History Main / PressXToNotDie

Not to be confused with Main/ForInconveniencePressOne.

* Saving throws in {{Tabletop RPG}}s were essentially the pen-and-paper version of this. If you didn't hit the right number on the roll to avoid or withstand a trap, spell or other effect, something bad would usually happen.

* This trope is referenced word for word in GameFAQs' [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=4605 Poll of the Day for January 21, 2012]]

* The Wii version of ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', being a [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames licensed game]], is fairly awful, and includes a lot of these. The required ones, fortunately, just start again if you miss a button (or Wiimote waggle), but lots of sidequest ones become LostForever if failed.

* ''[[Franchise/TheBourneSeries The Bourne Conspiracy]]'' randomizes which buttons you need to press each time, to prevent you from just memorizing them. Get even one wrong, and you're usually sent straight to the Mission Failed screen.

** YMMV, many players find Johnny Cage's failed events to be rather hilarious and some deliberately fail Jax's as he looks even more badass [[Determinator shrugging off hits from fireballs]] rather than dodging them.

** YMMV, many players find Johnny Cage's failed events to be rather hilarious and some deliberately fail Jax's as he looks even more badass shrugging off fireballs rather than dodging them.

** YMMV, many players find Johnny Cage's failed QTEs to be rather hilarious and some deliberately fail Jax's as he looks even more badass shrugging off fireballs rather than dodging them.

* ''{{VideoGame/Halo 4}}'' introduced quick-time events to the series, first with killing an Elite who tries to stab you in the first level, and then in [[spoiler:the final "boss fight", which consists only of planting a grenade at the right time]]. They're rumored to be the reason ''Halo 4'' didn't have theater mode, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALbMbRg72oE as their animation viewed in third person]] (with modding software) is ''really'' bizarre.

* Cruelly inverted in ''VideoGame/TheImpossibleQuiz''. One of the questions tells you to press the Tab key 50 times and gives you a short time limit. [[spoiler:However, pressing the Tab key at any point in the quiz immediately causes a GameOver. What you are supposed to do is ignore the instruction, and after a few seconds, the game tells you "On second thought, don't do it, you'll die!" and moves on to the next question without a hitch.]]

* Cruelly inverted in ''TheImpossibleQuiz''. One of the questions tells you to press the Tab key 50 times and gives you a short time limit. [[spoiler:However, pressing the Tab key at any point in the quiz immediately causes a GameOver. What you are supposed to do is ignore the instruction, and after a few seconds, the game tells you "On second thought, don't do it, you'll die!" and moves on to the next question without a hitch.]]

* ''AsurasWrath'' has quick time events that aren't as unforgiving as a lot of others, and some of them can even be skipped, with only a bit of health being taken away from you. They're mostly used the [[InvertedTrope other way around]] when Asura is about to cause some serious damage, and even when they are from enemy attacks, the prompts are intended less for avoiding damage, as they almost always end with Asura pulling a counterattack.

* The ''TimeCrisis'' series has many moments where you must press or release the pedal to avoid losing a life to an environmental hazard, such as hooks hanging over a cargo elevator, machinery in a factory, a falling tree, or signal posts alongside a train.

** TelltaleGames' ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTheGame''. The ''entire'' game, minus some sections where you get to stop, take a breath and play with some puzzles, consists of this style of gameplay. Press X to Not Be Eaten by a Tyrannosaur indeed.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-Rock falls, you die... unless [[IndyEscape you act fast enough]].-] ]]

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/re4_dodge_rock_9059.jpg]]]]

** Done well in the Wii version of ''Anniversary''; the [=QTEs=] were motion gestures that matched Lara's on-screen actions, adding to the immersion.

* ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 1'' had a very annoying recurring 'Press V not to die' (or the right thumbstick/R3 button, for those of you playing the game on consoles) in which you need to melee a dog that is attacking you, but you only get roughly a quarter of a second to press it. Too early, you die, too late, you die. Oh, and did I mention that the default melee button is 'V'; just far enough from WASD to be hard to press without looking. By which time you have died from a dog to the throat.

* ''MarvelUltimateAlliance'' uses these a lot for giant bosses, and it gets rather annoying as you will often have to use them repeatedly to kill them. And they never change. And the cutscene is exactly the same each time. Vicarious Visons removed them entirely for the sequel, at least on Xbox and PS3.

* The PS3 exclusive ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' is ''almost nothing but these.'' Unlike a lot of other examples, however, there is (usually) no penalty for failing an event; the game simply continues, albeit with some scenes or lines changed to reflect your clumsy fingers.

* Both versions of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' have a few of these as well. In the earlier daytime stages, missing a prompt will cause you to take a less efficient path (or, in the harder side-missions, could result in your untimely demise). Mandatory nighttime [=QTEs=] are limited to two bosses, the Dark Gaia Phoenix and the Egg Dragoon. Otherwise, it simply helped to gain extra points. Eggmanland in the PS3/360 version, on the other hand, is positively full of the mandatory types. (And the Wii/PS2 version has quite a few mandatory QTE's as well.)
** The portions of the final boss where you control the [[spoiler:[[HumongousMecha Gaia Colossus]]]] against Dark Gaia plays out through these in the PS3/360 version. Hit the button right, and you slug the monster right in the face. The Wii/[=PS2=] version dispenses with them in that part, allowing you to ''really'' slug the guy in the face, a-la ''PunchOut''.

* ''Super Adventure Rockman'' was a [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' game released in the mid-nineties. It was an animated adventure that gave the player ChooseYourOwnAdventure style choices that would guide the cutscenes. Every once in a while, in the middle of a cutscene, arrows would flash on the screen and you'd have one second to choose a direction, hit the D-Pad, and dodge a surprise attack.

[[folder:ROMhack]]

* ''[[VideoGame/KaizoMarioWorld Kaizo Mario World 2]]'''s opening sequence can kill you (drop a Thwomp on you) if you don't jump and hit the invisible coin block, stopping it from squashing you.

** An even more forgiving version appears in ''VideoGame/SpiderManWebOfShadows'', where they're only used at the very end of boss battles (so you know when to expect them), keep the same sequences, and if you fail, you just restart the button sequence.

* TelltaleGames' ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTheGame''. The ''entire'' game, minus some sections where you get to stop, take a breath and play with some puzzles, consists of this style of gameplay. Press X to Not Be Eaten by a Tyrannosaur indeed.

** All of Telltale's game have this, to an extent. Some allow you a bit more flexibility in choosing how to deal with situations, especially in games based on more action heavy properties such as ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'' and ''VideoGame/TheWolfAmongUs''; you will often get two options to choose from with very little time to decide what to go for. The end result is often the same, with slight variations.

-->-- [[Creator/McChris mc chris]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZsDUSxK5Fs compares two video games]]

* This appears in the licensed game for the 2007 ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' film. Losing all your health results in your character falling on one knee. Here you have to repeatedly hit the button that shows up onscreen to save him. If you're playing in a level where the Turtle is solo, this helps him slowly get back up - once he does, his health is restored. If it's a level where the other Turtles are in reserve, one appears when your Turtle falls and starts to help him up. Once successful, he replaces the injured Turtle in battle. Doing nothing in either case causes the afflicted Turtle to collapse and die, to reappear at the last checkpoint.

* In ''[[TheWitcher The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings]]'', this is often a part of combat against creatures that are massively larger than humans, like the dragon in the prologue or the Kayran at the end of the first chapter.