History Main / SlapOnTheWristNuke

A particularly noticeable form of GameplayAndStorySegregation. Justified, because trying to render a life-sized nuclear explosion in the middle of the game will become too overpowering, won't fit in the monitor, and/or fry the graphics card.

* ''VideoGame/{{Turok}}''. All bosses shrug it off, though it does still do considerable damage. They just ''act'' as if they didn't feel it.

* PK Starstorm in ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' and ''VideoGame/Mother3''. There is reason to believe that what it really is is the psionic equivalent to a meteor shower.

* Player-generated example in ''VideoGame/AvencastRiseOfTheMage'': since point distribution is player-driven, one can choose to develop a character with high-level spells but a low damage stat.

* Many weapons in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' fall into this. The Soldier's rocket launcher, for instance, requires at least two shots to kill any given class (unless it's the Direct Hit, which still only one-shots the weakest classes or a CriticalHit). Either they're uncommonly weak rockets, or everyone, even the ones without armor, is MadeOfIron.

* Played straight and subverted in the Literature/HonorHarrington universe, where nukes are properly devastating on a human scale, but missiles with standard nuclear warheads are considered all but obsolete in terms of ship-to-ship combat, with thousands being used during certain fleet engagements just so the resulting radiation would blind and confuse point-defense systems before a modern salvo was launched. Justified, as while "contact" nukes can seriously damage a ship, at the scale that ship-to-ship battles occur they need to detonate at point-blank range - something which is usually impossible to achieve against a warship with active defenses. The more modern bomb-pumped laser warheads are used because they can hit their targets ate ranges of tens of thousands of kilometers.

* Played straight and subverted in the Literature/HonorHarrington universe, where nukes are properly devastating on a human scale, but missiles with standard nuclear warheads are considered all but obsolete in terms of ship-to-ship combat, with thousands being used during certain fleet engagements just so the resulting radiation would blind and confuse point-defense systems before a modern salvo was launched.

** Max Moves and G-Max Moves in ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' are a SpiritualSuccessor to Z-Moves and have equally over-the-top animations for what are simply slightly stronger than standard attacks. Of note are Max Strike and its relatives G-Max Cuddle, G-Max Replenish, and G-Max Gold Rush, which depict the ground collapsing beneath the opposing Pokémon and a large beam of energy gushing out from it; Max Ooze and its relative G-Max Malodor, in which the entire area is flooded with a wave of purple poisonous goo; and Max Lightning and its relatives G-Max Volt Crash and G-Max Stun Shock; in which a thundercloud appears over the target and large bolts of lightning strike the target repeatedly and rapidly. Depending on the circumstances, these moves may be weaker than mundane moves; the aforementioned Head Smash, for instance, is equal to or stronger than all Max Moves and G-Max Moves.

** Seismic Toss in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonStadium Pokémon Battle Revolution]]'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' onwards shows the opposing Pokémon getting launched into space before landing smack dab on the ground. This animation makes even the [[OneHitKill One Hit KO]] moves look modest, and it's Charizard's finisher in the anime for good reason. However, it's a FixedDamageAttack that only deals damage based on the user's Level, meaning it can only deal a paltry 100 damage at Level 100 (where most Pokemon have HP bars in the 300-400 range). Gameplay-wise, this makes it ironically a BoringButPractical option for Pokemon who otherwise have trouble dealing consistent damage, most infamously Blissey who turns the move into outright NarmCharm due to the sight of a fat pink fairy blob launching even a heavy tank like Metagross into space.

* The ''Film/{{Animatrix}} two-part short "The Second Renaissance" goes into more detail about the world of ''Film/TheMatrix'' became the CrapsackWorld it is, which includes humanity deciding to nuke Zero-One, the city the machines built. However, despite what nuclear weapons would do in real life (frying electronics with an EMP, and radiation and melt would destroy anything exposed to it), the machines are unaffected.

* ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' has the eponymous Saints use attacks of awesomely destructive power, especially the higher up on the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil one goes. However, several of these attacks come with names and animation like "Galaxian Explosion" (attacks with the force of an exploding galaxy) and "Lightning Plasma" (shoots 100 billion shots of plasma at an enemy). Yet for all this destructive power, the only destruction is of the local landscape and structures.

* In ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'', Starmon's attack is called, and basically ''is'', a Meteor Shower... but is otherwise an average champion-level attack.

* In ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'', Strong Bad once presses a self-destruct button on his laptop, creating a [[EverythingMakesAMushroom mushroom cloud]] at least a hundred feet high. The laptop and a ream of printer paper were the only things damaged in any way.

* Chapter 7 of Fanfic/LightAndDarkTheAdventuresOfDarkYagami begins with a nuclear bomb blowing up the street near Light's house. The only damage that it seems to cause is several buildings getting destroyed, and [[WatchThePaintJob Soichiro's car getting its paint scratched off]]. The characters present in the building barely even notice it going off.

* ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'' features [[LiteralMetaphors nuclear weapons.]] To access them, one faction has to research enough technology to build a nuclear reactor to a high-enough level to produce a bomb, and then one is automatically added to your stockpile once a certain amount of time passes (which decreases the more technology you invest into it). Nuclear weapons have the following effects: they destroy all enemy troops in a province; they cause an amount of dissent directly proportional to the target country depending on the population levels, industry, infrastructure, etc.; they completely deplete all improvement levels (infrastructure, industry, etc.) to 0% and make it so it takes years to repair. And that's it. There is no fallout, nuclear winter, global warming, nor anything else. Troops that occupy a province that was just nuked suffer no ill effects. Furthermore, most provinces have such a low population that nuking them isn't effective enough to change anything. The best cities to nuke are state capitals and some high-population provinces in China, and that's it. Though the "no fallout" may be excused when you consider this depicts early nuclear weapons in the WWII era, the technology tree allows you to advance and develop better nuclear weapons that existed in the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, but the basic effects stay the same. Nukes also do not affect diplomacy when one would think they really should. Finally, not only can the AI not handle nuclear weapons, there is no concept of "deterrence"; a country without nukes is just as likely to attack a country with nukes as they are one without them.

* ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'' features nuclear weapons. To access them, one faction has to research enough technology to build a nuclear reactor to a high-enough level to produce a bomb, and then one is automatically added to your stockpile once a certain amount of time passes (which decreases the more technology you invest into it). Nuclear weapons have the following effects: they destroy all enemy troops in a province; they cause an amount of dissent directly proportional to the target country depending on the population levels, industry, infrastructure, etc.; they completely deplete all improvement levels (infrastructure, industry, etc.) to 0% and make it so it takes years to repair. And that's it. There is no fallout, nuclear winter, global warming, nor anything else. Troops that occupy a province that was just nuked suffer no ill effects. Furthermore, most provinces have such a low population that nuking them isn't effective enough to change anything. The best cities to nuke are state capitals and some high-population provinces in China, and that's it. Though the "no fallout" may be excused when you consider this depicts early nuclear weapons in the WWII era, the technology tree allows you to advance and develop better nuclear weapons that existed in the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, but the basic effects stay the same. Nukes also do not affect diplomacy when one would think they really should. Finally, not only can the AI not handle nuclear weapons, there is no concept of "deterrence"; a country without nukes is just as likely to attack a country with nukes as they are one without them.

** Seismic Toss in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonStadium Pokémon Battle Revolution]]'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' onwards shows the opposing Pokémon getting launched into space before landing smack dab on the ground. This animation makes even the [[OneHitKill One Hit KO]] moves look modest, and it's Charizard's finisher in the anime for good reason. However, it's a FixedDamageAttack that only deals damage based on the user's Level, meaning it can only deal a paltry 100 damage at Level 100 (where most Pokemon have HP bars in the 300-400 range). Gameplay-wise, this makes it ironically a BoringButPractical option for Pokemon who otherwise have trouble dealing consistent damage, most infamously Blissey who turns the move into outright NarmCharm.

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons 3.5'', there was a spell in an official {{Splat}} Book that basically ripped the target's entire circulatory system (other than its heart) out of its body (an a slightly higher level version that then used said veins and arteries to entangle nearby targets!) - and yet it did exactly half the target's hit points in damage. No more, no less. Funny, one would think losing your entire means of carrying blood to the brain, not to mention the rest of the body, would do a bit more damage than THAT.

* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' gets into this with some of the [[LimitBreak Supermoves]]. {{Superman}} punching, say, ComicBook/GreenArrow into orbit before smashing them back to Earth does decent damage - but you'd expect them to have been reduced to a fine red mist. This gets a {{Hand Wave}} in the story, as the BadassNormal characters use AppliedPhlebotinum to get SuperToughness similar to Superman's... but this only highlights the opposite problem: logically, Deathstroke's [[MoreDakka shooting]] and [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice stabbing]] super should do nothing to [[ShootingSuperman Superman]] (or anyone else in the roster, given the aforementioned nanotech-induced NighInvulnerability), but every super move does around the same amount of damage, no matter how spectacular or mundane it might be. Some of the stage transitions have this too, as Harley Quinn can get blasted out into space and hit by a runaway spaceship or slapped around a room by PhysicalGod Darkseid yet only take as much damage as a couple of normal punches.

* For all its awesomeness and power ([[TooAwesomeToUse and the blasted rarity of its ammunition]]), ''VideoGame/{{Postal}} 2'''s Rocket Launcher has a criminally small area of effect that usually requires that your targets bunch up much closer than they normally would in the course of gameplay. Semi-relatedly, grenades, dynamite, and other explosives sound like they should leave nothing but scattered blood and body parts around when used, but in spite of all their flash, they still have a surprisingly small blast radius, and it takes two grenades to kill most enemies you'd ''want'' to use grenades on (mainly police and Taliban).

* In {{VideoGame/Vindictus}}, Kai's ultimate attack, massive impact, creates an explosion about 60 feet in diameter. Even heavily ranked and used in dark knight form, it doesn't deal enough damage to even stun most bosses even a few stages back from where you would have reached by the time you unlock it.

*** There's also one of Squall's [[LimitBreak Limit Breaks]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-76GjVPfuUs Blasting Zone]]. It turns his Gunblade into a [[{{BFS}} gigantic]] [[LaserBlade energy blade]] that appears to be on the order of a thousand miles long. He then brings it down on an enemy and causes the same maximum damage of 9,999 that almost every other attack in the game is limited to. Naturally, [[GameplayAndStorySegregation no thousand-mile gashes in the Earth result]].

** ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy likes it a lot, in fact. Lance especially. Besides the aforementioned nuke, he also possesses an [[WaveMotionGun Ion Cannon]] which plows through the ground, obliterating it with no damage to the party at all and only decent damage to enemies. Natalie, herself, is not one to be outdone. Her attacks include a massive beam of Holy power visible from space itself (pardonable, since it's Holy, after all) and a BLACK HOLE which does deal heavy damage to all enemies and players with a chance to kill, but does not do what black holes are meant to do, which is destroying the world.
* PK Starstorm in ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' and ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}''. There is reason to believe that what it really is is the psionic equivalent to a meteor shower.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''

* Used constantly on a smaller scale in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' and its various adaptations, with weapons that should cause incredible amounts of damage, if not merely instantly killing the target, causing rather standard damage instead. A lot of the time it's justified by the target being equally incredibly resilient, but when Bolters (firing a [[{{BFG}} .75 caliber rocket-assisted shell meant to explode a split second after penetrating the target]]) is used against normal humans without them exploding it gets a bit puzzling.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'': Utsuho makes it literal. In her first appearance as the final boss of the 11th game, her signature bullet (Minisuns) were only more threatening than other bullets due to being much larger. They do not take multiple lives (fortunately.) In 12.3, they're damaging but (with the exception of Giga Flare for most characters) possible to avoid. They're not even the most powerful attack in the game. (But considering the most powerful attack is basically 7 hits to guaranteed victory....) FridgeBrilliance kicks in at once when you remember that all fights in Touhou use the spellcard system, which is intentionally designed to be nonlethal. If Utsuho ever decided not to play by the rules, her attacks would probably be a lot more lethal. Same goes for many of the other bosses, since Touhou has characters with powers along the lines of [[PersonOfMassDestruction "instantly destroy anything"]], [[TimeMaster "stop time"]], [[IWishedYouWereDead "invoking death as you wish"]] and even RealityWarping.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''WebComic/{{Eatatau}},'' an Eldar warband nukes a force of Necrons assaulting their position. Due to the Necron Lord's timely application of Orb of Ressurrection, they get right back up and continue the assault. Of course, they should have been at least melted into slag, if not outright vapourized. There's also no fallout (although Eldar are made of sterner stuff than humans, so maybe they could just ignore it).

** It's certainly a flashy spell, and guaranteed maximum damage on any enemy has its uses (the spell can't break the damage limit, but won't drop below it either), but considering that individual attacks can deal more than 50% of Destruction's yield against late-game bosses and that you have a bevy of instant-group-kill spells & combos by the time you gather the component parts of Destruction...it's definitely of limited utility.

* ''ShadowWarrior'' is one of the few [=FPSs=] with nukes. Since the game is pretty silly to begin with, the nuke's ability to kill everything in the game's largest rooms is reasonably impressive. [[ContractualBossImmunity But it still won't kill a boss in one hit]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Turok}}''. All bosses shrug it off, though it does still do considerable damage. They just ''act'' as if they didn't feel it.
* The Redeemer in the ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'' games is supposed to be a nuke, but its blast radius is only a few meters. Its destructive power is about what you'd expect for anyone caught in it though.
* The Tactical Nuke in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare2''. Getting a 25 killstreak in multiplayer with this equipped allows you to call in a nuclear warhead to end the match in your favor regardless of the current score. While it does kill every player on field regardless of team, ''the entire map remains intact and untouched''.
* Back again in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare3'', this time called the M.O.A.B. (Mother of All Bombs). Unlike the Tactical Nuke, the M.O.A.B. only kills everyone on the opposing team upon detonation, as well as having an EMP-like effect on the other team for one minute and giving everything onscreen an orange tint. More importantly, it doesn't end the round, meaning everyone can still be fighting on a thermobaric ground zero with everything intact.

* Many weapons in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' fall into this. The Soldier's rocket launcher, for instance, requires at least two shots to kill any given class (unless it's the Direct Hit, which still only one-shots the weakest classes or a CriticalHit). Either they're uncommonly weak rockets, or everyone, even the ones without armor, is MadeOfIron.

** Some non-finishing moves in Mortal Kombat would be extremely deadly in normal circumstances. Particularly JustForFun/{{egregious}} are the X-Rays in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' and ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'', where you get to see in vivid detail how the move causes all sorts of gruesome injuries like getting their skull crushed, their organs punctured, their spine shattered or their ribcage broken. More often than not, these attacks also involve getting sharp weapons or claws going through the head or chest. Even though it takes away a huge chunk off a fighter's health, the opponent on the receiving end just stands up and keeps fighting after the attack, like the whole ordeal was about as inconveniencing as scraping your knee.

* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' gets into this with some of the [[LimitBreak Supermoves]]. {{Superman}} punching, say, ComicBook/GreenArrow into orbit before smashing them back to Earth does decent damage - but you'd expect them to have been reduced to a fine red mist. Made more blatant by other super moves that avert this trope, yet still do the same damage as the slap-on-the-wrist nukes. Logically, Deathstroke's [[MoreDakka shooting]] and [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice stabbing]] super should do nothing to [[ShootingSuperman Superman]] (or a large portion of the roster, for that matter), but it still does the same damage to all characters as Superman's super. Some of the level changes have this too, as Harley Quinn can get blasted out into space and hit by a runaway spaceship or slapped around a room by PhysicalGod Darkseid yet only take as much damage as a couple of normal punches.

* ''VideoGame/JojosBizarreAdventureAllStarBattle'', and the [=JoJo=]'s adaptation games in general, tend to run afoul of this for reasons of CompetitiveBalance. Probably the most noticeable examples are Okuyasu and Vanilla Ice, who both use attacks which outright remove things from existence, but which merely do some amount of damage (that [[CriticalExistenceFailure isn't even visible]]) in the games. Some [[LimitBreak Great Heat Attacks]] explicitly show the target being utterly destroyed (Dio Brando inflicts LiterallyShatteredLives, Fugo and Purple Haze's virus devours the opponent, Valentine shows off why NeverShallTheSelvesMeet) but once the animation is over, the victim is back in one piece.