History Main / LastDitchMove

* Pretty much ''every'' boss in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood'' throws out one last attack before they drop. Thankfully, this last attack ''can't'' kill you (if it would, you just [[HPTo1 end up with a single sliver of life instead]]), but it ''can'' wreck your life bonus (and, if you hadn't taken any damage up until then, your hopes of being rewarded with an [[VideoGameLives extra life]] for [what ''would'' have been] a FlawlessVictory.)

** The final bosses of [[VideoGame/SonicRushSeries Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Adventure]] do it as well. The Egg King tries to crush the platform Sonic or Blaze is on by ramming into it [[RuleOfThree three times]]. After the third time, you must jump onto its weak point before falling to your doom. The Ghost Titan fires two OneHitKill laser beams to the edges of Sonic/Blaze's platform and slowly aims them at the center of the stage as the robot collapses, and you must jump into its weak point when it becomes low enough to hit. Neither of these attacks are at all difficult to avoid, and they're probably just there to add tension.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' has some [[{{Mook}} Mooks]] using an HPTo1 attack upon death as a plot point. [[spoiler:It hits one character in the throat, and he can't speak afterwards.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', in the BonusDungeon and the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, there's a random encounter -- not a boss, not even one [[BossInMookClothing in mook getup]] -- called the Behemoth King. When killed, he attacks with the Meteor spell, and is very capable of killing the entire party if the player hasn't [[LevelGrinding ground much]]. General strategy is to sacrifice an [[SummonMagic Aeon]] to deal the deathblow and take the punishment, or to try and arrange it so that the deathblow is dealt as a counterattack, as counters cannot themselves be countered again.
* Many, many enemies in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' have some kind of final attack, but the most notable is the boss of the Cultist's Tower, [=MagiMaster=], who casts Ultima when he dies, which is easily capable of killing your entire party. To win, you have to find a way to survive it (usually by having [[AutoRevive Reraise]] active on at least one of your characters) or prevent him from casting it (usually by [[ManaBurn depleting his MP]], which also kills him regardless of his remaining HP).

* The ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' series has trees that make Smokey the Bear's advice look bad, with how much they tend to [[DefeatEqualsExplosion blow up]]. At lower levels, this does enough damage to constitute a potential TotalPartyKill -- thankfully, the rolling HP system in the second and third games means you can save yourself by saving the tree for last and ending the battle quickly. The first game is [[NintendoHard not as forgiving]] in this aspect.
** The [[TheMedic fuel robots]] also explode upon defeat, but are typically not encountered until later in the games, at a point where their explosions make them more GoddamnedBats instead of lethal threats. Thanks to their healing capabilities, their presence in the second and third games exist to punish those who decide to ShootTheMedicFirst.

* In ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden 2'' for the Xbox 360, there is a giant lava turtle that explodes when you kill it, and unless you are blocking, [[KaizoTrap it will kill you as well]].

* The Spawn monsters from the original ''Videogame/{{Quake}}'' are blobs that -- that's right! -- ''explode when killed.'' Combine that with their tendency to be incredibly hard to hit and get all up in your face, and you have a truly [[GoddamnedBats goddamned]] enemy to deal with.
* Some mooks in ''VideoGame/{{Quake}} II'' will, just before dying, spray one last round of bullets.

* Abominations in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' and ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' will explode upon death. Since they usually come grouped with husks, killing them at range can actually be a way of damaging all enemies around them.

* It's a staple of ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games that there will be at least one boss that casts Ultima (usually the strongest spell in the game) as it dies. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', it's actually a minor plot point.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' has a few bosses that do this - most notable is the Purobolos, a PuzzleBoss where each of the six enemies cast a full-party revive spell upon defeat.
** And humorously subverted by the Minotaur in Fork Tower: it tries to cast Holy upon defeat, but since it's a physical-based boss, it doesn't have enough MP. Its counterpart Omniscient can and will cast Flare on death, though.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', the "Final Attack" Materia gives the [=PCs=] this ability, activating whichever Materia is grouped with it. Leveling up the Materia lets it be used more than once per battle. And yes, this works with anything that revives the now-dead character, Phoenix being obviously the best choice.
* The Orc King in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles'' will run to the center of the arena and start glowing brighter and brighter when he gets low on health, which is your queue to finish him off as quickly as possible or take shelter in the very corners of the room, lest you get wiped out by the massive burst of energy he eventually unleashes.

** ''Diablo 2'' has the random monster attributes Fire Enchanted and Cold Enchanted not only giving their wielders elemental damage of the respective type but upon death they pull off this trope: Fire Enchanted monsters cast [[LudicrousGibs Corpse]] [[ActionBomb Explosion]] on their own corpse while Cold Enchanted monsters fire off a Frost Nova. For low-level characters, the latter is VERY nasty as cold damage slows and such monsters rarely go solo.

* In ''[[VideoGame/PunchOut Punch-Out!!]]'' for the Wii, Aran Ryan has one of these. In the first round of Career Mode, every time you knock him down, he takes a swing at you which doesn't hit. However, in Title Defense mode, he has a boxing glove on a rope that he uses like a flail. When you knock him down, he brings out the glove on a rope and tries to whack you one more time before falling down. Of course, it's not really capable of turning the tables, because he can't knock you down with it, and if you time a Star Punch right you'll instantly knock him out.
* Pretty much ''every'' boss in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood'' throws out one last attack before they drop.
** Thankfully, this last attack ''can't'' kill you (if it would, you just [[HPTo1 end up with a single sliver of life instead]]), but it ''can'' wreck your life bonus (and, if you hadn't taken any damage up until then, your hopes of being rewarded with an [[VideoGameLives extra life]] for [what ''would'' have been] a FlawlessVictory.)

* In ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'', the Dark Star will create a black hole once its HP is depleted, prompting you to [[SmashingSurvival mash the A and B buttons]] to keep the bros. from being sucked into it (which will deal a most likely fatal amount of damage).

* The ClippedWingAngel final form of Master Core in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros 4'' has only one attack, which it only uses if you take an excessive amount of time finishing it off and is a OneHitKill if you fail to dodge it. If you ''do'' dodge it, it gives up and self-destructs.
* In the final area of ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'', Kirby encounters a series of "Security Force" [[MiniBoss mid-bosses]] [[DegradedBoss modelled after]] Metal General from ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand''. When the Security Force's health bar is fully depleted, it'll pull out a BigRedButton from {{Hammerspace}} and press it, triggering a [[DefeatEqualsExplosion violent explosion]] that leaves lingering flames on the ground for a while. It can be destroyed before it explodes, however.

** As a nod to the Security Force fights, [[spoiler: Metal General]] pulls the exact same trick in the fan-made ''VideoGame/KirbyRevengeOfDreamLand''.

* The Egg Genesis boss in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' tries to crash into you after its health is depleted. It isn't a OneHitKO however, rendering it somewhat ineffective if you have rings.

*** The Egg Wyvern in the already mentioned 2006 game is very much a homage of the Egg Viper, complete with it's own last ditch move. The Wyvern flies at the last platform Sonic is standing on, but all you need to do is just jump and hit it as it comes by and you've won, [[MarathonBoss thankfully]].

* Crocomire will attempt to attack you as a skeleton in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', [[SubvertedTrope but instead]] collapses and opens the way to new rooms.
* When captured by an E.M.M.I. in ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'', Samus has two chances to escape (one chance if the E.M.M.I. is standing upright when it catches you) by pressing X when the robot emits a red flash, first from their claw, and then from their head. Failing both will result in an instant GameOver. However, the timing is strict enough that it just barely falls short of average human reaction time with a window of just a few frames, amounting to mere ''milliseconds'' to counter. [[labelnote:*]]The timing is so strict that it's more reliable to do handheld as the input lag from the TV and wireless controller while docked can cause you to miss it![[/labelnote]] On top of that, the E.M.M.I.'s delay before these flashes are randomized every time, keeping players from relying on it to cheese E.M.M.I. encounters.
* Done very, very annoyingly with the Mecha Drago in ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}''. It's a WakeUpCallBoss to begin with, but many, many people found defeat based solely on his "tumbling forward" attack, which happens right after you defeat him. To make matters worse, in past games, if a character fainted during the defeat animation, they would stay alive with 1 HP. Not in ''Mother 3''.

** The TrueFinalBoss, [[spoiler:Star Dream Soul OS]], is a far more JustForFun/{{egregious}} example. Upon running out of health, it'll unleash a series of energy waves that [[OneHitKill deal enough damage to KO Kirby if he's missing even the smallest amount of health]]. To make things worse, this attack can't avoided with conventional forms of invincibility such as Stone's transformation or most dash attacks[[labelnote:Note]]The sole exceptions being the moment of MercyInvincibility Kirby gets from copying an ability and ESP's teleport, which removes Kirby's hitbox[[/labelnote]], so those who try to take the easy way out are in for a nasty surprise even though the attack itself isn't too difficult to avoid otherwise. It should be noted that you can only fight [[spoiler:Star Dream Soul OS]] at the end of [[BossRush the True Arena]]. To get the opportunity to fight this boss in the first place, you have to defeat [[UndergroundMonkey souped-up]] NewGamePlus versions of all the bosses in the game, including the three [[BonusBoss Bonus Bosses]] [[spoiler:Dark Matter Clone, Queen Sectonia Clone, and Galacta Knight]], with limited recovery items, and the battle against [[spoiler: Star Dream Soul OS]] itself is a [[MarathonBoss marathon effort]] that takes more than 10 minutes to complete. If you mess up, let your nerves get the better of you, and get hit by the last move? That's about 20-40 minutes of effort, '''''[[AllForNothing completely wasted]]'''''.

* Bob-Ombs from the ''[[Videogame/SuperMarioBros Mario]]'' games tend to explode when stomped, although there's usually a means of taking them out that doesn't set them off.

** Some mooks in ''VideoGame/{{Quake}} II'' will, just before dying, spray one last round of bullets.

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 2'''s Pain Elementals release a handful of Lost Souls when they die.

* [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} VOLTORB/GRAVELER/KOFFING/WEEZING/CLAYDOL/BOLDORE/DRIFBLIM]] used SELFDESTRUCT! (or EXPLOSION!)

* PlayedForDrama in the KillEmAll route of ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' where [[spoiler: Sans]], in a final effort, starts slamming your SOUL against the wall to try and reduce your health. But your determination prevents you from falling below 1 HP during this attack and after that, it becomes a ForegoneConclusion that he will die to you, as well.

Often done by an ActionBomb. Subtrope of KaizoTrap. See also TakingYouWithMe and LastBreathBullet. Can overlap with DesperationAttack, which is much more common with player characters and often requires them to be at low health, not dying.

* [[spoiler:Prince Dail]] from ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' attempts one after being defeated by the player, only to get sidelined by [[spoiler:Shade]] before he can launch his attack.

Depending of the severity of such attacks, this may easily become a ThatOneAttack that sends all of your efforts down the toilet. There may be ways of surviving or avoiding this.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' has some [[{{Mook}} Mooks]] using an HPToOne attack upon death as a plot point. [[spoiler:It hits one character in the throat, and he can't speak afterwards.]]

** Thankfully, this last attack ''can't'' kill you (if it would, you just [[HPToOne end up with a single sliver of life instead]]), but it ''can'' wreck your life bonus (and, if you hadn't taken any damage up until then, your hopes of being rewarded with an [[VideoGameLives extra life]] for [what ''would'' have been] a FlawlessVictory.)

* In the final area of ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'', Kirby encounters a series of brand new [[MiniBoss mid-bosses]] called "Security Force", [[DegradedBoss modelled after]] Metal General from ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand''. When the Security Force's health bar is fully depleted, it'll pull out a BigRedButton from {{Hammerspace}} and press it, triggering a [[DefeatEqualsExplosion violent explosion]].

** As a nod to the Security Force fight, [[spoiler: Metal General]] pulls the exact same trick in the fan-made ''VideoGame/KirbyRevengeOfDreamLand''.

* ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' has its True Final Boss, [[spoiler:Star Dream Soul OS]]. Upon running out of health, it'll unleash a trio of energy waves that deal enough damage to KO Kirby if he's missing even the smallest amount of health. To make things worse, the attack can't avoided with conventional forms of invincibility such as Stone's transformation or most dash attacks (The sole exceptions being invincibility from copying an ability and ESP's teleport), so those who try to take the easy way out are in for a nasty surprise, though the attack itself isn't actually that difficult to avoid otherwise.
** It should be noted, only during 'The True Arena' do you fight [[spoiler:Star Dream Soul OS]], which makes this example even worse due to the fact to even fight this boss, you have to go a boss rush of all the bosses in the game with there improved difficulty settings, though three bonus bosses, [[spoiler:Dark Matter Clone, Queen Sectonia Clone & Galacta Knight]] with limited recovery items, then the original final boss with improved difficulty settings with NO HEALING ITEMS between each of its phases. So this means if you mess up, let your nerves get the better of you and get attacked by the last move? That's about 20-40 minutes of effort for nothing. Insert rage here.

* Many boss and miniboss monsters in the ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' series have [=AoE=] elemental explosions that occur on death, which can be very nasty for [[FinalDeath Hard Core]] players.

Often done by an ActionBomb. Subtrope of KaizoTrap. See also TakingYouWithMe and LastBreathBullet. The equivalent for the player characters is the DesperationAttack.

** It should be noted, only during 'The True Arena' do you fight [[spoiler:Star Dream Soul OS]], which makes this example even worse due to the fact to even fight this boss, you have to go a boss rush of all the bosses in the game with there improved difficulty settings, though three bonus bosses, [[spoiler:Dark Matter Clone, Queen Sectonia Clone & Galactica Knight]] with limited recovery items, then the original final boss with improved difficulty settings with NO HEALING ITEMS between each of its phases. So this means if you mess up, let your nerves get the better of you and get attacked by the last move? That's about 20-40 minutes of effort for nothing. Insert rage here.

* Nergigante in ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'' has a divebomb attack which is capable of one-shotting the player. Ordinarily the player needs to damage them enough for thorns to appear on its entire body before the attack is available. However, once near death Nergigante retreats to its lair and will ram through walls, damaging itself in exchange for quickly charging a divebomb attack.

* One was attempted by [[spoiler:Prince Dail]] from ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' after being defeated by the player, only to get sidelined by [[spoiler:Shade]] before he could launch his attack.

!!Normal Enemy Examples:

!!Boss Examples:

* ''VideoGame/{{Spelunky}}'''s fire frogs explode when killed. This can get you into trouble, too - especially if one blows up part of a [[EasilyAngeredShopkeeper shop.]] There are also flying saucers which explode upon getting hit on impact.