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These elongated, fearsome, saltwater fish have 27 different species.
A boss fight is a culminating challenge that pits the player against one or more enemies representing a greater threat and/or difficulty than those previously faced. These scenarios typically feature unique antagonists.
This shows you how long you have until you start wishing you had gills. When your breath runs out, you may take damage, or you may expire right there, depending on how sadistic the game designers were!
Button Mashing is a term used to describe gameplay where certain skills can be only realized explicitly through mashing buttons, a reckless player trying to get results or when the game rewards the player(s) who bash buttons the fastest. The latter example is common in Party Games.
Chiptunes are musical compositions that are synthesized by a computer or console sound chip.
Collectibles are items such as coins, rings, gems, packages etc. that can be gathered, usually for some kind of reward, or sometimes to simply beat a level. Often (almost too often) the source of earning achievements and trophies on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
When collectibles in a game are arranged to spell out a word, usually related to the game or the company that made it.
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.
Cold-blooded aquatic animals that have scales and breathe through gills.
A type of stage themed around, or made entirely out of, food - often confectionery.
Game Over originally appeared in pinball machines, and later, arcade machines. When players lose at a game, it is game over.
Health is a value that gauges how much damage players can take in a game before they die or pass out. Also known as life in some games. Health is usually represented by a bar or a percentage instead of an exact amount. Found in most non sport games
Many games and most systems contain warnings such as "May Cause Seizures". This page will highlight that warning, and the games which have had a history health problems associated with them.
In many games there is a ranking system, the players with the highest point value are listed in a "high score" table.
A hub is the central location from which a player can venture out into different areas of a game. It is often used as a clever way of masking loading between levels or worlds.
In-Game Advertising is the placement of advertisements for real-world products within the game, sponsored by companies external to the developer.
Usually found in adventure games, when players combine two or more items to create one or more new items.
Games with this concept focus on diversifying items for different play styles and classes, usually found on hack and slash games and MMOs.
Jellyfish are ocean dwelling animals with a mushroom like top and tentacle like cilia on the bottom. They can be translucent or transparent.
It's arguably the one move that symbolizes the medium to those outside it. The ability to jump, be it onto a building, a platform, or a skull, is one of the all time most important abilities ever put in a video game.
The concept of lives in video games evolved to let the player get a second chance after failing once. The most recognizable symbol is the heart.
Sports games that feature pre-existing videogame characters, rather than real athletes.
An opponent that typically appears around the halfway point in a level. Mini-Bosses are more formidable than the average opponent, though normally not as tough as the end-level Boss.
Games with randomly (or rather, procedurally) generated environments create new levels from predetermined pieces each time the game is played.
Marine animals characterized by five arms extending from a central disk. They are a lot more agile in video games than they are in real life.
Super Speed is the ability for a character to travel at speeds normally unattainable by regular humans. Super speed can be a stock super power by characters such as the Flash & Sonic the Hedgehog, or a technologically enhanced ability like Nomad in Crysis.
Propelling oneself with kinetic usage of limbs while submerged in liquid (or otherwise fluid material).
A game perspective that views the action from above, commonly at a fixed position and/or rotation.
A game mode that allows you to train for combos, moves, etc.
Vertical scrolling is when the screen scrolls along the y-axis. In a vertical scrolling game the player usually starts from the bottom of the screen and moves up. They are also almost always presented in a top-down perspective.
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