Genius Game Mechanics

[Uwu_Oocoo2]

Most games tend to follow similar control schemes and just ways to play in general, but every now an again we see concepts that are just so clever and fun they bring the game to a new level. Something like the time circle in mm, a concept that I think is probably the most genius game mechanic in video game history.
I think my favorite would have to be the wall merging in ALBW. Like how the game mirrored ALttP but expanded and re explored it, wall merges made you think of a once 2 dimensional game in a 3 dimensional manner. That forced the played to change the way they saw puzzles and 2d games in general, making it fuller and allowing to do so much more than you could with just a hookshot. I think it's not something people talk about enough for how insanely smart it is.
Got any other games that came up with unique stuff?

 

[Fraxinus]

I might have to make a more thought out reply to this after giving it more thought, but I absolutely love, love, game mechanics that are introduced as mechanics early on and end up being world elements later on. Hollow Knight's death mechanic with the Shade is an example of this. Even further, I Am Setsuna and Bug Fables both have something similar to this in the form of their save points. Games acknowledging the save points as something more than save points is something that I feel more games should do, honestly. It makes the world feel so much more continuous and... real?

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

in metal gear solid 3, there are small ammo and provision warehouses, and if you blow them up, the enemies get knocked out easier due to hunger and are more reluctant to shoot you due to depleted resources

there's plenty of cool stuff in that game but I'll go for that one b/c its fun to roll into enemies and they're immediately knocked out

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

I think one of the coolest gaming moments was going into the Dark World for the first time in A Link to the Past, realizing that in the Dark World there is an area that corresponds with the area you need to get to to reach the Tower of Hera, and that the Magic Mirror will transport you back to the light world where you have now reached an area that would otherwise never be accessible. All of it happens without any hand holding, the player just pieces it all together themselves. It's a brillant instance of the "show, don't tell" approach to puzzle solutions.

 

[ExLight]

portal

 

[TheGreatCthulhu]

Probably the AI in F.E.A.R.

One of the few games that actually has legitimately intelligent AI.

 

[Dio]

I mean Z targeting was pretty revolutionary back in OOT and now loads of games use it, also the contextual action button.

Another interesting one that is not commonly used though is Superhot VR's time mechanic where time only moves when you do and according to the speed you move at.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

Tfw groundhog day genius mechanic

 

[The Dashing Darknut]

In terms of Zelda, I’d say the Master Sword mechanic I. OoT, for the time, was really cool. The ability to go to two different time periods is something pretty neat

 

[Moblinking5000]

In terms of Zelda, the Great Plateau in BotW is the best tutorial because it does such a good job teaching you while making it feel like you're still playing a video game. It feels good to look at the obvious stick on the ground and pick it up, and then realize after swinging it around a few times that your weapons will break, or the Guardian next to the bomb shrine that introduces you to Guardians in a fairly safe manner, etc. and you still get to explore and discover things on your own for the most part. It feels like you're just playing a smaller version of the real game, and is not only the best tutorial, but one of the most well designed areas in any Zelda, IMO.


The way the wall jump is introduced in Super Metroid is dope; it has a more complex way of figuring it out, so most players won't discover it themselves until a ways through the game. But the fact of the matter is that Samus has had that ability throughout the game; this is a clever way to say ''hey, this game is meant to be replayed and subject to sequence breaking''.