History NotTheIntendedUse / VideoGames

** Across the franchise, the Dragoon class has its signature Jump ability where the character leaps off the screen, and comes back down on the next turn to inflict extra damage on the enemy. This is also a good way for the dragoon to ''avoid'' lethal damage, and sending them airborne during critical moments is a viable strategy for some tougher bosses. This is especially true in games where you can swap job classes. (Notably, one boss in ''III'' basically mandates use of dragoon unless you're overleveled as hell. The spear does bonus damage, but also, at least some of your party will always be absent during his punishing attacks if you follow the game's advice.)

* Using the infamous Prehistoric "Tower/Prophet" turtle in ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth''. For the most part, the strategy is perfectly legit, except for the fact that it exploits the limited quantity of food in the prehistoric epoch and the fact that prophets start off already at full power in the prehistoric epoch, versus other units that start off weak. With the High hit points of the towers, low hit points of Club Men and Rock Throwers, and the Profits spreading Plague and Malaria, any invading army will be dead within seconds of invading, having done ''very little'' damage.

** Besides online multiplayer, the PS3 version of the game also features local multiplayer, which in addition to its intended use is also played solo (on a large enough HD screen so you can still see the stage while at max distance zoom) in order to more quickly farm chest contents.

** The Rocket Jumper and Sticky Jumper are ostensibly training items--they are painted bright orange and deal no damage whatsoever to the player or their foes. In theory they are used to allow novice Soldiers or Demomen how to explosive-jump without killing themselves. In practice, people have used them to turn two somewhat slow but powerful classes into high-speed terrors, usually armed with {{Situational Sword}}s like the Market Gardener (deals critical damage when rocket jumping) or the Ullapool Caber (a stick-type hand grenade used as a melee weapon, itself an example of this trope) to brutalize one or two opponents, then rocket away out of danger. They were also abused so much in CaptureTheFlag style game modes that they eventually had to remove the ability to carry the briefcase from players using these items. When these weapons first came out, they were also indistinguishable from their stock counterparts, meaning that in addition to the improved mobility, they could be used to fake out enemies into a retreat. The viability of both weapons still persist to this day as functional sidearms, especially the Sticky Jumper, even outside of gimmick loadouts. While the Rocket Jumper will leave the Soldier with a pitiful sidearm with poor range or damage in exchange for high mobility, the Sticky Jumper still permits a Demoman their primary Grenade Launcher, which, [[DifficultButAwesome while tricky to master]], can easily be the only weapon a player needs if they're consistent with it. Thus, the Demoman trades some defensive prowess and area control for unparalleled mobility... Which necessitated another nerf specifically for the Sticky Jumper - originally, like the stock Stickybomb Launcher, you could have up to 8 sticky bombs out at a time, ready to detonate. However, this was nerfed, as the mobility provided with a sticky jump using more than 2 stickies was absurd (and not realistic for training anyways, as there are no situations where a demoman would survive such a jump under other sticky launchers).

** Beggar's Bazooka, an inaccurate rocket launcher whose main purpose was to belch out rockets in packs of three, and exploding in your face if you tried to load more. Some players, however, [[SuicideAttack ran with the "exploding in your face" issue, equipped their Gunboats, told their Medics to Uber them, and started to gleefully achieve flight, with every successive explosion propelling them while still in the air]]. Essentially, they turned a SpamAttack rocket belcher into a personal Orion drive.

** An endgame tactic is to surround yourself with hostile slimes while fighting a boss. Slimes do piddling damage at that point, but you still get MercyInvincibility, which allows you to ignore the ''really'' damaging boss attacks.

* ''VideoGame/YuGiOhDuelLinks'' added character skills to the popular card game and players quickly found ways to break them.

** '''Contract Procrastination''', exclusive to Declan Akaba allows players to skip their Standby Phase if they control a Dark Contract card. This is meant to dodge the maintenance cost of said Contracts (some of which cost as much as '''2000''' life points per turn), but it currently sees use as a way of keeping [[AwesomeButImpractical Golden Castle of Stromberg]] on the field without needing to banish 10 of your (at most) 30-card deck on each of your Standby Phases.

* The Dragon Tooth Sword in ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' is intended as a powerful melee weapon. However, its constant glow means it doubles as a weak flashlight that doesn't burn up energy to use. It also does enough damage to make it possible to break open weak doors, allowing one access to contents locked inside, without needing to use up a picklock or explosives.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter Generations'' has the Arisen Phoenix hunter art, which clears all buffs and debuffs affecting the player and converts them into health. Its intended use appears to be getting yourself out of a bind when a monster has managed to hurt you with multiple negative blights. [[MagicMusic Hunting Horn]] players, who [[SupportPartyMember stack buff upon buff on themselves as their shtick]], consume their own easily-renewed buffs for a free near-full heal.

** Besides online multiplayer, the game also features local multiplayer, which in addition to its intended use is also played solo (on a large enough HD screen so you can still see the stage while at max distance zoom) in order to more quickly farm drops.

*** Storywise, Deconstructed in the ''Stormblood'' Raid series, Omega. The questline revolves around Omega creating creatures of incredible power in the rift between worlds, luring in creatures from Hydaelyn, and pitting them against each other to determine what is the strongest (which it will then fight against itself in order to better itself for a purpose that isn't important right now). The player's party is an "anomaly" in that, in spite of their relative weakness, they are able to triumph over ever-more-powerful foes; last time it encountered something able to do this, it tries to recreate the opponent and found it failing to repeat the feat time and time again. Cid, an engineer, quickly determines that Omega's ability to create matter wasn't ''intended'' to create ''lifeforms'', and as a result, is unable to do it properly - none of his creations has a soul, which is the determining factor in the heroes' triumphs.

* "Spawn Trapping" in competitive shooters. By exploiting bad level design, one team can win by preventing the other from ever advancing out of their spawn area. This is very noticeable in places like ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'''s Demolition mode (where both teams have two fixed spawn points and is the source of the infamous 500+ kills video) and ''VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany 2'' (which makes the area around the other team's spawn point a soft-kill zone, but there are often terrain features that allow restricted lines of fire and blind corners ripe for camping). ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' implemented counters to this strategy, such as Spies (who can leave the spawn unnoticed and take down the campers, unless the campers are Pyros ''which they usually are''), ''Bonk!'' (A secondary for Scout that makes him invulnerable but unable to attack for 8 seconds) and Ubercharges (which let the "besieged" take the enemy down while invulnerable). The ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' [[VideoGame/Splatoon2 games]] have countermeasures too, namely a force field around the team's spawn point that enemies cannot penetrate by any means, allowing you to freely shoot at spawn-trappers while they can't lay a finger on you. Some stages also have the spawn point on a raised platform, providing a terrain advantage against any would-be attackers.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' and ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'', there is one [[LimitBreak Special Weapon]] in each game that has a direct benefit--Echolocator in the first game reveals the locations of all opponents to the entire team for several seconds, and Bomb Launcher in the second game grants the player an unlimited number of bombs until the Special Weapon meter runs out--but also provide you with an instant ink refill, overriding absolutely ''everything'' that could delay it, including cooldown time when deploying things like Splash Walls or Squid Beakons during which you're ordinarily prohibited from refilling your ink. This secondary benefit can be a lifesaver for players running critically low on ink and don't have time to replenish their ink under normal circumstances, such as if they're under attack at the moment. This is especially true for Bomb Launcher in the Salmon Run mode: As large numbers of Salmonid come at the players at once, waiting for the bombs to detonate is much too slow, and being able to shoot and shoot, then immediately refill and keep shooting is more useful.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' features an intended, in-universe example. Tidus and Wakka have Blitzball skills that involve kicking and punching sports balls hard enough to move a long distance through water. As it turns out, this translates to doing considerable damage on impact when it's moving through the air (and in Wakka's case, even on airborne enemies hundreds of feet away). Oddly enough, Tidus' Jecht Shot, which involves punching and kicking the ball [[UnnecessaryRoughness into several defenders before going for the goal]], isn't used as a combat move.

*** The old [[StanceSystem Cleric Stance]], which swapped a healer's Mind (healing power) with Intelligence (magic attack), was intended for use while advancing solo quests. However, its only cost was a 5-second cooldown, which it shared with nothing else, and healers are already encouraged to take potshots at the enemy when their party doesn't actually need healing, so enterprising players would rapidly swap Cleric Stance on and off to make sure these potshots were as damaging as possible. The devs banned it from PVP where it was a GameBreaker, but otherwise ''tried'' to neither discourage it nor make "healer DPS" mandatory, but the playerbase shunned healers who refused to DPS during inevitable downtime, so as of 4.0 healer spell damage is calculated from Mind all the time and Cleric Stance is a simple damage buff that only bleeding-edge players care about (before being removed ''completely'' in 5.0).

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': The skill "Protector's Pride" (greatly raises Arts recharge speed when non-Defenders are targeted), given its name and the fact it's initially found on a Defender class, is probably intended to make it easier for your tank to DrawAggro when an Attacker or Healer is in danger. It ironically sees the most use on hyper-aggressive team compositions that run ''no Defenders at all'', since without a Defender on the field the fast recharge will ''always'' be in effect.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}} series:
** ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'': A section of the wall between the Muse and Matilda border was accidentally flagged as movable. By pushing it aside, the Knightdom of Matilda can be accessed early in the game. Inside, a sidequest can be completed, two high level characters can be recruited, and the entire party can be levelled from around level 15 to levels in the 30s.

*** [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Mega Man's]] Down Special, Leaf Shield, creates a shield that absorbs projectiles, damages nearby enemies, and can be thrown as a projectile, but Mega Man can't use almost any other attacks while the Leaf Shield is active. Just by looking at this move, you'd think it's best used defensively, and while players dismissed it as a situational and mediocre move initially, people then discovered that it can be used with a grab to deal a good amount of damage with it, and is even better for edge guarding by hitstunning them and screwing up many characters' recovery. Footstool jumping with the Leaf Shield gives Mega Man an easy way to KO opponents, which covers for Mega Man's low damage output.

** The Rocket Jumper and Sticky Jumper are ostensibly training items--they are painted bright orange and deal no damage whatsoever to the player or their foes. In theory they are used to allow novice Soldiers or Demomen how to explosive-jump without killing themselves. In practice, people have used them to turn two somewhat slow but powerful classes into high-speed terrors, usually armed with {{Situational Sword}}s like the Market Gardener (deals critical damage when rocket jumping) or the Ullapool Caber (a stick-type hand grenade used as a melee weapon, itself an example of this trope) to brutalize one or two opponents, then rocket away out of danger. They were also abused so much in CaptureTheFlag style game modes that they eventually had to remove the ability to carry the briefcase from players using these items. When these weapons first came out, they were also indistinguishable from their stock counterparts, meaning that in addition to the improved mobility, they could be used to fake out enemies into a retreat.
*** The viability of both weapons still persist to this day as functional sidearms, especially the Sticky Jumper, even outside of gimmick loadouts. While the Rocket Jumper will leave the Soldier with a pitiful sidearm with poor range or damage in exchange for high mobility, the Sticky Jumper still permits a Demoman their primary Grenade Launcher, which, [[DifficultButAwesome while tricky to master]], can easily be the only weapon a player needs if they're consistent with it. Thus, the Demoman trades some defensive prowess and area control for unparalleled mobility... Which necessitated another nerf specifically for the Sticky Jumper - originally, like the stock Stickybomb Launcher, you could have up to 8 sticky bombs out at a time, ready to detonate. However, this was nerfed, as the mobility provided with a sticky jump using more than 2 stickies was absurd (and not realistic for training anyways, as there are no situations where a demoman would survive such a jump under other sticky launchers).

* ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'': A section of the wall between the Muse and Matilda border was accidentally flagged as movable. By pushing it aside, the Knightdom of Matilda can be accessed early in the game. Inside, a sidequest can be completed, two high level characters can be recruited, and the entire party can be levelled from around level 15 to levels in the 30s.
* ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'': The Theater feature is meant to be something to create more money: Give the right characters and personality the right role to act and it will create a proper crowd-pleaser that would generate money. Giving the wrong characters for the roles will make the crowd boo... but [[InvokedTrope invoking such]] [[WTHCastingAgency wrong casting choices]] will actually generate very hilarious dialogues from the colorful cast of actors (for this game, 104 actors). And so, players tend to use the theater not for the intended money making machine, but for cases of [[RuleOfFunny the player wanting to roll over on the floor laughing their asses off.]]

** Fighters are seen as a very situational unit, as they can only target air units and are very expensive. However, they have a ''gigantic'' movement range of 9 with zero movement penalties, a massive supply of fuel, and can only be targeted by a very small minority of units. This makes them useful for ''blocking'' enemy units as they can be used to stop enemy units dead in their tracks at bridges and chokepoints, making them invest in expensive units of their own to counter it or contend with being picked off by indirect units.

* ''[[VideoGame/NarutoShippudenUltimateNinja4 Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 4 (and 5)]]'' have "Unlimited Chakra" feature in Versus Mode, making jutsu spam possible without worrying about your chakra. Scaled UpToEleven with [[BareFistedMonk Might Guy]] and his trademark flying kick/punch attack ''Night Phoenix'' which has easy button combination to activate, fast start-up time, fast recovery time, launches his opponent flying if the attack connects and deals considerable chipping damage if the attack is blocked. In no time, Guy players would be filling the screen with blaze of fire as Guy [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown keeps pummeling his opponents]].

** The [[VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor sequel]] has a setup called Yoshi Peril, which basically takes Danger Mario UpToEleven; it relies on Yoshi being at 1 HP (abusing badges which give a damage bonus per hit when at 1 HP, together with multiple-hit attacks to multiply the bonus). How to get to 1 HP? Use a Point Swap item, which swaps your HP and FP. How to get to 1 FP? Well, the Double Dip badge allows you to use two items in a single action, at the cost of FP, and happens to cost exactly the right amount of FP to use. This has lead to the bizarre situation of players using Double Dip to use only one item, allowing them to set up Yoshi Peril in half a turn (and then annihilating enemies in the other half a turn).

*** Taken UpToEleven with the Celebration [=Mk2=]. While intended to obliterate large crowds thanks to its combination of no self-damage, spreading shots and rapid fire rate, people have coupled it with terrain destroying rockets to ''very'' rapidly remove large swathes of terrain.

* ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars'' has three notable examples:

* ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars'' has two notable examples:

** Lash's Super Power Prime Tactics doubles the effects of terrain. She's supposed to use this for both offensive pushes (as her troops gain firepower for each terrain star they have) and defense, but if she starts capturing the enemy HQ and activates it, her capturing Infantry will become NighInvulnerable with 8 defense stars, practically guaranteeing her the win. This makes Lash almost as good at HQ capture victories as ''Sami'', a commander entirely based around that playstyle.