How Do You Make Fun Unlockables?

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Unlocks aren't complicated systems, but what they can bring to a game is complex. Unlocks can serve a number of game design goals to help make a game more fun and keep it interesting to a player over the long term. Today we're talking about how to make fun game unlockables, how to pair criteria and prizes to get the effect you want, and take a tour through one of my favorites, Smash Bros' unlockables.
Featuring:
Smash Bros (all of them)
Warioware: Get It Together
Psychonauts 2
Mini Motorways
Devil May Cry
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Kingdom Hearts 2
Streets of Rage 4
Sonic Mega Collection
Super Mario World
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania
Goldeneye 64
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Design Doc on Twitter: / warbot400
#smashbros #gamedesign #warioware

[@rage_2000]

“You can now play as Luigi”

[@vuboy122288]

You dont play as luigi: he wins on his own doing nothing.

[@NinjaPickle]

The 6 most important words in human history

[@hilotakenaka]

“You can now play on Easy Mode”

[@aidankocherhans9861]

@@hilotakenaka pokemon white 2

[@goblinoide]

You left two comments on this video, and both are decent. Nice work. Most comments on youtube are shit.

[@rage_2000]

23:12 “this is scratching the surface of what unlock systems can do” Can’t wait to unlock the rest

[@cmdraftbrn]

for the low low price 99 99 99 you took can buy this unlock

[@miserablepumpkin9453]

...You. I like you.

[@jellycore1316]

AYYY HAH XD

[@cal5365]

The worst is the reward unlock that is completely useless once you get it and would have only been useful in the task you were doing to achieve it.

[@daniel_361]

That's why I like when games' final rewards for 100% or challenge modes are useless, like the golden turd in BotW. If a player goes all the way to get everything a game has to offer or to beat the most difficult challenges, it's already clear they're doing it for the sake of it, not because they expect a useful reward.

[@dillon3213]

Kind of like the Ultima weapon from kingdom hearts 3d

[@ShinigamiKristak]

TVTropes has a name for it: Bragging-Rights Rewards.

[@juanrodriguez9971]

Yeah, I prefer way more just a cool mark on my main screen rather than a powerful weapon which becomes useless and will never see the light of day.

[@cesarkopp2]

@@juanrodriguez9971 I like mechanics as rewards. Give me clip mode, infinite ammo, god mode, superspeed, infinite combo... So I can at least broke some of the game rules and have some fun with mobs.

[@GameGod77]

I thought custom moves in smash were really fun, the main problem was the unlock process. The only people up to the task of unlocking them all were hardcore players, but everyone who actually wanted to use them were casual players. Was a HUGE disconnect in terms of design! I think custom moves should've been purchasable from a shop. Just naturally playing any game mode will give you coins, so accumulating them to spend on moves for your favourite characters would be a great goal to have.

[@amshigar0092]

Yeah, I had a lot of fun messing around with custom moves in Smash 4 once I actually got them all. Sure they were unbalanced, but they let me practically make my own moveset clones/echo fighters with some of the costume alts, and I really wish I could still do that in Ultimate with how much huger that roster is.

[@GameGod77]

@@amshigar0092 Also the fact the dlc fighters didn't have custom moves really sold their image as an after-thought.

[@styxranger436]

@@amshigar0092 me personally I feel like customs are more balanced than spirits looking back on it. Sure customs are busted but...y'know.

[@HaydenTheEeeeeeeeevilEukaryote]

there were so many things they couldve done give each character challenges to unlocking them design a campaign where many of them are exploration rewards use a character in each game mode to unlock some of theirs’ along the way, like maybe scoring high enough in target blast gets you up special 3 and beating classic on a high enough difficulty without dying gets you neutral special 2, for example and maybe throughout you unlock each of the moves, idk

[@monchete9934]

Yup. They were fun to play with on modes like Smash Run but if you wanted to unlock every single Custom Move it's a ridiculously grindy process.

[@peardude8979]

I’m surprised you didn’t mention any of the LEGO games. They’re all about unlockables. Playing through the story unlocks a good amount of characters, and you can use the studs you gained to buy the rest. Earning more gold bricks can also be used for cool stuff that varies from game to game. There’s also the ultra hidden red bricks, that unlock cheat codes for the game. It could be stud multipliers (that all stack), big head mode, infinite health, a minikit detector, all sorts of cheats are unlocked if you put in the effort and time to find them all.

[@cullenlatham2366]

but it also is not without its flaws. for one, the lego games all have the same unlocks when you boil it down to the categories you used. With no variation on the red brick powers, and some being cosmetic while others are functional, the mileage you get out of finding them varies. Detectors are all but required for completionists and multipliers break the game a bit too much. Red bricks are not the most complicated thing to get, even when they have the most devious puzzles, and depending on how early the functional ones are obtainable will greatly change the experience with the game. If a multiplier is found early and the player knows just how powerful they are, the high buying price doesnt mean anything, in fact it might be a hinderance. If a multiplier is available, it is wisest to save up for it, but that also means willingly ignoring everything else, again not helped by the fully cosmetic rewards that are treated as an equal reward. The short version is that players will optimize the fun out of the game from the moment a multiplier is revealed until it is finally bought, after which the fun that returns is greatly reduced. On top of all of that, the games cant decide if they want to be balanced around the multipliers or not. Sometimes, it is fun to try and fill the greed meter, for lack of a better phrase without the multipliers, yet in other instances certain levels feel so stingy that it is trying to push you into turning one on. Once you get every multiplier and stack them, all of the sudden the greed meter is no longer a mechanic. A single stud, even of the lowest value, will instantly fill the meter, and with so much money there is no more effort to any criteria that is bought. By invalidating the meter, there is less reason to exlore or destroy the environment, and the games are rarely subtle about the reward tier for a puzzle. With red bricks out of the way, next up is characters. They are arguably the best rewards in the series because there is always a level of mystery involved. What can they do? Who is the silhouette? etc. The problem again comes from quantity. If each character had a unique skill, that would mean every puzzle became overly strict and it would pose the problem of creating walls for the player that cant be overcome without grinding to find the secret they missed. Instead, that means skills are shared between characters, with the only difference beyond branding being the power combinations, and in most cases a custom can handle managing the ideal combination for the player. When you get a large enough pool of characters, each new character has less impact as they have nothing to offer. Mix that with franchise knowledge of varying degrees and players start knowing the exact move set of each character without ever using them. If there is a secondary money lock, players will actively skip over characters not because they dislike them, but because there are better things to spend the money on. Gold bricks also rarely have much practical use in game, and it is well known that the reward for finding all of them is never worth anything more than bragging rights, with a few exceptions. They do have one advantage, though. they are the only reward with a consistent value. Do something that needs rewarding? gold brick. The first gold brick feels as good to collect as the last, minus any benchmark hype that comes with one. The problem is that they are the ONLY collectable to have the same emotional weight and reward value regardless of when they are collected. Minikits are generally decent, but they fall into one main problem outside of the varying utility based off the completion reward that is dependent on entry. The issue in question is not exclusive to minikits, so i will address it elsewhere. And now fore "elsewhere". My single biggest complaint about the series really comes from how they handle levels and "replay ability". No lego game can be completed unless you play every level at least twice: once for story and once without the restrictions of story. The issue is not that you have to replay the level, but that it is very rare for a level to offer a new experience when replaying. Rush to where the barrier (that was impossible to clear during the story) is, smash it with the corresponding power, rush to the next barrier, repeat until everything is gotten, then rush to the goal to save the new stuff to the collection. The only complexity comes if you failed to find the barrier in the first run, or if you start replaying without at least one character with each power in the game. The series got a lot better when it started using "open worlds" for hubs, as most of the rewards started to match the effort put into them, but it did not inherently fix the problems the series had before. It instead tried to offset them by adding variety, and whether or not it works will depend on the entry in question and the player who is experiencing the game.

[@psycless]

@@cullenlatham2366 how do i like a comment more than once

[@mjc0961]

@@cullenlatham2366 LEGO games sure got tiresome really quick. And instead of fixing any of these problems, they just added microtransaction shops. No thanks.

[@cullenlatham2366]

@@mjc0961 i can still enjoy one occasionally, but it has been a while since my last one, and micro transactions sounds new to me. If that is true, then i will probably stick to the collection i already have and just replay them when the whim arises. If nothing else, i can give the games credit for having decent couch co-op.

[@kirbofan304]

You forgot the best of them all super gone droids

[@ronarscorruption]

Unfolding games - games that change the way you play them as a result of an unlock - are one of my favorite kind of games. Take any Castlevania or metroid as a easy examples: you unlock new abilities as you progress, and each can change how the game works plays.

[@shinigamimiroku3723]

Especially Metroid, which rewards you for unlocking abilities outside of their primary sequence.

[@jasonreed7522]

I think 2 good examples of this are Super Mario Sunshine where you unlock 2 nozzles and yoshi, all of which radically change your available movement abilities. And the Pikmin series where you unlock new types through the games normal exploration cycle, and each type grants you new abilities to solve different puzzles which further enables the core gameplay loop.

[@DarkBloodbane]

Old Classic Castlevania series aren't metroidvania BTW. However I agree that metroidvanias are great examples of games with unlockables.

[@Shrooblord]

Games that recontextualise previously unlocked content or storylines are also epic. I love it when games go just that little step further to make unlocks not only cool, but immersive

[@Pixelhurricane]

A really interesting example of this that came out recently is a deck-building game called Inscryption, it may seem like a simple rougelite at first but it evolves in a really cool way that you really just need to experience for yourself! The game doesn't truly start until you hit New Game, may sound redundant but it's true

[@egebamyasi2929]

Unlockable in-game cheats are peak videogame design.

[@Soumein]

It was definitely the height of enjoyment in Tony Hawk for me. Just don't use Moon Physics anywhere near a roof.

[@r6scrubs126]

I remember as a kid when I found the secret star road levels in super mario world I thought I was like one of the only people in the world to find it haha took me so long to complete them all as well. Ah, life before the internet.

[@xmgaming2444]

The Binding of Isaac has always been a really interesting case to me. Each unlock (with very few exceptions) adds some item, character, mechanic, etc to the game that makes it just that much more complicated when going for another unlock. You don't really get anything for unlocking everything on a save file (except a cool drawing on your save file select screen), but the real reward is that once you have everything unlocked, you can play the game however you want to, and with every possible item, character, and mechanic at your disposal. I've found that playing once the game is completed is way more fun, despite what the hundreds of hours getting to that point might have you think.

[@FirionLeFleur]

I'm making my way through afterbirth + on PS4 and once I buy repentance I'm gonna transfer my save data to the PS5 so I don't have to do my 300+ hours of gameplay again lol

[@baconlabs]

I took the explanation for Smash 4's unlocks and interpreted it as "this is why Gacha systems suck, even when you _aren't_ pumping actual dollars into them"

[@JM-vl3cy]

*Xenoblade 2 PTSD intensifies*

[@TamsmitSam]

@@JM-vl3cy xenoblade 2's system is pretty fun if you aren't targeting a specific character. You get a gradual flow of new interesting characters as you progress, finishing with a ton of variety to chose from at the end since it's a pretty long game. Makes repeat playthroughs fun and unique. I do feel for all the poor souls that spent hours and hours grinding for kosmos though lol

[@dswolf9421]

reminds me of unlocking Frost in KM11, you just need to reach her part in the story mode or just buy her. I never saw it as a bad thing because I know TONS of people love frost and just wanted to play her right away

[@JM-vl3cy]

@@TamsmitSam the problem is that the process of unlocking blades goes slower and slower as you gradually remove the rare blades from the pull, making the obtention of the last blades you need (Cosmos as you said, Zenobia, etc...) absurdly long. The endgame basically consists of pulling hundreds of useless common blades that you will discard 2 minutes later until you miraculously find one of the rare blades you need/want. It's just not fun. ALSO because it's completely random you might pull a blade on a character that is not made for it and you're basically fucked because you won't be able to pull the blade again on someone else and the items to change a blade user are so extremely rare. So you're stuck for your whole playthrough with a bad character/blade association, all because of randomness. That really sucks and I'm surprised no one on the team realized that "locked party setup" and "randomness" are a terrible association. ALSO ALSO pulling hundreds of common blades you don't care about just to discard them because you don't need them completely goes against the whole narrative of "blades are not just tools, they deserve respect" at the center of the scenario, which to me is a proof that not a lot of thought went behind this system.

[@Skeloperch]

@@JM-vl3cy Yeah, it's a terrible system that honestly, in my opinion, makes it the worst of the 4 Xenoblades (counting Torna as its own game). For Gacha Addicts that enjoy dropping a $20 bill 3 times to get a 5 star rarity .png file, it's a great system, because there's no money involved, just luck and time, and the rewards are far more exciting. For most other people, it's a blight. After 240 hours of Xenoblade 2 across 2 playthroughs, I still have yet to unlock Kos-mos or Newt. Xenoblade X, in my opinion, does unlocks far better. The characters that you unlock actually have a lot more going for them than a Blade, which are mostly just weapons with sometimes interesting quests. The characters in X are full fledged party members that combine 2 weapons that don't exist in the same class that you can choose from, and they also have really good sidequests (usually, looking at you Irina, Lao, and L) that reward you with yet more unlocks - the ability to use their signature arts on your main character. Unlocking these characters is also a matter of skill as opposed to time and luck, since you have to complete the prereqs to get their unlock quest, locate where in the huge city their quest is located, and then beat it. They're even appropriately staggered through the story, with characters unlocking as late as... after the end of the main story.

[@otakudaikun]

Samus taking off her armor has always motivated me to challenge myself in Metroid games. Sad she doesn't do that anymore. Super, Fusion, and Zero Mission did it best.

[@amshigar0092]

Unlocking new characters in Fire Emblem has been an interesting field to look at, due to how many characters exist in the series and some of the more creative and unorthodox ways of recruiting them have been made. Radiant Dawn had a boss character who recruits themselves to your side if you put a non-combat unit within walking distance of them, or one in both of Ike's games that requires you to sit a specific unit in an area of a desert map before they even show up. while Shadow Dragon infamously locked optional side chapters and the characters in them behind permanently losing characters, due to the content being designed as a buffer to help players struggling with the main story. The 3DS games notably downplayed the unlock process almost exclusively to just talking to the character with the protagonist or their parent, but there were still a few outliers, like one of the bonus characters in Awakening being required to be spoken to with Chrom three times before they'll finally join, or a few characters in Fates requiring you to upgrade certain buildings in your home base to a certain level before the they will join you.

[@ThePaulineu]

Thats a really great addition to the discussion, Im an FE fan and didnt even think about that! Thank you!

[@DesignDoc]

You know what, that's a really great example. Probably should've mention that but it never came to mind.

[@aidankocherhans9861]

I wonder how Stefan was first discovered in path of radiance. Was there ever any real clue on how to get him?

[@fl0wey57]

Wow, I’ll be honest. This sounded so fun that I feel very excited to play FE now, more than ever before! So, OP, mind giving me your personal suggestion on where to start or should I just search on youtube for it?

[@ThePaulineu]

I would recommend Awakening on the 3DS as an excellent place to start. If you have a switch, can’t go wrong with Three houses too! And if you have the Gameboy advance, I recommend Sacred Stones :)

[@KennKuun]

Kirby Air Ride has one of my favorite unlock systems (It actually inspired Smash Bros Brawl's achievement system shown at 20:43). All of the game's progression comes from the "checklist" system, which is a grid of achievements. Some of them give you a reward, like new vehicles, Kirby colors, and music. Some you'll get by accident, some take extra effort, and some are extremely challenging. I want to call attention to the challenging achievements in particular, because they really synergize with the game's design: The vehicles in Kirby Air Ride are intentionally unbalanced. Most of them are outright inferior to the basic vehicles because of a unique gimmick they have. One vehicle can't turn without coming to a complete stop. Another moves at a snail's pace unless you stop in place and charge it up with gas. One's handling is absurdly bad, frequently causing you to oversteer and slide all over the place. Most people wouldn't use them simply because they aren't good. But certain checklist achievements force you to to MASTER them. And after being forced to learn their ins and outs, you realize just how fun the extra challenge of using these gimmicky vehicles is. I really like Kirby Air Ride's unlockables/achievements because it pushes you to engage with parts of the game you might otherwise avoid at first glance. There's really not much body to the game UNLESS you start doing the achievements. But the achievements significantly increase the amount of time you can spend engaged with the game while keeping it interesting.

[@danielleanderson6371]

One of my favorites is the one in Stardew Valley: You donate items to the community center to unlock special features, like a new area or a fast travel system. The items you donate force you to try out all of the game's mechanics, so it always feels like you have something new to do, and every room has a few mini-rewards in the form of some nice items. Also, the way they're structured ensures that you're more or less constantly reaching new milestones, since some goals require certain seasons or a certain amount of progress into certain mechanics. Lastly, once you complete the community center, congratulations! You've beaten the main campaign! This itself unlocks new pseudo-community centers to work on, pushing you into the endgame content. Also like every achievement has an unlockable hat, which is cute.

[@nicol4578]

One of the best unlockables in videogame history has to be the Recon helmet back in Halo 3. It was aesthetically awesome and at first there wasn't a specific way to get it, Bungie themselves gave it to anyone they felt deserved it for any particular reason (for example, someone got it for getting killed by a blown away traffic cone in a map). This built a whole legendary status around Recon, everyone wanted it but no matter how good you were at the game, there wasn't a specific task that allowed you to obtain it with complete certainty if completed. Then, after having built said status around it, Bungie updated the game and allowed players to unlock Recon by getting 7 achievements, most of which were really hard and required a lot of effort and skill. Back then, if you saw someone wearing Recon, you knew they were a legend. Changing topic, one cool thing that previous Smash titles did that Ultimate didn't was hiding their unlockable characters. I see how Ultimate couldn't possibly have done it considering that its whole premise was that every previous character was going to be in the game, but back when I was a kid and I was playing through the Subspace Emissary with my cousin, I remember his shocked expression when, being a Pokèmon fan, Lucario appeared. I guess that unlocking something you really like is even better when you weren't expecting it.

[@JustinoElArtista]

One unlock that always sticks out to me is in LoZ: Skyward Sword. The game does a great job of introducing the shielding mechanics throughout the adventure. You start with wooden shields. They're inexpensive and do the job. However, they do eventually break and are flammable. The game also introduces an upgrade system to improve their durability, but it does nothing to increase their inevitable odds against fire. Then you come across the iron shield. It costs a bit more than the wooden variety, but it has much more durability and doesn't burn. It even has an upgrade tree too. Unfortunately, it can't block electric attacks, unlike the wooden shield. So if you're looking to be optimized, you'll have to now carry around two different kinds of shields. After that, you'll come across the sacred shield. It doesn't burn, blocks electric attacks, blocks the newly discovered cursed attacks (unlike the previous two shields), and even scares the cursed bokobin enemies. It even repairs it's own durability over time. However, all these benefits come at a small fortune of rupees to purchase. Not to mention that while it does repair itself, its durability pool is abysmally small... upgrades only slightly mitigate that issue. The game can technically be beaten using any of the above shields. The only thing you absolutely need to beat the final boss is a fully upgraded sword, which is obtained through the critical storyline. But one of the NPCs presents the player with a challenging boss rush mode towards the end of the adventure. If completed, he awards the player the Hylian shield. It's 100% indestructible. It can also block any form of attack. Simply owning it means that all three of the other shield types are now obsolete, as well as any carried items used to maintain them. This provides a solid defense in the rest of the game's battles and frees up inventory space for other items (more arrows, more health potions, more fairies, etc.). Again, it's not necessary to beat the game, but is totally worth the effort in unlocking.

[@cullenlatham2366]

one small nitpick: iron shield does not mean you have to carry around 2 shields to be optimal. The game makes it pretty obvious that each area is only going to throw one element at you, and to encounter both fire and electric with the same pouch means you had to ignore skyloft when traveling between the 2 regions and their pillars. Any area that does have both fire and electric comes late into the game when the sacred shield is an option. As for the money problem, i can only say "it is LoZ. What money problem?" Yes, the upgrade trees do make the economic stress a bit higher than other entries for a longer period of time, but there is ALWAYS a money-making scheme. In this case, if you are confident in your brain and have a little luck, you can play minesweeper in eldin for money, you can learn the rhythm and visual cues for the diving minigame run by a clown, play some other minigame i am blanking on, or if all else fails you can harvest and sell materials in a countless number of ways. The sacred shield's low durability also is not much of a problem when considering nothing can instantly break it, at least not for a while. As such, if you dont want to devote the pouch space to restoring it in desperate times, you can always pay the price with your hearts...

[@JustinoElArtista]

@@cullenlatham2366 🤣 Seems like a rather long nitpick if you ask me. My whole point anyway was about the build up to the Hylian shield. Yes, you can stop at Skyloft and switch out your gear between areas, but having the Hylian shield saves on both inventory space (don't need to worry about a breaking shield or different elements) AND time (one less reason to make a pit stop at Skyloft). This is discussion about beneficial unlockables, not optimizing playthroughs lol

[@cullenlatham2366]

@@JustinoElArtista hence "nitpick". just call it an attempt at stopping confusion before it arises. If a new player took the buildup as a guide, they could very well have wasted a pouch in the desert carrying around a shield they did not need. Was not actually arguing any point you made, only clarifying. XD

[@Piizzachuu]

Best unlock of all time is the being able to fight DK at the end of Title defense mode on Punch-Out!! for the Wii. I was so hyped and surprised! Still one of my fav games of all time.

[@terrysalt]

They did ruin it a bit by permanently locking you out of Title Defence mode if you lost 3 times which was quite likely to happen against DK since you had no chance to memorise his attacks and how to avoid them before the fight.

[@Piizzachuu]

@@terrysalt agreed. But at least once you faced him he’s unlocked in exhibition mode for you to practice.

[@terrysalt]

True enough and honestly, even with the title defence mode issue, it was still easily the best game in the series. :)

[@Piizzachuu]

@@terrysalt a remaster or another installment would be nice.. 😔

[@terrysalt]

I'd want another installment over a remaster. But yes, more Punch Out would be great. :)

[@zachstarattack7320]

Bro I read the title as “how do you make fun unblockables” like three times hahahaa. Thoght thisbdude was boutta talk about a high and low hitting on the same frame

[@KnakuanaRka]

Me too. xD Join the club!

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

I keep reading it as "how do you make fun of unlockables"

[@DesignDoc]

I'm shocked at how many people read the title like that lol

[@veggiedragon1000]

That's what I thought this was at first too! It's only one letter difference I guess.

[@zachstarattack7320]

​​@@DesignDocI JUST READ IT LIKE THAT AGAIN!!!!! hahaha like some eddie shit

[@zachb4561]

Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition is amazing for this: You unlock the characters so spread out that you have time to use each, and then the fact that the original DLC characters are spread out across the originally DLC bonus missions maps is awesome since it gives you a nice incentive to try each of those adventure maps. There are so many weapons and characters, and since there was no crafting that relied on collecting items (like there was in Age of Calamity), every unlock feels earned and not random. It's all skill based and it feels great to find everything!

[@NeviTheLettyFan]

Accurate, after playing the difficulty mess of Wii U with the DLCs that don't really connect that well with the main content and the levelling issues I felt surprised by how much better a good unlocking system like DE's can do for the game. Everything feels more balanced and fun to play through.

[@kirbywithaknifeisawesome6028]

Only problem is, hyrule warriors has more collectibles than kingdom hearts has retcons and plot points

[@mjc0961]

Not really. You unlock the characters at level 1, you don't have time to use each because what are you going to do? Take a brand new level 1 character into a mid or end game level and get absolutely wrecked?! No. You're going to keep playing as the one character you started the game as. The alternative is hours upon hours upon hours of repetitive grinding through the earlier missions to get the new character up to snuff. And in a game that's already as repetitive and way too long like Hyrule Warriors? No way, I'm not doing that. Terrible, terrible game design right there.

[@ieatatsonic]

On-Ramping complexity is an interesting topic with competitive games. I have to shoutout Dungeon Fighter, and MMO Beat-Em-Up with a very strong PVP mode. You level up your character to unlock new skills but the later skills are both more complex and, if you don't use a hotkey, require more complicated motion inputs. This does mean that you get plenty of time to practice doing inputs like Quartercircle forward or Down-Up (236 or 28) so that by the time you unlock those later skills you don't need as many hotkeys for your earlier skills.

[@shinigamimiroku3723]

Ooh, that's a fun one (although sadly I haven't had time to play it in some time)! I love the Gunner class.

[@thartmann9284]

Splatoon isn't a series particularly known for its unlocks, and that's partly why the system, especially in 2, feels so good to play in. The original Splatoon provided the player's Inkling with the costume they'd wear in the single player campaign upon completion, along with a cool weapon reskin for the basic Splattershot gun. Weapon reskins for the Charger and Roller types could also be unlocked via small missions with an Amiibo. The sequel improved on this by expanding its scope to include a reskin for each basic weapon type, each of which were unlockable upon beating all of the campaign stages. The single-player is just long enough to make sure that the player grasps the weapons, but not hard at all for weapon veterans to complete- a little token of their dedication (which is usable in online matches, alongside the hero's suit) makes Splatoon a surprisingly enjoyable grind. Getting any stage done with EVERY weapon type also presents you a ticket that you can use to increase match won XP, cash, or likelihood of getting an ability you'd like on your gear, so there's incentive to do this for every weapon type if you'd like to optimize your character.

[@cullenlatham2366]

honestly, the tickets really are not that worth it. Plenty of outfits in the game, so long as you can adapt your fashion sense, you will get your dream gear eventually. Then you can entirely bypass the rng with enough grinding and scrubbing for chunks, so the tickets that increase chances still get outclassed. All that said, i am a gear leveler, not a gear commit-er. If i have an unknown, i am working towards it. If i ever finish, that is when i will use my chunks to make my dream gear.

[@1ordTakeo]

Majoras's Mask Fierce Deity Mask, is one of the best Unlocks there are. A 100% unlock, that gives it to you -before- the final boss, which can be used on all bosses. All other masks can be seen as small rewards towards that overarching goal. It's just great, and 10x better than heartpieces or the faries imo.

[@mads_in_zero]

My favorite part of WarioWare is that there's generally only one vocal song per game - maybe two or three at most. It makes each one feel more special, and usually turns the level that features it into the best part of the game.

[@googleplusisgone9435]

I was sad that Gold didn't have one at all (unless you count 18x13, but while that one was pretty fun it was really short and not a stage theme)

[@felikatze]

I love the sidequest system in Neo: The World Ends With You. It's styled as a social network, showing connections between the main characters and the various side characters you help out along the way. And you even get small perks for helping out NPCs, but those small perks can definetly change how you play, for example letting you equip multiple attacks to the same button. The perks mean people who don't care about the NPCs will still do sidequests, and you also get character blurbs about those NPCs, to no effect besides random trivia. This random trivia is always fun though, like who one of the main characters bought his skateboard from, or which store clerks are friends, adding a small layer of depth to sidecharacters of otherwise little note. Another note would be how the game handles attacks: Pins, the items that give you attacks, are either random enemy drops, story progression rewards, or found in stores. By all accounts, different attacks are unlockables. However, enemy drop rate can be freely manipulated by how much of a risk you're willing to take. You can set down your level or chain enemy encounters for higher drop rates at the cost of higher difficulty, or even just upping the difficulty setting altogether to get Pins not available on easier modes. And there's still story and store Pins to fall back on for risk averse players, so they aren't locked out of having a diverse moveset. In conclusion, twewy good.

[@thatitalianlameguy2235]

Persona 5 but good

[@leithaziz2716]

@@thatitalianlameguy2235 Persona 5 but also good ;)

[@akiradkcn]

@@thatitalianlameguy2235 yes yes persona 5 inventes urban rpgs

[@ShadowDx]

“Winning a key to the lock you had to break on the way in.” Brilliant description of Ruby Weapon.

[@AnotherDuck]

Nice showing Metroid when talking about not needing a proper reward for challenges. Like the little bit of extra text in Fusion for carrying a shinespark through a significant portion of the area. I think the best thing Super Mario World upgraded from Super Mario Bros 3 was the extra endings. Along with the singular world map, it made it feel more like a complete world to explore, rather than a sequence of levels. So the name is apt. Gonna echo the sentiment that Hyrule Warriors has a satisfying unlocking system. You know what you unlock with what, so you can aim for it, and there's so much there's probably more to unlock even after you get tired of the game. So there's more to do when you get back to it again. The Smash idea of fighting the character you're going to unlock is probably the best kind of double unlock (or single unlock in many cases). It feels like you earn that specific character.

[@breakatmo]

I love the unlocks in The Binding of Isaac. You unlock both characters and items, but a lot of items are won by defeating the various bosses as every character. As of Repentance there are SO many items and characters that you'll be constantly unlocking new things that can alter your next run.

[@EDsCorner]

Since I've recently replayed it, an unlock I really like are the suits in Spider-Man PS4 many you can unlock naturally by doing side content or progressing through the story and some require a criteria that further pushes that motivation to complete an objective. Also glad my KH2 footage of the crown got some use.

[@DesignDoc]

Thanks for the clip man. Didn't have a save file.

[@simpsonsfanatic777]

Melee’s unlockable system was grossly unsuitable for a party game. They had the right idea by letting you unlock characters by playing regular matches, but the requirements were way too high, with 1000 being the requirement for G&W and 20 hours of match time for Mewtwo (which I remember cheesing with two controllers).

[@koletrain9048]

Yeah, but the quotes they gave to those locked chars when you unlocked them were great reads "A great evil walks the earth, Ganondorf has been unlocked." "Mewtwo's mental powers are now yours to command." "Cute, cuddly, ...and a threat to itself and others, it's Pichu!"

[@mjc0961]

"They had the right idea by letting you unlock characters by playing regular matches" Nope, that's still the wrong idea for a party game. Party games should have everything unlocked from the start. If characters are locked, you have two choices: leave them locked and the game isn't as fun during your parties because a bunch of content is missing, or go through the process of unlocking everything before the party which means you're good at the game now and stomp all your friends so nobody has a fun time playing. Unless you don't play at all, but then you don't get to play at all, and that's no fun. Nobody wins when party games lock content.

[@KaliTakumi]

I really like the Smash Ultimate character unlocks, I thought they were really satisfying when I first played the game. I *strongly* disagree that it feels like you're not doing anything specific to unlock characters. You insinuate that you just play the game to unlock characters, but really the task that unlocks them is actually *beating* that character with a character that may not be your main since you haven't unlocked them yet. You can lose these fights and come out empty handed at the end of these intervals, which shows that just playing isn't really what unlocks them.

[@TravelocityKirby]

Especially when the game first launched and the AI in those matches can very easily demolish you if you’re not careful or using a character you’re not used to.

[@saparapatepete]

true, you still have to beat them, and if you fail, you gotta wait for another chance. Also, the cpu level increases as the rooster gets bigger

[@valthan5231]

One of my favorite unlocks touches upon a subject that I was hoping would've been discussed a bit more deeply - making the reward appropriate for the achievement. I'm talking about Crosscode's Sergey mode. This mode does two things, adds a huge multiplier on your damage, as well as altering the dialogue throughout the story. The criteria to unlock it? Beat the game, more or less. Imagine if you could get it some other way, like find some macguffin somewhere. It would ruin both the gameplay and confuse the story. But as a new game+ unlock? Chef's kiss, man. Tying both features together in one unlock is also a stroke of genius. The super damage gets old after a few minutes, but paired with the new dialogue gives you an incentive to keep playing that run. Furthermore, the extra damage helps the player find the new conversations that much faster. As for a bad example? Hestu's gift. It's a certificate style unlock at best and a direct insult to the player at worst. A long, difficult and tedious task for a "reward" that practically laughs at your efforts? *Worst. Unlock. Ever.*

[@machineapenser493]

I don't know if it's a valid competitor, but I really like how the Professor Layton franchise overall handled its unlockable rewards. As a reminder, Professor Layton games rely on two things for its experience: its universe, and its puzzles. And the rewards you can get can be separated into two categories that work a bit hand in hand. Firstly, you can get character bios, music, backgrounds and voicelines through picarats. Each puzzle yields a certain amount of picarats, and while solving a puzzle on the first try grants all the picarats you can get from the puzzle, failing the puzzle twice (or once depending on the puzzle) lowers the amount of picarats you can get. So, while the amount of picarats to get everything is not too bad, you still have to not fail too much to get it all, and thus you ought to be invested in the puzzles. Secondly, you can get sets of three puzzles for a few particular objectives: beating the game, finishing the minigames, and beating all the puzzles in the game. It may not seem much, but two things make these puzzles more special. For one, they are by far among the toughest puzzles the game presents you with, and secondly, they reward players who invest themselves into the game, and these players are most likely the ones who would enjoy a few more puzzles to play with. All in all, I think the franchise plays the card of rewarding investment decently well.

[@vagabundorkchaosmagick-use2898]

My favorite unlockables are those in Tekken 3. I wish Tekken 7 had unlockable characters and game modes the way Tekken 3 did... I know, I know, in modern days, money is more important, so unlockables become paid DLC, but still. I also would like Tekken 7 had an actual arcade mode, with endings for all characters. In Tekken 3, when you finished the game, you would unlock a new character or game mode and, sometimes, a new outfit for some characters, and also you would watch the ending video for every character; some characters were hidden behind the new unlocked modes, which was also fun.

[@leithaziz2716]

Tekken 7's arcade mode is deffinitely one of the most lackluster I've seen in the genre. Guilty Gear Strive's arcade mode felt like a step back from Xrd's Episode mode, but despite that it still gave you a unique tag-team teamup against a boss version of a certain character. You don't unlock anything from it, but the fight itself felt like a better reward than 7's endings which were so short. I can't speak on SFV's arcade mode since I don't play it.

[@Jamesthe1]

I've thought about mission rewards for certain games. House of the Dying Sun, to name one, has both accumulative and achievable rewards: You get the achievable part from beating a mission as it rewards you with more weapons/ships, and the accumulative part from certain difficulties giving higher "favors" (the currency to buy modules for ships) from bonus objectives. There's more to it, though: beating the game on harder difficulties unlocks new endings and stars next to beaten nodes; and taking on the optional flagship bosses, on hard specifically, rewards a skull icon next to the mission nodes.

[@homesteadhero]

Unlockables are one of my favorite aspects in all of gaming and I've been disappointed to see them dwindling in recent years. BOY did you somehow hit every thought I had one the head! My mind *immediately* went to Proof of Omega when I thought of underwhelming rewards, and on the flip side, I've been following all of Super Monkey Ball's newest unlocks and been thrilled by each. I know there's a LOT to say about all of this, but I think you've made a great case study with the perfect examples. Well done, as always!

[@TNinja0]

Melee was an interesting one. It gave you grayed out questionmarks to unlock, but in the middle of your game time, you notice your new unlocks are occupying slots outside of the selection table. Which was trippy for me as a kid.

[@crocworks]

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle's reward for achieving all Emblems is my favorite.

[@Sad-Lesbian]

I recently replayed a fresh copy of Silent Hill 3 and when you finish it you unlock the ability to enter passwords for costumes. A few of these passwords were unlocked through finishing the game with different endings, or different ranks, but most of them were just a collaboration between different magazines and Konami. So if you read the GameInformer magazine, you could find the code to unlock the GameInformer outfit etc. I absolutely loved the way that system worked. Since codes were given out to different magazines all over the world, some of them could only obtained in certain countries, and it was clear they were going for a huge community thing with it. Nowadays, all of it is just on the Silent Hill Wiki of course, but way back when the Internet was just getting popular, it would have been so cool to just discover it together with other people.

[@NoshuHyena]

In Smash 64 and Melee, I mained characters based on how "special" their unlock criteria were. Luigi in 64 because he was the only character you could unlock outside of Classic mode, and Roy in Melee because he was unlocked by playing AS an unlockable character, Marth. Double Unlockable!

[@horizon92lee]

Ff14 has a great unlockable collection, jobs, songs, outfits, weapons, minions, so much variety

[@Exel3nce]

Well...its a mmo

[@joaohcovinha]

Design Doc, I have a question for you: Are you really a doctor in design, or in fact a design medic?

[@bejeckle]

I took it as a double meaning; doc = doctor / document

[@decadentgamer3108]

I learned so much from this video and as someone who really wants to get into creating games one day, this video was so very helpful so thank you for analyzing this concept. Though in watching this, when I got towards the end when you were talking about Super Smash Bros, I just had the biggest ephiphany on why I just don't feel so excited with Smash Bros. Ultimate that I didn't even think about until now and it's the lack of mystery, when it comes to the cast (among the cut single-player game modes like Adventure). I know it's blasphemous to admit that I don't find Smash Bros Ultimate amazing even though it's the recent Smash Bros game of this time but when you were reflecting back on SSB64 and SSBM, it all started to make sense. You started with a small but generous base cast of characters and the thing that made playing those games so fun was the excitement of being able to unlock characters. Playing through the modes and making sure to hone your skill for the chance you have when you hear that exciting alert that a new challenger is approaching and it was a true test to see if you can beat that character and be able to add them to he roster. It was so exhilarating and unfortunately with Smash Ultimate, that feature no longer exists because they just default to DLC now. I'm very aware that in the modern day with the rise of DLC and how online/social media dominates the first world, we more than likely will never be able to experience the aura of mystery and wonder that was a big part of the gaming world back in the 1980s-1990s-early 2000s because it's so easy to get unintentionally spoiled, especially if you're active on social media and I'm just glad I was born in a time where I was able to experience that era of gaming, especially for SSBM. Though I feel like for the next Smash game, they should at least bring the concept back of fighting the unlockable characters before you get them , that was such a fun aspect of the smash games and even if it would be spoiled, you still have to earn that character on your own so you still get to have your own personal experience. Anyway great video!

[@javiermontiero4982]

Horizon Zero Dawn comes to mind. It had some sort of ultimate armor that you could unlock after doing some stuff (idr, it's been a while) and the armor, I remember, made the game SO much more enjoyable. It didn't break the game by any means, you could still very much get trampled. But it created a cushion that made it so I wasn't tediously farming health herbs nonstop.

[@MaceyGSyolky206]

Hyrule Warriors has some of my favorite unlocks, it's not exactly a hard game to complete but there are so many challenges in all of the games that it feels totally different from the main story. Some goals are so difficult that you have to actually prove yourself and overall you'll spend way more time on the game than you initially expected.

[@AntiNihilist]

My favorite unlockables are the type that are for replaying the game that makes part of the game easier, but not trivialized. Like having the Soul Reaver at the beginning of Blood Omen 2 is great, but having infinite ammo in Resident Evil sounds a bit questionable. I'm not sure how fun you'd be having halfway through your replay.

[@TheWrathAbove]

In my experience talking to people that have played enough of the RE games to unlock the infinite ammo weapons, it's a pretty decent reward, since they enjoy just running through the game and the power trip is a good time. Obviously millage may vary, but I know a lot of fans of RE4 that adore blasting through the game with the infinite ammo Chicago Typewriter.

[@juanrodriguez9971]

Ah yes, the indirectly New Game+, that's great for some people.

[@Late0NightPC]

I was always very impressed by Cry of Fear's unlock system, and how it encourages replaying and mastering the game. When you beat the game for the first time, you unlock a secret "joke" ending which is one big throwback to another game by the developer. Beat that, and you unlock the axe weapon, which is a onehit kill for all normal enemies. Now with that, if you can speedrun the game in under 2 hours, you unlock the Camera, which will permanently freeze all monsters you photograph except for bosses. With the Camera, nightmare difficulty becomes far more manageable since landing headshots becomes much easier with the insane enemy HP, and clearing Nightmare unlocks the Famas, which has infinite reloads. With that, you can easily beat the bosses of the game on nightmare no problem, and now, using the Camera, Famas, and Axe, if you can clear Nightmare with an S rank, you get an infinite ammo flamethrower, making the entire game a cakewalk. Each unlock is specifically designed so that it makes the next unlock much easier to obtain, allowing players to constantly replay the game and still have things to unlock, while also encouraging mastery of the game thanks to the final unlock requiring near perfect play in addition to playing on the hardest difficulty. Yet for those true challenge runners, each unlock is technically possible from the start, it is just quite brutal to do. It was the first ever "beat the game on hardest difficulty" type challenge I ever tried completing.

[@SuperFrySauce]

Sonic Mania had some of my favorite unlocks. Aside from the usual 7 chaos emeralds that give you a super form and the true ending there were also the medallions. Collecting medallions gave stuff like debug mode, & Knuckles mode, a whole blue sphere mini game, and access to mean bean machine

[@DesignDoc]

Mean Bean mode got me to finally learn how to play Puyo Puyo. I'm still garbage at it and am afraid to play other people in it but that got me to get Puyo Puyo Tetris and it's such a blast.

[@SuperFrySauce]

@@DesignDoc Funnily enough I have a similar origin with puyo puyo, played Mean Bean machine in the Sonic Mega Collection on gamecube and eventually got puyo puyo tetris. Playing with others is best when they are equally trash, very chaotic and very fun.

[@masterofdoom5000]

The idea of "skipping bosses I don't want to fight" comes up often in the Twitter circles I run. I wonder how well they'd do at a late stage, more difficult boss fight when they never learned what they needed from what they would potentially skip. It's kind of important to take the steps from 1 all the way to 10 even if you don't necessary click with it, like school it's not about knowledge purely it's about the way to think and approach problems.

[@doodledotinc3186]

Definitely the gold kart in Double Dash. Really challenging to get but very satisfying once you complete All-Cup Mirror Mode.

[@Vulcanfaux]

Resident evil usually has my favorite unlocks. The Chicago typewriter in re4, the infinite launcher in re2, the suit of armor for Ashley in re4. The re3 costume for Jill in re1. Sure almost every one requires you to beat the game and sometimes on certain difficulties and under certain time thresholds. But it still is my favorite. Makes your first run through of the game stressful and full of deaths, with your last ones being an absolute jolly walk through the games because the weapons you have are literally over powered. And can be used infinitely.

[@Aderon]

Having recently replayed through the first two dreams of Nioh, I can see both good and bad unlock/reward methods in place, like how In some cases, missions have alternate ending criteria that grants end-card dialogue, and in one case, it's clear that there are multiple criteria at play, and others, the alternate criteria are obscure and would be impossible for anyone to have discovered without just sheer experimentation, like one sub-mission where if you do a specific emote in a specific spot, you get the alternate ending. Though sometimes these are more obvious to find than others, like the mission 'The Shiftling's Wise Judgement' where it makes it clear from the start that there are two ways the mission can end, as well as hiding a third. Though in that case, each route has its own unlockable mission for each choice, so they couldn't get away with that one not being clear for completionists' sake. Where Nioh's unlocks really drop off is with the unlockable crafting recipes that can be collected: Sometimes they're just straight up mission rewards, but most of the time they're random drops from a particular enemy, but the reward is understated considering how minimal crafting is done in late game; however, it's still worth farming certain enemies because sometimes they can drop some of the unique attacks that they themselves use in the fight, so many bosses have both rewards that are and aren't worth grinding for. And then there's the titles, where the rewards are minor stat boosts from a fixed rotation pool, but in order to get those stats, you need to achieve very specific goals from a list of objectives that includes both accumulative and achievement objectives, though some of the achievement ones can easily range from trivial to absurd: Do a main mission naked? Sure, early game's not that punishing. Defeat a dweller empty-handed? Sure thing, a few punches and kicks when I notice a weak one and it's done. Clear a main mission without fighting any enemies other than the boss? Sure, time for a mad-dash to the boss. Defeat Lady Osakabe without getting hit? Fuck that noise.

[@Vesperitis]

There is this series of games called Super Robot Wars. They're almost as old as the Pokemon franchise and are still going strong today. The basic premise is that robots from various anime series like Gundam, Gurren Lagann, Code Geass, Voltron, etc. would come together and fight the bad guys. They're turn-based strategy role-playing games with stats for pilots and robots, kinda like Fire Emblem, but you get to see your favorite heroes, old and new, in lovingly animated and fully voiced attack sequences that are faithful to the anime. One of the features of the game is secret unlockable units. To unlock these units or upgrade parts, you have to do things like get X number of kills, use specific units to attack specific enemies, or move to certain locations on the map. If you did it right, you could get special units like ones that were only available to the bad guys in the series which your heroes could now pilot, or former enemies who died in the series who now became your allies. One of the longest-running secret units is the Hi-Nu Gundam, which is basically a non-canonical, alternate universe ultimate Gundam to the main protagonist of the Gundam franchise, Amuro Ray. This unit is always a beast, with high evasion rates, massive range to its weapons, and a serious boost in damage compared to the default unit. This guy has been a secret unit for literally decades, and is a staple to the franchise the way Akuma is to Street Fighter. They recently made the Hi-Nu a paid DLC in the latest game. We have to buy our secret unlockables now. So fuck that.

[@turquoise7817]

wow, i literally havent even heard of this game before and dont care about gundam, but reading this made me furious lmao

[@munchrai6396]

I really do miss custom moves because they added some nice variety to the characters. Sure, a lot of them are just straight upgrades, but characters like Palutena, Game and Watch and even Jigglypuff actually have some really nice utility options for characters that are a bit awkward to play normally. Never took me that long to get any of them either and Smash Run is a ton of fun. Unfortunately even Mii Fighters didn't escape unscathed because the in game Mii creator in Ultimate doesn't allow you to change their weights making the mechanic as a whole way less interesting. Sure, spirits have more personality, but its surprisingly hard to get ones that aren't in World of Light because a lot of them are tied to in game events. Considering how multiplayer focused Smash is, I don't play it very often, so I end up missing most of these, especially because there's no straightforward method to unlock them

[@shitemastermike]

board the platforms!

[@mariobario6873]

Not sure if this counts but I like how when you beat the summit level in Celest the pie you make at the end looks different depending on how many barrys you got

[@TheFireyBlazeRod]

The Binding of Isaac has one of the best unlock systems ive seen in a video game. You are not only encouraged but rewarded for trying all the different modes, characters, routes, etc. the game has to offer in the form of new items and characters(although items and characters arent the only things you can get) you can find and use on subsequent runs which add new synergies and strategies to the game, which makes every unlock feel substantial.

[@Xfonic]

ALL of your videos are a mandatory watch for every new team member. And established team members are required to re watch them over and over again. You have the absolute BEST game design discussion point videos on you tube hands down! Thank you for these they DEF help new indie game devs like us. - (Joseph Z.E.G. Team Lead)

[@richardx1157]

My most recent issue with an unlock is in Fire Emblem Warriors, to get Lyn and Celica you have to play an insane amount of hours to be at a level decent enough to do the maps required to unlock them. And once you do, there is not that much content left to use them on unless you have the DLC.

[@cceider]

Unlocking every fighters in smash ultimate on day 1 with my friends was one of the most fun moment in all my gaming years

[@DaSonOfAPhantom]

I wish to relive that day

[@Vaibhavsingh-yc5ln]

Thanks for milanote. Have been searching for something like that for a while

[@videogametropes4251]

Amazing video. Your video design is superb along with the edition and voice.

[@Nirual86]

Though this is rarely an explicit unlock, being able to skip cutscenes on a second playthrough if you couldn't before is a nice thing. Some games even provide a dedicated speedrunning mode after beating the game once, automatically removing cutscenes and/or starting you after the first few minutes when you're in a basic gameplay tutorial.

[@mystak3n]

I highly recommend looking at how The Void Rains Upon Her Heart does unlocks, its implementation had me HOOKED

[@AtomBacon]

off topic but for next GDBD I wanna pitch Bravely Default 2 for bad design. I love that game but my biggest frustration is that UI elements (mainly hover-trigger description text) often obscures other elements. The worst is when comparing gear and the description for gear blocks some of the stat increase/decrease indicators themselves. Like way to shoot yourself in the foot!

[@suburito5370]

You're great and your videos are helipng me plan out my game's story (especially these about bosses). I am the newbie of newbies and you are the only one that I could find, that teaches in this (best) way.

[@iamalittler]

Yup, I definitely got my Golden Chocobo by training one

[@silversteampunk]

Ratchet and Clank 3 probably had my all time favorite unlock system. (as far as bonus content goes.) There were "Titanium Bolts" you could find hidden in levels and you could spend them on different skins. There were also "skill points" that you got for doing weird things in different locations like breaking all the breakable objects in a location, shooting down all the cameras, aiming a jump perfectly and landing on a hard to reach spot. As you earned more "skill points" it would unlock fun gimicky things like big head mode, mirrored levels and other silly fun things. These things were definitely intended for people who had either beaten the game already or were almost finished, but it added a lot of extra fun for me and my sibling.

[@roqm0z666]

My favorite unlocks are new quests that lead to more unlocks or something that is balanced but extremely fun that changes how I approach the game and allows me to express myself more. Some examples of unlocks that change the game are the guns in Axiom Verge, extra (mandatory) items in Metroidvanias, pins in the world ends with you, and new moves in the River City Series.

[@aisadal2521]

Ooh, what an interesting inquiry! Also, lmao, that intro tho 👏😂

[@corporalkills]

My favorite unlockables are the optional equipments you can find that make you powerful. Stuff like the Biggeron sword in Ocarina of time. I like being rewarded for diligence

[@RedRabbit-ZA]

Is Ruby really the most powerful boss in FFVII? Or is it Emerald? Personally I prefer breeding a gold chocobo myself, getting Knights of Round, then defeat Ruby, and then take on Emerald.

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

I think Ruby is way harder than Emerald. Emerald is pretty easy to cheese by setting up Lucky 7s and Mime Materia combos beforehand.

[@steamtasticvagabond474]

@@imveryangryitsnotbutter knight of the round paired with an HP absorb materia and W Summon to cast it twice. Then someone else uses Mime. Third person hold the underwater materia so you don’t get timed out

[@AzhreiVep]

@@imveryangryitsnotbutter I dunno, Ruby was super easy to cheese too. Cloud with maxed HP/MP, full limit, two dead party members, mimic, and ... fuck, I forget the name of the armor, but it gives a hefty chance of dodging spells. Toss on a regen, omnislash, mime your way to victory. I've heard good things about counter-mime too, but never actually used it.

[@CheeseBlaster]

One game I always liked the way it handled unlockables is SA2. After getting the Light Speed Dash or the Bounce Bracelet you can to use them in previous stages you already played to get a better time. That, in my opinion, is brilliant.

[@SimonSalzman]

Nice Video! The beginning of most rogue lites keeps you going almost exclusively through unlockables I think. Mix it with good gameplay and you can count me in.

[@knownas2017]

I liked the unlocks in the Ratchet & Clank series. Doing everything, and then unlocking an entire new planet, showcasing various cut content, etc. is very cool. Insomniac museum was cool.

[@CJ-ln5ov]

5:07 That’s so funny, I was playing that difficulty on Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Online last night. Didn’t know it had a name, though.

[@timpaul721]

I think Kirby Air ride had my favorite unlock system. It's was a giant checkerboard that color-coded if an achievement unlocked something or not. I remember being surprised when I unlocked the white Kirby for seemingly no reason and it became my favorite Kirby color to play as in every game that had Kirby since then.

[@NA-xp2cr]

I love how all of these videos manage to mention at least one of my favorite games.

[@ruolbu]

I think New Game+ could deserve a mention here. It kinda falls in line with cheat code unlocks. The ability to mess around more with the standard game, the ability to do things the game explicitly forbids you from doing the first time around. Personally the thing I enjoy the most is when a game puts in the extra effort to acknowledge that you are messing around. Like if the New Game+ allows you to sequence break and the alternative route has some extra dialogue to highlight that you are sequence breaking. It's the tiny things, where the game tells you "yeah, I see you. Great work" Other than that I enjoy getting optional game mechanics. Something that's not required to get through the game, but that is fun to mess around with. Like a new way to move around (dashing, flying, teleportation) or OP skills like invisibility, enemy manipulation or transformation.

[@wplays4271]

One of my favorites is the PS3 uncharted games. You get money from getting achievements in game, which you can spend on skins, weapons and modifiers. You can turn off gravity on killed enemies, get infinite ammo, play as a morbidly obese version of Nathan Drake. It’s all possible, and is unlocked at a good pace. Since to get money, the game encourages you to play as many different weapons as you can

[@lammanning2139]

Shoutout to the fantastic outro music!!

[@thebananamelon5065]

In Halo, I *looooooved* the fact that you get special armor sets for completing certain milestones. Like “you get this armor set after performing 500 assassinations” Or “you get Master Chief’s armor after beating the game in legendary difficulty” Certain armor sets reached legendary status like the Katana from Halo 3, or the Inheritor armor from Reach

[@nintendude7913]

How about making it so you unlock a new character card every time you give us your money? -EA

[@brunocastro7191]

Boss keys for Metroid dread coming soon? I would love to see it

[@thiagocosta3953]

wrong channel, dude

[@RJCommunity]

I like having blockable things " In game ", opposed to trophy ( when it's in game, well, it's just there, not in damn steam. And, there's in game tangible reward's )

[@juanrodriguez9971]

The binding of Isaac is great at this, there are two places where you see your in game achievements, at the moment of choosing a character and knowing which boss you haven't defeat, and at the status menu where you can find every single item, ending, and unlocked screen you got through the game.

[@ultimaxkom8728]

I prefer in-game unblockable moves.

[@Vision7550]

I want to give a shout out to the unlocks in Star Wars Racer Revenge! Most of the racers you unlock by winning races in the tournament mode. After each track you tend to unlock the track favorite of the course, which means there is a pretty nice and steady flow of unlocks to begin with. Each track also has a KO record, single lap time record, and three lap time record that the player can aim to beat. Beating each kind of record for each track unlocks a special character as well. Some of those characters are super cool fan favorites, and the path to unlocking them is pretty natural too. Beating those scores is a sign of your skill as a player, and in the case of KOs, you get extra money in the tournament mode for KOing racers, giving you yet another incentive to try and take out the opposition. Racer Revenge isn't the best game, but I really like the way their unlocks worked!

[@temporalwolf7054]

Some of the most satisfying unlock systems I've encountered, weirdly enough, are the various YuGiOh games. The game starts you with a fairly basic deck that can win but forces the player to really understand the rules, and as you win more, more specialized card packs open up. I realize this can be a double edged sword for some, a veteran player being locked out of their preferred playstyle for example, but for me at least, there's a weird sense of growth as you go from cobbling together a deck to barely scrape by to a deck that feels like yours, and is hanging with the toughest opponents.

[@JM-vl3cy]

Starting with a 2002 basic Yugi deck in LotD and finishing with an actually competitive deck that topped a real life major 6 months ago, that was lit

[@fl0wey57]

I think the first unlock I will never forget was getting the last level in Rayman Legends on my old 360. Meeting the requirement was not difficult, I just had to do a little replay searching after beating the campaign. But I can still remember some of the chasing chest sequences! And getting that reward... It was MAGICAL! A little surprising and intimidating at first. But slowly getting through the level and reaching checkpoint by checkpoint it was awesome! Little touches like the music and how it felt like what would later be rhythm levels felt great to give that level “just one more try”. And after beating it all, not only did it feel like a prize on of itself by also made me find new appreciation on how quickly I could be the levels, or speedrunning, years before I heard the term or used the internet! (Even if I never became a speedrunner)

[@PhriekshoTV]

I loved unlocking stuff in Geist on the GameCube. Finding the hidden Host Collectibles scattered throughout the levels was fun and sometimes challenging. The system fails in the end due to a glitch involving one of the collectibles, in the fridge in the morgue. You collect it, but upon completing the stage it is removed from your inventory, preventing you from unlocking the final multiplayer stage, catacombs

[@megasoniczxx]

I think my favorite unlock systems would be Kid Icarus Uprising & Kirby Air Ride respectively. I liked how you had this giant achievement board for everything that was giving you stuff as you did increasingly harder and harder tasks and playing them really made me wish more games did it that way. Some argue that if you're already good at a game then you don't need to unlock anything for doing the hardest stuff but i've always liked that design myself since it feels like the developer rewarding me for mastering their game.

[@masterthnag105]

The sonic & knuckles special end boss for getting super sonic (and I think having sonic three plugged in) was just a blast. When I stumbled onto it I was so thrilled I found something like that.

[@dondashall]

Metroidvanias are my favorite genre and its abilities are basically unlocks, usually as a reward for beating a boss (but not always) and they alter your options going forward. Children of Morta (an RPG-roguelike) was also really good on how new characters would join the fight at regular intervals of the story.

[@d.geodraxarehal20goldenbir35]

5:38 That's why i like what Flipline did with Papa's game from Cupcakeria and on. Before the "goal" was to get Papa Louie, but after you unlock the new ingredients on the first levels, you have to play with the same ingredients for a looong boring time, until you reach Papa Louie's rank. Cupcakeria added "festivities" that make a few ingredients rotable, but that also made that every level you would unlock a brand new mysterious ingredient, making it feel more intriguing and funny to keep playing until Papa Louie rank.

[@FlynnTheRedhead]

That intro caught me off guard since I was humming along with it lol

[@eusou0]

Having to test dozens of different discs to get different monsters in Monster Rancher for PSX was pretty cool

[@kiyasuihito]

Man I'm addicted to this series.

[@h2dfives799]

One of the unlocks that I remember most vividly was dynasty warriors five and the empires expansion requiring you take out your disc and swap into the other game and then swap back. Giving you new characters and a new mode as well Also unlocks like Lego Star wars 1 an 2 carrying your extra characters over from the previous game if you had a save file on the same memory card 😊

[@danielvetencourt7586]

I think my favorite unlockables comes from Majoras Mask. All the items, heart pieces, bottles, and obviously, the masks, are so entertaining and unique to find. You never know what youll find

[@ultraxn4523]

One of the earliest games that I spent the most time on was castle crashers. It was a very very simple game but for every time you beat the campaign or beat a specific boss, you would be rewarded with a different playable character that usually has a different ability. It encouraged the hell out of playing it over and over just so people could show their school friends who they finally got. I think its one of my earliest and most played game just for this.

[@genericnintendofan5409]

When I was younger unlocking Baby Luigi in Mario Kart Wii was a huge accomplishment. Something about beating 12 staff ghosts in time trial made me feel like I knew the game really well, and Baby Luigi would be the only character I played as.

[@TamsmitSam]

Really love the unlock systems of complex RPGs like divinity 2 and dark souls. It's always interesting to see how a lot of different unlock systems can be intertwined in the same game; like exp that let's you level up, in game currency that lets you buy new skills or items, and keys that open new areas. Not to mention in these games you're leveling up individual stats, and a weapon you wanna use might require a minimum level in one stat. Unlocks within unlocks! So much depth is mind-boggling at first, but makes these games so incredibly fun and customizable in the long run

[@TamsmitSam]

Been thinking about this and tbh a whole episode about customization in video games would be a fun idea, soooo much to talk about

[@SporeMystify]

I liked the supersonic model- a challenge that requires you to demonstrate game mastery, a overpowered ability as the unlock to trounce over the game with, then an extra challenge utilizing your newfound power.