games that "break the 4th wall"
 

i think i'm using that term right. what i mean by that is:

a) games that acknowledge you, the player on your couch or whatever, as separate from the characters you control but still part of the game,

or

b) games that connect you, the player, to the game in unique ways (as in, more than just by the controllers/peripherals that every other game uses the same way).

i'm fascinated by that concept, and i really dig games that experiment with it. but it's hard to envision without giving examples, so here's a few that show what i mean:

startropics (nes): if you bought the game brand new, it came with a physical copy of a letter from dr. jones to mike (the character you control). in the later stages of gameplay, mike gets a message from dr. jones instructing him to "dip my letter in water." the correct course of action was for you to put the controller down and actually go dunk the physical letter in water, which then revealed a code used to advance in the game.

earthbound (snes): i vaguely remember this game coming with a scratch n' sniff enemy list in the manual, so you could also smell who you were fighting (at least the "pile of puke" boss had this feature). nothing spectacular, but still unique and i thought it was cool. also, the last battle had a finish that acknowleged you as separate from the in-game world, but still integral to victory. it gave an unexpected sense of satisfaction to the ending, for me anyway.

eternal darkness (gc): i've always wanted to play this game, because i've heard it has a unique way of displaying insanity. as your character in game begins to lose it, the game starts doing wacky things, such as simulate bugs crawling across the tv screen, simulate the tv power cutting out, and making your on-screen health meters go wonky and make no sense. the game breaks it's own rules in a deliberate attempt to confuse the player and make them wonder what is actually happening, essentially simulating insanity.

does anybody have any other examples? am i the only one who likes this stupid shit?

Metal Gear Solid and the remake Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes had Psycho Mantis "read your mind" by asking you about games you played before. It was a trick done by reading the memory card for save files from other Konami made games.

Conkers Bad Fur Day had Conkers ask if the player fell asleep or died if the controller wasn't touched for a while.

No More Heroes 1 & 2 managed to make fun of itself and the player with the sequel making fun of the weird plot of the first game.

When you play Zombies in Black Ops and if you are Jack Dempsy and low on ammo he tells the player to put down the chips and find him some ammo.

Deadpool breaks it in Spider-Man Shattered Dimenions.

Any game Deadpool is in, he does

Kem Griffey Jr. presents Major League Baseball for SNES the players would tap on the screen

<font color=goldenrod>In SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, during your CAW's Road to WM. Your CAW is in the ring cutting a promo and Santino interrupts, basically saying you look like "something somebody put together in a video game" before looking at the camera and winking.</font>

Not sure if these would count but in Super Smash Bros Brawl and the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remake on XBLA had the ability to toss people at the tv screen.

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory had Lambert telling Fisher this wasn't a video game when Fisher told him about the mission ending if 3 alarms went off.

Also during Christian's RTWM, you have Edge point to the screen talking about some fat person sitting there watching or playing or something. Then both Edge and Christian stare at the screen. priceless moment :D

I know it sounds dumb but "Hey You Pikachu"

The MGS series breaks the fourth wall all the time, from requiring a frequency only available on the back of the external box to asking you to change discs, only to remember you're using BD. Just sayin'

Omikron: Nomad Soul.

NOTE: The video is insanely loud.

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sounds awesome. i could really get into metal gear solid games if i wasn't so fricken terrible at them.

They are excellent.

is that the one that uses voice commands?

This game is terrible, but this was pretty funny.

I don't think Heavy Rain breaks the forth wall, but Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy does in its tutorial to good effect.

Little King's Story introduces a character that starts addressing the player directly, but then he gets interrupted by the King. I never played on to see how that developed.

Earthbound and Mother 3 each have you enter your name near the beginning of the game and at the end they do a little thing with it. Mother 3 did it a little more than Earthbound. Also in Mother 3 they said stuff like "Imagine something called a B button. Now imagine pressing it." when explaining controls and stuff.

It doesn't break the wall in the traditional sense, to my knowledge, since there really is no fourth wall in the game. A game where the characters are aware of the player, as is the case here (Unless there's something I'm missing) isn't really breaking the fourth wall.

It'd be really hard to break the fourth wall.

Also, just because of the relevance:

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Sure near the end of MGS 2 the screen goes all fuzzy and some 'general' guy constantly tells you to turn off yr console....unless of course I imagined that..

I don't remember that one, but it doesn't mean it didn't happen.

It does happen, amongst a bunch of bizarre codec calls right at the end of the game when the AI Colonel tries to stop you going rogue. "I need scissors... 69!".

I was playing MGS one night, right near the end it goes mental and starts talking to you, asking why you are up so late.. it was like 3am and that freaked me out big time.

The X-Men Legends and Ultimate Alliance games do it. Mostly it's Deadpool but other characters like Juggernaut, Gambit, and Storm will talk to you. Cranky Kong in Donkey Kong Country also did it.

Raw is War for PSX had a taunt for Triple H that was something like, "Put down the controller, get off the couch, and hit the gym fat ass."

I saw a house show once when DX was feuding with the spirit squad. Though it was funny when HHH said

"To the thousands in attendance, to the millions ummm not watching at home."