History Main / RiseToTheChallenge

* ''VideoGame/{{Pankapu}}'': The final level in Gehod has [[PlayerCharacter Pankapu]] racing against rising lava to reach the end of the level.

* Three instances in ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'':

-->-- '''[[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants SpongeBob]]''' in ''VideoGame/SpongeBobSquarePantsBattleForBikiniBottom''[[note]]If you're wondering why [[FridgeLogic a sea creature is worried about drowning]], it's actually salt brine that's rising up.[[/note]]

** In Blackwater City in [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002 the first game]], you have to outrun the rising water in a tunnel. Ratchet can both swim and hold his breath, but not for long, and gets realistically slowed down when swimming or wading. The only chance to get out before drowning is to keep ahead of the water. Annoyingly, not so long after this passage, he gets scuba gear...

* ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' has this in the "optional" Area K-5. "Optional" in quotes because not only is one of the needed items for a sidequest located in this area, if you're going for [[ThatOneSidequest the Area K Subtank]] you need to pass through this part ''twice'' (once to slow down the flow of lava in order to reach the area where the button to unlock the gate that leads to the Subtank is, and the second time to get back to said unlocked gate once all is said and done, though at least this time as said the lava flow is slowed down).

** Predates the X series, and inverted all the way back in ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'' with Quick Man's infamous laser death trap.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}}:''
** [[VideoGame/Rayman1995 The original game]] had a jungle level and a mountain level with plain old regular water that was rising, but there was also a mountain level where the hero was trapped between slowly ''descending'' water and a quicker DescendingCeiling. The idea was to use Rayman's hair-helicopter to cut through ropes tied to this ceiling so the weights attached to the ceiling would drop into the water, and the ceiling would stop descending before it pressed Rayman into the water and drowned him.
** ''VideoGame/{{Rayman 2}}: The Great Escape'' also employed the [[PiranhaProblem piranha]] justification.

* The final boss battle of ''VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus'' has a phase in which you must climb up a tower that's sinking in lava in order to reach the boss.
* In ''VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'', a derelict ship must be climbed in a hurry before water catches the player.

* ''VideoGame/JustShapesAndBeats'': The FinalBoss opens with this.

* The early ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' games loved this trope:
** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheAdventure'', one of the sections in the third level had rising spikes.

* ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'' offers an interesting take: One level features a large cylinder that suddenly starts to fill up with water, which wouldn't be a problem if not for the loose wires that seem to be hanging out of the walls, which instantly electrify the water on contact. To advance, the player needs to make it to a safe spot and cut the wires to make the water safe to swim in again, then get to another safe spot before the water rises enough to touch another wire, and repeat the process. Exactly how cutting off exposed wires prevents them from electrifying the water is [[FridgeLogic not explained]].
** Notably, this is [[FakeDifficulty one of the most difficult levels]] in the entire game, because there is a wire right behind the first ContextSensitiveButton which many players have difficulty to spot in the first playthrough, so they may think they're safe with cutting down the wires ahead of them, but as they try to get across to the next platform... the water zaps them to death. All because of that tricky wire right behind you.
** Also, later in the game, you have to outrun toxic waste while hurdling small pools of the same substance.
* As with ''Ice Climber'' and ''Kid Icarus'', in most vertical stages in the ''{{VideoGame/Contra}}'' series, you die if you touch the bottom of the screen. Same with most any RatchetScrolling vertical level.

** "Slime Climb" in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'' is like this, except that since the DKC series doesn't feature SuperDrowningSkills, the actual reason the player has to avoid the water is the InvincibleMinorMinion Snapjaw lurking in it.
*** Because Snapjaw could not be implemented on the Game Boy, touching the slime hurts you in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongLand 2''.
** In the same game, "Toxic Tower," which does indeed involve rising toxic waste.
** In ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble'', there's ... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUBtQ3L3ujE#t=23m36s Ripsaw Rage,]] which has [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a saw]]. [[FridgeLogic Cutting vertically up two standing trees at once. At a certain altitude, it continues moving back and forth but stops ascending.]]
*** Also in ''[=DKC3=]'', "Kong-Fused Cliffs", where the player must climb up ropes that have been lit on fire beneath them.
** The latter half of the very last level of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' before the final boss [[spoiler:(excluding the hidden temple levels)]] has Donkey Kong race up a series of platforms to avoid a rising floor of [[LethalLavaLand molten lava.]] [[spoiler:And one of the hidden temple levels [[NintendoHard exploits this mechanism as well.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/IceClimber'' on the NES did this rather lamely: the screen scrolled up as you climbed, and no matter what might have been below that floor before, if you fall off the screen you die.
** The same goes for the Ice Climber themed stage in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''. In this case it's more like the other ones because it's auto-scrolling rather than only scrolling up as you climb (though climbing makes it go faster), but the frame of reference still determines where you die. Sometimes, just to confuse the player, the scrolling ''reverses'', and you have to ''descend'' for your life. [[ScrappyLevel Not many people like to play on these levels]].
** ''Brawl'' replaced it with a merely rising Rumble Falls. But since it only goes up it has not received the hatred Icicle Mountain did.

* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy'' had levels flooding with toxic [[GrimyWater Dark Eco]].

** A level in ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'' attempts to bury you in sand. It's something of a subversion since you can simply stand on the sand as it rises and let it carry you to the top.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}} 2: Durandal'' the fourth mission has you plunge down a lengthy pit and locate and destroy some controls in a geothermal power plant. Natrually the result is that the place is flooded with lava, so you're 'encouraged' to make best speed heading up and out. The final level, "All Roads Lead to Sol", has a similar lava escape.

* Aeshi Nero (a giant cobra excavator mecha) from ''VideoGame/MetalSlug 2/X'' kept "swallowing" the pillar you're on forcing you to outclimb it via platforms, while you also had to dodge its various shots ''and'' shoot it until it dies. There's a GoodBadBug that allows you to stay within its "mouth" without getting damaged and preventing it from advancing, but this only works in ''2'', not ''X''.

* ''VideoGame/MickeyMania'', a video game in which you play through the settings of several classic [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Mickey Mouse]] cartoons, featured a memorable stage near the end (in the ''Prince and the Pauper'' world) with groundbreaking special effects in which you race up a spiral staircase to escape rising flames. ([[FridgeLogic Why you're trying to get to the top of a tower while the rest of the building is on fire is anyone's guess]].)

** In another MickeyMouse game, ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'', one of the later stages has Mickey in a scene from ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' trying to outpace a rising flood of [[ItMakesSenseInContext paint thinner]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}''. Probably qualifies as justified due to Raz's family [[SuperDrowningSkills curse]].
** "The Meat Circus", which features the rising water level, is frustrating. This is mainly due to the game engine's inability to deal with the precision platforming being demanded.
* ''VideoGame/RainbowIslands'' has you moving one of two (previously [[BalefulPolymorph cursed]]) boys named Bub and Bob up a series of seven sinking islands, with a harsh time limit and some SuperDrowningSkills to speed you on your way.

** In ''VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'', a derelict ship must be climbed in a hurry before water catches the player.

** The infamous Labyrinth Zone "boss" for [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 the original game]] was nothing more than you chasing Robotnik up one of these, water rising behind you with no air bubbles to save you if you lag behind. And lag you will, as the way is also lined with retracting spikes and fireball-throwing gargoyles. The game ''does'' show some mercy, however, as once you reach the top, Robotnik [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFaXI4jKKIk runs away]], leaving Sonic to hit the end-of-zone animal cage and head for Star Light Zone. You ARE able to defeat him if you're good, though.
*** This "fight" was revisited in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4'', this time with a real boss at the end.
** ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' had a twist on this in Chemical Plant Zone. Mega Mack doesn't instantly kill Sonic, but [[OxygenMeter Sonic can't breathe in it]], so the further up you go, the worse it is when you fall, to the point where falling to places you could once survive is now your doom.
** In the same game, Hill Top Zone, in addition to [[LiftOfDoom rising floors]], also had rising lava.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros:''
** Several levels in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' had rising and falling water, usually accompanied by the DemonicSpider Boss Bass.
** A few levels in ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'', including a fortress level with rising lava. There's a code that enables "Challenge Mode". When used on side-scrolling stages, it disables scrolling left, making the experience more like the first ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' game (as well as allowing you to occasionally get into an {{Unwinnable}} situation). In vertical-scrolling stages however, it turns falling off the bottom of the screen at any time into an instant death, making those vertically-scrolling stages into Rise To The Challenge levels that move at your own pace.
** There is a lava one in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', too. It's technically because of the ground sinking instead of the lava rising, but functionally it plays like any regular example. Then, you have to redo it [[OneHitPointWonder with only one HP...]]
** In the same game, there is another that is somewhere between this and DescendingCeiling. Mario is upside down to the player so it is hard to say whether the sand is the floor or the ceiling.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'''s version of Norfair has several rooms where lava rises as soon as you enter. (Or in one case, as soon as you grab an upgrade at the far end.) There's also rising lava in part of the final EscapeSequence, but it's kind of redundant since you're already running to escape an exploding planet, and because it's at the end of the game, your suit's been upgraded enough that the lava doesn't restrict your movement, and you have so many spare energy tanks that the damage inflicted by the lava is negligible, so it's really only there to make you panic.
* The Brinstar (acid) and Norfair (lava) stages in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games. Norfair also includes [[IndyEscape giant waves of lava from the sides and background]]. It's ironic because Brinstar in the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' games is of course an UndergroundLevel that doesn't involve this at all, though Norfair does have lava.

* [[VideoGame/WarioLand Wario Land]] had an advancing lava wall in the first level of Stove Canyon. It seems ridiculously easy to outrun at first, until you realize that the reason for this is that there is a hidden [[TreasureRoom Treasure Room]] key in this level...

* In ''{{VideoGame/Bayonetta 2}}'' there's a Verse that requires Bayonetta to use [[PantheraAwesome Panther]] [[{{Animorphism}} Within]] in order to ascend the crumbling walkways of a small tower, while [[AdvancingBossOfDoom being pursued by a Golem]].

* ''Tower of Greed'' involves climbing an upward-scrolling tower where if you get caught at the bottom of the screen when it's scrolling (or miss a jump and fall) you die.

-->[[TheStinger Wait... Why would]] [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarepants SpongeBob]] [[FridgeLogic need to avoid water]]?

* ''VideoGame/JustShapesAndBeats'': The FinalBoss opens with this.

** ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic & Knuckles]]'' has an interesting twist on this concept. In Sandopolis Act 2, there is a section where you must climb your way to the top quickly, lest you get crushed by rising sand (which acts as a solid surface for no explained reason). The twist is that the source of the sand is plugged up, until you bust it open yourself. You must do so, however, because it's impossible to reach the ledges above without the rising sand.
** Near the end of Knuckles' version of Launch Base Zone, from ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic 3 & Knuckles]]'', the water level rises, and you have to rush to avoid drowning.

** In another MickeyMouse game, ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'', one of the later stages has Mickey in a scene from ''Disney/{{Fantasia}}'' trying to outpace a rising flood of [[ItMakesSenseInContext paint thinner]].

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog:''
** The infamous Labyrinth Zone "boss" for [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog the original game]] was nothing more than you chasing Robotnik up one of these, water rising behind you with no air bubbles to save you if you lag behind. And lag you will, as the way is also lined with retracting spikes and fireball-throwing gargoyles. The game ''does'' show some mercy, however, as once you reach the top, Robotnik [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFaXI4jKKIk runs away]], leaving Sonic to hit the end-of-zone animal cage and head for Star Light Zone. You ARE able to defeat him if you're good, though.

* ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'' has the fight against [[InsectQueen Rumor]] [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Honeybottoms]], which takes place in an endless honeycomb/office building hybrid that is slowly filling with honey.* The 16-bit Disney game ''VideoGame/DonaldInMauiMallard'' had a few of these, notably trying to [[DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud out-swim a vortex in a shipwreck]] and climbing away from a cloud of death in Hell.

* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}''. Probably qualifies as justified due to Raz's family [[SuperDrowningSkills curse]].
** "The Meat Circus", which features the rising water level, is frustrating. This is mainly due to the game engine's inability to deal with the precision platforming being demanded.
* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy'' had levels flooding with toxic [[GrimyWater Dark Eco]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}}:''
** [[VideoGame/Rayman1995 The original game]] had a jungle level and a mountain level with plain old regular water that was rising, but there was also a mountain level where the hero was trapped between slowly ''descending'' water and a quicker DescendingCeiling. The idea was to use Rayman's hair-helicopter to cut through ropes tied to this ceiling so the weights attached to the ceiling would drop into the water, and the ceiling would stop descending before it pressed Rayman into the water and drowned him.
** ''VideoGame/{{Rayman 2}}: The Great Escape'' also employed the [[PiranhaProblem piranha]] justification.
** ''VideoGame/Rayman3HoodlumHavoc'' did this with lava.
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog:''
** The infamous Labyrinth Zone "boss" for [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog the original game]] was nothing more than you chasing Robotnik up one of these, water rising behind you with no air bubbles to save you if you lag behind. And lag you will, as the way is also lined with retracting spikes and fireball-throwing gargoyles. The game ''does'' show some mercy, however, as once you reach the top, Robotnik [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFaXI4jKKIk runs away]], leaving Sonic to hit the end-of-zone animal cage and head for Star Light Zone. You ARE able to defeat him if you're good, though.
*** This "fight" was revisited in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4'', this time with a real boss at the end.
** ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' had a twist on this in Chemical Plant Zone. Mega Mack doesn't instantly kill Sonic, but [[OxygenMeter Sonic can't breathe in it]], so the further up you go, the worse it is when you fall, to the point where falling to places you could once survive is now your doom.
** In the same game, Hill Top Zone, in addition to [[LiftOfDoom rising floors]], also had rising lava.
** ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic & Knuckles]]'' has an interesting twist on this concept. In Sandopolis Act 2, there is a section where you must climb your way to the top quickly, lest you get crushed by rising sand (which acts as a solid surface for no explained reason). The twist is that the source of the sand is plugged up, until you bust it open yourself. You must do so, however, because it's impossible to reach the ledges above without the rising sand.
** Near the end of Knuckles' version of Launch Base Zone, from ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic 3 & Knuckles]]'', the water level rises, and you have to rush to avoid drowning.
** ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' did this with "energy" in the [[SkyscraperCity Power Plant]] stage.
** ''[[VideoGame/SonicAdvanceTrilogy Sonic Advance 3]]'' has the boss for the Twinkle Snow Zone, which combines this with PlatformBattle for extra frustration. Mercifully, the platforms don't fall until you jump off of them; just don't fall off (or get knocked off).

* ''VideoGame/ComixZone'' inverted this. The BigBad set the comic book page on fire, and you had to race downward.
* The Brinstar (acid) and Norfair (lava) stages in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games. Norfair also includes [[IndyEscape giant waves of lava from the sides and background]]. It's ironic because Brinstar in the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' games is of course an UndergroundLevel that doesn't involve this at all, though Norfair does have lava.
** In the original ''VideoGame/{{Metroid|1}}'', Brinstar did have acid lakes. ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', on the other hand, did not have them.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}} 2: Durandal'' the fourth mission has you plunge down a lengthy pit and locate and destroy some controls in a geothermal power plant. Natrually the result is that the place is flooded with lava, so you're 'encouraged' to make best speed heading up and out. The final level, "All Roads Lead to Sol", has a similar lava escape.
** ''Marathon Infinity'' does it again in "A Converted Church in Venice, Italy".
** One level in the {{game mod}} ''Tempus Irae'', "Mt Vesuvius II: Electric Boogaloo", is set in a volcano with rising lava, although slower than the above example.
* In most ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'' games, after the [[StalkedByTheBell round timer expires]] the land often begins to slowly sink into the water.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', you have to climb a spiraling ramp around the inside of a tower, avoiding both rising water and the Helmaroc King. You [[BossBattle fight him]] when you get to the roof.

* ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'' offers an interesting take: One level features a large cylinder that suddenly starts to fill up with water, which wouldn't be a problem if not for the loose wires that seem to be hanging out of the walls, which instantly electrify the water on contact. To advance, the player needs to make it to a safe spot and cut the wires to make the water safe to swim in again, then get to another safe spot before the water rises enough to touch another wire, and repeat the process. Exactly how cutting off exposed wires prevents them from electrifying the water is [[FridgeLogic not explained]].
** Notably, this is [[FakeDifficulty one of the most difficult levels]] in the entire game, because there is a wire right behind the first ContextSensitiveButton which many players have difficulty to spot in the first playthrough, so they may think they're safe with cutting down the wires ahead of them, but as they try to get across to the next platform... the water zaps them to death. All because of that tricky wire right behind you.
** Also, later in the game, you have to outrun toxic waste while hurdling small pools of the same substance.

* ''Super VideoGame/MeatBoy'': Levels: 7-13 and 7-13X (Rising liquid), 7-6X (Walls disappear) and 7-20X (Ceiling of sawblades)
* The entire gameplay gimmick of ''VideoGame/TheKillingGameShow'', otherwise known as ''Fatal Rewind''.
* The early ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' games loved this trope:
** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheAdventure'', one of the sections in the third level had rising spikes.
** Stage 2-2 of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines'' has water steadily climbing. As an AutoScrollingLevel, you're free to climb up beyond the camera. In the next stage, you find the enemy that causes the water to rise, and need to kill it before you drown.
* ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'' has all of the climbing levels (2/3 of the game) do this -- falling off the bottom of the screen causes your death. Even if there would be a platform an inch below the screen.
* One Planet Bunnera level in ''VideoGame/TheLegendaryStarfy'' has the titular starfish ascending by hopping from a floating bubble to another while a wall of fire rises after him inexorably.
* ''VideoGame/IceClimber'' on the NES did this rather lamely: the screen scrolled up as you climbed, and no matter what might have been below that floor before, if you fall off the screen you die.
** The same goes for the Ice Climber themed stage in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''. In this case it's more like the other ones because it's auto-scrolling rather than only scrolling up as you climb (though climbing makes it go faster), but the frame of reference still determines where you die. Sometimes, just to confuse the player, the scrolling ''reverses'', and you have to ''descend'' for your life. [[ScrappyLevel Not many people like to play on these levels]].
** ''Brawl'' replaced it with a merely rising Rumble Falls. But since it only goes up it has not received the hatred Icicle Mountain did.
* Aeshi Nero (a giant cobra excavator mecha) from ''VideoGame/MetalSlug 2/X'' kept "swallowing" the pillar you're on forcing you to outclimb it via platforms, while you also had to dodge its various shots ''and'' shoot it until it dies. There's a GoodBadBug that allows you to stay within its "mouth" without getting damaged and preventing it from advancing, but this only works in ''2'', not ''X''.
** The Slug you get at the beginning is almost totally useless as well: not only can you not press jump and shoot at the same time or the slug explodes, but the speed is only fractionally faster than that of the boss, which means you have to constantly jump to avoid death.
** ''VideoGame/InTheHunt'', a ShootEmUp game created by some of the staff who later on started the ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'' series, also has one: a LivingStatue that chases you up a sea ruin.
** Also, there's a level in the first game where you have to go up. The screen doesn't scroll automatically, but since the game doesn't allow you to backtrack, any piece of soil that was left behind gives way to BottomlessPits.
* The final boss battle of ''VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus'' has a phase in which you must climb up a tower that's sinking in lava in order to reach the boss.
** In ''VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'', a derelict ship must be climbed in a hurry before water catches the player.
* ''VideoGame/MickeyMania'', a video game in which you play through the settings of several classic [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Mickey Mouse]] cartoons, featured a memorable stage near the end (in the ''Prince and the Pauper'' world) with groundbreaking special effects in which you race up a spiral staircase to escape rising flames. ([[FridgeLogic Why you're trying to get to the top of a tower while the rest of the building is on fire is anyone's guess]].)
** The first ''Prince and the Pauper'' stage also has rising fire in what may well be the most rapidly-rising non-cutscene instance of ths trope.
* In another MickeyMouse game, ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'', one of the later stages has Mickey in a scene from ''Disney/{{Fantasia}}'' trying to outpace a rising flood of [[ItMakesSenseInContext paint thinner]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'' games:
** A level in ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'' attempts to bury you in sand. It's something of a subversion since you can simply stand on the sand as it rises and let it carry you to the top.
** A level in ''VideoGame/KirbyCanvasCurse'' has you outrunning lava.
** A rising sea of lava also appears near the end of Lava Landing, in ''[[Videogame/KirbysEpicYarn Kirby's Epic Yarn]]''
* ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' on the Game Boy Color included a level where you had to destroy a fuel station. Destroying the system controlling the station caused it to start filling with flaming fuel which would kill you if you touched it.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' on the Sega Genesis had a level where destroying a computer caused the level to fill with a flaming liquid.
* The 16-bit Disney game ''VideoGame/DonaldInMauiMallard'' had a few of these, notably trying to [[DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud out-swim a vortex in a shipwreck]] and climbing away from a cloud of death in Hell.
* The first ''VideoGame/TheSmurfs'' game for the SNES had a volcano level with rising lava (Act 12).
* ''VideoGame/{{Trine}}'' does this with the last level, with the addition that the boss is constantly following you, conjuring objects to block your way, to screw with your jumps or to break platforms.
* ''VideoGame/SplosionMan'' does this periodically, with the [[JustifiedTrope justification]] that since you're a creature made of fire, water isn't so healthy for you.
* Three instances in ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'':
** In Blackwater City in [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002 the first game]], you have to outrun the rising water in a tunnel. Ratchet can both swim and hold his breath, but not for long, and gets realistically slowed down when swimming or wading. The only chance to get out before drowning is to keep ahead of the water. Annoyingly, not so long after this passage, he gets scuba gear...
** The last of the Qwark vid-comics in ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal Up Your Arsenal]]'' justifies this as you're outrunning rising acid.
** ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankSizeMatters'' has the version with some [[SicklyGreenGlow sickly green liquid]], presumably acid or toxic waste.

* ''VideoGame/RainbowIslands'' has you moving one of two (previously [[BalefulPolymorph cursed]]) boys named Bub and Bob up a series of seven sinking islands, with a harsh time limit and some SuperDrowningSkills to speed you on your way.
** ''Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure'' is similar, except instead of water, the floor is replaced with a MadScientist's killing machine, which changes weapons as you race up the tower.
* The freeware PlatformHell game ''Flood The Chamber'' consists of a large room that is slowly being filled with water. Touching the water results in an instant KO, forcing you to restart.
* As with ''Ice Climber'' and ''Kid Icarus'', in most vertical stages in the ''{{VideoGame/Contra}}'' series, you die if you touch the bottom of the screen. Same with most any RatchetScrolling vertical level.
* In ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesGreatestAdventures'', one level involves Indy scrambling to reach the top floor of the Raven Saloon to avoid an ever-rising sea of flames. Said saloon is rather ridiculously tall.
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife1: Opposing Force'' had an early room where a faulty circuit pierces a tank of biowaste and then proceeds to blow large chunks out of the floor, eventually releasing a metal beam leading up to the maintenance walkway above while the waste level is still rising. The G-Man eventually opens a door leading out of the room.
* ''[[VideoGame/LegacyOfKain Legacy of Kain: Defiance]]'' has the early moment in Raziel's viewpoint, as he [[EscapeSequence escapes]] from the Spirit Realm. The [[GodofEvil Elder God]] cynically asks, "[[IShallTauntYou Where are you going, little soul?]]", after which [[FogOfDoom deadly mist]] rises up and the player is forced to outclimb it.
* The gameplay of ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'' is split between Vincent hanging out at the bar and his nightmares, which takes the form of him climbing a tower of blocks in order to outrun whatever monstrosity he's dreaming of.
* During the ''Firewalker'' mission in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Shepard and his/her squad escape from a research station nested inside a volcano as lava rises. Thankfully, they're in a vehicle built to handle brutal environments.
* ''VideoGame/JackieChansActionKungFu'' has this as part of the LethalLavaLand stage. Naturally, the lava starts rising faster and faster as you frantically struggle to jump up the platforms.
* The WallJump-unlocking area in ''VideoGame/FancyPantsAdventures'' has ink spilling from a pipe while you try and use your new-found wall-jumping ability to avoid it.
* The [[VideoGame/InFamous Alden's Tower]] level in ''VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale'' will do this across three levels of the tower before arriving at the top: anyone unable to ascend is transported to a fixed spot higher in the stage, stunned for several seconds (perfectly defenseless for a [[LimitBreak Super]] kill). The developers had the sense to include blinking arrows as a warning.
* In ''Kaizou Choujin Shubibinman 3'', Stage 3 features a section of this combined with TheWallsAreClosingIn.
* ''Tower of Greed'' involves climbing an upward-scrolling tower where if you get caught at the bottom of the screen when it's scrolling (or miss a jump and fall) you die.
* The finale of both versions of ''Videogame/{{Ducktales}}'' has Scrooge racing Magica [=DeSpell=] and Flintheart Glomgold to his Number One Dime. Once he beats them however, he still has to escape the rising lava.

* In ''{{VideoGame/Bayonetta 2}}'' there's a Verse that requires Bayonetta to use [[PantheraAwesome Panther]] [[{{Animorphism}} Within]] in order to ascend the crumbling walkways of a small tower, while [[AdvancingBossOfDoom being pursued by a Golem]].
* In ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'''': Specter of Torment'', there's an optional challenge where Specter Knight must climb the Tower of Fate while staying ahead of a rising electrical current.
* ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdIIAssimilation'' inverts this trope in "Slide Down The Shaft", a downward AutoScrollingLevel where both the top and bottom of the screen are bordered by instant-death lasers.
* ''VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple'': [[spoiler:If you chose to climb the tower past the fifth floor, above the dark cloud, you enter a single long puzzle that takes you up several vertical levels. But that cloud begins to rise as you work through it, and failure to complete the puzzle before the cloud consumes you will cause you to die and restart the puzzle]].
* In ''VideoGame/TheFlintstonesTheRescueOfDinoAndHoppy'', the [[BigBoosHaunt haunted castle]] has a large lava pit near the beginning of it that starts rising once Fred passes a certain point in the level. You must get Fred to the top of the tower before his toes are toasted, obviously.
* Some of the later levels in ''VideoGame/HannahAndThePirateCaves'' and the sequel, ''Hannah and the Ice Caves'', have areas that fill with water as time passes. Falling into the water isn't an insta-kill as the player character can swim, but she's got precious little oxygen and needs to replenish it in the air pockets left after the maps flood.

* ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'' has the fight against [[InsectQueen Rumor]] [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Honeybottoms]], which takes place in an endless honeycomb/office building hybrid that is slowly filling with honey.
* ''VideoGame/UltimateChickenHorse'''s Transformidable Update added an option to have slowly-rising lava on any level. You can also have the lava come from another direction, making it an AdvancingWallOfDoom or DescendingCeiling.

* ''Franchise/DonkeyKongCountry:''

* ''Franchise/{{Rayman}}:''
** [[VideoGame/{{Rayman}} The original game]] had a jungle level and a mountain level with plain old regular water that was rising, but there was also a mountain level where the hero was trapped between slowly ''descending'' water and a quicker DescendingCeiling. The idea was to use Rayman's hair-helicopter to cut through ropes tied to this ceiling so the weights attached to the ceiling would drop into the water, and the ceiling would stop descending before it pressed Rayman into the water and drowned him.