In computer and video games, sequence breaking is the act of performing actions or obtaining items out of the intended linear order or of skipping "required" actions or items entirely.
Though sequence breaking as a concept has existed almost since the inception of computer games complex enough to have sequential storylines, the first documented action in a video game to be called a sequence break occurred in the Nintendo GameCube game Metroid Prime, in a thread called "Gravity Suit and Ice Beam before Thardus".
[2] In the game, the rock monster Thardus was designed to be a required boss before the Gravity Suit and the Ice Beam could be obtained, hence the novelty of bypassing the boss while still obtaining the items and thus saving time if the goal is to complete the game as quickly as possible.
When Steven Banks achieved this feat on January 18, 2003, he posted his discovery on the Metroid Prime message board on GameFAQs.
The thread attracted a number of interested gamers, and the term sequence breaking was incidentally coined.