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'''Martian Officer''': Now would be a ''great'' time to start!|''[[Spaced Invaders]]''}}
In any video game where the player's country/faction is involved in a conflict before the game starts, the game will begin with the enemy about to deliver a deathblow to the
Oddly enough, despite the fact that the enemy has the entire country/continent/planet/galaxy under his control except for the tiny corner where the game begins, the strike force that the enemy sends to finish you off in the first mission will [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil|always be almost pathetically weak]], easily defeated by the player.
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Used in nearly all genres of video game, but especially prevalent in [[Real Time Strategy]] and [[Turn-Based Strategy]].
Compare [[Late to the Party]], except that the main character has been around for the whole time, [[Cutscene Incompetence|just not under the player's control]]. Related to [[Always Close]], but with an ''entire war''. If you tilt your head and squint just right, this trope appears to be connected to [[Conservation of Ninjitsu]]: The less territory a side has, the more difficult they are to defeat. This may be a sort-of [[Truth in Television]]
The most famous Real Life example would be [[wikipedia:John Paul Jones|John Paul Jones]], and is actually the original source of the quote "I have not yet begun to fight" which has then been parodied ever since. With his ship, the ''Bonhomme Richard'' burning and sinking, and the flag (aka "the colors") shot away ("striking the colors" was a symbol of surrender); one of John Paul Jones officers, apparently believing his captain to be dead, shouted a surrender. The British commander asked if they had struck their colors. Jones replied: "I may sink, but I'll be damned if I strike!" Eventually Jones won the battle and transferred his command to the captured enemy ship as his own ship sank.
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=== Video game examples
== [[Action Adventure]] ==
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== [[Fighting Game]] ==
* The beginning of ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' informs you that the forces of Cosmos, goddess of harmony, have pretty much lost the war with Chaos, god of discord, with the ten playable heroes being Cosmos's last soldiers.
** This thematic element [[Gameplay and Story Integration|carries over into the gameplay]], as well. The Cosmos Judgment ruleset allows a filled Ex Gauge when HP is drastically low and opponent's is very high and can restore a losing character's summons, thus allowing a losing character to come
*** Contrast the Chaos Judgment rules, which subvert this by punishing players who ''aren't'' on the brink for not pushing it for all they're worth.
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== [[Role Playing Game]] ==
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', The Returners have a stronghold of sorts in the mountains east of
** It sort of happens ''again'' in the second half of the game. It becomes Up To You to {{spoiler|reassemble your broken, scattered, and largely disillusioned team, inspire hope in the world, and defeat Kefka, after he's been a god for a full year}}
* In ''[[Dragon Quest VII]]'', after the last battle between Good and Evil, most of the world was sealed away by the Demon Lord. Ultimately, it deteriorated to the point where the only scrap of land left is a small island. On the bright side, there's no monsters on land...! Oh, and there's a set of Ancient Ruins where the heroes can eventually [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]] and restore the world bit by bit.
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* This trope is a staple in the ''[[Ace Combat]]'' series, present in almost every game.
** ''[[Ace Combat 04 Shattered Skies]]'', ''[[Ace Combat Zero]]'' and ''[[Ace Combat X]]'' start with the player defending the allies' last remaining airbase from enemy attack.
** During the opening cutscene, ''[[Ace Combat 5 The Unsung War]]'' kills off every pilot on the base except for the player, his squadron and their commander. To be fair, however, there's never really a
** Played with by ''[[Ace Combat 6 Fires of Liberation]]'', where the first mission is a surprise attack by the enemy which ends with allied forces being driven from the area and abandoning their capital to enemy occupation, so it's not until the ''second'' mission that you're defending your last remaining airbase from enemy attack. The title of the second mission is, in fact, "On the Brink".
*** Which is a perfect demonstration of why the trope is necessary: The first mission is laughably easy [[But Thou Must!]] retreat anyway. Even though the player could (and eventually does) almost single-handedly wipe the floor with the entire Estovakian military.
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* The ''[[Jagged Alliance]]'' series has a sort-of-justified version of this trope. Being that your troops are a band of mercenaries - essentially a new infusion of ace personnel into a war presumably already won - the enemies start out easy because they're routine patrols that get surprised by people who can actually shoot them. In Jagged Alliance 2 specifically, [[Big Bad|Queen Deidranna]] is a [[Bad Boss|vain, cruel, and egotistical dictator]] who nevertheless keeps a goodly portion of her guard around the things that actually do matter - her gold mines, her towns filled with either smarmy sycophants or cowering subjects, and her SAM sites. The first secures the economy and allows her to maintain her expensive and well-equipped army, the second secures her status as ruler and dissuades open rebellion, and the third forces any would-be saviors to hoof it unless they can destroy or take over the sites.
* In [[Sengoku Rance]], when [[Rance]] becomes the secret ruler and takes control over the once powerful Oda Family, it has been reduced to only one territory. Then after Rance starts his [[Attack! Attack! Attack!]] tactic he somehow manages to rapidly conquer the other factions.
=== Non-video game examples
== [[Anime|Anime And Manga]] ==
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