History Main / UnWinnableByMistake

* FinalFantasyIV has a sequence where you regain the healer character (Rosa) and then almost immediately descend into the underworld, to the Kingdom of the Dwarves, where you fight Calbrena (the [[ThatOneBoss combining dolls]]) and Golbez in quick succession. (That's the battle where you [[spoiler:get Rydia back]].) When Rosa reappears in your party, she has the bare minimum of equipment - and once you've descended to the underworld, you can't return to the surface without completing the entire sequence, and the dwarven vendors won't talk to you. It's therefore possible to make the fight against Calbrena and Golbez unwinnable by forgetting to equip Rosa - she can't heal very well and is easily killed without gear. This was the incident that led this troper to start saving in multiple slots for each game - that way there's always a backup.

* FinalFantasyIV has a sequence where you regain the healer character (Rosa) and then almost immediately descend into the underworld, to the Kingdom of the Dwarves, where you fight Calbrena (the [[ThatOneBoss combining dolls) and Golbez in quick succession. (That's the battle where you [[spoiler:get Rydia back]].) When Rosa reappears in your party, she has the bare minimum of equipment - and once you've descended to the underworld, you can't return to the surface without completing the entire sequence, and the dwarven vendors won't talk to you. It's therefore possible to make the fight against Calbrena and Golbez unwinnable by forgetting to equip Rosa - she can't heal very well and is easily killed without gear. This was the incident that led this troper to start saving in multiple slots for each game - that way there's always a backup.

** This is hardly unique to LegendofLegaia. This could be true for any game that locks you in a dungeon for the duration of your business there.

* The 'Special Edition' of the original MonkeyIsland has a point where Guybrush has to bring a mug of grog to the prison to melt the bars of a prison cell. However, the hidden timer goes too quickly, and the mug always melts before reaching the prison.
** Though really, some people just grab ''multiple'' mugs and juggle the contents around on their way to the prison as need be.

* ''SpaceQuest I'': In the second room in the game, it is possible to obtain a cartridge -- but you'll only know which one if you enter this room, which you never need to be in otherwise, often enough to trigger the random event that tells you its name. Using the cartridge here will kill you for no reason. Much, much later in the game, the lair of four-armed aliens contains an easily-missed cartridge slot. Using it here gives you an {{infodump}} with an easily-missed four-letter code. Much, much later than that, in the final scene, you need this four-letter code to start a self-destruct sequence.
** This is not true. The event will always be triggered when you enter the room for the second time. And you do need to pass the room twice in order to get a cartridge you need to leave the ship. And if anything, this would be unwinnable by ''design''.

* Final Fantasy VIII.

* Though it doesn't make the game truly unwinnable, the ''OcarinaOfTime'' ice arrows can be impossible to acquire, depending on how you use the keys in the Gerudo Training Area.

* In MetalGearSolid, if, after defeating the attack chopper on the roof, you have low health and no chaff grenades, then you cannot descend from the roof (and thus progress). The stairway is guarded by [[SentryGun sentry guns]].

** This troper remembers his brother, who he used to watch play, accidentally saving while sinking to his death on quicksand during the first Java level. We've both had an aversion to [[IncrediblyLamePun quicksaving]] ever since.

** This troper remembers his brother, who he used to watch play, accidentally saving while sinking to his death on quicksand during the first Java level. We've both had an aversion towards quicksand (and [[IncrediblyLamePun quicksaving]]) ever since.

** This troper remembers his brother, who he used to watch play, accidentally saving while sinking to his death on quicksand during the first Java level. We've both had an aversion towards quicksand ever since.

* The ''ChipNDalesRescueRangers'' game on the NES had a [[GameShark Game Genie]] code that would make you invincible, but did not prevent you from being stunned by attacks. The result was that if you got caught in certain areas that were rapidly attacked, you'd be stuck. Interestingly, the Game Genie manual specifically warns you about this in the code's description.

** Really? Because I imported a mage from QFG2, and the prisoner appeared without even competing with Uhura. I had no throwing skill, either.

** Another one from ''PhantomHourglass'': If you get the Hourglass, save right away, turn your game off, and start right again, then the hourglass is GONE. LostForever. As you can probably imagine, you cannot complete ''Phantom Hourglass'' without the Phantom Hourglass.

* "Pharaoh", the first secret level of ''TNT: Evilution'' (one of the {{Expansion Pack}}s that came with ''Final {{Doom}}''), was rendered theoretically impossible to finish because a vital key was erroneously flagged to appear only in multiplayer. id Software did not fix this bug in their distribution, and never has, and never will (it's related to more general game physics); but the creators of the pack, [=TeamTNT=], quickly released a patch allowing the key to appear in any mode. Not that it's stopped people from discovering how to [[SequenceBreaking complete the level without it]].

%% Removed Pokémon example from here -- see Discussion

* ''{{Pokemon}} Diamond, Pearl,'' and ''Platinum'' has one, albeit very convoluted. There is a trade on a remote island that players can make to get a German Magikarp - if done while the traded Pokemon is the one in the team that knows Surf while nothing in the party knows Teleport or Fly, this can cause the player to become stuck. Even then, though, this is only if they are totally lacking in Rare Candies (since given the timing of the trade just one level-up could potentially evolve Magikarp into Gyarados, which can learn Surf) as well as all three of the fishing rods while with a team with nothing that can learn the needed move ''or'' Fly.
** And given that the Pokemon that needs to be traded can only be caught by fishing (or hatching an egg, but its evolved form can also only be found in the wild by fishing) and depositing Key Items in the PC is a thing of the distant past, this would also mean that the player would have had to trade with another player at some point prior to making this in-game trade.
** In Ruby and Sapphire, you'll get stuck if you fly to the end of Victory Road, go backwards through the cave without knowing Surf, and jump off one of the ledges. This was fixed in Emerald.
*** Could you potentially simply fight wild Pokémon until your own Pokémon use up all their PP and "struggle" themselves into fainting, thus forcing you to wake up at the nearest Pokémon Center, albeit with half your money gone?