History Main / StalkedByTheBell

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', most of the game is governed by an InUniverseGameClock that counts up to 72 [[VideoGameTime in-universe hours]][[labelnote:*]](or about 1.5 hours real-time, or double that with the Inverted Song of Time)[[/labelnote]], and unlike its predecessor, ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', time does ''not'' stop while you're indoors except for a few rare locations. While you can pause the game for as long as you like, the rule of thumb is that whenever the clock is showing, it's running, and you only have those 72 hours to complete whatever it is you need to during this three-day cycle before [[ResetButton resetting it]] with the Song of Time (or letting time run out, which gets you a NonStandardGameOver).

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', most of the game is governed by an InUniverseGameClock that counts up to 72 [[VideoGameTime in-universe hours]] (or about 1.5 hours real-time, or double that with a secret song), and unlike its predecessor, ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', time does ''not'' stop while you're indoors except for a few rare locations. While you can pause the game for as long as you like, the rule of thumb is that whenever the clock is showing, it's running, and you only have those 72 hours to complete whatever it is you need to during this three-day cycle before [[ResetButton resetting it]] with the Song of Time (or letting time run out, which gets you a NonStandardGameOver).

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', most of the game is governed by an InUniverseGameClock that counts up to 72 hours, and unlike its predecessor, ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', time does ''not'' stop while you're indoors except for a few rare locations. While you can pause the game for as long as you like, the rule of thumb is that whenever the clock is showing, it's running, and you only have those 72 hours to complete whatever it is you need to during this three-day cycle before [[ResetButton resetting it]] with the Song of Time (or letting time run out, which gets you a NonStandardGameOver).

[[caption-width-right:350:[[IWarnedYou We told you]] to hurry up! [[DisproportionateRetribution Now prepare to die!]]]]

* In ''Nightmare in the Dark'', if the timer runs out, an invincible spinning purple pumpkin appears and slowly moves around the screen.

** The video games have (up to two) Baron von Blubba/Skel-Monsta, an invincible whale skull which chases the protagonists when they cannot defeat all of the enemies in a level. (The unauthorized UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh version ''Bub & Bob'' heralds his appearance with the ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}'' theme.) The secret rooms also have their own version, Rascal/Rubblen.
** Up to 4, if you are playing Bubble Bobble Plus on UsefulNotes/WiiWare.

* The UsefulNotes/GameBoy platformer ''Sneaky Snakes'' will have a flying axe appear when time runs out, which will stalk you until it manages to kill you.

* ''Downland'' for the UsefulNotes/ColorComputer had a bat that would fly rapidly around the screen when the timer ran out.

* In ''Chew-Man-Fu'' for the UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16, when the timer runs out, enemies will turn into invincible fireballs that can pass through walls.

* In the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance ''Manga/RaveMaster'' fighting game ''Special Attack Force'', all fights are on a timer and can likely drag due to the tug-of-war-style lifebar system. If you don't beat your opponent before it expires, the Jiggle Butt Gang blasts the whole area with their farts and no one wins.

* ''Penguin Land'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem sent out a bird to drop a brick on the egg if it spent too long on one level. Its predecessor ''Doki Doki Penguin Land'' had a mole pop out of a platform instead. The penguin can defeat these easily, but it's the egg that's in peril.

** The Leviathan boss fight has an interesting one: it will periodically attack you with a sequence of differently-colored orbs, requiring you to use the correct protection prayers to completely mitigate damage. Every time it uses this attack, it gets faster and faster until the orbs start coming as fast as the game server can process your inputs. Fortunately, using smoke magic will stun the boss and reset the orb attack speed.

For the narrative equivalent to this trope, see TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive, in which TheProtagonist is similarly pressured into beginning their journey by some personal threat. If the game punishes you for literally doing nothing instead of just staying in the same area too long, see AntiIdling. When the game doesn't punish you for dawdling, but just tells you off instead, see ContinueYourMissionDammit.

* In ''Demon Sword'' for the NES, if you hang around to farm enemies too long, packs of skeletal wolves will start spawning and [[IncrediblyLamePun hound you to death]].

-> "Light Containment Zone is locked down and ready for decontamination. The removal of organic substances has now begun."

-> "SCP-4445-J lost in Decontamination Sequence."

* ''VideoGame/WolverineAdamantiumRage'' for the SNES released Elsie Dee (an android filled with plastique and modeled after a child) if you took too long. She crawled all over the level to chase you down. If she managed to touch you, you'd get a NonStandardGameOver as she, Wolvie, and the stage you were in exploded.

** ''Old School [=RuneScape=]'' has some mechanically-introduced time limits in two of the "Forgotten Four" bosses fought during "Desert Treasure II":
*** The Whisperer boss fight gives the player a SanityMeter: it drains slowly while you are in the Shadow Realm, and you lose a chunk of it every time you get hit by a dodgeable attack. If you run out of sanity, your hp starts draining ''rapidly''. For the final portion of the fight, you are dragged into the Shadow Realm and barraged by her dodgeable shadow tentacles, and have to beat her before your sanity reaches 0.
*** The Leviathan boss fight has an interesting one: it will periodically attack you with a sequence of differently-colored orbs, requiring you to use the correct protection prayers to completely mitigate damage. Every time it uses this attack, it gets faster and faster until the orbs start coming as fast as the game server can process your inputs. Fortunately, using smoke magic will stun the boss and reset the orb attack speed.

** ''Old School [=RuneScape=]'' has some mechanically-introduced time limits in two of the "Forgotten Four" bosses fought during "Desert Treasure II":
*** The Whisperer boss fight gives the player a SanityMeter: it drains slowly while you are in the Shadow Realm, and you lose a chunk of it every time you get hit by a dodgeable attack. If you run out of sanity, your hp starts draining ''rapidly''. For the final portion of the fight, you are dragged into the Shadow Realm and barraged by her dodgeable shadow tentacles, and have to beat her before your sanity reaches 0.
*** The Leviathan boss fight has an interesting one: it will periodically attack you with a sequence of differently-colored orbs, requiring you to use the correct protection prayers to completely mitigate damage. Every time it uses this attack, it gets faster and faster until the orbs start coming as fast as the game server can process your inputs. Fortunately, using smoke magic will stun the boss and reset the orb attack speed.

* ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' will spawn flying skulls called [[http://www.mariowiki.com/Megabite Megabites]] if you dawdle in certain areas for too long. Downplayed in that they aren't much of a hassle (while they take only one point of damage per hit, they only have 4 HP and deal only one point of damage per hit), and the items they drop can actually be fairly beneficial, though the sounds they make are [[HellIsThatNoise surprisingly unnerving]].

* ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' will send a [[http://www.mariowiki.com/Megabite flying skull]] after you if you stay on a level for too long. This enemy isn't much of a hassle (though it takes only one point of damage per hit, it has 4 HP and deals only one point of damage per hit), but it can be [[HellIsThatNoise quite unsettling]] when encountered unexpectedly.

* While most of the ''VideoGame/TouhouProject'' series is {{shmup}}s (and the fighting games do not have time), the first game, ''VideoGame/TouhouReiidenHighlyResponsiveToPrayers'', is more a ''VideoGame/{{Breakout}}''-type game with time. Failing to destroy all the cards on the level within the time limit will send waves of random bullets. Later games in the series behave differently: see the Miscellaneous section for more info.

** Of course, if you're going for a PacifistRun, the timer running out is your victory condition (see also ''VideoGame/TouhouProject'').

** ''VideoGame/TouhouProject'' has this also in that timing out bullet patterns (spellcards) prevents you from gaining points from them. However, certain boss patterns can become harder as time passes. The biggest example is how several bosses (generally [[{{Superboss}} Extra Stage bosses]]) have a pattern that becomes [[TurnsRed more difficult as the boss takes damage]]. This would normally mean in PacifistRun the boss would stay in its easiest pattern, meaning it is easier to beat the boss without damaging it. Therefore, these patterns, in the last thirty seconds or so before they are timed out, enter a [[HarderThanHard super-difficult mode]] that is ''more difficult than the pattern would ever be normally.''