Comeback Mechanic: Difference between revisions

A supertrope of [[Desperation Attack]]. A subtrope of [[Anti-Frustration Features]] and [[Mercy Mode]]. Compare [[Rubber Band AI]], which is when this is applied to the computer players but not to human players; and [[Dynamic Difficulty]] and [[Critical Status Buff]], applied to a single-player mode (though not necessarily for the latter). [[Turns Red]] is a Comeback Mechanic applied to a boss. If a game has a particularly strong comeback mechanic, this may invoke players to [[Do Well, But Not Perfect]]. Contrast [[Unstable Equilibrium]] and [[Kill Streak]], which is when a game gives advantages to the ''winning'' players.

 

* All [[Mario Kart]] games will bestow more powerful items the further behind a racer is. This was at its most potent in ''Mario Kart Double Dash!!'', where characters have powerful special items.

** This extends to Battle Mode's Balloon Battle in ''Mario Kart Wii'': When a player runs out of balloons, they are considered knocked out, and that player's team loses 1 point. The fewer balloons a player has, the more likely an Item Box will yield something powerful. If one team has a substantially higher score in any mode of Battle Mode, the game will give the losing team a powerful item, such as the Lightning Bolt or POW Block, which hits all members of the opposing team.

* In ''[[Sonic Rivals]]'' and ''Sonic Rivals 2'', any racer who isn't in 1st place gets an increased top speed. There are long empty sections in each stage to allow them to catch up.

 

* ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]'' has the X-Factor mechanic, which boosts the speed and attack power of the current player character. The fewer characters the player has remaining on his or her team, the stronger X-Factor becomes.

* ''[[Street Fighter X Tekken]]'' has Pandora. This allows a player 7 seconds of infinite super meter (and changes the character to black with glowing purple, including the clothes), at the cost of disabling the partner character and losing the match once Pandora wears off.

* In ''[[Panel De Pon]]'' and all its spinoffs, clearing a garbage block turns it into regular panels (or in the case of larger garbage blocks, the bottom row turns into regular panels while the rest turn into a smaller garbage block). If you can line up the panels underneath before the clear animation finishes, the new panels can fall and create a chain. As a result, matches between top players usually turn into garbage tennis - each player sends a maximum-size garbage block to the other, who clears the block while using it as ammo to create another massive chain that generates another maximum-size garbage block. Repeat until one player can't clear the garbage block within the two-second grace period.

* A similar case occurs in ''[[Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo]]'', where each time a player drops a piece, all the Counter Gems (garbage blocks) on their side count down by 1, and turn into regular gems when they hit 0, turning them into fuel for counterattacks. Additionally, clearing gems higher up on the screen generates more Counter Gems sent to the opponent. Thus the definitive strategy is to send one giant attack that KOs your opponent in one hit - but that's easier said than done.

* [[The King of Fighters|The King of Fighters XIII]] has a more subtle mechanic- with its 3 vs. 3 fights, later fighters will be able to store one more super bar. Therefore, the first character in a team can stock up to three bars, the second stock up to four, and the last up to five. It allows for more damaging combos or escape attempts, but it won't single-handedly turn the tide of battle.

* Some of the events in [[Galactic Civilizations]] II are designed to help a player who is behind or hinder a player who is ahead.