History OneHitKill / Videogames

** Capcom's ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' have various one-hit kills of two kinds, one from regular game-play or one from [[PressXToNotDie quick-time events]]. One-hit-kills during regular gameplay may result from the player-characters getting decapitated by enemies equipped with a chainsaw, impaled by a Garrador's WolverineClaws, or being eaten by creatures like mutated alligators (exclusive to [=RE5=]) or salamanders (Del Lago in ''RE 4''). Failures for quick-time-events frequently result in deaths for the player characters.

* Two toys in ''Guardian's Crusade'', Draken which does damage equal to half current hit points to everyone, and Versius, which doubles all damage. Sure you take it too, but if you keep an odd number of hit points, the rounding will save you. Doesn't work on the final boss though.

** The canonical One Hit Kill and YetAnotherStupidDeath is [[spoiler:"You fall into a pit! You land on a set of sharp iron spikes! The spikes were poisoned! The poison was deadly..."]]. Being on the wrong end of this is a sure sign that the RandomNumberGod is out to get you, as it requires: [[spoiler:firstly, that a spiked pit be generated; secondly, that you hit the chance that the spikes are poisoned (1 in 7 each time falling into the pit); and thirdly, that the poison is classified as deadly (1 in 20 chance each time you take poison damage)]]. However this can be avoided [[spoiler:through AcquiredPoisonImmunity]].

* The third stage of ''[[VideoGame/RocketKnightAdventures Rocket Knight Adventures]]'' begins with a pool of reflective lava, which constantly rises and falls. Since the foreground blocks some of the platforms, you need that lava to see your reflection and cross the platforms safely. If you fall into the lava, you instantly lose a life.

* In the last level of ''Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure'', just before the final battle with Montana Max and his robot, you have to outrun [[AndCallHimGeorge Elmyra Duff]] on your way to the boss room. If she manages to catch you, Buster will hold up a sign that says, '''TRY AGAIN''', and you instantly lose a life.
** Need we remind you of the [[SpikesOfDoom Spikes of Doom]], especially in the [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Ice Mountain levels]]?

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' has the "Whack" spell which may cause instant death to an individual enemy. Its advance form "Thwack" can affect the whole group, but has a lower probability of working.

*** Edgar's Air Anchor. When it works, and it works surprisingly well, the enemy gets one more turn before instantly dying.

* Electricity can kill the eponymous ''VideoGame/Pikmin'' instantly, so any enemy attack based on this element is lethal. Same with bombs and any other explosive attack. Good thing Yellow Pikmin can use bombs in the first game and resist electricity in the second.

** If you've gone the alternate route in MegaMan X5 [[spoiler:(allowing Eurasia to crash & infect Zero)]], you'll have to fight Zero in his Awakened state as X in the final stages of the game. If 2 minutes have passed during the fight, he'll become invincible & repeatedly launch two large crescent beams at you (The attack is named "Genmurei"). One of the few ways to effectively dodge them is to use the Ultimate Armor's Nova Strike, but since you can't damage Zero at that point, the fight can only end one way...[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPncHEU6y9M]]

** If you've gone the alternate route in MegaMan X5 [[spoiler:(allowing Eurasia to crash & infect Zero)]], you'll have to fight Zero in his Awakened state as X in the final stages of the game. If 2 minutes have passed, he'll become invincible & repeatedly launch two large crescent beams at you (The attack is named "Genmurei"). One of the few ways to effectively dodge them is to use the Ultimate Armor's Nova Strike, but since you can't damage Zero at that point, the fight can only end one way...[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPncHEU6y9M]]

** If you've gone the alternate route in MegaMan X5 (allowing Eurasia to crash & infect Zero), you'll have to fight Zero in his Awakened state as X in the final stages of the game. If 2 minutes have passed, he'll become invincible & repeatedly launch two large crescent beams at you (The attack is named "Genmurei"). One of the few ways to effectively dodge them is to use the Ultimate Armor's Nova Strike, but since you can't damage Zero at that point, the fight can only end one way...

** The Tonberries creep slowly towards you then stab you to death. In some cases, it's not an ''instant'' death attack, but just does obscene amounts of damage. Later versions added the "Karma"[[http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Karma]] ability, which deals damage equal to the amount of enemies a character has landed the killing blow on, sometimes with a positive modifier (i.e. number of killing blows x10, x20 etc). This can lead to odd circumstances where your main character is OHKOed, but your White Mage or a party member you haven't been using much takes very little damage if any at all.

** This one-hit kill takes some work, but in the first [=SSB=] game (unsure if it works in the sequels), Fox's reflector will bounce a projectile back at its shooter for 1.5 times the damage and knockback. When it comes to reusable throwing items however, the damage increase can be stacked for each time it's bounced off the reflector. So when you use an item that's pretty powerful to begin with like a green shell, and have it thrown against Fox's reflector two times (computer AI opponents will happily do this for you), you suddenly have a "charged up" green shell of death that's powerful enough to KO another player even at 0% damage.

** The Tonberries creep slowly towards you then stab you to death. In some cases, it's not an ''instant'' death attack, but just does obscene amounts of damage. Later versions added the "Karma" ability, which deals damage equal to the amount of damage the Tonberry has taken, and it ''always'' has more HP than the maximum your characters can reach...

** ''Warcraft III'' has the Transmute spell used by the Goblin Alchemist hero, which can oneshot most non-hero units and convert them into gold for the player who owns the Alchemist. There's also the Doom spell by the Pitlord which deals damage over time until the unit dies, upon which a Doom Guard is spawned. There's also the Finger of Death spell used by various NPCs in the campaign that just seems to kill stuff outright.
* In Starcraft, the Zerg Queen could oneshot any non-robotic, non-Archon ground unit with its Spawn Broodling ability. The Terran Science Vessel's Irradiate ability deals 250 damage over time to any organic unit, which is for all practical purposes a one-hit kill against nearly all organic units with the exception of the high-hp Ultralisk and Devourer, and the latter will be on the brink of death after being irradiated.

** ''Warcraft III'' has the Doom spell on Pitlords, which will oneshot any {{mook|s}} he happens to target with using a fairly hefty (40 dps on guys with around 200-1200 life) dot, after which you get a pretty tough demon spawned. Doesn't work against tougher mobs though, nor heroes. Also the Finger of Death.

** ''Twilight Princess'' also has a one-hit kill ''against'' Link regarding the Zora Armor. The armor is weak to fire attacks, which makes Link take double damage, but if he falls into lava with the armor on, it's instant death -- regardless of how many [[HitPoints hearts]] you have.

** There is an enemy called Boss Bass that eats you in one gulp regardless of what powerup state you are in. A very annoying bitch.
*** ''[[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi's Island]]'' got the Lunge Fish that acts similar to Boss Bass, except with a different pattern. As if that wasn't enough, both Lunge Fish and Boss Bass make an appearance in the DS sequel.
*** The ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' has a Cheep Chomp that resembles a purple Boss Bass. It will try to eat you while you're underwater.

* In many {{R|olePlayingGame}}PGs, "Doom"; or "Death"; or something else with a similar name is a UselessUsefulSpell.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has a [[GoodBadBugs trick]] that can make the Doom spell [[GameBreaker 100% effective]] on most enemies. [[GameBreaker This includes most bosses.]] However, it was corrected for the GBA version. There are also some weapons (the Assassin's Dagger and the Ichigeki are two of them) that will randomly use a highly-accurate Death spell for free (along with a unique animation) when you attack with them.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', for balance reasons, doesn't have players get these abilities. Doesn't stop some boss monsters, however. Even then, some monsters have abilities which kill them, but deal area damage based on their HP (Unless they have the Ninja job 2-hour, then [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard nothing happens to them]]). Considering most of these mobs have thousands of HP, well, do the math.
*** Players will soon have an instant death ability, in the form of the new avatar Odin, which will have [=AoE=] death (but with less accuracy the more mobs that surround it), on all normal mobs.

** Also, in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', Kimahri's Doom Overdrive has a 100% success rate (again, barring immunities). Kimahri's Thrust Kick and Auron's Shooting Star Overdrives knock enemies right out of the battle. There's also Anima's Pain ability, which causes Death, and Yojimbo's Zanmato (NOT an Overdrive, despite what many people think) which instantly wins the battle for you and works on ANYTHING, even bosses. You have to pay a redonculous amount of Gil to make him use it in some cases, though. Lastly, many abilities can be customised with Deathstrike or Stonestrike, which pretty much kills ANY enemy that doesn't have immunity to Death or Petrification with one hit. It also make catching many monsters much easier.

*** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' & ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' both have the ability to add "Death" to the physical attacks, using materia and status junction, respectively.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' the twin assassins Celia and Lede have an ability called "Stop Breath", in which they reach out to their target and do just that. It's 100% effective, unblockable (except via rarely-used items), and no, you never get to play with it yourself, because the villains always get the coolest toys.
*** You do get it in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'', though, as Last Breath. It's not quite 100% effective, [[GameBreaker but you can get it pretty close]].
*** Along with several other One Hit Kill attacks, many of which belong to the same class (Assassin, obviously).
** One of the optional characters, Beowulf, has a petrification attack that works surprisingly often. Also, [[spoiler: Cloud]] has an attack that kills, petrifies and/or stops his opponents. Not only is it his most reliably lethal attack (his other strong attacks, which simply do HP damage, are too slow to hit much of anything), it's also, surprisingly, one of the easier ones to obtain.
** The infamous "Slots" spell almost always has an instant victory result, if you can time your button presses correctly (Though in the case of [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Selphie's "The End" and "Rapture"]], and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2 Lady Luck's CONGRATS!]], you don't actually kill the opponent. They just sort of go away). All Slots techniques bar Selphie's also have the chance to cast the same instant death spell on ''your own party'', often with the result being just one reel off.
*** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Setzer's]] Slot ability is different, in that the game will not let you get higher-end results unless the RNG says so. For example, if you get the first two 7s for Joker Doom, and you're not eligible for it, the slot machine will actively skip over the third 7 to prevent you from getting it. On the other hand, if you ''are'' eligible, the machine will help you by skipping ''up to four symbols'' trying to find the last 7. ([[GoodBadBugs And thanks to the game's fixed RNG and the way item animations work, an Echo Screen will give you a guaranteed Joker Doom.]])
** The enemy ability "Repose" (previously known as "Calmness") used by the top-tier foe ''Rest'' in [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Kefka's]] OneWingedAngel transformation, as a [[TakingYouWithMe final attack]]. The character must block it or suffer an instant kill.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' also has Edgar's Air Anchor - when it works, and it works surprisingly well, the enemy gets one more turn before instantly dying.
** Most instant death attacks do not work on TheUndead, which regenerate to full health when struck by one. However, in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' there are a few abilities that kill an enemy DeaderThanDead, shown by an animation of the enemy disintegrating to tiny bits. The Odin and Raiden summons, Cyan's ultimate sword technique and the Scimitar/Zantetsuken weapon are the only four that can one-hit kill even undead foes.

** ''VideoGame/WildARMS2'' played with this a little. There was an optional boss that would completely regenerate its health every three turns, and 75,000 HP is no number to scoff at in this game (The [[BonusBoss Superbosses]] have 100,000). While using an Instant Death ability seems [[UselessUsefulSpell counter-intuitive]] in a boss fight, it's actually the way he is supposed to be defeated.
*** However, if you already know that, he becomes an AnticlimaxBoss.
* ''VideoGame/{{MUGEN}}'' has many original characters that can do this with their moves, most of which are considered {{Game Breaker}}s. The most game-breaking ones do this to their opponent ''[[InstantWinCondition even before the battle starts]]''.
** By pressing the F1 button, you can do this to your opponent. It doesn't work on everybody, though...
* Every character in ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' has an "instant kill" technique. Land it and you win the round; miss, and your super bar ''disappears completely''.
** This was even more egregious in the [=PS1=] version; the setup for the instant kill was either punch+ kick or a well-timed block, there was no penalty for missing, and you won the entire match.
** In the SpiritualSuccessor, ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'', Instant Kills have been replaced by Astral Heats, which seem to have been excessively {{nerf}}ed. They can only be used in a tiebreaking final round of a match, require 100% of your super bar, and ''can only be used when the opponent is below 25%'', at which point any normal super move would likely win anyway. After all, ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill.
*** ''Continuum Shift'' seems to have un-nerfed them. You can now use them in round 2 of 3 if it would win the match for you, and your opponent can be at or below 35% health.
* In ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'', any hit that results in a bisection is always lethal, as well as immersing a creature in liquid and then freezing the liquid (magma into obsidian or water into ice), or [[RocksFallEveryoneDies caving walls or floors in on an enemy]]. Other favourite, but less reliable kinds of instant death are magma (although some creatures are immune to it), [[DroppedABridgeOnHim dropping bridges on the enemy]] (except for the biggest creatures), and decapitation or piercing the brain with a weapon or shattered piece of skull (as long as the target isn't undead and has only one functioning head left).
** Some forms of evil weather, such as the ones found in {{LetsPlay/Waterburned}}, are instantaneously fatal to dwarves.
** Some of the more devious traps, like the one that fires a large amount of serrated disks at whatever poor invader steps onto them, usually result in LudicrousGibs and ChunkySalsa all 'round.
* One of the starting weapons in [[http://colourfire.nfshost.com ColourFire]]'s arcade mode is a virus that infects enemies and kills them in one hit, blowing up into even more viruses. The only trouble is its short range, and that it has to wear down their health from the inside before they die.
* In ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos'': Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, the two magic users, Xhela and Mizuti, both had One Hit KO special moves. Xhela's was her level XIII special "Seal of Water" and Mizuti's was her level IX special "Planet Soul". There are also a few magnus that have death chance, and a few with 100% chance ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin such as the "Death" tarot card]]).

* Probably based off the Power Word: Kill example in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', the Blade of Awe (usable from BribingYourWayToVictory) in ''VideoGame/AdventureQuest'' has a small chance (0.1%) to instantly kill whatever you are fighting. There are dagger, spear, and staff variants of the same weapon with have the same ability, and dark and fire versions of the Blade of Awe which have a 0.12% chance instead.
* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia: The Sands of Time'' has an interesting variation. The ultimate sword kills any enemy in one hit, but you usually charge your time powers by stabbing stunned enemies with your secondary weapon, and there's no stunning when they turn to dust as soon as you touch them. But of course, by the time you get the ultimate sword, [[spoiler: you've lost the Dagger of Time.]] So no harm, no foul.
* The final boss in the PlayStation remake of ''VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue'' has an attack that deals about 2,000 damage. Just for reference: if you're dedicated, you might have a single character who has more than ''500'' hit points.

* ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'' features the Golden Gun weapon, hindered by its one bullet magazine and that it only does enough damage to deplete either armor or health. There is also the cheat but equally devastating Gold [[strike:Walther PPK]] [[AKA47 PP7]], which can kill ''anything'' in one shot, and has a 7 round magazine.
* The Sky Canyon boss in ''[[VideoGame/SonicAdvanceTrilogy Sonic Advance 2]]'' has a hand-swat attack that will end you regardless of whether or not you have rings or a shield.
** Some bosses in ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Rush|Series}}'' have a one hit kill attack, too, but Eggman's generous enough to give you an audio cue ("Get ready to be schooled!").
*** In Act 2 of the ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' version of [[VideoGame/SonicHeroes Seaside Hill]], Sonic can run over the water by boosting. There is a giant chopper that attacks if you spend too long outside of certain areas. If it attacks, you lose a life, no matter what. Rings? Won't help you? Going as fast as you can? Won't help you. [[spoiler: SUPER SONIC? [[MemeticMutation IT'S NO USE]]!]]
* In ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', the Dominate, Dementation, Thaumathurgy and Animalism disciplines all have an insta-kill spell for non-bosses.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the final boss Xemnas can attempt to grab Sora, which can only be avoided with invulnerability from something like Reflect or a limit attack. Should he succeed, he'll attempt to [[NightmareFuel/KingdomHearts rip out his heart]]. Riku can save Sora from this, but if his HP is too low when he gets caught, you're out of luck, as it'll be completely impossible to stop it in time.
** In the Final Mix version of the same game, Terra has an attack that is a bit like Heartless Angel; it rapidly drains your [[HitPoints HP]], and you have to push a button at the right time to stop it. Should you fail to do so, or push the wrong button? Instant death.
** The final boss of Sora's story in Chain of Memories has [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Doom]], in which you have six seconds to break six of his cards, or you die instantly. Combine that with the sleight that scatters your entire deck ''including your reload card'', forcing you to pick them up again, [[ThatOneAttack and...]]
** The Zantetsuken attack introduced in the final mix version of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' has a fairly high chance of OHKOing normal enemies. It becomes much more effective in later games with the addition of commands like Magnet and Zero Graviza that gather your enemies together.
* [[GuideDangIt You have to jump through hoops to get it,]] but ''VideoGame/MegaManX'''s [[KamehameHadoken Hadoken]] can one-shot anything in the game that can be hurt by a Mega Buster bullet, up to and including Sigma. Except {{miniboss}}es, who die in two.
** The second installment's {{Shoryuken}} kills any boss in one hit, provided you remain in contact with him long. Morph Moth is an exception as he pulls a OneWingedAngel in the middle of the battle. Curiously, so is Zero, by virtue of his ability to frickin' ''block your attacks''.
** The third game downgrades Zero's Saber to a 2-hit kill, but it's still damn useful and a lot easier to get, especially since using it with the Buster upgrade causes it to fire out a crescent beam with the same effect.
** Another "2-hit kill" attack is the upgraded Nova Strike in ''X8''. All Bosses (and I mean ''all'') fall to two hits (regardless of the health of the boss, the first hit always reduces the health to around 25% so the Boss could trigger its DesperationAttack). The previous incarnations of the Nova Strike is GameBreaker material enough, but this one?
** One forgotten one is in ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'': [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jNFJjaaZI No matter how many times]], you can't defeat Wood Man? Have you tried hitting him with a full-power Atomic Fire after he drops his shield? [[spoiler:As the link would attest, the whole goddamn thing's cyclic.]] (Two hits required in the Japanese version/America's "Difficult" mode.)
** Like Wood Man, Metal Man has a weakness that will drop him in one hit outside the original Japanese version, except in this case, it's [[WeaksauceWeakness his own weapon]]. Sure, you can't do it until the second fight with him, but it's still damned funny.
** Also, if aimed exactly right, the Air Shooter can hit Crash Man with all three tornadoes in one shot, killing him instantly. Even in the Japanese version, it will knock off over 60% of his life, making the next hit nearly a guaranteed kill.
** And in ''VideoGame/MegaMan3'', the [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning Top Spin]] gets a lot of hate due to how difficult it is to use effectively, but it has the capability to [[NotCompletelyUseless one-shot most of the enemies that are susceptible to it]], including ''two'' of the Fortress Bosses; the Clone Triplets, and [[spoiler:''the final boss''.]]
* Headshots with a sniper rifle in pretty much every {{F|irstPersonShooter}}PS will instantly kill it's target regardless of circumstances, unless it's a boss or invincible. Whether or not you can pull off headshots with other weapon varies, and if you can, it tends to be a damage multiplier rather than a guaranteed kill.
** Another staple variant in FPS is the TeleFrag.
*** Which can be exploited as a valid means of killing in games like ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'' that have teleporting "weapons."
** In ''VideoGame/UrbanTerror'', a shot to the head with any weapon is a OHK, unless they have a helmet, in which case some weapons won't deal enough damage; even with a helmet, a sniper round to the head means death. The Remington sniper rifle is a OHK ''anywhere'', except the arms, in which case it does "only" 67% damage.
** This is subverted in the ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Knight]]'' series, where TheForce-sensitive enemies will ''dodge'' your sniper shots, even if they don't see you. Of course, this is because the lightsaber is the most powerful weapon in these games: one slash is usually enough to kill any non-Jedi enemy and one well-placed slash with the "Strong", Darth Vader-like style is enough to kill ''anyone'' except the bosses. ''Jedi Outcast'' also includes the hidden "realistic combat" mode, which unlocks the lightsaber's full decapitation and dismemberment potential, making each strike (even mere touch!) lethal. That also affects the enemies' lightsabers.
** In ''{{VideoGame/Halo 2}}'''s Legendary difficulty, the Sniper Jackals kill you instantly no matter where they hit.
** In the ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'' series, headshots and explosions are guaranteed instant death for the player as well as enemies (except for [[ContractualBossImmunity certain bosses]]), regardless of armor and health levels.
* In ''VideoGame/CombatArms'', the headshots were a one hit kill of course, but at one point, getting shot in a, ahem...[[GroinAttack sensitive region for males]] would also score a insta-kill, along with the humorous announcement "Nut Shot!" with a picture of two cracked walnuts. It was later nerfed to only occur when the fatal bullet (or [[{{Squick}} melee attack]]) would nail the unfortunate player in the nads. Female characters could suffer this too, for balance reasons, but lacked the extra effects the males had.
* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 4'' and beyond add a knife that is an instant kill if it connects. Bashing people with your gun in earlier games was also generally instant death, unless you did it with a pistol.
* Since we are on the topic of ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'', some incarnations of it include the [=InstaGib=] mod, which gives all players Shock Rifles with nearly unlimited ammo and each hit is lethal. This mode was available in ''VideoGame/QuakeIIIArena'', too, but with railguns.
* The knife in ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'' series (aside from ''VideoGame/BattlefieldHeroes'' and, depending on how you use it, in ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}'') is a short-ranged weapon which kills all infantry in one strike. BoomHeadshot works also.
** Sort of with the headshots. Sniper Rifles would always be a one hit kill, and shotguns were a one hit kill in the head at close range (along with any other part of the body) but other small arms would just deal more damage than normal.
** The [=RPGs=] in 2 and 2142 were one of the few weapons that would result in the victim not able to be revived by a medic, regardless on where they were hit.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'', some Final Smashes consist of one powerful attack that is (nearly) guaranteed to KO anyone it hits. Zelda's, Marth's, and Captain Falcon's are prime examples. Assembling the three pieces of the Dragoon is also an instant KO, even if the target hasn't suffered any damage. Unless, of course, you miss.
** Similarly, the Home Run Bat item has this effect -- landing a smash attack with it is an almost-guaranteed HomeRunHitter KO.
** Roy's [[ChargeAttack fully charged]] B attack in Melee. Ike claims this ability in Brawl.
** Ganondorf's up tilt is instantly lethal in Melee, and mostly lethal in Brawl.
** The final boss of Subspace Emissary [[spoiler: Tabuu]] has one (or more, at least in Boss Battles on Intense) instant kill attacks.
** Jigglypuff's Rest is capable of killing at 0% depending on the situation, but will usually one-hit KO anyone close to or above 40%. The price? The hitbox is pretty much confined to Jiggly's eyes, and if you aren't placed right the instant you use it, you've got 3 seconds to sit helplessly while your opponent charges up a smash. Also, even if you do get a kill, unless it's off the top, your opponent is going to come back to life before you wake up, which means they will kill you if you're above around 80%.
** The "broken but balanced" hack ''Brawl Minus'' gives one to Ganondorf in an effort to make up for his place at the bottom of the tier list in the vanilla game. His slow Warlock Punch does [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill 666% damage and knockback to match]], sending enemies off-screen instantly.
* The ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' fighting game for the Atomiswave and PlayStation2 has the Deadly Fist Blows that works similar to the Instant Kill from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear''. They require a bit of build-up, however, as you must hit your opponent until the constellation under their lifebar is reduced to a single glowing star, which usually takes more than one round. This seems to be to ensure that when you use the Deadly Fist Blow, the entire match is ''over'' (not just the round). Since it's possible to combo into these, and they don't require any special stance (unlike the Instant Kills), which allow them to be used as surprise attacks, Deadly Fist Blows have seen use in TournamentPlay, and many players consider finishing the opponent off with one to be a point of pride.
** "Basara KO's" from ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara X'' do much the same thing.
* Shin Akuma's Shun Goku Satsu in ''Capcom vs. SNK 2,'' when done as a Ratio 4 or the CPU against a Ratio 1 character. [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard The CPU can pull this off against a Ratio 2 character as well.]] [[SNKBoss Then there's the Misogi.]]
* Igniz from ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters 2001'' had a move called "Brutal God Project" for his SDM where he pins your character back against the wall and unleashes his entire repertoire of (immensely high damage) attacks on you consecutively. It is, unsurprisingly, a 1-hit kill for the most part (Note that in this game: character stamina gets higher as you sideline more characters as strikers so a one man fighter with three strikers could theoretically survive "Brutal God Project" at full health). And he most commonly performs it as a follow up to his reversal special move which juggles. There's a reason that Igniz's portrait is at the top of the SNKBoss page.
* Ralf's Galactica Phantom SDM/LDM in (TheKingOfFighters 97/98/99/2000/XI) qualifies if it hits as a counter. On XI, though it depends on the damage setting (as in who you're fighting. One of a team, yes. Single person, e.g. boss, no.)
* ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries SoulCalibur IV]]'' also has these now, a first for the series. They're called "Critical Finishes" and they work in a similar way to Fatal [=KOs=] in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar''. Constantly forcing an enemy to block powerful attacks, or Guard Impacting them around a lot, causes their Soul Gauge to turn from green to a flashing red. Once fully emptied, a single strong hit will send them into a vulnerable state ("Soul Crush"), and the Critical Finish can then be performed.
* PSI Flash in ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' can do this. It's in the main character’s powerset and actually works on bosses. Should it fail, it typically leaves a status condition.
** Then, there of course are PK Beam Gamma and PK Fire Omega from ''[[VideoGame/{{Mother 1}} EarthBound Zero]]''.

** The flashes of light caused by the Upgraded Robots in ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'' instantly kill one party member.
** Mother 3 also has the Ultimate Chimera, which instantly causes a game over when it reaches the party. They don't even get a chance to fight it.
* The entire point behind "Heaven & Hell" or "Hell & Hell" modes in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry''.
* ''ToejamAndEarl'' has the Total Bummer! present that when opened automatically kills your character.
* {{Counter Attack}}s in ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI Assassin's Creed]]'' tend to result in some ''extremely'' brutal one-hit kills, i.e. slapping a guard in the face to spin him around and then stabbing your sword into his hip and ''[[GroinAttack out his crotch]]''. Moreover, the assassin has full invincibility frames for the duration of the counter kill animation.
** In [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII the second game]], while the archers, agiles, and regular guards with berets die in a single "counter kill," the regular guards with helmets have to have low health before this happens (counter attacks before that will only drain health as the Assassin drives them back), and brutes and seekers can only be countered by polearms, axes, or bastard swords (wielded by brutes, seekers, or mercenaries). However, in return for the smallest window of opportunity, Hidden Blade counters are ''always'' a OHK against any weapon, making it the best melee weapon for any player who can consistently time the button press, and the second game made it ''much'' easier to pull off, with fewer drawbacks.
* In the later ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' games, Sam can kill or knock out any guard he gets close enough to with a single quick and very efficient stab of his knife or punch/palm strike to the brain.
** Earlier games had the elbow strike, which [[BackStab provided a single-hit KO if applied to the back of the head. Otherwise, it stuns]]. In all games, of course, a headshot is a reliable kill, made trickier if the enemy is equipped with helmets.
** ''Conviction'' has the Mark and Execute system. Although you need to melee kill an enemy to make use of it, it allows you to mark up to four enemies and [=OHK=] all of them instantly (or fast enough that it doesn't matter).
* Every attack in ''{{VideoGame/Contra}}'' is a One Hit Kill. This [[OneHitPointWonder applies to enemy attacks too]].
** In the SpiritualSuccessor, ''VideoGame/HardCorpsUprising'', enemy snipers will attempt to lock onto you, and if you get caught in the crosshairs, they'll fire a bullet that does 4 points of damage if it connects, enough to kill any character in Arcade mode but it can be survived in Rising mode thanks to life upgrades (most other attacks only deal one point of damage to your LifeMeter).
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' has an [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity+1 Dagger]] called "Mehrune's Razor" that appears in many of the games. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', it has a 2% to 11% (depending on your Luck skill) chance to instantly kill its target.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', you get to be on the receiving end - giants can smash you with their clubs so hard that you ''fly into the atmosphere'', and dragons have an attack where they break your neck with your teeth if you're standing too close.
* Many, many games of ''VideoGame/NetHack'' have ended with the message "Oh no, <monster>'s using the touch of death!" The player can sometimes acquire their own version of this spell, called ''Finger'' of Death, after the ''D&D'' spell listed above.
** Not to mention being turned to stone, being transformed into a green slime, being disintegrated, being dragged underwater, being eaten (not instantly fatal to you, but fatal if done to/by pets), swords that can behead or bisect you or an enemy instantly, and of course the ''wand'' of death.
** The canonical One Hit Kill and YetAnotherStupidDeath is [[spoiler:"You fall into a pit! You land on a set of sharp iron spikes! The spikes were poisoned! The poison was deadly..."]]. Being on the wrong end of this is a sure sign that the RandomNumberGod is out to get you, as it requires: [[spoiler:firstly, that a spiked pit be generated; secondly, that you hit the chance that the spikes are poisoned (1 in 7 each time falling into the pit); and thirdly, that the poison is classified as deadly (1 in 20 chance each time you take poison damage)]]. However this can be avoided [[spoiler:through AcquiredPoisonImmunity]].
* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'':
** Travis' Darkside Mode allows for one-hit-kills of a most violent degree.
** Shinobu has a '''pair''' of near instant-death attacks after she TurnsRed: she can take you from full health to ''two points'' with her supercharged Gengoken attack, and her multi-Sonic Sword attack will off you if she hits you with all the blades. And she is the third boss of the game.
** Harvey Moisewitch Volodarskii and Bad Girl also have instant-death attacks, the former if you fail to break out of his magic box, and the latter if you fall for her trap. [[spoiler:Henry breaks one out once his health reaches TurnsRed territory; it's the one that looks like the Stinger from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' and '''plants you into the concrete'''.]]
** [[spoiler:Henry]]'s long and brutal MeteorMove.
* Surprisingly, there are fewer one-hit kills in [[VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle the sequel]], but they're noteworthy:
** [[spoiler:Captain Vladimir's extended KillSat laser and the final boss' violent defenestration attack]].
** More frustrating is the final boss' attack, though, who is more or less a checklist of TheComputerIsACheatingBastard, with teleporting, chaining attacks, ranged attacks, multiple forms, and possibly most frustrating, a OHKO that really can be ANY move, so long as you're on a specific third of the stage (or, if the attack is too strong, almost ''anywhere'').
** Travis gains another OHK in the sequel: turning into a tiger and ripping apart the suddenly-terrified enemies.
* The "game ender", a unit or structure that can only be built at or near the end of the tech tree, and even then only at considerable time and expense, but once built, (almost) uncounterably devastates your opponent, is a staple of {{R|ealTimeStrategy}}TSes. {{Nu|keEm}}clear warheads are popular, but a recent trend is to include a mobile unit with a short to medium ranged weapon that can one-shot ''anything''.
* The Spy's ButterflyKnife in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is a guaranteed one-hit kill [[BackStab if you can attack the enemy from behind]]. The base damage is twice the victim's health, [[NoKillLikeOverkill multiplied by three for a Critical Hit]]. The attack is based on which part of his foe the Spy is aiming at, [[HitboxDissonance not where's he's actually standing]] (this is particularly infuriating when server lag lets enemy Spies Backstab you ''in the face'').
** And the Sniper's [[BoomHeadshot headshot]] ability, when fully charged, inflicts 450 damage,(and 518 with the Machina) exactly enough to kill an over-healed Heavy and (way) more than enough to kill anyone else.
** On a technical level, only telefrags and falling into pits are One Hit Kills. However, the examples noted deal up to 500 damage without any modifiers and boil down to One Hit Kills except against a Spy using a the Dead Ringer or a Heavy affected by a stun during the time it gave victims a 50% damage reduction to make it less overpowered.
** Sawblades, trains, and the Horseless Headless Horsemann deal damage equal to double your current health.
** On the note of "so much damage that it's an instant kill, assuming there's no damage reduction," taunt kills. Taunting with a certain weapon out (it varies depending on the class) will make your character play through an animation that will kill any enemy unfortunate enough to walk in front of you at the wrong time. They do 500 damage, and as mentioned above, the normal maximum health count is 450. Most of these can destroy buildings instantly as well, whereas the backstab and headshot rely on {{Critical Hit}}s to work, which don't affect buildings.
** The Half-Zatoichi is a katana for the Soldier and Demoman. If you hit an enemy wielding one of his own with it, it does damage equal to three times his current health, causing an instant decapitation.
* ''TimeKillers'' was notorious for having this. A well-placed hit at any point in the round would instantly kill your opponent.
* Parodied in the {{Fanservice}}-packed PC fighting game ''Bikini Karate Babes''. Venus, one of the boss characters, has a grab move that swipes the bikini top off certain fighters. [[DefeatByModesty This sends the opponent running off-screen while covering her breasts in embarrassment, thus ending the round.]] WordOfGod states that [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman the fighters get their powers from their bikinis]], so Venus stealing them [[BroughtDownToNormal effectively depowers them]].

* Geno from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' has an attack (the Geno Whirl) that deals 9999 HP of damage when [[ActionCommand timed just right]]. Since no enemy in the game, including bosses, has that much HP, that makes it a One Hit Kill attack. However, it does only minor damage to said bosses (except one: [[spoiler: Exor, after losing his protection]], so it comes in handy for players who consider him to be ThatOneBoss), along with certain other enemies, namely the [[ChestMonster chest-based ones]] such as Box Boy.

* The first two ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games feature notorious examples of this trope. When scoring a critical hit on the head, eyes, or torso, you will, if lucky, land a hit that destroys the enemy immediately (and [[LudicrousGibs messily]]). This can lead to strange situations thanks to the game's damage mechanics: a character in full power armor might take zero damage from a critical hit, and then die instantly from the pain.
* The demon morph SuperMode in ''VideoGame/{{Painkiller}}'' deals out one hit kills to mooks.
** Ostensibly, it's powerful enough to kill bosses in one hit as well, but of course, you can't get souls on boss levels, so no demon morph for you.
*** Actually you can get souls in the very final battle against Lucifer, but he's immune to your attack, as he's a PuzzleBoss.
* The spell "Armageddon" from ''VideoGame/UltimaVI'', anyone? It's one hit kill to [[EarthShatteringKaboom everything in the game]].
** It did the same thing in ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld'', except it was more of "despawning" everything in the game than killing everything in the game (no corpses).
** The ''{{Franchise/Ultima}}'' series is also famous for its glass swords. One hit kills both the enemy and the sword.
* Kill Counters and Superstyle moves in ''VideoGame/HeavenlySword''. Kill Counters are performed by hitting Triangle as soon as an attack is blocked, Superstyle moves are performed by beating up enough enemies to fill your power gauge, then pressing Circle near an enemy. Superstyle moves are also used on some bosses, where doing so triggers a [[PressXToNotDie QTE]] that defeats the boss if performed successfully. Kai's arrows also kill most enemies in one or two hits, depending where on the body you hit them.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'', if General Tor's [[HumongousMecha Eidolon]] gathers three charge orbs, he gets one of two attacks: If you've been [[PlayingTennisWithTheBoss using the Resonance Reflector]], he'll fire a hail of nano to rip into you. If, on the other hand, you haven't [[PuzzleBoss figured out the trick]], he'll prepare to [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill fire the Phantom Hammer bunker-buster]]. This is signified by the orbs' dispersion and regathering into his gun barrel, and then he stomps the ground for a pull. If the seismic wave hits you or you stay in firing range too long, better luck next life.
** By the way, the Phantom Hammer doesn't just blast your health to 0 on a hit, it reduces ''all your stats'' to 0 at the same time. In terms of the story, this means that Tor's Phantom Hammer ''completely annihilates Iji's nanofield''. With ''one hit.''
* At the end of 2 trials in the third ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' game, ''Trials and Tribulations'', you have to press the right statement/present the right evidence, or your ENTIRE life bar is wiped out. In the Japanese version, Godot calls this an "infinite penalty", while the English version calls it "the unlimited penalty". Partially {{justified|Trope}} by the fact that, when Godot threatens it, Phoenix's argument is based entirely on circumstance and conjecture, and failing to prove it shows that he most likely made it all up.
* Several enemies in ''VideoGame/ZombiesAteMyNeighbors'' could be taken out with one shot of the right weapon. Some were damned obvious (use silverware on the werewolves or the footballs on football players), some were pure GuideDangIt (using the Martian Bubble Gun on the giant ants or the tomatoes on the Martians).
* The ''VideoGame/{{Tenchu}}'' franchise is based around stealth kills. If you attack a guard who is unaware of your presence, you kill him instantly and cinematically as only a freakin' {{Ninja}} can.
* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games have the Mudo and Hama spells, both being single-target spells with 40% chance of inflicting instant death. Those are the weakest variants of the instant death spells in that particular franchise. Their most powerful forms, Mamudoon and Mahamaon, have a 60% chance of inflicting instant death on everyone in the party, yours or the enemies'. Of course, elemental affinities can mess with this. Both spells, however, also come in damage flavor. In the ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'' series, Hama instead dealt a percentage of damage based on your current Health.
** Satan, in ''[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII SMT2]]'', could just point his finger at someone, and the character would die. No chance of failure. The [[BigBad final boss]] only had to use his voice to do the same.
** Satan, again, in ''Digital Devil Saga 2'', along with spamming Mamudoon on your party, has Retribution and God's Breath. God's Breath deals 9999 Almighty-elemental damage to everyone in your party. HP cap is at 999. You do the math. Retribution just plain instant kills a character, and is also Almighty-elemental, so no way of guarding from it.

** Empty Mem Aleph in ''StrangeJourney'' has MA, an attack that kills one character and absorbs their HP. Mudo or hama resistance won't help. [[LuckBasedMission If it hits you,]] [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou it's an instant game over.]]

** Beelzebub, at least from [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne Nocturne]] and onwards, has Death Flies, an Almighty-elemental spell that deals plenty of damage and has 100% chance of instantly killing anything that doesn't nullify or repel Curse-elemental spells. The good news is that you may acquire said skill later in the game once you've leveled your Beelzebub adequately and in the Digital Devil Saga series.
** Metatron, conversely, has the opposing move, Fire of Sinai. Massive Almighty-type damage, 100% chance of killing everything and anything not immune to Light spells.
** Trumpeter, in Nocturne, has an Almighty-elemental skill called Evil Melody that deals instant death to the character with the lowest % of HP left.
** Ahriman has a skill that will kill you if you don't play his game.
** Eternal Rest instantly kills any character currently asleep in both parties.
** God's Bow, a skill only [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse White Rider]] has in Nocturne, kills anything not immune to Hama.
** Another [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Rider]], [[TheGrimReaper the Pale Rider]], has Pestilence, a skill that inflicts Almighty damage and a chance of poison. Casting it with poisoned enemies will instantly kill them.
** Stinger, one of Dante's moves in Nocturne, also has an instant kill factor.
** Hell Gaze, another Death-elemental instant kill move.

** In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', two Persona have "Die for Me" and Samsara. They both act like Mudoon and Hamaon, respectively, except that the chance of success is more likely around 80% as opposed to 60%. And that's just against enemies with no weakness to it.
*** Actually, the spells "Die for Me!" and Samsara become a GameBreaker in Persona 4. They have a 100% success rate to ANY enemy that doesn't resist/block/repel Dark or Light, respectively. Other that bosses, it's actually extremely rare to find normal shadows that block both light and dark.

** In ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'', the Instant Kill attacks in ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' have been un-nerfed even further, as all it takes is for your character to have a full SP meter in a deciding round, and it will take out any opponent, regardless of how much life they have left.

* In ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTheArcadeGame'', [[BigBad Shredder]] has a spread beam that turns the PC into a regular turtle, effectively ending that life as far as beating Shredder is concerned. He's also seen similar attacks by Super Shredder in ''The Hyperstone Heist'' and ''[[VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTurtlesInTime Turtles in Time]]''. He had a similar ability in the original ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' for the NES.
* ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'' had a ''puzzle'' that automatically killed you if you did the wrong thing. Given the nature of the clues in that game, it was naturally [[TrialAndErrorGameplay impossible to figure that out without dying]].
** They must have been counting on players noticing the broken chain on either side of the fridge, which is fairly hard to see thanks to the graphics. The lesson there is to not attempt a no-saving run on your first playthrough. Oh, and ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' did have another of those One Hit Kill puzzles; remember what you do with the hair dryer?
** ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'''s first encounters with Pyramid Head. Anyone paying the slightest amount of attention knows on sight that if that knife comes down on you, it's over. The first bosses of ''SH 1'' and ''SH 3'' also have instant-kill attacks.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' examples:
** The boomerang from ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'', which you have to trade in your shovel for, can kill the final boss in a single hit if you aim for the eye. In the same game, stealing a product on a shop and coming back will show the owner zapping Link to death due to the theft.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'', you will eventually get the Light Arrows, which are so powerful they obliterate ANY normal enemy in an explosion of light. For that matter, almost any time the Light Arrows are featured (''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' is an exception because they only stun enemies). They OHK all normal enemies and are powerful enough to stun [[EvilOverlord Ganondorf]], [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The King of Evil]].
** Link can learn two sword techniques in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'' that do this. The Mortal Draw is tricky to use, and doesn't work on certain enemies that are defended in the front ([[BackStab you need another sword technique entirely for them]]), but it can still be effective in certain situations. Against bosses, it won't be an instant-kill, but it will ''[[ForMassiveDamage hurt like hell!]]''. The other technique is the Ending Blow, which delivers a deadly stab at enemies when they're knocked down in the floor after being attacked.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]'', the Dark and Armored Trains can kill Link instantly if he fails to dodge them while travelling with the Spirit Train.
** Several examples in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'':
*** The Guardians patrolling the Silent Realm can kill Link instantly. The fact that they are only found in the [[DarkWorld Silent Realm]], where Link loses access to his sword, can make encounters with them rather tense.
*** There are three examples of obstacles that, instead of simply making Link reappear at the start of the room where they hit him (a tradition for the series), they ''actually'' kill him: The giant rolling boulder in the Earth Temple, the statue of Buddha in Ancient Cistern that descends when Link gets the Boss Key, and the lava overflowing a certain underground passage in Fire Sanctuary.
*** As in ''Twilight Princess'', the Ending Blow allows instant kill to enemies when it's executed well.
** ''Twilight Princess'' also has a one-hit kill ''against'' Link regarding the Zora Armor. The armor is weak to fire attacks, which makes Link take double damage, but if he falls into lava with the armor on, it's instant death -- regardless of how many [[HitPoints hearts]] you have.
* ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' has several moves that will knock the target out with a single hit: Guillotine, Horn Drill, Fissure, and Sheer Cold. They are balanced out by a very low accuracy, but they're still banned in Wi-Fi and [[TournamentPlay online tournament matches]]. Also, Articuno learns both Mind Reader and Sheer Cold, giving it a guaranteed ''Two''-Hit KO.

* All of the aforementioned moves are also present in the ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' series where they tend to be a lot more dangerous, due to only your team's leader needing to be defeated in order for you to lose. As a result, keeping Reviver Seeds on hand as a precaution is typically a wise idea when exploring any dungeons known to contain Pokemon with OHKO moves, as only the Sturdy ability will protect you from them.
* These fall into the AwesomeButImpractical territory in the ''VideoGame/PokemonRumble'' series, as while accuracy isn't an issue, they have a ridiculously long start-up time and don't work on bosses. While they will work on the boss strength normal enemies in the Battle Royales, getting them off without being interrupted or KO'd is almost impossible due to the sheer number of enemies you face simultaneously.
* ''VideoGame/TotalOverdose'' gives Ram a variety of One Hit Kill options, but only the targeted headshot is worth any appreciable points. Most Loco Moves are instantly deadly in a pinch; the Tornado sprays dual uzis in 360 degrees, El Toro allows Ram to charge and headbutt enemies to death, the Explosive Pinata lures in enemies before detonating, and the Golden Gun is loaded with 4 bullets that autokill enemies in the general direction it's fired. These may seem like game breakers, but given the volume of enemies and increasing style-point requirements, their use isn't generally ideal, and mostly reserved for panic situations.
* ''VideoGame/BunnyMustDie'' has three bosses with instant death abilities.
** Count Vladmu a.k.a. {{F|ullFrontalAssault}}lash has his namesake ability, signaled with flames at his feet before he parts his robe and glows brightly. If you so much as look his way during this, you either forfeit a doll (Chelsea automatically, Bunny on Recall) or head back to your last save point. Direct contact with his head by anything other than the girls' feet is also instant death.
** Chelsea, as a boss, has a mode where crosshairs lock onto you. If you stay in one spot too long, you get a headshot, which kills you no matter how much health you have.
** [[DemonicPossession Dechronos!Bunny]] throws {{BFS}}es on the last ten to fifteen percent of her health. Touching one effectively paralyzes Chelsea while Bunny beats a doll out of her. What, don't have a doll? Say hello to the last save point, sucker! Oh, and don't touch her at this time, either.
* ''{{VideoGame/Warcraft}} 3'' has the Doom spell on Pitlords, which will oneshot any {{mook|s}} he happens to target with using a fairly hefty (40 dps on guys with around 200-1200 life) dot, after which you get a pretty tough demon spawned. Doesn't work against tougher mobs though, nor heroes.
** Also the Finger of Death
** Also, in ''Warcraft 2'', the Mage's Polymorph spell turned any unit into a neutral critter. Unlike in the sequels, the spell is permanent, making it work like a one hit KO.
* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' had two examples. Lancer's Gae Bolg, the melee form of which would always strike the heart if he called its name (though he never really got the chance to do so). The stronger ranged form is technically blockable though [[spoiler:Archer]] was the first to ever do so and could not continue fighting afterwards. Second, True Assassin's Noble Phantasm would automatically destroy the heart of his opponent, though it seemed to be fairly easy to avoid. If it DID hit you, you were dead though. [[spoiler:Except Kotomine, who is immune to it due to the taint of Angra Mainyu. He still lived another two days after happening to have his heart destroyed anyway though.]]
** There's also Bazett's ultimate move in the sequel ''VisualNovel/FateHollowAtaraxia'', called the Fragarach. Being the ultimate counter to any enemy's most powerful attack (and only their most powerful attack, otherwise it's a worthless counter), it sends her Noble Phantasm flying into the opponent's heart ''before'' they make their attack. The problem with this move is that it functions in exactly the same way as Lancer's Gae Bolg, which also is magically designed to have pierced the target's heart before the attack is even made. Thus, if the two moves were used on each other, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0CzD8BjYN8&feature=related both fighters would be killed]].
** The RPG spinoff ''VideoGame/FateExtra'' gives us another example - The Assassin Li Shuwen's mastery over ''Chi'' and the fighting style of '' Ba Jiquan'' allows him to disrupt the energy flow of any opponent he strikes with a single touch, leading to his opponents dying after a single hit as their bodies ceases functioning. The technique is referred to in the game as 'No Second Strike' in reference to his historical boast that he never needed to hit an opponent a second time.
* ''Kengo: Legend of the 9'' (aka ''Kengo Zero'' in Japan and Europe) has a gameplay mechanic where your Stamina, although it can be depleted by many things (including walking), only itself affects one thing -- whether or not that person can be one hit killed; basically one of the swordsmen initiates a ''Kumitachi'' (sword lock), the two attempt to physically overpower each other as they move around, draining Stamina, and one who loses all his Stamina is susceptible to, after being thrown, being one-hit killed.

* The ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series has the recurring skill "Lethality", also known as "Silencer", learned appropriately enough by the Assassin class. It dispatches the foe instantly, even if a regular attack would have done ''no damage whatsoever''.
* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' has one hit kills on the common infected if they are set on fire. The sequel also supports this and also has incendiary bullets, making any gun similar to ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'''s Golden Gun on the common infected. Shoving the back of a common infected while they are idle (just like Metal Gear) is an instant kill and is also an achievement. The sequel also introduces melee weapons, which can kill any zombie in a single strike (except Chargers, Tanks, and Witches), regardless of difficulty. The Magnum can also one shot common infected, regardless of difficulty or where you shot them.
** Doing a GoombaStomp to a common infected will also kill them instantly and break your fall.
** Melee weapons in general can OneHitPolykill the common infected, and one hit kill the majority of the special infected.
** On Expert Level, the Witch ''only has to touch you'' to inflict a one hit kill.
*** The Witch can also do this on any difficulty in Realism mode.
* ''Barbarian'' may well have had the first One Hit Kill in the history of one-on-one fighting games, and without being a gamebreaker to boot. You could use a decapitation move at any time in a fight (complete with a shower of badly pixelated blood), but the long buildup time made it very easy for the other player to dodge or interrupt.
* The Critical and Deflect Critical moves in ''VideoGame/{{Onimusha}} 3'', though they are phenomenally hard to pull off. Once pulled off, though, you can chain them using the "Chain Critical" move (after learning it), allowing you to kill loads of enemies in one move. While in Onimusha mode, using either of these moves kills every enemy on the screen.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' had several. The psynergy Condemn can instantly kill although rarely. The summon Charon has a chance to instantly kill. The Djinn Serac and Whorl may OHKO enemies and Gale will sometimes blow enemies off the map, but you won't get the experience. Obviously none of them work on most bosses and the chance for some is rather low. That doesn't stop Dullahan from instant killing you with Charon. In addition, certain weapons such as the Assassin Blade and the Crystal Rod had unleashes that had the potential to occasionally OHKO enemies, and they even worked on the bosses in the Suhulla Desert.

** Menardi and Karst have the [[SinisterScythe Death Scythe]] attack, which can do this. The Ice Queen's [[KissOfDeath Icy Kiss]] attack can also oneshot someone in ''Dark Dawn'', a bit of a wake-up call due to the lower level at which you encounter her. [[spoiler: [[DemonicSpiders Skorpna-type monsters]] in the Grave Eclipse have a OHKO move called Drag Down.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' features several superpowers like this. EnfantTerrible Flandre can disintegrate objects at range with no visible weapon by targeting their "weak point", CuteGhostGirl Yuyuko can kill with a thought, Keine and Yukari can RetGone you with their superpowers, you can fight [[DontFearTheReaper the not-so-grim reaper Komachi]], CuteMonsterGirl Yamame, who can inflict every disease ever known on you at once, etc. Isn't it a good thing [[ThouShaltNotKill the Spellcard System prevents]] [[KilledOffForReal "real" deaths]]?
** ''Hisoutensoku'' has Reimu's Fantasy Heaven, which is so strong that if you use it in the third round of a match, [[ThemeMusicPowerUp it gets its very own theme music]]. The move is one big ShoutOut to the Hokuto no Ken example above; the theme music that plays in the third round version is {{suspiciously similar|Song}} to the Fatal KO theme from the [=HnK=] fighting game, and the move is called "Musou Tensei" in Japanese, which is also the name of Hokuto Shinken's ultimate technique.
** The side story manga also contain this. In one of the early chapters of ''Inaba Of The Moon, Inaba Of The Earth'', Tewi goes for the phrase [[CallingYourAttacks "One Hit Kill"]] brandishing [[DropTheHammer a giant mallet]] [[MundaneMadeAwesome in order to make mochi.]] (She coincidentally also smashes [[ButtMonkey Reisen's]] fingers.)
* Occasionally in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'', you will encounter gold manikins that have exactly one HP. Hitting one of them with an HP-damaging attack at any point in the match will result in instant victory. However, early on in the game, some of them will also have insanely high Bravery levels, meaning they can do this to you, as well.
** The infamous [[{{Munchkin}} Iai-strike Build]], man. It kills the majority of things in simple two button presses: one to instantly Break your opponent, the other to execute the 9999 HP damage. Character HP naturally {{cap}}s at 9999. Oh, and some characters' HP attack *cough*[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Yuna]]'s [[SummonMagic pony laser]]*cough* also damage Bravery, potentially making it actual One Hit Kill. [[TrueFinalBoss Feral Chaos]] suddenly looks trivial.
* This is the whole point behind ''{{VideoGame/WET}}'''s Golden Bullets mode. Every hit is an instant kill on a mook.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', there's one boss (Lord Spookyraven) that is ''designed'' so that its first hit is equal to your max HP, and ''all'' of his attacks will be based on the elemental type you have the ''least'' resistance to. The only way to survive his first (and later) attacks is to [[ElementalRockPaperScissors build up your immunity to all the elements by some degree]], have a Familiar that blocks attacks (and hope it works), or [[RandomNumberGod pray that he fumbles his first attack]], which is known to happen.
* ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'':
** In most 2D games, the Screw Attack is lethal for non-boss creatures. It's a reason why it's often obtained late.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime Hunters'' in multiplayer mode has the Omega Cannon, a weapon so powerful that it will kill anyone, including the shooter, in a single hit because the blast radius is so damn large. The weapon can only be used once and you have to pick up another if you want it again. It only appears in one level and people generally avoid picking the level it appears in since it becomes a race to the top to see who can get the weapon first. [[{{Griefer}} Naturally, people who cheat will love to use this weapon.]]
** ''Metroid Prime 3: Corruption'' also has an example in the Nova Beam. By itself, the Nova Beam is just a high-frequency weapon that can damage enemies regardless of special Phazite armor they may be wearing. Use it in conjunction with the previously gained X-Ray Visor though, and you can start targeting some enemies' internal organs for instant kills.
* In ''AceOnline'', the Bomber-type B-Gears are walking One-Hit Kill (named OHKO by players in-game) dealers. The de facto B-Gear weapon, Bawoos, regularly deal 1000 HP damage per missile, while B-Gears are famous to be able to throw [[MacrossMissileMassacre at least 6-8 of them forwards, and 12 or more downwards]]. Coupled with the fact that most Gears' HP range in around 6-7k HP total, [=OHKOs=] are frighteningly regular.
** Another B-Gear example would be their FinishingMove, [[TakingYouWithMe Big Boom]]. This move sacrifices one's own gear to take down others equal to its own Energy. With custom made Veils (armors), [=BBs=] can hit up to 14k damage, effectively acting as a very effective crowd-control move.
* While you have to whittle away half her HP first, Reid's Omega Seal becomes a One Hit Kill for optional DuelBoss Valkyrie in ''VideoGame/TalesOfEternia''.

* The majority of ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'''s attacks: strangling, poisoning, explosives and sniper shots, although, seeing as most of his opponents are mere humans, it's not surprising.
* ''{{VideoGame/Arcanum|OfSteamworksAndMagickObscura}}'' offers uber-spells Disintegrate and Quench Life. They do ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. And the former also obliterates all the loot.
** Technically, Disintegrate just does 32 000 damage. One would be hard pressed to find anything in the game with more than a couple of hundred hit points, though.
* In the fourth level of ''Renegade'', you have to beat up four mooks armed with knives. And then three more of them, accompanied by a mob boss. Who has a gun. No, you can't pick up weapons. Have fun.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has most of its raid bosses set to an "enrage" timer that activates at the point the programmers determined to be most logical for the difficulty cap for the boss, upon which point the boss in question gains massive attack strength and attack speed, resulting in instant and rapid death for each member of the raid. Depending on the overall encounter conditions, the boss might be able to do this to the ''whole'' raid at once (Algalon uses Ascend To The Heavens to blow up the whole raid, [[EldritchAbomination Yogg-Saron]] extinguishes all life, kaput!)
** [[BigBad The Lich King]] uses his Fury Of Frostmourne to wipe the whole raid near the end of the encounter, though the raid is resurrected shortly afterwards and wipes the floor with him.
** Some boss abilities are basically avoidable {{One Hit Kill}}s. Avoiding might mean to acquire an effect that protects against a good chunk of the damage, running behind line of sight obstacles, interrupting the spell or simply running away whenever it comes up. Tanks may or may not be tough enough to survive it regardless, but everyone else has to avoid it anyway. Some bosses even go as far as coupling this with getting stronger when they kill someone with such a spell.
*** Bloodlord Mandokir in the updated Zul'Gurub dungeon has [[OffWithHisHead Decapitate]], which deals around '''15 million''' damage to the target. It is unavoidable, and without a special ability like [[NotQuiteDead Cheat Death]], it will one-shot anyone it hits. Fortunately, in this encounter [[DeathIsCheap death is even cheaper than usual in World of Warcraft]]; you can get resurrected once by each of the spirits around the arena, and only once all of them have done so or gotten eaten by the boss's skeletal raptor mount does death become like it usually is.
** Additionally, it has become a standard tactic for any player that has a displacement/knockback effect (Elemental Shamans, Balance Druids, Fire Mages, and any particularly skilled Death Knight) to allow in their PvP strategy a means to place their opponent between them and a high cliff, causing instant death to anyone that doesn't have a means of slowing their descent (Mages/Priests respective 'Slow Fall' and 'Levitate' assuming they aren't an engineer with a parachute).
*** You can also survive being thrown off a cliff with Warlock's 'Demonic Circle', although it requires good timing.
*** Or simply use one of the Paladins two Invulnerability spells and ignore the damage.
** The Warriors Execute skill (and similar skills) is meant to be this, although usable only if the enemy is already at low health. Normal opponents and players will die (barring damage-preventing effects like the Cheat Death talent), but against a raid boss it ''only'' deals heavy damage.
** Unique NPC ability example: [[MemeticBadass Vindicator Kuros]] is a [[http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31008 BAMF.]]
** The Warlock spell "Curse of Doom" wasn't specifically a One Hit Kill, but designed to have the potential. It does the most single-tick damage of any of the Warlock's spells, but takes a minute before the damage is applied. If the damage kills your opponent, it spawns a Doomguard demon. On lower-level creatures it can be a One Hit Kill, (if your [[SquishyWizard squishy warlock]] can avoid being killed for 60 seconds) but once you reach boss-level it just does a whole lot of damage. It's since been changed to Bane of Doom which instead deals hefty damage every 15 seconds (not One Hit Kill tier, though).
** Deathwing is a unique example in that his final attack is something that you've already suffered through- [[TitleDrop The Cataclysm]]. This is the closest thing an MMO can get to a NonstandardGameOver, as letting him use it causes the screen to fade to black as you [[EarthShatteringKaboom and everything else]] is utterly destroyed.
** Monks have a variant of this, ''Touch Of Death'' which instantly deals the monk's max health in damage to an (NPC-only)enemy that has the same or less HP than the monk's maximum, effectively killing them instantly and ending the fight. For the Brewmaster, this means you can one-shot normal monsters, since, as the tank spec, they have a high max HP.
** In the Assembly of Iron encounter, if Steelbreaker (the giant) is the last of the three alive, he will use an attack on his current target that gives a damage buff, but kills that player after a little while. As such, killing him last is typically considered the hardest way to do the fight.
** In Throne of Thunder, if High Priestess Mar'li is empowered with Gara'jal the Spiritbinder's spirit, she summons Shadowed Loa Spirits that instantly kill their victims if they reach them (and leap over to them and kill them if not killed in 20 seconds).
* ''VideoGame/{{Counter-Strike}}'' features the infamous AWP (which, incidentally, isn't actually an AWP; it's an AW Super Magnum) which yields a one-hit kill no matter where the bullet hits its target.
* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}''
** Alex's defining move as it's OHK - [[ImAHumanitarian eating people.]] The simple grab and Consume move will kill any normal military or infected enemy, and heal you in the process! Not so for the hunters, though, which need to be weakened before consumption.
** A fully-charged Blade Air Slice is a One Hit Kill for just about anything but hunters, and his devastator moves are OHK for everything in the area of effect.
* [[VideoGame/LaPucelle Prier]] actually has the Kanji for "ichigeki hissatsu" appear for her first SpecialAttack, "[[GroinAttack Coup de Grace]]".
* In the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' series, any attack that successfully hits somebody standing on a panel with the Deathblow geo effect results in instant death, regardless of whether the attack actually did damage. Also, in 2, the Samurai class has the ability to randomly score an instant kill with standard attacks while in critical health, and the Bone Dragons possess the Vendetta evility in 3 and 4, which allows for a low chance of an instant kill upon a successful counterattack.
* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark''
** The Farsight XR-20 railgun, which is like ''Counter-Strike'''s AWP, but even more [[GameBreaker broken]]. Not only can it instantly kill any unshielded target with one shot regardless of hit location, but it can also shoot through any number of solid objects. [[FromBadToWorse It gets worse]], when you put the Farsight into its secondary mode it will also track the enemies for you, meaning the player could basically kill anything by pulling the trigger anywhere on the level. Broken indeed.
** There's also the golden [=DY357=]-LX, a golden version of the normal revolver. It destroys ''anything that '''can''' be destroyed in one bullet''.
*** Both the Farsight and the gold magnum have virtually unlimited penetration, so they would instantly kill ''as many people as you could get in a straight line.''
** The Crossbow has a secondary fire that turns it into a one hit kill weapon, which was far more useful than the primary fire, "Sedate". Add to that the fact that you could retrieve bolts if they missed, and you had a potentially infinite-ammo instant kill weapon.
** The Tranquilizer Gun also has an instant kill function, although it ate up a lot of the gun's ammo and functioned as a melee attack.
* ''{{VideoGame/Tekken}}'':

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series:
** There is an enemy called Boss Bass that eats you in one gulp regardless of what powerup state you are in. A very annoying bitch.
*** ''[[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi's Island]]'' got the Lunge Fish that acts similar to Boss Bass, except with a different pattern. As if that wasn't enough, both Lunge Fish and Boss Bass make an appearance in the DS sequel.
*** ''[[VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros The New Super Mario Bros series]]'' has a Cheep Chomp that resembles a purple Boss Bass. It will try to eat you while you're underwater.
** Thwomps get upgraded to this in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 its sequel]]; getting smooshed by one is fatal no matter how much health Mario has remaining.
** Pouncers could one-shot Wario in the first ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' game, regardless of powerup state. Even if you merely bumped into its sides. This is because the sides and bottom were spiked, and spikes were an instant kill to Wario.
* Capcom's ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' have various one-hit kills of two kinds, one from regular game-play or one from [[PressXToNotDie quick-time events]]. One-hit-kills during regular gameplay may result from the player-characters getting decapitated by enemies equipped with a chainsaw, impaled by a Garrador's WolverineClaws, or being eaten by creatures like mutated alligators (exclusive to [=RE5=]) or salamanders (Del Lago in ''RE 4''). Failures for quick-time-events frequently result in deaths for the player characters.
** The earlier games had Neptune, who would swallow the player whole, the Hunters, who could decapitate the player, and Nemesis, who could impale his victims through the head, among others.
* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'':
** The Lancer assault rifle has an underbelly chainsaw capable of one-hit kills. ''Gears of War 2'' however has an added quick-time event should two people lock themselves into a "chainsaw duel" and victory is achieved by the person mashing the melee button the fastest.
** In both games, sniper rifle headshots, torque bow shot impalements, and Boomshot (grenade launcher) direct hits all are one hit kills.
** In the third installment, there is the aptly named "One-Shot." Hit an enemy anywhere and he turns into chunky salsa.
* The [[{{BFG}} Widow]] SniperRifle in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', with enough upgrades, leveling up, and the right armor, can regularly do this to most enemies as an Infiltrator Shepard, even being able to kill [[VillainOverride Harbinger]] in one hit.
-->'''Harbinger''': '''ASSUMING DIRECT CONT'''--*{{boom|Headshot}}*
** The M-920 Cain heavy weapon, informally known as a "[[RealityIsUnrealistic nuke launcher]]." On Insanity it will still kill most enemies in one hit, in a very large blast radius, and it will probably kill you for the same reason. And it still won't do very much damage to the final boss, who (if you're really unfortunate) will be moving around too much for you to easily hit it anyway, especially considering that the final-boss area doesn't really have a whole lot of walls for you to just aim the Cain at and hope for splash damage.
** Moreover, enemies in both games still die instantly if they get knocked into areas that enemies cannot walk on (e.g., chasms). And thankfully Geth Rocket Troopers can't one-shot you on Insanity difficulty like they could in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1''.
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' introduces the Banshee, Phantom, and Brute, [[EliteMooks elite units]] capable of soaking tons of damage and dishing out just as much. All three have some form of instant-death attack that will end your game on the spot (although this only applies on harder difficulties). This is particularly aggravating in multiplayer, as the instant-death attacks ''prevent you from being able to be revived'', which can end a game in very short order.
*** At the end of [[spoiler:Priority: Rannoch]], getting hit by [[spoiler:the Reaper's laser]] is an instant kill.
** [=ME3=] also introduces the Grab, where you pop out from behind cover, grab a nearby enemy, and stab/pound them in the face. Only Armored troops (and the [[DemonicSpiders Phantoms]]) can avoid being killed by the attack (you used to be able to do this to Geth Pyros, but that's been taken out). It's a bit situational, but there are multiplayer levels where you can funnel them in such a way that it's almost like they're waiting in line for you to pull them over and smash their faces in.
* In ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' you can grab anyone within melee range into a headlock, then hold them as a meat-shield or deliver an instant execution. (Or you could let them go, but [[VideogameCrueltyPotential where's the fun in that]]?)
* Melee attacks in the Campaign mode of ''VideoGame/TransformersWarForCybertron'' are a one hit kill (insert your own justification - Energon blades disrupting sparks or whatever). The downside is missing leaves you ''completely'' open, and actually getting into melee range is a dangerous prospect what with all the bullets and the FrickinLaserBeams.
** The [[PlayStation2 PS2]] version of Transformers had a minicon which gave you the headshot ability. OHKO to mooks, 3HKO to the Heavies.
* [[BigBad Jon Irenicus]] of ''VideoGame/BaldursGate 2'' would [[TotalPartyKill kill the entire party]] with one spell if you tried to take him on in the Asylum without enlisting the aid of the inmates.
** The Vorpal Sword has a chance of insta-killing any enemy with any hit. And in the expansion, you can take feats like Greater Deathblow that will insta-kill mooks.
* Next to flareguns, the lighthouse in the second DLC to ''VideoGame/AlanWake'', "The Writer", is this to the Taken when you're in an area that isn't obstructed by giant boulders (which can be "cleared" out).
* In ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes,''
** The right combination of buffs can grant these, though certain archetypes have an easier time doing it.
** [[GlassCannon Blasters]] need only combine their Build Up, Aim, and Sniper attacks. Though it should be noted that this will only work against "minion" enemies, or "Lieutenants" who are lower level than the blaster in question.
** [[TechnicolorNinjas Stalkers]] need only perform an Assassin attack while Hidden.
** Scrappers can do this with a well-timed critical hit.

* In ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders Infinity Gene'', the Classic weapon (modeled after the cannon's design from the original game) first a [[OneBulletAtATime single laser]] that can kill any normal {{mook|s}} and most sub-bosses with a single shot. To keep this from being a total GameBreaker, the Classic cannon can never be upgraded, and is next-to-useless against the FinalBoss.
* In ''VideoGame/JoeDanger'', the horizontal red bars will violently knock you off your bike anytime you make contact with them. NO. EXCEPTIONS. It doesn't matter how many times the game's liberal application of physics have allowed you to land in ways that are physically impossible for someone on a motorbike, if even the slightest part of you touches the bar, you are sent flying. While other objects in the game will also send you flying at the slightest touch, they tend to be more noticeably dangerous; nobody expects to survive landing on a [[SpikesOfDoom spike strip]] or giant mouse trap.
** Other objects in the game are randomly given the same instant death property as the horizontal bars, but they exist in hard to reach areas as {{Insurmountable Waist Height Fence}}s.
* [[FragileSpeedster Assassins]] from ''VideoGame/MondayNightCombat'' have some rather ''nasty'' BackStab techniques with their bladed weapons. It's not strictly speaking a One Hit Kill, but the target's still helpless to do anything about it.
* ''VideoGame/PuzzleQuest 2'': Two boss enemies ([[BonusBoss The Yeti]] and the Iron Giant[[note]][[WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant not that one]][[/note]]) have Crushing Kill, which deals 999 damage (more HP than all but the most dedicated level grinder will have). The final boss has Subjugation, which makes the player instantly surrender the fight, winning or losing.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' has the "Whack" spell which may cause instant death to an individual enemy. Its advance form "Thwack" can affect the whole group, but has a lower probability of working.
* Certain opponents in ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' have special attacks that can knock Little Mac down instantly. Bald Bull, for example, has his powerful Bull Charge .... which can be countered to knock ''him'' down instead. In fact, Little Mac can also knock down (or even ''out'') his opponents during key circumstances.
* ''VideoGame/GotchaForce'' features several. The most potent is the Ultimate Cannon, which will one-shot anything that gets nailed by it. One of the harder stages in the game involves taking out six in a single level (which also features Arrow Ninjas that can [[YouWillNotEvadeMe anchor an opponent in place]]). Anyone nailed with a missile from the ICBM Tank or the Death ICBM also will get taken out in one shot, although those are easier to evade. These methods are distinct in that they are the one exception to {{friendly fire|Index}} being ScratchDamage - friend or foe, these attacks will finish anyone hit by them.
* ''VideoGame/RockMan4MinusInfinity''
** The Rush Cannon Adapter deals 255 hit points to anything it hits. However, a few of the bosses can turn it against you.
** Toad Spell turns Toad Man into an easily-squished toad.
** When Drill Man {{turns red}}, he gains an attack that causes parts of the ceiling to fall down. If it hits you, you're dead.
** If Dust Man sucks you up, he turns you into an E-Tank. If you don't break free, he kicks you into the incinerator.
** Shadow Man in Pharaoh Man's stage has one as a {{desperation attack}}.
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' series, human enemies can be instantly knocked out with the blackjack, instantly killed with the sword/dagger, or instantly killed with the broadhead arrows if shot in the head or chest. In order to do this, however, they mustn't be alert.

* ''VideoGame/HeavyWeapon'' has three regular enemies that ''will'' kill you in one hit, regardless of the strength of your DeflectorShields. This can be very bad because you ''lose'' all your {{Smart Bomb}}s on death!
** "Havanski [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Atomic Bombers]]" drop A-bombs, which, if not destroyed, will kill you [[AlwaysAccurateAttack no matter where you are on the screen]]. A definite DemonicSpider with tons of health.
** "Romanov [[KillSat Attack Satellites]]" will fire out a deathray below that fries your tank instantly. To avoid death, keep firing at it to push it away so that it will not fire its laser while moving towards you.
** "Shovak Bulldozers" are [[AdvancingBossOfDoom advancing mooks of doom]] that kill you if you brush against one. To avoid death, you have to push them away by constantly firing at them.
** As for bosses, [[EpicFlail War Wrecker]]'s wrecking ball, Eyebot's lightning, as well as CollisionDamage with [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Kommie Kong]], [[SandWorm Mechworm]], and [[HoppingMachine X-Bot]] will destroy you instantly.
** On the bright side, your character has ''two''- [[SmartBomb Nukes]] will kill all regular enemies on the screen, and the [[WaveMotionGun Megalaser]] will do the same.
* In ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', the two sniper rifles will usually kill any mook in one hit if its in the head or chest area. Also a headshot with any gun will do this too. Not to mention the throwing weapons always kill whatever they hit.
* ''VideoGame/{{Banjo-Kazooie}}'':
** In the eighth level of the first game, the propellers in the lower end of the ship's stern can kill the characters instantly upon contact. They can only be disabled for a limited time, and it's the reason why getting the Jiggy behind them is called ThatOneSidequest.
** Also in the first game, but in the last level, the eponymous characters play a quiz game. Failing to answer a question on the green-eyed skull tiles will send them to the lava automatically, and they will die.
** In ''Banjo-Tooie'', the sequel, the characters are crushed by a ton of iron if they lose during any of the three rounds of the Tower of Tragedy minigame.
* In ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'', some hazards and boss attacks are deadly if the eponymous character isn't equipped with something (i.e. being inside a tank or having a space suit). The propellers in the passage leading to the Uga Buga level, the rotating chainsaw from the Experiment, and the [[spoiler: tail slash from the Alien]] are signature examples. The silver gun's shots, any BoomHeadshot hit, the chainsaw, and the katana blade all have this effect in multiplayer as well. The bazooka is this in both multi and story modes.
* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'':
** In ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'', there are certain attacks and obstacles that will kill the characters upon contact, including the spider swarm near the end of World 5, a mask-drawn flaming wheel in World 6 and, of course, [[OneHitPointWonder everything while riding on a rocket barret or a mine cart]].
** In ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'', some dark places house searchlights that try to illuminate your character. If it happens, you'll have ''one second'' to escape before a sniper rifle shot kills you instantly. Most of the time, death ensues.
*** The fourth boss in that game, Puftoss, has a surprising one-hit-kill move. During the second and third phases of the battle, he uses a giant blue shockwave that spreads over 80% of the arena which instantly kills Lanky if it hits you, forcing you to redo the entire battle all over again. As a result, despite the more generous time and less varied attacks, the second phase, following a deceptively easy first phase, is enough to turn him into a GoddamnedBoss because of how close the checkpoints are to him and how often he uses that lethal shockwave. During the third phase he uses it less and thankfully in the final phases, where there's limited time, he doesn't use that. It's especially noteworthy because not even [[ThatOneBoss/{{Action}} Mad Jack]] or [[BigBad K. Rool]] have an attack that lethal. The only other instant deaths in the game come from falling into a bottomless pit, falling into lava, or falling into the toxic waste in Creepy Castle.
* In ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia]]'', the Death Ring dramatically increases physical and magical power, but any hit will kill you. It's the best way to get Boss Medals, since you need to take no damage/take no hits to get them anyway.
* Emissions in ''{{VideoGame/STALKER}} Clear Sky'' and ''Call of Pripyat''. They are one-hit kills, except in Call of Pripyat if you have Marked by the Zone achievement ([[spoiler:Survive emission three times without taking cover, it's possible with special pills called ''Anabiotics'']]) and enough health, but even then, it will leave you with just 2-3 bars of health, and you will pass out.
** More mundanely, headshots will kill most human enemies with one blow. The RPG and Gauss Gun take this to the next level; they will kill almost ''anything'' in one hit. Good luck finding ammunition, though.
* ''{{VideoGame/Killer7}}'' examples:

* Sort-of-examples from the [[VideoGame/YggdraUnion Union]] [[VideoGame/BlazeUnion series]]: Jihad[[note]][[UnfortunateImplications Crusade]] in the English versions[[/note]], Rivellion[[hottip:*:Angelic Thunder in the English versions]], Judgment Zero[[hottip:*:provided only the unit head is alive]], and [[VideoGame/GloriaUnion Megiddo]]. While they don't immediately destroy the enemy unit, they are {{unblockable|Attack}} and result in an instant victory for the Clash they're used in. Jihad and Megiddo also come with damage bonuses.
* The Sniper Wasps in ''VideoGame/OddworldStrangersWrath'', which are [[GuideDangIt only accessed through the Binoculars]] ([[LostForever which in turn are only available in Gizzard's Gulch]]).
* Melee Warriors in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'' can learn a move called "Peon's Plight", which is an instant kill against generic {{mooks}}, does a double CriticalHit against elites, and a normal critical against bosses. ''Very'' useful for thinning out the herd, and an absurdly easy way to get the "Heavy Hitter" achievement (main character does 250+ damage with one attack).
** ''Origins'' gives Mages the spell "Mana Clash," which will instantly kill any enemy Mage or demon of less than Boss level (and some of the Bosses, if cast with boosted Spellpower). And it's an area of effect attack, too, so you can clear out whole rooms full of enemies.
* Aside from plain old BottomlessPits and lava, ''Franchise/TheSmurfs'' on the SNES had three: [[ZombieApocalypse The local equivalent of zombification]], the rotating [[BridgeLogic tree bridge]][[hottip:*:If it rotates under you, you're dead before you reach the bottomless pit underneath]], and {{collision|Damage}} with [[FinalBoss Gargamel]].
* The [=LBX/20=] {{sho|rtRangeShotgun}}tgun in ''VideoGame/MechWarrior Living Legends'' will one-hit-kill any jet fighter in the game if enough of its pellets hit the plane. The [[{{BFG}} Long Tom Artillery Piece]], carried by only one unit in the game, will one-hit-kill anything lighter than 50 tons with a direct hit, and near-misses will kill light mechs and hovercraft. While the LBX is horrendously effective versus other targets, the Long Tom suffers from a ''massive'' minimum range [[hottip:*:unless the artillery tank is parked on a hill, it cannot aim low enough to hit anything within a hundred meters]], a painfully slow reload time, a pathetically slow engine, and a total lack of [[PointDefenseless support weapons]].
* Instant-death spells appear in the Franchise/{{Lufia}} series. Also, the Deadly weapons in ''VideoGame/LufiaIIRiseOfTheSinistrals'' have a fairly high chance of a one-hit kill every time they hit.
* Two toys in ''Guardian's Crusade'', Draken which does damage equal to half current hit points to everyone, and Versius, which doubles all damage. Sure you take it too, but if you keep an odd number of hit points, the rounding will save you. Doesn't work on the final boss though.
* In ''Videogame/{{Civilization}}'', it can take a lot of time and trouble to conquer a city, and even more to destroy one. Unless you're playing ''Call To Power'' and have an Eco Ranger unit to hand; it will completely remove a city from the map in a single hit.
* In ''Nomad'' (AKA ''Project Nomad''), all space combat is done with missiles. The most powerful missiles are the [[CatFolk Phelonese]] Quietus missiles capable of destroying any ship (except for 2) with a single hit. They're also the most expensive (relatively, as the trading system in the game is of the barter variety) and can only be purchased from the Phelonese. It should be noted, though, that the missiles alone don't guarantee victory in a battle. The victor is usually whoever has the best systems and faster reactions. You might have a dozen Quietus missiles, but the enemy has better targetting sensors and missile loaders, meaning he can put two missiles into your ship before you have a chance to fire your (slow-loading) Quietus missile.

* While any enemy can potentially instantly kill you in ''VideoGame/GhostRecon: Advanced Warfighter'', the Hard difficulty boost their accuracy and has them always aim for the head, greatly increasing the chance.
* Certain bosses in the ''Franchise/TombRaider'' franchise can do this: Puna in ''III'' attacks with instant-death [[ShockAndAwe lightning]], although it can easily be dodged, and the FinalBoss of the same game will shoot an [[AlwaysAccurateAttack undodgeable]] instant-kill fireball if it gets in range. In the games where it appears, the T-Rex can swallow Lara whole.
* ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}''

* In the online game ''Bearbarians'', abusing the combo rules and an AIBreaker (or just being really good at hitting and running) can lead to your previously low to moderate damage getting stacked up high enough to insta-murder your opponents in a single blow. Combos increase your damage by 1 per consecutive unblocked hit, so a 50-damage attack becomes 51, 52 and so on, but are broken when an opponent successfully blocks. If you can find a location where the AI has to jump up, which renders it unable to block, carefully timed mashing of the attack button will allow you to stack up ridiculously long combos, leading to completely insane raw damage. 1000+ damage per hit will instantly massacre even the most durable opponent. Doing so while holding the enemy flag in a CaptureTheFlag match will ensure that the battle doesn't necessarily have to end until you develop carpal tunnel syndrome, fall asleep on the keys, or level up while standing atop a gore-soaked platform with more than 600 kills in just that level.
* In ''{{Rosenkreuzstilette}} Freudenstachel'', you get Kopiekreisel from Trauare, which, if used on [[spoiler:Count Michael Zeppelin]] in the first Fortress stage, is guaranteed to land a 1-hit kill on it for sure. Then again, it works a lot like the Top Spin weapon from ''MegaMan3''.