History VideoGame / GrandTheftAuto2

** Cheats were handled differently than both the first game and the subsequent games. In the UsefulNotes/PlayStation version, which is most like the first game's cheats, you either entered your name as one of a number of things for a permanent cheat, or named your character WUGGLES to have a second controller do some neat, but mostly pointless things. For the PC version, you needed to type "gouranga" (yes, all lower case) in the cheat option, which would allow you to type in other cheats at any time while playing the game.
** The UsefulNotes/PlayStation version is the only console ''GTA'' game to not be rated M by the ESRB, instead being rated T following some considerable Main/{{Bowdlerisation}}. The only other ''GTA''s with this distinction are the Game Boy Color versions of the first two games.

* UpdatedRerelease: The PC port has various differences, including "[[EndlessDaytime Dawn]]" and "[[AlwaysNight Dusk]]" settings, enhanced lighting to reflect city lights and car lights, elevated trains you can ride around the city (or [[StuffBlowingUp blow up]]), and a modified Industrial District map featuring an offshore island. The UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast port has the same bells and whistles, with the notable difference that "Dawn" lighting has been removed completely.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The Yakuza boss likes to address you as "Kosai", when possibly the correct Japanese spelling is "Kohai".

* SpellMyNameWithAnS / SenpaiKohai: The Yakuza boss likes to address you as "Kosai", when possibly the correct Japanese spelling is "Kohai".

** In an example that overlaps more with CameraScrew, in contrast to the first [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoClassic Grand Theft Auto]], where the limited field of view surrounding your character could be mitigated once you got into a vehicle, where it would helpfully zoom out so you could see more of the surroundings in front of yourself, in VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto2 the zoom-out function appears to have been weakened drastically, to the point that it is much more difficult for you to properly utilize any of the benefits that could have assisted you in the first game.

* RansomDrop: The boss's daughter is kidnapped early on in the game. Claude is sent to drop off the ransom, which is picked up by the kidnappers via boat. Unusually for a GTA game, everything goes exactly as planned -- the kidnappers take the money and point Claude toward the garage where the girl is being held (in the trunk of a car).

* AmbiguousTimePeriod: The game is set in an impossible time with contradictory hints or statements. The introductory video was filmed in late 90's New York City and looks nothing like the game. The game itself is set in "Anywhere City" where several factions vying for control of the criminal underground, the largest being a company called [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Zaibatsu Pharmaceuticals]]. The city is generally has a Cyberpunk UsedFuture look to it, and the cars are designed with a retro-futuristic look ranging from 30's to 70's style vehicles, and including styles from America, Europe, and even Soviet Europe (exclusive to TheMafiya). More specific clues are:
** The leader of the Russian Mafiya is a former Red Army Soldier, implying it takes place within a lifetime of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
** Promotional material for the game lists it as "3 weeks into the future", and a promotional website also references police records from 2013.
** Johnny Riccaro mentions the new millennium is coming, which would put it just before 2000 or just before 3000.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: You. In order to complete all missions, you will have to eventually start killing members of a previously friendly gang to get their rival to offer you jobs. Once all missions from all gangs in an area are completed, [[spoiler: the gangs catch on and all their leaders will be out to get you.]]
** Note that the other way is to simply accumulate enough money until you'll be shown the way to escape the city.

* DarkerAndEdgier: While [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII its sequel]] started kicking this trope into the franchise, this game has no slouch in exploring darker themes compared to its predecessor.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Even more so than the first game. The use of codenames for the player, the strange neo-noir setting, the sound effects, and so on make ''GTA 2'' difficult to consider part of the same series that later went hyper realistic in ''IV'' and ''V''. Also, along with its predecessor, this game has limited continues, unlike later games' infinite continues; the player would get a literal GameOver text after wasting all continues.

* EasyLevelTrick: One of the mission in the second zone involves a car that is immune to any damage except car bombs. It's also parked nearby a railway, and it can be pushed to the railroad.

* LargeHam: The priest in the church that serves as a save point in all three districts.

* ScreenCrunch: In an example that overlaps more with CameraScrew, in contrast to the first [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoClassic Grand Theft Auto]], where the limited field of view surrounding your character could be mitigated once you got into a vehicle, where it would helpfully zoom out so you could see more of the surroundings in front of yourself, in VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto2 the zoom-out function appears to have been weakened drastically, to the point that it is much more difficult for you to properly utilize any of the benefits that could have assisted you in the first game.

** Worse still, even playing the game for a long time with this kind of view has been known to cause nausea because of how the camera swings around while following the player whenever they are going at high speeds, even dipping into OutrunningTheScreen at times, especially if the player were to make a tight turn while trying to navigate around the streets.
*** For the PC version, you would need to download a debug patch in order to just zoom the camera out in order to mitigate this problem, barring that you don't mind fewer vehicles and pedestrians appearing on the screen (which ''will'' compromise any ''Kill Frenzy'' that you attempt, as not enough people and vehicles will appear close enough to you in order to pass one) while doing so.

* StepfordSuburbia: "The Village", a Zaibatsu-owned gated community. Get the reference?

* CorruptHick: A gang of Rednecks led by an ElvisImpersonator appear in the second area, inhabiting a trailer park. They are opposed to the Scientists due to their lack of literacy.

* VideoGameLives: ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoClassic'' and this game used lives, the total expiration of which led to a GameOver. These would be the only games in the series to use lives: starting with ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'', players would simply respawn after dying while free-roaming, or start back at a checkpoint during missions.

* RealityEnsues: One of the ways to get to the next district and ultimately leave town is to simply make enough money to get out. The other is to do enough missions for all three gangs in a given area, playing the [[AllianceMeter respect]] of the three against each other, until they collectively realize that doing missions for all three of them means [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder you've been hurting all of them at every opportunity]], and they ''all'' come to kill you.

!!Tropes Used Include:

* {{Gonk}}: The Zaibatsu bosses. Nice unibrow.

** As well as not having a good-enough field of vision to see the amount of traffic in front of you, (especially in the first sector where fast cars are scarce) or be able to make out where you were going, it also rendered your character much more susceptible to ambushes from threats. It could also wind up compromising your ability to see enemies from far away if you were looking for them, or needed a strategy to approach them without blindly walking into danger.\\
Worse still, even playing the game for a long time with this kind of view has been known to cause nausea because of how the camera swings around while following the player whenever they are going at high speeds, even dipping into OutrunningTheScreen at times, especially if the player were to make a tight turn while trying to navigate around the streets.\\
For the PC version, you would need to download a debug patch in order to just zoom the camera out in order to mitigate this problem, barring that you don't mind fewer vehicles and pedestrians appearing on the screen (which ''will'' compromise any ''Kill Frenzy'' that you attempt, as not enough people and vehicles will appear close enough to you in order to pass one) while doing so.

* ScrappyWeapon: This game introduces the shotgun to the GTA franchise. Although the weapon has fast bullets and good stopping power, it is woefully undone by being a ShortRangeShotgun with a range that doesn't even reach the end of the default POV distance, and a criminally low fire rate, as unlike in later GTA titles where you could outrun and swing around your shotgun towards any threats with ease using a targeting control, in GTA 2 you are limited to only firing at what is right in front of you, and being required that you stand still and make slow turns in order to aim the gun properly, rendering it nearly useless against any enemies that were armed with longer-ranged weapons and any police officer that chased you down. You would be better off using the flamethrower or a machine gun in these types of scenarios.

** As well as not having a good-enough field of vision to see the amount of traffic in front of you, (especially in the first sector where fast cars are scarce) or be able to make out where you were going, it also rendered your character much more susceptible to ambushes from threats. It could also wind up compromising your ability to see enemies from far away if you were looking for them, or needed a strategy to approach them without blindly walking into danger.
Worse still, even playing the game for a long time with this kind of view has been known to cause nausea because of how the camera swings around while following the player whenever they are going at high speeds, even dipping into OutrunningTheScreen at times, especially if the player were to make a tight turn while trying to navigate around the streets.

** As well as not having a good-enough field of vision to see the amount of traffic in front of you, (especially in the first sector where fast cars are scarce) or be able to make out where you were going, it also rendered your character much more susceptible to ambushes from threats. It could also wind up compromising your ability to see enemies from far away if you were looking for them, or needed a strategy to approach them without blindly walking into danger.\\
Worse still, even playing the game for a long time with this kind of view has been known to cause nausea because of how the camera swings around while following the player whenever they are going at high speeds, even dipping into OutrunningTheScreen at times, especially if the player were to make a tight turn while trying to navigate around the streets.\\

Worse still, even playing the game for a long time with this kind of view has been known to cause nausea because of how the camera swings around while following the player whenever they are going at high speeds, even dipping into OutrunningTheScreen at times, especially when the player makes a tight turn when trying to navigate around the streets.\\

* ScreenCrunch: In an example that overlaps more with CameraScrew, in contrast to the first [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoClassic Grand Theft Auto]], where the limited field of view surrounding your character could be mitigated once you got into a vehicle, helpfully zooming out so you could see more of the surroundings in front of yourself, in VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto2 the zoom-out function appears to have been weakened drastically, to the point that it is much more difficult for you to properly utilize any of the benefits that could have assisted you in the first game. As well as not having a good-enough field of vision to see the amount of traffic in front of you, (especially in the first sector where fast cars are scarce) or be able to make out where you were going, it also rendered your character much more susceptible to ambushes from threats, as well as compromising your ability to see enemies from far away if you were looking for them, or needed a strategy to approach them without blindly walking into danger. Worse still, even playing the game for a long time with this kind of view has been known to cause nausea because of how the camera swings around while following the player when they are going at high speeds, even dipping into OutrunningTheScreen at times, especially when the player is making a tight turn when trying to navigate around the streets. For the PC version, you would need to download a debug patch in order to just zoom the camera out in order to mitigate this problem, barring that you don't mind fewer vehicles and pedestrians appearing on the screen (which ''will'' compromise any ''Kill Frenzy'' that you attempt, as not enough people and vehicles will appear close enough to you in order to pass one) while doing so.

* ScreenCrunch: In an example that overlaps more with CameraScrew, in contrast to the first [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoClassic Grand Theft Auto]], where the limited field of view surrounding your character could be mitigated once you got into a vehicle, helpfully zooming out so you could see more of the surroundings in front of yourself, in VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto2 the zoom-out function appears to have been weakened drastically, to the point that it is much more difficult for you to properly utilize any of the benefits that could have assisted you in the first game. As well as not having a good-enough field of vision to see the amount of traffic in front of you, (especially in the first sector where fast cars are scarce) or be able to make out where you were going, it also rendered your character much more susceptible to ambushes from threats, as well as compromising your ability to see enemies from far away if you were looking for them, or needed a strategy to approach them without blindly walking into danger. Worse still, even playing the game for a long time with this kind of view has been known to cause nausea because of how the camera follows the player when they are going at high speeds, even dipping into OutrunningTheScreen at times, especially when the player is making a tight turn when trying to navigate around the streets. For the PC version, you would need to download a debug patch in order to just zoom the camera out in order to mitigate this problem, barring that you don't mind fewer vehicles and pedestrians appearing on the screen (which ''will'' compromise any ''Kill Frenzy'' that you attempt, as not enough people and vehicles will appear close enough to you in order to pass one) while doing so.

* ScreenCrunch: In an example that overlaps more with CameraScrew, in contrast to the first [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoClassic Grand Theft Auto]], where the limited field of view surrounding your character could be mitigated once you got into a vehicle, helpfully zooming out so you could see more of the surroundings in front of yourself, in VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto2 the zoom-out function appears to have been weakened drastically, to the point that it is much more difficult for you to properly utilize any of the benefits that could have assisted you in the first game. As well as not having a good-enough field of vision to see the amount of traffic in front of you, (especially in the first sector where fast cars are scarce) or be able to make out where you were going, it also rendered your character much more susceptible to ambushes from threats, as well as compromising your ability to see enemies from far away if you were looking for them, or needed a strategy to approach them without blindly walking into danger. For the PC version, you would need to download a debug patch in order to just zoom the camera out in order to mitigate this problem, barring that you don't mind fewer vehicles and pedestrians appearing on the screen (which ''will'' compromise any ''Kill Frenzy'' that you attempt, as not enough people and vehicles will appear close enough to you in order to pass one) while doing so.

* ScreenCrunch: In an example that overlaps more with CameraScrew, in contrast to the first [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoClassic Grand Theft Auto]], where the limited field of view surrounding your character could be mitigated once you got into a vehicle, helpfully zooming out so you could see more of the surroundings in front of yourself, in VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto2, the zoom-out function appears to have been weakened drastically, to the point that it is much more difficult for you to properly utilize any of the benefits that could have assisted you in the first game. As well as not having a good-enough field of vision to see the amount of traffic in front of you, (especially in the first sector where fast cars are scarce) or be able to make out where you were going, it also rendered your character much more susceptible to ambushes from threats, as well as compromising your ability to see enemies from far away if you were looking for them, or needed a strategy to approach them without blindly walking into danger. For the PC version, you would need to download a debug patch in order to just zoom the camera out in order to mitigate this problem, barring that you don't mind fewer vehicles and pedestrians appearing on the screen (which ''will'' compromise any ''Kill Frenzy'' that you attempt, as not enough people and vehicles will appear close enough to you in order to pass one) while doing so.