Clichés are found in everything from music to movies to anything where creativity finds a home. This is no different with the video game medium which mimics past ideas to no end. Why tamper with a formula for success? Repetition has been the basis of our great civilization, and so it comes as no surprise that there are numerous clichés in the video game medium. Some of the clichés we can do with. Some of them actually make us happy when we see them all the time. Others however are just plain annoying and we will go through these in this list. Here then are the top 10 most used clichés in video game history.

10. Super Soldier

It seems to be that every 3D game has some form of a Super Soldier that can destroy entire worlds on their own and dominate beasts that are 10 sizes his size; not that we don’t like a good David and Goliath story once in awhile, but enough of the Super Soldiers. A salient example of the super solider is in Halo where “you are a genetically altered , elite super solider”. Does “elite” really need to be stated in Halo? Isn’t it already implied by every 3D shooter game before it and by the conjoining adjective “Super”? Why can’t the protagonists in these games be something else like a car mechanic or a garbage man? Where is the parody in modern games like these?

9. Space Marines

Along with Super Soldiers, there are too many games with Space Marines. Starcraft and the Warhammer 40K games are perfect examples. How about Space Monkeys? How about Space astronauts? Now there’s an idea. Play a game as a space astronaut who has to learn fighting skills while landing on a planet for the first time. Yes. we get it though; there are space marines that have machine guns, who wear body suits that are overly inflated and speak like gruffly bearded commandos. Move on to something else. This shit gets boring quick.

8. A Chosen One

How many RPG’s and adventure games have you played in your life where you are first recognized as “The Chosen One”? What the fuck is with all this savior syndrome in these games? Fuck it, I don’t want to be the chosen one. I want to be the least chosen one for the mission. I want the fairy tale God to come down in the beginning of the game and say “You’re the least chosen one, but yet you have to save the world”. This is why Mario was so innovative. Whoever thought to make a plumber “the chosen one” was an utter genius. Out of all the championed possibilities of being a chosen one, Nintendo decided to use a plumber. No wonder why we love Nintendo so much.

7. The Hero Starts the Game in Bed

How many video games are there where the teenage male lead will begin the first day of the game in bed oversleeping, being woken up by his mother, and being reminded that he’s slept in so late he missed meeting his girlfriend. Our much beloved Zelda Link To the Past follows the same kind of trend (well not the girlfriend part), as does Chrono Trigger. For 3 or 4 games, starting the game out in bed rule is fine, but at some point I want the developer to explain why the fuck the guy I’m supposed to be controlling can’t fucking wake up except when he needs to save the world and a woman.

6. Hero’s Town gets destroyed

What is the single most common reason why a hero in a video game has to go on a quest for vengeance? It’s because his town gets destroyed. This idea has been run to the ground in the adventure and RPG mediums. Why can’t there be different reasons for a hero leaving a town to get vengeance? How about a brutal taxation system by a fascist or monarchical government? What about the bad guys building a dam near the town so everyone in the town becomes malnourished without food? How fun would that be? You have to go out and first destroy a dam, then chase around the nefarious bastards who came up with this actually very clever idea.

5. Hero only has one parent.

Can anyone name an RPG where the RPG characters have both of their parents? These RPG’s many times take place in antiquated ages so you weren’t able to get divorced. Oh yeah, the father died in a battle with a villain you have to eventually face, or the mother was captured by the same villainous enemy. This idea has been over-done. Oh yeah, something happens to the parent in the beginning of the game which frees the protagonist from any familial responsibility. Snore fest. Let’s see some creativity. Why doesn’t the one parent gain an ambition to be an Olympic runner and tell their child that they can’t be with them anymore because they need to practice marathon running. This will really get the child motivated to do some destruction!

4. All Prophecies Come True During the Course of the Game

The cliche is in almost every adventure game ever made for the video game medium. All legends are 100% accurate that are told throughout the game. Not only that, but all the rumors in these games are also 100% factual. All prophecies come true too. Forget the fact that legends and prophecies are founded on the mystery of them possibly not coming true. They always come true in any adventure game with a prophet wanting to propheteer, and the prophecy usually comes true immediately, like right when you leave his candlelit cave.

3. WW2 Games

How many wars have there been in the history of the world? Anyone who can count the exact amount will get a free Old-Wizard T-shirt. For the TV (History Channel), movie and video game medium though, there is only one war. That is good ol’ World War 2. Sure, we understand the importance of World War 2. We understand how The United States became the most powerful country in the world afterwards, but do we really have to keep rehashing this war in every new war themed video game that gets released? What about the Great Northern War, or even the subtle forays into Bosnia and Cambodia? And why the fuck does every guy in your squad have to have a West Virginian accent smoking some bullshit cigarette?

2. Food that completely fills your energy

Picture this; you’re about to die and are gasping for your final breath. You’re rushed to the emergency room, and what does the doctor give you? A roasted chicken. You eat the chicken and walk out as if nothing happened. Could you imagine what would happen in the real world if all your physical and mental ailments could be solved by a piece of chicken? What would happen to modern medicine? All modern doctors would have to become nutritionists, or at least know how to use an oven. From Gauntlet to Castlevania, the most inane pieces of food are able to make you feel better. There’s gushing blood coming out of your arm from being attacked by a warrior or a skeleton, and somehow a piece of chicken heals it. Are we just supposed to assume they used the roasted chicken as a bandage?

1. Saving a Princess

Don’t get me wrong, some of my favorite games involve saving a princess. Super Mario 1 and 3, Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past, and even more recently Super Mario Galaxy; but why does it always have to be a princess? Surely the imagination can conjure up a better quest than a damsel in distress. How are princesses always being kidnapped anyway? Don’t these kingdoms have any security? And why are they always being kidnapped anyway? Is it because they’re all virgins? Do the nefarious bosses of these games want to keep the princesses virgins for a reason? Are there other reasons that the villains kidnap the princess besides obvious sexual reasons? We may never know the answers to these question, but as long as there are new video games being made, its a sure bet that more princesses will be kidnapped.


Via Old-wizard.com