Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Difference between revisions

In a video game's story, how do you portray a battle in which the main player character [[Failure Is the Only Option|is supposed to lose?]] Well, one option is to pull a [[Hopeless Boss Fight]], where the player must fail the battle in order to progress the plot. But there's one problem with that: it doesn't require any skill!

 

 

If you win, the boss reveals that [[I Am Not Left-Handed|he's not left-handed]] and proceeds to hand you your ass anyway [[Cutscene Power to the Max|during the following cutscene]]. So it is a plot point ''and'' a legitimate boss battle at the same time! Genius! But ''so annoying''!

 

'''Note:''' This trope is not [[Hopeless Boss Fight]]. Please only add examples if defeat results in a [[Game Over]] (or whatever normally happens when you die).

{{examples}}

* ''[[Call of Duty]]: [[Call of Duty: Modern Warfare|Modern Warfare]]'' {{spoiler|has this in part one and two. In part one after rescuing a downed helicopter pilot, the entire city you're in is struck by a nuclear blast, killing both you and presumably the pilot you rescued. In part two it happens multiple times.}}

** Dispute this, too. {{spoiler|Sun Kim wanted to finally die. The only way this trope happens is if you bind Sun Kim.}}

* ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Epically]]'' averted in ''[[Dragon Age]]'' near the end of the game. While exiting the Arl of Denerim's estate after breaking Anora out, you are faced by [[My Master, Right or Wrong|Ser Cauthrien]] (who has more hit points than any boss besides the [[Our Dragons Are Different|High]] [[Bonus Boss|Dragon]]) and a brigade of soldiers. If you manage to win (probably through overuse of [[Game Breaker|Cone of Cold]]), you get to skip the [[Prison Break]] in Fort Drakon, and you don't have to fight her again while entering the Landsmeet building.

** WWE games have this a lot, the storylines are seemingly not at all dependent on what you do in the ring.

*** Somewhat acceptable, as the storylines are scripted in the actual WWE as well. And interference by a third wrestler is commonplace.

** When you play as X, the intro-stage battle with Vile has been [[Video Game Remake|changed]] from a [[Hopeless Boss Fight]] to one of these. You have to do a certain amount of damage, but then Vile will simply waste you; Zero's entrance then proceeds on schedule.

** In ''X5'', no matter how badly the player wastes Zero (as X) or X (as Zero), Zero's Sōgenmu or X's Soul Body attack from the previous game will be pulled out of nowhere to turn the fight into a draw.

* Severely overused in ''[[Baten Kaitos]] Origins''. This happens so often that it actually drives the main character into a [[Heroic BSOD]] over his constant losses when anything other than his own life is actually at stake. The fights usually end with an unavoidable attack from the boss, then a [[Big Damn Villains|villain]] coming out of nowhere to blast the boss into pieces and gloat at you. (''Especially'' egregious in the Lava Caves; [[Fridge Logic|how the hell did Valara get that mecha in there without anyone noticing?!]]) Just to make it more infuriating, some of those bosses are ''[[That One Boss|tough]]''.

** It's done in the first game as well, although not quite as much. It still gets irritating when you're beating a boss into the ground, and then the next minute your characters are flipping out about 'how tough this thing is'.

* The battle against [[The Dragon|Kagekiyo]] [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy|Taira]] in ''[[Genji]]'' in the first chapter. You can get your revenge in the second chapter after your training in the Golden Temple.

* At least two skill checks in the [[Billy vs. SNAKEMAN]] storyline quests are not to succeed in what your character is attempting, but just to lose "in an awesome and non-fatal way".

* After you defeat Rictus in ''[[Anachronox]]'', he will suddenly recover for no reason and curbstomp the party in a cutscene. Justified, however, since Rictus ''is'' a literal comic book villain and pulling cheap moves is par for his course. Boots will even lampshade it, moments before it happens, by recalling a similar fight for the comics.

* Happens with most of the final bosses in [[Odin Sphere]] if you don't defeat them with the character that is mentioned in the prophecies.

* ''[[Baroque (video game)|Baroque]]'''s plot is practically built on this. Dying is a key way to advance the plot. Not to mention, once you actually ''win'', It has the same effects as dying. Whee!

* While it doesn't come with a curb stomp after the fight, winning against Mukai in [[The King of Fighters]] 2003 results in him standing up, back in his standard battle pose, with your characters remarking (more or less) how you barely scratched him (and sometimes how he even seems unfazed). He leaves afterward, with only a hint of the trouble that's to come.

** The Human mission 9 involves defeating Protoss outpost, without harming the Zerg base. After eliminating the threat, the Zerg overrun your base, facilitating Kerrigan's [[Face Heel Turn]].

*** Theoretically. Rather foolishly, they didn't make that powerful a force. As such, it's quite easy to destroy it with a few well placed bunkers, battleships, and siege tank emplacements, that you spend much time building to chase down the old enemy. Doesn't change the cutscenes, though.

* No matter how much Sentinel ass Forge kicks in [[X-Men Next Dimension]], he'll still just get himself tied up and captured.

* An inverted variation happens in ''[[Ultima VII Part Two]]: Serpent Isle''. After one of your friends is put on trial in Fawn for blasphemy, you're supposed to sneak into the temple, locate the controls for the oracle, and set her to say the truth (as opposed to being forced by the priestess to condemn the accused). If you don't bother to do so, the next day the oracle will, as expected, condemn your friend... and then the resistance (who gave you the key to the temple earlier) bursts in, reveals the whole plot, and arranges for your friend to be freed. Either way, you can't fail this. (A rare case of averting [[Holding Out for a Hero]], too.)

* Happens all the time ''[[Suikoden III]]''. Most of the plot boss battles (as opposed to the optional treasure bosses) are this. It...gets a bit tiresome.

* ''[[Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2]]'' has a nifty variation that's a combination of this trope and [[Hopeless Boss Fight]]. It's the fight between [[Doomed by Canon|Jiraya and Pain]]. You have to legitimately win the match, and drain Pain's health meter to zero, then in the middle of the fight, Jiraya gets nailed by a sneak attack by one of the heretofore unseen Pain paths, which then leads to an heavily injured, barely playable Jiraya trying to stave off all six Pains. You will lose, but then in the ensuing quick time event, you have Jiraya get back up, and through sheer will, blow one of the Pains completely away with a move that launches his own dying body into the ocean. Heads I Win Tails you Lose has rarely been this cool.

* The downloadable ''[[Resident Evil 5]]'' bonus chapter, ''Lost In Nightmares'', is essentially a playable version of a flashback cutscene from the main storyline, so naturally its outcome is a [[Foregone Conclusion]], including the playable boss fight against the [[Big Bad]]. The bare minimum you need to do to "win" is to simply survive for a certain length of time, although you can also "beat" him in the fight and finish the battle earlier. Of course, winning in this case just means you successfully trigger the canonical [[Curb Stomp Battle]] cutscene, and you get to watch you and your partner get smacked around for a while.

* The first fight against Kai Leng in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]''. Lose and its game over. Win and {{spoiler|he has a gunship destroy the temple you're fighting in, steals the data both of you are after and escapes while you're busy trying to avoid falling to your death.}}

 

'''Non-Video Game Examples:'''

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Gameplay and Story Segregation]]

[[Category:Boss Battle]]