History DroppedABridgeOnHim / VideoGames

** According to ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', Owen and Sarah Lyons died between Fallout 3 and Fallout 4. The former died of old age (paving the way for Arthur Maxson to take over) and the latter died in battle.

** Bill is an unusual case; Valve had trouble getting him back to record dialog for later DLC chapters because he was busy with his day job (radio DJ). A later campaign, "The Sacrifice", shows the original ''[=L4D=]'' characters' last adventure, with one of them having to do a HeroicSacrifice to protect the other three. In the game any character can make the sacrifice, but canonically Bill is the one who does it. And to Valve's credit, unlike many others on this list he at least went out like a hero and a {{Badass}}, facing three Tanks by himself in order to let the others get to safety.

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' it is revealed that [[spoiler: the [[DownerEnding Ultra Beasts destroyed the Gen 1 to Gen V universe]]]]with no mention of how it happened.

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' it is revealed that the [[DownerEnding Ultra Beasts destroyed the Gen 1 to Gen V universe]] with no mention of how it happened.

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonSun&Moon'' it is revealed that the [[DownerEnding Ultra Beasts destroyed the Gen 1 to Gen V universe]] with no mention of how it happened.

* The death of Corporal Hart at the end of ''VideoGame/TimeSplitters 2''. After the splitters break into the control room, she's killed in one shot by one of the lightning bolts the splitters fire, an attack that, in gameplay, does no more damage than a mildly powerful bullet.

** Pre-''Literature/HaloFirstStrike'' retcon, Johnson's death in ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' counts as well. The fact that it was so easy to retcon him back into a series shows just how little his original death was even touched on.

* Some may consider Johnson's death near the end of ''VideoGame/{{Halo3}}'' this.
** We knew all of Noble Team was going to die going in. But Kat's was probably the most emotionally effective because it was the sudden, out of nowhere kind of death that could have happened to anyone.

** [[BigBadWannabe Jul 'Mdama]] was a significant character in the Kilo-Five novel trilogy, [[VideoGame/Halo4 Spartan Ops]] and ''ComicBook/HaloEscalation'' but is killed by Locke [[BackForTheDead in the first mission]] of ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians''.

** As of ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare3'' [[spoiler: [[OurHeroIsDead even Soap isn't safe.]]]]

* Several examples in ''BaldursGate II'':

* ''Videogame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' retroactively did this to a fair number of major characters and factions from ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''. Off the top of my head: The Nerevarine, aka, the PC of ''Morrowind'', vanished during an expedition to Akavir, Caius Cosades apparently fell off the face of Tamriel, Vivec was kidnapped by Daedra, and House Redoran was almost completely wiped by Mehrunes Dagon's invasion.

* The moral based horror puzzle video game {{Catherine}} kills off the main character like this in the action stages if the player is not careful.
** Also happens during one of the endings [[spoiler:where Vincent chases after C-Catherine because he loves her, but due to his lack of chaos (Chaos and Law is basicly the game's karma meter) he get's promptly ran over by a truck, with his friend doing an epic JawDrop in shock.]]

* A quest in ''{{Runescape}}'' brought us a variation on this: "Drop a Pillar on him". How? A quest called Salt in the Wound was released to end the Sea Slug quest series, and in it, you "fight" the big bad Mother Mallum, who's been built up as one of the biggest threats in the world of Runescape. How does she die? You topple over a pillar and crush her. Players were not pleased.

* ''SoldierOfFortune II'': Madeline Taylor. By a [[FacelessGoons faceless]] {{Mook}}, to boot. Hawk suffers a similar fate in the first game, albeit at the hands of the BigBad.
*** IMO, that was a KickTheDog / PlayerPunch moment, while Taylor's death was a blatant "getting rid of the character".

** According to ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', [[spoiler: [[VasquezAlwaysDies Sarah Lyons]]]] was killed in battle at some point between Fallout 3 and Fallout 4.

* It's possible to do of this to two of the playable characters in ''HeavyRain''. [[spoiler: Among other ways, FBIAgent Norman Jayden can have his brains blown out by a two-bit thug, and Madison can be tortured to death by a random MadDoctor.]]

* Aldo Trapani, the protagonist of the EA adaptation of ''VideoGame/TheGodfather'', gets abruptly sniped dead in the opening level to allow for new player character Dominic to take his place.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 4'': All the SAS members except Soap and Captain Price are unceremoniously executed at the end of the game. In ''ModernWarfare 2'', all of TF-141, again barring Soap and Price, are killed off by General Shepherd. In fact, if you're a player character in a ''Modern Warfare'' title who isn't Soap or Price, you'd better call home and say your goodbyes while you can, because there's a rickety ridge overhead with your name on it.
** As of ''ModernWarfare 3'' [[spoiler: [[OurHeroIsDead even Soap isn't safe.]]]]

** It should be mentioned that the Chrono, Marle and Lucca that had Bridges Dropped on them were versions of them from failed timelines ending up in the Darkness Beyond Time and were likely the same ones fought as bosses in Chrono Trigger DS(of course if they are then their death would be at the hands of the main versions of Chrono, Marle and Lucca in the bonus boss fights).

** There's plenty of bridge dropping (and [[LongBusTrip Long Bus Trips]], in Sakura's case) in the other two routes, though- most notably Caster in Fate and Ilya/Berserker in UBW, who each get one scene to say "Hi, I'm a villain!" and then die in that scene or the next time we see them. HF does it slightly more due to it pulling in some completely new characters, but the real reason why HF's bridge dropping stands out more is that all of its characters had bridges dropped on them * after* the scenes that made fans care about them, whereas nobody cared about Caster yet when Gil insta-killed her ten minutes after her introduction in Fate.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', a lot of characters make a HeroicSacrifice to...allow other characters to enter the hero's limited party. This wouldn't be bad if ''EVERY SINGLE DEATH SCENE'' (with one exception) weren't being so blatant on "Hey, I'm getting rid of the character!" A particularly annoying instance is when Palom and Porom sacrifice their lives to save the party from a classic "wall-smashing" trap. It would be okay if '''there weren't two doors in the room. Both made of plain wood''' (and possibly any character of the party would be able to destroy a insignificant wooden door).
** Except that for the most part none of those characters die. Hell, Palom and Porom's "death" wasn't even actually life threatening. They just cast a Break spell to turn themselves to stone. The game even makes a point of the fact that because they cast it on themselves no one else can undo it, but they can undo it themselves whenever they feel like it. Which they do at the end of the game, after the trap has been deactivated. By the end of the game the only character who is actually dead is Tellah.
** Given the trap was arranged as a TakingYouWithMe by the Fiend of Water Cagnazzo, breaking the doors would probably not be a possibility.
** Now, if you want a ''real'' example of this Trope in action in the Final Fantasy, take a look at ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' which can and will drop bridges on characters in the fourth slot and whole cyclones on a number of towns, usually with as little warning as possible.
** Similarly, another rather silly "Hey, let's force the player to try a new character"-moment is when Cid and Yang sacrifices themselves: Yang pushes the rest out of a room with 3 cannons that are about to blow up, and locks the door, rather than running with them and getting Rydia to seal the door. Cid is even lamer. He jumps off the Falcon, holding a high-explosive incendiary in his hand, despite the fact that he might as well have thrown the bomb. In the end, even Theodore/Golbez and FuSoYa sacrifice themselves, only to survive.
* Cid in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' dies from eating bad fish. Which you, the player character, fed him, you jerk. What makes this especially infuriating is that there is a way to ensure he ''doesn't'' die, but [[GuideDangIt you're unlikely to figure it out without a guide]] the first time around. Granted, [[VideogameCrueltyPotential letting him die]] actually leads to a much more touching and emotional scene, but it's still a pretty random way to go out.[[note]]Only catch the fast-moving fish; leave the slow ones alone entirely.[[/note]]
** Shadow's death is similarly done. If you don't wait long enough as the floating continent is destroyed, Shadow dies. This changes the ending.

*** And thats not even getting into the Intelligent Deathclaw strain from Fallout 2 that wasn't even mentioned in New Vegas and Killed off screen according to the developers