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Lost Soul
Lost Souls are annoying enemies in the Doom series that float around and charge at the player.
Appears in 11 games
First appeared in Doom II: Hell on Earth
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Jedi
The Jedi consists of individuals capable of using the Force. They are the protectors of peace and stability in the galaxy.
Appears in 54 games
First appeared in Star Wars: Jedi Arena
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DNAS
DNAS was Sony's solution to all of the online cheating on PS2 games. It was also introduced as a means to discourage and prevent illegal copies of games to be played online.
Appears in 189 games
First appeared in Final Fantasy XI Online
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Tie-In
Video games that, for better or for worse, are based on an existing non-video game franchise. Usually drawn from movies, tie-in games have also been made about TV shows, novels, and even one-hit wonder pop bands.
Appears in 972 games
First appeared in Fonz
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Strafe Jumping
A trickjumping technique used to increase a player's speed.
Appears in 50 games
First appeared in Ghen War
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Adeptus Astartes
Superhumans crafted from the Emperor's genetic code, the Space Marines are the strong-arm of the Imperium of Man in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Appears in 19 games
First appeared in Space Crusade
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Chaos
The ultimate enemy and primordial source of all evil. In Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy universe.
Appears in 27 games
First appeared in Last Armageddon
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Madden Curse
Woe be to the football player that makes the cover of Madden, for he is doomed.
Appears in 16 games
First appeared in Madden NFL 2001
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Voice Chat
The ability to communicate via voice.
Appears in 257 games
First appeared in Dig Dug
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Splicer
Once the intelligent and prosperous citizens of Rapture, these twisted beings have since paid the price of abusing the gene-altering substance ADAM.
Appears in 3 games
First appeared in BioShock
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Bonus Stage
Bonus levels, rounds, or stages give players a chance to gain extra points, powerups, or lives. Occasionally bonus stages will play completely different than the rest of the game, like as a slot machine or pinball minigame.
Appears in 253 games
First appeared in Rally-X
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The Flood
A parasitic life form in the Halo universe, which serves as a secondary antagonist throughout the series. It has no known origin, though it is rumored to be extragalactic.
Appears in 2 games
First appeared in Halo: Combat Evolved
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Slig
Sligs are a race from the Oddworld series. They are one of the main enemies you encounter.
Appears in 7 games
First appeared in Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
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Paintball
A non-lethal shooting sport where players shoot dye-filled "paintballs" at each-other using specialized compressed-gas guns.
Appears in 17 games
First appeared in Gotcha! The Sport!
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ODST
Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (A.K.A. Helljumpers) are UNSC special forces from the Halo franchise. They are considered the best of the best of the natural Humans; only the cybernetically and surgically-enhanced Spartan supersoldiers outperform the ODSTs.
Appears in 3 games
First appeared in Halo 3: ODST
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Evil Organization
An evil organization is a group of super-villans who are hell bent on world domination or something of a similar nature. Usually defeated by a single Spy/Superhero/Average Joe/small child.
Appears in 133 games
First appeared in Rolling Thunder
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Crosshair
A sight placed on the HUD used to aim and provide a point of reference to the player when looking and interacting with the game world. Although they often aim weapons, they have a variety of uses and have appeared in many games in many different forms.
Appears in 776 games
First appeared in Interceptor
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Action Point
The value that determines how many events can take place in a character's turn in pure turn based combat as well as in the modern Fallout franchise.
Appears in 63 games
First appeared in Rebelstar Raiders
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Black Magic
In many RPGs, especially those made in Japan, magic is categorized as black or white. Black magic spells deal damage or inflict negative effects.
Appears in 93 games
First appeared in Faxanadu
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Continue
The continue is a classic gaming concept, and usually arises when the player "dies" or fails in the game. Usually some loss is tied to a continue, in a form of a "life" or something of other value.
Appears in 366 games
First appeared in Adventure
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Sound Test
A mode in the game, often an unlockable, allowing players to listen to individual music tracks, voice clips and/or sound effects.
Appears in 272 games
First appeared in Gauntlet
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Big Daddy
Big Daddies are the lumbering genetically modified behemoths in the underwater city of Rapture. Clad in garish diving suits, these monstrosities were created to protect Rapture's population of walking ADAM factories, the Little Sisters.
Appears in 7 games
First appeared in BioShock
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Sanity Meter
The Sanity Meter gives the player insight on exactly how close their character is to losing their mind. Doubled with strange effects when the meter is low, the Sanity Meter can really start messing with you.
Appears in 15 games
First appeared in Laplace no Ma
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Prone
The ability to lie down on the ground.
Appears in 109 games
First appeared in Rush'n Attack
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Draw
A draw occurs when two or more players end a versus match where no player is determined to be the winner. This can be caused by a double knock out, or when players have an equal point value at the end of a set period of time.
Appears in 155 games
First appeared in Street Fighter
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Objective-Based Team Gameplay
Objective-based team gameplay occurs when one group attempts to accomplish some goal -- enter a base, capture or destroy some MacGuffin, rescue the hostages -- while the other tries to prevent it.
Appears in 90 games
First appeared in World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
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Nameless Location
Sometimes, for one reason or another, a game will never actually tell you exactly where you are. Usually, this does not negatively impact the gameplay. Usually.
Appears in 25 games
First appeared in Space Invaders
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High Dynamic Range
A rendering technology using lighting with a larger dynamic range to create more realistic images.
Appears in 66 games
First appeared in Far Cry
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Bangaa
Bangaa are a Race in the Final Fantasy Franchise, hailing from the world of Ivalice. They can be found in Final Fantasy XII and the Tactics games.
Appears in 4 games
First appeared in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
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Hume
Humes are a Race in the Final Fantasy Franchise, hailing from the world of Ivalice. They are found in Final Fantasy XI and the Tactics games. They usually have balanced stats, and are human in every aspect except name.
Appears in 8 games
First appeared in Final Fantasy Tactics
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Viera
Viera are a Race in the Final Fantasy Franchise, hailing from the forests of Ivalice. A Male Viera has never been seen.
Appears in 4 games
First appeared in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
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Farming
Farming is the act of growing plants and raising animals for food.
Appears in 166 games
First appeared in Hamurabi
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Micro Game
Shorter than mini-games, micro games are generally no longer then 20 seconds in length. Several are often played one after another as a party game.
Appears in 17 games
First appeared in Ganbare Neo Poke-kun
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Blind Fire
A game mechanic popularized by Epic's Gears of War. The player while in cover shoots "blindly" at the enemy. Used in conjunction with suppressive fire to stop the opposing team in their tracks.
Appears in 43 games
First appeared in BlackThorne
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World Map
A viewable map that displays the entire game world. The map also usually shows the player's location in the world.
Appears in 464 games
First appeared in North Atlantic '86
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Trap
A mechanical system designed to capture or cause harm. Either the player can set traps for their enemies or others set them for the player.
Appears in 424 games
First appeared in Heiankyo Alien
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Level Scaling
NPCs, enemies, loot, and/or quests change according to the level or stats of the player's character.
Appears in 59 games
First appeared in Romancing SaGa
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Snaking
A gameplay feature prominent in the Mario Kart series that the combined effort of turbo and drifting down a straightaway to gain momentum.
Appears in 2 games
First appeared in Mario Kart 64
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Head Tracking
Head Tracking is a concept which allows a game to follow the movement of the players head and change what is displayed on the screen relevant to the players head movements.
Appears in 48 games
First appeared in Sega VR-1
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Chozo
The Chozo are a race of bird people that exist in the Metroid universe. The series canon states that members of this race raised Samus Aran to become a strong warrior after she was orphaned.
Appears in 9 games
First appeared in Metroid
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Full Motion Video
FMVs are pre-rendered videos used in place of real-time graphics. Using FMV was an attempt to make videogames look "more like movies", sometimes with CGI animation and others with live-action actors speaking directly to players. The downside is that FMV requires a lot of disk space, and live-action FMV in particular can look terrible by comparison.
Appears in 328 games
First appeared in Wild Gunman
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Sprinting
A gameplay mechanic which allows the player to move faster than the normal speed. Usually for a set amount of time.
Appears in 387 games
First appeared in Track & Field
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Recoil
The "kick back" from a gun. Causes the muzzle of your gun and crosshair to rise when fired. It promotes firing in smaller bursts, and forces the player to push the crosshair down to counter act the force of the recoil.
Appears in 93 games
First appeared in System Shock
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Pandaren
A race of Anthropomorphic Pandas hailing from the mist-covered lands of Pandaria, The Pandaren are one of the most elusive races on Azeroth. They and their lands feature heavily in the World of Warcraft expansion Mists of Pandaria.
Appears in 2 games
First appeared in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
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