History Main / ControlRoomPuzzle

* ''VideoGame/AnotherWorld'' has the Tank stage. Lester and Buddy have to figure out how to eject from the vehicle they've been encased to within the execution arena. To do so, they have to manipulate the buttons present in the tank's panel. The ejection takes them to the games final stage.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'' has this, but there are usually stone tablets with the proper switch sequence written on them.

* That Damn Tank in ''VideoGame/AnotherWorld''.

* ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'' has two such puzzles: one at Woohoo Hooniversity, and the other when Luigi is alone in Guffawha Ruins.

* ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' had a room where you had to hit colored blocks in a certain order to first get to Flopside. While it can be tricky to figure out on your own, there's a sign elsewhere that indicates that you just have to hit each block once. As long as you hit each one only once, it doesn't matter what order you hit them in.

[[folder:Episodic Games]]
* ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' has one in episode three to [[spoiler: start the train.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:First Person Shooter]]

[[folder:Full Motion Video]]
* Likewise their spiritual predecessor, the obscure FullMotionVideo game ''Videogame/NightTrap''.
[[/folder]]

* Very common in ''Videogame/DeadlyRoomsOfDeath'' -- and while they can be badly done, DROD's turn-based gameplay, lack of hidden information and variety of monster behaviour means genuinely interesting logical puzzles can be made in this style, so DROD players don't see this trope as a bad thing.

* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has a very difficult ControlRoomPuzzle in "Ernest the Chicken", one of the earlier quests available. To make it worse, the old installment didn't even give any indication whatsoever of when a switch the player pulled locked or unlocked a specific door, forcing the player to just try and brute-force the whole thing through trial and error. There's also Elemental Workshop 3, where strategy guides quickest routes involve about 100 or so steps. Screwed up? There's only 5 points to continue from.

* ''Videogame/HocusPocus'' was rife with these. It was a technically considered a puzzle platformer where the puzzle was "Get key X" where X was the colour of lock in front of you, or a random array of switches in the line of a ControlRoomPuzzle.
* The medicine puzzle in ''VideoGame/LaMulana'' is a ControlRoomPuzzle in disguise: here, the room is actually a corridor, and toggling switches is replaced by casting spells at fairies. If you get it wrong, you have to go all the way back to the sage before trying again. Another ControlRoomPuzzle, lying in the second level of the Endless Corridor, is so cleverly disguised it doesn't even look like a puzzle at first.

* The Altador Plot in ''Franchise/{{Neopets}}'' did this near the end. If you failed, Altador would be flooded, and you had to restart.

* The ''GliderPRO'' scenario "[=SpacePods=]" had four control rooms with eight switches each. In each one, you had to toggle the correct four switches, with only cryptic clues to guide you. Players of the scenario "Sky Links" by the same author were relieved when, in the part recalling the environment of "[=SpacePods=]", they were directed to just hit all the switches on the control panel.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' seems to have a bit of a lever puzzle in its jungle temples. Granted, most players don't bother with it, preferring to mine out the block that retracts once the puzzle would be complete.

[[folder:Full Motion Video]]
* Likewise their spiritual predecessor, the obscure FullMotionVideo game ''Videogame/NightTrap''.
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' seems to have a bit of a lever puzzle in its jungle temples. Granted, most players don't bother with it, preferring to mine out the block that retracts once the puzzle would be complete.
* ''VideoGame/LufiaIIRiseOfTheSinistrals'' had quite a few of these (though thankfully, the switches directly affected whatever platform you were on, keeping the whole thing nice and self contained), often in two difficulty flavors apiece - "Required", and "Complete". Only a few switches were required to be turned in order to proceed with the dungeon, but most players would still try and complete the puzzle absolutely for the excellent loot.
* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has a very difficult ControlRoomPuzzle in "Ernest the Chicken", one of the earlier quests available. To make it worse, the old installment didn't even give any indication whatsoever of when a switch the player pulled locked or unlocked a specific door, forcing the player to just try and brute-force the whole thing through trial and error. There's also Elemental Workshop 3, where strategy guides quickest routes involve about 100 or so steps. Screwed up? There's only 5 points to continue from.
%%* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' games do this quite often.
* ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Star Wars: Dark Forces]]'' had one of these in its Coruscant mission. It consisted of a spiral corridor, divided into sections. Each section had a switch, and you had to flip each switch in a specific order as you worked your way through the sections. Flip too many, and everything behind you would seal off, and getting that last door to open was maddening. One might reasonably ask how the stormtroopers manage to successfully use this thing every day. The sequel (''Jedi Knight'') had two similar puzzles involving systems where you have two blocks or two containers of liquid, and you can adjust the level of one (which adjusts the other). Both are quite simple if you know which button to push, but getting it right without a guide means a lot of running around while getting shot at.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' series is practically built on this, although without the possibility of getting killed. And, thankfully, trial and error, or extensive trekking. ''This does '''not''' prevent them from being mind-bogglingly hard''.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' has one of these in Goldenrod City.
* ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'' has two such puzzles: one at Woohoo Hooniversity, and the other when Luigi is alone in Guffawha Ruins.
* ''VideoGame/ZorkGrandInquisitor'' had one of those when you were escaping from jail, where you have the ability to open or close any cell block in the prison. As one of the last major puzzles before the end of the game, the solution is quite obtuse, and requires reading a map, watching camera footage , tracing air vents, and realizing [[spoiler: the map is a side view instead of a top-down]]. Any wrong answer leads to death. Flood Control Dam #3 has a subversion of the puzzle, as no combination of switch pressing would open or close all the gates at once; instead, you needed to use magic.
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' has this on the Mannan Sith base, and an NPC remarks on what a pain in the ass these puzzles are.
* The hidden summons in ''VideoGame/{{Wild ARMs 2}}'' is protected by a switch puzzle. The player has to push some panels in the walls in a certain order with only a cryptic message about spirals for a clue. The puzzle is especially awkward because of a poor cultural translation. The Japanese original was based on the [[spoiler: the names of weekdays. In Japan, these are linguistically transparent and well-known. When they decided to make the puzzle the same, but convert it to English, it ended up much more obtuse.]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' had a lot of these, but the one that sticks in everyone's craw is the platform puzzle in ''Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap!''. Several platforms need to be adjusted to the correct height using switches so that you can jump atop them and reach a high alcove, but all of the switches are far away from each other and the platforms, and you [[RocketJump must use grenades]] on each try. Or you can TakeAThirdOption and [[http://marathon.bungie.org/vidmaster/films/Colony_Ship_no_pillars.sit bypass it]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' has an area where a "switches opens doors" puzzle is taken to its logical extreme - a surprise door maze. There are nine connected rooms in the Oil Rig area, and the whole setup has four exits. Each room has a console and using different consoles toggles the state of different doors. The objective is to move through the rooms, using different consoles to open different doors, to get to the four exits. The floor is frequently electrified.
* The ''GliderPRO'' scenario "[=SpacePods=]" had four control rooms with eight switches each. In each one, you had to toggle the correct four switches, with only cryptic clues to guide you. Players of the scenario "Sky Links" by the same author were relieved when, in the part recalling the environment of "[=SpacePods=]", they were directed to just hit all the switches on the control panel.

* ''VideoGame/{{Secret of Evermore}}'' had small one of these to get to a hidden boss.
* The real-life puzzler: There are three light switches. One controls a lightbulb in the next room, which you cannot see from the switches and can only enter to check once. How can you tell which switch controls the light? [[spoiler:Turn the first switch on and leave it on for ten minutes. Then turn it off, and turn on the second switch before entering the room. If the bulb is off but warm, is #1. If it's on, it's #2. And if it's off and cold, it's #3.]]
* The Altador Plot in ''Franchise/{{Neopets}}'' did this near the end. If you failed, Altador would be flooded, and you had to restart.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/EyeOfTheBeholder''- In one of the later floors, there is a room labeled "Combination Lock- Be Quick" with 5 switches and a group of items on the other side of a pit (by this point, the game has already established that pits can be moved or gotten rid of entirely). Each time a switch is hit, the party must move quickly to dodge a fireball that gets launched from the other end of the room. The player obviously thinks that they need to find the right combination to get rid of the pits; the catch, though, is that it's actually impossible to remove the pits, the switches do nothing, and it's just an excuse to frustrate the player.
* The medicine puzzle in ''VideoGame/LaMulana'' is a ControlRoomPuzzle in disguise: here, the room is actually a corridor, and toggling switches is replaced by casting spells at fairies. If you get it wrong, you have to go all the way back to the sage before trying again. Another ControlRoomPuzzle, lying in the second level of the Endless Corridor, is so cleverly disguised it doesn't even look like a puzzle at first.
* ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' has one puzzle with a force-bridge that must be extended section by section, by hitting the right combination of buttons on a control board. This is not very difficult, since there is no penalty for getting the wrong combination, and the player can see the bridge from the board. Throughout ''System Shock'' there are also many doors opened by controlling the flow of power through little stylized circuit boards, where switching each of the elements the power passes through also changes other elements, making it easy to undo your progress. These puzzles range from very easy to quite difficult by the end, but a few single-use "logic probes" that can solve them instantly are scattered throughout the game.

* Appropriately enough, the Shrine of Control in ''VideoGame/UltimaVI''.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' has one where you need to set a bunch of switches to get a door to crush a geth ship's landing claw. This one is relatively sensible as a control panel, the switches are properly labeled and it's really a matter of simple addition to figure which switches to press for the right pressure. There's even a pressure gauge as such a control panel should. Needless to say it isn't much of a challenge as a puzzle.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has the player have to do one of these during a side quest to unlock a door in the central room. It's insultingly easy.
%%* That Damn Tank in ''VideoGame/AnotherWorld''.
* ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' had a room where you had to hit colored blocks in a certain order to first get to Flopside. While it can be tricky to figure out on your own, there's a sign elsewhere that indicates that you just have to hit each block once. As long as you hit each one only once, it doesn't matter what order you hit them in.
* ''VideoGame/FullThrottle'' has about two close-together control panel puzzles featured near the end. There are only about two commands that really still work somewhere in the maze of options. An earlier puzzle involving projectors also applies.
* In ''VideoGame/{{The Dig}}'' there was one of these. You had to use some unlabeled alien controls to pick up a focusing lens at the bottom of a pit. Problem was, it was unclear what you needed the control panel ''for'' rather than how to operate it.
* ''VideoGame/GoofTroop'' introduces switch plates in Stage 3, where there are two rooms in a row requiring pressing four in the correct order. In the first room, it's not hard to figure out that the order should spell O-P-E-N, but the ones in the second room don't have letters.

* ''VideoGame/ChildOfLight'' has the puzzle to open the vault. There are two switches and three symbols which you need to match, one switch toggles the first and second symbols, the second toggles the second and third.

* Palace Midas in the first ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' game had a room with four doors, each with a code on them, corresponding to the positions of five switches on a structure in the middle of the room. Fortunately the acrobatics required to get to the switches only had to be done once, as there was a DoorToBefore next to them.

* ''SystemShock'' has one puzzle with a force-bridge that must be extended section by section, by hitting the right combination of buttons on a control board. This is not very difficult, since there is no penalty for getting the wrong combination, and the player can see the bridge from the board. Throughout ''System Shock'' there are also many doors opened by controlling the flow of power through little stylized circuit boards, where switching each of the elements the power passes through also changes other elements, making it easy to undo your progress. These puzzles range from very easy to quite difficult by the end, but a few single-use "logic probes" that can solve them instantly are scattered throughout the game.

* ''VideoGame/MineCraft'' seems to have a bit of a lever puzzle in its jungle temples. Granted, most players don't bother with it, preferring to mine out the block that retracts once the puzzle would be complete.

* ''ZorkGrandInquisitor'' had one of those when you were escaping from jail, where you have the ability to open or close any cell block in the prison. As one of the last major puzzles before the end of the game, the solution is quite obtuse, and requires reading a map, watching camera footage , tracing air vents, and realizing [[spoiler: the map is a side view instead of a top-down]]. Any wrong answer leads to death. Flood Control Dam #3 has a subversion of the puzzle, as no combination of switch pressing would open or close all the gates at once; instead, you needed to use magic.

* Palace Midas in the first ''TombRaider'' game had a room with four doors, each with a code on them, corresponding to the positions of five switches on a structure in the middle of the room. Fortunately the acrobatics required to get to the switches only had to be done once, as there was a DoorToBefore next to them.

* ''VideoGame/Minecraft'' seems to have a bit of a lever puzzle in its jungle temples. Granted, most players don't bother with it, preferring to mine out the block that retracts once the puzzle would be complete.

* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has a very difficult ControlRoomPuzzle in "Ernest the Chicken", one of the earlier quests available. To make it worse, the old installment didn't even give any indication whatsoever of when a switch the player pulled locked or unlocked a specific door, forcing the player to just try and brute-force the whole thing through trial and error.
** Not to mention Elemental Workshop 3, where strategy guides quickest routes involve about 100 or so steps. Screwed up? There's only 5 points to continue from.
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' games do this quite often.
* ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Star Wars: Dark Forces]]'' had one of these in its Coruscant mission. It consisted of a spiral corridor, divided into sections. Each section had a switch, and you had to flip each switch in a specific order as you worked your way through the sections. Flip too many, and everything behind you would seal off, and getting that last door to open was maddening. One might reasonably ask how the stormtroopers manage to successfully use this thing every day. They can't even shoot straight!
** The sequel (''Jedi Knight'') had two similar puzzles involving systems where you have two blocks or two containers of liquid, and you can adjust the level of one (which adjusts the other). Both are quite simple if you know which button to push, but getting it right without a guide means a lot of running around while getting shot at.

* ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' had a lot of these, but the one that sticks in everyone's craw is the platform puzzle in ''Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap!''. Several platforms need to be adjusted to the correct height using switches so that you can jump atop them and reach a high alcove, but all of the switches are far away from each other and the platforms, and you [[RocketJump must use grenades]] on each try.
** Or you can TakeAThirdOption and [[http://marathon.bungie.org/vidmaster/films/Colony_Ship_no_pillars.sit bypass it]].

** Worth noting that its possible with appropriate character skills to untrap and unlock the doors as well as shutting the floor electricity, thus brute-forcing your way through.

** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has the player have to do one of these during a side quest to unlock a door in the central room. It's insultingly easy.
* That Damn Tank in ''VideoGame/AnotherWorld''.
* ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' had a room where you had to hit colored blocks in a certain order to first get to Flopside.
** While it can be tricky to figure out on your own, there's a sign elsewhere that indicates that you just have to hit each block once. As long as you hit each one only once, it doesn't matter what order you hit them in.

* ''ZorkGrandInquisitor'' had one of those when you were escaping from jail, where you have the ability to open or close any cell block in the prison. As one of the last major puzzles before the end of the game, the solution is quite obtuse, and requires reading a map, watching camera footage , tracing air vents, and realizing [[spoiler: the map is a side view instead of a top-down]]. Any wrong answer leads to death.

* The ''{{Glider}} PRO'' scenario "[=SpacePods=]" had four control rooms with eight switches each. In each one, you had to toggle the correct four switches, with only cryptic clues to guide you. Players of the scenario "Sky Links" by the same author were relieved when, in the part recalling the environment of "[=SpacePods=]", they were directed to just hit all the switches on the control panel.

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