History Main / DenialOfDiagonalAttack

As a result of all this, enemies that are crotch-high or shorter are nearly impossible to hit due to an inability to shoot any lower. This can also apply to [[AirborneMook floating/flying enemies]] that soar just above your weapon's range and aim for your forehead. Due to the aforementioned fact that some games at least let you crouch for lower shots, the flying/floating variant of this trope is possibly even more common than the "crotch monster" variety. Adds a lot of frustration--not only because the enemy is unkillable, but also because it's annoying to see the hero bested by a foe which, for all intents and purposes, he ''should'' be able to kill easily if only he could ''slightly'' lower his rifle.

* This is a problem in ''{{VideoGame/Pokemon}}'' triple battles in Gen V and beyond. If you're on one of the sides, you won't be able to target your attack at the opponent Pokemon on the far other side from you.

!!Inversions:

!!Aversions:

** Fully averted once more by none other than [[BadassGrandpa Julius Belmont]] in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDespair Harmony Of Despair]]'', where he can whip in all directions this time, and he has a variety of sub-weapons as well when that doesn't quite cut it.

* The [[VideoGame/{{Metroid1}} very first]] ''{{Franchise/Metroid}}'' game only let you shoot horizontally and straight up, and you can't duck. The Wave Beam helped deal with this, but you inevitably needed to replace it with the Ice Beam to deal with the Metroids. The Screw Attack was awesome enough to possibly qualify for a partial aversion for flying enemies, but the only other way to deal with crotch monsters was with bombs. ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' put a downplay on it by allowing you to duck and fire straight down if you're in midair, and also improving the Screw Attack so it can destroy small monsters at ground level. ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' and beyond averted this further by also allowing Samus to both shoot diagonally and combine collected beam power-ups instead of having them as mutually exclusive. The ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy'', being 3D {{First Person Shooter}}s, got rid of this problem entirely.

* The titular heroine of the PC98 game ''VideoGame/{{Rusty}}'' has all of the aiming capabilities as Samus from the original NES ''Metroid''.

** You can fire a full 360° in vehicles, however. Later games also let you throw grenades diagonally if you play as Eri.

* ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'': You start with a pistol that can only shoot straight right, left, up, or down if you jump and fire. Crouching while shooting is possible (and a good strategy because it's slightly faster), but unless you get the [[MoreDakka Heavy Machine Gun]] power-up, you can't shoot diagonally.

* The [[VideoGame/{{Metroid1}} very first]] ''{{Franchise/Metroid}}'' game only let you shoot horizontally and straight up, and you can't duck. The Wave Beam helped deal with this, but you inevitably needed to replace it with the Ice Beam to deal with the Metroids. The Screw Attack was awesome enough to possibly qualify for a partial aversion for flying enemies, but the only other way to deal with crotch monsters was with bombs. ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' put a downplay on it by allowing you to duck and fire straight down if you're in midair, and also improving the Screw Attack so it can destroy small monsters at ground level. ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' and beyond averted this further by also allowing Samus to both shoot diagonally and combine collected beam power-ups instead of having them as mutually exclusive. The ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' series, being 3D {{First Person Shooter}}s, got rid of this problem entirely.

* In the original ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', although you can't aim the gun up or down yourself, if you fire at an enemy who is above or below your sights, the game aims the shot towards the enemy. Even if the game didn't do that, you'd still score a hit due to the enemies' [[HitboxDissonance cylinder-of-infinite-height hitboxes]]. This behavior can come back to bite you in the ass when dealing with monsters on a ledge high above but close to you, as ''your'' infinitely-high hitbox now becomes a liability.

* The titular hero of ''VideoGame/DynamiteHeaddy'' can fire his head in five directions while standing, in eight directions while in midair, and diagonally downward or low and to the side while ducking. If a target is within firing radius, it can be hit. The game even gives you overkill with Lotsa Heads, a three-head spread shot, War Head, which automatically fires projectiles in eight directions along with being able to be fired normally, and Pig Head, which cannot itself be fired but which allows you to fire two homing projectiles at a time.

* ZigZagged in some older {{RPG}}s such as the ''Franchise/{{Ultima}}'' series, depending on which version it is. For example, it's played straight in most of the early ''Ultimas'', but some of the ports that natively supported mice allowed for diagonals, while the NES version of ''VideoGame/UltimaIV'' averted it entirely, allowing you to select a target and aim directly instead of picking a vector.

-->-- '''SomecallmeJohnny''' reviewing ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid''.

** Bass could fire in 7 directions and later [[VideoGame/MegaManX Axl]] could fire in 8, although they [[DoNotRunWithAGun could not run at the same time.]]

* The ''Film/DirtyHarry'' NES game both subverts and plays this trope straight at the same time. Harry ''can'' fire diagonally, but only upwards (unless he's standing up off the ground, when he can fire diagonally downward.) Combine this with the fact that he can't crouch, and crotch monsters are ''still'' a major problem.

* ''{{Abuse}}'' (sometimes called “''Doom'' the [[SideView side scroller]]”) lets you use the mouse for aiming and shooting while walking with the keyboard.

* The titular hero of ''DynamiteHeaddy'' can fire his head in five directions while standing, in eight directions while in midair, and diagonally downward or low and to the side while ducking. If a target is within firing radius, it can be hit. The game even gives you overkill with Lotsa Heads, a three-head spread shot, War Head, which automatically fires projectiles in eight directions along with being able to be fired normally, and Pig Head, which cannot itself be fired but which allows you to fire two homing projectiles at a time.

* In ''VideoGame/ElevatorAction'', enemies can shoot from a crouching position, while the player cannot.

* It's not until late in ''VideoGame/BionicCommando Rearmed'' that you get a weapon that fired diagonally, and even it it clumsy. You can fire while crouched to deal with low threats, but you [[ScrappyMechanic cannot jump at all]], so enemies attacking from above remain a major annoyance for the entire game. Oh, and the enemy AI knows that you cannot fire diagonally up, and will take advantage of this fact to remain safe from your attacks.

* This is a problem in ''{{VideoGame/Pokemon}}'' triple battles in Gen V and beyond. If you're on one of the sides, you won't be able to target you attack at the opponent Pokemon on the far other side from you.

** Ditto for ''VideoGame/MegaMan7'''s Freeze Cracker.

* The ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' series as a whole averts this trope by providing the characters with full body attacks, as well as by giving projectiles an effective range of coverage, as well as allowing you to launch the projectiles at an angle from ''[[DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest DKC2]]'' onwards (strangely enough, this ability was absent in ''Returns'').

* In ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'', not only can you attack in all 8 direction (and projectiles can be fire toward any square on the screen), the game currently has 3 dimensions [[GoodBadBugs but altitude has no effect on ability to attack]]: a fish in a river and a dwarf on the surrounding cliff face are perfectly capable of exchanging blows so long as they are horizontally adjacent. In adventure mode, you can even attack units ''underground'' if you happen to be directly above the 3x3 tile square that unit in is the center of and have at least one visible target in range.

* This is a problem in ''VideoGame/Pokemon'' triple battles in Gen V and beyond. If you're on one of the sides, you won't be able to target you attack at the opponent Pokemon on the far other side from you.