History GameBreaker / OtherGames

* The edutainment sketch-game show hybrid ''WesternAnimation/{{Crashbox}}'' has the "Distraction News" segment, where cardboard news anchor Dora Smarmy gives a report about a certain topic while various actions occur throughout the studio, with the object of the game being to focus on her report enough to answer five questions at the end. Doing so can be incredibly easy if you turn on [[UsefulNotes/ClosedCaptioning closed captions]].

* The cast of the webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}'', which is set in an RPGMechanicsVerse, have found and exploited a few of these.

** {{TabletopGame/Pathfinder}} 1st edition had the dreaded Synthesist, a Summoner variant who turned into their Eidolon instead of summoning it. In other words, they're a magic using class that can turn into a strong melee fighting creature that they can power up with their own magic. Um.

* In ''Mythic Quest'', the main character's Shadow Sword is so powerful it is often accused of being a [[VideoGame/GameShark hack]] in that video game by other characters. All the Shadow Spells fall under this, usually ending up in [[OneHitKill one hit KO]] territory.

* ''VideoGame/StyxShardsOfDarkness'': The Flow Control skill causes [[MagicMeter Amber]] to slowly and passively regenerate, allowing Styx to turn invisible and throw clones into danger without having to worry about resource management. Though it can only be gained after collecting all seven pieces of Pure Quartz and gaining every mastery skill (meaning that the player will need to complete every mission and a fair few optional objectives), it avoids ''quite'' being a Bragging Rights Reward since it's still useful for anyone who wants to replay the levels for 100% completion. It can be even stronger with the right combination of skills and equipment: Combine it with all of the invisibility upgrades and the InvisibilityCloak and you can silently and invisibly murder almost everyone with no difficulty. Toss the Akenash Dagger on top of that and everyone you kill will be automatically disposed of as well, with the skills that make invisibility silence all of your kills totally negating the dagger's drawback of making your kills louder.

* In ''{{Literature/Armada}}'', in the in-universe game Armada, the aliens start using Disrupters which are almost invincible. The people start complaining that this is a game breaker.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/MagiNation''. A power gem could be bought for 8 animite and sold for 12 animite. However, while animite is the currency of the realm, you never need to buy items, as you can recover health naturally, and you need infused animite anyways to forge rings. Basically, its a game breaker in the most technical sense that you need animite, but you don't need it that badly.
* When ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' create a virtual reality game, Candace gets sucked in, with a ModestyTowel and, more important to the trope, a hairdryer reducing the use of "jumping and ducking."
* The spartan from Series/DeadliestWarrior the Series/DeadliestWarrior video game is a bit of game breaker. His spear range attack flies at head level (and attacks to the head are almost always one hit kills), and can end a match within a second if the opponent doesn't move out of the way IMMEDIATELY.
* Alluded to in the title of PC gaming site ''Rock Paper Shotgun''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{ReBoot}}'' Bob's [[DoAnythingRobot Glitch]] lets him be a [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard cheating bastard]] in every game he's in. Then there was the one time he (mistakenly) brings a bomb into a racing game, and the explosion crashes the game. And the one time Matrix pulled out his Gun, in a Golf Game.

* In Creator/EdwardDHoch's short story "Centaur Fielder for the Yankees", the New York Yankees [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin sign on a centaur]]. Think about that.
* A parachute can turn an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_drop_contest egg-drop competition]] into a joke: if it can handle a ten-foot drop, a parachute-equipped egg can survive being dropped from any altitude up to the point where you need to worry about surviving orbital re-entry. Consequently, many egg-drop competitions [[ObviousRulePatch ban the use of parachutes]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', Vanellope Von Schweetz is an InUniverse game breaker. She possess a glitching that allows her to suddenly appear in front of her opponents in the Random Roster Race, which is a very useful ability in a racing game. [[spoiler: Even after crossing the finish line and resetting her game, she keeps this advantage.]]
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' (set in an RPGMechanicsVerse based on 3rd Edition D&D) parodies this when Roy meets a half-ogre with a "perfect" character build. Due to his size, his wielding a spiked chain (a reach weapon), and his combat reflexes, he was able to score multiple attacks on Roy every time he approached by jumping backwards. After [[TemptingFate boasting about how invincible he was]], he ended up jumping back a little too far and going off a cliff.

* Series/ThumbWrestlingFederation has several moves that could qualify, but what stands out is Senator Skull's "Super Skull", which results in both a pinned opponent & ''a wrecked arena". It is also so violent that it has to be censored, so [[TakeOurWordForIt we don't know exactly what happens when Senator Skull uses it.]]
* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', during the Magic Tournament arc, one game has a house with 100 monsters inside, whose strengths vary from scary (D class) to indescribably scary (S class). Each competitor picks the number that they want to fight at one time, but only gets 1 point per monster (regardless of class), and can't leave until they give up or the monsters are dead. [[spoiler: So Erza picks all of them. Even though she only needs 51. When she's done, the other 7 competitors are reduced to punching a device to measure their [[PowerLevels power level]].]]

* During both World Wars the British Royal, British Commonwealth, and American Navies had access to the then current uncensored editions of ''Jane's Fighting Ships''. This might not seem like much of a game breaker until you realize that those books contain very detailed technical information about almost every major surface warship that was afloat during both of those wars. All of the following was contained in one easy to reference source:
** Silhouette line drawings and/or photographs of almost every class of ocean going surface warship (including obsolete and minor ones) in the world.
** Many of the silhouette line drawings tell you how thick the side armour was and how it was distributed.
** The planview line drawings almost always showed the weapon layout and often included information about firing arcs.
** Many entries include information about deck armour and underwater protection. Some have a thick line in the silhouette drawings indicating where, in elevation, the deck armour is located and/or vertical dashed lines showing the location of the watertight transverse bulkheads.
** Information about things like fuel bunkerage, fuel consumption, fuel type (coal, oil, diesel, or mixed), engine horsepower, maximum speed, and cruising range is extensive.
** The WWI editions had some fairly detailed information about individual models of naval artillery (shell weight, powder charge, muzzle velocity, range, and more), charts of major harbors with depth and tide information, and information about the size and number of the dry dock, floating dock, and refueling facilities available at those harbors.
** [[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Battleship_Mikasa_from_JFS1906.png This is the 1906 entry for the Japanese Battleship Mikasa.]] It is fairly representative of the typical capital ship entry.

* Ratings Games, the tightly-regulated arena combat Devils use to test each other in ''Literature/HighSchoolDxD'', ban the use of Balance Breakers[[note]]''Not'' directly named for their power, it's a category of AmplifierArtifact[[/note]] and certain other spells and abilities that have an unreasonable chance of killing the target outright before they could be retired to the holding area. Note that this only applies to Ratings Games, in life-or-death combat these abilities are used with wild abandon. At one point Rias demonstrates the power of a new spell by pointing out it would be illegal in Games.
** Rias' Peerage is a collective GameBreaker in ratings games. In theory every Devil in a peerage is attuned to a type of [[ChessMotifs Chess piece]], limiting the headcount and roles of stronger members by superior pieces, as well as the amount of grunts/cannon fodder pawns. A particularly adept JackOfAllStats might take several pawns to reincarnate/sign up. Issei is eventually worth ''twelve'' pawns , plus her bishop Gaspar is another mutated (read: overpowered) piece, and both can be fielded without taking penalties elsewhere. The only thing balancing this [[StoryBreakerPower story-breaking advantage]] is a serious manpower problem, as Ratings Games take place in large arenas where tactics matter and she's outnumbered nearly two-to-one, and the major villains have no interest whatsoever in playing Hell's internal power games.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', the Targaryens are the only house in the known world to possess dragons, this made them unbeatable against everyone in Westeros.
* Economy is not immune to this either. There is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_scheme The Pyramid Scheme]], something that if allowed would turn our capitalistic economy into a monarchistic one. The basic principle is simple. There is one guy offering a job to you. You offer him a part of your money to do the job, which is to recruit people doing a job for you in exchange of a part of their money that is partially for you and partially for your boss. The job this guy is going you do is to recruit people to do a job in exchange for a share of their revenue which is going to get shared with you and your boss and the guy recruited for the job has as a job to... I think you get the point by now. As you can imagine, the fact that the system seldom if ever sells goods or services to customers leads plenty of governments to do everything in their power to forbid those systems from being in circulation in their country.
* In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Elementary Dear Data", Data has a simple one for the ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' simulations he tries on the holodeck- as the simulations were meant to follow the plots of [[Creator/ArthurConanDoyle Conan Doyle's]] original stories, simply having committed the stories word-for word to memory (possible for Data's android brain) makes him able to "solve" the mystery without playing through the game and picking up the clues. The other characters have to explain to him this is missing the point (the challenge of solving the mystery being what makes the game fun) and set about reprogramming the simulations to provide Data with an actual challenge. (It backfires in the shape of the Moriarty character gaining sapience and trying to take over the ship.)

* ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'': BigBad Kamen Rider Chronus is an InUniverse example, as he is basically a GameBreaker in human form, and entirely by design. It was created to be the reward for the player who could defeat all twelve of the bosses in ''Kamen Rider Chronicle'', which unlocked the FinalBoss Gamedeus, who's so powerful that Chronus is said to be the only thing that could possibly defeat it. When Chronus falls into the hands of [[TheChessmaster Masamune Dan]], he ''starts'' with the power to [[TimeStandsStill "Pause" time]] and develops several more powers that allow him to completely dominate the rest of the cast for the final third of the series.

* Kinuba in ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'' is a [[BloodSport motorball]] player armed with the ultra-deadly Grind Cutters, which turn his fingers on one hand into chainsaw-like whips that can shred through almost anything. Since they’re pretty much the closest thing to projectile weapons as you can get in a setting where projectile weapons are banned, he’s effectively unstoppable on the track and begins rising up the ladder far quicker than everybody else. [[spoiler:[[ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest So Vector kills him for screwing up the carefully rigged odds and breaking the game]], stealing his weapons to use them against Alita off the track.]]

* ''Literature/BofuriIDontWantToGetHurtSoIllMaxOutMyDefense'': [[AchievementsInIgnorance Due to having no experience with video games]] prior to her friend Risa getting her into ''New World Online'', Kaede maxes out her toon Maple's defense stat, making her such a StoneWall that almost nothing can injure her. As a consequence of the way the game's SkillScoresAndPerks system works, she {{No Sell}}s high-level monsters and players and gains increasingly absurd skills, provoking multiple {{Obvious Rule Patch}}es from the development team. The devs eventually just give up trying to balance her because they notice her sheer silliness has actually become a selling point for the game.

** The Slime Gun is the perfect anti-[[BonusBoss Mr. Shakedown]] weapon. Mr. Shakedown normally has a lot of durability against bullets, but for some reason the Slime Gun [[ArmorPiercingAttack bypasses this]], allowing you to shave a ton of health off a max-level Mr. Shakedown before you run out of ammo.

* ''[[VideoGame/WarioWare WarioWare: Get it Together]]'':

* Ratings Games, the tightly-regulated arena combat Devils use to test each other in ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD'', ban the use of Balance Breakers[[note]]''Not'' directly named for their power, it's a category of AmplifierArtifact[[/note]] and certain other spells and abilities that have an unreasonable chance of killing the target outright before they could be retired to the holding area. Note that this only applies to Ratings Games, in life-or-death combat these abilities are used with wild abandon. At one point Rias demonstrates the power of a new spell by pointing out it would be illegal in Games.

** Chess and Go, [[SmartPeoplePlayChess the quintessential games for geniuses]], are both in principle solvable by computation, as both games have a finite board and no random elements -- though it would require a computer many orders of magnitude better than anything available now. For some perspective, there are [[http://www.chess.com/blog/Billy_Junior/number-of-possible-chess-games?_domain=old_blog_host&_parent=old_frontend_blog_view about 10^120 possible chess games]] compared with [[http://www.universetoday.com/36302/atoms-in-the-universe/ about 10^80 atoms in the observable universe]]. Go is worse because it branches out much more, making the options explode too widely to analyze with the methods used for Chess in any reasonable timeframe, with no obvious way of pruning 'bad' choices quickly.

*** Additionally, as Go's metagame has evolved, the points given to player 2 has risen over time, as players have found going first to be more and more advantageous.

* Any game with a finite number of states and which does not make use of randomness may be [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solved_game mathematically solved]], resulting in a guaranteed win or draw ("[[PerfectPlayAI perfect play]]") for whoever has the correct starting conditions. "Perfect play" does not mean "good play", it means being able to see every potential future state of the game and choosing the absolute best move at each point. Thus, there really is only one way to play these games "perfectly," except when choices are pretty much equivalent. Once a strategy for perfect play is discovered, the game can be considered completely broken, unless played by naive players. The most well-known example of this is Tic-Tac-Toe, which any skilled player can play perfectly to a draw.

** Connect Four has been solved, and becomes a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_player_win first player win]] for perfect play. To two sufficiently advanced programs playing the game, the game comes down to who wins the coin flip for first turn.
** Checkers may be the most popular [[http://www.sciencemag.org/content/317/5844/1518.abstract solved game]]. The game has 500 quintillion possible states. No human can comprehend all that. From a sufficiently advanced computer's point of view, Checkers is as trivial as Tic-Tac-Toe. Perfect play results in a draw. Because humans lack this perspective, we cannot play Checkers perfectly and don't grow bored of it like we do Tic-Tac-Toe.

* ''Roleplay/TheBalladOfEdgardo'': A severely underpowered PC in an [[PlayByPostGames online roleplay]] manages to reach the top by proper exploitation of a Game Breaker. One of the in-universe locations had a field effect that would instantly refill the ManaMeter of any character who visited it, up to the maximum allowed {{Cap}}. One of the perks available to first-level characters ''removed the mana cap'' in exchange for not allowing the character to use elemental attacks, restricting them to the NonElemental "Raw Spirit", which was pathetically weak but couldn't be resisted. Cue the character walking around with literally infinite power. And just when he thinks he found a snag when infinite power doesn't last long enough after visiting, he learns teleportation, with its distance powered by the same infinite power. He promptly used to teleport-gank the strongest player in the setting (to be fair, said player deserved that).