History Main / OutOfContinues

* The official NES/Gameboy versions of ''[[VideoGame/FelixTheCat]]'', and it's Sega Genesis bootleg has this trope, played straight in the official NES/Gameboy games, where you are taken back to the Title screen once you used up all of your continues, Double subverted in the Sega Genesis bootleg, while you are still taken to the continue screen, once you have continued twice, the cursor is locked and you are forced to quit the game, luckily you have a (mostly) indefinite amount of time before the the choice was made and the option select is not automatic., so you can take your time to either reset your game and simply turn it off, trust us, [[TearOffYourFace you don't want to see that bootleg's game over screen]]

* If you die in ''TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters'', your geist can bring you back to life again - just like the first time you died. Except this time, your Synergy (the KarmaMeter that represents how well you and the geist can work together) goes down one... and its ''maximum'' goes down ''two''. When Synergy (maximum or current, whichever bottoms out first) reaches zero, you become a MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil. This means that, at most, you can come back four times. (The first time doesn't count because that's how you got into this to begin with.)

* In ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'', going down twice will result in your vision turning greyscale. If you get knocked down again without receiving medical help, you're not getting up. Until your teammates find you in a Rescue Closet. Note that you can be killed while downed
** Similar to ''Left 4 Dead'', in ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'' and ''VideoGame/PAYDAY2'', heisters can go down from regular attacks a limited number of times[[note]]three on normal difficulty, less on higher difficulties, and some skills give you an extra revive[[/note]]; getting knocked down in greyscale instantly puts you into police custody until another player can exchange a hostage for your release.[[note]]Unlike other Left-4-Dead-likes, while downed you cannot be fully arrested until the timer reaches 0, so you have an opportunity to keep shooting enemies preventing your teammates from reviving you, but that gives them just cause to keep shooting you until you effectively lose control of your arms from the sheer pain.[[/note]]
** Similar to ''Left 4 Dead'' (again), in ''VideoGame/WarhammerTheEndTimesVermintide'' and ''VideoGame/VermintideII'', heroes will receive wounds when they are downed, which causes greyscale on the last wound before downing causes instant death.[[note]]4 wounds on normal, 2 on Veteran, 1 on Champion, Legend, and Cataclysm. And then there's the special game modifier where you get ''zero'' wounds, or the even worse modifier with ''no respawns''.[[/note]]] Using healing draughts or medical supplies heals all wounds. There are special trinkets and abilities that allow you to heal your teammates' wounds without healing them directly.

* ''ComicBook/DarkEmpire'': Palpatine comes BackFromTheDead via cloning. Every time he dies, he just [[BodySurf body surfs into one of his clones.]] [[spoiler:the heroes eventually manage to destroy his clone factory on Byss, and Han Solo shoots his last clone InTheBack. Even then, Palpatine's spirit tries to [[DemonicPossession possess the unborn Anakin.]] Luckily, another Jedi blocks him from doing so using the Light Side (albiet at the [[HeroicSacrifce cost of his own life,]]) and Palpatine is finally [[DraggedOfToHell dragged off to Chaos forever.]]]]

* ''LightNovel/IsThisAZombie'': Kyoko gains an extra life whenever she kills somebody, so she became a SerialKiller so she could stockpile lives. Ayumu battles her and kills her over and over again until she is down to her last life, causing her to beg for mercy. He lets her live and she is arrested.

* Once you use one of the Dragon Balls to resurrect someone in ''Franchise/DragonBall'', you can't use them to come back again. They eventually [[SubvertedTrope work around it]] by ''getting a bigger dragon''.
** That dragon, on the other hand, can only resurrect one person at a time (though it gives three wishes instead of one) and then has to rest for six months, so they still can't bring back large groups (or entire planets; the first dragon can bring back a great number of people with a single wish, so long as their deaths are reasonably tied together, ie all being killed by the same person or group) more than once and it still has the limitation that it can only resurrect a given person once. The first dragon eventually gets upgraded to three wishes (though big wishes like mass resurrections will cost two), and the same process "resets" it so that any resurrection that happened before the upgrade can be repeated. Thus, over the course of the series, a given character can be resurrected a maximum of three times.

* It is implied early on that the protagonist of ''VideoGame/ImmortalDefense'' and his fellow path defenders are a case of this: their minds may be immortal and nigh-godlike entities in pathspace, capable of raining destruction upon countless fleets of enemy ships, but destroying their original physical bodies will kill them. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that this is an outright lie. Path defenders exist independently of their bodies: they cannot be killed, period, nor can they ever return to their physical forms. [[BlessedWithSuck This is]] [[CursedWithAwesome not necessarily]] [[FateWorseThanDeath a good]] [[AndIMustScream thing.]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' begins with Puss learning that he is on the last of his nine lives. From there, he must dodges danger and enemies as he seeks out a wishing Star that could restore his lives.

* Another example from ''Literature/HarryPotter'' would be Voldemort's Horcruxes, a set of {{Soul Jar}}s he created to ensure his immortality. By the end of the seventh book, they've all been destroyed through the efforts of Harry and his friends.
*** Rowling stated that Voldemort ultimately wouldn't have used the Philosopher's Stone to maintain his immortality as he would've been dependent on constantly drinking the Elixir of Life which he'd need the Stone to produce, thus having a serious weakness. The Horcruxes were a better alternative in his eyes.
** The ''myth'' of the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]] is that they make he who unites them, Master of Death, which they take to mean immortal. In reality, this is not so; the Cloak and the Wand are only marginally more useful than any other Invisibility Cloak or regular wand, and the Stone doesn't really bring people back from the dead. ''Master of Death'' is more of a philosophical thing - someone who has accepted, and does not fear, Death.

* In the Super NES game ''{{VideoGame/Axelay}}'', when your supply of ships runs out and you're out of credits, the GameOver screen will show your mother planet reduced to a lifeless rock.

* In the Super NES game ''VideoGame/Axelay'', when your supply of ships runs out and you're out of credits, the [[Game Over]] screen will show your mother planet reduced to a lifeless rock.

* There was a [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Tweety and Sylvester]] cartoon where Sylvester had used up eight of his lives, and if he died again he died for good. Naturally the world was out to kill him at that point.

* Darkonda, TheStarscream of ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', was introduced as having nine lives - most likely as an excuse to keep him around longer than his ''Sentai'' counterpart. By the time of the finale, he was down to his last one, decided to go for broke, and went straight after the GreaterScopeVillain. [[spoiler:Neither of them survived.]]

* ''WebAnimation/LittleRunmo'' plays like a standard platformer for his first two lives, but upon realizing he'll get a game over on his last, he takes a game-breaking journey to search for an extra one. As demonstrated with the Dring King and the Temp King, if he ''does'' lose his last life, he'll likely die for real.

* ''WebAnimation/LittleRunmo'' plays like a standard platformer for his first two lives, but upon realizing he'll get a game over on his last, he takes a game-breaking journey to search for an extra one. As demonstrated with the Drin King and the Temp King, if he ''does'' lose his last life, he'll likely die for real.

* In ''Manga/InuYasha'', Sesshomaru's sword Tenseiga can resurrect demons by killing the reapers assigned to that demon (which is used repeatedly on his idiot seneschal for stress relief), but it only resurrects each human once because there's a spiritual black hole system in place for weak souls that sucks in any human death cheaters. This became an issue when [[spoiler: Rin died again]]. Sesshomaru's mother revived her with another artifact called the Meido Stone but warned Sesshomaru that is the ''last'' time she can come back.
* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', Berserker has quite a few lives, [[spoiler: Rin takes one, Archer takes 5, and Saber takes the rest at the same time. Hax.]]

* ''ComicBook/DarkEmpire'': Palpatine comes BackFromTheDead via cloning. Every time he dies, he just [[BodySurf body surfs into one of his clones.]] [[spoiler: the heroes eventually manage to destroy his clone factory on Byss, and Han Solo shoots his last clone InTheBack. Even then, Palpatine's spirit tries to [[DemonicPossession possess the unborn Anakin.]] Luckily, another Jedi blocks him from doing so using the Light Side (albiet at the [[HeroicSacrifce cost of his own life,]]) and Palpatine is finally [[DraggedOfToHell dragged off to Chaos forever.]]]]

* Darkonda, TheStarscream of ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', was introduced as having nine lives - most likely as an excuse to keep him around longer than his ''Sentai'' counterpart. By the time of the finale, he was down to his last one, decided to go for broke, and went straight after the GreaterScopeVillain. [[spoiler: Neither of them survived.]]

* It is implied early on that the protagonist of ''VideoGame/ImmortalDefense'' and his fellow path defenders are a case of this: their minds may be immortal and nigh-godlike entities in pathspace, capable of raining destruction upon countless fleets of enemy ships, but destroying their original physical bodies will kill them. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that this is an outright lie. Path defenders exist independently of their bodies: they cannot be killed, period, nor can they ever return to their physical forms. [[BlessedWithSuck This is]] [[CursedWithAwesome not necessarily]] [[FateWorseThanDeath a good]] [[AndIMustScream thing.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' takes this trope and applies it to an entire ''universe.'' [[spoiler: Throughout history, the [[CosmicKeystone Gaia Engines]] have been able to save reality from apocalyptic disasters by harnessing the reality-warping power of [[EldritchAbomination the Dreamers]] they [[SealedEvilInACan keep imprisoned]]: if something ever does manage to destroy everything - a war between the [[FallenAngel Nephilim ]]and the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Grigori]], say, or one of the Dreamers waking up - the Engines will be able to restore the world to factory settings. Unfortunately, after four consecutive uses of this failsafe, the Engines have started to malfunction and the Bees speculate that they might not be able to manage another reset. In other words, if the Dreamers succeed in breaking out this time, it's game over '' '''for all reality.''' '' ]]

* After [[spoiler: Heaven]] burned down in ''Webcomic/{{Achewood}}'', [[spoiler:Roast Beef]]'s next death was much less straightforward.
* In a ''Webcomic/CaptainSNES'' [[http://www.captainsnes.com/2005/11/05/501-hidden-price/ episode,]] it dawns on [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Mega Man]] that the building where extra lives are made has been blown up to bits.
* In ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'' during Act 5 Act [[spoiler: Jack Noir]] destroys Prospit and Derse in the troll's session, thus killing their [[BodyBackupDrive dream selves]] and destroying the sacrificial slabs that served as a backup [[DeathActivatedSuperpower ascension method]]. Both Jade and Jake had their dream selves die, but Jade was able to resurrect hers and Jake's backup ascension still existed. Rose, Dave, Jane, Dirk, Roxy, Rufioh, and possibly others all died and were [[MagicKiss kissed back to life]] as their dream selves. This also happened to [[DualityMotif Sollux]] but he had a [[DeathIsCheap second one]].
* In ''Webcomic/SonicTheComicOnline'' in order to stop Vichama, the God of Death from trying to kill everyone, [[spoiler: Knuckles]] destroys his ImmortalityInducer The Guardian Emerald which makes [[spoiler: Knuckles']] current life his last life.
* Similar to ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', DeathIsCheap for video game characters in ''WebComic/KidRadd'' if they're in their own game, but since leaving their game means leaving the code that respawns them, death is then permanent after that. [[spoiler: Though Radd is eventually able to find a loophole to save Bogey after his HeroicSacrifice by getting his original player to load a ROM of his game.]]

* PapaWolf: Han. Palpatine really should've known better.

** That dragon, on the other hand, can only resurrect one person at a time (though it gives three wishes instead of one) and then has to rest for six months, so they still can't bring back large groups (or entire planets; the first dragon can bring back a great number of people with a single wish, so long as their deaths are reasonably tied together, ie all being killed by the same person or group) more than once and it still has the limitation that it can only resurrect a given person once. The first dragon eventually gets upgraded to two wishes, and the same process "resets" it so that any resurrection that happened before the upgrade can be repeated. Thus, over the course of the series, a given character can be resurrected a maximum of three times.

* ''ComicBook/DarkEmpire'': Palpatine comes BackFromTheDead via cloning. Every time he dies, he just [[BodySurf body surfs into one of his clones.]] [[spoiler: the heroes eventually manage to destroy his clone factory on Byss, and Han Solo shoots his last clone InTheBack. Even then, Palpatine's spirit tries to [[DemonicPossession possess the unborn Anakin.]] Luckily, another Jedi blocks him from doing so using the Light Side (albiet at the [[HeroicSacrifce cost of his own life,]] and Palpatine is finally [[DraggedOfToHell dragged off to Chaos forever.]]]]