History Main / WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou

* ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros Brawl]]'' also rides on this trope in the Subspace Emissary during co-op play. Both players share the same stock and characters and the game will go on if player 2 is out for the count, but god forbid that player 1 gets taken down, the game automatically ends, even if player 2 is alive and kicking.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ: Hyper Dimension'' for the UsefulNotes/SuperFamicom, this was incredibly prevalent in the story mode; when fighting with "secondary" heroes like Vegeta or Piccolo, those battles literally didn't matter. If Piccolo beats Freeza, the following cutscene has Piccolo complaining that [[GameplayAndStorySegregation he can't hurt Freeza]]; if Vegeta beats Cell, Cell simply "regenerates" in the following scene. And if either of them lost, the story mode simply continued. But if Goku loses? Time to continue![[note]]But you can only do that up to 3 times before your game is truly over![[/note]]

* In both ''[[VideoGame/{{Tekken}} Tekken Tag Tournament]]'' and its sequel, if a fighter from one team loses all their health, then they lose that round.

* The UsefulNotes/PlayStation game ''Journey To The West'' has the monk Sanzo, who causes instant game over if he (or she, as you can choose gender at the start of the game) dies in battle. Annoying in three battles in the game:

* ''Starfox series''
** ''VideoGame/StarFox64'': If one of your teammates' [[LifeMeter Health Meter]] empties, he flees and rejoins two missions later. [[spoiler:The exception is Slippy being shot down one mission before Sectox X, as he will rejoin mid-mission anyway]]. Should this happen to you, you die. And ContinuingIsPainful since you lose your powerups as well as a life. Same goes for ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault''.

* In ''VideoGame/FearAndHunger'', should the player character die in battle, the game ends even if there are additional party members still fully capable of fighting.

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': Friendly [=NPCs=] sometimes reference this trope by name whenever the Chief dies during gameplay.

* In the RPG ''VideoGame/OkageShadowKing'', if the main protagonist Ari is KO'd in battle, it results in an automatic Game Over, even if the other party members are alive and revival items/abilities are available.

* You can actually abuse this trope to your advantage in some ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' and ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors'' games. The designated leader of the clan is the lynchpin for both you and the enemy, and most of the time you're saddled with phenomenally stupid AI, so sometimes it's more beneficial to play as said clan head and be in control of your destiny. (Later games in the series, including the crossover VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi, would just put clan control in the hands of a different NPC if you tried that trick.)

[[folder:Film]]
* Mangelore mercenaries in ''Film/TheFifthElement'' will not fight without their leader. Thus, when they take hostages and demand to negotiate, the best tactic is identifying the leader and blowing his head off.
--> '''Korben Dallas:''' Anyone ''else'' wanna negotiate?
[[/folder]]

* A major plot point in ''VideoGame/SwordArtOnline: Hollow Realization'' involves the heroes discovering that [[spoiler:rather than the players, it is the [=NPCs=] who can suffer {{Permadeath}} if slain in ''Sword Art: Origin'', as they are controlled by dynamic learning AI rather than preset routines and thus each NPC is considered a distinct entity within the game's system. Should an NPC be killed, they will cease to exist permanently and will be functionally replaced by a new NPC]]. GameplayAndStoryIntegration kicks in once the game allows you to add Premiere to your party, as unlike every other available party member she is a failure condition and will cause an immediate game over if her HP becomes 0.

* A major plot point in ''VideoGame/SwordArtOnline: Hollow Realization'' involves the heroes discovering that [[spoiler:rather than the players, it is the [=NPCs=] who can suffer {{Permadeath}} if slain in ''Sword Art: Origin'', as they are controlled by dynamic learning AI rather than preset routines and thus each NPC is considered a distinct entity within the game's system. Should an NPC be killed, they will cease to exist permanently and will be functionally replaced by a new NPC]]. GameplayAndStoryIntegration kicks in once the game allows you to add Premiere to your party, as unlike every other available party member she is a failure condition and will cause an immediate game over if her HP becomes 0.

* As a {{Mons}} series where you fight alongside the monsters, ''VideoGame/{{Geneforge}}'' justifies this in much the same manner as ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTensei''. This does get a bit iffy in ''3'' and ''5'', though -- you have the option to recruit two human allies in the former game, and an intelligent servile ally in the latter, and unlike in ''2'' and ''4'', they're immune to the {{Permadeath}} that plagues all other allies in the series. Your stalwart swordsman or knife-toting mage can fall in battle a hundred times without a game over, even though you lose the game if you fall even once.

* Should the PC in ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' die, his hireling and any summons also spontaneously fall over dead.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' keeps the tradition where the [[PlayerCharacter Avatar's]] defeat equals game over, but only in Classic Mode. In the new [[EasierThanEasy Phoenix mode]] (where allies come back the next turn after dying) even if you lose the Avatar, he'll just come back the next turn after being defeated, and thus, the only way to lose is [[NonStandardGameOver through alternative defeat conditions]], such as Chapters 10 of ''Conquest'' where failing to prevent an enemy unit from getting to the green-highlighted defend area. ''Fates''' Casual mode, unlike the ones from ''New Mystery of the Emblem'', ''Awakening'', and ''Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'' also lets you keep going, but unlike Phoenix mode, this isn't always the case, since some maps end if you lose the Avatar anyway, like Chapter 5 probably because they're the only major source of damage in that chapter, and clearing it without them would be impossible.

->''"Nasty Crime Boy is pretty charming. In fact, he's so charismatic that whenever he falls in battle, the other party members all instantly die of sadness."''