History Main / ConspicuouslyLightPatch

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': In "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE6TheTerribleTrio The Terrible Trio]]", the daughter of a recent victim is sitting by her father's bedside when a nurse comes in and tells her she should get some rest since her father isn't likely to wake soon. Considering he's significantly more detailed, and therefore part of the background, the nurse is probably right.

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', the area of floor you have to bomb in order to reach King Dodongo uses a texture that doesn't quite mesh with the floor around it; if you look closely you can see the seams. Also, the rocks that you can bomb tend to be very obvious, as they all use the same model.

** This is true in any ''Zelda'' game -- a stretch of wall or piece of floor or what have you that needs bombing will have ''something'' that makes it different from the rest of the area. This would be justified in that it serves as a clue for players to figure out how to move forward in dungeons and gives them a rough idea of ''where'' exactly to bomb (so that they don't use up all of their bombs trying to hit the right spot). Secret areas will seldom have this, requiring you to slash the wall in different places with your sword (bombable walls go "zipt" instead of "clang" when you slash them, a fact pointed out by a Goron in ''Ocarina's'' Fire Temple.)

** In all of the ''Pokémon'' games, places where you can use HM moves stand out, from a different kind of rock being breakable, rocky slopes that can be climbed, and dark patches of water that serve as Dive spots. Not to mention the [[http://www.supercheats.com/guides/files/guid/pokemon-emerald/P25D-ninja.jpg Ninja Boy]] trainers disguising themselves as trees in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald]]''.

** One level features enemies who hide in brick blocks; the blocks concealing enemies are easily distinguishable because, due to palette limitations, they ''don't'' shimmer the way that normal blocks do. Naturally, in the ''Super Mario All Stars'' remake, there is no such giveaway, due to the SNES' more advanced graphics capabilities. They're still a slightly different color in All-Stars, though that's probably intentional.

* The original ''VideoGame/{{The Legend of Zelda|I}}'' has identical dungeon walls whether a bomb will punch a hole in them or not. Fortunately, only the middle of any given wall needs checking. The overworld is far trickier, since bombable walls always face south, but otherwise can be in any location (when checking, keep in mind that bombing between tiles can let you hit two walls at once).

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', the animators worked very hard to keep the stone gargoyles from being Fudd Flags. When stone, the gargoyles are in background animation, appearing as any other inanimate object. When they come to life, they are in cel animation. Naturally, this trope is back to being played straight whenever somebody needs to ''move'' a stone gargoyle, but that doesn't happen very often.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Unikitty}}'' episode "Hide N' Seek", Richard, being so monotone that people flat out don't realize that he's there sometimes, is drawn in some scenes as literally being part of the background, with his face rendered onto a separate, albeit less detailed, layer. It is not as jarring as most examples, as he is simply a grey LEGO brick in design.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E3TheClawsOfAxos "The Claws of Axos",]] one of the TARDIS roundels is inexplicably blue. Of course, later in the scene it is {{CSO}}ed into becoming a viewscreen.

* On ''Videogame/{{Cuphead}}''[='s=] world map, the backgrounds are painted with watercolors, while things you can interact with -- like characters, stages, and shops -- are ink-drawn. This is both for the player's benefit and deliberately invoke the style of old cartoons, where cel-animated objects would stick out over the painted backgrounds.

* ''Videogame/{{Cuphead}}'' plays this one completely straight as a throwback to 30's animation that made heavy use of this; in this case, it serves to mark the actual objects you can interact with in the World Map.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':

* ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCatTheMovie'' has many glaringly obvious examples, though it's the least of your worries given the film's ''numerous problems''.
-->'''Nostalgia Critic:''' Look out! It's painted into the background so I know it isn't going to do anything!

* ''[[VideoGame/BrokenSwordTheShadowOfTheTemplars Circle of Blood]]'' averts this; everything (''everything'') is in the same cartoonish style, including things two or three pixels wide that you need to pick up. People took to calling it ''[[FanNickname Circle of Mouse]]'' because if you don't mouse over every pixel in a new area, you'll miss something.

* ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw'': {{Parodied|Trope}}. During a "special showing" of a ''WesternAnimation/{{Birdman}}'' episode the series is based on,[[note]]While it is an original ''Birdman'' episode, the cast of the parody series provide a humorous re-dub.[[/note]] Harvey is shrunk by Reducto; facing ants that now match him in size, their antenna are colored differently and are the only parts that move, to which Harvey notes [[LampshadeHanging it appears to be all they can do.]]

* The ant-infested tile [[SinisterMinister Judge Frollo]] picks up in ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. Also played with in the same film with the gargoyles, who appear as matte-painted until they come to life.

** However, this is averted for the most part in "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E32PressureTheSmokingPeanut Pressure]]". When Sandy knocks some rocks loose to stop [=SpongeBob=] from beating her at a rock climbing competition, the rocks she moves are matte for almost the entire time until they actually begin falling.

* In the first ''Franchise/MassEffect'' game, you would sometimes come across rows of weapons lockers in merc bases, and the only hackable locker would be a lot brighter than the
rest.

* In the ''Series/BuckRogersInThe25thCentury'' episode "The Dorian Secret", the actual secret of the mask-wearing culture in question is given away just a half-second early, during the shot where the camera pans across three of the Dorian men finally removing their masks. Or rather, it's ''supposed'' to look like a continuous panning shot, except the transition between one Dorian and the next is a ''very'' bad splicing job, that doesn't at all conceal the fact that the same actor is being shown over and over, each time removing a different mask, to illustrate that all Dorians look exactly like all others of their sex.
* In the ''Series/HammerHouseOfHorror'' episode "Charlie Boy", it's blatantly obvious which item in a collection of African figurines will be the haunted/cursed/whatever artifact, even before anyone singles it out for attention on screen. That's because it's the only one that's so shoddily-crafted that it ''must'' have been built specifically as a prop for a low-budget horror TV show.

* The ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' doujin-anime ''Anime/MusouKakyouASummerDaysDream'' has this almost constantly.
* When the elephant eats bricks on ''Animation/BlackCatDetective''.
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' had it, though not as bad as some other cartoons of the era. [[https://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lx4xr4qK8i1qzxzwwo1_500.jpg For example, it's obvious when rocks are going to break.]]
* Quite obvious at one point in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', when the part of the Saint Beasts' castle is collapsing.

%%* The BridgeLogic scene from ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire''.
* The book Belle checks out at her village's library during the song "Belle" at the very beginning of ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast''.

* During the [[TearJerker "Baby Mine"]] scene from ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'', when we see the montage on baby animals and their mothers after Dumbo and Timothy visit Dumbo's mother still in the cage, a mother zebra for some reason actually has her head drawn on an individual cel while her body is drawn onto the background! (her colt is also drawn on an individual cel).

* Glaringly obvious in ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCatTheMovie'', though it's the least of your worries given the film's ''numerous problems''.

* The video game ''VideoGame/SeriousSam'', interestingly, features these. Behind a lightly colored spot on a wall, you could expect to find a secret by moving to it or shooting at it.
* Conspicuously Light Patches, along with other texturing and lighting tricks, [[OlderThanTheyThink were a staple in]] {{FPS}}es since ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', as they were often a clue to where a secret could be, or where monsters would come from.
* The newer, Crystal Dynamics-developed ''Franchise/TombRaider'' games constantly use white ledges to signify which parts of the wall Lara can grab. The older games didn't need these hints, as they were more obvious due to simple landscapes.
* In the first ''Franchise/MassEffect'' game, you would sometimes come across rows of weapons lockers in merc bases, and the only hackable locker would be a lot brighter than the rest.
* Games and [[GameMod Mods]] based on ''VideoGame/{{Quake|I}}''-derived shooters such as ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' have this quite often, based on rendering limitations, until dynamic shadows became more prevalent in engines starting in 2004. Lighting effects were determined when the level was built, and didn't change during play, even if an object moved to a differently lit environment. Similarly, interactive objects didn't block light, meaning a bright light would shine right through a door or destructible wall as though it were glass. Levels had to be designed with the limitations in mind, by having near identical lighting on both sides, or leaving the light off on the opposite side until it was triggered.
** It's the case with most games that used the aforementioned lightmap model. In most cases dynamic objects and static models or map scenery would be treated differently lighting-wise - the [=LS3D=] engine used in ''VideoGame/MafiaTheCityOfLostHeaven'' used dynamic shadows for characters and moving lights, but everything else is pre-baked.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', brick blocks with jumping Goombas hidden inside are easy to distinguish from ordinary bricks, as the enemies don't have the "shine" effect normal bricks have. This was averted in later re-releases, such as the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'' version.

* ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' deliberately invokes this as a homage to old cartoons. Toon objects, which can be affected by Paint and Thinner, are bright and colorful, while Inert objects look dark and menacing, and cannot be painted or thinned.

* In several ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' games, destructible obstacles have a different look from the rest of the landscape.
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSun1'' and ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'', using certain Psynergy powers will cause the background to turn monochrome...except for items that can be dealt with by hand or affected by Psynergy powers (containers with items inside sparkle instead). ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' instead has Insight, which causes Psynergy-affected objects (rocks, plants...) to sprout thought bubbles indicating what type of Psynergy can be used on them.
* In ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' the drugs you can take in the cave are a distinctly different shade of red from the rest of the bowl.
* When you walk around in ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' you regularly run into some odd looking trees on a colored square background, in contrast to the trees around them with proper alpha channeling. if you poke the tree, it folds up and a [[GratuitousNinja Ninja]] pops out to challenge you to a battle.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' trees with harvestable berries are brighter and less detailed than the surrounding landscaping.
* ''Videogame/{{Cuphead}}'' plays this one completely straight as a throwback to 30's animation that made heavy use of this; in this case, it serves to mark the actual objects you can interact with in the World Map.
* ''[[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Mega Man 8]]'' has a very weird shot in the animated cutscene where Duo explains evil energy, where his head is drawn on a cel and the entire rest of his body is a background object for some reason.
* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' uses a lighting engine which seems to use different values for [=NPCs=] and static objects - due to the washed-out filter and generally harsh lighting, this doesn't become particularly obvious until you encounter a Mimic in a dark room surrounded by real chests and spot it immediately because it's about five shades brighter.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': Barrels that contain items are easy to tell apart from regular ones due to their noticably different texture.

* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
** ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'': Subverted (perhaps unintentionally) in cartoon, where Wile E. cuts a suspension bridge that's clearly drawn on a cel, but [[GravityIsAHarshMistress the fully painted cliff he's standing on falls instead]].
** "WesternAnimation/FallingHare" does it several times, but it's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1xqrdtJs8w#t=5m32s most noticeable]] on a section of a wall that WesternAnimation/BugsBunny backs up into in order to ram open a door.

* ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'': ''The New Adventures of Alvin and the Chipmunks'' makes a lot of use of this, from a door that's shortly going to be opened, to a boulder that's going to fall down on the heroes.
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanPop'': One character is seen playing the piano, and as he moves his arm his sleeve repeatedly flickers to a lighter shade than the rest of his shirt.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frGLMtGsotc title sequence]] example, in which Scrooge pops his head out of a lightly colored patch of gold coins.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTintin1991'': In "[[Recap/TintinCigarsOfThePharaoh Cigars of the Pharaoh]]", the inside of a cigar box is shown. The cigar which Tintin picks up is quite clearly drawn on a cel, whereas the rest of the cigars are obviously part of the background.
* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'': Trap doors, curtains hiding monsters, vases that activated secret passages, paintings with moving eyes, it was everywhere. Quasi-subverted in the theme song, however, with an obviously-background-painted Scooby-Doo covered in cotton candy, which is cleared away by an animated tongue to reveal the lighter, animated Scooby.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheAvatarReturns The Avatar Returns]]", the snow wall Sokka is standing on has plenty of these, including his snow watch tower, which collapses as Prince Zuko's ship approaches.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'': You can tell which rocks were going to fall because they're lighter in color than the others.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': A scene has a man pull out a book from his shelf. All the other books are generic browns and reds, but the one he pulls out is bright blue.

** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E3BigPinkLoserBubbleBuddy Bubble Buddy]]", when [=SpongeBob=] puts Bubble Buddy in the bathroom, the door is noticeably darker than the stall, but in every other cutaway to the bathroom besides the last, the door is lighter by proxy of being part of the bathroom. Since the cutaways are spread apart, it wouldn't be too easy to notice, but [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H9jML9dNCs8 splice them together]], and it becomes ''incredibly'' obvious.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/DaveyAndGoliath'' does it nearly every episode.
%%* ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'': While it isn't to the degree of the original black and white sorts, Ted Turner's recolored shorts make heavy use of this trope.
* ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'', for example in the taco restaurant in the episode "All You Can't Eat" where [=CatDog=] crawl under the floor tiles and you can see the path they take outlined on the tiles.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' is prone to this, at least in the earlier episodes. For example, Arthur frequently visits the library, and it's pretty obvious which books he'll take off the shelf.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': During the Planet Song, Venus and Saturn are for some reason both drawn as individually-animated cels, while the other planets of the Solar System ({{Uranus|IsShowing}} is completely absent due to Yakko Warner accidentally leaving it out) are all drawn as backgrounds.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': Objects that characters interact with are animated ([[MediumBlending typically in a medium matching at least one person using it]]) while background objects are live-action.

* ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw'': {{Parodied|Trope}}. During a "special showing" of a ''WesternAnimation/{{Birdman}}'' episode the series is based on,[[note]]While it is an original ''Birdman'' episode, the cast of the parody series provide a humorous re-dub.[[/note]] Harvey is shrunk by Reducto; facing ants that now match him in size, their antenna are colored differently and are the only parts that move, to which Harvey notes [[LampshadeHanging it appears to be all they can do.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'': It's quite easy to tell which objects are going to be broken or picked up and used by the characters by the distinctly different shade that they have.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'': Subverted in "[[Recap/RenAndStimpy1x06BlackHoleStimpysInvention Stimpy's Invention]]". When Ren goes to the kitchen to find something to take the happy helmet off with, he stands in front of the cupboards with one drawer drawn differently than the others, but he doesn't open it right away. After a scene change, the camera switches back to the kitchen, and the entire cupboard is drawn differently with no clue as to which drawer he might open, only then does he open the one that the previous scene alluded to.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': In "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE6TheTerribleTrio The Terrible Trio]]", the daughter of a recent victim is sitting by her father's bedside when a nurse comes in and tells her she should get some rest since her father isn't likely to wake soon. Considering he's significantly more detailed, and therefore part of the background, the nurse is probably right.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyAndFriendsE38FugitiveFlowers1 Fugitive Flowers, Part 1]]", a panoramic shot of Dream Valley is, as usual for the show, mostly a hand-drawn painting, with the exception of a single notably cel-shaded tree in the distance, which also stands out for being larger and more individually detailed than the fuzzy mass of forest around it. Sure enough, at the end of the shot, the tree gets knocked over to mark the Crabnasties' blundering through the woods.

* Seen in many space films, actually. Exterior shots of the ''Leonov'' in ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'' have an aura, most noticeable when the ship moves toward the camera. Likewise, small ships in the original ''Franchise/StarWars'' trilogy are often surrounded by a light rectangle, particularly in VHS and earlier DVD releases.
----
* While ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' and ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'' did chroma-key well (managing to disguise, for example, when the [=flying DeLorean=] was actually a model), the original had two obvious {{Special Effects Failure}}s: When the car first disappears, leaving the fire trails; and when Marty's hand begins to fade in front of his face.
* There's a particular bit in the 80s ''Film/{{Flash Gordon|1980}}'' movie where, as a rocket travels forward entering the Imperial Vortex, this bright, transparent... thing moves behind it. Instead of moving steadily behind the rocket, it sort of jumps whenever the rocket's going to go past it.
* A lot of the outer space scenes in ''Film/{{Marooned}}'' have noticeable auras around the spaceships and astronauts doing [=EVAs=].

* In the BMovie ''Film/{{Xanadu|1980}}'', Sonny gets one [[spoiler:as he enters the muses' world]], as seen at the bottom of [[http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Xanadu.aspx?Page=6 this page]].

* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' used greenscreening as a budget-saving technique for the flying scenes. One shot of Superman was filmed against a variable backdrop, and as a result, he gained a mystical aura every time he had to fly somewhere.

* The ChromaKey used in ''Series/ElChapulinColorado'' wasn't very sophisticated, so you could notice the people or objects that were added to the image with that technique because they were both strikingly light and had a green aura on them. This is particularly noticeable in the haunted house episode, where some characters start speculating at the possibility of objects levitating - it happens to be at the same time you notice an object that looks off, which ends up levitating.

** Done intentionally in the "Secrets of the Muppets" episode of ''Series/TheJimHensonHour''. Henson explains how the room he is hosting the show from is blue-screened, then holds a bright blue necktie in front of himself, making his chest transparent and demonstrating the ChromaKey technique.
** And then subverted later on. Jojo (the AudienceSurrogate) claims that he can now tell when Chroma Key is being used. When a Doozer from ''Series/FraggleRock'' enters the room, he claims that it's obvious the character isn't really there, and is probably about three feet tall and standing in front of a blue screen somewhere. Jim then picks up the Doozer, demonstrating that it is actually a radio controlled puppet, and then begins the segment on how characters like that are made.
* Happened occasionally with objects Al would walk through on ''Series/QuantumLeap'', or even Al himself.

* Objects that are interactive but would not otherwise be obvious glow in the video game ''VideoGame/CallOfCthulhuDarkCornersOfTheEarth.''

* ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'' does the same thing as ''Metroid'' when tagging hostile targets.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''
** The game frequently has quests where you have to pick up objects on the ground. These objects are scenery and can't be manipulated (and don't even light up when the cursor hits them) unless you're on the relevant quest. Since finding which book among the thousands of books you see in a building is the one you're supposed to pick up is annoying, Blizzard eventually made quest objects sparkle and glow to make them easier to discern.
** A variation on this is used in at least a couple of places, including the mines underneath one of the Mana Forges in Outland and during one of the Harrison Jones quests in Uldum. Dead [=NPCs=] that will spawn additional creatures lie on the ground. The ones that will spawn creatures use a different model and are rendered in higher detail than other "background" elements, making it very easy to tell which bodies will spawn mobs.
** Happens in most [=MMO=]s sooner or later, thanks to Players Are Morons (sort of justified on the side of the developers, because only the players who can't find the items will write long ranty bug reports saying finding the objects is impossible).
* It's come full circle in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', where interactive items have a blue-tinged sheen to them, ordinarily conspicuous enough. But on snowy planets like Alderaan or Hoth, lighting gives everything a blue cast, meaning the player could glimpse a security chest out of the corner of their eye... nope, just a rock.
* In ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', items that must be found to complete a mission not only pulse with light, but emit a sound to alert players to their presence, earning them the nickname of "glowies" among players. This falls under the category of AcceptableBreaksFromReality. The "glowies" in didn't originally include the sound clue for finding them, but since some were tucked into corners and nearly impossible to locate by sight alone, the sound effect was added to relieve frustration and reduce GM calls. You can alter the file and make them emit any sound you care to, if the "wom wom wom" noise is too disruptive or irritating.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' had the point-and-click-adventure-game example of this trope. Any object, person or thing that could be examined or otherwise interacted with was rendered in rather blocky 3D (mind-blowing at the time, but extremely dated now, decades later) against the smoother, less-dated pre-rendered backgrounds. In fact, the main character remarks on it once or twice in the [[HeKnowsAboutTimedHits Beginners Hall]]. Even more obvious in the [[PortingDisaster PC version]] and later ports of the game, in which the backgrounds are still 320x240 but everything else is in high resolution, especially on HD consoles.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'':
** Want to know if a corpse in the UsefulNotes/PlayStation-era game is just a corpse or if it's going to bite your legs off as you walk past? Just check whether it's rendered like the background or like a character model. Smooth-shaded = dead dead, jagged polygons = zombie. Not nearly so easy in the UsefulNotes/GameCube remake, however. The increased render capabilities make the zombies blend in a lot better to the remade backgrounds. Occasionally the series will fake you out, though, with a polygonal body that ''doesn't'' get up and try to eat you.
** Occurs with other objects as well, such as doors, paintings, etc. as they're usually noticeably brighter and more jagged than background objects. If a door looks like this, you can bet something'll come crashing through it sooner or later. Averted with breakable windows, which are hidden surprisingly well.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'':
** One level featured enemies who hid in brick blocks; the blocks concealing enemies were easily distinguishable because, due to palette limitations, they ''didn't'' shimmer the way that normal blocks did. Naturally, in the ''Super Mario All Stars'' remake, there was no such giveaway, due to the SNES' more advanced graphics capabilities.
** If you pause the game, though, enemies are not drawn. So if you see bricks disappear...now you know.
** They're still a slightly different color in All-Stars, though that's probably intentional. Another example would be underground hidden blocks -- on the NES, the starry background would be a noticeably (though not too noticeably) different color where a hidden block would show up. No dice on the SNES.
** The ROMHack ''VideoGame/MarioAdventure'' adds random weather effects to every outdoor level. For whatever reason, the weather effects wouldn't appear where there was an InvisibleBlock, making many puzzles perhaps easier than they had been intended to be.
* Near the end of World 8-3 of the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'', if you look very closely at the last brick wall in the background (it's behind the last Hammer Bros. there) before the flagpole, you can easily tell that one of the bricks making up the wall contains coins. What makes this obvious is the fact that the coin brick has a thin white line drawn above. In the SNES remake however, that brick is completely visible all the time as those walls have been removed and placed in a different background.

* While ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'' featured pixel-art backgrounds that meshed convincingly with foreground elements, backgrounds in the second and third were hand-painted. This was mostly averted; items that could be picked up were often also hand-painted and pasted in, and disappeared when you picked them up. This convention was completely thrown out in ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'' and ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'', in which everything is 3D but the backgrounds are all pre-rendered and, more importantly, not anti-aliased (except in the ''Grim Fandango'' remaster). So just look for the items with jaggedy edges.
* Conspicuous in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIIThePrincelessBride'', the first SVGA ''King's Quest'' game, where the cartoonishness of interactable objects, in contrast to the backgrounds, sometimes make it ludicrously easy to figure out that, say, a statue is actually going to come to life and kill you.
* By extension, in almost every 90s {{Creator/Sierra}} adventure game you could tell what elements of the scenery were potentially inventory by the fact that they were lighter in color and simpler in appearance than the hand-painted backgrounds. This was practically the only way to figure out which items were inventory in some rooms.

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', Koga's Gym has "invisible walls" that you have to find your way around to get to the Gym Leader. The tiles with "invisible walls" on them have four white dots, allowing you to find the right path fairly easily. This was most likely intended as a hint for players, since it's not hard to make a tile have the properties of a wall but the image of a floor. It still wasn't THAT easy, since you sometimes walk into dead ends.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has one companion perk which causes certain items to glow when the player aims. Useful in some of the darker caves and buildings.
* A related phenomenon occurs in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' and its episodes, where objects that aren't anchored to the environment -- and can therefore be picked up or at least punted with the [[WreakingHavok Gravity Gun]] -- have sharp, flat-colored shadows as a side effect of the limited lighting engine. This is of limited usefulness, since the developers were quite thorough in ensuring that virtually everything smaller than a pickup truck is a physics object.

* The anime ''Anime/BlueSeed'' has an {{omake}} sequence after one episode which parodies this; one character [[NoFourthWall stops and monologues]] on the properties of a set of desk drawers, noticing that one is drawn more simply and in a different palette -- therefore it must be the only one that moves, and contains the item he is looking for. In the same sequence, Matsudaira warns Kunikida not to step on a part of the cliff that was colored differently. Much to their surprise, the more complex part of the cliff collapsed.

** Which raises the questions as to why a cat would stay perfectly still and quiet on a shelf for longer than necessary while two strangers enter its temporary residence.

* Parodied in episode 15 of ''Anime/PaniPoniDash''. When the bus is teetering on the edge of the cliff, every external shot of the cliff shows [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/paniponidash/images/6/6c/Pani_Poni_Dash_Ep_15_Screenshot.png/revision/latest?cb=20150408150157 the edge of the cliff very obviously animated this way, indicating that the cliff is about to crumble.]] It never does.

* Spoofed in Creator/TelltaleGames's PointAndClickGame ''VideoGame/BackToTheFutureTheGame: Episode 3''. A bricked-up doorway features a obviously discoloured brick, the only selectable object upon the surface. It's just there to have Marty make a joke about it being [[Music/PinkFloyd "another brick in the wall"]]. Subsequent clicks confirm its useless nature, with Marty commenting that it is just a brick.

* ''[[VideoGame/BrokenSwordTheShadowOfTheTemplars Circle of Blood]]'' averted this; everything (''everything'') was in the same cartoonish style, including things two or three pixels wide that you needed to pick up. People took to calling it ''[[FanNickname Circle of Mouse]]'' because if you didn't mouse over every pixel in a new area, you missed something.

* ''Webcomic/AwkwardZombie'' humorously pointed out how the yellow outlines in ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' [[http://awkwardzombie.com/comic/securing-the-perimeter led to confusion when things that actually had a yellow outline weren't actually interactable.]]
* In ''Webcomic/CaptainSNESTheGameMasta'', Alex is tasked with determining which of the thousands of Tetris blocks making up the Puzzle Wizard's lair is a transformed Marle. The Puzzle Wizard considers this an ImpossibleTask. [[https://www.captainsnes.com/2016/07/20/882thegreatsearch/ Alex, on the other hand, figures it out instantly because she's the only one that's a different color than the surrounding blocks.]] When Puzzle Wizard demands to know how he pulled that off, a confused Alex wonders if what he and the Puzzle Wizard are seeing are even the same thing, and [[https://www.captainsnes.com/2016/08/03/883-puzzle-the-wizard/ points out that Marle's block being differently-colored is like an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon.]] However, this works ''against'' Alex when [[spoiler:[[https://www.captainsnes.com/2016/09/07/884-race-to-the-bottom/ one of the nondescript Tetris blocks actually turns out to be a trap door.]]]]

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%%* Russian animation often averts this. Some of the examples are ''Animation/FiringRange'' and ''The Singing Teacher''.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' made fun of this. In one episode, the Warner Brothers (and Sister) were rented out to a Creator/HannaBarbera-esque company, and placed in a Yogi-Bear-esque cartoon with plenty of these.

* In the BMovie ''Film/{{Xanadu}}'', Sonny gets one [[spoiler:as he enters the muses' world]], as seen at the bottom of [[http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Xanadu.aspx?Page=6 this page]].

* In the episode of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' with the Dark Ocean, Kari is at one point inside a tunnel when part of the ceiling collpases. The bricks that fall are a shade lighter than the ones that don't.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' had it, though not as bad as some other cartoons of the era. [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lx4xr4qK8i1qzxzwwo1_500.jpg For example]].
* Quite obvious at one point in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', when the part of the Saint Beasts' castle is collapsing.
* Parodied in episode 15 of ''Anime/PaniPoniDash''. When the bus is teetering on the edge of the cliff, every external shot of the cliff shows the edge of the cliff very obviously animated this way, indicating that the cliff is about to crumble. It never does.

* Purposely avoided in the second episode of ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', a missing cat decorated like a chimaera is sitting on the shelf in a bedroom filled with the belongings of a chunnibyou. In full room shot the cat is purposely drawn like the background. However this is explainable since said animal doesn't move till the next shot.
** Which raises the questions as to why a cat would stay perfectly still and quiet on a shelf for longer than necessary while two strangers enter its temporary residence.

* Several of the older animated Disney films would occasionally have characters for some reason be drawn as a background rather than on a cel. Examples include a closeup of Monstro the whale's eye in ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'', a giant Alice's leg (and bloomers) sticking out of the White Rabbit's house in ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'', an unconscious Princess Aurora lying on the ground after touching a spinning-wheel in ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'', and Ariel's tail at one point during the song "Under the Sea" from ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989''.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* Anime/{{Pokemon}}: Goh calls out his giant Golurk to help him dig for fossils. The Pokemon stretches and faces the background, where you can see a large boulder that's animated differently and ready to move, only seen for this scene. Golurk actually ignores this boulder completely to break open a regular-looking rock.

* ''Webcomic/AwkwardZombie'' humorously pointed out how the yellow outlines in Deus Ex Human Revolution [[http://awkwardzombie.com/comic/securing-the-perimeter led to confusion when things that actually had a yellow outline weren't actually interactable.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' inverts it with the robot waiter in the episode "No Weenies Allowed", which (except for its claws) is a painted background object whenever it appears.

** According to the artbook, the show's background artists deliberately make some background objects stick out even though they don't move. It's an attempt to make backgrounds more lively, based on a theory they call "threat of activation".

* Averted in the Tex Avery cartoon ''Northwest Hounded Police.'' There's a scene where the wolf, fleeing Droopy, sits on a beach next to a conspicuously light-colored rock. He points the rock out and predicts that Droopy will pop out from under there, only to have Droopy appear from under a different, less conspicuous rock. The wolf then grabs the first rock and hits himself on the head with it, ensuring that the animators would make it a cel painting instead of a background element.

** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E3BigPinkLoserBubbleBuddy Bubble Buddy]]", when [=SpongeBob=] puts Bubble Buddy in the bathroom, the door is noticeably darker than the stall, but in every other cutaway to the bathroom besides the last, the door is darker by lighter of being part of the bathroom. Since the cutaways are spread apart, it wouldn't be too easy to notice, but [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H9jML9dNCs8 splice them together]], and it becomes ''incredibly'' obvious.

** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E3BigPinkLoserBubbleBuddy Bubble Buddy]]", when [=SpongeBob=] puts Bubble Buddy in the bathroom, the door is noticeably darker than the stall, but in every other cutaway to the bathroom besides the last, the door is darker by proxy of being part of the bathroom. Since the cutaways are spread apart, it wouldn't be too easy to notice, but [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H9jML9dNCs8 splice them together]], and it becomes ''incredibly'' obvious.

** In "[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E3BigPinkLoserBubbleBuddy Bubble Buddy]]", when [=SpongeBob=] puts Bubble Buddy in the bathroom, the door is noticeably darker than the stall, but in every other cutaway to the bathroom besides the last, the door is darker by proxy of being part of the bathroom. Since the cutaways are spread apart, it wouldn't be too easy to notice, but [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H9jML9dNCs8 splice them together]], and it becomes ''incredibly'' obvious.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': In "The Terrible Trio", the daughter of a recent victim is sitting by her father's bedside when a nurse comes in and tells her she should get some rest since her father isn't likely to wake soon. Considering he's significantly more detailed, and therefore part of the background, the nurse is probably right.