10 Video Game Characters Who Used The Fourth Wall Against You
You think you're safe behind that screen? Think again.
The Fourth Wall is something that you're never really sure if characters within the stories are aware of. To you, it's that invisible barrier separating the real world from the world of fiction. It's the window through which you watch the every twist and turn of these characters' make-believe lives.
But, as we know, windows can be used from both sides, so are we to believe that the inhabitants of the fictional world can see us as well?
This probably sounds ludicrous, but in fact, virtually every kind of media - books, movies, TV, video games - has been known to play around with elements that break the Fourth Wall. These can be as simple as a character looking at the screen, a sneaky reference to the reader/viewer, or even a general in-canon awareness of their world's fictional nature.
Video games, however, are able to take this one further, and occasionally, certain characters will not hesitate to have a little fun with their own self-awareness - at your expense. Game crashes, meta observations and, god forbid, erasure of save data are all part of these characters' plans to royally screw with your head.
And, given that they're only a collection of pixels on a screen, it's quite startling how well they succeed.
10. King Boo - Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (2013)
The whole premise of the Luigi's Mansion games is already a little out of left field compared to the Mario Bros' usual colourful adventures. Armed with the Poltergust ghost vacuum, Luigi must navigate an alarmingly haunted old mansion hoovering up all the invading evils as he goes.
In the 2013 sequel, Dark Moon, Luigi and Professor E. Gadd examine a recon photo of a particularly active area of the mansion. The image shows a number of Boos floating around a room with a model train track running through it.
Towards the right of the track is a Boo with its back turned to the camera. The crown on its head is the dead giveaway that this entity is, in fact, the recurring character King Boo - but what you certainly <i>weren't</i> able to deduce is what comes next.
Despite being in a photo, King Boo turns around and looks straight forwards with glowing eyes. Not at Luigi or the professor, it would seem...but at YOU.
What is it with Nintendo and their out-of-nowhere jump scares?