History Main / BloodSport

* Most racing games that involve illegal street racing, like ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' series, ''VideoGame/TestDrive'' series and ''VideoGame/MidnightClub'' series, are of this trope in entirety, since you put yourselves on [[ImprobablyCoolCar a bunch of highly-expensive]] (sometimes [[PimpedOutCar souped-out]]) [[CoolCar exotic sports cars]] with NoOSHACompliance to obey, driving on open highways at maximum speeds while risking yourselves to different hazards, sometimes including HotPursuit around your drive.
* The computer game inspired by the movie ''Film/DeathRace2000'', ''VideoGame/{{Carmageddon}}'', was even more so - and duly immediately ran afoul of MoralGuardians.
** In some countries they got around censors by making the pedestrians into zombies, but in the third game specifically titled ''Carmageddon TDR 2000'', they headed it off by making zombie peds in the first place. Though cars get destroyed, no one is seen to die, and the way your own character survives auto-destruction implies your rivals may not be killed either, so it's no longer a Blood Sport.

* The ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' series is centered around a sport known as Turf Wars, in which two teams of four squid/octopus-humanoids fight one another using [[AbnormalAmmo various ink-based weapons]] and attempt to cover as much of the arena in their color. It's been practiced since ancient times and remains popular in the modern day, with how DeathIsCheap in-universe.
* ''VideoGame/PuckOFF'' combines ice hockey and fighting in a way most suitable for a bloody sport. You don't have to score a single goal to win a game. It's enough if you beat others senseless.

* The Gundam Fight from ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' is described in-show as "A war based on the principles of sportsmanship", with every country in the world being represented by a MotionCaptureMecha piloted by a trained fighter. Although the battles are (usually) bloodless, the Mobile Trace system that runs the HumongousMecha feeds back any damage incurred on them back to the pilot as physical pain. Thus, for example, if your machine has its arm torn off, you will feel as though your ''own'' arm just got torn off. The fact that many such injuries are simply shrugged off as an annoyance is one of the many reasons why just about [[WorldOfBadass everybody in the show]] is a major badass.

* ''Film/{{Rollerball}}'', adapted from the William Harrison short story ''The Rollerball Murders''. In it, the MegaCorp that runs the world uses the sport (a combination of roller derby, basketball, and a street fight) as a way to both provide BreadAndCircuses to the masses and to demonstrate to them the virtue of conformity and self-sacrifice and the folly of individualism. That backfires when the protagonist Jonathan E. emerges as a star player, an individual who excels at the game above and beyond his peers. There was also a remake in 2002, but it pretty much jettisons most of the story, and is far less well-remembered than the original.

* On the far end of the spectrum, however, we have ''VideoGame/MutantLeagueFootball''. Players included [[FantasyKitchenSink trolls, skeletons, aliens, and robots]], fields were littered with [[DeathCourse landmines, pits, and other booby traps]], each team had a number of "audibles" representing tricks and gadgets that could be used once per half (like giving a player a JetPack, [[StuffBlowingUp hand grenades]], or [[{{Fartillery}} lethal flatulence]], or [[ShmuckBait rigging the ball to explode and then fumbling it]]), players would occasionally be killed from taking too much abuse on the field (and losing too many players could cause a team to forfeit), and you could occasionally bribe the ref to call bogus penalties on your opponent for things like "whining" or "nose-picking". Of course, your opponent could then kill the ref and only take a five-yard penalty. There was also ''Mutant League Hockey'', which was pretty much the same thing with a different sport.

** Another example would be Aeroball from ''ComicBook/HarlemHeroes'', which is described as a cross between football, basketball, boxing and Kung Fu. With jetpacks. Its sequel, ''Inferno'', had an even more violent sport to demonstrate that as rough as Aeroball was, it didn't satiate the crowd enough. To a lesser extent, the InNameOnly revival had this trope in the form of arena combat at the beginning of "Death Sport".

* A bloodless Blood Sport, strange as it sounds: the primary export of the planet Solaris VII from ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' seems to be Mech-on-Mech arena fights. All the battles are live-fire; ejection seats are mandatory equipment for obvious reasons. In MW4: Mercenaries, you can choose to become a Solaris pilot, meeting - and fighting - plenty of [[MauveShirt fellow contenders]] along the way.

* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'': Starting with ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'', there tended to be two such arenas in each game. Each one would let you fight in a variety of matches against waves of enemies or bonus bosses and most fights featured some form of gimmick like traps, restricted weapons or ammo, or the battlefield periodically flooding with lava. These include Maktar Resort and Megacorp Games from ''Going Commando'', [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal Annihilation Nation]], [[VideoGame/RatchetDeadlocked the Dreadzone]], [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankToolsOfDestruction the Imperial Fight Festival]], [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankACrackInTime the Agorian Battleplex]], [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankIntoTheNexus the Thugs-4-Less Destructapalooza]] and [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankRiftApart Zurkie's Gastropub and Battleplex]].

* In the first film version of ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'', Conan is forced to fight as a gladiator for his owner's amusement and enrichment. Needless to say, he gets really good at it.

* ''VideoGame/DeadRising2'': After [[VideoGame/DeadRising the Willamette Incident]], a controversial DeadlyGame show known as ''Terror is Reality'' has emerged and become quite popular. Hosted by Tyrone "TK" King and twins Crystal and Amber Bailey, contestants compete in various events, from [[SphereFactor Ramsterballs]] to [[CoolBike Slicecycles]], with the goal of killing more zombies than their opponents. Winners receive massive cash prizes, which [[TheHero Chuck Greene]] hopes to use to buy Zombrex for his infected daughter Katie. It's during the broadcast in Fortune City that someone releases the captive zombies and they quickly overrun the city, setting the events of the game in motion.

* ''VideoGame/{{Wipeout}}'' adds weapons, and the level of lethality depends on how much of a CrapsackWorld the installment is. More recent titles are considered to have emergency teleportation, and ''Fusion'' had some sort of safety monocoque containing the pilot that would survive when the rest of the ship blew up. On the other hand, in ''Wipeout 64'', pilot deaths were considered to draw more viewers.

* ''Manga/SpaceAdventureCobra'' has a sort of "no-holds-barred" version of Base-ball called "Rug-ball" where the idea is to reach each base in one piece... Naturally there are a few deaths involved, and naturally Cobra proves himself to be a spectacular player.

** And then there was the city where people constantly fought each other in arena for status, and any travellers who entered were automatically forced to participate. The winner would become a first class citizen, and could also make a new law for the city. Kino probably ended up making the place even more bloody than it already was, but also ensured peace in the long term.

* There are two crash race mini-arcs in ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula''. One is a crash race that takes place in a ghost town and the other is called the Fireball Race, in which the cars race across Europe and the [[WeaponizedCar cars are weaponized]] (with the exception of Asurada GSX and Proto Jaguar) to crash on other racers' cars.
* ''Manga/BakusouKyoudaiLetsAndGo'' provides a A LighterAndSofter version as they're toying with toys rather than real people. The show starts up with a typical mini 4WD racing competitions, but later, there's a BigBad and his team who introduce battle parts to be used in racing. ''Kids'' are encouraged to make their toys mini weapons to crash and destroy oppornent's cars. Since the plot has more than one of the heroes' machine trashed by these rules, and since they have a believe that [[SlidingScaleOfLivingToys their mini 4WDs have souls.]] They take it a SeriousBusiness.

* Ratings Games in ''Literature/HighSchoolDXD'', the arena combat sport used by Devil [[ChessMotif Kings]] to settle disputes. Several different formats are seen, but all actually have significant restrictions in place to prevent actual loss of life -- pieces are "taken" rather than killed and retired to a holding area, medical attention is available after the fight, and attacks that could kill the target outright are heavily restricted or forbidden. Interestingly, the only time a no-holds-barred Ratings Game is seen, it was an entirely genuine attempt at good sportsmanship (a RunningGag is the protagonist team being horribly skewed toward overpowered nukes with precious little tactical acumen to go around).

* ''Deathrow'' for the original UsefulNotes/XBox is a sports game which is a mix of frisbee, basketball, and a gladiatorial arena. Two teams of four play, one team wins when they either knock the entire other team out or have more points when time runs out. Most players go for the fighting option.

* ''Dead Ball Zone'' for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation. Just get this weapon and put that damn ball in the net.
* The UsefulNotes/XBox game ''Videogame/ToxicGrind'', a game show meant to deal with outlaw offenders who break the "no extreme sports" law by putting them on a BMX, pumping them with a deadly toxin only counteracted by adrenaline and setting them loose on a death course (yes it's as silly as it sounds).

* Creator/{{Atari}} tried this with ''Basketbrawl'', a combination of 2-on-2 street basketball and gang warfare for the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 7800}} and UsefulNotes/AtariLynx. Traditional basketball scoring is used, but the lack of referees and the addition of weapons meant players would simply attack each other and then scored baskets while their opponents were down.

** ''F-Zero X'' and onwards makes mentions to various safety features added after a [[NoodleIncident Great Accident]]. It is unclear what these are, and strangely, at the same time, the player now gets rewarded for making other races crash (with extra continues) as opposed to merely having less competition.

** UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} and UsefulNotes/IndyCar aren't averse to it either. To this day, a common joke about NASCAR is that a lot of fans are ''really'' there for the spectacle of "the Big One", the kind of multi-car pileup that can only happen on a long oval circuit in a tightly-packed field of cars going over 150 miles per hour. Such high-speed crashes can easily turn fatal, as Dale Earnhardt learned the hard way at the 2001 Daytona 500. Again, modern safety features implemented in the wake of Earnhardt's death have lessened the risk considerably; while fans of a certain generation are still liable to wince when they see a crash, these days the only things getting hurt are metal and rubber rather than flesh and bone.

* ''Film/TheCondemned'' is basically ''Literature/TheMostDangerousGame'' meets ''Film/BattleRoyale'' with cameras, or ''Film/DeathRace'' sans racing.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'''s Clans are the latter version of this trope -- rules of warfare and codes of honour shared among the clans are carefully designed to minimize interplanetary collateral damage, discourage brawling, and avoid hard feelings -- at least the dirty personal conflicts-kind.
** See also the planet of Solaris VII, which is known across the galaxy for commercial [[HumongousMecha BattleMech]] fights. However, deaths in Solaris matches are relatively rare due to the ubiquitous [[EjectionSeat ejection system]] in virtually every mech ([[ArmoredCoffins Except the Spider]]) - deaths in the arena are generally only caused by sympathetic ammunition explosions, [[SnipingTheCockpit cockpit destruction]], or ejection system failure. Gladiatorial combat in the Periphery worlds or in the unrestricted and unregulated "blood pits" of Solaris (which is to Solaris fights proper what backyard brawling is to sanctioned MMA) is much more violent.
* Creator/GamesWorkshop's ''TabletopGame/BloodBowl'' is a TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}-themed version of American football and rugby re-imagined as a bloodsport that has replaced warfare in its alternate universe. Orcs, skaven and even undead field teams and are expected to try and maim their opponents to get ahead. Even sneaking a chainsaw onto the field isn't grounds for stopping the game (though it is a penalty - players are supposed to kill their opponents with their bodies, spiked/bladed armor, or the ball, not weapons - unless the player in question paid a gratuity to the refs at the start of the game to turn a blind eye).
* The wargame/TabletopRPG hybrid ''TabletopGame/CarWars'', from Steve Jackson Games: not only is the favorite sport "autoduelling" (VehicularCombat with armed stock cars), but its primary competitor is "combat football".

* A theme deck from ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''[='=]s ''Ravnica'' block was called ''Rakdos Bloodsports''.
* Aside from the good old-fashioned gladiator arenas found in many places, the ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' setting includes a whole list of "Juicer" sports, played mostly by juicers ([[PsychoSerum drug-induced]] supermen), and by those few who can keep up. This includes Deadball (a form of handball where the ball in question randomly extrudes spikes), the Murderthon (was once won by a MightyGlacier juicer who flattened everyone else as they passed), and Juicer Football. Juicer characters can actually take "deadball" as a weapon skill, and buy ''exploding'' deadballs for weapons.
* Implied in ''TabletopGame/ResArcana'', where the Duelist can generate a Gold essence if you pay 1 Death essence. In other words, they kill their opponent and make money on it.
* The universe of ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' has both "Urban Brawl" (essentially paintball or airsoft sans paint and soft) and "Combat Biker" (motorcycle polo with guns). American football is also implied to be a good deal bloodier, as players are all cyber-enhanced for increased performance.

-->-- TagLine for ''Film/{{Rollerball}}'' (1975)

* ''Manga/AirGear'': The Air Treks initially began as a worldwide fad that was supposed to be inline skating taken to the next level. It turned into the Blood Sport it is today right around the time people discovered you could use the skates to make RazorWind, Thorn Whips, [[ShockAndAwe Electrical]] [[RazorFloss Spider Webs]], [[MakeMeWannaShout Sound Barriers]], [[ShockwaveStomp Shockwave Stomps]], [[TimeMaster Time Manipulation]], and [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]].