History Main / SimonSaysMiniGame

* ''VideoGame/LegoHarryPotter'': In the "Dragons" level from ''Goblet of Fire'', a dragon breathes out coloured notes, which the player has to repeat by levitating a mallet on to coloured bars.

->''"To release the imprisoned bird, you must watch the sequence of lights, and then repeat it exactly using the directions on the Control Pad. It seems like a waste of time to me. Why can't these game developers come up with something more interesting?"''

->''"To release the imprisoned bird, you must watch the sequence of lights, and then repeat it exactly using the directions on the Control Pad. It seems like a waste of time to me.Why can't these game developers come up with something more interesting?"''

->''"To release the imprisoned bird, you must watch the sequence of lights, and then repeat it exactly using the directions on the Control Pad. Why can't these game developers come up with something more interesting?."''

->''"To release the imprisoned bird, you must watch the sequence of lights, and then repeat it exactly using the directions on the Control Pad. It seems like a waste of time to me."''

->''"To release the imprisoned bird, you must watch the sequence of lights, and then repeat it exactly using the directions on the Control Pad. It seems like a waste of time to me. Why can't these game developers come up with something more interesting?"''

-->-- '''[[MetaGuy Cranky Kong]], ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble'' ([=GBA=] version)

-->-- '''[[MetaGuy Cranky Kong]], ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble''

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* One of the challenges in the GSN game show ''Series/DogEatDog''. A wrong press of a button flung the contestant backward into the pool, resulting in time lost to get out and return to the panel.
* Many of the "events" (read: stunts) on the {{Creator/Nickelodeon}} GameShow ''Series/ThinkFast'' required teams to take turns building a sequence in this manner, adding one each time. The first team to mess up lost. Examples included entering numbers on a giant push-button phone, throwing different colored paint balloons at one's partner, and patting the backs of three "gross uncles" to cause them to belch.
* Some games on ''Series/FamilyGameNight'' follow suit:
** ''TabletopGame/{{Cranium}} Piano (Star Performer):'' Teams take turns stepping on colorful piano keys on the floor screen, adding more notes for each new turn. The kids' rounds require one new note each turn, the adults' rounds two (but the points are [[DoubleTheDollars doubled]]).
** ''Simon Flash:'' Families wear giant cubes, which can change colors after every turn, around their bodies. A color sequence is shown and the families must reorder themselves to match the sequence and score a point. First team to five points wins.
* ''Series/PlayWithMeSesame'' used a FakeInteractivity version called "Ernie Says".
* In ''[[Series/SesameStreet Sesame Street: Elmo's Playdate]]'', Elmo plays "Elmo Says" with the viewers at home and the visitors he's talking to on camera.
[[/folder]]

* Before each showing of Ride/WorldOfColor at [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disney's California Adventure]], a game called the ''Fun Wheel Challenge'' is played. Guests connect to a Wi-Fi network on their phones and play Simon Says... with the lights on Mickey's Fun Wheel as Simon. The winner gets to switch between one of four light patterns for a short time.

* The UrExample of this may be the 1974 Creator/{{Atari}} ''VideoGame/TouchMe'' arcade game, making this OlderThanTheNES.
* This is the entire premise for ''Flagman'' for the Creator/{{Nintendo}} Game & Watch.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda''
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'': A [[HeartContainer Heart Piece]] is earned by playing a game of this with the Skull Kids in the Lost Woods, requiring you to memorize musical notes and play them back using the titular ocarina. The frog choir's game (active after receiving their ''first'' Heart Piece) is similar, but much harder, as you have to match up ''every'' note as it is played; fortunately, the sequence is fixed.
** Also used during the Goron Dance mini-game in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Ages]]''. You're given very little margin for error, and it must be completed multiple times. ''Oracle Of Seasons'' featured it too, but there was much more room for error.
** ''VideoGame/CadenceOfHyrule'' has this as a RunningGag, where the player has to repeat classic ''Zelda'' tunes to wake up sleeping characters.

* ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsGame'' used this, requiring the player to play back the Simpson's theme in order to gain access to Matt Groening's mansion.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManAndBass'' has these in Astro Man's level. A gun will fire at you if you make an error.
* A quest in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' uses this.
* ''VideoGame/WarioWareIncMegaMicrogames'': One of [[DiscoDan Jimmy T.]]'s microgames has you perform dancing moves in the directions indicated by the fingers of your master.
* The MiniGame "Clefairy Says" in ''VideoGame/PokemonStadium'', pictured above.
* The subgame to ''Veggie Guardin''' in ''VideoGame/WiiPlayMotion'', where the player must whack moles in the correct sequence.
* ''VideoGame/PitfallTheMayanAdventure'' has a similar game involving pull-levers in some bonus levels.
* The ''WesternAnimation/WallE'' computer game uses a simple challenge of this style to open some of the doors.
* ''VideoGame/LightCrusader'' features some doors that only open after the player goes through a few rounds of "hit these things in the exact order they light up."
* If a RhythmGame isn't about responding to incoming prompts or maintaining a beat, it's most likely this trope. Their variant of the trope also requires the player to copy both inputs and timing. Examples include ''VideoGame/SpaceChannel5'' and the ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven'' franchise.
* One of the forms of tower calibration in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2''.

* In ''VideoGame/BraveFencerMusashi'', the boss battle against Topo is a dancing contest that's one of these. In addition to repeating the sequence, you have to maintain roughly the same tempo. Make a mistake and a row of fans blows you into an electric field.
* In ''VideoGame/SpyroEnterTheDragonfly'', one mini-game involves Spyro watching a tiki band play their drums and then repeating the drum beat back to earn a dragonfly.
* In the Xbox 360 and [=PS3=] versions of ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'', this is how you hack into any piece of electronics that litters the world. The PC version replaces this with something that actually looks slightly sophisticated. Players that didn't feel like doing it again could instead bypass it by spending omnigel.
* ''VideoGame/MetalArmsGlitchInTheSystem'' has one part where the eponymous Glitch must pretend to be a spy-bot during calibration tests. Various movement and rotation instructions are given, and three mistakes earn a ticket to the shredder. Sadly, going ballistic with a weapon isn't an option. Given just how long this section is and the utter lack of check points, it was very much regarded as ThatOneLevel.
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has a plot-relevant mini-game that gives you [[spoiler:a perfect replica of the main character to replace him at the moment of his PlotlineDeath and undo it]]. Fortunately, during the one time it's plot-relevant, you can still continue if you fail...assuming you don't mind parting with a large sum of money.
* ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' has the Blockhead encounters: Attack one to see a sequence of weak points appear, then dot over the weak points in the same order to actually defeat it. Many players didn't initially realize that the order matters, which can add to the frustration of trying to take down the already infamous [[BrutalBonusLevel Blockhead Grande]] for his [[LastLousyPoint Stray Bead]].

* ''VideoGame/AlienHominid'' had one miniboss that was like this. Hit the wrong color and you got zapped to death and had to repeat the process.

* In an underwater section of ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'', five torches were ignited in a certain order, and then extinguished. Mario had to relight the torches in the same order.
* Done a few times in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam''.
** The first time is merely a really simple puzzle with blocks in the Pi'illo Castle basement, but later certain bosses will telegraph their attacks like this, with them moving a bunch of laser sights in a certain order and then afterwards shooting in the directions indicated.
** Also, the Bye Bye Cannon attack in general, where you have to watch the order that Mario and Luigi are shot into the air and hit the right button when they land afterwards to do damage. Even more so for the Mad Skillathon mini game for this move, in which you've got to memorize increasingly long sequences of falling Marios and Luigis while the room for error gets less and less each time.

* In ''VideoGame/StubbsTheZombie'', the showdown with the Chief of Police takes the form of a dance-off where you have to repeat his moves. Seems [[NotHyperbole he wasn't joking]] when he said he was going to dance on Stubbs' grave.

* The piano puzzle in ''VideoGame/TheSeventhGuest''. The tune turns out to be the game's main theme.
* ''VideoGame/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor had a DDR-style minigame with this sort of gameplay featuring Harry and Professor Flickwick, resulting in the amusing images of Harry doing things like shaking his tush at the screen or breakdancing on his head. In ''VideoGame/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' on the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance, Harry learns spells by copying his professor's wand movements. The Game Boy Color version of ''Philosopher's Stone'' also requires you to copy Flitwick's wand movements to learn Wingardium Leviosa.
* Gets you to a golden key in ''VideoGame/FableIII''.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Inca}}'', this serves as one of the late-game puzzles, where a pan pipe plays while sunlight refracted through a prism shows colors on a crystal in the foreground. [[spoiler: The colors are a lie, only the sounds matter.]]
* Also a MoneyForNothing minigame in ''VideoGame/SphinxAndTheCursedMummy''.
* One of the games in ''VideoGame/TheSecretIslandOfDrQuandary'', "Ape the Ape", has you memorize and repeat an ever-increasing number of steps in order to win a cup of "gobblety-goo" from Sir William Apespeare.
* One of the minigames in ''VideoGame/EscapeFromTheMindmaster''.
* The deadly "[[AnArmAndALeg manicure]]" scene in ''VideoGame/BrainDead13'' is probably this... sort of. And you can tell by the way Vivi's clumsy fingers point in the direction of her next strike of her butcher knife on the chopping block table after her previous, failed one, which tells you that you have to quickly move Lance's hand away at the ''opposite'' direction of the way she swings the knife to avoid getting his hand chopped off. For example, if her finger points ''right'' on her first failed attempt, his hand must move ''left'' on her next attempt. The next sequence follows: Her finger --> down, his hand --> up; her finger --> left, his hand --> right; etc. After her repeated failed attempts, she will tire and say, "Hmmm... this don't look very sharp," thus ending the "manicure".
* How the Dragon Rushes work in ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokai 3''. If you press the same button as your opponent, the Rush ends early.
* Earlier games in the ''VideoGame/DreamChronicles'' series contain these in some form, often based on music instruments.

* ''VideoGame/BionicCommando [[VideoGameRemake Rearmed]]'': The Fabricator bosses have a phase where the player needs to stand in the center of an arch and use their [[GrapplingHookPistol extending]] [[ArtificialLimbs bionic arm]] to block spikes launched in sequence, as indicated by lights around the arch, before the boss' weak point is exposed. [[spoiler:The Leader's helicopter also has a phase where it launches missiles in sequence, and the player has to anticipate which direction to block from.]]
* In the third ''VideoGame/{{Exmortis}}'', this must be solved to gain access to [[spoiler: a [[ImAHumanitarian Cannibal's]] hideout]]. A set of traffic lights flash in a pattern to be used in a 4-color keypad, and an old "Don't Walk" sign changes to "Walk" when the puzzle is solved. The minigame can last for up to ''ten rounds'', and failing three times results in the player falling into a PitTrap.

* In ''VideoGame/TweetyAndTheMagicGems'', the "Raise the Flags" mini-game involves your character pressing the A and B buttons to raise the respective green and red flags when they appear onscreen. A total of twenty flags appear one by one. You lose if you raise the flag too late or raise the flag of the wrong color.
* An area of the ''VideoGame/IWannaKillTheKamilia 3'' plays like one, and in true Kamilia fashion it's much harder than the standard. Right off the bat, you have to jump forward to avoid getting hit by the spikes the conveyor is running you towards, all while clicking on a vinyl record with eight differently-colored buttons, each of which produces a unique tone when they light up. After repeating a few melodies, each of which add another note onto the last, the buttons stop lighting up and you have to go entirely by tone. And then the record starts turning...
* One ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' flash game, "New Dog, Old Tricks", is based on the pilot short of the same name. In this game, Goddard must copy the tricks that Humphrey performs, which is done when the buttons at the bottom of the screen are pressed in the correct order. If Goddard misses a move, he plays dead.
* In ''VideoGame/BeautyAndTheBeastABoardGameAdventure'', the "Poochy Paw Prints" mini-game has Sultan jump on the upholstery, getting muddy paw prints on them. Fifi must clean the paw prints up by jumping on the upholstery in the same order that Sultan did.
* ''VideoGame/{{Melatonin}}'' uses the RhythmGame version of this trope, where replicating the actions ''and'' timing of the cues is necessary:
** In "Dream About Exercise", the player has to replicate the instructor's movements of lifting the left, right, or both weights at the same time.
** In "Dream About the Future", beams appear in the distance, signaling aliens appearing on the left, right, middle, or left and right. Once they approach, the player has to blast them in the correct pattern.
* ''VideoGame/GarfieldLasagnaParty'':
** In the "Perfect Profile" mini-game, the player must press the right button at the right time to strike the corresponding pose and win points.
** The "Cats' Band" mini-game involves the players playing their instruments atop a fence. Pressing the right buttons at the right time will earn the players points.
* ''VideoGame/DisneysHideAndSneak'': Near the end of the game, the player character is required to jump on the colored pillars based on Lu-Lu's prompts across three rounds in a row. If succeeded, [[spoiler:a giant UFO arrives to take her back to her home planet.]]
* ''VideoGame/ToontownOnline'': The Match Minnie trolley game requires toons to repeat the sequence of arrow key inputs that Minnie gives them. Each key has a different musical instrument sound associated with it, and each round increases the length of the sequence, going up to eight inputs.
* ''VideoGame/ToontownCorporateClash'': One trolley game involves an NPC doing a sequence of dance moves, which you have to repeat. More moves are added on to the sequence as the minigame goes on. Major Player can also weaponize this same mechanic as one of his attacks.

* If a RhythmGame isn't about responding to incoming prompts or maintaining a beat, it's most likely this trope. Their variant of the trope also requires the player to copy both inputs and timing. Examples include ''VideoGame/ParappaTheRapper'', ''VideoGame/SpaceChannel5'', and ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven'' franchise.

[[caption-width-right:350:Okay...Repeat after me!]]

* ''VideoGame/DensetsuNoStafy3'': To unlock some of the doors in Coral Coast, Moe indicates the order in which to hit three pieces of coral as a code.

Note that this Mini Game isn't ''quite'' like the children's game Simon Says, as there is no trick of losing if an action isn't prefaced with some special denotation. Still, most people associate the game with repetition, so these mini games are often likened to Simon Says. They also bear a strong resemblance to the electronic game [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_(game) Simon]] from the early 80's, which was itself named after Simon Says.

* One of [[DiscoDan Jimmy T.]]'s microgames in the first ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' has you do this, with the musical justification.