin Star]]'' manages to set a formula. Every day, Tin Star goes around town resolving crimes committed by [[Big Bad|Black Bart]] and his gang, and ends each day with a [[Showdown At High Noon]] against someone. Saturday eventually comes
* ''[[Super Robot Wars W]]'' has Chapter 27, "[[Gundam Seed|And then, to the endless tomorrow]]", which follows the events of the ''[[GaoGaiGar]]'' finale (Itself quite whammy) with the deaths of [[Detonator Orgun|Orgun]], [[Tekkaman Blade|Rapier]] and [[Original Generation|Kazuya's dad]] at the hands of the until-then unknown [[Big Bad]]. Who, by the way, is related to [[The Hero]]. Oh, and because of all that, the heroes failed to stop the ''[[Gundam Seed|Bloody Valentine Incident]]''. Cue [[Time Skip]] where the entire gang splits.
* ''[[STALKER]]: Shadow of Chernobyl'' has the meeting with Doctor in the [[Nightmare Fuel|Agroprom Underground]], where the player learns {{spoiler|that [[Tomato in the Mirror|they are Strelok]].}}
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** In the recent pre-Cataclysm events, Horde gets a much larger wham. You know all those tigers on the Echo Isles you've been killing for quests? They're {{spoiler|TROLL DRUIDS.}}
*** Possibly, some of them. To say that it was true of all of them would be a stretch.
** Post-Cataclysm - the fate of ''[http://www.wowhead.com/quest=24573 Honoring the Dead]''. For ''anyone'' that had leveled up in the Barrens, it was possibly the most depressing quest that Blizzard has put in the game, due to the [[Heroic Sacrifice
** In ''Stonetalon Mountains Post-Cataclysm'', the ''neutral'' druid school (with both Night Elves and Tauren) is bombed by a Horde commander until absolutely nothing but a crater is left. While for the Horde you see it coming, Alliance has no idea that the bomb they've been chasing throughout the zone is going to be used on ''schoolchildren.''
{{quote|{{spoiler|Omusa's Spirit says: No, stay with the others. Escort them north, away from the fighting. I will stay here with the wyverns and cover your escape. Go!}}}}
* ''[[Undertale]]'' is filled to the brim to this.
** Flowey's fame of being a [[Walking Spoiler]] comes from the number of Whams he invokes, the very first of those being his berating speech at the end of the Ruins, that not only changes if you reset the game and took different actions (a thing players tend to do even this early due to the [[Player Punch|punches]] thegame plays on them), he also ''mentions the actions from your anterior gameplay''. Flowey ''[[Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory|remembers]]''.
**Depending of the route, meeting {{Spoiler|Sans}} in the palace hall in New Home will inflict you two very distinct Wham!s.
*** In the Neutral/Pacifist routes, he will explain you [[The Reveal|what EXP and LOVE/LV ''actually'' mean]] before [[You Bastard|judging you for your actions]].
*** In the Genocide/NoMercy route, you will fight him. You may dismiss him as weak due to its ridiculously low level and HP. Said fight is probably [[That One Boss|the hardest one in all the game]], and the things he says during it paints a [[Hidden Depths|very different picture]] from the personality he showed thorough the game.
** On that matter, the whole of New Home. You enter the palace, only to find that the place is identical, yet sightly different to Toriel's house in the Ruins, in poignant ways that point on whoever living there misses her deeply. Keep going past this, thorough the different hallways, and different monsters will tell you the sad story of the royal family, {{Spoiler|which involve them adopting a human kid who after some time died from a horrible illness, which was followed by the death of their biological child after he used the soul of his deceased sibling to go thorough the barrier and bring his body back to the humans, a folly that only caused his death.}} [[Fridge Horror|Then the actual dimension of the tragedy dawns on you]].
** The True Lab, that you can only access in the Pacifist route, is probably the biggest wham episode in the game, not counting the final battles. Oh boy... {{Spoiler|Alphys, the nice shy scientist you just helped to confess to her love interest? She once experimented using [[Arc Words|Determination]], a substance she distilled from human souls, that she theorized it was the main reason of human resilience and that could be used as an enhancer of monsters' power, only to discover that monsters actually can't handle it when her patients/subjects melted and joined with other melting monsters into [[And I Must Scream|horrible amalgamations]]; the guilt of this failure [[Driven to Suicide|nearly drove her to off herself]] and even during the game events most of her actions were [[The Atoner|to atone for it]]. The illness that claimed the life of the original fallen child? Turns out it was [[Driven to Suicide|actually self inflicted]], in a [[Thanatos Gambit]] to get the human souls needed to break the barrier for once and all, that [[Go Horribly Wrong|went horribly wrong]], Oh, and the tapes where this revelation is done, along with the dialogue while fighting the Amalgamates, also contain the first hint that the character you named at the beginning of the game and the character you are actually playing are ''not'' the same person. You had the luck of getting the ominous signs about the [[Ret-Gone|forgotten scientist]] W.D. Gaster? You may get the report that chronicles the possible accident that erased him out of existence. But the biggest wham is the discovery of what, or, more exactly, ''who'' Flowey is, and how he came to be: he was an ordinary flower Alphys injected with Determination as an experiment to see its effects over non-human beings. Said flower was collected from the place a monster died, and it was still full of monster dust, so both substances interacted in such a way that not only gave the flower life, but the memories of the deceased monster, [[The Heartless|only without a soul to handle its emotions]]. The original flower was collected from the king's garden, [[Oh Crap|where his son died]]...}}
** How about the final fights of each route?
*** Neutral Route: {{Spoiler|Confront Asgore, and the first thing he'll do is [[Painting the Medium|destroy the Mercy button]]. After your character weakened Asgore and while is having mercy on him, Flowey appears and finishes him. Turns out this demonic flower has been following you ''the entire time''. He then takes the six human souls and transforms into the [[Eldrich Abomination]] known by fans as Omega Flowey, hell bent on killing you.}}
*** Pacifist/Good Route: Better summed for its [[Wham! Line]]s "Let's just say... {{Spoiler|a tiny flower helped me}}" and "It's me, your best friend {{Spoiler|ASRIEL DREEMURR}}". Oh boy! {{Spoiler|If this confirmation of what the True Lab implied was the origin of Flowey isn't shocking enough, let's say that Asriel comes back into existence by taking not only the Human Souls but also ''the souls of all your friends and of every monster soul in the Underworld''. He is the [[Final Boss]] of the game, and he is also under the delusion that your character was his deceased best friend, the Fallen Child, a.k.a. ''the character you named at the beginning of the game''.}}
*** No Mercy/Bad Route: {{Spoiler|After [[That One Boss|the fight with Sans]], you arrive with Asgore, who was with Flowey. The flower realized that he wasn't going to be excepted from your cruelty and tried to warn Asgore. You kill the king easily, and then the flower in an extremely brutal and unsettling manner. Then the original Fallen Child appears, thanking you for showing them the real emotion of cruelty, and giving you what's probably the worst [[But Thou Must!]] on videogames' history, as the "choice" is ''destroying the world''. Which happens whether you agree to it or not. Reopening the game after this results in a black screen that last for several minutes, until the Fallen Child reappears and [[Deal with the Devil|offers you to remake the world, for the cheap price of ''your SOUL'']]. Should you agree to this, the game resets back to normal, but every replay is permanently marred.}}
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