Desperation Attack: Difference between revisions

Line 17:

Related to the [[Limit Break]], which is frequently accessed by taking damage but does not strictly require the user to have critical HP before use. Can also be a [[Sub Trope]] of a [[Critical Status Buff]] (or its enemy counterpart, [[Turns Red]]; which in turn has a move-related subtrope, called [[Last Ditch Move]]). Can also overlap with [[Last Stand]].

== [[Action Adventure]] Games ==

Line 29:

* One of the few things most ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' fans admit to liking about the otherwise [[Fanon Discontinuity|non-existent]] ''Devil May Cry 2'' was the Desperation Devil Trigger. When Dante's health was in the critical, activating his Devil Trigger [[Super Mode]] would cause Dante to shift into a towering alternate devil form with [[Nigh Invulnerability]] and dramatically improved power.

== [[Beat Em Up]] ==

== [[Beat'Em Up]] ==

* ''[[Final Fight]]'' started the staple of a desperation attack taking a little of your health. [[Streets of Rage|Many]] [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles in Time (Video Game)|other]] [[Undercover Cops|beat'em ups]] [[Rushing Beat|soon]] [[Follow the Leader|followed]].

Line 48:

** 3 introduces the [[Turns Red|X-Factor ability]], which is available to everyone on the cast. It can be triggered at any time but is best used as a Desperation Attack because the fewer characters you have, the stronger and longer the effect. Each character has a different effect suited to their style.

** In ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Video Game)|Marvel vs. Capcom 2]]'', if Jin was the last member alive on a team, and has 1/3 health or less left, he activates a [[Golden Super Mode]] upon standing on the ground. His attack are strengthened, his specials are augmented, and it takes two hits to stun him. However, if an opponent can keep him off the ground, he can't activate it.

* [[Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2]]: All characters have "Awakening Mode", whereupon they transform into their respective Kickass modes. To wit: Naruto-->[[Super Powered Evil Side|4 Tails form]], [[Lethal Joke Character|Tobi]]-->{{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Mad]][[The Chessmaster|ara]]}}

* [[Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2]]: All characters have "Awakening Mode", whereupon they transform into their respective Kickass modes. To wit: Naruto-->[[Super-Powered Evil Side|4 Tails form]], [[Lethal Joke Character|Tobi]]-->{{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Mad]][[The Chessmaster|ara]]}}

* ''[[Tatsunokovs Capcom (Video Game)|Tatsunokovs Capcom]]'' has Baroque mode. It's a Desperation Attack because you must be willing to give up red health (meaning health that can be healed on the sidelines) to execute it. However, the more punishment you take means the more health you can exchange to power up, and that means the stronger you'll be under its influence.

== [[First Person Shooter]] ==

== [[First-Person Shooter]] ==

* In ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'', the Soldier has the Equalizer, a pick-axe that replaces the entrenchment tool (aka shovel) as the melee weapon. At full health it is inferior to the standard melee weapon, but as the player's health gets closer to zero, the weapon damage can kill most classes in 2 hits or less and greatly boosts movement speed.

** The Mann-conomy update features the Battalion's Backup, which drastically boosts the defences of you and your party. It is charged by taking damage.

Line 76:

== [[Racing Game|Racing Games]] ==

* The ''[[Mario Kart (Video Game)|Mario Kart]]'' games give the more powerful items to players lagging behind, like [[Classic Video Game Screw Yous|spiny shells]], [[Invincibility Power Up|starmen]] and [[Rocket Ride|bullet bills]], while those in the lead get weaker items like [[Nitro Boost|mushrooms]], green shells and [[Banana Peel|banana peels]].

* The ''[[Mario Kart (Video Game)|Mario Kart]]'' games give the more powerful items to players lagging behind, like [[Classic Video Game Screw Yous|spiny shells]], [[Invincibility Power-Up|starmen]] and [[Rocket Ride|bullet bills]], while those in the lead get weaker items like [[Nitro Boost|mushrooms]], green shells and [[Banana Peel|banana peels]].

== [[Roguelike|Roguelikes]] ==

Line 96:

*** Facade is Guts turned into a move.

** Overheat, Psycho Boost, and Leaf Storm sharply reduce the user's Special Attack level, making them less and less powerful the more times it is used. Superpower and Close Combat are variations of this; they are slightly less powerful, but lower's the user's Physical Defense as well as another stat (Physical Attack for Superpower, Special Defense for Close Combat).

** Struggle is an [[Emergency Weapon]], as it only executes when the Pokemon has run out of normal combat moves. It also comes into play if the opponent's Pokemon has used Encore, thus blocking the player's Pokemon from using any moves other than the one it last used, and that move is out of PP. It is completely exempt from the usual [[Elemental Rock Paper Scissors]].

** Struggle is an [[Emergency Weapon]], as it only executes when the Pokemon has run out of normal combat moves. It also comes into play if the opponent's Pokemon has used Encore, thus blocking the player's Pokemon from using any moves other than the one it last used, and that move is out of PP. It is completely exempt from the usual [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors]].

* One of these shows up in many of the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games.

** ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'', has a [[Power Copying|Blue Magic]] spell called [[My Name Is Question Marks|???]] (which actually has ''no'' [[Calling Your Attacks|call box]]). It does damage equal to the difference between the user's max HP and current HP. Therefore, using it when you're at critical HP will do damage almost equal to your max HP. It shows up in many other Final Fantasy games after V, as a Blue Magic spell, either named "???" or "Revenge/Revenger/Revenge Blast". However, it's a bit of a [[Useless Useful Spell]], as enemies who have the move tend to have [[Health Damage Asymmetry|max HP many times higher than what you ever get]], making it a potential [[One Hit Kill]] in their hands.

** ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'', has a [[Power Copying|Blue Magic]] spell called [[My Name Is Question Marks|???]] (which actually has ''no'' [[Calling Your Attacks|call box]]). It does damage equal to the difference between the user's max HP and current HP. Therefore, using it when you're at critical HP will do damage almost equal to your max HP. It shows up in many other Final Fantasy games after V, as a Blue Magic spell, either named "???" or "Revenge/Revenger/Revenge Blast". However, it's a bit of a [[Useless Useful Spell]], as enemies who have the move tend to have [[Health Damage Asymmetry|max HP many times higher than what you ever get]], making it a potential [[One-Hit Kill]] in their hands.

** ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' introduced actual Desperation Attacks to the series, incredibly powerful attacks that can randomly occur when a character with critically low HP is given the "Fight" command. However, they occur ''so'' rarely that most people have never actually seen one. Plus the Valiant Knife which does more damage the lower Locke's HP gets.

** ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' has the ''[[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|Final Attack]]'' materia, with which almost every spell materia can be paired. Equipping it on someone lets that character [[Taking You With Me|cast one last spell upon their demise]], but the right combination can bestow functional immortality. {{spoiler|Phoenix}} is recommended; Scan is not. (Unless you want to have your possessions identified, in which case, you've been playing too much [[Nethack]].)

Line 107:

**** A lot riskier and more luck-based, but if {{spoiler|one of Necron, the final boss's, attacks reduces one character to 1 HP. However, that both requires Quina to be the target, as well as Necron not launching a follow-up attack that does any measure of damage to Quina}}.

**** Savvy players will knock Quina out in a battle, then go to a save point and revive him/her repeatedly (resetting each time) until s/he has 1 HP. Perfect for taking out that tricky boss in one shot! It's also available extremely early (from the [[Disc One Nuke|moment you get Quina]], in fact), letting you lay the smackdown on the rest of disc 1 and most of disc 2 (by disc 3 more reliable means of violence become available). By extension, it's also a valuable skill to have when doing the [[Speed Run|Excalibur II challenge]].

** ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' has Auron's [[Infinity ~~Plus One~~ Sword]], which does more damage as his health gets lower.

** ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' has Auron's [[Infinity+1 Sword]], which does more damage as his health gets lower.

** Several items in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'', such as the Sorcerer's Ring or the Rasetsu armor set, have effects that only activate when the wearer's HP drops below a certain percentage.

** ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' has the Meatbone Slash Reaction Ability, which deals your max HP in damage when your HP is critically low. It also has several other Reaction Abilities that function on the "Critical HP" principle, usually bestowing healing or auto-life effects. Finally, there are several attacks that utilize differences in your HP or MP to do damage.

Line 114:

** In a diversion from the usual [[Limit Break]] method of dealing with this for the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series, ''[[Final Fantasy XII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XII]]'' allows you to combo attack much more frequently the lower your health. One of the best methods for dealing with most of the [[Bonus Boss]]'s uses this to its advantage by berserking 2 of your characters in critical health while using the third as a decoy.

** ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' has a variant of this with the Cosmos Judgment rules. When a player is in danger of dying in one more hit, their EX Gauge will instantly max out, giving them a chance to turn things around.

*** There's also the equippable support ability 'Back to the Wall' (which increases the player character's critical hit rate when their HP is in the red). 'Cat Nip' (which increases the player character's critical hit rate when they're at risk of losing in one HP attack) can often count as this as well, but the nature of the battle system means that the attacker can potentially [[One Hit Kill|win with one HP attack regardless]], assuming their BRV gets high enough to allow this.

*** There's also the equippable support ability 'Back to the Wall' (which increases the player character's critical hit rate when their HP is in the red). 'Cat Nip' (which increases the player character's critical hit rate when they're at risk of losing in one HP attack) can often count as this as well, but the nature of the battle system means that the attacker can potentially [[One-Hit Kill|win with one HP attack regardless]], assuming their BRV gets high enough to allow this.

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]] II'' has * two* of these, in the form of equippable abilities. One is called "Crisis Half" which halves any damage when your hitpoints are below 25%, the other is "Exp+ " which gives double EXP.

** Considering that this is Final Mix+ , those two really help with the Critical Mode.

Line 142:

* ''[[Wild Arms 3 (Video Game)|Wild Arms 3]]'' has Valiant, a spell that adds the difference between the recipient's current and max HP to their attack power.

== [[Shoot Em Up|Shoot Em Ups]] ==

== [[Shoot'Em Up|Shoot Em Ups]] ==

* In [[Touhou Project|Subterranean Animism]], the game throws a full powerup at you to boost your shot power to maximum as soon as you're on your last life.

* ''[[No More Heroes]]'' has at least desperation attack for most bosses. Some bosses, mainly in the first game, gained a [[One Hit KO]] when they were down to about half health.