Top Ten Video Game Gimmicks

[@TheQuarterGuy]

Help me reach my Extra Life year-end stretch goal of $2000 and I'll do a FULL FANDUB of Gerald Robotnik's journal! Donate at www.extra-life.org/participant/TheQuarterGuy

[@bluestreaker9242]

Action Commands, more specifically, the Mario & Luigi RPG games. Normal RPG: "Ouch! That hurt! Now I hit you!" Mario RPGs: Press A as your attack lands for extra damage. Mario & Luigi RPG: Do a full damage-less run of the game by timing your jumps over every attack during the enemy's turn.

[@toumabyakuya]

Some more honorable mentions: Danganronpa and Master Detectives Archives: Ace Attorney with Guns/Swords, respectively. Undertale: The "Mercy" system. Turning a regular RPG into what amounts to a dating sim. Everhood: What if, instead of trying to hit all the beats, you had to avoid them all? Radiant Historia and Disgaea: Adding combos to turn-based RPGs. Stella Glow: Who know that the power of singing could beat a God?

[@bluestreaker9242]

I love how Radiant Historia did it because you could basically knock enemies in to each-other like pinballs for greater damage potential. In some cases, it was outright necessary. O.o

[@Iron8127]

The emotion system from OMORI has to be up there. Depending on how someone feeling, it'll result in stats being altered.

[@Sharpester-m4o]

The friendship mechanic in the Persona franchise and Metaphor. Where, you can bond with your teammates and other characters in the game and can get new upgrades and abilities to help you out in the game alongside learning a bit more about the characters. In persona, it is what popularized friendship based mechanics in gaming.

[@supermariogamer5294]

21:46 Shoutouts to Kura5, a Boktai PC fangame that has been in development for a long time. Instead of the known Solar Sensor it can use your local weather reports instead to change the conditions. It released it's chapter 5 and I HIGHLY recommend it if you're a Boktai and/or Battle Network fan ;) And if you're not even a fan, then play it anyway, it is very beginner friendly.

[@shardofomega4427]

Also kinda neat that it has the option to take advantage of random weather and time, like how Lunar Knights did, but I do agree, it is a more-than-unique experience for your own local weather forecast to affect the game world so personally.

[@Scholar57.0]

Awesome list, QG. It was nostalgic to see footage from Ape Escape and remembering how BOTH thumb sticks were used in such a style to play the game. And I almost forgot all about those crazy bongos from Donkey Konga. Also, Hi-Fi Rush looks VERY cool. I need to give it a try!

[@abareamphibia6812]

23:42, so glad someone else loves the paint and thinner gimmick of epic Mickey as much as I do

[@joshwew9551]

Bonus fact for Star Force 3: One neat implementation of the Brother System is Rogue Armor. It gives +50 power to ANY sword/slash cards (effectively doubling SwordFighter cards), but lock you out of any Brothers. So you become a glass cannon.

[@michaelnelson1127]

It’s a helpful option for anyone who doesn’t know anyone else who has the game, which is probably a common scenario since it sadly sold the least amount of copies of the trilogy.

[@jaketaller8567]

My honorable mentions: Captures (Super Mario Odyssey) After spending years of his life stomping Goombas, Mario finally knows what it’s like to be one. Magic Notebook (Scribblenauts) Anything you write becomes reality. Robobot Armor (Kirby Planet Robobot) Make like Shinji and get in the freaking robot! Toys To Life (Skylanders) While Disney Infinity, Lego Dimensions, and Amiibos would eventually cash in on this gimmick, leave it to Spyro and his friends to do it first.

[@mikkyasara5438]

I don't blame anyone for not knowing about it, but before Hi-Fi Rush, there was No Straight Roads. It was an admittedly rough attempt to make a 3D Hack and Slash Rhythm game. Unlike in HFR, only enemies actually moved to the beat. The only time YOU need to worry about it is when you need to dodge, or more importantly, parry their attacks. I liked it well enough, but it was rough around the edges, and again, I don't blame anyone for not knowing it exists

[@crimsonflame2k]

22:44 Only a matter of time before this becomes Oscar's new legacy on the internet. 🤣🤣🤣

[@loritaylor1602]

Nintendo did have depth on characters on some enemies on spin-offs on Mario and Pokémon. Paper Mario and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon.

[@hackerex4787]

22:30 wtf Party Crashers jumpscare!

[@HeartlessSlayer3]

Jesus, your style hasn’t changed AT ALL, that’s impressive

[@michaelnelson1127]

As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

[@ericwijaya2119]

Personal Honorable Mention : The Entire Game - Library of Ruina Aside from the abnormality pages, everything combat related in the game involves the roll of a die. EVERYTHING COMBAT RELATED.

[@smashmallow1012]

My honorable mention that absolutely should've been here: Wirebugs (Monster Hunter Rise). I can not even BEGIN to describe how fun those things are.

[@sergiomendoza251]

Exists a similar gimmick of Bravely Default in Soma Union called Attack/Support then is more interesting like in support can use mp to healing or using buffs or something like that. And in some battles,the enemies can switch all of your party the attack or support mode then force you to adapt and even punish you to use the same strategy all the time (seriously,the devs knows how to make a perfect rpg into the battles).

[@shadowlinkbds]

Games can't really function without style and substance. Usually the substance can come from unique gimmicks in gameplay. The most unique gimmicks are the ones that are uncommon or start it all and inspire others to do something similar.

[@seanmcfadden3712]

Just a quick word about the Nemesis system and Shadow Of Mordor. You were able to recruit captains in that game as well, not just it's sequel. Some people forget about that because it was in the latter half of the game while Shadow Of War brings the mechanic back earlier in the story. Great part of the video on the mechanic, but that bit of misunderstanding stood out to me.

[@X-35173]

So glad to see Gravity Rush get some love. GR2 is among my top 10 fav games of all time

[@GoldLight73]

Gravity Rush is the epitome of the phrase: “It’s not flying, it’s falling with style!”

[@Chaos_Vergil]

*Pulls out megaphone* THE STYLE SYSTEM IN DMC IS ONE OF THE GREATEST GIMMICKS IN GAMING HISTORY AND I WILL STAND BY THAT FOR ETERNITY! THANK YOU!

[@videogamerzero1schannel]

Very sick list with having the one gimmick in your game given some more flare, more unique or just to be more fun & I'm so happy to see you give Gravity Rush attention as that's a massively slept on series! Tho as for me, here are some of my favorite gimmicks from the top of my head Kudos from Azure Striker Gunvolt that I'm glad it rewards you with an awesome vocal song for encouraging you to play better to hear more of the series's sick soundtrack! Neo The World Ends With You's Team Based Combat that I'm surprised no one has ever thought about this & glad to see more games like Hi-Fi Rush & an upcoming indie game, Genokids deciding to also make more team based character action games! Then finally, Disgaea with Magichange, making your monsters into weapons & carry a special skill for each of them making use of your monster units even more & just makes the game that was already over the top even beyond the top!

[@TheHolyHobnob]

My personal favourite is the Djinni system from the Golden Sun series. I mean the more Djinni you have, the stronger your characters get as they can boost or decrease your stats. Stat raising/lowering aside, equipping different Djinni will change your characters Class completely changing what kind of fighter they can be such as changing the base heavy type character (Garett, Piers etc.) into a fast Ninja with access to the instant kill spell Condemn. The Djinni system is so fun to mess with, either give a character various different types or give them all types of the element that character is naturally aligned to

[@bezoticallyyours83]

Love the djinn system!

[@AdamEspersona]

I had a lot of fun playing Thousand Arms back in the day. So when the topic of gimmicks came up as this month's theme, I just had to make that my Patron Pick. Fun Fact: it's the first game where I heard the voice talents of Amanda Winn-Lee.

[@davidtimmer596]

The Combat link system from Trails of Cold Steel. Balancing the tactical planning of Fire Emblem with the turn-based combat of Persona. Cold Steel introduces the combat link system, where you can link up with your party members to decimate enemies quicker than if you fight solo. And the links can vary depending on the characters' class and personalities. Like Alisa can give a slight boost to CP and health, by cheering, Elliot can just heal, same with Emma, and tankier characters like Juna, Laura, and Rean can protect squishier characters, and even retaliate. And the longer those characters are linked with each other, the more boons and abilities they unlock as they level up.

[@alvaroperez2349]

A Gimmick can add to the game when executed correctly, it helps game have a sense of identity and uniqueness.

[@hyrulehero2773]

Some of my favorite gimmicks that didn’t make the cut are: -The Klonoa series: grabbing/throwing enemies, particularly throwing enemies down as a makeshift double jump. I love that you can construct some combination of navigation, combat, and puzzle solving into a single action. -The Pikmin series: the timer system and the way it forces you to figure out what things you can actually allow yourself to do day-by-day to maintain efficiency. Not only do you always just go for whatever the next part you see is one-by-one, but you also have to consider which specific ones to go for next and in what order. -Panzer Dragoon Saga: the battle system, segmented arena movement not only giving you the ability to try and position yourself to avoid damage or take advantage of enemy weaknesses, but allowing enemies to do the same. Ramping up the intensity is the way battles function as an in-between of real-time action and being turn-based as a result of the charge system, a system that allows you to chain what would otherwise be separate attacks over multiple dedicated turns in just a single turn. I notice all of my favorite gimmicks have an underlying theme of efficiency to some degree.

[@GideonFuston]

Nice Kingdom Hearts reference, Quarter Guy!

[@Enan63.]

Happy Thanksgiving 2024 Quarter Guy here in United States Of America!!!!

[@FaultyGear9]

14:25 Nemesis System was incredible, the fact that it's being gate-kept behind a patent is such a waste....

[@ClefairyRox]

My vote for best gimmick goes to The World Ends With You's original DS release. Controlling two characters on the two different screens, one with buttons and the other with touch control, was super unique, albeit tricky to get the hang of. No game has ever done anything quite like it. I also have to give an honorable mention to the Break and Boost system in Octopath Traveler and its sequel. When fighting bosses, there is a ton of strategy involved in when it is best to Break your foe so you can whale on them for massive damage with Boosted attacks.

[@Dr.SiegMostang]

I think we will see the nemesis system around this list Honestly though i think time based events from lightning returns should be here since its actully an intresting gimmick

[@Triforce_of_Doom]

On the note of the Shadow of Mordor Nemesis system, I always love sharing my story. So as I'm going through I see one of the guys I thought I killed come back. Then I beat him again. And again. And again. I am not joking this one guy did NOT want to die even after one of his defeats was via an exploding campfire. Mentally I got to a "oh hey how's the family *stab*" point & I love it.

[@psycane8462]

New QG video day is always a good day

[@ThisIsCSDX]

Quick thing about Bravely Default. Its mechanic was touched on in its spiritual predecessor Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light. You had Action Points(AP) instead of MP, and each character, as long as they're in normal condition(which I assume means they've no status condition, bear with me as I'm going by a wiki cause my memory wasn't reliable for this one), and you can opt to get an EXTRA AP by using the Boost command, as certain attacks and spells use more than 1 AP. In fact, the artstyle of the game is akin to Bravely Default, which links the two even more.

[@maskpenn9443]

Wonderful 101 mention!

[@matttheaquaflame4626]

Morality from Mass Effect: I honestly find it interesting that BioWare back in the day made a Morality System that makes your choices matter, you can write Shepard whatever you want, and form what happens in the Galaxy, Paragon Shepard is what I feel is who Shepard is, while Renegade Shepard shows that the Ends justify the Means, but there are some Renegade options that are punishable, like Sabotaging the Genophage Cure when Wrex is alive, letting the Council Die on a Renegade Playthrough, and presenting evidence against Tali’s father in her Loyalty Mission, leading to minimal war assets in Mass Effect 3 and heavy casualties in the Destroy Ending, “But your choices don’t matter in Mass Effect 3.” well I feel like in the Destroy Ending they do, because if you have the free Extended Cut DLC then you’ll see what happens to organics after Synthetics are killed and possibly rebuilt. And there are Paragon Options that show that you are a Mary Sue, and going all Paragon would have consequences, it would make it harder to make broker peace between the Quarians and the Geth, if you rewrite the Heretic Geth, you’d start a war between the Krogans, Turians, and Salarians, if Wreav is the Leader of Clan Urdnot if Wrex was killed on Virmire, and encouraging Kasumi to keep the Greybox in the Stolen Memory DLC will keep Kasumi in the Past, leading to a Victory at a cost.

[@SirIsaacFortesque]

Allow me to list a couple of my favorite gimmicks. The perfect meter from Lord of the Rings the Two Towers and Return of the King for PS2: Picture this, you have a simple control scheme for an action game, with two main buttons, one for light attacks, and one for heavy attacks, and of course you'd have combo's for specific combinations of the buttons, how do you make it more interesting and engaging? Well the devs at EA decided to have a style meter that actually helps you in more pronounced ways. You have four levels of combo, Fair, Good, Excellent and perfect, every enemy defeated will count for that level of combo, and give you more points to spend on upgrades, but there's also something extra when you make it to perfect. You have a set time where all enemies defeated count as perfects, and you do much more damage. An interesting way to make a somewhat simple control style much more fun, I'm genuinely surprised the only other time I've seen a game use this type of combat is the Star Wars Episode III game on PS2. The Empires System from the Dynasty and Samurai Warriors Empires titles: Starting with Dynasty Warriors 4, every Dynasty and Samurai Warriors game, (Aside from Samurai Warriors 1) got a spin off game called Empires, where you basically have a lighter kingdom simulator, with the game play of Dynasty Warriors for stuff like siege's, defending your base, invasions, stuff like that. But the infinite number of ways you can play the game is what makes it so good, you can work for a ruler, you can be a vagabond unit without a kingdom, you can be a ruler, you can join a kingdom or be a free officer and not join anyone, you can betray your ruler, there's so many ways to play the game, and all of them are encouraged, just play how you want, and it doesn't stop there. You can also bond and have relationships with your fellow officers, even having sworn siblings, or spouses, and even children that are basically custom characters you can play as in battle in later games. There's so much to the Empires titles, especially in 7, 8 and 9, that I'd be here all day if I listed everything you could do in them, it's insane. Drive and traits in BlazBlue and Injustice respectively: These are basically buttons that have a unique use for every single character on the roster of their respective games, and I love the idea. Not only do you need to learn your characters moves and combos to do well, but you need to learn how to use they're drive/trait correctly to get the most out of them, and it makes the characters feel much more distinct, as well as add a new layer of complexity to how you play and use what that character has. (And that's all I got)

[@Neutra77]

Going back to the start of the video, I would put up the Future Visions from Xenoblade Chronicles as an honourable mention. While it may not be the focal point of the gameplay, it's an ability that has significance in the game's story, exploration and combat.

[@s.p.d.magentaranger1822]

Really spoiled me in particular with some of the jokes and references in this one, QG. Great list!

[@thomasthecoolkid7228]

My honorable mention is... honestly, _the entire combat system_ of Library of Ruina (and Limbus Company to an extent, but I'd rather stick to Library of Ruina for all those people who hate gacha games (and also Limbus Company _is_ different to an extent)). So in a standard "turn-based" RPG, you or your party takes a turn, then the enemy or the enemy's party does. That's the most basic thing about turn-based RPGs, isn't it? Library of Ruina takes that... and tosses it out the window. Here, during each turn, both your party and the enemy party act at _the same time,_ with the gameplay focusing on clashing your attacks against those of an enemy for big rewards. Sure, you _can_ hammer into the enemy with unopposed attacks if they let you, but winning clashes raises your team's Emotion Level (or the individual character's Sanity in Limbus Company), letting them get big buffs from the abnormalities of whatever floor's crew you're playing as at the moment. This changes... basically _everything_ about the game's mechanics. Speed isn't a measure of who gets their turn first - instead, higher-rolling speed dice (yeah, this game works on a dice roll system, Limbus Company changes it to coin flips) are able to overturn the lower-rolling speed dice of an enemy to force an enemy attack to clash with what _you_ want it to clash with. Big numbers on attacks don't _just_ mean higher damage, having higher dice rolls on an attack makes it easier for the attack to win a clash. Sometimes, either you or your enemy can even dish out various kinds of "mass attacks" (basically giant super moves) that, depending on the type, require you to add up the attack rolls of your or your enemy's _entire team_ to not get nuked down. I know I'm not exactly giving this system the justice it deserves, but I thought it deserved at least a _rough_ mention. Project Moon is awesome.

[@Triforce_of_Doom]

I need to get back to Library of Ruina myself. Hit one moment where I think I need to grind for some better cards so just gotta get in the grind mindset later.

[@MrSonicHedgehog]

Using King of Skill's Wario Time meme is hilarious

[@fluffy14sweet]

Throwing in Viewfinder as another Honorable Mention.

[@isenokami7810]

While I haven’t played Gravity Rush, you’ve given me a chance to lament the abandonment of the Vita. Though mine is full of games available elsewhere, it became my preferred way of playing a lot of these games, especially Final Fantasy X being the main game bringing me back. Plus I first got into Metal Gear with the Vita (though its HD collection only has MGS 2 and 3), and while not the best option in those cases, I would say they’re ideal for taking those great games on the go. The big problem with support being dropped so soon, though, is that it makes replacement models and parts horrendously difficult to find. My Vita is currently the older model with a proprietary charge port, with a cord I don’t fully trust due to multiple points of failure, and my proprietary Vita memory card has just started to show the first signs of failure. With such a short and halfhearted window of support and no third party alternatives afaik, fixing or replacing hardware issues like I’m worried about is far more of a nightmare than it would be for much older systems, and likely to be impossible before long. The only upside is that the games I have on there can be procured again elsewhere for the most part, but having my best option be to leave my own Vita to die doesn’t sit well with me.

[@derrickhaggard]

One of my most favorite gimmicks is the Beast Gauge from the Bloody Roar series basically your cast of heroes, heroines, anti-heroes, anti-heroines, and villains are Zoanthropes humans who through their own genes, or scientific experiments or in the case of 3's main villain Xion a ancient malevolent spirit of darkness at war with the spirit of the Earth since the beginning of history, or in Nagi from 4's case being a special type of Zoanthrope that partially turns into a copy of Xion's alternate form when tries to kill her anyway these individuals can turn into a were-animal form and this gauge is what determines when you can turn into your were-animal form and it starts out at 0 but is filled to a good amount when you land the first hit and fills a little bit if you are the recipient of the first hit and as the fight progresses the Beast Gauge will fill as you get hit and dish them out and when it reaches a certain level you can press the Beast button and transform into your were-animal form increasing your strength, speed, defense and gaining the ability to regenerate lost health up to a certain limit, as well as the Beast Button becoming a 4th attack, and getting a new were-animal form themed grapple though if you get hit while transformed the Beast Gauge will go down and the hit that sends it down to 0 will send you back into human form meaning there's a risk and reward system do you hold off on transforming till you reach the max level that way when you transform you can stay in your were-animal form longer possibly allowing you to make a comeback via the stat boosts and regaining the health you lost while you were in human form or do you transform as soon as possible to get the stat boosts and begin health regen immediately and run the risk of getting knocked out of the were-animal form a whole lot sooner. And what you can do with the Beast Gauge was expanded on in each game this has led to both good and bad results as in Bloody Roar 2(BR2: Bringers of the New Age in Japan, and Europe) super moves called Beast Drives were introduced and these would use up the entire Beast Gauge transform you back into human form after the super move was preformed and you regain almost all of your health even when blocked being another risk-reward mechanic added do you preform a Beast Drive as soon as possible for immediate health recovery and the chance of big damage in a effort to the end the battle as soon as possible or do you wait it out and use a Beast Drive in order to recover lost health and a chance to do big damage as a comeback mechanic that can turn the tide of a fight, 3 introduced the Hyperbeast a power up state where you transform into your were-animal form with a even stronger boost to your stats, faster and greater health regen, and the ability to preform unlimited Beast Drives however this form is on a time-limit and once it runs out you go back into Human Form and can't transform into your were-animal form for the rest of the fight another risk-reward mechanic do you use Hyperbeast in order to get better stat boosts, better health regen, and the ability to preform unlimited supers but run the risk of losing the ability to transform back into the were-animal form the rest of the fight once the time limit on the power-up runs out or do you hold off on it and activate it when you think the opponent's health is low enough to where you can win with a few well-placed attacks or a few back-to-back Beast Drives. Then there's Bloody Roar 4 which made the stupid decision to make the Beast Guage a 2nd Health Bar and this was a dumb call as once your health runs out you can turn into your were-animal form and continue to fight as it with no health regen to save you oh sure you can transform sooner but the health regen is now slow as heck meaning you run the risk of getting knocked out of your were-animal form for possibly the rest of the fight and the Beast Drive is made useless due to the whole using up the entire Beast Gauge but with a miniscule health regen so what can you do to regain your Beast Gauge in order to turn back into your were-animal oh nothing much only sacrificing your Health Bar to refill the Beast Gauge with refilling it to full leaving you at only 1% health seriously who on the BR4 team made the call to ruin this gimmick and the various mechanics that improved the usage of it and ruin the risk-reward factor that actually led to tactical decisions during a fight by turning the Beast Gauge into a 2nd Health Bar.

[@AzureMoebius22]

A favorite of mine is the Ouroboros from Xenoblade 3. After a specific point early in the game, specific pairs of your party members can do a legally different Fusion Dance to take on a significantly powerful form that gives you a different set of Arts and renders you immune to damage while it's active and acts as a turbo-charged version of the classes you start out with. Furthermore, each pair has two different forms depending on who's taking the reins, for example, Noah's form is a powerful swordfighter with the ability to _surf on his twin swords_ while Mio's form is an agile rollerskating catgirl. Add all that onto the fact that this isn't like Shulk's visions from 1 or the, as the fans call it, Coffee & Milk power from 2; the Ouroboros power is readily available for use throughout most of the game. No need to charge up a meter of any kind or wait for something specific to happen. Sounds overpowered, doesn't it? Well, it can be if you know what you're doing, but it does have weaknesses. Barring certain fights, you cannot remain fused indefinitely, as the form has a heat meter that you need to keep track of. If it overheats, the fusion will automatically cancel and will be unusable until after a full cooldown, which can potentially screw you if it happens at a bad time. And while the form's invincibility may be a handy way to save your ass if you're on critical health, getting hit will make the heat meter fill quicker.

[@meganpayette5996]

Sometimes, it's good to stand out.

[@jamieodonnell8344]

QG talking about Ape Escape in the year of our lord 2024. What is this timeline. Also, Yu-Gi-Oh!Sevens/Go Rush reference in the #1 spot. Neat.

[@MrJechgo]

I remember that the Gamecube had bongos, and those weren't compatibles with Wii games... Donkey Kong Barrel Blast was originally designed for the bongos on Gamecube, but was released on Wii... without bongo supports... As for Hi-Fi Rush, Microsoft deemed Tango Games "too expensive". That studio was making AA games with AAA budgets. Given that their last game didn't sell millions, they had to cut their resources down.

[@tenlox26]

22:29 WARIO TIME!!!

[@CarbonRollerCaco]

The reason Tango got booted WAS Hi-Fi Rush's aesthetic. Microsoft didn't hate the game, but at the same time, as a high-tech game platform holder, didn't want to be known for it because the art style wasn't a hardware pusher. Still a shit look to nearly shutter the whole studio, but Krafton was allowed to save it, so blessing in disguise?

[@jonathanbarr9764]

I want to say Detective Mode from the Arkham games since it allows you to plan out your attack or locate clues that would otherwise be missed but I'm not sure if it would count as a gimmick.

[@espurrseyes42]

Let me explain the Emotion Level System and Abnormality Pages from Library of Ruina, as despite what the Project Moon Sleeper Agents are saying, the majority of the combat system and setting up Parties is easy to grasp, and I wouldn't really consider a gimmick. You roll dice to determine "Turn Order", you set up you Combat Pages for the turn, hit play, and everyone takes their turns, attacking each other and clashing Combat Dice until one party is defeated. The Emotion System is where things get interesting. >As you fight during a turn, your characters gain Positive or Negative Emotion Coins. Winning Clashes makes Positive Coin, losing Clashes makes Negative Coin, draws vary based on the type of dice that clashed, and Min/Max rolling will make a Neg/Pos Coin respectively. You also gain 3 Pos Coin when you kill an enemy unit, and your whole party gains 3 Neg Coin if one of your units dies. >After gaining a certain amount of Coins, a unit's Emotional Level, starting at 0, will increase, fully restoring their Light (resource used for using Combat Pages) and increasing Light Capacity by 1. At Emotion Level 4, the unit gains an additional Speed Die (gains another action), and at Level 5, the unit stop gaining going, as 5 is the maximum level. >The Party has it own joint Emotion Level that's relative to the Emotion levels of units currently alive in your Party. If everyone is at Level 1, the Party Level is at 1. If one unit is at Level 2 while everyone else is at 3, that one unit will hold the Party Level back at 2. If a unit is at Level 5 while everyone else is Level 3, and then all those Level 3s die, your Party Level will be at 5 since the sole unit is at 5. >Each time the Party Level increases, you get to pick 1 out of 3 Abnormality Cards, otherwise known as Abno Cards. Every Floor/Party has a set of 15 Abno Cards, 6 marked as Rank I (selectable at Party Levels 1 and 2), 6 marked as Rank II (selectable at Party Levels 3 and 4, at the last 3 marked as Rank III (selectable at Party Level 5). >Abno Cards also come in Positive and Negative forms. Pos Abno Cards are just straight buffs that at worst have some condition to trigger their effects. Neg Abno Cards often grant stronger benefits, but with notable drawbacks like needing to take damage, risking damage from their own effects, or just straight killing units. >Of the 6 Cards for each Rank, 3 are selected based on your Accumulated Coin Ratio, with "stronger" cards requiring higher leanings in one direction or the other (Pos or Neg). There's only 3 Rank III Abno Cards, so that set will always be the same. These basically determine how you want to build your party, some setups requiring you to intentionally play bad, losing Clashes often to build Negative Coin. Some noteworthy Abno Cards include: >Matchlight: Marks all copies of the next two Combat Pages you use with "Matchlight" (can stack to have 2 on the same card), grant you a Matchlight status with each use of marked cards that increase their power, but have a 25% chance of damage you equal to you Matchlight count if that count is 4 or higher. >Loyalty: Select a unit. The entire Party gains Strength next turn equal to the damage that unit took last turn. >Nix: Effects only activate if the unit has the Abno Cards "Hate", "Despair", "Greed", and "Wrath". It turns off all the negative effects of the previous cards (like Wrath making you lose control of your character) while also debuffing all the state of the enemy party. It's Exodia. >The Beast: Same concept as Nix, only it's 3 cards you need; "Big Eyes", "Small Beak", "Long Arms". Once activated, everyone besides "The Beast" loses HP every turn, the enemy party gets permanently stat buff blocked and thus can't increase their Strength, Endurance, or Haste, and "The Beast" restores full Light every turn. It's Holactie, Creator of Light. >Mountain of Corpses: Kill your entire party but the selected unit, who gains stats relative to the number of units killed by MoC. The buffs from this last for the remainder of the Reception, that is, all battles that make up the encounter/mission you're on. >Chained Wrath: By itself, it's not that good. It increases the power of your Blunt Damage Dice, but makes all of your Speed Dice (determine Turn Order) roll 1. But combined with certain passive, that 1 Speed on every Die you have can become INFINITE Speed, while giving you a Power increase up to 5 for having more Speed than the enemy Speed Die you're targeting. It's easily the most complex and unique part of Ruina combat.

[@andrewhaase1826]

Honorable Mentions: *Mega Evolutions - Pokemon Series -Ever since gen 6 introduced Mega Evolutions and brought them back for gen 7, they've been absent from gens 8 and 9. I'm just so happy they're bringing them back for Pokemon Legends Z-A. *Rhythm - Metal: Hellsinger -Similar to Hi-Fi Rush, Metal: Hellsinger utilizes rhythm. Shooting on the beat will increase the damage of your attacks. Except in a FPS.

[@bricesonroy2350]

Lan Hikari invented the Brotherband system?!? Holy crap!

[@lilsunny7399]

Dragon Quest V For like. a good 75% of the game you have at maximum, 2 human party members. So what makes up the rest? Monsters, not just ones you like, throw out. No they level with you and gain new abilities as they do. Everything from Golems to Ghosts to Slimes. Also later in the game you have a choice of marrying a rich noble's daughter and getting a white mage or your childhood friend Bianca and getting essentially a black mage...or if you're playing the DS remake you can also marry his 2nd daughter who's a physical attacker. Even in the game's final act where you can make a party of 4 out of potentially 6 human characters, it can still benefit you to save some of those party slots for monster recruits.

[@killingragethrowback]

No shout out for Arkham? If I'm not mistaken, Asylum might be the first game to take a rhythm game and make it the main combat mechanic. Hi-Fi rush probably couldn't exist without it.

[@claytonrios1]

Somehow Astro Bot was the first game that allowed me to experience what Ape Escape is all about. That game is the best platformer I've played in years!

[@Triforce_of_Doom]

Me during the first world: man this game is fun *beats first boss & hits that level* Me: *biggest fucking smile on my face despite barely playing Ape Escape before this point*

[@claytonrios1]

@Triforce_of_Doom It totally deserved Game of the Year.

[@ThatChadWithTheAnchorArms]

I found a FPS called Singularity that gives you this Gauntlet that can let you manipulate Time

[@markgaterii5395]

Actually, Hi-Fi Rush wasn't the first game to combine rhythm with action. No Straight Roads was the first game to do it; an underrated game that hardly anyone talks about.

[@crashlight54]

I predict Hi-Fi Rush at number 1 Edit: I hope someone picks up that phone

[@heathazezero3967]

Starforce is slept on

[@ThisIsCSDX]

Oh, about Mordor/War. WB had the balls to patent the system, and, just like that one CEO from that friggin' Smiling Friends show, it is their intellectual property(patent, in this case) to sit on and do nothing with.

[@Petrodc16]

I was hoping the F.L.E.S.H. system from Dead island 2 would be on this list for revolutionizing zombie games.

[@ddjsoyenby]

metal gear rising reveangence. bravely default. and shadow of mordor were so good.

[@supersayiansam1019]

Everybody’s got a gimmick now!

[@KeiraLunar]

great List Quarter Guy lots of games im famular with and have played now for my off the list choice for a video game gimmick it would have to be the Dive System in the Ar Tonelico Series as this was used in 3 games as far as i know lets use a machine to "dive" into our female party members called Revyatail and go inside their Cosmospher or as its called a Soul space to play are Visual novel to help them with trauma , get to know them better ( great for character growth ) some funny moments ( seriously doing a Cosmospher blind first time and i dare you not to laugh ) and ofcourse to get stronger by unlocking more powerful song magic and umm.... stat changing outfits BUT this gimick also encuraged extra playthoughs as you can only dive so much into a Revytail's Cosmospher if you do it to much with one female party member the other will shut off acess to theirs this usualy happens around levels 5/8 oh and this also determins what ending you will get and these games are LONG special mention to Ar Tonelico 2 for its battle system insted of a typical Turn based ( ar tonelico 1 ) a Tales of series knock off ( ar Tonelico 3 ) the second one turned the combat into a rythem game of attack and Defend and you will HAVE to perfect the time specialy if you want to live in the late game as missing the timing could be fatal

[@sonicgamingkirbyfan2005v-xm2rl]

Glad to see someome giving praise to the good gimmicks instead of whining about the bad ones. 2:01 pikmen if it was a anime. 3:27 i think the king of skill aproves this Entry! 5:27 Im so glad to see Megaman starforce is getting some love here...now we need a legacy collection for this series...and for legends. 7:24 Blade mode sounds like a anime power up and it totally fits here! 9:38 ok, now your trying to summon King of skill here. *monkey noises* 12:02 ok, I'm liking this. Charging up your turns and then letting it rip with powerful atracks?! Sign me up! 14:26 geez, imagine if code lyoko had this level of depth? Still a great show btw. 17:08 so...Silver's psychic power on steroids? 19:48 if you had Princess Celestia around, you probably could have easy mode on. 22:33 my personal honorable mention is Shadow's doom powers. Sure, the doom spear is basically a upgraded chaos spear. But having doom blast to send enemies flying and reach far places instantly, being able to surf on water with doom surf, moving through dark sludge with doom morph, and getting to fly AND be invincible is fun to use. 23:59 The power of music Compels you! Great list dude! Love your videos!

[@Tired_Boy_2004]

what about metal gear solid peacewalker where you and friends (i think friends) can take on velociprey, rathalos, and tigrex, and the unique gearrex

[@Ataru320]

All that talk of gravity and nothing about Pucci?

[@greenrangerfan1993]

Does Tag Power from Advance Wars Dual Strike count? I know it's 2 CO powers in one turn but at least you get to change COs without going into your opponent’s turn.

[@allisontucker9874]

Anybody know what happened to Ben aka A Tree’s Apprentice?? I love his pokemon videos

[@JumboSizedRichard]

14:27 - 14:57 Toby Fox would like to know your location.

[@BaxterAndLunala]

Wait, did... did you make a Russian Badger joke? Edit: Shame that the beam swapping from Metroid Prime didn't make the list, that was definitely a good way to stand out from other FPS games at the time.

[@bluestreaker9242]

Not to mention Metroid itself, seeing as the beams you unlocked stacked, and in a few of them you could turn them individually off, but you had to go in to the pause menu to do that, but for Prime, it added an interesting layer of strategy and puzzle-solving to the mix. The Beams felt at their most important in the Prime games than they have in any other installment in the franchise, imo. :O

[@BaxterAndLunala]

@bluestreaker9242 Even more so than Samus Returns, and in that one, the Ice Beam is the only one to be a separate beam, likely Mercury Steam trying to avoid forcing you to get limited Ice Beams like the original.

[@jordanhunter3375]

Time stamp for the RussianBadger-esque joke, if you'd please

[@bluestreaker9242]

@@BaxterAndLunala Makes sense.

[@BaxterAndLunala]

​​@@jordanhunter3375It's at 7:17.

[@gustavochavarria8161]

27:23 Who was the person? Count Shaman?

[@shadowlinkbds]

Benjamage

[@gustavochavarria8161]

*Aw dang it.* -Gambling Guy

[@jordanhunter3375]

0:09 The Lolly Loo Lay Who?

[@espurrseyes42]

La Li Lu Le Lo

[@LeoSantano]

22:28

[@bezoticallyyours83]

A good gimmick not only has to work and control well, but it must also be portable on other systems. No one likes it when good games are stuck on one system forever. Gimmicks that damage your screen is also bad.

[@skullkid2689]

0:37 14:33 What game is that? It looks like fun

[@TheQuarterGuy]

Code Bunny!

[@matthewchang1495]

If you plan on making the worst gimmick list, look up Sommer sega.

[@krystlvines]

Shame Warner Bros made it so we'd never see another game like middle earth. Stupid patent