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When starting a game, often the player starts out with an extremely powerful party, character, weapon or ability, which can easily slaughter anything it comes across, playing through a short battle or dungeon. The player is in no real danger of losing at this point, but this incredible power never lasts long. Once the introductory segment is complete, the player switches to the ''real'' party, usually at [[Starter Equipment|level 1 with basic starter gear]].
The primary purpose of this trope is to get a player into a game and [[He Knows About Timed Hits|teach them the rules]] without overwhelming them with dangerous enemies early on. This can also give them a preview of the powers and skills they'll be acquiring later in the game. Common marketing wisdom is that you have to sell your game on the players in the first ten minutes, or you risk them not sticking around to get to the really good parts - hence
Another advantage to
Frequently used in RTS games to allow the player to be given a tutorial of all the game elements in one sitting.
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Also known as "[http://www.giantbomb.com/abilitease/92-57/ Abilitease]" on the [[Giant Bomb]] wiki.
Compare [[Bag of Spilling]], where a player character's hard-won power is [[Hand Wave|somehow]] lost between the end of one game and the beginning of its sequel. If you wind up having to fight the [[Crutch Character]] later, you've been walking in [[Villain Shoes]]. May coincide with [[And Now for Someone Completely Different]]. The inversion is [[Eleventh
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== [[Action Adventure]] ==▼
== Video game examples ==
* ''[[Onimusha]] 3'' starts Samonosuke off with the fully-powered versions of his three primary magic swords from the first game (Raizen, Enryuu, and Shippuu) only to rob him of all three by the second level, leaving him with naught but his regular, non-magical katana once again until he can find three new magical weapons. If you manage to find the special orbs in the [[Bonus Dungeon|Dark Realm]] you can start a [[New Game Plus]] using the above-mentioned magical swords.▼
▲=== [[Action Adventure]] ===
* ''[[Castlevania]]: [[Symphony of the Night]]'' is a textbook example of this trope. After the (skippable) introductory scene with Richter Belmont, Alucard comes to Castle Drac with a full complement of his signature equipment... which is promptly swiped from him by Daddy's [[The Dragon|Dragon]], [[The Grim Reaper|Death]]. It's not until you've explored the entire castle twice that you can get back everything you lost. ▼
▲* ''[[Onimusha]] 3'' starts Samonosuke off with the fully-powered versions of his three primary magic swords from the first game (Raizen, Enryuu, and Shippuu) only to rob him of all three by the second level, leaving him with naught but his regular, non-magical katana once again until he can find three new magical weapons. If you manage to find the special orbs in the [[Bonus Dungeon|Dark Realm]] you can start a [[New Game
▲* ''[[Castlevania]]: [[Symphony of the Night]]'' is a textbook example of this trope. After the (skippable) introductory scene with Richter Belmont, Alucard comes to Castle Drac with a full complement of his signature equipment... which is promptly swiped from him by Daddy's [[The Dragon|Dragon]], [[The Grim Reaper|Death]]. It's not until you've explored the entire castle twice that you can get back everything you lost.
** Humorously, it is possible to [[Good Bad Bugs|skip past]] the room with Death, making the rest of the game [[Game Breaker|absurdly easy]] due to your crazy armor that reduces most attacks in the first half of the game to [[Scratch Damage]].
* ''[[Kameo: Elements of Power]]'' begins with the titular character infiltrating the fortress of Thorn, the troll king, with three Elemental Warrior transformations intact. Instructions are given on how to transform and use the Warriors' abilities. The attack on the castle fails; Kameo loses her Elemental Warriors, and must retrieve them, along with several other transformations.
* ''[[Ecco the Dolphin]]: The Tides of Time'': {{spoiler|Ecco begins the game not having to breathe, as a token of the Asterite's power granted him in the first game. Once something wipes out the Asterite offscreen in one of the first levels, though, be prepared to see that oxygen bar start going down...}}
* ''[[Shadow Complex]]'' starts with you controlling a different character who has the (mostly) assembled suit of [[Powered Armor]] you find the pieces of once you start the game proper. For this one shootout with a boss fight afterwards, you have plenty of armor, an assault rifle, grenades and missiles, and a double-jump.
* ''[[Darksiders]]'' starts War off with eight [[Heart Container|Lifestones]], a maximum power [[BFS|Chaoseater]] and the ability to use [[Super Mode|Chaos Form]] indefinitely. A couple of battles later, War suddenly loses Chaos Form and four of the Lifestones. After the first [[Boss Fight]], War is brought in front of his masters, the Charred Council, who accuse him of starting [[The End of the World
* ''[[
* In ''[[Assassin's Creed| Assassin's Creed IV: Black Sails]]'', upgrading your own ship to where it's as powerful as those commanded by the most famous of pirates is a long, costly, time-consuming process that could well take the entire game, if you even succeed. However, in one early mission, you befriend Blackbeard himself, who lets you command ''his'' ship for one mission. '''[["Hell Yes!" Moment| Holy Crap.]]''' The ''Queen Anne's Revenge'' is quite possibly the best ship in the game, and taking control of something with enough firepower to sink an entire fleet - even for one mission - brings the [[Catharsis Factor]] [[Up to Eleven]].
=== [[Action Game]] ===
* ''Alter Echo'' grants the player all three forms in quick succession during the opening chapter, allowing the player to get used to the shapeshifting mechanics and using all three forms in tandem effectively. At the end of the first chapter, the resident super-villain steals all but your basic form until your ally restores your other forms after beating the second and third chapters.
* ''[[Danny Phantom|Danny Phantom: The Ultimate Enemy]]'' [[Video Game]] lets you play as [[Future Me Scares Me|Evil Future Danny]] for the first level and boss fight and in the [[Boss Rush]] mode. After that, you play the rest of the game as regular Danny.
===
* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]] 5D's World Championship 2011: Over the Nexus'', shortly into the game the player participates in a rental deck tournament. For the duration of this tournament they use one of a selection of premade decks that are actually quite powerful and well built to face other, equally well built, decks (the ones the player didn't pick). While winning is optional it does show how a functional deck should look and show off some high level combos while the player's actual deck is rubbish.
** The predecessor ''2010: Reverse of Arcadia'' tries this by locking you into a "supplied deck" by story. It doesn't really work since the deck isn't ''that'' good and is not very fluid, causing several early fights become a horrific [[Luck-Based Mission]] where the shuffle is the difference between victory and success.
=== [[Driving Game]] ===
* ''[[Forza Motorsport]]'' 3 starts out with the player racing in a nice red Audi R8. After the race, you have to choose between a few cheap hatchbacks (like the Ford Fiesta) for the next races until you buy another car.
** The forth game has a similar beginning, only now you are in a Ferrari 458 Italia.
* ''[[Need for Speed]]: Most Wanted'' begins with a flash-forward featuring the player racing in a high-performance BMW which becomes disabled partway through the race. The game then flashes back six days to show how the player got to the race at the beginning before coming full circle and having the player lose the car in the opening race. Then the player must start the actual game by purchasing a more modest vehicle and working back up to overpowered racing machine.
** EA Games loves this trope, because the same thing happens in ''[[Need for Speed]]: Carbon.'' Instead of having the car for three and a half races, however, you're treated to a sort of intro to canyon racing that you can only lose if you stop trying, before your car is totalled.
** Similarly, in ''[[Need for Speed]]: Underground'', when you begin a new career, you immediately start a circuit race with modded cars. After you win the circuit, it turns out the whole race was just your daydream, and your own car is completely unmodded.
*** The ending cutscene potentially (and eerily) makes this a dream-within-a-dream.
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** Strangely, ''[[Need for Speed]]: Undercover'' completely averts the trope when it'd be ''entirely logical'' to have it in full force. You're not some out of luck wanna be racer, you're ''undercover for the FBI''. You think they'd give you more than a barely decent car...
=== [[First
* Two of the ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' games begin with a fully suited-up Samus playing through a short level, after which she loses her extra abilities and the real game begins. This is now a [[Beam Me Up, Scotty]] joke for the franchise; "Samus ''always'' loses her powers near the start of the game."
** ''Metroid Prime 3'' just uses the [[Bag of Spilling]], but starts Samus off with the Space Jump Boots, Morph Ball and its bombs, and the Charge Beam. [[Word of God]] says that it was fun to make Samus lose her gear, but by the 3rd Prime game, they stopped doing it as a plot point because it wasn't fresh anymore. Also, after obtaining Phazon weapon, until you pass corruption threshold on Bryyo, you could shoot anything to death harmlessly, but walk an inch past that cutscene with the Phazon pool and even if you fly back to Norion and go to the generator, you can just overload and lose.
** ''[[Metroid: Other M]]'' has Samus keep her abilities from ''Super [[Metroid]]'', but then refuses to use them until Adam gives the OK since she is working under his command. During the training session at the start, you get the chance to use the extremely powerful Power Bomb. A little bit later, you're told to not use it because its power can vaporize anyone nearby, thus you can't use the super weapon until at the end of the game.
*** Not using the Power Bombs makes sense, but the authorization system is taken to ridiculous heights later, as Samus must traverse a dangerous area with her health slowly decreasing. This could have totally be avoided if she would use her Varia suit, but she will not because Adam hadn't authorized it. Why she needs authorization to ''protect herself from hostile environments'' is not stated.
*** Later becomes a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] when Samus engages two of her more powerful upgrades without explicit permission and bemusedly asks, "Any objections, Adam?"
** Recently, in one of the most amazing [[Sequence Breaking|sequence breaks]] to date, a way was found to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIH76tIwlDo&feature=player_embedded skip the Bag of Spilling] in ''Prime 2''. With out-of-bounds glitching, you can avoid triggering the cutscene where Dark Samus leaves you on Dark Aether and your stuff is stolen.
* In the lesser-known FPS game, ''Chaser'', the only gun you get in the first level is the [[Rare Guns|G11]]
* ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2'' multiplayer has something like this. The default classes that can be chosen have stuff, like the <s>noobtube</s> [[Grenade Launcher]] for the FAMAS or red dot sight for the UMP45, that will not be available immediately after you gain the ability to customize your own classes.
** ''Modern Warfare 3'' continues this; only two of the five default classes give you primary weapons you'll immediately have once you unlock Create-A-Class, the other three equipping you with weapons you won't be seeing until level 28 at minimum. Survival Mode does this on occasion as well - for instance, the last unlocked shotgun in multiplayer is available ''from the beginning'' in Survival.
* ''Mysteries of the Sith'', the expansion pack for ''[[Star Wars: Dark Forces
=== [[Hack and Slash]] ===
* ''[[God of War
** Similarly, shortly into ''[[God of War III]]'' the third game, he
▲** Similarly, shortly into the third game, he {{spoiler|falls into the river Styx, losing almost all of his power in the process.}} Hardly the worst excuse ever, though.
* ''[[Chaos Legion]]'' starts the main character off with {{spoiler|Thanatos}} as his legion, whose powers include wiping out everything and anything that happens to so much as look at you. You lose it once you meet the [[Big Bad]] at the end of the tutorial stage, and have to reassemble it.
* In ''[[Guardian Heroes]]'', Han starts off with the powerful Sword of Legend. He loses it to the Golden Hero after the first stage, but may gain another, equally powerful sword if he follows the right path.
* When you start ''[[The Force Unleashed]]'', you get to play as Darth Vader - that's right, '''Darth Vader''', one of the most dreaded of the Sith in all his Force Choking, Force Throwing glory - as he slaughters an army of Wookies, can't get any more awesome than that. Unfortunately, it doesn't last, as once this tutorial-intro is over, you switch to the actual protagonist, and start working up from the beginning.
=== [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]]s ===
* In some MMORPGs, when creating your character, it is depicted wearing very impressive looking, high level equipment. Once your character is actually created though, you only have basic, dull gear.
* ''[[Aion]]'' has a version of this around level 5-6, with a couple of {{spoiler|flashback}} quests that take place in The Abyss, a much-higher-level PVP area. You're in impressive-looking armor, can fly, and characters around you are calling you their hero. In the second quest you'll also be facing off against some really tough-looking enemies who nonetheless go down easily before your "might", {{spoiler|plus a "legendary" hero from the other faction, who ultimately kicks your butt in a cutscene}}.
* In the 2D MMORPG ''[[Maple Story]]'', making an [[Blade
* ''[[Fallen Earth]]'' starts with a max-level character, but your DNA data [[Restart At Level One|gets corrupted]] when the cloning equipment is damaged.
* Two missions added in the August 9th patch of [[Lego Universe]] temporarily give new players special armour that has roughly the power of level 2 faction equipment and 4 extra hearts in order to fight the [[Spider Queen]].
* In ''[[
* The very first mission in the story arc that leads to acquiring [[A God Am I|Incarnate powers]] in the endgame of ''[[City of Heroes]]'' allows you to curbstomp just about every archvillain and giant monster in the game. Sadly, it's just a memory that your future self sent back in time to you to start a [[Stable Time Loop]].
=== [[Platform Game]] ===
* The Sega classic ''[[
* In ''[[Captain Comic|Captain Comic 2]]'', you get unlimited fuel for your jetpack in the second to last level. The last level prevents you from using your jetpack at all.
* The new ''[[
=== [[Real Time Strategy]] ===
* ''[[Command
** Also an example of [[Cutscene Power to
* The tutorial of ''UFO: Aftershock'' consists of 3 missions during which you control characters (1 in first mission, 2 in second and 3 in last part) with early game weapons but with armour (at true beginning you have no armour for your soldiers) and mid/late game skills and abilities (probably most notable is Ranger wielding double laser pistols).
* The first ''Spellforce'' has a lengthy tutorial with a level 5 character who's in little danger thanks to being a tanky Paladin type. Your created character comes in after this and starts at level 1.
* During the Orc campaign of ''[[
=== [[Role
* ''[[Lufia]] and the Fortress of Doom'' starts the player off with a party of very high-level characters, taking on one of the most powerful beings in the game's universe. This turns out to be a flashback that sets up the story for the rest of the game.
** The prequel ''Rise Of The Sinistrals'' has the very same battle and ends with its immediate aftermath.
* In ''Spectrobes'', you begin the second game by having everything you obtained in the first game stolen. You technically get it back.
* ''[[
** Although in the opening, it's possible for the third, randomly-selected character to be one that's impossible to have in your party at that point. It's also impossible to have the weapons depicted (Silver), as you don't start getting Silver until ''after'' that particular dungeon.
* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei
* ''[[
* ''[[
* The original version of ''[[
* [[Final Fantasy IV:
* ''[[
** Note that you only get Magitek armour again for a single (and a second, missable) sequence. And just like the beginning, only Terra can utilize the advanced functions (i.e. anything beyond Healing Force and Fire/Ice/Thunder Beam).
* ''[[
** Think you can let Cloud have a piece of that mastered materia action? Tough luck, because Sephiroth won't let you unequip anything from himself.
** If Cloud is K.O'd in one of the battles, Sephiroth will [[Pet the Dog|use Life 2 on him]] ''before'' continuing to own everything in sight.
* In ''[[
** Even Seymour's Overdrive is available by using Rikku's Mix.
* ''[[
* ''[[
** [[
* Since the main hero in ''[[Suikoden V]]'' is a prince, he gets to spend much of the first part of the game with a party of strong allies, including the kingdom's most powerful bodyguard, who is compelled to leave him midway through the game. (The hero still has his ''own'' personal bodyguard as a permanent tagalong, {{spoiler|until plot events remove ''her'' from gameplay as well.)}}
* ''[[Suikoden II]]'' starts you off with Jowy and Riou, the two main characters. Although they are relatively weak, being only level 1, they have access to the devastating [[Combination Attack]] "Buddy Attack", which hits every enemy without fail for as much damage as they would inflict with two regular attacks. Needless to say, the enemies that survive the attack are quickly killed.
** ''[[Suikoden IV]]'' does the same thing in the beginning, with Lazlo and Snowe having access to the powerful Friendship attack at the beginning of the game. It only targets one enemy, but is more than enough to take out any bosses you meet with two or three shots.
* ''[[
* ''[[
** And, just to be clear, there was a way to glitch their equipment so it could continue existing well-beyond the tutorial. As many times as you could fit it in your inventory and carry.
* ''[[
* The Hentai RPG ''[[Knights of Xentar]]'' starts your character at the lower-mid levels, with decent stats. However, the moment we're done with the introductory area, the plot depowers you and strips you nude.
* In ''[[Star Wars]]: [[The Force Unleashed]]'', the prologue level is played as Darth Vader. He plays like the normal player character would after being powered up to the max, with all the combos and powers available, except [[Mighty Glacier|he does not have the dash powers]].
* In the older computer RPG ''[[Ultima VII]] part 2: Serpent Isle'' the player starts off with a good set of gear from the previous game, including the [[Infinity
* ''[[
** During the battle tutorial in ''[[Star Ocean: Till the End of Time]]'', the main character has a ridiculous amount of HP and MP, but has only about a tenth of that in the first real battle. This is explained in-game by the tutorial being a video game within the game's world. (This is also foreshadowing.)
* ''[[World of Mana|Secret of Evermore]]'' gives the player character the bazooka, one of the strongest ranged weapons in the game, in the very first fight. However after going into an escape pod afterwards and landing on Evermore you lose the bazooka and have to fight your way to the next village with... a bone.
** Halfway through the game, this trope strikes again. You meet someone that found your bazooka, and he gives it back to you for free - with ''one round of ammo''. You can buy more ammo from the guy that sold you the bazooka, but the cost is extremely prohibitive (1000 gold coins for 10 shots, compared to 1000 credits<ref>that's 125 coins</ref> for 50 shots later).
* ''[[
** ''[[
*** He is not only a ridicolous high level, he is above the level limit your normal party has! Mind, your normal party can have a maximum level of 60. The [[Big Bad]] starts of at 60 and will most probably end up at 61 and 62 in the end.
** ''[[Breath of Fire
* ''[[
* ''[[Crisis Core]]'', while it didn't exactly dazzle you with power, had the strongest of the 3 basic spells, a decent command attack, and several levels put on Zack for a level with a bunch of soldiers and a Behemoth.
** It can happen again later in the game, when Zack is assigned to protect Hojo. A simulation designed to test new materia gives that materia to Zack and forces him into a fight. The materia is quite powerful...and lost as soon as the fight is over.
*** The real kicker is that that materia exists only for that battle - it's completely unobtainable for regular gameplay.
* ''Legacy of Goku II'' uses a "flash-forward" version, taking full and clever advantage of a plot point in the show...the alternate future where the androids have destroyed everything. You play as Trunks, at a fairly high level (but unable to go Super Saiyan yet). And future ([[Badass]]) Gohan runs you through the basics of your power and Ki Attacks, including, as mentioned, a failed attempt at going Super Saiyan. Then you're released to chase after Gohan just in time to see him killed by the Androids. Then in the cutscene, Trunks goes Super Saiyan in a rage, the screen flashes white, and you end up in the present, as Gohan, at Level 1, with none of the power or Ki abilities Trunks had in the future.
* ''[[
* The prologue of ''[[
* In ''[[Avalon Code]]'', after receiving the Book of Prophecy, you use it to summon twin "Genesis" swords for a fight, which are ''very'' powerful. Immediately after, the Book runs out of power, and the Genesis sword becomes a rubbish rusty old sword.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Pokémon Colosseum|Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness]]'', you start the game in a battle where you have a Level 50 Salamence squaring off against a Level 50 Metagross. After the battle you realize that it was just a sim battle and you actually own a Level 10 Eevee instead.
* The first chapter of ''[[Riviera:
* In the first chapter of the Flash game ''[[MARDEK]]'', the main characters pretend that they are legendary heroes, and the tutorial is played through using their extremely powerful imaginary personas.
* ''Tower of the Sorcerer'' has you starting out with the Holy Sword and Holy Shield, which you promptly have to hand over to the [[Big Bad]] in Tower 3, and get thrown in prison. Luckily, there's a friendly thief (oxymoron much?) who will get you out, albeit with you unarmed.
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* In the first dungeon of ''[[Lunar]] 2'', Lucia has incredibly strong magic until you leave the dungeon (at which point plot/the [[Big Bad]] strips them from her), which she'll eventually get back later in the game.
** This is actually very useful, since you can use her to level up your other characters to make the upcoming boss fight much easier.
* ''[[
* ''[[Fallout 3]]'', as well as the first two games to a lesser extent, occasionally allow the player to come into possession of a powerful late game weapon early on. However, ammo for it is often limited to a point it cannot be used regularly until much later. For example, A3-21's plasma rifle, one of the most powerful weapons in the game, can be acquired as early as level 3, but the microfusion cells it fires are highly uncommon early in the game (unless you know exactly where to look), and the repair parts in the form of other plasma rifles to cannibalize on are practically non-existent until around halfway around the main quest.
** However, if this isn't the player's first playthrough, he may be able to utilize the game's non-linear nature to turn an early taste of power into a [[Disc One Nuke]].
* ''[[Digimon World]]: Dawn/Dusk'' gives you a full party, and depending on the pack you choose, ''two Ultimates'' whom will slaughter everything in their path with little difficulty, even against your rival, who has mons several levels ahead of yours. Even after the mysterious interloper devolves both of them, you still have a level 20 Coronamon/Lunamon and two level 1 rookies with high stats right off the bat.
* ''[[.hack GU Games|.hack//INFECTION]]'' has Orca, Kite's first Party Member. [[Futurama|Good news, everyone!]] He's [[Shrouded in Myth|one of the strongest players around]]! [[Tempting Fate|Nothing can stop us now!]] Wait, who's this [[Woman in White|white-clad]] [[Mysterious Waif|girl]]? What's with that [[MacGuffin|book]] she gave him? And now we've got a [[The Grim Reaper|new monster]] carrying a <s> [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|Cross]]</s> [[Bowdlerization|Q-Stick]] who's [[Nigh Invulnerable|immune to Orca's attacks]]. [[Oh Crap|Uh oh...]]
* Before your first boss fight in ''[[
* ''[[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]]'' has this when Isaac and Garet join your party for a bit and let you borrow their Djinn. They let you have enough Djinn to use at least a level 3 summon, but when combined with their Djinn, you can summon a level 4 one. After they leave the party, they take back their Djinn too, putting you back in square one.
* ''[[Agarest Senki 2]]'' has Weiss facing off against Summerill, servant of the dark god Chaos. He at this point is level 99 and equipped with Veldafard, a very powerful sword. You get to own Summerill in your first fight. After which, a cutscene happens and you get flung over to who knows where at that point. When Weiss recovers, he gets reduced to level one, and you can't equip his sword anymore for some weird reason, not to mention he now has amnesia. {{spoiler|Turns out, there's a lot more to that story later on.}}
* ''[[
* Inverted in ''[[Inazuma Eleven]] 3'', where the opening cutscene shows off some of the awesome power of the ''rivals'' you'll be up against, as well as foreshadowing little bits of the plot involving those characters.
** Subverted for a first few matches. Your character do have evolved skills and game breaking abilities, however, these players have horrible stemina, and get tired after a few uses of specials, usually even before the first half ends.
* The opening section of ''[[Infinite Space]]'', which also doubles as the tutorial, has you fighting a couple of easy battles as the dread space pirate Valantin, at the helm of his awesomely powerful battleship ''[[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Corsair]],'' capable of basically annihilating anything you point it at. After this sequence is over and the rest of the introduction has played out, you're left as a teenage boy at the helm of the good ship ''[[Fail O'Suckyname|Daisy]]'', a converted civilian vessel.
* [[Tales of the Drunken Paladin
* Dunban in ''[[Xenoblade Chronicles]]'' provides this, with you controlling him in the opening whilst he wields the Monado, the game's titular weapon. He later temporarily rejoins the party for an early segment of the game, still wielding the weapon, and while he relinquishes it to [[The Hero|Shulk]] before the end of that segment, he's still likely to be around 10 levels higher then the rest of the group and far stronger then them even without it. He rejoins for good at a point where everyone is likely to have caught up to him in level.
* Halfway through ''[[Monster Girl Quest Paradox]]'', you come across the [[Hopeless Boss Fight|Armored Berserker]]. Losing to him causes Nero to intervene, and you gain control of him to continue the battle. Nero is on his own... but he doesn't need any help. It's entirely possible to defeat the boss using nothing but normal attacks, and if you decide to try out some of Nero's skills, it'll be over ridiculously quickly.
=== [[Shoot
* Super Nashwan Power (http://www.nashwan.org/), from ''[[Xenon]] 2''. Oh Oh, Oh Yeah!
* ''[[Wingnuts]] 2'' starts you out with the best plane in the game (fast, strong, a ton of missiles, etc.) as you shoot down training blimps. Then, when the action starts and the Baron busts loose of the Temporal Prison, you have to fight a boss... which steals your plane right as you defeat it. Your next selection of planes is... not as good.
=== [[Simulation Game]] ===
* ''[[Ace Combat]] 5'' Arcade Mode, Operation Katina, gives the player an F-22 Raptor to toy with, which is far more capable than the F-5 Tiger that the player is made to start off with in campaign mode. The Raptor doesn't become available again for quite some time (even if the player unlocks it for purchase from the start by beating Operation Katina, being a high-tier plane it's hideously expensive).
=== [[Stealth Based Game]] ===
* In ''[[Assassin's Creed
** ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
** While the [[Infinity
* Justified in the ''[[Splinter Cell]]: Double Agent''. In the first mission, you're flouncing through the fjords weighed down with a plethora of high tech gadgets. In the second, you're locked up in prison and have to crawl through an air duct to snag a lockpicking kit. Ouch.
=== [[Turn
* Almost every [[Fire Emblem]] game starts the party with at least one tier 2 character. This can be good for beginning players, and useful for taking out early bosses, especially the heavily armored ones. [[Crutch Character|However over using them takes valuable experience points away from all your tier 1 characters so your team can stay unbalanced for far too long]]. Experienced players tend to use them as [[Meat Shield
* ''[[Makai Kingdom]]'' opens with the player taking control of the level 2000 "[[Badass]] freakin' overlord" (yes, that's his actual title) Zetta (who also has the best stats in the game) during the tutorial battle, who in the first subsequent cutscene [[Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds|ruins his entire life by accident]] and is rendered unusable as a playable character, despite still being the main character. {{spoiler|When appearing -- in book form -- as a [[Bonus Boss]] in ''[[Disgaea 2
** Another example from in the game is when Alexander tries to kill Zetta, Salome, whose level 1200, interferes and allows you to take him down easily. This is actually necessary since Alexander is level 1000 and unless you're leveling up the [[Bonus Boss|BonusBosses]], you have no chance of beating him.
* ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'' has moment of this in both its normal and demon paths. In the normal path, the player can get boasted to level 2000 if they [[A Deal With The Devil|accept Gig's power during]] during the [[Hopeless Boss Battle|first fight with Fienne]], allowing for an easy win, but resulting in a [[Nonstandard Game Over]] afterwords since accepting Gig's deal leads to him taking over your body. Later there's an automatic occurrence of the player getting the same level boast during the 2nd fight with Fienne for no reason apart from the fact that she, like Alexander in ''[[Makai Kingdom]]'', is far too strong for the player if they been leveling up normally. In the demon path, the player briefly [[Guest Party Member]] in the form of Blazing Ghestal/ {{spoiler|zombie Median the Conqueror}}, who is by far the most powerful unit/character in the game.
* The first level of the Ryusei route in ''[[Super Robot War]] Original Generation'' lets you play as the best pilot in the game, although he's in the worst unit. He doesn't become permanently playable until the penultimate level. The Kyosuke route is a better example, featuring several levels with the equally [[Badass]] Sanger Zonvolt and his Grungust Type 0, who leave the party for most of the middle of the game. Since both of these guys [[Face Heel Turn|show up as bosses]] in the mean time, it serves as a taste of the ''bad guys''' power as well.
** The 2nd game does the same thing with Gilliam, Sanger and Elzam, oops, Ratsel for a nice chunk of the game.
* In ''[[Super Robot Wars]] Alpha 3'', especially in Kusuha and Bullet's route, you get [[Mazinkaiser]] and [[Shin Getter Robo]] right off the bat, with everything from Alpha 2. A few stages later and a lot of [[
* Ramza's first battle in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' is fought at the courtyard of Orbonne Monastery, defending it from brigands with the help of two Knights, a Squire, Holy Swordswoman Agrias, and Dark Knight Gaffgarion. The party is monumentally overqualified for engaging the brigands, it's nigh-impossible to get a [[Game Over]], and Agrias and Gaffgarion make short work of them with their skills. Upon the end of the battle, the game flashes back to several months ago, where Ramza is allowed only a few other Level 1 Squires and Chemists to accompany him on his mission.
** Unlike other battles, if Ramza is KO'd, then he gets flashing stars over his head indicating he will not be turned into a crystal, and the NPCs complete the battle normally. It ''is'' in fact, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOewqwA1Wto almost impossible] to lose this battle.
** Interestingly, if you take the time during the flashback to level Ramza up to a higher level than he was in this scene, it will carry over to the rest of the game. Meaning that Ramza could, in theory, go from being a fair match for the brigands to curb-stomping them within one in-game day.
* In two ''[[Tactics Ogre]]'' releases: Let us Cling Together and The Knight of Lodis, you play the first few levels with the support of very powerful, experienced units (the Zenobians in LuCT, and Rictor + Orsen in KoL.) You're separated from these powerhouses quickly, and left commanding nothing but a bunch of poorly-armed rookies.
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** Hilariously, his aide doesn't tell him about the price until ''after'' he moves the city.
=== [[Wide Open Sandbox]] ===
* ''[[Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories]]'' sorta does this. Vic is in the army and guess what he gets? Military hardware. That means while the Cholos and average thug is limited to baseball bats and pistols, you are cutting them down with your handy rifle received from unsuspecting patrols in your base (they will retaliate after the first patrol dies though.)
* The start of ''[[
* ''[[Prototype (
** The thematically similiar ''Spider-Man: Web of Shadows'' also pulls the same [[In Medias Res]] variant of this trope.
=== Anime and Manga ===
* ''[[
* ''[[
=== [[Web Comics]] ===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130601221544/http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=080731 Parodied] in the ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' storyline "Years of Yarncraft." When Torg first creates his character for an [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]], he's got a cool looking sword and some impressive armor. These are almost immediately revealed to be a cardboard cutout concealing the ''real'' character, who's only got some cheap clothes and a small dagger. The game then takes away Torg's dagger and gives him a stick.
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