History Main / DoNotDropYourWeapon

* Averted in ''{{Gun}}'', which actually gave you bonus points for disarming your enemies (as well as counting as a kill). However, this can be tricky unless one uses the game's BulletTime power.

* In ''{{Dark Messiah of Might and Magic}}'', often the easiest way to tell if an enemy is dead is to check if he is still holding his weapon, since all regular enemies drop their weapon when they die, and only when they die. Enemies often fall down and stop moving when they are near to death, looking very much like dead, but are actually alive and able to rise and attack the player again. Therefore it would be dangerous for the player to turn back on them. Usually in this kind of situation the only way to make sure the enemy is ''really'' dead is to keep attacking the recumbent foe until you see him let go of his weapon. Though subverted in that by spending experience points in melée combat one can disarm an oppenent under certain circumstances at which point the enemy will attempt to recover the weapon as soon as possible or attack you unarmed. Also, archers will switch to their sword if you trap them in a corner and get too close for comfort, dropping the bow on the ground.

!Examples:

* ''GoldenEye'' and ''ProjectIGI'' take this a step further: You can kill enemies by shooting their guns!

* Played straight and Averted in the ''CallOfDuty'' series: Held in the original ''Call of Duty'', with an interesting addition: a helmet coming off also signified death. Deliberately subverted in ''Call of Duty 2'', where the same animations could occur despite the enemy not yet being completely dead. In the case of dropped weapons, the enemy in question will pull out a pistol for a last salvo, or crawl toward his fallen weapon. ''Call of Duty 4'' and ''Call of Duty: World at War'' would have dying enemies pull a pistol or or ready a grenade. The latter is harder to tell since they will look dead until you hear a "tink" sound and the grenade indicator appears. Every multiplayer since "Call of Duty 4" has the "Last Stand" perk which would allow "killed" players to draw a pistol and fight until they are hit again or bleed out. Oddly enough they don't drop their main gun when they enter "Last stand". And finally (for now) Modern Warfare 2 has the deathstreak "Final Stand" that allows you full access to your weapons and should you survive long enough you get up with full health.

* ''ElderScrolls: Oblivion'' averts this. You can disarm enemies, and your opponents can disarm you, too.

* Averted in {{Gothic}} - simply knocking out an [=NPC=] is enough to make him drop his wielded weapon. Unfortunately, this also applies to ''you''. Savvy players will quickly sheathe their swords just as they're about to be knocked out, as [=NPCs=] will pick up and keep any weapon that falls from your hands, but won't bother going through your inventory for it; and will already have stashed their gold somewhere else, as guards ''won't'' pick up gold from the floor, but will eagerly pick your pockets for it when you're down.

** The ''Bad Company 2'' entry changed it up so that you have to pick up weapons the kit. Arguably, the kit was much easier to get since they would always be easily spotted and didn't fall around when it was dropped.
* Averted in TheLegendOfZelda: the Wind Waker. Attacking an enemy enough can sometimes cause them to drop their weapons before death, after which they will scramble for a new one or simply resort to fisticuffs.

* Averted in the multiplayer FirstPersonShooter ''Red Orchestra'', where guns can be shot out of your hand. This naturally leads to a frantic search for your weapon in the open.

* Averted in {{Oni}} where not only can you use a disarm move to take someone's gun, but throwing or knocking your opponent down in melee will also cause any equipped weapon to be dropped.
* The {{X-Com}} games play it mostly straight. Enemies only drop their inventories when dead or unconscious. That is, unless you exploit a minor bug in the first game or they are caused to panic (psi attacks, killing their own men, and killing them can do this).

* Averted in part in ''Jedi Knight'' and ''Jedi Academy'', where the use of Force Pull or Force Push can cause mooks to drop their weapons.

* Mostly averted in the ''Yakuza'' games, but played straight as well. Most weapon-wielding enemies can be forced to drop their weapons when hit with certain attacks (such as throws), but a few will hold onto them no matter how hard you hit them. Applies to the protagonist as well, but in a more logical way--he'll drop large weapons like garbage cans and bicycles if he's hit hard enough while carrying them, but not small weapons like guns and knives.

* Averted in ''Gun'', which actually gave you bonus points for disarming your enemies (as well as counting as a kill). However, this can be tricky unless one uses the game's BulletTime power.
* Averted in [[FarCry Far Cry 2]], where enemies shot in the arm can drop their weapons, resulting in them pulling out a sidearm. Get them to drop that, and they run away.

* In ''Fire Emblem'', certain enemies will drop their weapons (or other cool prizes) when defeated. However, if the object is not equipped, you can have a thief walk up to the enemy unit and use the "Steal" option.
* Averted in [[CortexCommand Cortex Command]], where disarming is so ridiculously easy that sometimes even the recoil of your weapon can disarm you. And weapons aren't indestructible either. Dying by stepping on a grenade to hard sucks...
* Averted in the DarkForces series, at least Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy: one of the easiest Force tricks you can do is yank your foes' weapons out of their hands with Force Pull. Some enemies, particularly fellow Force users, resist or block this and could even do the same to you with a strike.

* ''AssassinsCreed 2'' lets you disarm opponents in more than one way. An appropriately-timed counter while fighting empty-handed lets you steal the attacker's weapon (provided he's not too tough), while the special attack for the Two Handed Weapon superset is a smash attack that knocks the defender's weapon away. The latter can actually be done to the player, and yes, this WILL disarm you of whatever weapon you're carrying (though it isn't LostForever; you can simply pick it back up or, failing that, return to your home and get it out of the weapons room again).

* {{Bioshock}} 1 and 2 subvert this; the weapons can fall out of sight when they die, but you can find ammo for that weapon on their bodies. This trope is also averted in VideoGame/BioshockInfinite, where you can use (temporary plasmids?) nostrums to kick your enemy's ass [[HoistByHisOwnPetard with his own gun]]
* Shooting the gun out of their hands, a staple of good guys in the more G-rated Western films and TV series, is featured in RedDeadRedemption. It's a good way to win pistol duels and is required for certain in-game marksmanship achievements, but normal enemies so disarmed will often quickly retrieve the weapon or continue fighting with another gun. Handgun-wielding foes who lose their gat may even produce a rifle from their HyperspaceArsenal after running scared for a short time.

* {{Bioshock}} 1 and 2 subvert this; the weapons can fall out of sight when they die, but you can find ammo for that weapon on their bodies. This trope is also averted in BioshockInfinite, where you can use (temporary plasmids?) nostrums to kick your enemy's ass [[HoistByHisOwnPetard with his own gun]]

Examples:

** Similarly with {{Fallout}} 3, by the same company, although arguably better, considering you can target the weapons specifically in VATS.

* Subverted in MDKII with Max the four armed smoking dog. He'll hold a weapon in each of his four arms and when the ammo is depleted throw it away and replace it with one of the spares you've got. He does however have a basic pistol with unlimited ammo which he never throws away.
* Subverted in {{Gothic}} - simply knocking out an [=NPC=] is enough to make him drop his wielded weapon. Unfortunately, this also applies to ''you''. Savvy players will quickly sheathe their swords just as they're about to be knocked out, as [=NPCs=] will pick up and keep any weapon that falls from your hands, but won't bother going through your inventory for it; and will already have stashed their gold somewhere else, as guards ''won't'' pick up gold from the floor, but will eagerly pick your pockets for it when you're down.

* {{Bioshock}} 1 and 2 subvert this; the weapons can fall out of sight when they die, but you can find ammo for that weapon on their bodies. This trope is also averted in the upcoming BioshockInfinite, where you can use (temporary plasmids?) nostrums to kick your enemy's ass [[HoistByHisOwnPetard with his own gun]]

* {{Bioshock}} 1 and 2 subvert this; the weapons can fall out of sight when they die, but you can find the ammo from the gun on their bodies instead of checking the gun; almost like their weapons are telepath-connected to their users. This trope is also averted in the upcoming BioshockInfinite, where you can use (temporary plasmids?) nostrums to kick your enemy's ass [[HoistByHisOwnPetard with his own gun]]

* {{Bioshock}} 1 and 2 subvert this; the weapons can fall out of sight when they die, but you can find the ammo from the gun on their bodies instead of checking the gun; almost like their weapons are telepath-connected to their users. This trope is also averted in the upcoming BioshockInfinite, where you can use (temporary plasmids?) nostrums to kick your enemy's ass {{HoistByHisOwnPetard: with his own gun}}

* Bioshock 1 and 2 subvert this; the weapons can fall out of sight when they die, but you can find the ammo from the gun on their bodies instead of checking the gun; almost like their weapons are telepath-connected to their users. This trope is also averted in the upcoming BioshockInfinite, where you can use (temporary plasmids?) nostrums to kick your enemy's ass [[HoistByHisOwnPetard: with his own gun]]

* Played straight and Averted in the ''CallOfDuty'' series: Held in the original ''Call of Duty'', with an interesting addition: a helmet coming off also signified death. Deliberately subverted in ''Call of Duty 2'', where the same animations could occur despite the enemy not yet being completely dead. In the case of dropped weapons, the enemy in question will pull out a pistol for a last salvo, or crawl toward his fallen weapon. In ''Call of Duty 4'', multiplayer, the ''Last Stand'' perk would allow a downed player to pull out a pistol for a few seconds, until they were shot, or died of blood loss. The furthest this went was ''Call of Duty: World at War'', where not only would some enemies draw a handgun as they bled to death, but sometimes they would slump against a wall and hold a primed grenade in their hand, releasing it after a set amount of time, if shot, or if walked by.
** ModernWarfare 2 takes the aversion to the logical conclusion with the Final Stand deathstreak reward. You can not only pick back up your weapon after being "killed" but if you live long enough you can get back up to full health no problem! Or would this qualify as being played straight to its logical conclusion?

* In ''Dark Messiah: MightAndMagic'' often the most easy way to tell if enemy is dead is to check if he is still holding his weapon, since all regular enemies drop their weapon when they die, and only when they die. Enemies often fall down and stop moving when they are near to death, looking very much like dead, but are actually alive and able to rise and attack the player again. Therefore it would be dangerous for the player to turn back on them. Usually in this kind of situation the only way to make sure the enemy is ''really'' dead is to keep attacking the recumbent foe until you see him let go of his weapon. Though subverted in that by spending experience points in melée combat one can disarm an oppenent under certain circumstances at which point the enemy will attempt to recover the weapon as soon as possible or attack you unarmed. Also, archers will switch to their sword if you trap them in a corner and get too close for comfort, dropping the bow on the ground.

* This happens in the {{Halo}} games. The theater in Halo 3 allows you to go back and pinpoint the ''exact frame'' a player dies with this method.
* In TeamFortress2, one of the biggest incentives to kill an enemy can be for their weapon, which restores [[UniversalAmmo half of your ammo reserves]] (and, since the most recent update, your cloak as a Spy).

* ''DwarfFortress'' let both your dwarfs and enemy goblins become disarmed due to injury. It's also possible for a weapon to get stuck inside a target's body, or taken away via wrestling. However, in Adventure Mode, [=NPCs=] do not drop their weapon when they fall unconscious, only when they lose the ability to grasp it permanently, because they won't pick up any item and thus would become permanently disarmed.

* ''DwarfFortress'' let both your dwarfs and enemy goblins become disarmed due to injury. It's also possible for a weapon to get stuck inside a target's body, or taken away via wrestling.

* Averted in ''GrandTheftAutoIV'', in which NPCs drop their weapons under a variety of circumstances besides dying. In melee combat you can steal a knife right out of your opponent's hands if you dodge at the right moment, while you can knock a gun out of out of their hand with a whack from the baseball bat. You can also shoot a person's weapon out of their hand, in which case they'll retrieve a backup (if they have one) or otherwise resort to fisticuffs. In an extreme example of this, this troper once shot a NOOSE operator's M4 out of his hands, so he retrieved a shotgun. I shot ''that'' out of his hands, and he retrieved a Glock.

* ''DwarfFortress'' let both your dwarfs and enemy goblins become disarmed due to injury. It's also possible for a weapon to get stuck inside a target's body.

*** In at least MGS4, when you tranqed an enemy with a rifle, they'd drop it when they passed out. If you then took it from him, he'd pull out a pistol when he woke up. If you repeated the process, he'd just get up and continue to run his designated patrol ''completely unarmed''. I never found out if they'd try to punch you if they caught you like that.

* Averted in the [[Dark Forces]] series, at least Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy: one of the easiest Force tricks you can do is yank your foes' weapons out of their hands with Force Pull. Some enemies, particularly fellow Force users, resist or block this and could even do the same to you with a strike.