Nonstandard Game Over: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:Moon crashing 4315.jpg|link=The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask|frame|[http://www.zeldawiki.org/Terminan_Apocalypse This] is what happens when you let the moon listen to too much of 2Pac's Fuck Da World.]]

 

 

In most games, players see the dreaded [[Game Over]] screen when their [[Player Character|in-game avatars]] are defeated in some way. Maybe they [[Life Meter|took too many wounds]] and lost all their [[Hit Points]], or maybe they fell down too many [[Bottomless Pits]] and lost all their [[Video Game Lives|lives]]. They could have failed an [[Sliding Scale of Video Game Objectives|objective]] or lost a critical [[Non-Player Character|NPC]]. They might have forgotten to pause the game while reading the walkthrough they pulled from [[GameFAQs]] and the game's [[Timed Mission|timer ran out]]—you get the idea. These are all standard failings, usually treated with a simple, default message: "Game Over."

* Punishment game overs that the game levies against usually unsuspecting players who attempt to [[No Fair Cheating|break the rules]] or derail the plot (e.g., when the game actually lets you [[Refusal of the Call|say "no" to the main quest]]—the opposite of [[But Thou Must!]]); and

* Odd or bizarre noncanon endings [[Press X to Die|that the player can choose to acquire]], which usually involve failing a mission objective in such a way that causes the death of the main characters.

 

This page is about the unusual, context-sensitive methods by which players trigger a [[Game Over]] screen. It doesn't include the times when the game [[Fission Mailed|tries to trick you into thinking that the game has ended.]]

For standard Game Overs that result from an instant-kill attack, see [[One-Hit Kill]].

 

{{examples}}

* One of the ''[[Kirby]]'' games has a [[Boss Rush]] mini-game. When you lose all your lives, you [[Death Throws|fall down one last time as if there's a hole]]. And instead of "Try Again" and "Quit", you get "Accept Defeat".

** In the DS version, if you lose to the [[Bonus Boss]] {{spoiler|Dream Devourer, Schala says she will erase all existence}}, and then you see the "In the end, the future refused to change" screen.

** Losing to Magus in 600 AD (who is no pushover) will treat you to a very short scene in which he turns around and continues summoning. And, before the screen fades to black, Lavos's great scream is the last thing you hear.

* In the arcade version of ''[[Street Fighter Alpha]] 3'', losing the final CPU match against M. Bison does not allow you to continue. Instead, you'll get an alternate ending in which M. Bison uses your character's body as an energy source for his Psycho Drive. And if you lose to Ryu playing as M. Bison, it will play Ryu's ending instead.

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: [[Majoras Mask]]'' had two game over types; the standard death, and the ending that occurs when you let the moon fall on Termina.

** The [[Nintendo Hard|notoriously cruel]] ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (video game)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' text adventure also does this if you, as Ford Prefect, negate the events of the game by not saving Arthur Dent from the Earth's destruction in the first place. It is particularly notable for causing chaos and consternation among players by actually quitting the game in MID-SENTENCE.

** Quitting the game became a less acceptable option over time at [[Infocom]], but the ''Enchanter'' Trilogy, sequel to the ''[[Zork]]'' Trilogy, kept up the tradition of having special ways to die. In all three games it is possible to take actions that not only cause you to fail your mission but make the world substantially worse off than it was before. Thus, your score displayed at the game over prompt, which normally would be some score taken out of a total (100 out of 400, say) and give you a rank dependent on your score (from "Charlatan" to "Enchanter" to "Sorcerer" to "Archmage"), would instead become a score of -100 and your rank would be "Menace to Society". In the original game, ''Enchanter'', one earned this rank for releasing a powerful Lovecraftian demon upon the land; in the sequel, ''Sorcerer'', one earned this rank for successfully tracking down your demon-possessed mentor and allowing the demon to transfer itself to your far more powerful body; and in the finale, ''Spellbreaker'', it was revealed that the [[Evil Plan|entire plot of the game was a cunning trap]] and that actually succeeding in your goal would grant you this rank if you didn't see the ruse in time.

* In the computer game version of [[Frederick Forsyth]]'s ''[[The Fourth Protocol]]'' (in 1984), you have to uncover a Soviet plot to explode a nuclear bomb near a US Air Force base in Britain, to influence the upcoming British elections and lead to the election of an anti-NATO, anti-American, anti-nuclear, pro-Soviet government. Usually, if you take too long or don't get anywhere with the plot, you get a memo telling you you're [[Reassigned to Antarctica|being reassigned to]] [[British Frozen Rocks with Penguins and Landmines|the Falkland Islands]], until you get far enough. When you find the bomb you have to defuse it, and if you mess it up you are told the plan succeeded: Britain fell to the Soviets, and they started working on Europe from two fronts. But sometimes a different ending appears: the bomb leads to a limited nuclear war, destroying both sides and making the northern hemisphere uninhabitable. This comes "From the annals of the Australio-Indonesian Empire..."

* In the ''[[Strike]]'' series of Helicopter games, simply getting yourself blown up would earn a normal game over. Failing a mission or otherwise rendering the level [[Unwinnable]], however, would result in your being recalled to base for a dressing-down from your commanding officer which changed according to what you did wrong. (From ''Jungle Strike'''s first level, if you [[Turned Against Their Masters|tried some]] [[Monumental Damage]] of your own: "You redecorated the [[White House]], Beruit style!")

* ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]''. If you REALLY louse up and annoy the gods enough, {{spoiler|you are sent into a swamp and told by Freya that you are faulty machinery, then proceed to fight her. [[Heads I Win, Tails You Lose|Whether you win or lose, the game ends]].}}

** Losing to the final boss of ''[[Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria]]'' results in the boss doing some [[To the Pain]] taunting at your fallen character.

*** And like before, even with cheats, the game ends as the death of her causes a premature end of the world, and Ailyth won't approve of that.

* ''[[Half-Life]]'' has several of these:

** In ''Half-Life 2'': Episode Two the G-man's endgame reports have been replaced with Vortessent messages, the most amusing of which comments that "the Magnusson's misgivings about the Freeman were completely justified" if the player fails to protect the base.

* ''[[Rise of Nations]]'' has two kinds of Game Over: the normal defeat, when your opponent simply wins, and the [[The End of the World as We Know It|Armageddon defeat]], which happens if you [[Nuke'Em|drop too many nukes]], and basically means everybody loses. Similarly, the [[Cold War]] campaign has two Game Overs: the normal defeat, where the opposing side wins, and the Nuclear Holocaust ending, where everybody fires [[Mnogo Nukes]].

* ''[[Fire Emblem]] [[Fire Emblem Elibe|7]]'' has an interesting case - in one of the sidechapters, the completion goal is to make it to the other side of the map and talk to the boss, [[Pirate|Fargus]], in order to earn being ferried by his crew to the Dread Isle. If you so choose to attack Fargus, he'll probably kill any unit you have at the time. But if you [[Lord British Postulate|somehow defeat him]], the mission ends with him telling you that you now have no way to continue. '''Game over'''. Even [[Failure Is the Only Option|if you didn't kill him]], he would then refuse to take you to the Dread Isle, resulting in a similar '''Nonstandard Game Over'''.

* In ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'', if you die a certain way or in a certain place, Valtiel is shown carrying away Heather's body.

** After the standard [[Critical Existence Failure]], the gameover screen reads "You have died. Would you like to try again?" If your [[Oxygen Meter]] runs out underwater, the screen changes to "You have drowned." If you fall into either of the two [[Bottomless Pits]] in the game, it reads "You were never seen again..."

** The worst of the game's [[Multiple Endings]] borders on a non-standard game over. Notably, the music that plays ("Hero's End") is different from that in the better endings ("The Way Back Home"), and this is the only ending that lacks the ending credits.

* In ''[[Shadow of Destiny]]'', when you die, you are generally given a couple of hints, and automatically continue; without the option to game over. However, it is possible in at least the first chapter to meet yourself -- [[Never the Selves Shall Meet|by coming into contact with yourself, you create a time paradox which erases you from existence.]] It also fails back to the title screen.

** You also unlock one of the [[Multiple Endings]] by inducing someone else to do it.

* Plenty of 'em in ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]''. For example, if you fall out of the sky, a plane from ''Mario Paint'' hits you, accompanied by an 8-bit [[Game Over]] music ditty.

** ''[[Hokuto no Ken|Hokuto Shinken]]...[[Street Fighter|Spinning Piledriver]]!''

* ''[[Rogue (video game)|Rogue]]'': "R.I.P.: Software Pirate. Killed by Copy Protection Mafia.", if you die while playing an illegal copy.

* ''[[Call of Duty]]'': "You are a traitor to the motherland!" if you kill a Commissar in the Russian campaign, or "You were killed by a grenade".

** Failing to move past certain events in recent installments will replace the quotes with whatever you are supposed to do. One is reminded to "Hold on for dear life" after falling to death while ice climbing.

** Dying to an attack dog in ''Modern Warfare'' or a Banzai charger in ''World at War'' has the game tell you when to press the melee button/key to save yourself.

* ''[[Operation Wolf]]'': Aside from "sustaining a lethal injury", the game will also end if you run out of bullets and grenades ("Since you have no ammunition left, you must join the hostages.").

** Strangely enough, you still have to run out of health before that happens.

* In [[Star Control II]]: The Ur-Quan Masters, the Ur-Quan, being the reasonable people they are, will allow you to surrender them and spare the lives of your crew. They're not going to let ''you'' live, of course, and even if they did you wouldn't have your plot-necessary [[Cool Spaceship]] anymore, so if you accept the conversation cuts directly to a [[Game Over]] screen. Still, quite a magnanimous offer considering that everyone on you ship is currently engaged in fully voluntary rebellion.

** The game has a time limit, in that eventually the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah who have an agenda of total genocide will triumph over the green Ur-Quan and begin moving to exterminate all sentient life in the galaxy. You can monitor their progress on the galactic map as they move from species to species. Eventually they will head for Earth and if they arrive before you eliminate their flagship and halt their advance, the population of Earth is eradicated and it's game over.

* In the original ''[[Time Crisis]]'', running out of time caused an instant game over, unlike the sequels.

* A mission in the later parts of [[Mafia II]] has you in a house trying to hide somewhere while hoping not to be seen by a hitman. If you decide to hide in the shower you will be treated to an extra cutscene of the hitman shooting you through the curtains and then you get your "You got killed"-screen.

* ''[[Oregon Trail]] II'': "You're Fired!" (kicked out of the wagon train), if you're a trail guide and morale gets too low.

* In ''[[Big Rigs Over the Road Racing]]'', if you download a patch so the computer could move, and it wins, the game will crash because ''[[Obvious Beta|there is no code for when you lose a race]]''.

* In the Sega CD version of ''[[Spider Man vs. the Kingpin]]'', losing to the Kingpin (the final boss) results in a sad ending sequence in which the Kingpin triumphs over the defeated Spider-Man. He then lowers both Spider-Man and Mary Jane into the vat of deadly ooze, after which they are never seen again.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Older Than the NES]]

[[Category:Video Game Difficulty Tropes]]

[[Category:Ending Tropes]]