History Main / CriticalHit

* The ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' has two versions of this, both of which apply to all sorts of rolls, not just combat. Players roll a "UsefulNotes/{{dice}} pool" and every die that comes up with an 8 or over is a success; if a die rolls a 10, that die is re-rolled, and if it gets another 10, it's re-rolled again, and so on (with certain equipment, spells, and so forth, this rule can extend to 9s and 8s). Furthermore, if more than five successes are scored on any one roll, it's considered an exceptional success, which means that it accomplishes truly neat things.

* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' ''lives'' by this trope. The series even has special animations for each unit when they do this. And they do ''obscene'' amounts of damage, three times as much as normal. And from the third installment onward, [[AlwaysAccurateAttack they can't miss]]. (Of course, this is because critical hit checks are made after accuracy checks; attacks have to be able to connect before critical hits can even land.)
** Except in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 Thracia 776]]''. In those games, criticals double the user's attack stat before damage calculation instead. This actually means that criticals in ''Genealogy'' and ''Thracia'' are ''more'' powerful, unless you totally outclass your enemy (in which case he's going down anyway). Oh, and one family gets a Skill that grants automatic criticals if the character is below 50% health. On the other hand, in this game, not just anyone can deal out critical hits; only those with the Critical personal skill can do so.

* Present in ''VideoGame/ABlurredLine'', where they're referred to as "An excellent attack!". Wearing items such as Lucky Bandana will increase their frequency. Weirdly, the ones inflicted by enemies are still referred to as a Critical Strike (the default UsefulNotes/RPGMaker description).

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' had critical hits even before Marth got his aptly named Final Smash (and before Final Smashes were implemented): [[UsefulNotes/GameAndWatch Mr. Game & Watch]] has a move where he whacks the target while holding up a number ranging from 1 to 9. The damage and side-effects vary, but the nine is a hard-hitting attack that certainly qualifies as a Critical Hit. Other characters have similar moves that can proc for extra damage:

* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games use this trope heavily and include 'Perks' which may affect the chance of it happening or how much damage is done.

* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' stole many RPG statistical features. Critical hits are a part of this, and rates of making them are dependent on the equipped weapon as well as the character's Luck stat. However, critical hits are usually so rare that the developers did not think of the effects they would have on the demo sequences. There is a place where Alucard can view demos showing how to defeat bosses, and some of these bosses have multiple parts. If a critical hit causes a boss to transform earlier than expected, the recorded controls will no longer match the boss's movements. This usually causes the demo Alucard to die, and if he dies, ''you'' die.

* The RealTimeStrategy game ''VideoGame/Warcraft3'' had a critical hit mechanic. This was an ability restricted to certain units--a few Heroes could get it as as normal ability, while other heroes could find items to give them bonuses.

* The RealTimeStrategy game ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} 3'' had a critical hit mechanic. This was an ability restricted to certain units--a few Heroes could get it as as normal ability, while other heroes could find items to give them bonuses.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

-->-- ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', tip regarding [[VideoGame/DragonQuest Hero]]'s smash attacks.

* The ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series has several examples:

** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' has Spirits that give a chance to increase damage of any attack by 20% (or 30%). This game also introduces [[VideoGame/DragonQuest Hero]] as [[DownloadableContent DLC]], whose smash attacks has a separate critical hit mechanic which increase both damage and knockback.

** The 40K version, ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'', has the same thing (only it's now called the "Righteous Fury!", and isn't nearly as fun to shout), and still has critical damage when the target is out of HP (it stacks: If the enemy has a critical 5 damage on the arm, hitting them for 2HP on the torso will bring them to critical 7). There're also actual critical hit tables, like ''Rolemaster'' but much more fun. You can see scans of them on [[TheWikiRule 1d4chan]].