History Main / ResetButtonEnding

* Toward the end of ''Anime/MaiHime'', Miyu breaks the pillars, enabling the Himes' most important people, who died as a result of their defeats, to come back to life, resulting in all the Himes destroying the Hime Star. Inexplicably, this also results in Alyssa coming back to life and Nao's [[EyeScream eye being healed]].

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

* ''{{VideoGame/Mary Skelter|Nightmares}} 2'' uses this [[spoiler:in its True Ending to undo its ForWantOfANail setting in favor of returning to the first game's timeline. Little Mermaid, who dies in the first game's backstory but is alive here, is [[HeroicSacrifice fine with this]] because it will save her fellow Blood Maidens from the gruesome slaughter that she just witnessed]].

* Neko Entertainment's physics platformer ''Puddle'' pulls this off with the help of [[spoiler:radioactive liquid sodium and a nuclear singularity.]]

* During the [[GainaxEnding highly ambiguous ending]] of ''Film/TooManyCooks'', [[spoiler: the realities of the various TV shows seen so far seem to break down and crash together, creating incomprehensible pain and chaos for the characters trapped within. In his dying moments, Smarf reaches out for a large red button which he finds in his kitchen. Everything then fades to white and he awakens in what appears to be the sitcom from the first part of the film, restored but with pieces of the various other shows mixed into it. This suggests that he succeeded in (imperfectly) resetting reality somehow, which is backed up by the fact that Bill, who Smarf killed earlier, is now also alive again.]]

** The episode where Maude dies actually has Reverend Lovejoy list the various plotlines that never snapped back, which also included Kirk and Luann's divorce. (Ironically, [[DivorceIsTemporary they've since remarried]].)

** In "She's The Mayor," Candace finally busts her brothers and just as Linda begins scolding them, Dr. Doofenshmirtz's Accelerate-inator backfires and resets to the beginning of the day, and then alters it so the events won't be the same.
-->'''Candace''': [[MediumAwareness I was robbed]].

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' series finale "[[Recap/FuturamaS7E26Meanwhile Meanwhile]]" ends with a literal one. Because the time-rewinding button is destroyed, [[TimeStandsStill time is frozen]] for everyone-- except for Fry and Leela. The two get married and spend decades exploring the frozen world, growing old together. Eventually, Professor Farnsworth repairs the device, but modifies it so that it would rewind time back to before it was invented, erasing everyone's memories of events after that. Fry and Leela are okay with giving up their perfect life together and starting all over again--although the point of divergence was notably ''after'' Fry decided to propose to Leela.

* ''Druuna: Carnivora'' concludes with the entire crew of the spaceship having been [[KillAndReplace killed and replaced by clones]], minus the Doctor. He saves the ship by piloting it into a mirror dimension where time runs backwards, which somehow resets everything to several months before all the bad things started happening. As a consequence he is [[RippleEffectProofMemory the only person with any recollection of what happened]], though it's implied that Druuna might have too.

** More to the point, no matter how many times they ''almost'' made it back to the Alpha Quadrant, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption it somehow always fell through by the end of the episode]].

* In the movie version of ''Literature/NightWatch'', Anton gets noticed and initiated as an Other while visiting a witch to perform a spell on his ex-wife, leading him to be brought into the Night Watch and indirectly causing the other events of this movie and the sequel. The sequel ends with Anton rewriting his own fate so that he changes his mind almost immediately after meeting the witch, never meets the Others and lives out the rest of his life as a mortal.

* Destroying the Improbability Drive in ''VideoGame/ImprobableIsland'' results in [[spoiler:the machine exploding in a burst of Improbability, then reconstructing itself in every outpost simultaneously before quantum-wavefunction-collapsing into just one location]]. This has the side effect of transforming you into a different race [[ShroedingersGun that you retroactively choose a bit later]], which is sufficiently distressing to you that the Watcher agrees to [[LaserGuidedAmnesia make you forget you were ever any other way]]. The upshot of all this is that you're back in much the same situation you were when you first landed on the island -- you even go through a not-quite-identical copy of the starting scenario.

** ''VideoGame/SonicCD'' uses this as well if you fail to collect the Time Stones or destroy the robot generators.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant'', every member of the party is sent to some place in space/time where they can be truly happy. The good ending for the main character takes him back to the introductory scene of the previous game, where he will presumably avoid the bad end of that game this time.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' end with the universe imploding and being reborn.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bastion}}'' has this [[spoiler:during the Restoration ending, where the Kid uses the Bastion to rewind time to before the Calamity. Unfortunately, since nobody remembers anything after the ResetButton is pressed, it's heavily implied that the Calamity just happens again, and the characters are stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop until the Kid chooses not to use it.]]
* Neko Entertainment's physics platformer ''Puddle'' pulls this off with the help of [[spoiler:radioactive liquid sodium and a nuclear singularity.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DontLookBack'', during your return trip to the surface, if at any point you turn around, [[OrpheanRescue the ghost you are rescuing]] evaporates with a breathy sound. After you reach the surface, [[spoiler:you return to the graveside where you began ... and you are still standing there, by the grave. Both you and the ghost evaporate with the same sound]].
* ''VideoGame/BenThereDanThat'' ends with [[spoiler:after accidentally killing their past selves, Ben and Dan destroy the entire universe and later confront God, whom gives them a second chance by resetting everything before the adventure even began, although one difference is that the TV is fixed and Ben & Dan don't pay it any mind.]]
* ''VideoGame/Persona2: Innocent Sin'' ends this way [[spoiler:since the only way the surviving heroes can salvage the disastrous outcome of their fight with Nyarlathotep - Maya being murdered, fulfilling the Oracle of Maia and leading to the world ending - is to erase their initial meeting from history]], setting up the plot for the second game, ''Eternal Punishment''.
* ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'': [[spoiler:One of two possible endings has Max use her blue butterfly photo to completely undo her actions over the course of the week, starting with saving Chloe's life on Monday, preventing the storm]].
* ''[[VideoGame/MarySkelterNightmares Mary Skelter 2]]'' uses this [[spoiler:in its True Ending to undo its ForWantOfANail setting in favor of returning to the first game's timeline. Little Mermaid, who dies in the first game's backstory but is alive here, is [[HeroicSacrifice fine with this]] because it will save her fellow Blood Maidens from the gruesome slaughter that she just witnessed]].
* Regardless of what ending you get in ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'', the game will reset right back to the office where you started. The Narrator seems to be aware of the game resetting, as in one ending he begs Stanley to stop trying to kill himself so the game won’t reset, but it is often out of his control.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing''.
** For that matter, ''any'' game with a NewGamePlus option at the end. However, that's less a case of "The ending undoes the story's events" and rather a "Tell the story over from the beginning".
*** What makes this different from NewGamePlus is that the ResetButton is part of the fictional setting. After you rescue the king, you have the option to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence. When he inevitably gets recaptured, you're encouraged to reincarnate to try to save him again, starting over from level 1. However, you get to choose a different class while retaining some previous memories, and through repeated ascensions, you can eventually gather useful skills from all six classes.

** The episode where Maude dies actually has Reverend Lovejoy list the various plotlines that never snapped back, which also included Kirk and Luann's divorce. (Ironically, [[ComedyOfRemarriage they've since remarried]].)

* ''[[{{VideoGame/Persona2}} Innocent Sin]]'' ends this way, setting up the plot for the second game, Eternal Punishment.

* ''WesternAnimation/MightyMax'' ended with this, as Max and [[BigBad Skullmaster]] wrestle for control of [[MacGuffin The Cap]] at Stonehenge. The last scene repeats the first scene of the series until Max realizes his friends are alive, and they all remember what happened during the previous runthrough.
** Which was actually a bit of a TakeThat to the ExecutiveMeddling that said there couldn't be a firm resolution, since that would supposedly screw up the plan to do reruns of the series.

Some instances of this trope are versions of the AllJustADream ending, if you find out that the guy wakes up and is back at the start of the work.

** In "She's The Mayor," Candace finally busts her brothers and just as Linda begins scolding them, Dr. Doofenshmirtz's Fast Forward-inator backfires and resets to the beginning of the day, and then alters it so the events won't be the same.

* Deconstructed in ''Fanfic/MarieDSuesseAndTheMysteryNewPirateAge''. There is an opportunity to undo everything that happened in the OnePiece world over the past 20 years, including the deaths of all the Straw Hat Pirates by making it so that Madelyn never ate her Devil Fruit in the first place. However, in the process of doing so, she will have never met Garreth or had Marie, who will end up [[RetGone wished out of existence]].

* the original series finale for ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' the episode: Last But Not Beast, where Dexter's parents find out about his lab, and Dexter finds out about Monkey being a superhero. At the end everyone loses their memory, just in case the series gets {{UnCanceled}} for two new seasons some years later.

* During the [[GainaxEnding highly ambiguous ending]] of ''Series/TooManyCooks'', [[spoiler: the realities of the various TV shows seen so far seem to break down and crash together, creating incomprehensible pain and chaos for the characters trapped within. In his dying moments, Smarf reaches out for a large red button which he finds in his kitchen. Everything then fades to white and he awakens in what appears to be the sitcom from the first part of the film, restored but with pieces of the various other shows mixed into it. This suggests that he succeeded in (imperfectly) resetting reality somehow, which is backed up by the fact that Bill, who Smarf killed earlier, is now also alive again.]]

'''''Note:''''' This is a SpoileredRotten trope, that means that '''EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE''' on this list is a spoiler by default and most of them will be unmarked. [[YouHaveBeenWarned This is your last warning]], only proceed if you really believe you can handle this list.

* The ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' movie ''[[TheMovie A Sitch in Time]]'' ended with the [[MacGuffin Tempus Simia Idol]] being destroyed, thus reseting everything that happened from the second minute of the movie out of existence.

''As an ending trope, may contain unmarked spoilers. Beware.''

* In the comic ''ComicBook/FreddyVsJasonVsAsh: Nightmare Warriors'', based off characters from the films, Freddy and Jason are both killed, and Wesley Carter is sent back in time by the Necronomicon. He signs Freddy's search warrant (whose not being signed was the technicality that allowed his release and subsequent death and transformation into a dream demon), thus altering history and preventing any of the Freddy movies or F v J v A from taking place, or any of the Jason movies after ''Jason Goes to Hell'' (since he went to hell at the end and Freddy resurrected him). As this would prevent Jason X from taking place, however, it is clear that the timeline splits after ''Freddy vs. Jason''.

* In the comic ''ComicBook/FreddyVsJasonVsAsh: Nightmare Warriors'', based off characters from the films, Freddy and Jason are both killed, and Wesley Carter is sent back in time by the Necronomicon. He signs Freddy's search warrant (whose not being signed was the technicality that allowed his release and subsequent death and transformation into a dream demon), thus altering history and preventing any of the Freddy movies or F v J v A from taking place, or any of the Jason movies after ''Jason Goes to Hell'' (since he went to hell at the end and Freddy resurrected him). As this would prevent Jason X from taking place, however, it is clear that the timeline splits after ''Freddy vs. Jason''.