Charged Attack: Difference between revisions

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Charged attacks come in many shapes and sizes, largely depending on the type of game, but there's two basic types:
 
* 'Collect' type charge attacks. Closely related to the [[Limit Break]] popular in [[JRPG|JRPGs]]s, this involves performing some sort of action repeatedly to fill up a [[Charge Meter]], and once it reaches a certain point (usually full) the attack may be unleashed. This action can be anything, from waiting for the bar to fill automatically, to inflicting damage on enemies, suffering (or blocking) their attacks, healing allies, or so on.
* 'Hold' type charge attacks. These require holding a controller button (or direction) for a set amount of time and then releasing it (or performing a final combination of button presses) to actually launch the attack. The button to be held is often the attack button, leaving the player defenseless while preparing it. As a result, depending on the game design and situation used, the charged attack [[Awesome but Impractical|may or may not be worth the time to prepare it]]--doubly—doubly so if charging the attack leaves the player unable to ''move'' or evade enemy attacks in the meantime.
 
In either case, be aware that [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]] and an AI-controlled opponent might be able to execute charged attacks spontaneously without performing the actions necessary to prepare them up (especially if the opponent [[Turns Red]]). Alternately, when the AI actually takes time to prepare its attack, this may be a warning that the attack will be ''incredibly'' powerful (if not a [[One-Hit Kill]]) and [[The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort|the player should immediately assume a defensive stance]]...unless it's an [[Unblockable Attack]], in which case dodging or interrupting the attack is in order.
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** The Soldier also has ''three'' charge-type bugles handy: One charges based on how much damage he's done and allows he and any nearby teammates to deal extra damage; one charges based on how much damage he's taken and gives extra defense to himself and any nearby teammates; and one charges based on BOTH how much damage he's done and taken and heals himself or any nearby teammates if they cause damage.
** The Pyro has the Phlogistinator, which charges whenever he causes fire damage and can be unleashed to cause triple damage for a few seconds.
* ''[[R-Type]]'' series
** Delta and Final have the Dose Attack / Delta Weapon, a smart bomb charged by absorbing shots with the Force Device.
** Similarly, some of Taito's lesser-known shooters feature the collection of power-ups (''[[Metal Black]]'') or absorbing of enemy shots (''[[Grid Seeker]]'') to power up a large-scale [[Wave Motion Gun|laser beam]]/[[Macross Missile Massacre|bombardment attack]].
* ''[[Ikaruga]]'' has a similar special attack, charged by absorbing like-polarity bullets.
* ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' has several examples. In addition to the [[Super Mode|Devil Trigger]] gauge, Nero has his [[It Runs on Nonsensoleum|sword revving]], while Dante has [[Attack Deflector|Royal Guard]]'s Rage Meter and the Disaster Gauge of [[Swiss Army Weapon|Pandora's Box]].
* ''[[Gungrave]]'' features the "Demolition Shot Gauge." To fill the gauge, Grave must collect "beats", which are obtained by shooting enemies and objects in succession, causing the beat counter flame to get bigger. When Grave has a least one gauge of energy stored, he can either expend it to heal himself, or expend it for its main use of firing a "demolition shot", which utilizes one of the heavy weapons stored in the coffin on his back.
* ''[[Metroid]]'' series:
** When fighting the final boss of ''[[Metroid Prime]]'', {{spoiler|in order to use the final weapon, Samus must stand in a pool of Phazon while firing.}} And yes, as you can imagine, standing in one place leads to bad things if one is not careful. That said, the boss is totally helpless while taking damage, and the Fission Metroids it spawns can be one-shot killed with the phazon beam if you're willing to to aim it away from the boss.
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* The indie shoot-em-up ''[[Medicalat]]'' has the Burst attack, which you gather energy for by letting go of the fire button so your cyborg nurse can use her syringe to absorb small bullets and the explosions of certain enemies, damage enemies that touch it and drain energy from shots that can't be absorbed. When the Burst is used, every enemy shot onscreen is absorbed for more energy, and a stream of big blasts is fired until the Burst gauge runs out. The gauge turns red when it's completely full, because if you absorb too much energy, you'll overcharge and take damage. If you can beat one of the bosses without using Burst (continuing to fire a Burst you already started is okay as long as you don't use it again during the fight), you'll get a Convert capsule which uses whatever Burst energy you have to refill your health.
* ''[[Seiken Densetsu 3]]'' and ''[[Legend of Mana]]'' build the charge meter using successful attacks landing on the enemy (and in ''Legend'', successful magic attacks).
* In ''[[Diablo|Diablo II]]'', a separate tree of Assassin skills is devoted to this--chargingthis—charging with these skills, then releasing with a normal attack. Effects vary from [[Liquid Assets|life and mana leech]] to area-affecting [[Elemental Punch|Elemental Punches]]es, and [[More Dakka|can be applied all at once]].
* In ''[[.hack GU]]'', there is a meter that builds up over the course of many fights. When it's full, the player may use Awakening, which is usually powerful enough to wipe out an entire team of [[Mook|Mooks]]s in one shot. Performing combos, Rengeki attacks, and healing teammates all contribute to the meter. A lone player cannot use Awakening... there must be at least one other person in the party.
* Your ship in ''[[Radiant Silvergun]]'' can collect pink bullets with its sword which fills up a bar. When the bar is full, a very powerful hyper sword attack can be activated.
* The ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' series features the musou gauge that can be filled either by charging or by defeating enough [[Mooks]]. When it's full, the character can use their musou move to destroy pretty much any NPC that gets in their way, provided they aren't using their musou as well.
* ''[[Jak and Daxter|Jak 2]]'' has the dark eco meter. Dark eco is obtained by defeating non-human enemies. When it's full, the player can use Dark Jak and gain powerful area of effect attacks.
* ''[[Kirby Super Star]]'' has the Plasma ability, which can be charged to five different levels by mashing the directional pad.
 
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** Taken to an extreme in ''[[Metroid Prime]]'', since you can charge any beam weapon ''and'' use an added missile attack with the charged shot.
* Obviously a major theme in [[Mario Strikers Charged]]. Charging the ball is often essential to scoring normal goals, and activating skillshots and megastrikes requires the player in possession to charge the ball as well.
* In ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'', Luigi has a charged jumping attack, which goes back further than that. It started with ''[[Super Mario Bros. 2]]'' (US), where every character can power up their jump by ducking.
* ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' is one of the earliest users of this. The [[Charged Attack]] has been a staple of his Buster ever since ''[[Mega Man 4]]''', and even before then, he was able to charge up Heat Man's Atomic Fire in ''[[Mega Man 2]]''.
** [[ROM Hack]] ''[[Rock Man 4 Minus Infinity]]'' has the [[Kill It with Fire|Pharaoh Shotgun.]]
** In the ''[[Mega Man X]]'' series, the Arm part of whatever armor usually grants the ability to charge the special weapons, in addition to making the default charged buster [[Daft Punk|harder, better, faster, stronger]].
** In the ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' series, Zero gains the ability to charge all of his melee weapons.
* In the ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star FoxFOX]]'' series, charged shots are a staple ability, and can also lock-on to most enemies. In ''Command'', one of the several characteristics of the various ships is the lock-on system, which can be non-existant, lock onto the same target multiple times or lock onto multiple targets. Leon's ship has a rather weak laser, but a quick charge that locks onto every enemy on screen.
* All characters in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Melee'' can charge up their Smash attacks.
** Some Special B move attacks are more powerful the longer the attack button is held, but some ([[Metroid|Samus]], [[Donkey Kong]], [[Pokémon|Mewtwo, and Lucario]]'s neutral B moves, especially) can be charged up and released whenever the player wishes it. The Super Scope item can also be charged.
** In ''[[Super Smash Bros.|Super Smash Brothers Melee]]'' and ''Brawl'', Mr. Game & Watch's "Oil Panic" move works by collecting [[Rule of Three|three]] enemy projectiles in a bucket, then unleashing a splash of oil. The power of the splash depends on the power of the projectiles that were absorbed.
* ''[[No More Heroes]]''. A basic charged circular slice for low grip and a charged overhead slash for high grip.
* The ''[[Gundam]] Vs.'' series of video games gained charge attacks in the first ''[[Gundam Seed]]''-themed installment, with the [[Charge Meter]] being located on the ammunition indicator for the weapon in question.
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** In the older Zelda games, however, Link had the spin attack, where he spun 360 degrees, dealing extra damage and hitting all enemies surrounding him. However, it had to be charged by holding the attack button. The 3-D Zelda games introduced an instantaneous version of the attack, albeit weaker and somewhat tricky to perform. The Wii version of ''Twilight Princess'', however, since it uses the movement of the [[Wii Remote]] to activate the sword (and thus, no button to hold down), changes the spin-attack to an instantaneous attack with a [[Cooldown]] period. The [[Game Cube]] version behaved as status quo.
* ''[[Fable (video game series)|Fable]]'' series:
** Ranged attacks become more powerful the longer you hold down the attack button. In ''Fable 2'', the longbows are replaced with firearms, but now, instead of a magic bar, all the spells are charged attacks.
** You can also "charge" a firearm after getting the level three ranged combat ability: the longer you aim at a target, the closer you'll zoom in to the enemy, and the closer you zoom in, the more damage you do. This can even be used to kill extremely powerful enemies in one shot. A possible exploit exists in that you can, using a flintlock (one-shot) weapon, fire repeatedly and continue to zoom in between shots, thereby increasing the amount of damage each successive shot causes.
* ''[[Magical Battle Arena]]'' has these for most of the characters' Special Attacks. Some, like the attacks of [[Original Generation]] characters and most of the ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (anime)|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' cast, can be fired immediately but have the option of being charged first for a more powerful attack. Others however, like [[Cardcaptor Sakura|Sakura]], the ''[[Slayers]]'' sorceresses, and [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha|Hayate]], have spells that can only be launched after they are charged, otherwise they will piffle out if you fire them prematurely.
* "Burst Mode" in [[Gungrave]]. Holding down the fire button while standing still makes your shots more powerful as it causes Grave to go into a frenzy and he will jump and spin around, shooting everything [[Offhand Backhand|without looking]]. Billy and Juji in the sequel get their own variation (Juji's can launch a charged sword combo when the melee button is held for a few seconds and then released). This is if you turned the rapidfire/full-auto option on though.
* In ''[[Cave Story]]'', the one weapon whose level isn't affected by energy crystals is the Spur, whose level of strength depends on how long it gets charged.
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* ''[[Fraxy]]'''s Charge Blaster. Charge it and you get a big blaster shot. ''Overcharge'' it and you get a star-like blaster shot that explodes several times before dissipating.
* A PC-Engine shoot-em-up, ''[[Override]]'', has an unusually powerful variant on this. If you let go of the fire button, your ship will charge up energy on its own. If you let it charge for three seconds, pressing the fire button unleashes an enormous barrage of fireballs with an equivalent amount of power to a [[Smart Bomb]]. What really makes it [[Game Breaker|overpowered]] is that there's no limit on how often you can use this weapon, except that sometimes you won't have a chance to charge it up while a large amount of enemies are attacking.
* ''[[Phalanx]]'', with its "E" [[Power-Up]].
* The ''[[Pokémon Ranger]]'' games have an interesting version of this. As you progress through the game, you eventually get the option to hold your "Styler" in place on the touchscreen and let it charge up. Afterwards, you can draw circles around the enemy with an increased power, making them easier to capture. It can be difficult to pull off, though, as enemy Pokemon can easily break the charge by so much as stepping on the spot, let alone attacking it.
* The {{spoiler|Apple of Eden}} near the end of ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood|Assassin's Creed Brotherhood]]''. You can charge it to {{spoiler|fry the brains of your enemies.}}
* The Melnorme spaceship in ''[[Star Control]] 2'' has a charge attack that changes colors as it builds up. The "red" projectile is extremely powerful, and can fly through pretty much everything but a planet. Moreover, the charging attack is manifested as a globe at the front of the ship, which can be used as a sort of shield against incoming attacks--nothingattacks—nothing except a collision with another ship/planet/asteroid will destroy a red globe, and having it collide with another ship is the almost the same as firing it. When you're holding down the button and something hits the red globe, the game deletes the red globe and does damage. However, since the ship now isn't charging a shot, on the next cycle, since you're still holding down the button, a green ball (lowest charge) will appear in front of your ship. Right where the enemy ship just collided. Therefore, the enemy ship, unless it's moving really fast, is ''still there'', and thus was just hit with another shot. Basically, if you ram an enemy with the shot fully charged, you will not only do the normal massive damage that the full charge does, but also get 3-5 subsequent low-charge shots in as well. So ramming the enemy ship isn't a bad tactic, when you can pull it off.
* ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' has the Mercury-Class (later Zeus-Class) Fusion Pistol--itPistol—it's perhaps the first FPS to have a chargeable weapon. The charging effect is activated by the secondary trigger; however, the Zeus-Class will explode if the trigger is held down for too long, killing the player.
* And, of course, following from ''Marathon'''s Fusion Pistol is ''[[Halo|Halo's]]'' Plasma Pistol, with an overcharge shot that homes in on enemies and knocks out energy shields with one hit.
** The Spartan Laser, a shoulder-fired [[Wave Motion Gun]].
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* In ''[[Gaia Online|zOMG!]]'', successfully using your rings (whether attack or support) or receiving damage from enemies fills up a "Rage" meter, which is divided into three segments. You can consume filled segments to use a higher "Rage Rank" version of a ring that increases the potency of its function. A recent update that rebalanced the rings made nearly all of them have additional effects at higher Rage Ranks. A following update also provided a clear indication of how many segments you or your party members currently have available.
* In the second ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' game, Liu Kang has the bicycle kick: he floats towards his adversary, making turkey noises, kicking his feet in a bicycle pedal motion. Players had to charge the low kick for a few seconds, but it was well worth the wait.
** Raiden has a Shocking Grasp for his [[Charged Attack]], which in turn has a [[Fatality]] variation, and also a Charged Uppercut fatality. Many other fatalities require you to hold a button for a certain length of time, usually well before you defeat your opponent (eg Shang Tsung's Kintaro morph).
* ''[[Eternal Champions]]'' makes it so that ''every'' character is a charge character. (Although if you buy their ''[[Revenue Enhancing Devices|Activator]]'' controller, you don't have to deal with the charge times...)
* ''[[Phantasy Star Zero]]'' uses this type of charge functionality to expand your attack options. Charging the Basic or Heavy Attack yields a Photon Art--aArt—a specialized technique dependent on the currently-equipped weapon. Charging techniques yields an altered version that is usually meant for crowd control or group augmentation. For example, Foie flies straight ahead and fries the first thing in its path, but Rafoie lobs a fireball over the enemy ranks and fries everything in the blast zone. Alternately, Anti treats the [[Standard Status Effects|statuses]] the user may be suffering short of Paralyze or Freeze, but Alanti does the same to the group ''and'' revives anyone in range, though only at 1HP. If you're going to use this to revive folks, then invest in Star Atomizers or Alresta.
* In the original arcade version of ''[[Joe and Mac]]'' (or ''[[Caveman Ninja]]''), you can hold the attack button for Joe/Mac to charge up by spinning his arm and looking angry while doing so, then release it to throw a bigger version of whatever weapon he's using (including boomerangs, stone wheels, fireballs, and even clones of himself). If you hold it too long, he'll get tired afterwards.
* In ''[[Fallout 3]]'', every melee attack can be charged by holding down the button for half a second. This produces a larger swing and a war cry.
* ''[[S4 League]]'' brings us the Cannonade and the Rail Gun, which do massive damage when fully charged but as a result make them very slow firing weapons, more suited for sniping than close-range combat. Reinforcing this purpose is the zoom feature both of these weapons get.
* ''[[Secret of Mana]]'' and ''[[Secret of Evermore]]'' have the hold-type charged attack. At higher weapon levels (lvl 4+), this may become [[Awesome but Impractical]], depending on the weapons equipped, allied [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot|AI settings]] & the current opposition.
* The [[Real Life]] practice of "cooking" a hand grenade (holding it for a few seconds before throwing) could be seen as a variation of this. It can even increase the attack power if it causes the bomb to go off in midair, as airbursts are typically more effective than the same weapon detonating on the ground.
* This is how you damage bosses in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Climax UC|Gundam Climax UC]]''.
* ''[[Doom]] 3'''s BFG 9000 can be charged to create a heavier hitting projectile (at the cost of more ammo consumption). A fully charged blast can take out everything in the game with one shot except the Cyberdemon. You'd better be careful to watch the charge meter, though, or else you'll end up overcharging and having the gun blow up in your face.
* Several of the heavy weapons (most notably the <s>Nuke Gun</s> [[BFGBig Freaking Gun|Cain]]) in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' need to be charged for a few seconds before firing. Also, the [[Downloadable Content]] Geth Plasma Shotgun has this as its [[Secondary Fire]].
* ''[[The Haunted Mansion]]'' allows you to do this with the Beacon of Souls, after you get the appropriate Soul Gem. The ability increses as you collect more.
* ''[[Super Monkey Ball]]'''s Monkey Fight has this, a multiplayer sumo like minigame where you can charge your fist before punching -- apunching—a good smack can send opponents flying out of the ring.
* ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]'' allows you to stab at the Colossi's weak points, taking away at least one fifth of their health, by holding the attack button. Holding the attack button with a bow will also make the arrow go faster and farther in a straighter trajectory.
* ''[[Purple]]'' applies this to every weapon you can find. The player can still move and stomp enemies while charging, fortunately.
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** The move Charge boosts the power of electric moves on the subsequent turn; the move Charge Beam has a high change of boosting special attack, indirectly making it a charge-up attack.
* The ''[[Street Fighter]]'' franchise has had special moves that involve holding back or down then pressing forward or up (respectively) along with an attack button at least since ''Street Fighter II''. [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|Computer opponents could often forgo the charge portion.]]
* The ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' [[Follow the Leader|wannabe]] ''Shockman'' on the [[Turbo Grafx TurboGrafx-16]] had this before Mega Man acquired it himself.
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'':
** The most notable use of charged attacks are probably the Dragon Shouts. Once you've gotten a hold of two or all three words of a Shout, holding the Shout button gives you either a more powerful or a different effect. Let's use the Unrelenting Force Shout as an example: tapping the Shout button gives you "Fus!", which briefly staggers your opponents. Holding it for a second or two gives you "Fus '''Ro'''!", which knocks them down. Holding it for a few more seconds gives you '''[[Memetic Mutation|FUS RO DAH!]]''', which sends your opponents [[Blown Across the Room|flying across the room]] (or off a cliff).