Best way a video game broke the 4th wall.

[Leodiensian]

Spoiler

At the end, Minerva says she isn't talking to Ezio, but through him. She looks right at the camera and starts narrating. She is breaking the fourth wall by talking to Desmond, but also talking to you.

That dosen't count, sorry.

She is talking to Desmond not us, she knew desmond was seeing Ezio and deliver the message. Ezio is simpy the prophet...nothing more, nothing less.

I disagree. She is breaking A fourth wall, but not necessarily BOTH.

See, the reason this is an interesting example is that there are actually TWO fourth walls in play here. The first is the one that seperates us, the player, from the game world. The second is the one that seperates Desmond from Ezio. Desmonds relationship to Ezio is exactly the same as the one between the player and Desmond and therefore has its own fourth wall, within the game itself.

Minerva isn't just looking at Desmond though, she's looking at YOU, the player. Minerva breaks the wall between Ezio and Desmond, but also seems aware of the player. She blurs the lines between game character and player. The whole exchange also blurs the line between fiction and reality by adding this extra layer of abstraction vis a vis the narrator of Desmond; I could draw paralells with Chaucer here. The whole thing is a surprisingly sophisticated narrative technique from a game about stabbing dudes on rooftops.

 

[Arisato-kun]

Disgaea 3 does it quite a bit. I love when Mao says "The climax of the story is in Chapter 1!? This is the most economical game ever!"

Plus when Raspberyl introduces herself her lackeys remark about how the exposition was great for first-time players.

 

[scorch 13]

The first metal gear when you fight psycho is crazy cause he knows exactly what you are going to do until you realize you have to put your controler in the second port.

 

[Dr. wonderful]

Spoiler

At the end, Minerva says she isn't talking to Ezio, but through him. She looks right at the camera and starts narrating. She is breaking the fourth wall by talking to Desmond, but also talking to you.

That dosen't count, sorry.

She is talking to Desmond not us, she knew desmond was seeing Ezio and deliver the message. Ezio is simpy the prophet...nothing more, nothing less.

I disagree. She is breaking A fourth wall, but not necessarily BOTH.

See, the reason this is an interesting example is that there are actually TWO fourth walls in play here. The first is the one that seperates us, the player, from the game world. The second is the one that seperates Desmond from Ezio. Desmonds relationship to Ezio is exactly the same as the one between the player and Desmond and therefore has its own fourth wall, within the game itself.

Minerva isn't just looking at Desmond though, she's looking at YOU, the player. Minerva breaks the wall between Ezio and Desmond, but also seems aware of the player. She blurs the lines between game character and player. The whole exchange also blurs the line between fiction and reality by adding this extra layer of abstraction vis a vis the narrator of Desmond; I could draw paralells with Chaucer here. The whole thing is a surprisingly sophisticated narrative technique from a game about stabbing dudes on rooftops.

True, but I didn't realize there was a fifth wall.

Now, that I think about it...we control desmond...who control ezio...which makes us one big:

[Youtube=AJXKVOxqkWM&hl

 

[Flour]

The boss fight against Psycho Mantis in MGS where in order to hurt him, you need to unplug the controller and plug it in to port 2. Also the bit in the begining where you have to look on the back of the game case to find out the codec fequence to contact Myrel.

MGS 3 had a bit of breaking the forth wall, with the sorrow "fight" the more you kill the more you have to avoid (to a point).

I think MGS are the best for these occurrences.

That part in MGS3 isn't breaking the fourth wall since it's simply using game data.
But MGS3 doesn't really break the fourth wall as much as the first game.(Psycho Mantis, a character 'knowing' when you use an autofire controller, Snake actually looking at the camera/player in one cutscene, and IIRC this is all from the first disc)

On-Topic: MGS4, at one point in Act4 you're called by Otacon to get ready to swap discs. The only problem is that it's funny once, after which it's annoying since it's a forced codec call before a zone/area change.

 

[Nalesnik]

Jak 3 for me. I laugh every single time I hear Seem say, "This isn't a game." And then Jak and Daxter both look at the camera, confusedly. It's absolutely hilarious!

This.

I love it cause it seemingly comes out of nowhere, I think it took me quite a few seconds to realize that the 4th wall has been broken.

 

[PunchClockVillain]

Spoiler: End of Golden Sun: The Lost Age.

Before the final boss fight (a 3 headed dragon), Garret mentions that the party has already defeated a 2 headed dragon boss (boss from the first game) so how hard could this one really be.

 

[syndicated44]

Metal Gear Solid 2. It was 4 in the morning, the game told me to go to sleep. That was near the end and I am sure everyone knows how that goes. However it was my first playthrough and it scared me shitless.

 

[Randomologist]

As said before, Destroy All Humans 2.
"You realise, the player is in the kitchen right now, making nachos?" = Golden

 

[knight56]

The Mario joke in AC2 made my head-desk so hard it scared the cat out of the room.

Metal Gear Solid 4 with Old Snake: OTACON GET A GRIP! THIS IS REAL LIFE NOT SOME FANTASY GAME!

 

[ajb924]

I loved the "Real Ending" of No More Heroes (best game on the Wii, by the way)

After one character tells Travis that they're brothers:
"What the hell? Why do you wait to reveal something like that at the very last minute of the game?"

"Well, you are the protagonist aren't ya?"

OT: Damn near every major cutscene in No More Heroes.
Off the top of my head.
"Press the A button and lets start already!"
"Silly Travis, some people are simply playing this game and have no care for the storyline. Having a recap would be pointless!"
"You wouldn't want the games rating to shoot up any more would you? Or maybe it'll get discontinued. Do you like the sound of No More Heroes Forever?"

There are a couple of good ones in Another Day of TWEWY.
"I'm going up against an un-named charecter? What a waste."
That and when Joshua explains why Shiki still looks like Eri in Another Day and it weirds Neku right the fuck out.

 

[tthor]

The Simpsons Game. hell, pretty much the entire game was sorta about breaking the wall in a way, going from the simpsons realizing they are videogame characters, to going after the game designer, to going after god, and then, ralph.. lol

 

[thenumberthirteen]

The Wii bowling ball. You've got to keep a tight grip on that thing.

I do love the Screaming Mantis fight in MGS4 where he asks you to change controllers like the old game, and if you do Otacon berates you for being so stupid. Also at the end of the fight if you have a DS3 controller Psycho shouts "Rumble's Back!"

 

[Endocrom]

There was this X-men game on the Genesis(?) and at the end of the Mojo level your objective was to "reset the computer core" before a time limit runs out. Problem is, there is no way to do it in-game, and they never tell you you have to hit the reset button on your console.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

The best might easily be the "You like playing Castlevania, don't you?" bit in MGS.
The worst (if anyone cares) is the MGS4 bullshit about changing discs and Otacon babbling about Blu-Ray. Very nice, Sony, but I don't give a shit, I already bought your console.

 

[Nomanslander]

Psycho Mantis was pretty much the first time I ever saw this blatantly...so there you go.

 

[Halceon]

Max Payne and his drugged revelations. It can't be beat.

 

[hebdomad]

Spider man 3 ( I think )

The tutorial level where Peter Parker explains double jumping..

"double jumping, or defying the laws of physics, is done by...."

If it was spider man 3, the rest of the game sucked... 2 was best.

Metal Gear Solid 2. It was 4 in the morning, the game told me to go to sleep. That was near the end and I am sure everyone knows how that goes. However it was my first playthrough and it scared me shitless.

My first run though of Halo ODST was done from midnight till early dawn... the games story starts from about midnight, till early early dawn. I was quite freaked out when the sun started to rise at the same time in the real world.

 

[reg42]

Jak 3 for me. I laugh every single time I hear Seem say, "This isn't a game." And then Jak and Daxter both look at the camera, confusedly. It's absolutely hilarious!

Oh yeah, I have to go with this too.