History Main / PauseScumming

* In ''ValkyriaChronicles'' and its sequel, the unit you are controlling, (and only the unit you are controlling) will be exposed to suppression fire, whether he or she is stationary, behind cover, or moving. However, enemies will mysteriously cease fire the moment you take aim. This leads to one or two different playstyles. The player will usually either run fast, shoot, and stop controlling the character; or [[GameBreaker walk, aim, walk, aim, walk, aim...]].

** ''SuperMario64'' also uses a similar system. When the player pauses, the game freezes as normal. However, if Mario is in motion, you won't see the option to leave the level. Mario has to be standing still in order to leave. This is to prevent players trying to cheat their way out of death.

* In Ninja Saga (A Facebook game), you are allowed to change weapons in the pause screen during battle. Different weapons give different bonuses to dodging, criticals, and some other boosts, but the most powerful weapons (at least, the most powerful you can get without paying in real world money) have no bonuses. So a cheap advantage you can get is to equip the weapons that have bonuses while you're using moves, and go back to using the strong weapons when you run out of chakra.

* In ''TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' you can use a variant of this when racing the ghost of Dampe. Since his tomb is one of the few locations that warp songs won't work in, you can abuse the error message playing one generates. You are free to move during the textbox, and it won't deduct time from the countdown. Watch this in action in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBHWuis7v40 this video]].

* In ''{{Lemmings}} Revolution'', when you blow up a lemming with the "bomber" command, just before exploding, the lemming in question crouches. If you pause while he's crouching, you can give him another command (like "build") and thus save him from exploding. This trick is absolutely necessary on some of the later levels in which you must save every single lemming.

** In the earlier ''Megaman'' games, it's also possible to go to your weapons menu just as you're about to be hit by an attack, and when you resume, the projectile will pass right through Mega Man. Pausing and unpausing also allows Mega Man to stay airborne longer, allowing you to make longer jumps than usual. These little bugs were fixed in later games, however.
* In ''RockBand 3'', when the player pauses and unpauses in the middle of a song, the track scrolls back a few bars to help the player catch up after a pause, which can be abused to split up a really hard track into smaller, manageable sections. While this has never been outright ''fixed'', the game was eventually patched so that players who pause often will have their scores nullified.
* There is a very easy way to beat a rather difficult but initially non-hostile boss Firkraag in ''BaldursGate II'', which consists of right-clicking on him as if to talk, pausing the game, and manually ordering your party to attack him instead. Since the game locks him in dialogue mode, he will not aggro and fight back until you are about half-way through his HP.
** In all ''BaldursGate'' games, when fighting a mage or wizard near a doorway to another screen, pausing right as they start their spell and clicking the door would cause your character to run out the door leaving the area ''just'' before getting hit by the spell. By repeatedly abusing this trick, you could make spellcasters run out of spells and thus force them to attack you hand to hand, which could turn even the most powerful wizard into a pathetically easy fight.
* In ''ValkyriaChronicles'' and its sequel, the unit you are controlling, (and only the unit you are controlling) will be exposed to suppression fire, whether he or she is stationary, behind cover, or moving. However, enemies will mysteriously cease fire the moment you take aim. This leads to one or two different playstyles. The player will usually either run fast, shoot, and stop controlling the character; or [[GameBreaker walk, aim, walk, aim, walk, aim...]].

* In ''TheElderScrolls'' [[{{Morrowind}} III]], [[{{Oblivion}} IV]], and [[{{Skyrim}} V]], you can enter the game menu, which pauses the game, at any time. In this menu, you can drink an unlimited number of potions or [[ChangingClothesIsAFreeAction change armor]] in a nick of time, even in the middle of combat.

* The ''FinalFantasy'' games have several examples:

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', pressing and holding the Square button during combat hides the user interface until you release the button. This can be used to abuse a couple of mechanics that use slot reels, because the reels don't move while the interface is hidden. For example, this makes it easy to force a specific outcome off the slots that dole out handicaps in the game's MonsterArena.
*** Playing this game on the [=PSP=] makes it ridiculously easy to control the slots. Pressing the Home button completely pauses the game, Slots included. If you line up the slot as you want it, press and hold Circle. It both exits the Home menu ''and'' instantly stops the slot.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', the player can enter the party menu any time, during combat or otherwise. This enables such things as removing equipment from characters who are under Confusion ailment and about to murder a party member, or switching accesories and armour to nullify the effect of a status ailment or elemental spell the enemy is readying.
* In ''JakII'', it really helps to pause during the seer's minigame and during the [[WhackAMonster whack-a-Metalhead machine minigame]].
* Here's how to beat ''anything'' in ''DivineDivinity'': drop a teleport stone in a safe place nearby, walk into an area with dangerous enemies, pause, drop a scorpion trap or three (unleashing a ridiculously strong scorpion that attacks any hostiles nearby), pause, click the other teleport stone to teleport away, rest for a few hours, and return to the area to find everything dead.
* In ''TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' you can use a variant of this when racing the ghost of Dampe. Since his tomb is one of the few locations that warp songs won't work in, you can abuse the error message playing one generates. You are free to move during the textbox, and it won't deduct time from the countdown. Watch this in action in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBHWuis7v40 this video]].
* There were controllers made for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System that was designed with a button that constantly turned the pause button on and off, giving the player more time to react.

* In ''VideoGame/BlasterMaster,'' it's possible to beat some of the bosses by hitting them with grenades and pausing at the right moment. If you do it right, the boss will keep taking damage while paused.
* In the first ''SuperSmashBros'' game, if you pause after every frame of movement, then the on-screen timer won't clock forward. This makes it possible to complete the Break the Targets and Board the Platforms challenges with a time of 0:00.
* Defied on ''{{StarCraft}}'', as each player can pause the game only 3 times.

* In the bonus stages in the ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Rush|Series}}'' series (and the DS version of ''SonicColors''), you control Sonic using the touchscreen. By moving the stylus across the screen, you move Sonic around to the left and right. The thing is, Sonic doesn't actually move towards where you're touching, he just instantly appears at any spot you touch. So if you're having trouble, you can pause the game, touch the area you want Sonic to be at, and unpause to have him appear there much faster than you would normally be able to move your hand.

* In the first ''Game/MegaMan'' game there were two pause buttons, Start and Select. Pausing with Select did not pause MercyInvincibility (which almost every boss had), thus if you repeatedly pause and unpause with good timing you can deal massive damage with a single Thunder Beam.
** In fact, this was the easiest way to beat various late-game bosses in the original NintendoHard ''Game/MegaMan'', particularly [[ThatOneBoss Yellow Devil]].

* Defied on {{StarCraft}}, as each player can pause the game only 3 times.

* In the first SuperSmashBros game, if you pause after every frame of movement, then the on-screen timer won't clock forward. This makes it possible to complete the Break the Targets and Board the Platforms challenges with a time of 0:00.

* In ''JakII'', it really helps to pause during the seer's minigame and during the whack-a-Metalhead machine minigame.

* In JakII, it really helps to pause during the seer's minigame and during the whack-a-Metalhead machine minigame.

* In ''BlasterMaster,'' it's possible to beat some of the bosses by hitting them with grenades and pausing at the right moment. If you do it right, the boss will keep taking damage while paused.

* In the first few ''Game/MegaMan'' games if you repeatedly pressed pause while your attack hit an enemy, the game would record the damage of the attack every time you resumed, thus multiplying your attack.

* In the bonus stages in the ''SonicRush'' series (and the DS version of ''SonicColors''), you control Sonic using the touchscreen. By moving the stylus across the screen, you move Sonic around to the left and right. The thing is, Sonic doesn't actually move towards where you're touching, he just instantly appears at any spot you touch. So if you're having trouble, you can pause the game, touch the area you want Sonic to be at, and unpause to have him appear there much faster than you would normally be able to move your hand.

*** ''FinalFantasyV'' had a low-level Time spell called "Speed" which, while not providing an actual speed boost, paused the ATB timer whenever a character's turn came up so that the player can decide on an action without enemy turns occuring in the process.
*** In the DS remake of ''FinalFantasyIV'', the ATB timer automatically pauses when ''any'' combatant starts executing their action, making the system impossible to exploit.
** In ''FinalFantasyXII'', the player can enter the party menu any time, during combat or otherwise. This enables such things as removing equipment from characters who are under Confusion ailment and about to murder a party member, or switching accesories and armour to nullify the effect of a status ailment or elemental spell the enemy is readying.

** In fact, this was the easiest way to beat various late-game bosses in the original NintendoHard ''Game/MegaMan'', particularly [[ThatOneBoss Yellow Devil]].

* In ''{{Morrowind}}'', you can enter the game menu, which pauses the game, at any time. In this menu, you can drink an unlimited number of potions or change armor in a nick of time, even in the middle of combat.

* Many FinalFantasy games with the "Active Time Battle" system (4 thru 9, and X-2) have an option to pause the ATB clock when a player accesses an in-battle submenu (magic, items, etc.), but any in-progress attack animations will continue to execute. As a result, the player can gain a slight speed advantage by opening the menu whenever a party member executes an action, to prevent enemy turns from coming up while the attack animation takes place.
** ''FinalFantasyV'' had a low-level Time spell called "Speed" which, while not providing an actual speed boost, paused the ATB timer whenever a character's turn came up so that the player can decide on an action without enemy turns occuring in the process.
** In the DS remake of ''FinalFantasyIV'', the ATB timer automatically pauses when ''any'' combatant starts executing their action, making the system impossible to exploit.
* In ''FinalFantasyXII'', the player can enter the party menu any time, during combat or otherwise. This enables such things as removing equipment from characters who are under Confusion ailment and about to murder a party member, or switching accesories and armour to nullify the effect of a status ailment or elemental spell the enemy is readying.

SaveScumming is when a player saves excessively so as to be able to undo mistakes by loading an earlier save. This is when a player pauses excessively to slow down or otherwise lower the difficulty of a game. This kind of gameplay is perfectly legal and, in fact, absolutely essential for micromanagement during difficult boss battles in games that feature RealTimeWithPause. Some games try to avert this by having the pause menu cover the entire screen, or by not allowing the player to issue commands while pausing.

However, some examples where even ''that'' can be abused springs to mind: