History Main / SharedLifeMeter

Often overlaps with DualBoss and WolfPackBoss. Sometimes a subtrope of {{Synchronization}}.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForTheNintendo3DSAndWiiU'', Master Hand and Crazy Hand share their stamina, which wasn't true in the previous games.

* The Twin Devil in ''VideoGame/MegaMan9'', justified by being two entities controlled by a single core.
** Gemini Man, from ''VideoGame/MegaMan3''.
** ''VideoGame/MegaManZero 2'' has the DualBoss fight with Kuwagust and Herculious. When one of them is defeated, the two will perform a [[KaizoTrap last ditch suicide attack on Zero]], crashing into each other and exploding.
** ''Zero 3'': Crea and Prea share a single life bar. Interestingly, they also lack MercyInvincibility.
** ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' series: Whenever the two are fought together, Prometheus and Pandora share a life bar. Whereas each of them alone has 2 layers of life bars, them combined has just 3. In the first game they just attack alternately, while in the second they get {{Combination Attack}}s. Justified in that the player never properly defeats them; draining their life meter simply causes them to decide that they're done fighting for one reason or another. This also applies to the Shisharoids from ''Advent''.
** ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'' series: [[DualBoss Gemini Spark]] in ''1'' plays with this, as only Gemini Black has a lifebar and the fight ends when he's defeated. In ''2'', they have separate health bars and the other will keep going when the other is defeated.

* ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'' has a special mechanic in competitive modes called "soul link", where several mooks will occasionally be bound by a green thread and share a single life bar − they will also take more damage if you hit them all at once, meaning that the strategies in those stages focus on keeping the enemies gathered in a single spot. A variant of this mechanic is two enemies having separate life bars but coming back to life if you don’t kill them simultaneously or a few seconds apart, forcing you to be clever in how you distribute the damage (since one enemy will usually have a lot more health than the other).

* ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'' has a special mechanic in competitive modes called "soul link", where several mooks will occasionally be bound by a green thread and share a single life bar − they will also take more damage if you hit them all at once, meaning that the strategies in those stages focused on keeping the enemies gathered in a single spot. A variant of this mechanic is two enemies having separate life bars but coming back to life if you don’t kill them simultaneously or a few seconds apart.

* Larry Jr. in ''{{VideoGame/The Binding of Isaac}}'', as well as the various challenges in Rebirth's Boss Rush.

** Gemini Man, from VideoGame/MegaMan3.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' fangame ''Takkoman'' features this during the BossRush in the second-to-last stage, throwing bosses two at a time at the player but giving them a shared health bar. Strangely, this actually makes the bosses ''easier'' to beat together than if they were fought separately, especially if the player melee attacks them when they're grouped together, which does twice the damage (and Flandre lacks her HealingFactor from her own boss fight.)

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' Does this for the Prismriver sisters when you fight them as a group. And ''only'' for the Prismriver sisters; while Yuki and Mai look like they share a meter, their health is tracked separately, letting you finish the first phase of the fight "early".
* In ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. for Wii U / 3DS]]'', Master Hand and Crazy Hand share their stamina, which wasn't true in the previous games.
* The Four Kings fight in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' is a little strange about this. There are four kings to beat, all sharing a life meter, and seemingly the player has to defeat them all to win, but they actually respawn a while after death (but without adding any more health to the life meter,) which can lead to the player having to fend off ''five or more'' kings if the fight drags on too long, and emptying the life meter causes any surviving kings to drop dead regardless.

* ''VideoGame/AbobosBigAdventure'' features this when ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'' absorbs [[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Krang]] and commandeers his giant robot suit. The player then has to attack and destroy the robot suit's head and right arm, along with beating Kirby himself, all of which share a life meter.

* The fight with the twins in Videogame/DeadRising2 works this way. Both bosses fight you at the same time and have individual health bars, but killing one of them causes the other to commit suicide.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'':
** The first part of the final battle is against twelve entities that all share the same health meter, and have a tendency to attack in groups making it easier to whittle down their health, or for them to take down Sora, Donald and Goofy. [[spoiler:These twelve are the Replica Xehanorts, echoes of the fallen (or in Xion's case, turncoat) members of the True Organization XIII, each with their own main weapon (except for the Replica Xehanort acting as Ansem, which has none) and each with their own unique moves.]]
** The Re:Mind DLC features another battle with the same twelve entities, with them again sharing the same health bar. [[spoiler:As are the heroes fighting them, Riku, Mickey Mouse, Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Roxas, Lea and Xion]].

* The alternate MagicTheGathering format Two-Headed Giant works like this. Each side has two players, and instead of each of them starting with 20 life, they share single life total starting at 30.

** ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' series: Whenever the two are fought together, Prometheus and Pandora share a life bar. Whereas each of them alone has 2 layers of life bars, them combined has just 3. In the first game they just attack alternately, while in the second they get {{Combination Attack}}s. Justified in that the player never properly defeats them; draining their life meter simply causes them to decide that they're done fighting for one reason or another.

* The first part of the final battle of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' is against twelve entities that all share the same health meter, and have a tendency to attack in groups making it easier to whittle down their health, or for them to take down Sora, Donald and Goofy. [[spoiler:These twelve are the Replica Xehanorts, echoes of the fallen (or in Xion's case, turncoat) members of the True Organization XIII, each with their own main weapon (except for the Replica Xehanort acting as Ansem, which has none) and each with their own unique moves.]]

* In ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' the Formless Flesh boss uses this it's one large mass of flesh that takes up all four enemy spaces with each part of it constantly changing form but it's still one mass of flesh so all damage gets takin from one large health bar

* The second boss of the GameBoy version of ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'' has a first form with one life bar, but requiring the player to destroy multiple turrets on it before moving on to the second form.

** ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' series: Whenever the two are fought together, Prometheus and Pandora share a life bar. Whereas each of them alone has 2 layers of life bars, them combined has just 3. In the first game they just attack alternately, while in the second they get {{Combination Attack}}s.

* The Four Kings fight in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' is a little strange about this. [[CaptainObvious There are four kings to beat]], all sharing a life meter, and seemingly the player has to defeat them all to win, but they actually respawn a while after death (but without adding any more health to the life meter,) which can lead to the player having to fend off ''five or more'' kings if the fight drags on too long, and emptying the life meter causes any surviving kings to drop dead regardless.

* The Meta Crew in ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'' are a boss fight consisting of a large group of {{Mook}}s, using the life meter to gauge Kirby's progress as he defeats them.

* The ''SupermanReturns'' video game has a health bar shared by ''the entire city'', which goes down whenever enemies hurt civilians or cause property damage.