History Main / FlashofPain

* The bosses in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' and the ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' series.

* The enemies in the original ''VideoGame/BlasterMaster'' games do this.

* Bosses and enemies in ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'' series either flash when damaged or play a "taking damage" animation.
* ''VideoGame/{{Snailiad}}'' uses this.

* Enemies with multiple hitpoints and bosses in ''[[VideoGame/BattleCity Tank Force]]'' flash white.
* Larger enemies, bosses and walls in ''VideoGame/HeavyBarrel''
* Bosses blink white in ''VideoGame/LastAlert''.
* ''Skeleton Krew'' had certain obstacles moving along a set path that displayed the same flash that enemies did when shot. However, those obstacles are really indestructible, and the flash is meaningless in their case.
* Bosses and destructible objects in ''VideoGame/SunsetRiders'' will flash white when damaged, and rapidly flash red when they're low on health.

* Many {{Creator/Konami}} games do this when bosses are hit combined with [[TurnsRed turning red]] such as ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTheArcadeGame'', ''VideoGame/TheSimpsons'', and ''VideoGame/XMen''.
* Bosses in ''VideoGame/DoubleDragonNeon'' flash orange when damaged and rapidly flash when low on health. [[BigBad Skullmageddon]] even references this in one of his pause menu lines.

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* ''Videogame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' has enemies flashing deep red when hit while the player character has a subtle flash and MercyInvincibility. The [[PaletteSwap multicoloured]] [[UndergroundMonkey Champion]] variants of regular enemies will flash in whatever colour contrasts their body the most.

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[[folder: Beat Em Up ]]

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[[folder: Multiple genres ]]

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[[folder: Real Time Strategy ]]

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[[folder: Shoot Em Up ]]

[[folder: Wide Open Sandbox ]]

* The Kooma Panda and Ursa Circus dream eaters in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3D'' flash red when struck with weak attacks to indicate that they're ImmuneToFlinching. Oddly, the multitudes of other enemies with the same ability don't flash at all.

* Both Link and bosses in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games.

* This shows up occasionally in the VideoGame/CapcomVsWhatever series.

* Bosses and some other things with multiple hitpoints flash white in most 2D ''VideoGames/SonicTheHedgehog'' games when damaged. If [[BigBad Eggman]] is piloting a machine, he'll also display a surprised reaction while also facing the screen when his vehicle is damaged.

* Bosses and some other things with multiple hitpoints flash white in most 2D ''SonicTheHedgehog'' games when damaged. If [[BigBad Eggman]] is piloting a machine, he'll also display a surprised reaction while also facing the screen when his vehicle is damaged.

** Armored attacks in the Franchise/MortalKombat games from 9 onward cause this as well.

* The ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' series of games: regular enemies with flash invisible for about 2 frames, while bosses and Mega Man himself flash white.

* One of the few Mario examples, are the bosses in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' a.k.a ''Super Mario USA'' mainly due to it ''not originally'' being a Mario game. Enemies requiring multiple hits will flash in the dominant color of the character you're using.

* Strangely enough, enemies and bosses in ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}'' only flash red in the Sega Saturn version. The PC version averts this.

* Strangely enough, enemies and bosses in ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}!'' only flash red in the Sega Saturn version. The PC version averts this.

* Larger enemies, bosses and walls in ''HeavyBarrel''

* Bosses and some other things with multiple hitpoints seem to blink white in 2D ''SonicTheHedgehog'' games.
** Any fight with Robotnik changes his sprite, making him look directly at the player, mouth open screaming with a more frayed mustache upon being hit.

* Many {{Konami}} games do this when bosses are hit combined with [[TurnsRed turning red]] such as ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTheArcadeGame'', ''VideoGame/TheSimpsons'', and ''VideoGame/XMen''.

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* Enemies with multiple hitpoints and bosses in ''[[VideoGame/BattleCity Tank Force]]'' flash white.

[[AC:BeatEmUp]]

[[AC:FightingGame]]

[[AC:FirstPersonShooter]]

[[AC:Multiple genres]]

[[AC:PlatformGame]]

[[AC: RealTimeStrategy]]

[[AC:RolePlayingGame]]

[[AC:ShootEmUp]]

[[AC:WideOpenSandbox]]

* Enemies in ''DynamiteHeaddy'' always flash white with the same little sound effect whenever they take damage without dying.
* ''{{Gish}}'' flashes red in his game when he is damaged.
* The enemies in ''JourneyToSilius'' flash pink after getting hit for some reason.

In many video games, enemies that don't die from one hit will blink a different colour when damaged. Most of the time, it tends to be white, although it may come in different variants, like red. This particular effect was chosen because it is achieved with a simple PaletteSwap, a cheap operation for early video hardware.

* This shows up occasionally in the CapcomVsWhatever series.

* The enemies in platforming parts of ''ActRaiser'' blink red and white when hit. Even those which require single hit, blink red before exploding. In town building parts, the enemies blink white when hit.

* ''{{Lagoon}}'' applies this to the player character, Nasir, as well as enemies.
* Bosses and enemies in ''{{Shantae}}'' series either flash when damaged or play a "taking damage" animation.
* ''{{Snailiad}}'' uses this.

* Enemies in ''RatchetAndClank'' flash red when damaged.