History Main / MercyInvincibility

** Particularly difficult VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld {{ROM hack}}s will sometimes have sections of their levels that are impossible to get through unless you're invincible, so the designer will throw in a powerup just so you can lose it and use the Mercy Invincibility to race through these sections. If you don't make it in time, you die.

Fighting Games, especially 2D fighters, have a version of Mercy Invincibility where a character receives a couple frames of immunity after he or she is knocked down. This allows the knocked down player to get up without having to worry about being hit while his or her character is down. Another, related ability to that is the RecoveryAttack, where a character, while not necessarily being invulnerable, may be able to fight back.

Very common in all kinds of {{Platformer}}. {{Shoot Em Up}}s also have this, typically after losing a life, giving your new life a chance to position outside of enemy fire. The traditional form of this occurs much less commonly in the FirstPersonShooter, though a variant where a player is invulnerable for a brief period after respawning is present in many [=FPS=] titles. Many SpeedRun strategies exploit these invincibility frames for more efficient maneuvering.

* This invincibility also applies to the [[VideoGame/SegaSuperstars Sonic & SEGA All-stars Racing]] games--with the notable exception of Ice in ''Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed''. Ice is the weakest projectile, but you always receive them three at a time. The lack of Mercy Invincibility means you can shoot a racer one after another when receiving Ice, and thus Ice rewards good aim. In Battle Race, however, Ice ''does'' get Mercy Invincibility, as you're eliminated when hit three times, and it'd be unfair to lose instantly to someone who receives Ice as a weapon.

** In the first ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'', some objects were exempt from the invincibility, so landing on a large bed of spikes could possibly have you bounce back onto it again, killing you.
** Exploiting mercy invincilibity was necessary in the GameGear/Master System version of this game, as the Chaos Emeralds are hidden in the levels as opposed to in Special Stages. Most require exploring and some thinking to get to, but the one in Labyrinth Zone is actually in a small pit of spikes. There are no nearby enemies, so the only way you can do it is to deliberately jump into the spikes and take damage, then while you're invincible jump in again, grab the Chaos Emerald and jump back out before that invincibility wears off and you die.
** The Silver boss fight in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006''. His main attack is catching and throwing you into something, losing rings on impact. [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard The "catch and toss" part ignores the invincibility frames]].
** Likewise, ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' will avoid mercy invincibility if you're forced forward and hit spikes, much like getting killed by a crusher trap (thankfully there's only one level where this can happen.)

* Spikes in the first version of the original ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' would not trigger MercyInvincibility at all, leading to situations where a player could land on a large area of spikes and lose their shield, rings, then life in one go as Sonic bounced uncontrollably from spike to spike.

--> [[SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound Youch! Youch! Youch!]] [[DarthWiki/MostAnnoyingSound Youch! Youch! Youch!]]

--> [[SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound Youch! Youch! Youch!]] [[MostAnnoyingSound Youch! Youch! Youch!]]

A small burst of invulnerability whenever the player takes damage, to give them time to escape. The customary visual representation comes from very early games on extremely low-powered systems (such as NES or Atari 2600) where the only effect available was to flash the sprite character on and off. Nowadays it's tradition.

Enemies, particularly bosses, will often have mercy invincibility as a guard against the player ButtonMashing and/or rapid fire controllers, which affects the overall length/ease of the fight. Fighting Games, especially 2D fighters, have a version of Mercy Invincibility where a character receives a couple frames of immunity after they are knocked down. This allows the knocked down player to get up without having to worry about being hit while their character is down.

* In the first ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'', some objects were exempt from the invincibility, so landing on a large bed of spikes could possibly have you bounce back onto it again, killing you.

* Spikes in the first version of the original ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' would not trigger MercyInvincibility at all, leading to situations where a player could land on a large area of spikes and lose their shield, rings, then life in one go as Sonic bounced uncontrollably from spike to spike.

One hallmark of the {{Platformer}} is EverythingTryingToKillYou, and this killing is usually done by the simple act of [[CollisionDamage touching the player character]].

Since this collision is injurious to the player and harmless to the attacker, even if the player is permitted more than one injury before death occurs, [[CycleOfHurting he might quickly deplete his entire]] LifeMeter before being able to disentangle himself from the enemy.

As a small mercy, most games that work according to these rules grant the player a small span of invulnerability whenever damage is taken, giving him time to extricate himself before another hit can be taken. This is visually indicated in most games by a FlashOfPain: a partial transparency or flashing of the player sprite. The origin of this effect comes from very early platform games which were released on extremely low-powered systems (such as NES or Atari 2600). Therefore the only visual effect available was to flash the sprite character on and off. Modern systems could do much more, such as surrounding the sprite with a flashing gold halo, but strangely they stick to the same old visuals (which sometimes results in the player unable to see their character). The momentary invulnerability may be substituted for (or coupled with) the player character being physically [[{{Knockback}} thrown backward]] from the point of impact. If the player isn't knocked back and takes different amounts of damage from different attacks, there may be situations where a player can deliberately run into something that deals little damage and use the Mercy Invincibility to run past something more dangerous. This is known as a Damage Boost.

Enemies, particularly bosses, will often have this as a guard against the player ButtonMashing and/or rapid fire controllers, which affects the overall length/ease of the fight.

Fighting Games, especially 2D fighters, have a version of Mercy Invincibility where a character receives a couple frames of immunity after he or she is knocked down. This allows the knocked down player to get up without having to worry about being hit while his or her character is down. Another, related ability to that is the RecoveryAttack, where a character, while not necessarily being invulnerable, may be able to fight back.

A similar function can be found in most games that have RandomEncounters. Rather than having a purely random system (which can often lead to encounters at every other step), there will be a built in minimum delay between each encounter. This is to prevent a situation where an encounter at every other step overwhelms the players. More modern games may even give you a coloured indicator that starts flashing as the next random encounter approaches, giving you time to chuck some health potions at your party.

Very common in all kinds of {{Platformer}}. {{Shoot Em Up}}s also have this, typically after losing a life, giving your new life a chance to position outside of enemy fire. The traditional form of this occurs much less commonly in the FirstPersonShooter, though a variant where a player is invulnerable for a brief period after respawning is present in many [=FPS=] titles. Many SpeedRun strategies exploit these invincibility frames for more efficient maneuvering.

Action and HackAndSlash games, on the other hand, have increasingly eschewed this mechanic during UsefulNotes/TheNewTens, to the extent where certain fans of these genres now regard it as a DiscreditedTrope that encourages button-mashing and sloppy gameplay. Instead, modern games in these genres usually place an emphasis on learning enemy attack patterns and then blocking, countering, or dodging them, with the punishment for failing to learn these patterns being enemies able to rack up multiple hits (and thereby major damage, if not outright slaughtering the player character) in short order.

** This is subverted in the prequel, ''Duodecim''. Yeah, ''you'' can't whale on your opponent further after you've nailed them to the wall--but your AssistCharacter can. And if your assist was the one to do the wall-nailing, then you can gladly continue the damage. This is the main way players unleash combos in that game.

* Pretty much every incarnation of the ''Franchise/MegaMan'' games has had this ability. Some of them actually had items that would extend the length of time it was active. The invincibility actually made it ''advantageous'' to be hit in certain spots. In most ''Mega Man'' games, touching spikes means instant death, but hitting an enemy right before hitting spikes would allow you to escape with your life (provided, of course, you had time to extricate yourself from the spikes before the invincibility wore off). However, this doesn't apply at all to ''VideoGame/MegaMan1''. Touch spikes at any time, even after getting hit? BOOM!
** By the way, almost every single boss in the ''Mega Man'' series has Mercy Invincibility as well.

** Inverted in ''VideoGame/MegaManAndBass'', where bosses get LONGER mercy invincibility than the player character. The real kicker? Bass's primary weapon is a weak rapid-fire shot. However, only the first hit will count for anything, meaning any boss fought with Bass' default weapon takes much, much, much longer to kill than it should.

** In the remake, the boss fight with the giant eye-monster Viy averts this - standing on its body will [[CollisionDamage rapidly drain your health]], with no Mercy Invincibility.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' had a slight aversion. In LethalLavaLand, if Mario falls in the lava, he takes damage and goes flying but doesn't get the Mercy Invincibility. If you're not careful, you can be killed very quickly.

* Sometimes subverted in the first ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'', as some objects were exempt from the invincibility, so landing on a large bed of spikes could possibly have you bounce back onto it again, killing you.
** Necessary in the GameGear/Master System version of this game, as the Chaos Emeralds are hidden in the levels as opposed to in Special Stages. Most require exploring and some thinking to get to, but the one in Labyrinth Zone is actually in a small pit of spikes. There are no nearby enemies, so the only way you can do it is to deliberately jump into the spikes and take damage, then while you're invincible jump in again, grab the Chaos Emerald and jump back out before that invincibility wears off and you die.

* Both played straight and averted in the ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' series in the case of both the player and bosses. Some attacks triggered mercy invincibility, while others didn't (Usually multi-hitting ones). The latter were initially favored over the former for obvious reasons (Or for those fighting bosses with them, hated), but later games in the series added attacks that ''ignore and remove mercy invincibility'', which made the former more practical to use.

* Strongly averted in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV''. Hostile [=NPC=]s ''don't care'' if you're trying to get up after being knocked down or thrown from your bike - they'll unload a full clip of bullets into your body before you have any chance to react.

* Annoyingly subverted in ''VideoGame/DeadlyTowers''. All damage you take knocks you backwards and you don't regain control until your Mercy Invincibility wears off (which lasts less than half a second either way), meaning you can't get away from any enemies who may also try to attack you from behind (such as the quick-moving [[GoddamnedBats bat enemies]]).

** In a very rare example of this applying to enemies, the tall enemies that throw boulders in the inverted castle's underground cave have the rock included in their hitbox when they hold it, but no invincibility frames. Play as Maria in the PSP remake, shoot a dove at the rock, and they will take damage for every frame the dove touches the boulder.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' series averts this, except in later games when you get knocked down. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2451HI5jjY XSEED's trailers]] for ''Videogame/YsTheOathInFelghana'' even use this as a selling point!
* Averted completely in the ''VideoGame/PokemonRumble'' series, making it rather important to deal with large groups of enemies cautiously.

* {{Inverted|Trope}} in the SNES port of ''VideoGame/CaptainAmericaAndTheAvengers'' where enemies can pummel you down to nothing in a quick succession of blows, but get mercy invincibility as the player hits them, preventing them the chance to do more than small increments of damage at once while staying wide open and vulnerable. Combine this with the fact that the first level took over a minute to start on a black screen (what the hell? A cartridge game with LOAD TIME?) and you begin to understand why nobody ever talks of this game.

* Played straight and averted in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne''. While a new fight won't start the moment you finish your last fight, it's still entirely possible for a new team of demons to show up as reinforcements in the first fight after you beat the first team. With the skill riberama to make the odds of battle increase you can occasionally fight up to four or five teams in a row.

** It's also inverted in the Cyborg Ninja fight in ''Metal Gear Solid''. The Ninja starts flickering after three hits, so that the player can't keep spamming attacks (unless the player uses a chaff grenade to disable him beforehand, in which case he starts blinking after only ''one'', for the same reason). Snake, on the other hand, gets no such mercy, and if you don't get up in time, the Ninja will jump into the air and [[GoombaStomp stomp on Snake]], dealing massive damage.

As a small mercy, most games that work according to these rules grant the player a small span of invulnerability whenever damage is taken, giving him time to extricate himself before another hit can be taken. This is visually indicated in most games by a FlashOfPain: a partial transparency or flashing of the player sprite. The origin of this effect comes from very early platform games which were released on extremely low-powered systems (such as NES or Atari 2600). Therefore the only visual effect available was to flash the sprite character on and off. Modern systems could do much more, such as surrounding the sprite with a flashing gold halo, but strangely they stick to the same old visuals (which sometimes results in the player unable to see their character). The momentary invulnerability may be substituted for (or coupled with) the player character being physically [[{{Knockback}} thrown backward]] from the point of impact. If the player isn't knocked back and takes different amounts of damage from different attacks, there may be situations where a player can deliberately run into something that deals little damage and use the Mercy Invincibility to run past something more dangerous.

--> [[MostWonderfulSound Youch! Youch! Youch!]] [[MostAnnoyingSound Youch! Youch! Youch!]]

* Like a lot of fighters, ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' uses this to let characters who have been PunchedAcrossTheRoom or knocked over recover and get back in the fight. However, ''unlike'' a lot of fighters, this is averted in the sequel, ''Duodecim''. Yeah, ''you'' can't whale on your opponent further after you've nailed them to the wall--but your AssistCharacter can. And if your assist was the one to do the wall-nailing, then you can gladly continue the damage. This is the main way players unleash combos in that game.

* Because of its quirky blend of RPG and BulletHell mechanics, ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' features Mercy Invulnerability after you take a hit when in battle so that you can survive making a mistake during the more chaotic attacks. The more damaging the attack is, the longer your period of invulnerability. [[spoiler:This is exploited in the final meaningful battle of a No Mercy run, where Sans's attacks are set up so that they're individually weak and do only 1 HP of damage, too low to trigger the invulnerability. He then proceeds to damage a rate of ''40 hits per second'' if you're caught by one of his attacks. You didn't show anyone else mercy, why should he do so for you?]]

** In ''Rockman4MinusInfinity'', one boss does not have Mercy Invincibility: [[spoiler:the first form of the Wily Machine. Given that it has 784 energy, 28 times the regular amount, this is most definitely a welcome change.]]

* To demonstrate the importance of this: there was no temporary invincibility in the Genesis game ''ToejamAndEarl''. Any enemy which could move faster than the main characters could walk could hit them over and over without giving them any chance to get away or retaliate. Thus the player could be "juggled" into oblivion by a single wimpy enemy.

* {{SNK}}'s (pre-UsefulNotes/NeoGeo) game ''VideoGame/{{Athena}}'', being a very early platformer, did not feature this trope. Combined with the fact that enemy AI consisted of "follow the player", it only took one misstep to completely deplete your life bar from full.

Very common in all kinds of {{Platformer}}. {{Shoot Em Up}}s also have this, typically after losing a life, giving your new life a chance to position outside of enemy fire. The traditional form of this occurs much less commonly in the FirstPersonShooter, though many games do invoke a similar mechanic where players are invulnerable for a brief period after respawning. Many SpeedRun strategies exploit these invincibility frames for more efficient maneuvering.

Very common in all kinds of {{Platformer}}. {{Shoot Em Up}}s also have this, typically after losing a life, giving your new life a chance to position outside of enemy fire. Occurs much less commonly in the FirstPersonShooter. Many SpeedRun strategies exploit these invincibility frames for more efficient maneuvering.

* Ditto ''VideoGame/WonderBoyIIITheDragonTrap'', but getting hit while invulnerable would reset the invincibility timer, so being juggled by enemies would not deplete the lifebar within seconds.