The Fourth Wall refers to the imaginary wall between characters in a work of fiction (such as a video game or a film) and the audience (or in this case, the players or the viewers), preventing the former from knowing they're fictional. When a video game character suggests that he or she knows that he/she's fictional and acknowledge that this is just a game, this is called "breaking the fourth wall". They're found within many video games, usually for comedic relief. The following are notable examples of characters "breaking through the fourth wall".
Metroid - Samus will wave directly to the player in all of the endings, except for the worst ending, where she looks away from you.
Super Mario Bros. 2 - The characters wave at the player during the ending, before the credits.
Super Mario Bros. 3 - At the end of the game after defeating Bowser, Peach will tell Mario that “Our Princess is in another castle.” Then she tells Mario that she’s kidding.
Super Nintendo Entertainment System[]
Donkey Kong Country - Cranky Kong frequently references the fact that he was in the Donkey Kong arcade game and how games have changed since then.
Final Fantasy V - A character in the game, when explaining something, will tell the player to listen up.
Super Mario World - In the stage titled "Funky", there are a row of coins near the end that spell out "YOU ARE A SUPER PLAYER!". This message mistakenly reads "YOU ARE SUPER PLAYER!" in the Japanese version.
The Lost Vikings - The three viking characters know they are in a video game and make reference to the player who is always watching them.
EarthBound - Buzz Buzz's grave manifests itself in Ness's Magicant, where it is located next to the house of the Flying Man. The gravestone reads, "This is Buzz Buzz's tombstone. He appeared earlier in the game and gave up the ghost before he achieved his goal."
Nintendo 64[]
Banjo-Kazooie - Happens very frequently with many of the characters acknowledging a sequel in the ending, and the antagonist, Gruntilda the witch also breaks the fourth wall on several occasions as Banjo and Kazooie traverse her lair, if they haven't defeated her yet.
Paper Mario - The Koopa Bros. suggest that the sequel to Paper Mario should be Paper Bowser.
Super Mario 64 - Mario will on multiple occasions say "hello" to the player. He also says "Thank you so much for playing my game" after the credits.
Yoshi's Story - Each level has a hidden letter made of coins, together spelling out a message to the player: "YOU ARE YOSHI'S BEST PARTNER!".
Star Fox 64: - In the title screen of the game, when the player moves the control stick in any direction, they can take control of the "64" logo and Fox, Falco, Peppy, and Slippy will turn their heads to stare at it until the player releases it. This is absent in Star Fox 64 3D.
During Training Mode, once the player passed through all of the rings before switching to All-Range Mode, ROB 64 says, "Great! Now let's get back to the game."
During the ending of the game regardless of the route taken, when the scene pans to Fox, he will continuously stare at the player as the camera moves until it fades out. Similarly, when Falco is given the screen-time, he briefly stares at the player before facing forward.
Game Boy Advance[]
Metroid Fusion - In Sector 4, performing a difficult series of Shinesparks will allow the play to access a secret conversation, ending with the line "I wonder how many players will see this...?"
Mother 3 - After the ending cutscene, the word "END?" appears and moves around the screen and a different dialogue reveals the player's "real" name. The game reminds the player of what happened after Lucas pulled the last needle.
WarioWare Twisted! - In Orbulon's story, the Alien Bunny he orders to massage him is not doing so strong enough. Orbulon then tells the player, "You out there, take over."
Nintendo GameCube[]
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - Many of the events that take place in this game break through the fourth wall once the main character goes crazy. Oftentimes the game will mess with your TV.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - This classic unarguably breaks the fourth wall more than almost any other game out there. They include the following:
Gus will, after being defeated, shout "CRUD! You dumb video game characters always do this!"
Goombella will say that Cheep Cheeps have been a part of the Mario series for a long time in Stewart'sGlitzville tattle, and will then say "I just broke through the fourth wall there, didn't I? Sorry. Just forget it."
After tattling one of the gatekeepers, Goombella will explain that games would just be easier without them.
On one occasion, one of the character's reference how Mario is a silent protagonist.
Frankly will at one time ask if the people watching through the TV are listening, despite the fact that there is no TV in sight, obviously referring to the player, much to the confusion of Mario's partners.
Once you find out Four Eyes' real identity (Lord Crump), he tells the player not to tell Mario. Mario's partner is confused by Four Eyes' reference to "you in front of the TV", which once more confuses Mario's partners.
Super Mario Sunshine - After you beat the final boss, a Pianta will ask if the game is over.
Nintendo DS[]
Contact - The whole game pretty much breaks through the fourth wall, as they are well aware of your presence.
Drawn to Life - The villagers constantly refer to the player as the Creator and ask you to draw various items & elements.
Super Princess Peach - In the intro cutscene of the game, Bowser tells the player to touch the door on the bottom screen and tells the player that the walls have ears.
Kirby Mass Attack - In Heavy Lobster's boss battle in the Kirby Brawlball sub-game, if the Kirby ball touches any of the paint blobs that Heavy Lobster releases, the blob will splatter part of the screen with purple paint, obstructing the player's vision. The location of the paint splats depends on where the paint blob was hit.
The Legendary Starfy: Liftwisp's Toy description says "If you're quiet around these guys, you won't have to hear their battle cry. If Moe could just keep his shell shut, then-- HEY! Wait a second. Who wrote this script?"
Nintendo Wii[]
No More Heroes - Oftentimes the game's protagonist Travis Touchdown will reference the fact that it's a video game and will also mention other video games as well such as the yet-to-be released Duke Nukem Forever.
Super Paper Mario - Many characters in the game regularly call dying getting a 'game over': In the wedding scene, Count Bleck asks Bowser if he will take Princess Peach "Until your games be over." Also Merlon sometimes refers to the controller buttons and when doing so sometimes references the player. In addition, when Mario/Peach/Bowser/Luigi learns certain actions from NPCs (such as Bestovius and the Pixls), they will ask the NPC what they mean, and the NPC will assure them not to worry and mention "the great being that watches [them]."
Super Smash Bros. Brawl - During the Subspace Emissary, Solid Snake will say "Kept you waiting, huh?" directly to the player, an obvious reference to the cutscene earlier, where his cardboard box appears slightly moving in one of the cargo rooms on the Halberd, hinting that snake has infiltrated the Halberd.
During one of the Star Fox conversations in the Lylat Cruise stages initiated by Falco, Krystal will note that the stage consists of fighters that she had never seen before. Fox explains to her that this is Brawl and everyone is in it.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - In the 100% ending of the game, Samus will give a thumbs-up in the direction of the screen from inside her ship. Since her ship's window can only be seen through one way, it is unlikely she was directing it at anyone other than the player.
Rhythm Heaven Fever - In the end of the cast roll after playing Night Walk, Marshal tells the player to "Keep your rhythm up!" In the European Version, he says that "There's still more!" and in the Japanese version he explains that the game still continues.
Nintendo 3DS[]
Star Fox 64 3D - Minus the title screen, many other fourth wall moments return from the original game, with an addition; if the player completes the Venom Hard Route in Expert Mode, the ending screenshot shows the entire Star Fox team, with Fox giving the player a thumbs up.
Yoshi's New Island - After beating Baby Bowser, King Bowser "fakes" the ending by ripping the screen and a dialogue appears and "reminds" the player that you forgot to fight him.
WarioWare Gold: After the Wario Deluxe stage is cleared, while Wario adamantly tells Lulu to take the pot and announces the Wario Bowl to be over, she brings up the credits, which are interrupted when the rest of the cast demand their payment.
Paper Mario: Color Splash: After a Yellow Snifit throws Mario in jail under the Mustard Cafe, he threatens him not to escape before realizing that he can't do much else without increasing the game's age rating.
Star Fox Zero: Specifically in the animated short, as the team lands in their Arwings, Peppy falls face first while Slippy misses the Arwing completely before hopping into the cockpit. Fox reacts with chagrin as he says, "That old gag again?" which implies that he is well aware that this had been a recurring joke in the series.
Paper Mario: The Origami King - When Mario enters Peach's Castle a second time and tries to enter a locked door on the right side, Bowser says that there is probably nothing on the other side and they should patch the rest of the castle, referring to the game's developers.
After Mario defeats Colored Pencils, he tells him that Mario is a lot better as a side-scroller.
Super Mario Odyssey: In the E3 demo for Super Mario Odyssey, a New Donker says, "We'll have to wait for the full game to go any further."
If Snapper Canal is announced as a stage, Pearl might go on a tangent with "SUPER important" instructions. However, her warning got cut short due to her text box running out of space. Marina then chastises Pearl.[2]
During the announcement for the Chicken vs. Egg Splatfest, Pearl and Marina will argue before a while before Marina realizes that that they're all stuck in a simulation and can't make choices for themselves.[3] Pearl later instructs the Inklings to pick the side that they're "programmed to choose."[4]
Splatoon 3: During Anarchy Splatcast, Frye announced “So that’s that, or whatever! Until next time on the Anarchy Splatcast…” and Big Man warns her that they’re not done yet.
In Hotland during the MTT News scene, Mettaton will remind Frisk that the items turn out to be bombs hidden by Mettaton. However Mettaton says "Even my words are!" and the 4 words he said fall off his text box and explode.
After last seconds of the first part of the credits, Asriel will interrupt the ending before telling the player to "end all of this for good".