History Main / CheckPointStarvation

*** [[PlayableEpilogue The Answer]] is even crueler in this regard. In the base game, checkpoints can be found just before every Tartarus boss, allowing the player to go back down to the first floor to save and prep for the boss without losing their progress. The Answer puts these checkpoints not only ''after'' these bosses, but directly ''behind'' them, just to taunt you.
** ''VideoGame/Persona4'' falls into this when confronting the killer. The player needs to go through Magatsu-Inaba, which is technically a one-level dungeon, and then fight the killer. Immediately after this battle, there's several cutscenes, before the player is thrown into a battle against [[spoiler:Ameno-Sagiri]] and further cutscenes, should that battle be won. Losing can result in a good 40 minutes of time having been wasted.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': In the PlayerVsEnvironment game mode, "Mann vs. Machine", the campaigns are divided up into waves (between 6 and 8), and if your team fails a wave, it simply kicks everyone back to the start of that wave (with the upgrades reset to what they were at the wave's start). However, the Ghost Town mission has only one massive wave that usually takes about 25-30 minutes to complete, so if you fail, you go right back to the very start.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'': After the opening cinematics, the player must go through the first path as a Deku until they finally reach the Clock Tower, which for a beginning player can take around 15 minutes, and is then followed by a waiting period which, due to the nature of saving in the game, lasts another 32 minutes. Luckily, you can pass the time more quickly by interacting with one of the two dancing scarecrows, and in the 3DS remake, the Owl Statues activate simply by examining them rather than needing to be struck with Link's sword.
* ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion1'''s fourth zone opens with the titular mansion getting plunged into a blackout, which not only brings the ghosts back and then some, but also drives the Toads, who save your progress, out of the house. Luigi needs to get the power back on before the player can save again normally, and due to the blackout, ghosts are now present in every room you've cleared, and respawn every time you reenter one. You are allowed ''one'' save, however, if you go into the Telephone Room and answer a call that turns out to be from Toad.
* ''VideoGame/LuigisMansionDarkMoon'' has no mid-level checkpoints whatsoever and levels can take over half an hour on the first playthrough. The game isn't particularly difficult, but if you're playing poorly and getting unlucky with heart drops...

* You made it to the FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed''? Well then, you better not turn the game off until you've beaten him, that is unless you feel like replaying a tedious platforming section and the fight with the ''[[TheDragon previous]]'' boss all over again on your next try.

* ''VideoGame/Persona3'':
** The game makes saving difficult because it requires exiting your current level of Tartarus to do so, which means you need to start the current branch over again. However, trying to push too hard could mean getting in over your head, dying, and losing quite a bit of progress. This was changed in the UpdatedRerelease ''Persona 3 Portable'': by walking up the staircase in the entrance lobby of Tartarus, the player will be given the option to start at the highest floor reached so far.
** The trope is played straight with non-Tartarus boss battles, however, and it's possible to put the game into an unwinnable state before the third boss battle, which is when the game starts taking all agency away from the player on the day of a full moon. Were you hoping to upgrade equipment? Not so much. You'll be forced to go through endless cutscenes over and over again until you win.
** [[PlayableEpilogue The Answer]] is even crueler in this regard. In the base game, checkpoints can be found just before every Tartarus boss, allowing the player to go back down to the first floor to save and prep for the boss without losing their progress. The Answer puts these checkpoints not only ''after'' these bosses, but directly ''behind'' them, just to taunt you.
* ''VideoGame/Persona4'' falls into this when confronting the killer. The player needs to go through Magatsu-Inaba, which is technically a one-level dungeon, and then fight the killer. Immediately after this battle, there's several cutscenes, before the player is thrown into a battle against [[spoiler:Ameno-Sagiri]] and further cutscenes, should that battle be won. Losing can result in a good 40 minutes of time having been wasted.
* It takes roughly 20 to 30 minutes from starting ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers'' before you are allowed your first save, not counting the brief unskippable cinematic.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum''. You can only save at [=PCs=], and it can get really annoying in long levels like Mt.Battle. Fortunately, ''VideoGame/PokemonXD'' gives you the 'save anywhere' ability of the main series games.
* ''VideoGame/Quest64''.

* This is a major part of the difficulty in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne''. Save spots are plentiful, but are ''always'' set at extremely long distances between each.
* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' lets you save and reload freely using the Gauntlet. Unfortunately, getting to the point where you gain access to said feature takes about twenty or so minutes of plot. More if you opt to explore Mikado at all.

* In the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of ''VideoGame/YsVLostKefinKingdomOfSand'', you have to fight three [[ThatOneBoss very tough]] bosses, with no save points in between. Unlike previous games where you could save anywhere, this one only allows you to save at inns in town.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** In the 6th game, while you ''can'' still save your game on CHIMPS difficulty, loading a save and completing the map with it will tarnish the map's border and the medal you earn.

* ''VideoGame/BloonsTowerDefense'' has the extreme tracks, which prevent you from saving '''at all''' unless you're playing the mobile version.

* A common criticism of old versions of ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine'' Chapter 2.
* ''Space [[VideoGame/BubbleBobble Puzzle Bobble]]'' (aka ''Space Bust-a-Move'')'s story mode: Unlike other Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move games, if you lose, you have to start over at the beginning of the group of five levels per stage all over again, and that means if you collected a [[{{Macguffin}} Cosmo Bubble]] without popping it, you have to do that over again.

* ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'': There are zero checkpoints in the sixth and final stage, the Technodrome. Losing a turtle at any point of the stage will restart you at the beginning of the level.

* ''Juke's Towers of Hell'' is entirely based on this trope on this trope. The ''entire game'' is about climbing 10-floor structures, known as towers, that don't have checkpoints. And some of them are NintendoHard and ''over an hour long''. [[note]] ToER [[/note]] [[MarathonLevel Citadels]] make this even worse.

* ''Juke'sTowersofHell'' is entirely based on this trope on this trope. The ''entire game'' is about climbing 10-floor structures, known as towers, that don't have checkpoints. And some of them are NintendoHard and ''over an hour long''. [[note]] ToER [[/note]] [[MarathonLevel Citadels]] make this even worse.

* ''VideoGame/Juke'sTowersofHell'' lives on this trope. The entire game is about climbing 10-floor structures, known as towers, that don't have checkpoints. And some of them are NintendoHard and over an hour long. [[note]] ToER [[/note]] [[MarathonLevel Citadels]] make this even worse.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Juke'sTowersofHell}}]'' lives on this trope. The entire game is about climbing 10-floor structures, known as towers, that don't have checkpoints. And some of them are NintendoHard and over an hour long. [[note]] ToER [[/note]] [[MarathonLevel Citadels]] make this even worse.

* ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'''s fourth zone opens with the titular mansion getting plunged into a blackout, which not only brings the ghosts back and then some, but also drives the Toads, who save your progress, out of the house. Luigi needs to get the power back on before the player can save again normally, and due to the blackout, ghosts are now present in every room you've cleared, and respawn every time you reenter one. You are allowed ''one'' save, however, if you go into the Telephone Room and answer a call that turns out to be from Toad.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

** The Gutter is a cross between The Catacombs and the dreaded Blighttown of the first game. It's essentially one large BottomlessPit, with evil [[GoddamnedBats sentient statues]] that shoot poison darts at you. If you have a torch, lighting the sconces scattered about makes it significantly easier, but it's still a long trek from start to finish. There are only two bonfires.

** In the first ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' game, there's the beginning of [[ThatOneLevel Phazon Mines]]. There's a save station near the entrance. It's the last one for a long time, and getting to the next one requires getting past [[DeathCourse a gauntlet of shadow troops, mega turrets, wave and ice troopers]], and two {{mini boss}} battles against an [[GiantMook elite pirate]] and a [[InvisibleMonsters cloaked drone]]. The entire segment usually [[MarathonLevel takes an hour or more to complete]]. If you happen to not realize that there was one there (and is completely possible since it is tucked away in the opposite side of the entrance), then the last save point would be Samus' ship (or the south-east corner of the Chozo Ruins).

* The final stages of certain ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' games, such as ''VideoGame/SuperCastlevaniaIV''. The most notable offender was in the international versions of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse'', which if the player died against Dracula, he/she would have to restart from A-2 instead of A-3 (like in the Japanese version). Special mention goes to ''VideoGame/Castlevania64'''s Duel Tower stage, where the developers ''forgot to add save points''. Thankfully they fixed this for the [[MissionPackSequel sort-of-but-not-really sequel]] ''Legacy Of Darkness''.

* The original ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' 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 RegeneratingHealth. Fortunately, the first game also still allows you to make traditional saves and quicksaves whenever you want.

** The first three console games had no in-level checkpoints. This was a major problem with the [[MarathonLevel longer levels]] in ''[[VideoGame/MedalOfHonorFrontline Frontline]]''. In ''[[VideoGame/MedalOfHonorRisingSun Rising Sun]]'', you often go two or three whole levels between checkpoints to save the game.

* ''[[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh Tron 2.0]]'': Autosaving only occurred at the start of a level, no matter how large said level was[[note]]Fortunately, you could quicksave whenever you wanted, except...[[/note]]. Saving did not exist at all during the lightcycle matches.

* Plenty of the old 8-bit games on the UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum and the like had no save points (48K was barely enough RAM for the game, never mind save states, and saving on the tape was normally impractical). Most egregious in the space shooter cum word puzzler cum history lesson ''Starion'', a 243-level (counting each time zone as one level, a fair measurement) marathon with, in the original version, a GameBreakingBug somewhere around the 200th. Allowing five minutes a zone -- easy when the word to assemble is "D", more difficult when it's "OBERAMMERGAU" -- you're still looking at [[BladderOfSteel the better part of a day's solid play]]. With no saves.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Frogger}} Frogger: He's Back!]]'' had a startling lack of checkpoints in its levels--when Frogger loses a life, runs out of time, or collected a frog, the player was sent back to the starting point of the level. Considering the levels are large and mazelike in their design and Frogger is a OneHitPointWonder, this is a huge problem.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker'' at first did not have checkpoints to be placed in levels, until a November 2015 update was added to allow players to place checkpoints in any level. The trope still applies to the pre-built sample levels, as all of them have remained unchanged since the game's release. The 3DS version has them within the base content, and most levels in the story mode (Super Mario Challenge) have them accordingly... except they're useless if you're aiming for the levels' extra objectives, as you won't be allowed to complete them if you respawn from a checkpoint after losing a life (this is done likely to prevent cheating, but it's still a problem if the level is too long).

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' and ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' were good about giving you lots of autosaves (usually after every battle and important cutscene), but God help you if you didn't take the time to save obsessively in [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 the first game]]. There was maybe one autosave per mission, two if the game was feeling merciful, so if you had shut down two of the three Moon base computers and then died, tah-dah! You're back at the very beginning of the level, having just landed on the moon. The ''Mass Effect 3'' finale is pretty bad at this, too. Starting at the moment you [[spoiler:get hit by Harbinger's beam]], manual saves are disabled, period, and the autosave after finishing the game overwrites any autosaves made during the actual finale. If you want to see more than one ending, better prepare for replaying through that whole section over and over again -- complete with the ridiculously slow movement and long unskippable cutscenes.

* ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation'' has autosaves only during certain level transitions and mostly relies on manual save points that take several seconds to use and do not pause the game while in use. This was done to add tension to the game but became a controversial among players and critics who thought that it improved the game and those who felt that it only added frustration through FakeDifficulty. Some missions are infamous simply for how far apart the save points are.
* One of ''VideoGame/ColdFear'''s most maligned features was the save system. The game could only be saved during an automatic prompt before certain plot-relevant scene transitions, with no manual way to save and no indication of when the next one would arrive. An inattentive player who accidentally declines to save won't get another chance to do so until the next prompt, potentially with a tricky puzzle or a boss between.

** ''Fatal Frame I'' had a savepoint before enterting the PointOfNoReturn. Before reaching the Final Boss location, the player had to walk through a long passage filled with enemies. If the player lost to the Final Boss, they had to start all the way back.
** ''Fatal Frame II'' was a bit kinder by having a savepoint at the same place, but worse because of the lengthy passage. This passage was longer than the one in the previous game and filled with several Mourners, meaning the player had to choose between wasting film on defeating them or trying to weave past them, risking damage. The ''only'' upside to this was, if the player was on an ending where the final battle was against [[BigBad Sae]], there was an autosave at The Abyss where she is fought.

* ''VideoGame/Hitman2SilentAssassin'' 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 MarathonLevel, it awards you a free save halfway through, even on the highest difficulty.
* Usually, losing a life in ''VideoGame/JetForceGemini'' put the character's back into the start of the area where he or she was defeated (they all have only three lives each per level, however, so the player has to keep an eye on not dying too often). However, the Interior level of the eighth world (Rith Essa) only consists of one long, marathon-sized area filled with enemies of many kinds, so every time Lupus (the character designated for that specific level) dies he'll have to go all the way until the part of the area where the Drones who killed him are. Luckily, this is also one of the few levels that don't need to be revisited in the future (as long as all Tribals are rescued the first time), as it has no Ship Parts or even optional goodies for Juno or Vela.

** The very first game only allowed you to save between levels. The first level, taking about an hour to complete was bad enough, but the final level takes 5-6 hours to grind enough points to complete. That's beyond "I'm going to play, I may be some time" and into skipping meals/sleep to get through in one sitting.
** All of the games in the GTA 3 era had zero saving at all except for icons at safehouses, with ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' being the first to incorporate the ability to purchase new ones to make saving take less driving time. In all of them, failing a mission required you to drive all the way back to the starting location and restart the entire mission; you rarely got the option to skip part of the long drive through the mission. ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' incorporates Vice City's purchasable safe house system and still lacks actual checkpoints within the missions except for the finale.

* The first three ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' console games had no in-level checkpoints. This was a major problem with the [[MarathonLevel longer levels]] in ''[[VideoGame/MedalOfHonorFrontline Frontline]]''. In ''[[VideoGame/MedalOfHonorRisingSun Rising Sun]]'', you often go two or three whole levels between checkpoints to save the game.

* Each of the [[BrutalBonusLevel special stages]] in the ''Battle Kid'' games have only one functional checkpoint; the one at the end before the stage's BonusBoss. The checkpoints in the middle of each stage are fake, with each one being unique in its own way:

* ''VideoGame/X2:Wolverine'sRevenge'' is notorious for not only being hard as hell, but for offering no checkpoints at all. Some levels can take a player around 30 minutes to beat and if you get killed at any point, or get spotted during a stealth segment, well it's back to the beginning of the entire level for you...

** ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'': In the HD versions of the game, one mission involves getting to the end of Eggmanland, a NintendoHard stage that is by far the longest in the game, with the time limit for the first Hot Dog trial being 75 minutes. It has to be done '''THREE TIMES''' in order to get the [[BraggingRightsReward trophy/achievement]]. ''With'' the [[TimedMission time limit]] decreasing after each [[DifficultySpike succession]], down to ''45 minutes''. Oh, and dying at any point forces you to restart from the beginning?

*** Some missions are rather long with no checkpoints in them at all, most notably the Daredevil comets, whose primary objective is to finish the stage as a OneHitPointWonder. 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 ThatOneLevel; and "The Perfect Run" in the second, taking place in by far the hardest stage (Grandmaster Galaxy) in a game with a massive SequelDifficultySpike.

** Game.bps has 1 life, no save feature or checkpoints, meaning that any death and it's back to the beginning of the hack.

** The beginning of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' requires you to watch a lengthy cutscene, a non-controlled battle, another lengthy cutscene, do some wandering around, watch ''a third'' lengthy cutscene, and finally the prologue before you can start saving your progress either at the OverworldNotToScale or at in-dungeon {{Save Point}}s (the latter of which were introduced in this game).

** The beginning of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' requires you to watch a lengthy cutscene, a non-controlled battle, another lengthy cutscene, do some wandering around, watch ''a third'' lengthy cutscene, and finally the prologue before you can start saving your progress (either at the OverworldNotToScale or at in-dungeon {{Save Point}}s, the latter of which were introduced in this game).