History SuperDrowningSkills / Videogames

* In ''SpyroTheDragon'', [[VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon the first game]], touching water results in the loss of one hit point (out of a maximum of 4). In most cases, the water is inescapable, and the player is guaranteed to drown.

* Apparently city planners in ''CastlevaniaII'' thought it would be a great idea to punctuate their streets with bottomless pits of water. This has the unfortunate side effect of preventing villagers from walking through town unfettered, unless they take several flights of stairs from building to building (stair-climbing is unfortunately not a skill the peasantry has developed by this point.) Meanwhile, Simon Belmont, allegedly one of the greatest Vampire Hunters who ever lived -- killing Dracula more than once, a rare feat for {{Castlevania}} heroes -- will die horribly and instantaneously when he missteps into one of the many water hazards that are part of Transylvanian architecture. Forget about EdgeGravity; The controls are so flighty and the [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence width between edges so unforgiving]] that it almost feels like the water's actively trying to suck you in right in the middle of a routine cross-town walk. Maybe Dracula's curse turned the water evil and extra-drowny?

** For that matter, most ''{{Castlevania}}'' games had this problem. ''{{Castlevania}} [[VideoGame/{{Castlevania}} I]]-[[SuperCastlevaniaIV IV]]'' would kill you instantly if you fell into water. ''[[CastlevaniaBloodlines Bloodlines]]'' would kill you if it was [[BottomlessPits Bottomless]], and do serious damage if you ended up with water above your head.

** Alucard's allergic to the old H2O in ''SymphonyOfTheNight''. It gradually erodes your HP until you get the Holy Symbol; this is actually a really neat bit of homage to old vampire lore (''{{Castlevania}}'' likes these; see also Walter and Isaac having red hair per traditional Romanian 'how to tell a vampire on sight' cues) that states that the fangity ones cannot cross running water.

* A similar drowning system is used in some of the two-dimensional ''LegendOfZelda'' games -- until the player acquires a pair of Flippers, usually to keep the player from [[SequenceBreaking going places they shouldn't yet]]. In ''TwilightPrincess'' non-water-based {{mooks}} die the moment they touch water.
** In ''MajorasMask'', Link can transform into a [[TheBigGuy Goron]]. The game states that since Gorons are basically living rocks, they sink like... Well, you know. In ''TwilightPrincess'' a Goron happily [[SuperNotDrowningSkills stands around in the bottom of a pool]] for the entire game acting as if nothing's wrong (after being engulfed in a hunk of magmatic rock and then being blasted out of it with a bomb). This is lampshaded when a young Goron in the hot springs is entirely submerged, and tells you he's practicing holding his breath, but for some strange reason he can't fathom, he never needs to inhale.

** One example of when this trope should have been used is in ''LinksAwakening'', in which it was originally possible to make the game {{Unwinnable}} because you jumped across a moat you shouldn't have crossed yet.
* ''SonicTheHedgehog'', like his fellow platforming compatriot [[SuperMarioBros Mario]], tends to play with this trope depending on the game.

* ''WonderBoy'' of the first game and ''Monster Lair'' not only couldn't swim, but seemed to have a very violent allergy to water; as soon as he touched it [[DeathThrows he died spectacularly]]. (Then again, there seemed to be little that Wonder Boy could touch [[EverythingTryingToKillYou without dying spectacularly...]])

** In ''WonderBoy III: The Dragon's Trap'', Hawk-Man takes damage just from touching water (though all other forms have SuperNotDrowningSkills).

* ''Nuts & Milk'' has a body of water occupying the bottom of the screen. {{Waddling Head}}s can't swim in this game.

* Adventures of Dino Riki (NES): There are river crossings in this game that serve as deathtraps if Dino Riki botches a jump.

*** I always thought the water in the first game was tar, i distinctly remember a place with tar colored water.

Adventures of Dino Riki (NES): There are river crossings in this game that serve as deathtraps if Dino Riki botches a jump.

* The first NES ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' game have ALL the turtles drown in any contact of water on the ground. As WebOriginal/TheAngryVideoGameNerd sums it up...

-->'''WebOriginal/TheAngryVideoGameNerd''': How is Indiana Jones such a wimp that he can't set foot in water more shallow than a kiddie pool?

* The AI in ''{{Crysis}}'' is infamous because North Korean soldiers die several seconds after touching water (even if their heads never go below the surface). This doesn't stop them from happily charging into the ocean to chase your character, however.

** [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome Have you ever seen an earthworm take a grenade and still go on to come with Mafia threats afterwards?]]

*** [[{{Zork}} It is dark, you are likely to be eaten by a Grue.]]

* ''CommanderKeen 4'' features a boy genius with an IQ of 314 who built his own laser gun, spacecraft, and intergalactic translator but never bothered to learn how to swim. Once you acquire scuba gear, he can then doggy paddle on the world map and stay underwater indefinitely in the game's one water level.

** The fact that the Turtles can swim in Stage 2 but drown in Stage 3 can be taken as a prime example of lazy programming and/or continuity failure.

* ''{{Bomberman}}'' had this problem as well. This is lampshaded in ''Bomberman 64: The Second Attack'', when Pommy taunts him about not crawling through a pipe filled with running water.

* In ''[[TakAndThePowerOfJuju Tak: The Great Juju Challenge]]'', Lok takes damage if he touches water, but not because he can't swim -- fish ''hate'' him, and will swarm him angrily as soon as he falls in. (Tak has no such troubles.)

* Although you cannot drown in ''{{Halo}}'' (you're wearing self-contained PoweredArmor), it's shown that Master Chief can't swim either (after all, he weighs 1 ton). He sinks to the bottom of pools in ''Halo 1'', and ''Halo 2'' has a cutscene of him being knocked into a lake and sinking like a rock. Some areas, such as in ''Halo 3'''s early levels, have bodies of water that insta-kill MC if he so much as touches them, as a form of GravityBarrier. This makes a certain amount of sense until you notice that if you are killed and your corpse lands in water, it will float gently down the river. Apparently dead Spartans can be used as flotation devices.
** 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 important than others is beyond me...
** Likewise, Samus of Metroid fame sinks like a rock if she enters any liquid, be it water, lava, or harmful chemicals. While she can't drown due to her power suit the latter two will kill her due the fact that they drain the life bar if she stays in them long enough. She also can't move around very well in most games until she gathers the proper suit upgrade (And some add one that lets her swim in Lava as well) The only time she's been out of her power suit she can't get to any type of liquid to test and see if she drowns.

* Stranger can swim with ease in ''{{Oddworld}}: Stranger's Wrath'', yet knocking an enemy into water will cause them to ''dissolve'', clothes, weapons, and all. The only thing that survives is the Moolah they're carrying (which is always equal to their "dead" bounty, for some reason.) Storywise, it does bring up a few interesting points. 1) There are so many outlaws in the Mungo River Valley because said river is dried up, 2) The reason Sekto is making so much money selling bottled water is because no one wants to drink water with ''dead outlaw'' in it, and 3) [[spoiler:The Dam breaks at the end of the game, filling up the river... while also flooding the Clakker towns and outlaw hideouts.]] Strangely, only {{Mooks}} seem to be affected, though you never have the opportunity to shove a boss into the water in game.

* In ''Painkiller'', so much as stepping in a puddle of water causes the player to instantly die. Drag a toe into it and you're gone, regardless of that perfectly safe log you tried to reach.

* ''MortalKombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero'', has a water level and the whole puzzle is to get through it without drowning, because Sub-Zero can't swim.

* In ''SpyroTheDragon'', the first game, touching water results in the loss of one hit point (out of a maximum of 4). In most cases, the water is inescapable, and the player is guaranteed to drown.
** Which is funny, because in the second game and beyond, you have SuperNotDrowningSkills.
*** This was because Moneybags teaches you to swim in 2, and 3 averted BagOfSpilling.

** It is actually justified in Year of the Dragon, which differentiates between the transparent "swimmable" waters prevalent in the second and third games and the opaque toxic waters that make their return in certain levels. Sometimes the toxic water and regular water are in the same levels!

** Unfortunately, the Super Drowning Skills return in ''The Legend of Spyro'' ContinuityReboot. All water in the first two games is the dreaded toxic ooze, except for a few shallow streams. Avoided in ''Dawn of the Dragon'' where Spyro or Cynder will just hover above water until you fly them over to dry land.

** For that matter, most ''{{Castlevania}}'' games had this problem. ''{{Castlevania}} I-IV'' would kill you instantly if you fell into water. ''[[CastlevaniaBloodlines Bloodlines]]'' would kill you if it was [[BottomlessPits Bottomless]], and do serious damage if you ended up with water above your head.
** ''{{Castlevania 64}}'' and ''LegacyOfDarkness'' {{Handwave}}s the inability to swim by having the protagonists remark that the water has been 'poisoned' by the evil of the castle. The steam that rises whenever you fall in seems to suggest a more malicious chemical at work, though...
** Soma can not only swim but also walk ON water and UNDER water.

** Played straight in the 3D ''Mario'' games. If Mario stays underwater too long, he dies.
*** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' featured a non-lethal variation of this: If Bee Mario falls into any body of water (even a raindrop), he'll lose that powerup. The exact same is true with the Cloud Flower from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2''.

** In ''MajorasMask'', Link can transform into a [[TheBigGuy Goron]]. The game states that since Gorons are basically living rocks, they sink like... Well, you know. In ''Twilight Princess'' a Goron happily [[SuperNotDrowningSkills stands around in the bottom of a pool]] for the entire game acting as if nothing's wrong (after being engulfed in a hunk of magmatic rock and then being blasted out of it with a bomb). This is lampshaded when a young Goron in the hot springs is entirely submerged, and tells you he's practicing holding his breath, but for some strange reason he can't fathom, he never needs to inhale.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', Mario uses an OxygenMeter, but his dinosaur steed Yoshi is made of paint and will ''dissolve'' if he attempts to swim.
** In ''VideoGame/PaperMario'', bodies of water have {{Invisible Wall}}s... until you find Sushie, and use special docks to cross the water.
*** In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', if Mario falls into water, even a fountain, he leaps out again after getting bitten by a large, carnivorous and apparently mechanical fish. Later on, he is [[CursedWithAwesome cursed with the ability to turn into a paper boat]], letting him cross the water.

* In the original ''SuperMarioBros'', Mario generally has SuperNotDrowningSkills in water levels and can stay underwater forever ([[TimedMission level timer]] permitting). In regular levels, though, water-filled pits are still BottomlessPits. Particularly perplexing were the "island" levels in ''SuperMarioBros3'' and ''SuperMarioWorld'' where he ''could'' swim in the water... but if he went too deep (below the bottom of the screen) he automatically died.
** The first VideoGame/SuperMarioLand plays this trope straight. Water is nothing but a BottomlessPit and kills Mario if he falls in. In 2-3, he uses the Marine Pop to go underwater. The second Mario Land game averts this; he is given SuperNotDrowningSkills.

*** ''SuperMarioGalaxy'' featured a non-lethal variation of this: If Bee Mario falls into any body of water (even a raindrop), he'll lose that powerup. The exact same is true with the Cloud Flower from ''SuperMarioGalaxy2''.

* In ''CrashBandicoot'', falling into water kills you, even in ''CrashBandicoot3'', which features rooms filled with water that rises and lowers, which makes you wonder why Crash can't just wait for the water to lower before dying instantly.

** ''[[CrashBandicoot2CortesStrikesBack Crash 2]]'' and ''[[CrashBandicoot3Warped 3]]'' have also made Crash panic before drowning. In his only level in ''4'' with deep-enough water, Crash will drown in at least one second in and float to the surface, motionless. At least ''3'' and ''4'' also [[AvertedTrope avert]] this by containing a few UnderTheSea levels where Crash wears some scuba gear.

* ''WonderBoy'' of the first game and ''MonsterLair'' not only couldn't swim, but seemed to have a very violent allergy to water; as soon as he touched it [[DeathThrows he died spectacularly]]. (Then again, there seemed to be little that Wonder Boy could touch [[EverythingTryingToKillYou without dying spectacularly...]])

** The NES game series that was [[SpiritualSuccessor modeled after it]], ''AdventureIsland'', did this to Master Higgins in the first game. Subsequent games in the series added [[UnderTheSea underwater levels]], allowing Higgins to swim freely.

* In ''CrashBandicoot'', falling into water kills you, even in ''Crash Bandicoot 3'', which features rooms filled with water that rises and lowers, which makes you wonder why Crash can't just wait for the water to lower before dying instantly.
** Also in ''Crash 3'', Coco has been shown to swim if her jet ski blows up. FridgeLogic kicks in at ''Crash 4: The Wrath of Cortex'' where falling into deep water ''causes her to instantly panic and drown''. The worst part? Most of Coco's levels in that game are filled with water.
** ''Crash 2'' and ''3'' have also made Crash panic before drowning. His only level in ''4'' with deep-enough water, Crash will drown in at least one second in and float to the surface, motionless. At least ''3'' and ''4'' also [[AvertedTrope avert]] this by containing a few UnderTheSea levels where Crash wears some scuba gear.

* In the original ''SuperMarioBros'', Mario generally has SuperNotDrowningSkills in water levels and can stay underwater forever ([[TimedMission level timer]] permitting). In regular levels, though, water-filled pits are still BottomlessPits. Particularly perplexing were the "island" levels in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' and ''Super Mario World'' where he ''could'' swim in the water... but if he went too deep (below the bottom of the screen) he automatically died.

* ''MetalGearSolid 3'' does this, but with a hint of LampshadeHanging. While Snake swims very well, his enemies don't, and can be killed easily by knocking them into water. Interrogating one can often result in a perky, "The lot of us! We can't swim!"
* Raiden can swim extremely well in ''MetalGearSolid 2'', however, the bacterial tank in which the Vamp boss battle takes place is filled with a special kind of water in which he will sink instantly and drown. Vamp himself can swim like a dolphin in it, though.

* In ''{{Rayman}} 2'', sometimes you can swim rather well, and sometimes (in supposedly "piranha-infested" water) you can't.

** Alucard's allergic to the old H2O in ''SymphonyOfTheNight''. It gradually erodes your HP until you get the Holy Symbol; this is actually a really neat bit of homage to old vampire lore (''Castlevania'' likes these; see also Walter and Isaac having red hair per traditional Romanian 'how to tell a vampire on sight' cues) that states that the fangity ones cannot cross running water.

** In ''TheSimsMedieval'', Sims can't drown, but they also aren't given the option to swim at all. The closest they get to swimming is wading into the sea to fish.

* In ''{{Psychonauts}}'', it was actually written into the story that Raz and all his family were cursed by a psychic to die in water. Getting too close to water causes a giant watery hand to reach out, grab Raz, and pull him under to his death. One world even includes a cardboard hand coming out of an equally cardboard "ocean" during a stage play, drowning Raz in ''fake water''.

* The first NES ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' game have ALL the turtles drown in any contact of water on the ground. As TheAngryVideoGameNerd sums it up...

-->'''TheAngryVideoGameNerd''': How is Indiana Jones such a wimp that he can't set foot in water more shallow than a kiddie pool?

* In the 1994 TheJungleBook video game adaptations, specifically, the Genesis and Super NES versions, Mowgli can't swim. Falling into water results in a watery grave for him.