History GameBreaker / Puzzle

** Even more of a Game Breaker is the combination of the Big Brother Bird and the Super Seeds. These will guarantee total destruction, as a giant Big Brother Bird can break through ANYTHING and guarantee a win on a level with just one of them ... and unlike the Mighty Eagle, this combination is initially free. However, it's limited and the only way to get more is to buy more or hope that the "daily roulette" gives you more Super Seeds.

** The lowest difficulty setting, with only four kinds of blocks, virtually trivializes the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem and UsefulNotes/GameGear versions, as they also have a particularly large playfield and game speed maxes out eventually (neither of which is the case on the UsefulNotes/MegaDrive). You can simply place the columns at some empty space without paying attention to their colors and will still be almost guaranteed to score a combo sooner or later; only your luck will determine when it's finally GameOver.

** Items forged with the Rune Of Music add mana to each gauge with every 4 or 5 gem match. The Rune of Jewels boosts attack power with every full mana gauge. If forged with the higher level modifier runes (Rune of Dragons or Rune Of The Gods), equipping both type items can give you attack power equal to [[BonusBoss a Runekeeper's]]. And that's without using one of the tricked-out forged weapons (Rune of Axes, Rune of Swords).

* In the teleportation game ''VideoGame/{{Portal}},'' it's possible to poke the barrel of the portal gun through a portal, fire it, and pull back through the portal before the new portal forms. By repeating this, you can stay in one place while moving the far end of the portal further and further away. This makes several of the puzzles in the game ''much'' easier. However, all of the original game's challenges are possible without this trick.
** This could also be done (and much more easily) in Narbacular Drop, the spiritual predecessor.
** This was fixed in the sequel by forcibly pushing the player away from the portal if they fire a new one... which in turn led to a new trick using the "pushing" to launch players across space.
*** Even with this pushing element, it was not 100% accurate - meaning that a player could, with expert timing, perform the original stunt anyway.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Columns}}'', the playing field doesn't disappear when you pause the game, allowing players plenty of time to plan how to place their jewels, although this isn't much help when the field is almost filled.

** Some newer, official ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' games (''VideoGame/TetrisWorlds'' and ''Tetris DS'', for instance), have a feature known as [[http://tetris.wikia.com/wiki/Infinity Infinity]], which allows you to keep a piece active forever, as long as you move or rotate the piece before its "lock delay" timer runs out. In marathon/survival modes, it allows the player to easily reach the level goal, reach the score {{cap}} in due time, or play forever just by mashing the rotate button or moving a piece back and forth unless they decide where to put the piece. While it won't help in timed modes, it does make survival far more trivial than in other versions of ''Tetris''.
*** Later games would place a hard cap on Infinity, typically 15 rotations, primarily to counter indefinite stalling in multiplayer matches.

** Some clones of ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'', such as ''Blockles'' and ''[=TetriNet=]'', have a multiplayer mode in which you can use items. One particular item, commonly known as "swap," has you trade stacks with another player. This can be abused by building your stack very badly on purpose and then employing the item. ''Heboris'''s versus mode has a similar item called "Copy Field," but the same tactic is useless because items are used upon obtaining them (by clearing the block(s) that have them) and the item only copies your field with your opponent's, rather than swapping, so that strategy is suicidal.

* ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}} Unlimited'' features adjectives that you can add to items or [=NPCs=] to change their properties and behaviour. Adding the adjective "nonexistent" instantly makes the object disappear, which makes every quest that relies on the removal of something trivially easy.
** Additionally, adding the adjective "deadly" to an object gives it the TouchOfDeath.
** ''Super Scribblenauts'' had a limited version of the adjectives system. Normally, you could only add adjectives to objects you summoned. However, using a potion on any object will give the object all of the potion's adjectives, and potions aren't affected by most adjectives. You can make things indestructible, brainwash them, grant them superpowers or, using the right combination of adjectives, erase them from existence.

* In ''VideoGame/AngryBirds'', there is the Mighty Eagle, which requires real-world money to buy. It is summoned by throwing a can of sardines at the fortress & will plow right through every material the pigs could possibly build with, also causing an aftershock to kill any pigs that it missed. Pretty much, it will beat every single level it is used on.

* The first ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'' game has the red armor. You are given a limited amount of points to clear the blocks out of the way, after which you start taking ScratchDamage (though given how fast damage racks up, it's very likely to kill you). The red armor lowers damage taken by 10%, meaning you no longer take damage from block clearing, letting go go up levels as long as you have the patience for it. Unfortunately, this was removed in the sequel.

** Some newer, official ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' games (''Tetris Worlds'' and ''Tetris DS'', for instance), have a feature known as [[http://tetris.wikia.com/wiki/Infinity Infinity]], which allows you to keep a piece active forever, as long as you move or rotate the piece before its "lock delay" timer runs out. In marathon/survival modes, it allows the player to easily reach the level goal, reach the score {{cap}} in due time, or play forever just by mashing the rotate button or moving a piece back and forth unless they decide where to put the piece. While it won't help in timed modes, it does make survival far more trivial than in other versions of ''Tetris''.

** Most modern iterations feature a Combo system; clearing lines using consecutive pieces gives a bonus to your score (in singleplayer) and the number of garbage lines sent to your opponent (in multiplayer). It's not very useful in singleplayer, but it's a whole different story in multiplayer. The Combo system was intended to reward comebacks and reward a greater number of options while clearing garbage lines; however, players quickly developed an exploit, now infamous for its overuse in various online ''Tetris'' clients, known as [[https://harddrop.com/wiki/Combo_Setups#Four_Column_Combo_Setup_.28.224-Wide.22.29 4-wide]]. Rather than building a 'well' 1 column wide for Tetrises, you build it to be 4 columns wide and have 3 minos jutting out; once one learns the patterns for how to continue the combo with each piece, there's very little your opponent can do except 4-wide back. It's far from impossible to win using T-spins and Tetrises, especially if the user drops their combo, but doing so typically requires playing faster than your opponent can build their 4-wide, and the risk/reward ratio is heavily skewed in favor of the player using 4-wide regardless.

** This could also be done (and much more easily) in NarbacularDrop, the spiritual predecessor.

* Downplayed in the Creator/AdultSwim game ''Super Monsters Ate My Condo'' with "Peace Time" powerup and Mr. Shigoto's "Double Combo" ability:

* ''VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple'': [[spoiler:[[VideoGameFlight The jetpack]]]] from ''VideoGame/SeriousSam'' might just be an EasterEgg but it can be obtained immediately upon entering the hub it's found in and makes the surrounding puzzles a joke as you [[SequenceBreaking jump straight to the sigils]]. The rest of the game is saved from this indignity by [[spoiler:the jetpack]] being lost should you leave the area.

* Very rare for TheMario to be the game breaker, but Geolyte (the main character's planet and the Earth analogue) in ''VideoGame/{{Meteos}}'' is arguably this. For those of you not in the know, each planet in ''Meteos'' has its own attributes, such as playing field size and types of blocks that fall. Geolyte is easy to learn, but it also clears out blocks like mad, resulting in avalanches of garbage blocks for the opponent. In the sequel ''Meteos Wars'', it gains the [[LimitBreak Planet Impact]] called "Gambit," which increases the size of garbage block drops for several seconds. Normally, you have to charge up a meter in order to use this, done by clearing blocks and clearing the screen. Geolyte can get rid of its blocks and clear the screen so fast that a sufficiently-skilled player [[{{Combos}} can use Gambit again as soon as the previous one wears off]], leaving the opponent stuck in a perpetually compromised situation.

** Super Sribblenauts had a limited version of the adjectives system. Normally, you could only add adjectives to objects you summoned. However, using a potion on any object will give the object all of the potion's adjectives, and potions aren't affected by most adjectives. You can make things indestructible, brainwash them, grant them superpowers or, using the right combination of adjectives, erase them from existence.
** Fans in Scribblenauts can allow you to push distant objects
** Many of the Action levels in Super Scribblenauts which are intended to required careful planning and timing can be bypassed by strategically placed objects with the adjectives 'indestructible' and 'immovable'.
* In ''VideoGame/AngryBirds'', there is the Mighty Eagle, [[spoiler: which costs 99 cents to buy]]. It is summoned by throwing a can of sardines at the fortress & will plow right through every material the pigs could possibly build with, also causing an aftershock to kill any pigs that it missed. Pretty much, it will beat every single level it is used on.

** The lowest difficulty setting, with only four kinds of blocks, virtually trivializes the SegaMasterSystem and GameGear versions, as they also have a particularly large playfield and game speed maxes out eventually (neither of which is the case on the MegaDrive). You can simply place the columns at some empty space without paying attention to their colors and will still be almost guaranteed to score a combo sooner or later; only your luck will determine when it's finally GameOver.

* The first ''{{Knightfall}}'' game has the red armor. You are given a limited amount of points to clear the blocks out of the way, after which you start taking ScratchDamage (though given how fast damage racks up, it's very likely to kill you). The red armor lowers damage taken by 10%, meaning you no longer take damage from block clearing, letting go go up levels as long as you have the patience for it. Unfortunately, this was removed in the sequel.

** Learned spells marked Very Hard, like Death Gaze (does damage equal to half the targets remaining HP), Petrify (2 missed turns to the target, plus an extra turn for every 20 green mana) and Spit Poison (Inflicts Poison and Blind status effects for three or more turns).

** ''Puzzle Quest 2'' has the Manticore and Wyvern poisons, which can only be wielded by the Assassin class. While the poisons available to the other classes max out at about 6 damage per turn (for 6-8 turns), the Assassin-only ones max out at 14 per for up to ten turns. And if you dual-wield different types (ex. A Hellforged Wyvern and an Ancient Wyvern), they stack. And poisons are ridiculously cheap to upgrade so you can max them out in short order. Once you've got two maxed-out poisons, you're pretty much invincible save for the bosses with [[OneHitKO instant kill moves.]]

** Sega's 1988 arcade version of ''Tetris'' neglects to change RNG seeds every time the game is booted up, resulting in the [[http://tetrisconcept.net/threads/wheres-the-sega-tetris-poweron-pattern.680/#post-23443 power-on pattern]]. This goes against a major concept of ''Tetris''--randomized pieces--and allows the player to simply plot out where to put each piece and reach the score cap in as few pieces as possible. Of course, you do need to have your own copy of the arcade hardware, be playing in an emulator, or otherwise have machine-resetting privileges, but once you do ''Tetris'' becomes less about dealing with the RandomNumberGod and more about TabletopGame/{{chess}}-like move planning.

** Sega's 1988 arcade version of ''Tetris'' neglects to change RNG seeds every time the game is booted up, resulting in the [[http://tetrisconcept.net/threads/wheres-the-sega-tetris-poweron-pattern.680/#post-23443 power-on pattern]]. This goes against a major concept of ''Tetris''--randomized pieces--and allows the player to simply plot out where to put each piece and reach the score cap in as few pieces as possible.

** Some newer, official ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' games (''Tetris Worlds'' and ''Tetris DS'', for instance), have a feature known as [[http://tetris.wikia.com/wiki/Infinity Infinity]], which allows you to keep a piece active forever, as long as you move or rotate the piece before its "lock delay" timer runs out. In marathon/survival modes, it allows the player to easily reach the level goal, reach the score {{cap}} in due time, or play forever just by mashing the rotate button or moving a piece back and forth unless they decide where to put the piece. While it won't help in timed modes, it does make survival far more trivial than it is in other versions of ''Tetris''.

** Some newer, official ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' games (''Tetris Worlds'' and ''Tetris DS'', for instance), have a feature known as [[http://tetris.wikia.com/wiki/Infinity Infinity]], which allows you to keep a piece active forever, as long as you move or rotate the piece before its "lock delay" timer runs out. In marathon/survival modes, it allows the player to easily reach the level goal, reach the score {{cap}] in due time, or play forever just by mashing the rotate button or moving a piece back and forth unless they decide where to put the piece. While it won't help in timed modes, it does make survival far more trivial than it is in other versions of ''Tetris''.