History SuperDrowningSkills / Videogames

* Altaïr of ''[=~Assassin's Creed~=]'' is a highly trained hashashin who can kill you six times before you know you're dead, fend off half a dozen armed guards without breaking a sweat and turn the city of Damascus into his personal parkour course -- but woe betide if he lands in water deeper than he is tall, or hell even a ''knee-deep fountain.''
** Lampshaded in the second game's manual, in which Lucy notes that it was a glitch in the Animus 1.0.
** Anyone and everyone will die instantly when confronted with water, which means that a certain dock level lets you win fights by simply tossing all of your foes in the drink, which can be justified by how your enemies are rather heavily armoured. On the other hand, this gets funny when you use Altair's low-profile ability to move people aside, forcing them into losing their balance on the docks and falling in the water.
** {{Averted}} in the second game in the series; Ezio can swim, and much like the ''Thief'' example above, use deeper water as either cover from pursuing guards or to launch assassinations. But enemies and civilians still die the very instant they fall into water.
** No one in Venice can swim! Making driving a gondola the most hazardous job ever.
** Guards will continue to be unable to swim in ''Brotherhood''. As WordOfGod notes: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmijLiOczpw "Guards are lousy swimmers! And their armour is really heavy. So they stay out of the water."]]

* The heroes of the ''GrandTheftAuto'' games, who are amongst other things highly skilled speedboat racers, can't swim. This seems to be a common problem in their world, where even the most lavishly appointed swimming pool is about two feet deep. The manuals say oil spill, shark attacks, blah blah blah. ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'''s CJ ''can'' swim, and it was called a breakthrough for the series.

* ''SpongebobSquarepants'': ''Battle for Bikini Bottom'' and ''The Movie'' games both give us this. If Spongebob, Patrick or (in ''Battle for Bikini Bottom'') Sandy so much as ''touch'' water or any liquid that [[UnderTheSea isn't the water that everybody lives in]], they jump out for a quick second back to land (or as close to land as possible). If they make contact with the liquid again... they drown. This can take effect in fountains as well.

** In ''Battle For Bikini Bottom'', only Patrick and Spongebob can't swim (to stay consistent with the TV show). It never says Sandy can't swim. There are just no levels with her that involve water.

* The eponymous protagonists of the comedy turn-based ''{{Worms}}'' series can survive grenades, dynamite and point-blank shotgun blasts, but die instantly when contacting water. Most projectiles succumb as well, but a fast-moving bazooka shell can skip across the water.

** And these are still present in most fan remakes, meaning the very victims of these watery deathtraps wish to visit thier childhood miseries upon us to this day. Dracula's Shadow deserves special mention for managing to have water that insta-kills you, and water that you can wade through, with no clues given as to which is which. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QouE-JHDq0 "Death puddles... Not acid, not lava, not a giant toothy maw... But H[[subscript:2]]0?"]]

** And these are still present in most fan remakes, meaning the very victims of these watery deathtraps wish to visit thier childhood miseries upon us to this day. Dracula's Shadow deserves special mention for managing to have water that insta-kills you, and water that you can wade through, with no clues given as to which is which. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QouE-JHDq0 "Death puddles... Not acid, not lava, not a giant toothy maw... But H20?"]]

* The heroes of the ''GrandTheftAuto'' games, who are amongst other things highly skilled speedboat racers, can't swim. This seems to be a common problem in their world, where even the most lavishly appointed swimming pool is about two feet deep. The manuals say oil spill, shark attacks, blah blah blah. ''GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'''s CJ ''can'' swim, and it was called a breakthrough for the series.

** Amusingly, Claude, the protagonist of ''GrandTheftAutoIII'', drowns when his crotch is submerged. Though the inability to swim is justified in game by explaining that Liberty City's water supply is [[GrimyWater the most polluted on Earth]], to the degree that dying from being submerged waist deep in it may be fairly explained as being exposed to a large dose of a terrible poison or deadly bacteria. This is why you take damage when you so much as skim the water while trying to get out of your boat.
** Tommy Vercetti from ''GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' thrashes and flails most awfully before succumbing. Leaping from roof to roof or crawling out of a flaming upside down car is just fine. This is much more noticeable than in ''GTAIII'' because like Miami, Vice City is roughly 80% beach. Of course, there are supposed to be sharks in the waters surrounding Vice City, but that doesn't explain Vic Vance from the PSP spinoff game, who can swim there fine... until he gets tired.

**** Which resulted in several retaliatory {{take that}}s (mostly in the form of in game billboards) in ''GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas,'' where the protagonist could swim. Especially considering that both of the above games were GTA ripoffs anyway.

* In contrast, perhaps the ''best'' handling of this is in ''SlyCooper and the Thievius Raccoonus''. When Sly hits the water, he flails helplessly, then loses what amounts to a life point and is tossed back to wherever he came from. If he doesn't have one left, he thrashes, then gives up, assumes "Captain Going Down With The Ship" position, and makes a resigned but dignified exit, stage down. Eventually, Sly retrieves Suzanne Cooper's Water Safety Technique, allowing him to recover from dunkings without penalty. In later games in the series, however, he [[BagOfSpilling apparently forgets it]], as he still loses health on falling into the water. Adding to the problem, his companions are a turtle and a hippo, and neither of ''them'' can swim either! At least Bentley (the turtle) has the excuse in the third game that he's paralyzed from the waist down.

* In ''{{Portal}}'', Chell is warned that falling into the [[GrimyWater filthy, apparently toxic water]] that is used in some of the puzzles would kill her instantly. This is not a lie. {{Justified}} in that you don't encounter any water hazards until after you get the portal gun, which comes with a warning to [[NoWaterproofingInTheFuture avoid submerging it in water]].

* In contrast, perhaps the ''best'' handling of this is in ''SlyCooper and the Thievius Raccoonus''. When Sly hits the water, he flails helplessly, then loses what amounts to a life point and is tossed back to wherever he came from. If he doesn't have one left, he thrashes, then gives up, assumes "Captain Going Down With The Ship" position, and makes a resigned but dignified exit, stage down. Eventually, Sly retrieves Suzanne Cooper's Water Safety Technique, allowing him to recover from dunkings without penalty. In later games in the series, however, he [[BagOfSpilling apparently forgets it]], as he still loses health on falling into the water. Adding to the problem, his companions are a turtle and a hippo, and neither of ''them'' can swim either! At least Bentley (the turtle) has the excuse in the third game that he's paralyzed from the waist down...
** Actually, it's explained by saying that the trio didn't take swimming lessons at the orphanage they grew up in. An excuse is an excuse I suppose.

*** There are several theories about this. In ''Wind Waker'', the ocean was artificially created by the gods and is stated to be cursed. The Zoras were even kicked out of water and thus became the Rito people to keep them from swimming down into the water and finding out the secret that Hyrule is buried below the surface. ''Phantom Hourglass'' takes place in an alternate dimension, and the water may have different properties than his homeland's water.
*** Well, practically speaking, if Link could swim anywhere he liked, the King of Red Lions would be somewhat redundant (albeit faster). It was most likely put in place simply to prevent the player from cheating by simply swimming from island to island without his boat.
*** Then again, it makes sense since the Great Sea is indeed great, and therefore, it would be a complete impossibility for even an adult to swim across it, let alone a child. Plus, there's all sorts of enemies in the sea that Link wouldn't be able to defend himself from or evade due to the lack of weapons/a boat.

*** One explanation for this is that, despite Gorons not having to breathe and the Goron Mask turning Link into a Goron, ''he's still a Hylian''. Hylians need to breathe, and it's doubtful that the mask, no matter how magical, would make him 100% Goron. This fails to explain, however, why Link doesn't drown as a Zora. [[YourMileageMayVary One extremely debatable answer to this question]] is that Zoras still have to respirate, so ''that'' transformation comes with gills, just don't think about that [[SarcasmMode stone cold logic]] too hard. . . or at all.
*** Or maybe he doesn't drown but but he can't get out as Goron and he can't change mask either so you could either [[AndIMustScream wait till you die]] or have the game reset it for you.
*** The developers probably just put this in to prevent a GameBreakingBug. One can imagine how frustrating it would be to fall into deep water as Goron Link and be trapped down there with no choice but to either turn off the game or let the three days restart themselves.

** Let's not even get into how he carries around iron boots, but only sinks with them [[http://hail-nekoyasha.deviantart.com/art/Treading-Water-67928683 equipped]].
*** The cartoon and comics indicated that he had a magical bag to keep them in, presumably like a "bag of holding" in other games. The items would shrink before placed in the bag and return to normal sized when brought back out. As bags of holding can negate weight (down to 10% of what they originally weighed in ''NeverwinterNights''), the iron boots may weigh less than his sword when placed inside. [[hottip:Alternate possible explanation:The Iron Boots are magical; they weigh no more than any other boots, until they're put on. Not that much weirder than the Floating Boots you find elsewhere in the game.]]

* SonicTheHedgehog like his fellow platforming compatriot [[SuperMarioBros Mario]], tends to play with this trope depending on the game.
*** In these - Super Sonic, Sonic's Ultimate form, can survive in the cold, airless void of space... but water still kills him.
*** Hyper Sonic however, can breathe underwater. Hasn't been seen since the classics though.
*** Also, SonicTheHedgehog4 has now given Super Sonic the ability to breathe underwater, as well.
** In the 3D outings, he becomes far more fragile when nearing any body of liquid culminating in the 2006 ''SonicTheHedgehog'' title, where Sonic will die instantly for putting so much as a foot into any body of water.
** After that however, he'd get a little better; ''SonicUnleashed'' has a few new rules. It's okay to be around water if [A] it's ankle-deep or [B] Sonic is running at high speed across it, and unless he uses a Sonic Boost or a booster pad, he can't keep doing it forever, as the water's surface tension eventually gives and pulls him in. This latter rule only applies in the day stages; unless it's ankle-deep, Sonic the Werehog is guaranteed to drown. As a hint, if you can see the ground beneath it and it doesn't look too deep, you can walk across it. Otherwise, you better pray to God the sun is out before daring to go onto it.
** Finally in the most recent outing this trope is actually ''averted.'' In ''SonicColors'' with the Aquarium Park and other zones. This is also further averted by the fact that Sonic is given infinite jumps while submerged, negating much of the danger of water hazards.
** Due to Sonic characters' impossibly thin limbs, general immunity to falling damage, and negative buoyancy, it has been [[FanWank suggested by some fans]] [[EpilepticTrees that they actually have far greater tissue density than humans]].
** Notable in {{Sonic X}}, where major character Chris is introduced by rescuing Sonic from drowning in his swimming pool. Eggman later attempts to exploit this weakness by placing his kidnapped friends out of reach "on the other side of the lake".
*** Only to have Sonic run '''around''' the - frankly rather small - lake in about two seconds.
*** Funnily enough, in the opening to SonicCD - he can sort of hop along the top of water by quickly dashing and jumping...

** In SuperSmashBrosBrawl every character has an individual limited amount of time they can swim in water, with Sonic having the shortest swimming time by a fair margin.

*** Of course, SuperDrowningSkills would actually be [[JustifiedTrope justifiable]] in both games, as the protagonist is ''made of paper''... [[FridgeLogic but so is the water.]]

** Oddly enough, in one instance of the first playable level of Halo 3, you are able to walk around in a large pool of water for as long as you want, with only minimal affects to your vision and speed. You can even run after schools of fish. GameplayStorySegregation heavily applies in this aspect, I suppose, although why this particular pool of water is more story-related than others is beyond me...

* * In the first ''BlasterMaster'', in a ridiculous example, Jason instantly drowns in the overhead sections of Area 4. He can swim in the side-scrolling portions without drowning, including Area 4.

** So does SpiritualSuccessor ''{{Prototype}}''. Alex Mercer is too dense to swim, but he just jumps back out of water if he falls in. The standard Infected are not so lucky.

*** The cartoon and comics indicated that he had a magical bag to keep them in, presumably like a "bag of holding" in other games. The items would shrink before placed in the bag and return to normal sized when brought back out. As bags of holding can negate weight (down to 10% of what they origionally weighed in ''NeverwinterNights''), the iron boots may weigh less than his sword when placed inside. [[hottip:Alternate possible explanation:The Iron Boots are magical; they weigh no more than any other boots, until they're put on. Not that much weirder than the Floating Boots you find elsewhere in the game.]]

* In ''VideoGame/DarkMessiah'', the player can swim, but the enemies drown instantly if knocked into water.

* ''{{Ultima}} VIII: Pagan'' was notorious for this, as falling into any body of water, including water right next to the shore or even the Tenebrae water fountain, would kill you instantly. In fact, throwing or knocking any object into the water would destroy it. This is handwaved by the fact that the seas are the realm of the Lurker, the Titan of Water, who claims any victims that enter her territory. The irony of this is that the Avatar was in fact rescued from drowning after the Guardian dumped him into the sea in the intro sequence, but apparently that can only happen once. [[http://www.it-he.org/u8_beren.htm This site]] has an interesting exploit involving the use of water to destroy things in the game.

* In ''PrehistorikMan'', at first the character died in any hole, including water, in the same fashion he dies from any damage. But in the last levels, after being told you can't breathe in water, when falling into it... No, he doesn't swim either: he just sinks and drowns, but with a "drowning" sprite this time.

* Probably first subverted in ''Jungle Hunt'' (1982), wherein the only water-based level gives you the option of swimming above the waves or below them, in which case you have an oxygen meter separate from your main health status.

*** [[GrandTheftAutoIV Niko Bellic]] can swim, but only on the surface - thus handily dispensing with the diving, 3-dimensional movement, and OxygenMeter features from San Andreas. Surprising more games don't [[TakeAThirdOption make this kind of compromise]].

** In Mario 64, the life meter also became the oxygen meter while underwater. When the meter ran out, Mario drowned. Mario was able to refill this meter the same way he refilled his life: collecting coins. So, apparently, Mario can breathe with coins.
** Both ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' have an entirely seperate oxygen meter, but it ''still'' replenishes when you collect coins as well as when you go through bubbles, while underwater at least.

** Conversely, in ''TheWindWaker'', the player is never underwater but has a ''swimming'' meter. When it runs out, Link tires and drowns in the cursed ocean. In ''PhantomHourglass'' he has standard SuperDrowningSkills despite the game supposedly being set in the same world. Now, noting that in these two games Link is a pathetic swimmer as compared to the rest of the series, let's also take into account that these are the only two games in which Link was born in a time when ''most of the world is an ocean''. You'd think the guy would be able to swim a ''little'' better than his predecessors.

** In the original series (the 2D run, all the way through 4) he can enter water just fine - the issues being that he'd suffer from a [[OxygenMeter 30 second air limit]] and massive slowdown in momentum, both extremely lethal in the legendary "water levels" for which every game there's at least ''one'' ([[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog Labyrinth]], [[SonicTheHedgehog2 Chemical Plant, Aquatic Ruin]], [[Sonic3AndKnuckles Hydrocity]], etc).

** Yoshi can swim just fine on the surface in VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2. He just can't go underwater. If he gets pushed under somehow he'll get the same breath meter as Mario but any movement will quickly bring him to the surface.

** His son Prince Alexander fared no better in ''KingsQuestVI''. Although there is a ''strong'' emphasis in the mythos of his location, the Land of the Green Isles, that an extremely strong current runs around the islands, creating an insurmountable undertow that will drag people far out to sea and drown them; only the best navigators can steer through them on a ship.

* Oddly enough, this doesn't apply to the protagonists of ''{{Trine}}'', who get an OxygenMeter. Instead, it applies to all enemies.

* ''AmericanMcGeesGrimm'' will die the moment he lands in water. But considering the sorts of things he turns it into, like lava and vomit, perhaps it isn't so surprising.

* In the ''{{Dizzy}}'' series, which were a fairly harsh series of platform-puzzle games, the protagonist was an egg. Since he was a good egg, he sank rather than floated. In most of the games, water was instantly fatal (and in the first three games, so were [[OneHitPointWonder any other hazards]]). A couple of games featured an aqualung (or similar equipment) which allowed you to breathe underwater indefinitely.

* As an {{Anvilicious}} safety tip for young players, setting out in any canoe or motorboat without first ''adding a life jacket to your inventory'' [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin causes instant (off-camera) death by drowning]] in ''NancyDrew'' video games. Same for bicycling without a helmet, for that matter.

* Handwaved in ''{{NieR}}'': water is scarce, so nobody wants to touch and risk polluting what little they have, which means no swimming lessons. Doesn't quite explain why Nier manages to drown in knee-deep water, but it's a start.