History VideoGame / SpybotTheNightfallIncident

* ArtificialStupidity: Sometimes the AI doesn't realize it can move its programs through their own trails, so you have instances of enemy programs being sitting ducks until you've freed up enough space or stray too close.
* BoringButPractical: The Bit-Man is the only one that can create and erase terrain for programs to travel over. Most of your other programs obsoleted by better versions, but the Bit-Man is the first-level program that remains relevant across the whole game.

* ItsUpToYou: Despite SMART being a large organization, it falls to you, the recruit, to track down and defeat the Nightfall hacker. There is an initial justification -- the hacker first hits SMART, but you are unaffected as your data has yet to be entered into the database, giving you the freedom to search for clues as the rest of the agents recover. Subverted at the end -- after the Nightfall hacker's personal node is hacked into, the other SMART operatives trace his location and apprehend him, while the protagonist gets to unwind after a long battle.

* NotCompletelyUseless: The Memory Hog only serves to be a meat-shield in most circumstances, with 5 speed, 30 max size, but no special abilities whatsoever. But it's also the perfect unit to grab the level 4 security codes, as it can just waltz right to the end goal while shrugging off chip damage from the enemy turrets.

The main game plays out as a turn-based strategy. You have limited upload points and your units to deploy are your programs. The health of your programs is tied to their movement: As programs traverse the board, they take up more space up to their maximum capacity, leaving behind "trails" that only they can move through but are vulnerable to attacks. This is a double-edged sword; larger programs take more firepower to take down but can are a bigger target and obstruct other programs, while smaller programs can slip past enemy attack ranges but are much more fragile. Your programs have multiple types of actions that can be used to attack, heal, buff, debuff, or alter the battlefield. Certain actions have a space requirement, demanding that the program have at least that many sectors on the field before that action can be used.

You play as a newly-recruited SMART agent, and are tasked with hacking into various systems to disable security to help retrieve locked files or remove corrupted security programs. However, intermittent interruptions plague the network, courtesy of a "Nightfall" hacker, and you have to work your way through the net to find out how to stop it.

The main game plays out as a turn-based strategy. You have limited upload points and your units to deploy are your programs. The health of your programs is tied to their movement: As programs traverse the board, they take up more space up to their maximum capacity, leaving behind "trails" that only they can move through. This is a double-edged sword; a small program can slip around enemy attacks but is more fragile, while a large program can take more hits but has a long trail that can obstruct other programs and can be exposed to more attacks.

Your programs have multiple types of actions that can be used to attack, heal, modify, or alter the battlefield. Certain actions have a space requirement, demanding that the program have at least that many sectors on the field before that action can be used.

* ActionBomb: The Buzzbomb's Kamikaze skill destroys it in exchange for doing 5 damage. The Logicbomb's only attack, Self-Destruct, destroys it but does 10 damage.

* FragileSpeedster: A few programs behave like this, with high speed but low maximum capacity. The best example is the Bug series of programs, with 5 movement, 1 max size, but deliver strong melee damage.

* GlassCannon: Some units you discover have a damaging ranged attack, but are lacking in movement speed or maximum size. Immobile turrets are exemplars, as they have very long range to strike opposing programs, but without any way to gain extra sectors they go down as soon as something slips by.

* ItsUpToYou: Despite SMART being a large organization, it falls to you, the recruit, to track down and defeat the Nightfall hacker. Justified as the Nightfall hacker's sabotaged the SMART network, but the player is largely unaffected because they were just recruited; their data isn't on SMART's databases yet. Subverted at the end -- after the Nightfall hacker's personal node is hacked into, the other SMART operatives trace his location and apprehend him, while the protagonist gets to unwind after a long battle.

* GlassCannon: Some units you discover have a damaging ranged attack, but are lacking in movement speed or maximum size.

* LeetLingo: The people you contact pepper their messages with internet chatroom abbreviations. The Guru program's description also contains this.

* NotCompletelyUseless: The Memory Hog only serves to be a punching bag, with 5 speed, 30 max size, but no special abilities whatsoever. Turns out it's the perfect unit to grab the level 4 security codes, as it can just waltz right to the end goal while shrugging off chip damage from the enemy turrets.

* TheRedMage: The Guru and Wizard programs are multi-purpose units, each possessing a ranged attack and a ranged support skill. The Tarantula also fits the bill, as it can attack or support but only at melee range.

* TheRedMage: The Guru and Wizard programs are multi-purpose units, each possessing a ranged attack and a support skill.

'''Spybot: The Nightfall Incident''' is an online game released in 2002, made to complement Toys/{{LEGO}}'s "Spybotics" product. The game has very little to do with the toy line itself; you have a choice of Spybot at the start of the game, but this choice is completely cosmetic.

* FeaturelessProtagonist: You don't even get to see your chat avatar.

You play as a newly-recruited SMART agent, and are tasked with hacking into various systems to disable security to help retrieve locked files or remove malfunctioning programs. Level selection is restricted based on your security level and the nodes you've cleared -- you can only access a node linked to a completed node and of a matching security level or lower.

As you progress through the game, you are affected by intermittent network outages, and have to discover the source of these unusual outages and find the culprit behind it.

The game has long since been taken down from the LEGO site, but is being preserved [[https://biomediaproject.com/bmp/files/LEGO/gms/online/Spybotics/TheNightfallIncident/ here]].

* FragileSpeedster: A few programs behave like this, with high speed but low maximum capacity. The best example is the Bug series of programs, with 5 movement, 1 maximum capacity, but deliver strong melee damage.

** Attack Dogs are fast, durable, and hit hard, with a movement speed of 4, max capacity of 7, and a 3-damage melee attack.
** The FinalBoss program has the best of all worlds, with high speed, capacity, and a hard-hitting long-range attack. It's difficult to take it down without losing a program along the way.

* NotCompletelyUseless: The Memory Hog only serves to be a punching bag, with 5 speed, 30 maximum capacity, but no special abilities whatsoever. Turns out it's the perfect unit to grab the level 4 security codes, as it can just waltz right to the end goal while shrugging off chip damage from the enemy turrets.
* PlayfulHacker: The protagonist functions like one, hacking into nodes and disabling their security either for personal reasons or to shut down malfunctioning programs.

* YouCantThwartStageOne: [[spoiler:The programs you collect for Disarray are used for his Nightfall program. No, you can't stop this, and even your advisor Superphreak suggests to go with it and watch what he does.]]

* NotCompletelyUseless: The Memory Hog only serves to be a punching bag, with 5 speed, 30 maximum capacity, but no special action whatsoever. Turns out it's the perfect unit to grab the level 4 security codes, as it can just waltz right to the end goal while shrugging off chip damage from the enemy turrets.

* BoringButPractical: The Bit-Man is the only one that can create and erase terrain for programs to travel over. Most of your other programs obsoleted by better versions, but the Bit-Man is the tier 1 program that remains relevant across the whole game.

** With enough program modifications you can turn any of your programs into a super-unit that traverses half the map in a single turn and leaves a very long trail that soaks up damage.

* NotQuiteUseless: The Memory Hog only serves to be a punching bag, with 5 speed, 30 maximum capacity, but no special action whatsoever. Turns out it's the perfect unit to grab the level 4 security codes, as it can just waltz right to the end goal while shrugging off chip damage from the enemy turrets.

* GoodBadBugs:
** If you move a program over a credit square and then undo its action, you keep the credits without wasted movement.
** Bit-Men can use Zero to erase a square. If the square is occupied by a program, that program's one sector cannot be targeted. If the program also has no other sectors it's effectively invincible.