Reset Button: Difference between revisions

[[File:reset_button2reset button2.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|''"Do I dare<br />

''Disturb the universe?<br />

''In a minute there is time<br />

''For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse."''|'''[[TS Eliot|T. S. Eliot]]''', "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"}}

The '''Reset Button''' is any means by which previously occurring drastic events are made partially or wholly irrelevant by the end of the story. This is very common to American TV shows both live-action and animated, particularly from [[The Sixties]] through [[The Nineties]], because programming directors like to have the luxury of repeating episodes in any order or no particular order at all. It is also a prime way of enforcing [[Status Quo Is God]].

Any [[Reset Button]] events in a [[Time Travel]] story are usually related to, or caused by, a [[Temporal Paradox]]. For when hits the Reset Button on a video game, see [[Bag of Spilling]]. When the player hits it, a lot, over and over, see [[Save Scumming]].

Contrast with [[Here We Go Again]]. Not to be confused with the [[End of the World Special]] that concludes many anime series, in which much of the damage done in the series is reversed, but the main storylines either remain or become resolved. Can lead to a [[Story Reset]] often in such a way that parts of the story are [[Justified Trope|rewritten]] at a [[Ret -Gone|later]] date.

{{examples|Examples}}

* In the ''[[Love Hina]]'' anime, any time it seems there might be progression in the relationship between two characters (most usually Keitaro and Naru), an event will occur (typically Keitaro "accidentally" touching Naru's breasts with a consequent [[Megaton Punch]] making Keitaro [[A Twinkle in Thethe Sky]]) to ensure that [[Status Quo Is God]]. Conversely, in the manga, Keitaro and Naru's relationship does progress (though occasionally in a "two steps forward, one step back" kind of way), and the [[Distant Finale]] shows their wedding day.

* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini]]'' starts most arcs as if the previous ones had never happened; this at first seems to be [[Negative Continuity]] but the first season's final arc implies something more is going on when Keiichi freaks out ({{spoiler|confessing to his very-much-alive friend that he can remember killing her}}) after suddenly remembering traumatic details from the very first arc. In the second season, we're introduced to the character that keeps pressing the [[Reset Button]].

* The [[Reset Button]] ending of ''[[MaiMy-HiME]]'' is often criticized for undoing much of the drama that unfolded in earlier episodes, as well as for "not really fitting the mood" of the series. May explain why the writers of ''[[Mai-Otome]]'' went with the [[Contractual Immortality]] route instead... well, except for that one character [[Killed Off for Real]] mid-series, thanks to the [[Really Dead Montage]].

* The end of [[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'s third season. {{spoiler|Understandable, though, considering they killed off just about the ''entire cast.'' Was anyone expecting them to stay dead?}}

* Miaka of ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' uses her last wish to Suzaku so that the two worlds would return to normal. {{spoiler|They don't.}}

* Portions of the series ''[[Saitama Chainsaw Shoujo]]'' were rendered moot when {{spoiler|it was revealed that the classmates Fumio sliced and diced were actually [[Doppelganger|doppelgangersdoppelganger]]s. The real students were locked away in another dimension.}}

* The end of the [[Eleven Eyes11eyes]] anime. {{spoiler|Everyone except the three main characters is resurrected and loses their memories of everything bad that happened, including 'their own deaths'.}}

* In [[Mirai Nikki]], Yukiteru Amano's sole reason to winning the game and [[A God Am I|becoming God]] is so he can wield the [[Reset Button]] and bring all his friends back to life. {{spoiler|[[Downer Ending|It won't work.]]}}

* In the original, 1969 [[Himitsu no Akko-chan]] series, after meeting [[Long -Lost Uncle Aesop|a new deaf kid]], the heroine Akko-chan uses her [[Literal Genie|magic mirror]] [[Be Careful What You Wish For|to wish herself]] [[Compressed Vice|deaf-mute]] and achieve a better understanding of his plight. However, when believing to have already gotten her Aesop Akko-chan tries to wish her hearing back, she finds out that, due to having wished herself ''deaf and mute'', she no longer possesses the ability to communicate verbally, and the mirror refuses her wish. The [[Reset Button]] hits itself, restoring the heroine at her original state, only after [[Nightmare Fuel|the protagonist is scared into her right Aesop]].

* In [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]], Madoka uses her wish to {{spoiler|reboot the universe into a slightly less horrible place by making it so witches cannot exist; all it cost her in return [[Ascend to Aa Higher Plane of Existence|was being forgotten by everyone except Homura.]]}}

* While [[Les Legendaires (Comic Book)|Les Légendaires]] mostly adverts this trope (every story arc is at least once referenced later, and any change that happen ''will'' remain), there was at least one exception with the story arc in Book 5 and 6, involving the current villain Ceyderom [[Time Travel|travelling through time]] in order to prevent the Legendaries from ever existing. After all Legendaries but Jadina died trying to stop him, Jadina ends up seizing the time travelling machine, going back to a few week before Ceyderom found it and destroying, thus cancelling ''everything'' that has happened since the beginning of the story arc; apparently, even her forgot everything that has happened then. On the other hand, the arc made mention of part of the Legendaries' past, and introduced two characters (Prince Halan and Tenebris) who came back later.

* ''[[I'm a Marvel... Andand ImI'm ADCa (Fanfic)DC|Marvel/DC After Hours]]'' has some fun with it.

{{quote| '''Spiderman:''' Wait. So, that's all [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]] had to do?<br />

'''Batman:''' What do you mean?<br />

'''Spiderman:''' I mean, he just pressed the reset button, basically. I was kinda hoping for something, I don't know, a bit more... epic<br />

'''Batman:''' It's a perfectly plausible resolution.<br />

'''Spiderman:''' Yeah, but is it satisfying?<br />

'''Batman:''' [[Magic aA Is Magic A|It works within the boundaries of what was established]].<br />

'''Spiderman:''' Yeah, but it takes all the excitement out of it if all you have to do is [[Reset Button Ending|make it so that it never happened]].<br />

'''Batman:''' No, that's only if [[All Just a Dream|it turns out to just be a dream]] or something.<br />

* The Michael Crichton film ''[[Sphere]]'' employed a [[Reset Button]]. The book's ending is left ambiguous enough that one can infer that the [[Reset Button]] attempt only made things ''[[It Got Worse|worse]]'', though [[The Film of the Book]] lacks this [[Karmic Twist Ending]].

* The movie ''[[Bewitched (Filmfilm)|Bewitched]]'', which already didn't make much sense, employed a reset button about 2/3rds of the way through the movie that practically took the story back to the beginning again.

* ''[[Galaxy Quest (Film)|Galaxy Quest]]'' had a very limited [[Reset Button]]: the Omega 13 could turn time back thirteen seconds. Just ''barely'' enough time to fix a major mistake. Fortunately, it wasn't a plot reset button. The movie was way too good to try that.

* The 1936 film ''The Man Who Could Work Miracles'' (based on an H.G. Wells book of the same name) employs a giant reset button. After stopping earth's rotation to make the day last forever and the [[Literal Genie]] trope operates with the effect of DESTROYING the entire surface. The main character decided he is only human after all - he wishes he'd never had his godlike powers and returns to the very beginning of the plot, minus the powers or memory he ever had them.

* ''[[Star Trek III: theThe Search For Spock (Film)|Star Trek III the Search For Spock]]'' is one big honkin' Reset Button which effectively undoes every plot development from ''[[Star Trek II: theThe Wrath of Khan]]''. [[Star Trek (Filmfilm)|And then...]]

** This wasn't so much a [[Reset Button]], since Spock was highly changed after his resurrection; likewise, it was fairly obvious from Spock's mind-meld with McCoy before his death, that he was doing this for an upcoming reason-- andreason—and it wasn't just so Spock's k'atra (i.e. soul) could be transerred to Vulcan. While the Genesis Device and Kirk's son were indeed ''removed'' as original plot-devices, the Genesis device remained as a new super-weapon, and became the driving basis of he plot behind Kruge's mission; meanwhile David Marcus's death became central to the plot of Star Trek VI, when this made Kirk decide that the only good Klingon was a ''dead'' one. No reset-button.

** Also: the ''Enterprise'' was freakin' destroyed, and (as far as we knew at the end of the film,) the careers of the crew were in tatters -- theytatters—they'd be lucky to not go to prison for disobeying orders and stealing the ship. Certainly not ''status quo ante''.

* ''[[Star Trek (Filmfilm)|Star Trek]]'' (2009) hits a reset button for the universe of ''a franchise'' (apart from the prequel series ''[[Enterprise]]'', while explicitly invoking the [[MST3K Mantra]] as a fig-leaf

* There was a type of reset-button used after ''[[Star Trek: the Motion Picture (Film)|Star Trek theThe Motion Picture]]'', when the events of the movie seemed to no longer exist as of Star Trek II. The Enterprise re-fit seemed greatly toned down from its awesome power shown, Spock no longer had his embrace of emotion gained in the movie, and events were now set 15 years in the future rather than 2-1/2. [[Word of God]] indicates that this due to a studio-decision to depart from the old ways and appeal to a broader audience with ''[[Star Wars]]''-like sci-fi, hero-vs-villain, derring-do and metaphor, as opposed to the original formula of logic, hard science and futuristic optimism. This was visually demonstrated when Khan hoisted Checkov in a one-handed manner unmistakably reminiscent of Darth Vader doing the same to Captain Antilles... while indicating a similar turn of character.

* ''[[Star Trek Generations (Film)|Star Trek Generations]]'' used the [[Reset Button]], via Picard's travelling back through the Nexus to before the star exploded, in order to bring back Kirk to help stop it from happening.

* In 1972, in response to the politics of the [[Fritz the Cat (Animationanimation)|animated film adaptation]] of his comic ''[[Fritz the Cat (Comic Bookcomics)|Fritz the Cat]]'', [[Robert Crumb]] kills off Fritz. Two years later, Steve Krantz produces an animated sequel, ''[[The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (Animation)|The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat]]''.

* BBC Books' last full-length novel [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe|based on ''Doctor Who'']] featuring the Eighth Doctor sets up a [[Reset Button]] to clear the novel continuity out of the way of the new series, but doesn't actually press it. Instead, the book ends on a cliffhanger. Lance Parkin left the door open in case the new series bombed, as the BBC thought it might have done. In which case, novel continuity would have (mostly or completely) ignored the new series continuity.

* ''[[A Game of Universe]]'' features both direct and indirect examples of [[Reset Button|Reset Buttons]]. In the direct example, Germain goes back in time seven seconds after {{spoiler|losing a magical battle and going to hell}}. The indirect example comes when {{spoiler|an angel reveals that he's been following Germain and traveling back in time every time he dies}}.

* Done in ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'' when the gang go back in time to {{spoiler|prevent the birth of Visser Four's human host body.}}

** This is becoming a theme in Pratchett: the way the History Monks are evoked to ensure the ''correct'' passage of history happens, even if it means having to manipulate the timeline to do it. ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Small Gods|Small Gods]]'', ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Thief of Time|Thief of Time]]'', and the whole Koom Valley Thing are all examples of the Reset Button in action.

* [[HGH. G. Wells]]' "The Man Who Could Work Miracles" is a vintage example, in which the title character chooses to undo all the damage he's caused by willing that history re-set itself to just before he discovered his powers, at which point he'll lose them forever.

* In ''[[Before I Fall]]'', Samantha's day restarts every time she dies or falls asleep, whichever comes first, until the seventh day, when she [[Foregone Conclusion|dies for good]].

== Live -Action TV ==

* Given its dependence on [[Time Travel]], ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' can often be found pressing this button. ''[[Star Trek Voyager (TV)|Star Trek: Voyager]]'', specifically, may have caused irreparable damage to the entire Trope Console due to its constant, eager pounding of the Reset Button. Character development still continues despite the usage of the reset button on ''Voyager''. In fact, fewer episodes hit the reset button than don't. Most of the episodes that do are time travel episodes.

*** This apparently had something to do with some sort of temporal insanity caused by having the proverbial reset button pressed one too many times... [[Timey -Wimey Ball|or something...]]

* ''[[I CarlyiCarly]]'' has pushed the button with both major couples, Carly/Freddie and Sam/Freddie.

** It spent three seasons building up the Carly/Freddie relationship. They got together in one episode after Freddie saved Carly's life then broke up based on Sam's questionable idea that Carly's feelings weren't real, leading to a [[Self -Fulfilling Prophecy]] when the reset button gets hit and none of the trio ''ever'' speak of it again.

* ''[[Star Trek: the Original Series (TV)|Star Trek theThe Original Series]]'' did push the reset button once, inexplicably, through time-travel; here, they undid events of the past by simply ''beaming'' future persons into their prior selves before the time-change, which somehow erased the future person's memory. This was a [[Reset Button]] since they conveniently claimed that by doing this, "it never happened--" when the two Air Force personnel were clearly on the Enterprise.

* ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine (TV)|Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' finally had to introduce a branch of Starfleet called the "Temporal Investigations", in which they cited Kirk as having committed seventeen separate temporal violations; the biggest file on record.

* The episode of ''[[My Favorite Martian (TV)|My Favorite Martian]]'' where Martin's nephew Andromeda ("Andy") shows up, ends with Martin using a time machine as a [[Reset Button]] when Andy's success in proving his and Martin's origins starts the neighbors looking for torches[[Torches and pitchforksPitchforks]].

* A rare example of a [[Reset Button]] without [[Applied Phlebotinum]]: the fifth season finale of ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'' undid nearly everything that had happened that season, in order to get things in position for next season. Character relationships that had taken over a dozen episodes to develop undid themselves in less than ten minutes, and characters revealed that they had [[Retcon|never really been]] that way. It was [[Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends]], but also other loose ends.

* The ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'' [[Season Finale]], "End of Days", features a {{spoiler|false climax has the heroes pressing a reset button that fixes everything that's gone wrong earlier in the episode, but in a subversion of the trope, doing causes the son of Satan to physically manifest himself as a gigantic monster who kills thousands of people before the team can stop him.}}

* Used in the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' Series 3 finale "[[Doctor Who (TV)/NS/Recap/S3 S29/E13 Last of the Time Lords|Last of the Time Lords]]", {{spoiler|wherein a year was reset by the destruction of the machine that kept the altered timeline running. This only resets half of the two-part story, though, taking them back to just before the midpoint [[Cliff Hanger]]. Only everyone on board the ''Valiant'' at the time remember the year that never happened, which briefly comes into play much later at the beginning of "[[Doctor Who (TV)/NS/Recap/S4 S30/E17 E18 The End of Time|The End of Time]]".}}

** A crueler example is that at the end of Series 4 finale "[[Doctor Who (TV)/NS/Recap/S4 S30/E13 Journeys End|Journey's End]]". While the timeline is not reset at all, {{spoiler|Donna herself is reset to her original self as her knowledge of the Doctor threatens to kill her, poor thing}}.

** Also found in the Series 5 "[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S31 /E13 The Big Bang|The Big Bang]]" - most of the episode is devoted to finding a way to hit the Reset Button. {{spoiler|After the Doctor presses it with a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] that apparently erases him from reality, Amy still remembers him while everyone else apparently doesn't at first --- and her memories are the only way to bring him back to the universe.}} Also, the pressing resets a bit more than the events of the episode, like {{spoiler|Amy's parents being restored}}.

** And again in Series 6 "[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S32 /E10 The Girl Who Waited|The Girl Who Waited]]" - {{spoiler|Amy gets caught in a faster timestream, causing her to have lived 36 years before being rescued. The Doctor and Rory try to save younger Amy from having to wait that long, but they need older Amy's help. She initially refuses, because it would mean erasing her own existence.}}

* The pilot of the prematurely canceled remake of ''Fantasy Island'' involved a little boy whose fantasy was that his father would turn out to be his favorite superhero. In a very blatant [[Lampshade Hanging]], the boy says that his hero's best superpower is the "reset button" on his video game, which allows him to return from death and undo all his mistakes -- whichmistakes—which is how the boy undoes all the trouble his wish has caused at the end of the show.

* A number of times in the ''[[Stargate Verse]]'': the Aschen arc, "Unending" and more recently ''[[Stargate Atlantis (TV)|Stargate Atlantis]]'' {{spoiler|In which Sam Carter, Dr. Keller, Ronon Dex and Teyla all die painfully and a hologram Rodney manages to get Sheppard back from the future to reset the plot. Then a building collapses on several of the characters.}}

** In "Unending", the [[Reset Button]] is an actual button that's pressed near the end of the episode.

** More recently, in the ''[[Stargate Universe (TV)|Stargate Universe]]'' episode "Time". The episode begins with a reset button having already been pushed, with the crew discovering a recording device sent back through time. It gave the crew enough information to figure out the episode's plot. {{spoiler|By that time several characters have already died a second time, so they wind up loading another recording device with a brief summary of exactly what they need to do to solve everything, and sent that back through time, pushing the reset button a second time. A subsequent short webisode reveals that, in the main timeline, they wind up finding ''[[Timey -Wimey Ball|both]]'' recording devices.}} It was either [[Love It or Hate It|one of the]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|best episodes so far]] [[Love It or Hate It|or a complete]] disaster.

** ''[[Kamen Rider Ryuki]]'' has the Time Vent card, which [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|turns back time]]. The person hosting the Rider Wars, Shiro, uses this card to get the ending he wants, but when he discovers that {{spoiler|it's not what his sister wanted}}, he uses it one last time to revive everyone.

* In the ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'' episode "White Hole", Lister knocks a planet into the hole to collapse it, causing all time spewed out by it to become null. Kryten explains that the few weeks events leading to this point will not have happened, all the while the decor around them slowly vanishes to a field of stars. Just as the cast themselves are about to vanish, Kryten takes the occasion to tell Rimmer just how much he hates him, ending with a final "Ha!" just as they all get reset back to the start of the episode again.

* ''[[Angel]]'' pressed the [[Reset Button]] and erased the events of the previous 24 hours in the episode "I Will Always Remember You" in order to save Buffy's life. However, as the events erased including Angel becoming human and having a perfect night with Buffy, and that Angel's price for getting the [[Reset Button]] pushed was that he alone remembered everything, it became an instant [[Tear Jerker]].

* Happens once in ''[[Big Wolf Onon Campus]]''.

** In the ''Smallville'' season 8 episode "Infamous", Clark's use of a [[Reset Button]] is referenced by trope name.

* ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' has followed ''Smallville'''s example in many ways, even calling their show "An Arthurian Smallville". They also use the Reset Button just as much. Every time someone sees Merlin use magic, you know they're about to die, leave Camelot, or lose their memory. Also, every time it looks like King Uther might die, change his views on magic, or somehow lose his throne, the effect will be reset within two episodes. It's annoying, but an amusing game is to try to predict how the writers will get everything back to the [[Status Quo Is God|Status Quo]] by the end of the episode.

* Despite setting out to avert this trope, the conclusion to ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'''s New Caprica arc at the beginning of Season 3 served as a [[Reset Button]] of sorts by {{spoiler|killing off the}} '' {{spoiler|Pegasus}}'' {{spoiler|as quick as it could}} and resetting the show to as it was in Season 1, losing its momentum in many almost irrelevent standalones.

** Even though the fleet's situation in Season 3 is similar to that of Season 1, they avert the Reset Button by having the characters spend almost all of the season dealing with the after-effects of the New Caprica arc: first with "Collaborators", then with "Unfinished Business", and finally with Baltar's trial which takes up the final three episodes of the season. Most of the characters and relationships were profoundly altered by the events on New Caprica. The plot was reset after New Caprica, but the characters weren't.

* In the ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' third Volume ''Villains'', some of the characters referred to Hiro as their reset button in case anything went wrong in their battle against Arthur. {{spoiler|Unfortunately, Arthur got to him first and regressed him mentally to 10 years old.}}

* The children's game shows ''[[Where in Thethe World Is Carmen San DiegoSandiego?]]?'' and ''[[Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?]]?'' do this in an interesting manner. At the end of every episode, one of Carmen's henchmen is always captured, and Carmen herself is sometimes captured. Everything is all hunky dory and the host of the show praises the winning contestant for saving the world, but then in the time between the end of that episode and the beginning of the next day's/week's episode, the reset button is hit, allowing Carmen to return to planning evil capers in every episode.

* With ''[[House (TV series)|House]], M.D.'', the reset button is psychological. House goes through several life-altering events, and it always seems like he's going to change for the better - [[Ignored Epiphany|except he doesn't]]. The Button itself usually comes in the form of House's Vicodin addiction, and not surprisingly the signal that tells us he's "back to his old self" is usually him taking a pill.

* The amusingly [[Literal -Minded|literal-minded]] children's [[The BBC|BBC]] sitcom ''Hounded'' sees its protagonist [[As Himself|Rufus Hound]] sucked weekly into a [[Alternate Universe|parallel universe]] where he must face off with an incompetent [[Big Bad]] who is such a [[Card Carrying Villain|Card-Carrying Villain]] he's actually called [[Meaningful Name|Dr Muhahahaha]], whose [[Evil Plan|preposterous scheme of the week]] to [[Take Over the World|take over the Earth]] is invariably foiled by the hero at the end of each episode - in [[Genre Savvy|expectation of which]] Dr Mu ''has installed a literal big red [[Reset Button|Reset button]]'' he can press at this point, which rewinds the whole episode's plot [[Groundhog Day Loop|back to the start of the day]] ready for him to have another crack next time...

* One two parter episode of [[The X -Files]] called 'Dreamland' has Mulder accidentally switch bodies with a Man In Black working at area 51. Unfortunately, they find out there is no way to switch back, but luckily at the end of the episode, everything just sort of fixes itself, with time even reversing so that no-one remembers the events that took place. It's a pretty blatant Reset Button, and doesn't even make much sense in the way it works, but the episodes are [[Rule of Funny|such]] [[Rule of Cool|fun]] anyway, most fans don't seem to care.

* Used several times in ''[[Supernatural]]'', though the principle characters are typically left aware of what happened: in ''Mystery Spot'' the Trickster (Gabriel) killed Dean over and over again, and then brought him back to as if nothing had happened following an excruciatingly funny [[Groundhog Day Loop]], by Castiel in ''My Heart Will Go On'' (though it was passed off to everyone except Sam and Dean as [[All Just a Dream]]) when Fate forced him to retroactively re-sink the Titanic, and by Michael at the end of ''The Song Remains The Same,'' where the only notable change to reality by the end of the episode was the destruction of Anna, which apparently had little practical effect on anything.

* No matter how often [[The Fall Guy (TV series)|Colt Seavers]] totals his truck, he has always got a shiny new one in the next episode—in spite of the [[Running Gag]] that the truck isn't even paid off yet.

* All that paint is cleaned up impossibly quickly at the end of ''[[Community]]'' episode [[Community (TV)/Recap/S1 /E23 Modern Warfare|Modern Warfare]]; the school looks pristine just a few hours after the game ended.

== [[MusicProfessional VideosWrestling]] ==

* The recent{{when}} ''[[The Simpsons]] (video game)|''Simpsons'' game]] had the ultimate reset button when {{spoiler|they asked God to restore Springfield following an alien invasion.}}

* ''[[Xeno SagaXenosaga]]'' made this a central plot point in the third game Thus Spoke Zarathustra and ultimate goal of the [[Big Bad]]. {{spoiler|Wilhelm intended to use an artifact to reset time so the Universe wouldn't be destroyed by spatial expansion.}}

* ''[[Prince of Persia]]: the Sands of Time'' has the both the Sands themselves and the Dagger of Time, a (very) short-time reset button that allowed a player to undo huge mistakes like falling into a death trap, or taking a major beating in a fight. As well, the events of the entire game end up being reset by the end, and in the end movie the Prince uses the Dagger one last time to undo kissing the woman he fell in love with during the erased timeline, who rejects him for doing so while having "just" met her. In a unique variation, the [[Reset Button]] mechanism itself sets off the events of the second game, as the [[Powers That Be]] are out to punish the Prince for using it.

* ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'' had a Time spell called Return or Reset (depending on which version) that you could use during combat to rewind to the beginning of the fight. This spell was very favorable to the player-- itplayer—it would also reset the battle condition. So, for example, if the battle began as an Ambush attack, the player could use this spell and the battle condition would most likely to be changed to a normal battle or even a preemptive attack. Also, it cost only 1 MP.

** Similarly several ''[[Wild ArmsARMs]]'' games.

** ''[[Super Mario RPG (Video Game)|Super Mario RPG]]'' also rewound time for battles via an item called Earlier Times. This would reset the battle back to the start, including its conditions such as the party's status and items held at that time.

** And ''[[Mario and& Luigi: BowsersBowser's Inside Story]]'' has Retry Clocks, which restart the battle if you get KO'd.

* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 (Videovideo Gamegame)||Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]'': {{spoiler|Used at the very end, though it's suggested that Sonic and Elise still remember each other vaguely.}} [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|This was a good move on the design teams part]].

** Sadly, they didn't do it ''well enough'', it seems, as people are still arguing over the [[Plot Hole]] involving Blaze. Nevermind that the ''[[Sonic Rush Series (Video Game)|Sonic Rush Series]]'' subseries completely disregards that game; granted, there's the ''[[Sonic Rivals]]'' subseries (which features Sonic's first meeting with Silver post-reset), but considering how the first ''Rivals'' game has no definitive ending, this is questionable at best.

* In ''<nowiki>~[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask~]]</nowiki>'', the [[Reset Button]] is one of the central gameplay elements. Link only has three days to save Termina -- ifTermina—if he runs out of time, he has to play the Song of Time to go back to the first day, and everything that has happened to the world or the characters is reset. You can ''theoretically'' do it all in one cycle, but you have to '''really''' know what you're doing.

* The second ''[[Ar Tonelicotonelico]]'' has a Song Magic called the [[Reset Button]]. [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|It resets the battle.]] [[Useless Useful Spell|Supposedly, you use it to reset bad things that might happen in battle, but there's really no point...]] And then later on, weird things happen to the [[Reset Button]] in its so-called "upgrades".

* [[Super Mario Galaxy (Video Game)|Super Mario Galaxy]] ends with {{spoiler|Rosalina resetting ''reality itself'' after the destruction of Bowser's galaxy ends up ripping apart the universe, effectively making the sequel a semi-[[Continuity Reboot]].}}

* In [[Spyro the Dragon|The Legend Of Spyro Trilogy]], it turns out {{spoiler|Spyro is the [[Reset Button]] for the planet. If the Destroyer is successful in triggering [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]], Spyro (and likely any Purple Dragon for that matter) can use their power to stop it and restore the world to normal.}}

* ''[[Mortal Kombat 9 (Video Game)|Mortal Kombat 9]]'' resets ''the entire [[Mortal Kombat]] series'', starting at the very beginning of the first ever Mortal Kombat tournament. But since Raiden now has knowledge of the future (and the events of the future games), some things are going to change.

* All ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' games. [[Negative Continuity|No continuity whatsoever]], because [[Shigeru Miyamoto]] feels that it may limit the development of future Mario titles. Considering that ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'', his franchise which ''does'' have a continuity, is a bit of a timeline clusterfuck, he may have a point.

* Every time you [[Ascend to Aa Higher Plane of Existence|ascend]] in ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'', things rapidly go back to the way things were at the beginning of the game, [[New Game Plus+|requiring you to to go back and do it all over.]]

* In ''[[Blaz BlueBlazBlue]]'', {{spoiler|the whole setting is a [[Groundhog Day Loop]], with various possibilities playing out in a [[Time Loop]], and then resetting itself. Several characters often die in [[Multiple Endings]] and other instances, but never canonically. In the [[Canon]] ending of ''[[Blaz Blue Continuum Shift (Video Game)|Blaz BlueBlazBlue: Continuum Shift]]'', however, the [[Reset Button]] and the [[Groundhog Day Loop]] are removed by [[Big Bad|Terumi]], so if anyone dies now, [[Killed Off for Real|they die for good]].}}

* Done literally [http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF111-Reset.jpg in this] ''[[The Perry Bible Fellowship]]'' comic..

* ''[[OrderThe of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'', [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0570.html strip #570].

* ''Spells and Whistles'' has reset itself several times while finding its own unique artistic style (the first such occurrence caused by a cease-and-desist from ''[[Pv PPvP (Webcomicwebcomic)|Pv P]]'') and eventually went on to intentionally keep on hitting the reset button as part of the story narrative. An alternate main character breaks out of her doomed comic universe to hunt down those she feels are responsible for her life coming undone.

* ''[[MSF High]]'': Not totally, but at the end of the day, all injuries heal, the dead rise, and transformed students can choose to change back or keep the new form forever.

* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlock Mercenary]]'' this is done by one Kevyn, the company [[Mad Scientist]], who uses a special wormgate to essentially [[Save Scum]] the whole universe

** You know what the awesome thing is? All of the kids {{spoiler|manage to [[Wham! Episode|escape the scratch and make it to the new session.]] Normally, this is completely impossible, so this is [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|completely awesome.]]}}

* Averting this is the [[Word of God]] reason why there is no time travel in ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]''.

{{quote| '''Sarah:''' Grace finally snapped and destroyed half of Moperville.<br />

* In ''[[Superman: theThe Animated Series]]'', all of Mr. Mxyzptlk's handiwork is apparently undone when Superman tricks him into returning to the fifth dimension.

* In the fourth season of ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'', Raven becomes the portal for her father [[Satan|Trigon]] to enter the world, after which he [[The End of the World Asas We Know It|transforms the entire planet]] into a [[Lethal Lava Land|lava-covered inferno]]. However, at the end of the arc, Raven calls upon [[The Power of Friendship|the powers of friendship]] [[Deus Ex Machina|and deus ex machina]] to reset everything and restore the world to its original form.

* ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' has a [[Reset Button]] (the RTTP or "Return to the Past" program) that gets used in the majority of the episodes, though they generally can't do this until [[Big Bad|XANA's]] current scheme has been defeated.

* In ''[[The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]'', Timmy frequently has to hit the reset-button by un-wishing whatever disaster his thoughtless wishing caused ''this'' time -- oftentime—often delayed by lost or stolen wands.

** [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] when the show was [[Un CancelledUncancelled]]. Jorgen has just taken Cosmo and Wanda's {{spoiler|newborn baby}} to train it. Timmy lets out a [[Big No]], and is horrified by Cosmo and Wanda's indifference until he realizes that {{spoiler|Jorgen took the fake baby}}, as he had [[Running Gag|all throughout the episode]].

* The ''[[Code Monkeys]]'' episode "Todd Loses His Mind" has a very literal [[Reset Button]] ending: just as Dave and Jerry are about to be shot by Mr. Larrity, and Todd is about to blow up Gameavision HQ, the Code Monkeys "game" locks up, and the "player" is forced to start over.

* Subverted in a (non-canon) ''[[The Simpsons]]'' Treehouse of Horror story, in which Homer's brain is taken out and placed in a robot by Mr. Burns, but his lack of motivation and love of donuts overrides any orders given to him and he ends up only causing destruction and doing nothing. In the end Mr. Burns puts Homer's brain back, but he is crushed under the weight of the heavy robot's body. He tells his assistant Smithers to get surgical tools and ether before Homer wakes up screaming in bed, thinking the whole story was just a dream... then he notices that Mr. Burns' head was grafted onto his shoulder as a way of preserving him. A teaser of the next episode of the Simpsons involves Homer being stuck in an [[Sit ComSitcom]]-esque situation where Homer has to do what Marge asks him to and also attend a meeting for Mr. Burns, causing him to exclaim, "Oh, I hate having two heads!"

* The episode "The Fantastic Mr. Frump" of ''[[Spider -Man and His Amazing Friends]]'' featured an ordinary man who accidentally gained reality-warping powers. After being egged on by Doctor Doom and unintentionally causing a great deal of trouble (including summoning up "the [[Cosmic Horror|weirdest creature in the universe]]"), everything gets reset back to normal:

{{quote| '''Spider-Man:''' I can't believe that in a minute we're going to forget something as incredible as all this!<br />

'''Iceman:''' As incredible as what?<br />

* Done in almost every single episode of the ''Challenge of the [[Super FriendsSuperfriends]]''. The [[Legion of Doom]] would trap some or all of the Superfriends in some sort of deathtrap or Rube Goldberg scheme, but the heroes would escape and catch the villains, who would then invariably escape.

* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' employs this once via time travel and once with a wish. ([[Fanon Discontinuity|The episode with the wish is generally ignored by fans]]) To be fair, it stopped quite a lot of death from occurring, including Danny's ''whole family''. It did have (fortunate) repercussions, however. Danny is now aware that Jazz knows his [[Secret Identity]].

* In the first of a two part episode of ''[[Spider-Man: theThe Animated Series]]'' entitled "The Hobgoblin", Peter Parker finally moves out of his Aunt May's house to live with Harry Osborn in an apartment. To keep the status quo, he cannot be allowed to stay in said apartment, so the writers fabricated a rather flimsy excuse. During a visit by Aunt May to Peter's new apartment, which has been trashed from the previous night's housewarming party, the Hobgoblin attacks and kidnaps Harry, in the process sending Aunt May into a shock so fierce she goes into some kind of coma. She remains this way until the end of the next episode, after which she wakes up and tells Peter, to his surprise, her shock was at the mess in his apartment; not the Hobgoblin's attack. After which Peter thinks he's not ready to move out on his own, so moves back in with his Aunt and by the next episode, status quo is back to normal.

* ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'' has a bit: When the Brotherhood of Mutants attacks a high-school football game and reveals all of the X-Men, you ''hope.'' Then Professor Xavier mind-wipes a stadium filled with people, and the broadcast, apparently, got cut. A later reveal would be too broad to mindwipe, though.

* The '90s ''[[X-Men (Animationanimation)|X-Men]]'' cartoon has a flatly ridiculous one: Scott proposes to Jean, she accepts, and they get married in a big ceremony. But, oh no, it turns out the priest was actually a disguised villain, so they're not really married! And despite their feelings not having changed, it never occurs to them to just ''have another ceremony'', until a couple of seasons later. Presumably the idea was to not completely shut down the Scott/Jean/Logan love triangle. They eventually got married for real.

* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode ''The Late Philip J. Fry,'' everything in the year 3010 remains the same as before, despite , despite various screwing with the timelines as the universe cycled.

* The ''[[South Park]]'' Imaginationland trilogy has [[Sugar Apocalypse|terrorists invade our imagination, the evil characters taking over, and Al Gore nuking the area]]. [[The Chosen One|Butters]] restores everything to the way it was in the end.

* LitterallyLiterally pressed in ''[[Re BootReBoot]]'' by the [[Humans Are Cthulhu|User]]. Two keystrokes, and Mainframe is restored to it's season 1 state. It even brings back dead characters, and clones Enzo. This was a risk though, as the characters had to make the user restart the system, and there was a chance that everything would just outright crash.

* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' does this [[Played for Laughs]], so the show can find the most off-the-wall ways to prevent the boys from getting caught by their parents.

** Usually the resetting is limited to the boys not getting caught, but "She's the Mayor" went WAY farther. After becoming mayor of Danville for a day, Candace uses her position to reveal her brothers' newly built classic frontier village (complete with gold-loving old coot). Just as Linda calls the boys out to punish them (although it makes no sense why, since their village wasn't hurting anyone, but that's another trope), Doofenshmirtz activates his Accelerate-inator (which he invented [[It Makes Sense in Context|to speed up having to play golf with his brother]]) which opens up holes in the space time continuum (which Doof knew would happen, but figured it was worth it), resetingresetting everything back to earlier that day, with the old coot winning the contest instead and no one having any knowledge of what happened.

{{quote| '''Candace:''' (after watching the news) I was robbed! }}

** The recent{{when}} TV Movie did this, erasing the characters' knowledge of Perry's secret identity at the end of the movie. In addition, the movie deconstructs the continued use of this trope: After hundreds of "coincidental" occurrences, Candace begins to believe that there is a literal "mysterious force" that prevents her mom from ever seeing what her brothers are doing. (Actually, she more-or-less prays to it in an earlier episode, "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted".) After Candace disappears through an interdimensional portal, best friend Stacy even builds a shrine to the "mysterious force".