Line #17 Main/RespawnOnTheSpot


1	This is a trope that's very common in old-school video games, especially arcade games and arcade-like games.
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3	Basically, when you die, you come back to life... right at the very spot where you died or at least right on the screen, and lose no progress.
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5	The thing is, that does not mean that DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist. In fact, this design element is most common in games which have a distinct lives limit, and running out of lives could mean starting the level over, or ending the game altogether.
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7	You often get MercyInvincibility for a while, since you're probably still in the middle of whatever dangerous conditions killed you.
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9	Some games have this feature only in the multiplayer mode, but not the single player mode, which instead brings you back to the last checkpoint. Players also have to go back to the last checkpoint if all of them are defeated at the same time. This is sometimes done so that players who are defeated while their friend is still alive can quickly rejoin the action, rather than waiting for the next checkpoint to be reached.
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11	Not to be confused with AutoRevive, which is an item or spell in [=RPGs=] that allows you to come back to life on the spot, but must first be obtained or invoked. This trope is instead about a consistent play mechanic. Contrast CheckPointStarvation, where you can respawn ''way'' earlier in the game.
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13	!!Examples of games that always let you do this:
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15	* ''Life Force'' / ''Salamander'' has your spaceship respawn right away flying in from offscreen after being destroyed, which is different from the ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}'' series it is a spinoff of.
16	** ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}} V'' does this as well, despite being part of the main series. However, checkpoints can be re-enabled with the "Revival Start" option.
17	** Likewise, ''Parodius'' games either have this by default or you have to enable it manually.
18	*** In the pre-Konami GX games, checkpoints are used. In the post-GX arcade games, you respawn at checkpoints in singleplayer or in-place in co-op, with ports of the post-GX games allowing this to be toggled for singleplayer games.
19	** ''Gradius Gaiden'' has this when two players are present.
20	* Creator/{{Konami}}'s beat-em-ups - all of them, such as ''VideoGame/XMen'', ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTheArcadeGame'', ''VideoGame/TheSimpsons'', etc.
21	** Likewise, pretty much every single arcade beat-em-up Creator/{{Capcom}} ever made. Like the ''VideoGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and ''[[VideoGame/AlienVsPredatorCapcom Alien vs. Predator]]'' arcade games, etc.
22	** A lot of games will not only give {{Mercy Invincibility}}, but also either kill or heavily damage all enemies on screen as you jump back in.
23	* The ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'' games have you respawn from the corner of the screen right after you die.
24	* In the VideoGame/{{Lego Adaptation Game}}s, players respawn exactly on the spot with only a loss of studs.
25	* ''VideoGame/SpiderManFriendOrFoe'' combined this with infinite lives and easy combat, making for a very low-effort experience. One review noted that they left the game running and went for lunch, leaving Spider-Man and Black Cat standing on a mountaintop surrounded by enemies. When they returned, the heroes hadn't budged and the enemies were all gone without a trace.
26	* In ''VideoGame/{{Torchlight}}'' you can respawn on the spot, at the start of the floor or back in town depending on how much XP and money you're willing to lose. So there's a choice, and a penalty to go with it.
27	* The ''VideoGame/MrDriller'' series has you respawn physically right where you stand.
28	* This happens in ''VideoGame/ButThatWasYesterday'' when you fall off a cliff or a roof.
29	* ''[[VideoGame/{{Fortnite}} Fortnite: Save the World]]'' permits the player to self-revive three times, otherwise they can be revived by a companion, or from the starting location.
30	* In the ''VideoGame/{{Glider}}'' series, the glider always respawns on the same screen, generally near where you entered.
31	* ''Mach Rider'' has the biker split into pieces on death... and the pieces re-combine at the same spot.
32	* ''VideoGame/JetSetWilly'' had this, though it sometimes respawned you in harm's way, leading to a very fast Game Over due to lack of MercyInvincibility.
33	* ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'' series would respawn player on the screen after death, along with brief MercyInvincibility. Location would often be either left side of the screen or middle of it. The enemies tend to suddenly panic when they see your character suddenly get back up with full health and all your grenades.
34	* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'''s multiplayer has the /back command, which instantly teleports you to the point where you died, and is usually enabled on most servers. Quite handy given that when you die, [[BagOfSpilling your items are left behind]].
35	* In ''VideoGame/WarioWorld'', if you die, you can continue right where you left off as long as you have enough coins.
36	* The UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis game ''Sub Terrania'' offers this when fighting against the FinalBoss: otherwise, you [[{{Pun}} Respawn On The Starting Platform]].
37	* ''Videogame/EYEDivineCybermancy'' has "Resurrectors", which will bring the player back to life where he died. There are a limited amount of resurrectors, and resurrectors are shared between players online. Falling into bottomless pits or running out of resurrectors results in the player being transported back to the dream world, stating that the previous life was [[DreamingOfThingsToCome just one possible future]].
38	* The ''VideoGame/RaidenFighters'' shoot-em-ups almost always let you respawn without losing any progress, no matter how many credits you burn through. However, the final mission of each game requires you to beat it with one credit, since if you use a continue you get sent back to the beginning of the level.
39	* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'': Gold Orbs were introduced to the series by the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry2 second game]], which are then carried to ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening Special Edition'', ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', and ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5''. Unlike the Yellow Orbs that acted like checkpoint tickets for every door you passed, Gold Orbs let you revive on-the-spot with full health regardless of where you died. [[NintendoHard You'll need them]].
40	* Done in ''VideoGame/SpeedyEggbert''.
41	* After dying in ''VideoGame/HyperPrincessPitch'' you drop back into the level at the exact spot which you died. This creates an explosion that kills nearby enemies and gives you a few seconds of MercyInvincibility. Of course, the game has limited lives.
42	* ''VideoGame/SkeletonKrew'' actually lets players move themselves around after "diskorporation" so they can respawn where they want to.
43	* In timed racing games such as ''VideoGame/OutRun'' and ''VideoGame/HangOn'', your vehicle reappears intact on the road in case you crash. As you recover, time keeps running down, so generally you can't afford to crash more than twice.
44	* In both single and multiplayer, ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter: The Omega Strain'' respawns you at the nearest checkpoint with the level in the same state as when you died, which unfortunately means that the timer is still ticking from where it left off, and failure of any mission objectives will force you to [[CheckPointStarvation completely restart the level]].
45	* In ''VideoGame/SuperSkweek'', you normally respawn where you died, but pressing the fire button quickly after dying allows you to restart the level from the top, with the timer reset.
46	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII:'' The game auto saves before every battle. If you die, you are offered the choice of Retry or Quit. Retry respawns you just before the battle, allowing you to either try again or walk away.
47	* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', if you die during the battle against the GoldenEnding's final boss, you automatically revive.
48	* ''VideoGame/WatchDogs2'' let you spawn right on the same spot (sometimes nearby) where you died when not in a mission. The same case when you get arrested by police instead of sending you to a nearby police headquarter.
49	* ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'' revisits the OneUp mechanic its classic games in the ''Franchise/{{Doom}}'' franchise averted: if players are killed in the campaign after finding an extra life, rather than being forced to restart at the last checkpoint, they will simply get back up from where they were last defeated. There's some GameplayAndStoryIntegration involved as well - the Doom Slayer is ''so'' [[UnstoppableRage psychotically angry and hateful]] of the demons that, upon taking a killing blow, he ''[[NoSell flat-out ignores it]]'' and keeps going like it didn't even happen. And with a certain upgrade, he can actually ''get that extra life back'' so long as he can kill the demon that killed him in time. Theoretically, he can basically bounce back from literally everything so long as he's fast enough to take out his would-be killer.
50	* ''VideoGame/ATypicalWednesdayAfternoon'': If your square is hit by an enemy, bullet, or missile, it instantly reappears precisely where it was, albeit without any extra firepower.
51	* ''VideoGame/SuperAleste'' respawns you on the spot, but only if you have special lives, indicated with orange life icons as opposed to blue for regular lives. If you only have regular lives, you get booted back to a checkpoint.
52	* The international build of ''VideoGame/RType Leo'', in defiance of usual ''R-Type'' series convention, puts you back on the spot after losing a life. However, [[DifficultyByRegion the Japan build of the game puts you back at a checkpoint]] like in all other ''R-Type'' games.
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54	!!Examples of games that only let you do this in multiplayer:
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56	* In the SNES ''VideoGame/GoofTroop'' game, if Goofy or Max lost all of their lives, they could respawn with three more lives when the other player entered a new room. This doesn't happen in single-player mode, and it can't be used when fighting the level's boss. If both players lose all of their lives, they could use a continue to keep going from the same room where the surviving player lost their last life. If they ran out of continues, the player/s would have to start the level over.
57	* ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'' and ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU'', if you die in multiplayer, you soon come back to life in a bubble. If all players are dead at the same time, or they all put themselves in bubbles at the same time, you go back to a checkpoint.
58	* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' behaves in the same way, but with balloons instead of bubbles and no way to self-balloon yourself except death.
59	* The original ''VideoGame/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' NES game allowed the defeated player to come back on a balloon as long as one player survived. If both were defeated, it's back to the last checkpoint.
60	* The ''VideoGame/SeriousSam'' games, although it's a server setting. The game host can choose to enable respawning at checkpoints (which are plentiful), or respawning on the spot. Both forms of respawning only exist in the cooperative mode.
61	* ''[[VideoGame/KirbysReturntoDreamland Kirby's Return to Dreamland]]'' has a somewhat unbalanced form of this in multiplayer. Players 2 to 4 can die without everyone being sent back to the start of the current level section, but player 1's death always puts you back at the start of the section.
62	* Some team-oriented games allow players to revive each other to this effect, such as ''VideoGame/SpiralKnights'' and ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'''s multiplayer. Players can usually also revive themselves, but the penalty for that is higher. In most cases, defeating all the current enemies also revives every downed player, usually right where they died.
63	* The UsefulNotes/{{NES}} version of ''VideoGame/RushnAttack'' did this, although it could be manipulated to work in single player as well.
64	* In ''VideoGame/MendelPalace'', as long as one player is alive, the other player can come back to life without resetting the board if they're defeated.

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