History VideoGame / HotlineMiami

** The final boss, who relies on two panthers, a ninja bodyguard, and then dual Uzis.

* GolfClubbing: Complete with a finishing move where Jacket tees off a boss's head.

* HollywoodSilencer: The silenced handgun, which is quieter than most melee attacks, at the cost of a fifty-fifty chance of only wounding the target. Using Peter the Unicorn makes ''all'' your weapons silent.

** The van that screeches straight through the entrance at the end of Deadline.

** The rat-masked assassin who [[spoiler:murders Jacket's girlfriend]].

* SplitPersonality: Jacket "visits" the room with the three masked personas at the start of each Act. "Richard" wears Jacket's IconicOutfit, "Don Juan" wears the Girlfriend's clothes, and "Ramsus" is wearing a mobster suit.
* SpySpeak: Lots of Type-2 speak when it comes to the orders sent to Jacket. More ambiguously, the bearded clerk who appears in different stores to give Jacket something for free just for showing up while making idle conversation. He ''might'' be slyly paying Jacket for jobs finished, but it's never made explicitly clear.

* StealthBasedGame: Not strictly required, but practicing stealth is much more likely to lead to winning the game than just rushing in guns blazing.
* StealthBasedMission: The only instance in the game where the player is forced to be stealthy is a sequence in which Jacket [[spoiler:has to escape from a hospital]]. It's fair to say this was the least well-received part of the game.

* DevelopmentGag: The first floor of "Full House" is a remake of the level layout of ''Super Carnage'', the game's predecessor.

* DropTheHammer: One of Jacket's possible weapons is a small claw hammer which he can throw to stun oponents and brutally rip their jaw.

* TakeThat: The game has a hilarious TakeThat to its players. If your play style involves a lot of hiding and sneaking, the game will refer to your play style as "COWARD" when the score screen appears at the end of the level. [[InsaneTrollLogic Yeah, that's right.]] The game calls you a coward for being careful in a game where [[OneHitPointWonder one minor, even negligible, mistake can end your life]].

** The unkillable DJ on the dance floor? It's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYLxlIF7Wn0 Perturbator]], who wrote the song "Miami Disco" that's the level's song.

''Hi, it's Eddie, from Fast TV Triage. We've got a few "natter problems" at the intersection on StreetSmart and StreetUrchin, and the moderators are busy at the moment. Can you please come and "edit" the offending pages? And as always...''\\

* BossArenaIdiocy: The two water fountains in the room provide cover from the final boss' [=MP5s=]. He will periodically reload and will be vulnerable for a few moments while he does. [[spoiler:Upon her death, the mob boss' lieutenant (Ninja Girl) drops 3 throwing knives that are required to defeat him.]]

* NintendoHard: One knife stab, baseball bat to the face, bullet to anywhere, etc. will kill you instantly. And you frequently face multiple opponents at once, who have insane reaction times and swing/shoot faster than you can. [[spoiler:Then you play as the biker, who only has three custom throwing knives, and faces more gunners than you have knives.]] In either case, you either have to play ''very'' carefully (which nets you less points, as the game encourages recklessness), or [[LuckBasedMission rush everyone and hope a shot just grazes you.]]

* SequentialBoss: As opposed to the other bosses, which soak up a lot of hits, the final boss is three opponents strung together that go each down quickly. [[spoiler:First two panthers who you face in melee, then a ninja who you throw your weapon at to take down, and finally the head of TheMafiya, who uses dual uzis.]]

* TakeThat: The game has a hilarious TakeThat to its players. If your play style involves a lot of hiding and sneaking, the game will refer to your play style as "COWARD" when the score screen appears at the end of the level. [[InsaneTrollLogic Yeah, that's right.]] The game calls you a coward for being careful [[NintendoHard in a game where]] [[OneHitPointWonder one minor, even negligible, mistake can end your life]].

** The Biker rebels against the evil conspiracy — not because of any sense of morality, or guilt, but because ''he's bored'', and wants to kill some more. Given that the last levels of the game will most likely become repetitive, due to the OneHitKill, NintendoHard nature of the game, this may be a potshot at gamers who are frustrated with the gameplay and care nothing for the virtual mayhem they cause — only that when it stops being fun, they want it to go away.

* AwesomeButImpractical: The Carl mask gives you a unique weapon ([[ThisIsADrill a power drill]]) and a cool execution (worth a lot of points), but the drill's animation is lengthy and leaves you vulnerable for a few seconds while using it and can only kill with an execution.

* AwesomeButImpractical: The Carl mask gives you a unique weapon ([[ThisIsADrill a power drill]]) and a cool execution (worth a lot of points), but the drill's animation is lengthy and leaves you vulnerable for a few seconds while using it.

** Some of the masks have to be utilised in the right way in order to work. The George mask lets you see further than the average mask, perfect for strategy building, but doesn't offer any offensive uses. The Zack mask lets you build combos but you need a strategy in advance for it to work properly. The Willem mask lets you disarm opponents and have a unique execution but it requires stealth in order to work effectively.

* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: They can kill from a whole screen away, and are the only weapons that can kill the [[ScaryBlackMan Scary Black Men]] in a single shot.

--> [[spoiler: '''TIP:''' ''She's Already Dead'']]//
[[spoiler: '''TIP''' ''Wake Up'']]//

* ArtworkAndGameGraphicsSegregation: Promotional artwork and tie-in media of ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'' depict Jacket's signature varsity jacket as brown with beige sleeves, but in-game it appears to be yellow with white sleeves.