History Main / ScrappyMechanic

** Unlike [[VideoGame/KantaiCollection predecessor]] [[VideoGame/ToukenRanbu games]], writers ''stop attacking'' in damage stages unless a double attack or awakening is achieved. The problem is these events are triggered randomly.

Compare to DisappointingLastLevel, GameplayRoulette, and UnexpectedGameplayChange. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Despite appearances]], this is not to be confused with a [[TheEngineer machinery technician who picks a lot of fights]], nor is it about [[VideoGame/StarFox Slippy Toad]], who is merely a [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] who happens to be a [[MrFixit mechanic]]. Also nothing to do with a [[VideoGame/ScrapMechanic similarly named video game]]. Can also cross with OddballInTheSeries where that one game that differentiates itself from the others in the series may stand out due to the Scrappy Mechanics it uses.

* ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' started giving players Coins in their item pickups, which was neat on paper as a returning feature from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart'' and ''Mario Kart: Super Curcuit''. In execution, there's more than enough Coins on the tracks to hit the cap of 10 for maximum speed benefits, and having a Coin in the lead at the cap means you've got a complete and utter waste of an item while the other racers are going to get various items to ram up your now-defenseless tailpipe -- which would make you lose the Coin item if you took a hit while holding it anyway. And for extra insult to injury, Coins seem to appear more than any other item while in the lead; perhaps it's just blamable placebo, but it stops making first place a proper challenge to maintain and instead promotes letting some unlucky other player eat all the heat so you can swoop in more safely towards the end of the race.

* Creator/JerseyJackPinball tables sometimes have a camera below the backglass that can take photos or show a live video feed of the player at [[ParanoiaFuel unexpected moments]], which can make them uncomfortable to play for players self-conscious of how they look or are concerned about their privacy. Fortunately there is an operator toggle to disable it, and some arcades even put tape over the camera as well out of respect for their customers.

* ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' started giving players Coins in their item pickups, which was neat on paper as a returning feature from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart''. In execution, there's more than enough Coins on the tracks to hit the cap of 10 for maximum speed benefits, and having a Coin in the lead at the cap means you've got a complete and utter waste of an item while the other racers are going to get various items to ram up your now-defenseless tailpipe -- which would make you lose the Coin item if you took a hit while holding it anyway. And for extra insult to injury, Coins seem to appear more than any other item while in the lead; perhaps it's just blamable placebo, but it stops making first place a proper challenge to maintain and instead promotes letting some unlucky other player eat all the heat so you can swoop in more safely towards the end of the race.

Not to be confused with a mechanic who is TheScrappy. Or a mechanic who actually is [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Scrappy]].

For a sometimes overlapping SisterTrope, see ThatOneRule. Contrast AntiFrustrationFeatures, which are intentionally included to avoid this kind of feeling, and UnderusedGameMechanic, for good game mechanics that don't get used as much as players hope. See also SalvagedGameplayMechanic, the equivalent to RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap.

* The [[NoFairCheating TILT]] mechanic and associated "tilt warning" system is an example that's well-intentioned, by discouraging players from being rough with the machine, but tends to be ill-implemented in practice. Basically, if you nudge the table hard enough such that the pendulum that's part of the tilt mechanism hits the ring surrounding it, you will be warned about your reckless play, and after a certain number of warnings, you get a "TILT" penalty -- your ball is voided and so are any end-of-ball bonuses. The problems are that it can be difficult to tell how much you can nudge the machine (e.g. for some ball-saving techniques) without triggering a tilt warning, ''and'' most pinballs do not show how many warnings you have before you trigger a TILT.

** Any event with a card-flipping mechanic. It is a total LuckBasedMission – your writers' strength and level are completely irrelevant, what matters is whether or not you don't end up flipping an enemy card. Doing so will fail the battle, wipe whatever streak bonus you have, and more often than not deplete your writers' HP to the point of damage. To top it off, entering this map and thus getting any event points at all requires a consumable pass, which ''[[RandomNumberGod randomly]]'' drops on normal maps.

* The map system in ''VideoGame/{{Siren}}'', since it doesn't show you where you or your follower are on it. Instead, you have to match landmarks on the map (which are named), to your surroundings to locate yourself. Adding to the frustration of this is that every level is either dark or foggy, that the game borders on being a StealthBasedGame where you can die in only a couple of hits, and that most levels are [[EscortMission Escort Missions]], meaning not only is getting your bearings difficult but also puts you and your [[ArtificialStupidity very stupid AI partner]] in constant danger.

For a sometimes overlapping SisterTrope, see ThatOneRule. Contrast AntiFrustrationFeatures, which are intentionally included to avoid this kind of feeling, and UnderusedGameMechanic, for good game mechanics that don't get used as much as players hope.

** The Chaos system. Now, the KarmaMeter in general tends to be a spotty thing in videogames, but the Chaos system is particularly grating for two reasons. Firstly, as the game boasts, the Chaos system directly affects the game-world... by making it become a CrapsackWorld. Even in the medium Chaos path, the game tries to hit the player with a serious YouBastard effect. The darkness of the high Chaos path is so much that several of the loading screen tips actively warn players against pursuing that route. This would be bad enough, but then there's reason number two: the game's most interesting and innovative features are all ''combat based''. And combat is how Chaos is raised, due to the player leaving dead opponents behind and their bodies getting eaten by [[ThePlague plague rats]]. So, a player who doesn't want to get high Chaos has to forfeit playing around with all of the cool tricks that the game advertises, such as intricate sword duels, using traps, summoning rat swarms, etc. Add in some rather counter-intuitive aspects to Chaos (for example, killing the [[TechnicallyLivingZombie Weepers]] raises Chaos, despite that this is arguably a mercy and protects those who haven't been infected) and how strict it is (if the total of surviving humans drop below 80% ''at any point'', your Chaos rises to medium level).

* Every pinball machine that provides unlimited balls but only allows you to play until time runs out--''Pinball/JamesBond007'', ''Pinball/FlipperFootball'', and ''Pinball/SafeCracker''--have all bombed in sales and were unpopular with people passing by putting coins in to play. (A fourth one, ''Goin' Nuts'', was scrapped before it could even be sold.) For all of these cases, the reason is the same: Newcomers get destroyed until they run out of time, whereas people dedicated to playing them well could learn to exploit time bonuses and play for way longer than it would remain interesting. ''Safe Cracker'' has since been VindicatedByHistory when individuals bought used machines for personal use and they didn't have to worry about paying per game, however.