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Check Point Starvation: Difference between revisions
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In the most extreme cases, the player may be required to beat the entire game with one life, though going ''that'' far with this trope is mostly unheard of. Outside of [[Roguelike|Roguelikes]], one-life marathon games are almost exclusive to the 8-bit era, and even then it was pretty uncommon - except as [[Self-Imposed Challenge]] or the [[Harder Than Hard|highest difficulty level]].
This can occasionally slip in in very story heavy games, possibly by accident. It's particularly common in the introduction for the game, as [[Exposition]] can be interspersed with tutorials or gameplay without a save function.
Not to be confused with [[Save Game Limits]], when the game imposes limits on when and where (and how) you can save the game, though these two sometimes overlap.
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* [[Harder Than Hard|Nightmare Mode]] in ''[[Aliens vs. Predator]]'' disables the checkpoint system, meaning you get bumped back to the very beginning of the mission if you ever die (which, given the enemy's increased damage output, happens a lot).
* ''[[Battlefield 3]]'' has a few levels with a severe lack of checkpoints. The worst few involve playing a cutscene or introductory section before the actual combat.
* ''[[
* Some levels of the ''[[Halo]]'' series.
* [[What Could Have Been|Originally]], ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' would have the players start at the beginning of a campaign if they failed. [[Nintendo Hard|Yes, a usually hour-long campaign consisting of 3-5 sections and one Tank can send you all the way back]]. Thankfully, Valve caught on to how frustrating it was from play testing and added checkpoints at the beginning of each section.
** Brought back for a while in the sequel for the Mutation game mode, dubbed Iron Man. Not only the game is under Realism rules (no glows, no respawning in closets, Witches kill instantly), but if the whole team wipes out, the team is kicked back to the ''lobby''.
* The first three ''[[Medal of Honor]]'' console games had no in-level checkpoints. This was a major problem with the [[Marathon Level|longer levels]] in ''Frontline''.
** In ''Rising Sun'', you often go two or three whole levels between checkpoints to save the game.
* ''[[Perfect Dark]] Zero'' has only 2 checkpoints per mission; one at the very beginning, and one about 3/4ths through or before the end level boss fight. This is fine for the shorter missions, but very noticeable on the longer ones.
* ''[[Tron 2.0]]'': Autosaving only occurred at the start of a level, no matter how large said level was. Saving did not exist at all during the lightcycle matches.
* ''[[Resistance]]: Fall Of Man'': each level only had 1 or 2 checkpoints, with many major firefights between each checkpoint. Given how quickly you can go from full health to completely dead in this game, it's very common to get booted back 15-20 minutes of progress just as you're about to hit the next checkpoint. The sequels used a much more conventional and forgiving checkpoint system.
* The original ''[[Call of Duty]]'' did not have checkpoints nearly as often as its later sequels, which made things all the more difficult considering it was also before the series used [[Regenerating Health]]. Fortunately, the first game also still allows you to make traditional saves and quicksaves whenever you want.
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* ''[[Maple Story]]'': Loves to do this with some particularly nasty Jump Quests, especially the higher level ones (such as the Zakum party quest) which tend to involve roughly five minutes of jumping on platforms barely large enough to walk on, all while dodging falling rocks, poison clouds, energy blasts, indestructable monsters, and the occassional bit of lag. If you fail/fall? Congratulations, you get to slowly walk through lava back to the start of the area.
* ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'': In the HD versions of the game, one mission involves getting to the end of Eggmanland, a [[Nintendo Hard]] stage that indeed is comparable to those of the old 8-bit games--without any usable checkpoints and with a time limit. It is also by far the longest stage in the game, considering the time limit is 45 minutes.
** And it has to be done '''[[Rule of Three|THREE TIMES]]''' in order to get the [[Bragging Rights Reward|trophy/achievement]]. '''[[It Got Worse|WITH]]''' the [[Timed Mission|time limit]] decreasing after each [[Difficulty Spike|succession]]. Have fun beating [[That One Level|Eggmanland]] in ''25 minutes''.
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (video game)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]'' has several stages that lack check points until several minutes into a stage and have little to none afterward. And some, like The End of the World Stage, lack checkpoints altogether.
* Star Light Zone in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (video game)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' had just a single checkpoint placed before the boss in act 3. Just to be even meaner, there were no rings near it and the end of the level is a [[Point of No Return]]. The checkpoints were probably removed after Sonic Team realized how much harder the zones before Star Light are.
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** ''[[Super Mario Bros. (video game)|Super Mario Bros]]'': Had invisible checkpoints near the middle of most levels, except for castle levels and all of World 8. In some later levels, these checkpoints could do more harm than good, as they were often located after the one power-up in the level and you couldn't backtrack.
** ''[[Super Mario Bros. 2]]'' Doorways acted as checkpoints, but they were scarce otherwise.
** ''[[Super Mario Bros 3]]'': In contrast to the previous two games, had no in-level checkpoints. However, the newly-introduced World Map allowed the player to use inventory items or sometimes choose a different level to tackle after losing a life.
** ''[[Super Mario World (video game)|Super Mario World]]'': Most levels had one and only one midway checkpoint. They were actually visible, though some required the player to take hidden paths to reach them.
** ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' and ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'': Some missions are rather long with no checkpoints in them at all, most notably the Daredevil missions, whose primary objective is to finish the stage as a [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]]. The two most infamous ones are for "The Sinking Lava Spire" in the first game, which requires the player to traverse the longest mission in [[That One Level]]; and "The Perfect Run" in the second, taking place in by far the hardest stage in a game with a massive [[Sequel Difficulty Spike]].
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** Space Zone 2 in [[Super Mario Land 2 Six Golden Coins|Super Mario Land 2]]. There's a checkpoint bell towards the end of the level. If Mario loses a life prior to reaching the bell, he'll have to start from the beginning of that level.
** [[Yoshi's Island]] usually doesn't have this due to multiple middle rings, but there's one point in [[Brutal Bonus Level|Endless World of Yoshis/Crazy Maze Days]] where this is a problem. You see, there's a long falling section with instant kill spikes, and after that, a checkpoint. Problem is, checkpoints work only once, leaving the player with a [[Sadistic Choice]]; use it straight after the spikes and then hope you don't mess up the next three or four rooms (and in that time, you have to dodge those spikes another two times), or use it after the tricky section has been beaten all three times and you've got the key, in which case once mess up will put you right at the start of the second area.
* Due to a bug, if you die against the first Fortress Boss ([[Shout-Out|Mothraya]]) of ''[[Mega Man 4]]'', Mega Man will restart not at the [[Boss Corridor]] like every other level, but at the level's midpoint, making the player run through it again.
=== [[Puzzle Game]] ===
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=== [[Role Playing Game]] ===
* ''[[Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter]]'': This trope can be invoked with some discretion to the player, unless they are going for [[
* ''[[Final Fantasy III]]'': The final tower. After the last save point in a small outdoor area after the third to last dungeon, there are 8 or 9 floors of the Crystal tower, followed by a boss, getting warped to the World of Darkness where there are 4 more tough minibosses, gaining equipment and experience for the final battle, the final boss battle, the entire closing sequence before the player is given another chance to save their game.
* The Northern Crater in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' has no save points, but it gives the party one unique item that can create one.
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=== [[Third-Person Shooter]] ===
* ''[[Dead Space 2]]'': This trope is used deliberately in "Hardcore Mode" . Specifically, it only allows the player to save three times in the whole game, and there are no checkpoints, other than at the disc change on the Xbox360 version.
* ''[[Hitman]]: Blood Money'': Depending on the difficulty level, you can only save a certain amount of times during a single mission. You get 3 different save spots and even if you overwrite the same save spot, it still counts as a save. The previous games allowed saving anywhere, or in the case of ''Codename 47'', gave two extra lives for a stage.
** Hitman: Silent Assassin limited your number of saves at higher difficulties (with none at the highest), but did avert this trope at one point: On the game's one [[Marathon Level]], it awards you a free save halfway through, even on the highest difficulty.
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[[Category:Truth in Television]]
[[Category:Check Point Starvation]]
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