Mordecai and Skips compete in a major video game tournament in hopes of winning a new game controller called "The Maximum Glove", much to Rigby's dismay that Mordecai would choose Skips over his best friend.
"Video Game Wizards" contains examples of:
- All for Nothing: After everything he and Mordecai went through to get the Maximum Glove, even going through a Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure in the process, Rigby decides within seconds of using it that the controller isn't very good.
- Awesomeness Is Volatile: Mordecai and Rigby's fused Maximized Gaming form is so good as gaming it causes the screen to explode when they deal the finishing blow to their opponents, demolishing the tournament stage.
- Body Horror: The Maximum Glove fuses Mordecai and Rigby into a form so grotesque that everyone gasps and recoils in horror (even Skips), and the tournament referee immediately throws up.
- Boombox Serenade: On their way to the Game Inferno Tournament, Rigby is so jealous over Mordecai picking Skips as his tournament partner that he decides to play a cassette of a poorly-made song he created that expresses his jealousy. When the three stop at a motel for the night, Rigby stands on top of Skips' van in the parking lot blaring his song on a boombox, to which Mordecai covers his ears with a pillow.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Mordecai chose Skips as his partner so they could win the glove, specifically to share with Rigby.
- Deus ex Machina: Rigby would've lost the tournament badly had the Maximum Glove not given the team a power up.
- Epic Fail: The Maximum Glove. Rigby tries it in a video game, and it doesn't even work.Rigby: Dude. This controller blows.
- Fingore: Skips intentionally breaks his hand so Rigby can compete with Mordecai instead.
- Glowing Eyes: Mordecai and Rigby's combined form.
- Intentionally Self-Inflicted Disability: Mordecai asks Skips to be his partner at the tournament so that they can win the Maximum Glove, but Rigby makes a fuss over how he chose someone with better skill over his best friend. When Mordecai makes that realization, he pauses the game and Skips agrees to step out. Skips injurs himself just to allow Rigby to play.
- It's All About Me: Rigby spends the entire episode sulking and complaining that Mordecai didn't pick him, even writing a song over it, despite it being readily apparent for the entire run of the show so far that Rigby is not good at games and Mordecai has to literally tell him what to do.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While he was being passive-aggressively smarmy about it, Rigby was right in that Mordecai was prioritizing winning over having a good time, and when Mordecai realizes his error, it gives them the power to win.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Skips quickly and completely breaks his hand when the referee didn't believe his hand was hurt, and gives no reaction to doing so.Skips: (to the referee) Wanna check again?
- Minor Flaw, Major Breakup: Rigby was willing to end his friendship with Mordecai simply because Mordecai didn't immediately choose him as a partner for a video game tournament once. A tournament that Rigby didn't even know about until the day before it started.
- Mythology Gag: The convention center where the tournament takes place is named after, and has a statue of, G.B.F., who is implied to be the most famous gamer around.
- Never My Fault: Rigby assumes Mordecai didn't choose him out of malice, and not because of his own lack of skill. He had to see it first hand and realizes that Mordecai is right.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Skips is fine with Mordecai playing with Rigby in the finals since, besides repairing their friendship, he declares that video games are too easy anyway.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: The plot of the episode. The friends don't even break up out of hardship, Rigby is just willing to break up their friendship because Mordecai didn't choose him once.
- Power Glows: Mordecai and Rigby's combined form with "ultimate gaming power" has a white aura and glowing eyes.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: Not only does everyone else in the tournament lose, the Glove tells Mordecai and Rigby that they were the first people to figure out friendship was more important than winning, implying no one else in the tournament was good friends.
- Shout-Out: Rigby standing on the roof of Skips' van holding a boombox over his head while playing his song on repeat all night is a reference to the iconic scene from Say Anything....
- Status Quo Is God: Mordecai and Rigby lose their "ultimate gaming power", and Rigby doesn't even like the controller.
- Take That!: The Maximum Glove is this to the Nintendo Power Glove, another console peripheral advertised as "cool" despite actually being ineffective.
- Underestimating Badassery: Rigby assumes Skips sucks at video games for no reason, and effectively insults him to his face repeatedly. Skips is not only much better than Rigby, but he declared during the tournament final that the whole contest was too easy.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Skips subtly calls out Mordecai for not choosing Rigby, even when he knows that Mordecai has good intentions, and Rigby is the one being a jerk about it.