10 Video Game Clichés That We Secretly Love

It's a common general cliche that the hero will have to attempt an arduous task three times before they succeed, so much so that when they manage it in just two attempts, we're genuinely shocked.

This pervades through to general video game design, where things tend to come in threes: bosses have three different waves of attacks, or perhaps you need to throw three switches in order to progress through a dungeon or maze.

And then there's Nintendo, who takes the Rule of Three to levels of borderline self-parody with regard to their first-party boss fights.

In almost every major Nintendo adventure game, you'll need to land three attacks against most major bosses - typically by jumping on their head - in order to defeat them.

While it's easy to dismiss this as lazy and unimaginative from a developmental standpoint, it's important to remember that most of Nintendo's first-party fare is aimed primarily at children, and so establishing such a clearly understood rule of encounter design isn't bad at all.

Given that few of us play colourful Nintendo games for the crushing difficulty, the Rule of Three is a cushy safety net - a welcome reminder that you're not going to be forced outside of your comfort zone.