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3%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
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6->''"Water, rising, must-get-to-higher-GROUND!"''
7-->-- '''[[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants SpongeBob]]''' in ''VideoGame/SpongeBobSquarePantsBattleForBikiniBottom''[[note]]If you're wondering why [[FridgeLogic a sea creature is worried about drowning]], it's actually ''goo'' that's rising up.[[/note]]
8
9A video game level where you have to keep ascending to avoid a hazard that rises from below the screen.
10
11The hazard may be [[RisingWaterRisingTension water]] (due to SuperDrowningSkills), a rising LavaPit (with ConvectionShmonvection, naturally), [[GrimyWater toxic waste]], or anything else that will [[CollisionDamage injure]] or [[OneHitKill kill]] you if you fall in.
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13May overlap with {{Auto Scrolling Level}}s, or a vertical form of RatchetScrolling. In these cases, the danger may simply be a rising {{Bottomless Pit|s}}.
14
15Compare DownTheDrain and OutrunTheFireball. The inverse is DescendingCeiling. For the sideways variation, see AdvancingWallOfDoom. If a corridor or tunnel is involved, you get an IndyEscape. See also LiftOfDoom where the rising threat is solid rather than fluid. A form of EscapeSequence.
16
17Has nothing to do with TheLoinsSleepTonight.
18----
19!!Examples:
20* Two of the levels in the ''WesternAnimation/AlienatorsEvolutionContinues'' video game involve rising DeadlyGas.
21* ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdIIAssimilation'' inverts this trope in "Slide Down The Shaft", a downward AutoScrollingLevel where both the top and bottom of the screen are bordered by instant-death lasers.
22* ''VideoGame/BattleForWesnoth'': The first half of "Out of the Frying Pan" of ''Under the Burning Suns'' campaign takes place in a cave that's flooding, forcing the elves to stay ahead of the rising tide while battling various threats along the way.
23* In ''VideoGame/Bayonetta2'' there's a Verse that requires Bayonetta to use [[PantheraAwesome Panther]] [[{{Animorphism}} Within]] in order to ascend the crumbling walkways of a small tower, while [[AdvancingBossOfDoom being pursued by a Golem]].
24* ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' on the Game Boy Color included a level where you had to destroy a fuel station. Destroying the system controlling the station caused it to start filling with flaming fuel which would kill you if you touched it.
25* ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'', while primarily an RPG, has a few frantic climbs mixed in with its various other platforming interludes. The most memorable one happens right in the middle of the final boss battle!
26* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'':
27** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheAdventure'', one of the sections in the third level has rising spikes.
28** Stage 2-2 of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines'' has water steadily climbing. As an AutoScrollingLevel, you're free to climb up beyond the camera. In the next stage, you find the enemy that causes the water to rise, and need to kill it before you drown.
29** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse'' has rising water in Stage 6-04(Y). After the first encounter with the Bone Dragon King, water will be rising and you must traverse through it. Then, you must finish off the boss before you end up drowning.
30** ''VideoGame/SuperCastlevaniaIV'' has the last stage before the Tower of the Four Fiends, which has Simon traversing a large tower, constantly upwards. With floating platforms, stairs, until at one point a giant [[ChainsawGood saw blade]] starts chasing him, ricocheting back and forth between the two walls of the tower until he reaches the top.
31* The gameplay of ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'' is split between Vincent hanging out at the bar and his nightmares, which takes the form of him climbing a tower of blocks in order to outrun whatever monstrosity he's dreaming of.
32* ''VideoGame/ChuckRock II: Son of Chuck'' has the Lava Tree. In this stage, Chuck Jr. has to climb to the top of a tree as it sinks into the lava that engulfs it. When Junior reaches the top, he has to fight an angry baby bird who tries to attack him with molten rocks he extracts from the lava.
33* ''VideoGame/ComixZone'' inverted this. The BigBad set the comic book page on fire, and you had to race downward.
34* ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'':
35** The game offers an interesting take, taking place right after the defeat of the first major boss (Haybot) in the Barn Boys chapter: The basement of the farmhouse is a large cylinder that suddenly starts to fill up with water, which wouldn't be a problem if not for the loose wires that seem to be hanging out of the walls, which instantly electrify the water on contact. To advance, the player needs to make it to a safe spot and cut the wires to make the water safe to swim in again, then get to another safe spot before the water rises enough to touch another wire, and repeat the process. For extra difficulty, there is a wire right behind the first ContextSensitiveButton which many players have difficulty to spot in the first playthrough, so they may think they're safe with cutting down the wires ahead of them, but as they try to get across to the next platform... the water zaps them to death. All because of that tricky wire right behind you.
36** At one point during the It's War chapter, you have to outrun toxic waste while hurdling small pools of the same substance.
37* In most vertical stages in the ''{{VideoGame/Contra}}'' series, you die if you touch the bottom of the screen. Same with most any RatchetScrolling vertical level.
38* ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'' has the fight against [[InsectQueen Rumor]] [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Honeybottoms]], which takes place in an endless honeycomb/office building hybrid that is slowly filling with honey.
39* ''VideoGame/CurseCrackersForWhomTheBelleToils'': While death walls can come from left or right (and in one case from above), they most commonly come from below. There's even a boss battle where you have to make your way up through a room with a rising death wall three times, and a harder version of it can be done again later.
40* In ''VideoGame/DensetsuNoStafy3'', this is part of the final level in Crackling Volcano, where you have to outpace a rising lava flow.
41* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry2'': In Dante's fifth mission, the Infested Chopper chases him as he climbs a burning tower. The floors below are also slowly being engulfed by rising flames. Fortunately, the flames won't instantly kill you, but deal periodic damage if you don't climb back up.
42* ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'' games:
43** ''VideoGame/DeepDuckTrouble'' has a section near the end of the [[LethalLavaLand Volcano]] where Donald has to climb to the top as the lava rises.
44** ''VideoGame/DonaldInMauiMallard'' has a few of these, notably trying to [[DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud out-swim a vortex in a shipwreck]] and climbing away from a cloud of death in Hell.
45* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry:''
46** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'':
47*** "Slime Climb" is like this, except that since the DKC series doesn't feature SuperDrowningSkills, the actual reason the player has to avoid the water is the InvincibleMinorMinion Snapjaw lurking in it. Because Snapjaw could not be implemented on the Game Boy, touching the slime hurts you in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongLand 2''.
48*** In the same game, "Toxic Tower," which does indeed involve rising toxic waste.
49*** "Castle Crush" features a rising floor and several narrow passages that guaranteed that a slow Kong will be crushed. This level is also infamous for the [[https://www.mariowiki.com/List_of_Donkey_Kong_Country_2:_Diddy%27s_Kong_Quest_glitches#Castle_Crush_Glitch Castle Crush glitch]] present in the original SNES version and the Wii U Virtual Console port capable of bricking the game if performed.
50** In ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble'':
51*** There's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUBtQ3L3ujE#t=23m36s Ripsaw Rage,]] which has [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a saw]]. Cutting vertically up two standing trees at once. At a certain altitude, it continues moving back and forth but stops ascending.
52*** "Kong-Fused Cliffs", where the player must climb up ropes that have been lit on fire beneath them.
53** The latter half of the very last level of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' before the final boss has Donkey Kong race up a series of platforms to avoid a rising floor of [[LethalLavaLand molten lava.]] And the hidden temple level of World 6 [[NintendoHard exploits this mechanism as well.]]
54* The finale of both versions of ''VideoGame/{{Ducktales}}'' has Scrooge racing Magica [=DeSpell=] and Flintheart Glomgold to his Number One Dime. Once he beats them however, he still has to escape the rising lava.
55* In ''VideoGame/FallGuysUltimateKnockout'', the event "Slime Climb" has rising slime that eliminates players, and an obstacle course that must be traversed to reach higher ground. Season 4 introduces "The Slimescraper", which is similar to Slime Climb but with a much more difficult layout to navigate.
56* The WallJump-unlocking area in ''VideoGame/FancyPantsAdventures'' has ink spilling from a pipe while you try and use your new-found wall-jumping ability to avoid it.
57* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' video games:
58** In ''VideoGame/TheFlintstonesTheRescueOfDinoAndHoppy'', the [[BigBoosHaunt haunted castle]] has a large lava pit near the beginning of it that starts rising once Fred passes a certain point in the level. You must get Fred to the top of the tower before his toes are toasted, obviously.
59** ''VideoGame/TheFlintstones1993'', the last level has rising water that Fred must outrun. If he touches or falls into it, he will immediately die.
60* The freeware PlatformHell game ''Flood The Chamber'' consists of a large room that is slowly being filled with water. Touching the water results in an instant KO, forcing you to restart.
61* ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2'': During the "Magma Starscape" stage, your character must ascend the rising lava to reach the level's boss; Hundred Drillion. After the boss fight against it, you have to make your way up again out of the crater to complete the stage.
62* In ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'', you have to escape rising tides of water, after the submarine you're trapped in gets hit.
63* ''VideoGame/GlimmerInMirror'' ends the ClockworksArea stage with an exit where multiple gears chases after you, and you must keep climbing and jumping upwards to avoid getting pulped alive.
64* ''VideoGame/HalfLife1: Opposing Force'' had an early room where a faulty circuit pierces a tank of biowaste and then proceeds to blow large chunks out of the floor, eventually releasing a metal beam leading up to the maintenance walkway above while the waste level is still rising. The G-Man eventually opens a door leading out of the room.
65* Some of the later levels in ''VideoGame/HannahAndThePirateCaves'' and the sequel, ''Hannah and the Ice Caves'', have areas that fill with water as time passes. Falling into the water isn't an insta-kill as the player character can swim, but she's got precious little oxygen and needs to replenish it in the air pockets left after the maps flood.
66* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' has a rare heroic example. [[spoiler:During the third phase of the fight against [[TrueFinalBoss the Radiance]], the player has to climb up above the clouds to reach her, while the Void and all the Shades from the Abyss rise up with them to help defeat her. Falling into the rising Void will still deal a mask of damage and will teleport the Knight to stable ground.]]
67* In ''VideoGame/IceClimber'' on the NES, the screen scrolls up as you climb, and no matter what might have been below that floor before, if you fall off the screen you die.
68* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'':
69** The Brinstar (acid) and Norfair (lava) stages. Norfair also includes [[IndyEscape giant waves of lava from the sides and background]]. It's ironic because Brinstar in the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' games is of course an UndergroundLevel that doesn't involve this at all, though Norfair does have lava.
70** The Ice Climber themed stage in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee'' does this. In this case it's more like the other ones because it's auto-scrolling rather than only scrolling up as you climb (though climbing makes it go faster), but the frame of reference still determines where you die. Sometimes, just to confuse the player, the scrolling ''reverses'', and you have to ''descend'' for your life.
71** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' has the rising Rumble Falls. There's an Event Match whose chosen difficulty level will determine how fast the stage will rise.
72* In ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesGreatestAdventures'', one level involves Indy scrambling to reach the top floor of the Raven Saloon to avoid an ever-rising sea of flames. Said saloon is rather ridiculously tall.
73* ''VideoGame/JackieChansActionKungFu'' has this as part of the LethalLavaLand stage. Naturally, the lava starts rising faster and faster as you frantically struggle to jump up the platforms.
74* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy'' has one instance of this in The Precursor City with toxic [[GrimyWater Dark Eco]]. Reaching the bottom of the city ends with Jak and Daxter landing on switch that starts flooding entire tubular section with it, and you have to ascend it before Dark Eco gets to you. Thankfully you have Blue Eco to your disposal, making you faster as well as attracting Precursor Orbs to you so you don't have to worry too much about it.
75%%* ''VideoGame/JustShapesAndBeats'': The FinalBoss opens with this.
76* In ''VideoGame/KaizouChoujinShubibinman3'', Stage 3 features a section of this combined with TheWallsAreClosingIn.
77* ''VideoGame/KidIcarus1986'' has all of the climbing levels (2/3 of the game) do this -- falling off the bottom of the screen causes your death. Even if there would be a platform an inch below the screen.
78* The entire gameplay gimmick of ''VideoGame/TheKillingGameShow'', otherwise known as ''Fatal Rewind''.
79* In ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'' games:
80** A level in ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'' attempts to bury you in sand. It's a subversion since you can simply stand on the sand as it rises and let it carry you to the top.
81** A level in ''VideoGame/KirbyCanvasCurse'' has you outrunning lava.
82** A rising sea of lava also appears near the end of Lava Landing, in ''[[VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn Kirby's Epic Yarn]]''
83* ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKainDefiance'' has the early moment in Raziel's viewpoint, as he [[EscapeSequence escapes]] from the Spirit Realm. The [[GodofEvil Elder God]] cynically asks, "[[IShallTauntYou Where are you going, little soul?]]", after which [[FogOfDoom deadly mist]] rises up and the player is forced to outclimb it.
84* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', you have to climb a spiraling ramp around the inside of a tower, avoiding both rising water and the Helmaroc King. You [[BossBattle fight him]] when you get to the roof.
85* ''VideoGame/LooneyTunes (1992)'': In Stage 5, there's a section where WesternAnimation/SpeedyGonzales has to climb up the temple as a pool of lava rises, and must avoid falling in, as said lava [[OneHitKill kills him instantly]].
86* ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}} 2'':
87** In ''Durandal'', the fourth mission has you plunge down a lengthy pit and locate and destroy some controls in a geothermal power plant. Natrually the result is that the place is flooded with lava, so you're 'encouraged' to make best speed heading up and out. The final level, "All Roads Lead to Sol", has a similar lava escape.
88** ''Marathon Infinity'' does it again in "A Converted Church in Venice, Italy".
89** One level in the {{game mod}} ''Tempus Irae'', "Mt Vesuvius II: Electric Boogaloo", is set in a volcano with rising lava, although slower than the above example.
90* During the ''Firewalker'' mission in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Shepard and his/her squad escape from a research station nested inside a volcano as lava rises. Thankfully, they're in a vehicle built to handle brutal environments.
91* ''Super VideoGame/MeatBoy'': Levels: 7-13 and 7-13X (Rising liquid), 7-6X (Walls disappear) and 7-20X (Ceiling of sawblades)
92* ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'' inverts this with Quick Man's infamous laser death trap, where the challenge is going ''down'' without getting blasted to death by the [[OneHitKill instant-kill]] [[ShockAndAwe lasers]].
93* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' often does this with magma.
94** A segment of Flame Stag's stage in ''VideoGame/MegaManX2'' immediately comes to mind.
95** And the ''ending'' of ''VideoGame/MegaManX3''.
96** Blaze Heatnix's area in ''VideoGame/MegaManX6'' combines this with yet another battle against the Nightmare Snakes, which you end up having to fight about four or five times throughout the entire stage.
97** ''VideoGame/MegaManX8'' did this [[ZigZaggingTrope both ways]] ([[InnocentInnuendo I mean up and down!]]) with fire. The [[InvertedTrope down part]] happens as the heroes climb down the volcano that Burn Rooster (Burn Kokekokker) makes his lair at. After Burn's defeat, it gets played straight where the magma rises and the gang must climb back up. Did Burn rig the place to flood with the burning-hot liquid rock at the moment of his defeat?
98* ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' has this in the "optional" Area K-5. "Optional" in quotes because not only are two of the needed items for a sidequest located in this area, if you're going for [[ThatOneSidequest the Area K Subtank]] you need to pass through this part ''twice'' (once to slow down the flow of lava in order to reach the area where the button to unlock the gate that leads to the Subtank is, and the second time to get back to said unlocked gate once all is said and done, though at least this time it's easier since as said the lava flow is slowed down).
99* One Planet Bunnera level in ''VideoGame/TheLegendaryStarfy'' has the titular starfish ascending by hopping from a floating bubble to another while a wall of fire rises after him inexorably.
100* ''VideoGame/{{Melatonin}}'''s "Dream About Stress" has the main character climbing wooden ladders inside a volcano with rising lava, although the climbing is done automatically, and the only input is jumping onto a different ladder when one appears, or jumping straight up when the lava prepares for a sudden quick rise.
101* ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'':
102** Aeshi Nero (a giant cobra excavator mecha) from ''2/X'' kept "swallowing" the pillar you're on forcing you to outclimb it via platforms, while you also had to dodge its various shots ''and'' shoot it until it dies. There's a GoodBadBug that allows you to stay within its "mouth" without getting damaged and preventing it from advancing, but this only works in ''2'', not ''X''.
103** The Slug you get at the beginning is almost totally useless as well: not only can you not press jump and shoot at the same time or the slug explodes, but the speed is only fractionally faster than that of the boss, which means you have to constantly jump to avoid death.
104** ''VideoGame/InTheHunt'', a ShootEmUp game created by some of the staff who later on started the ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'' series, also has one: a LivingStatue that chases you up a sea ruin.
105** Also, there's a level in the first game where you have to go up. The screen doesn't scroll automatically, but since the game doesn't allow you to backtrack, any piece of soil that was left behind gives way to BottomlessPits.
106* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'':
107** In the original ''VideoGame/Metroid1'', Brinstar features acid lakes. ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', on the other hand, does not have them.
108** ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid''; The game's version of Norfair has several rooms where lava rises as soon as you enter. (Or in one case, as soon as you grab an upgrade at the far end.) In lower Norfair, Samus will also have to deal with acid that rises from the rooms that neither of her suits will protect her from. There's also rising acid in part of the final EscapeSequence, but it's kind of redundant since you're already running to escape an exploding planet, and because it's at the end of the game, your suit's been upgraded enough that the lava doesn't restrict your movement, and you have so many spare energy tanks that the damage inflicted by the acid is negligible, so it's really only there to make you panic.
109* Games based on ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse'':
110** ''VideoGame/MickeyMania'', a video game in which you play through the settings of several classic [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Mickey Mouse]] cartoons, featured a memorable stage near the end (in the ''Prince and the Pauper'' world) with groundbreaking special effects in which you race up a spiral staircase to escape rising flames. ([[FridgeLogic Why you're trying to get to the top of a tower while the rest of the building is on fire is anyone's guess]].)
111** The first ''Prince and the Pauper'' stage also has rising fire in what may well be the most rapidly-rising non-cutscene instance of ths trope.
112** In ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'', one of the later stages has Mickey in a scene from ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' trying to outpace a rising flood of [[ItMakesSenseInContext paint thinner]].
113* On the NES, ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden 3'' has a segment in 2-2 where Ryu Hayabusa must outrun rising lava in a cave that's also an autoscroller.
114* The [[VideoGame/InFamous Alden's Tower]] level in ''VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale'' will do this across three levels of the tower before arriving at the top: anyone unable to ascend is transported to a fixed spot higher in the stage, stunned for several seconds (perfectly defenseless for a [[LimitBreak Super]] kill). The developers had the sense to include blinking arrows as a warning.
115* In ''VideoGame/OriAndTheBlindForest'', the escape sequence of the Ginso Tree has you trying to get out before a geyser within erupts, requiring you to use what you've learned so far to stay ahead of the rapidly rising water level.
116* ''VideoGame/{{Pankapu}}'': The final level in Archipelago Of The Winds, "Ardent Abysses", has [[PlayerCharacter Pankapu]] racing against rising lava to reach the end of the level.
117* ''VideoGame/PartyAnimals'': On the Red October stage (a military submarine), the water gradually rises as the submarine sinks, forcing players closer together as they try to avoid drowning, eventually leaving only the masts above water.
118* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}''. "The Meat Circus", which features the rising water level, is frustrating. This is mainly due to the game engine's inability to deal with the precision platforming being demanded.
119* ''VideoGame/RainbowIslands'':
120** The first game has you moving one of two (previously [[ForcedTransformation cursed]]) boys named Bub and Bob up a series of seven sinking islands, with a harsh time limit and some SuperDrowningSkills to speed you on your way.
121** ''Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure'' is similar, except instead of water, the floor is replaced with a MadScientist's killing machine, which changes weapons as you race up the tower.
122* Four or five instances in ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'', depending on whether or not the first example counts as 2 instances:
123** In Blackwater City in [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002 the first game]] and [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2016 its remake]], you have to outrun rising water in a tunnel. Ratchet can both swim and hold his breath, but not for long, and gets realistically slowed down when swimming or wading. The only chance to get out before drowning is to keep ahead of the water. Annoyingly, not so long after this passage, he gets an [[ArtificialGill O2 Mask]]...
124** The last of the Qwark vid-comics in ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal Up Your Arsenal]]'' justifies this as you're outrunning rising acid.
125** ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankSizeMatters'' has the version with some [[SicklyGreenGlow sickly green liquid]], presumably acid or toxic waste.
126** ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankIntoTheNexus'' features a couple of occasions on planet Silox where you must escape from rising water. Which is incredibly funny given that, as stated above, Ratchet can swim AND has an O2 mask (as the section out in space in the first level proves), meaning that rising water shouldn't even BE an issue except for the fact that [[SuperDrowningSkills Insomniac is refusing to add swimming back in]]. Made even funnier when Ratchet is saying "That was a close one" as if he's forgotten how to swim completely.
127* ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}}'':
128** ''VideoGame/Rayman1'' had a jungle level and a mountain level with plain old regular water that was rising, but there was also a mountain level where the hero was trapped between slowly ''descending'' water and a quicker DescendingCeiling. The idea was to use Rayman's hair-helicopter to cut through ropes tied to this ceiling so the weights attached to the ceiling would drop into the water, and the ceiling would stop descending before it pressed Rayman into the water and drowned him.
129** ''VideoGame/Rayman2TheGreatEscape'' also employed the {{piranha|Problem}} justification.
130** ''VideoGame/Rayman3HoodlumHavoc'' did this with lava.
131* ''VideoGame/ShantaeHalfGenieHero'': The second section of Tassel Town, being chased up a tower by a giant SandWorm whose mouth is constantly below Shantae, until she reaches the tower exit.
132* In ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'''': Specter of Torment'', there's an optional challenge where Specter Knight must climb the Tower of Fate while staying ahead of a rising electrical current.
133* ''VideoGame/{{Skully}}'' have this happening in the volcano stage, after Terry accidentally pisses off Wanda the Fire Elemental, who then raises the lava level within the area. Get ready to climb and jump to avoid AMoltenDateWithDeath!
134* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'':
135** The final boss battle of ''VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus'' has a phase in which you must climb up a tower that's sinking in lava in order to reach the boss.
136** In ''VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'', a derelict ship must be climbed in a hurry before water catches the player.
137* ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsNightOfTheLivingTreehouseOfHorror'': In the fourth level, "Vlad All Over", there's a section where thorny vines start growing in the Vampire Mr. Burns' castle, and will [[OneHitKill instantly kill Homer]] if he gets caught in them. Homer must climb to the top of the castle as the vines grow.
138* The first ''[[Franchise/TheSmurfs Smurfs]]'' game for the SNES had a volcano level with rising lava (Act 12).
139* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog:''
140** The infamous Labyrinth Zone "boss" for [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 the original game]] is nothing more than you chasing Robotnik up one of these, water rising behind you with no air bubbles to save you if you lag behind. And lag you will, as the way is also lined with retracting spikes and fireball-throwing gargoyles. The game ''does'' show some mercy, however, as once you reach the top, Robotnik [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFaXI4jKKIk runs away]], leaving Sonic to hit the end-of-zone animal cage and head for Star Light Zone. You ARE able to defeat him if you're good, though. This "fight" was revisited in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4'', this time with a real boss at the end.
141** ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'':
142*** The game has a twist on this in Chemical Plant Zone. Mega Mack doesn't instantly kill Sonic, but [[OxygenMeter Sonic can't breathe in it]], so the further up you go, the worse it is when you fall, to the point where falling to places you could once survive is now your doom.
143*** Hill Top Zone, in addition to [[LiftOfDoom rising floors]], also had rising lava.
144** ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'':
145*** Sandopolis Zone Act 2 has an interesting twist on this concept. There is a section where you must climb your way to the top quickly, lest you get crushed by rising sand (which acts as a solid surface for no explained reason). The twist is that the source of the sand is plugged up, until you bust it open yourself. You must do so, however, because it's impossible to reach the ledges above without the rising sand.
146*** Near the end of Knuckles' version of Launch Base Zone, the water level rises, and you have to rush to avoid drowning.
147*** One of the three bonus stages is a [[PinballZone pinball-type arena]] with a glowing, upward-climbing double helix at the bottom that continuously rises upward. This is the only one of the three bonus stages that the player can actually "beat" by reaching the top of the stage before getting caught in the helix. In order to move up, the player has to fling off energy spheres, and the smaller bubbles release the gumball prizes, which rise up and away. The higher up you get, the better the prizes.
148** ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' did this with "energy" in the [[SkyscraperCity Power Plant]] stage.
149** ''[[VideoGame/SonicAdvanceTrilogy Sonic Advance 3]]'' has the boss for the Twinkle Snow Zone, which combines this with PlatformBattle for extra frustration. Mercifully, the platforms don't fall until you jump off of them; just don't fall off (or get knocked off).
150* In the original ''VideoGame/Splatoon1''[='=]s ''Squid Jump'' minigame, you have to outjump a quickly-rising flood of lethal purple ink.
151* ''VideoGame/SplosionMan'' does this periodically with SpikesOfDoom and especially with water, with the [[JustifiedTrope justification]] that since you're a creature made of fire, water isn't so healthy for you.
152* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' on the Sega Genesis had a level where destroying a computer caused the level to fill with a flaming liquid.
153* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
154** ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros1'': A few levels, including a fortress level with rising lava. There's a code that enables "Challenge Mode". When used on side-scrolling stages, it disables scrolling left, making the experience more like the first ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' game (as well as allowing you to occasionally get into an {{Unwinnable}} situation). In vertical-scrolling stages however, it turns falling off the bottom of the screen at any time into an instant death, making those vertically-scrolling stages into Rise To The Challenge levels that move at your own pace.
155** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'': There is a lava one. It's technically because of the ground sinking instead of the lava rising, but functionally it plays like any regular example; then, you have to redo it [[OneHitPointWonder with only one HP.]] In the same game, there is another that is somewhere between this and DescendingCeiling. Mario is upside down to the player so it is hard to say whether the sand is the floor or the ceiling.
156** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker2'': It is possible to make levels of this kind by making lava or poison rise constantly in a vertical sub-area and prevent it from lowering its level afterwards. For levels without the harmful element present, it is still possible to invoke this trope by simply making the screen scroll up.
157** ''VideoGame/MarioPartyAdvance'': The minigame Stair Scare has two dueling characters run upstairs after the tower they're in suffers an earthquake. The characters have to run by rapidly tapping A to avoid getting caught by the crumbling stairs and falling down. Whoever gets first into the hot-air balloon to escape wins.
158** ''VideoGame/MarioPartyDS'': One of the mini-games is called "Crater Crawl". In it, Mario and his friends are inside a volcano, trying to climb to the top as the lava inside it rises. [[ButtonMashing Pressing the A button repeatedly makes them climb]], and they also have to watch out for pillars of lava that shoot up, which are indicated by bubbles. The longer at least two players survive, the faster the lava will bubble.
159** ''VideoGame/MarioParty9'': After the castle is destroyed in Magma Mine, the lava level rises up two spaces every time someone rolls the Dice Block, so players must roll high enough to outrun it. Further complicating matters are spaces that make the lava rise even higher if players land on them. If the lava catches up with the team, the current Captain will lose half of their Mini-Stars.
160** ''VideoGame/MarioPartyIslandTour'': In the minigame Sinking Feeling, the player use AR Cards (or downloaded images of them in tablets or handheld phones) to summon a metallic tower that is sinking into a body of lava that is displayed on the 3DS. They have to control their character to climb the tower, which gradually earns new parts as the old ones sink, to avoid lava for as long as possible. while some of the incoming parts are climbable in all their areas, some have obstructions that are impassable, so the character has to be guided through the climbable parts. If the minigame is played solo, the minigame ends when the character is caught by lava, and the height climbed is shown (if the character climbs high enough, the'll be able to break the current record). If it's played between two or more people, then the last one standing wins.
161** ''VideoGame/MarioParty10'':
162*** Bowser's Clawful Climb places Team Mario on a tower being chased by Bowser from underneath, and they must climb as fast as they can to avoid as much damage as possible. Bowser climbs the tower segments at a time, and any players who get caught will lose a whopping three hearts.
163*** Chaos Castle has a portion where Team Mario must scale a series of large walls. In Bowser Party, they have to do this while Bowser is right behind them, so they can't afford to waste time.
164* ''VideoGame/SydneyHunterAndTheCavernsOfDeath'': Some rooms contain lava that starts rising once Sydney collects the item located therein.
165* ''VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple'': [[spoiler:If you chose to climb the tower past the fifth floor, above the dark cloud, you enter a single long puzzle that takes you up several vertical levels. But that cloud begins to rise as you work through it, and failure to complete the puzzle before the cloud consumes you will cause you to die and restart the puzzle]].
166* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' games:
167** In ''[[VideoGame/TinyToonAdventuresBustersHiddenTreasure Buster's Hidden Treasure]]'''s aptly-named [[LethalLavaLand Lava Cave]] area, there is, naturally, a part where you have to outrun rising lava.
168** The very end of the "[[LevelsTakeFlight Buster's Sky-Jinks]]" level in ''[[VideoGame/TinyToonAdventuresBusterBustsLoose Buster Busts Loose]]''. After Buster successfully retrieves the next episode's script from the [[PinballZone Pinball Fortress]], the fortress begins to collapse, which leaves him to run up the walls to escape. Of course, the bottom of the screen is fatal.
169** ''Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Montana's Movie Madness'' has two of these examples; the first is in the [[{{Wutai}} Samurai Saga]], wherein Buster has to avoid a rising and falling flow of OneHitKill water in the bath house, and the second is in the [[BigBoosHaunt Monster Movie]], wherein Buster has to climb to the top of the stage to avoid rising flows of the same kind of water twice.
170* ''VideoGame/TowerOfGreed'' involves climbing an upward-scrolling tower where if you get caught at the bottom of the screen when it's scrolling (or miss a jump and fall) you die.
171* ''VideoGame/{{Trine}}'' does this with the last level, with the addition that the boss is constantly following you, conjuring objects to block your way, to screw with your jumps or to break platforms.
172* ''VideoGame/UltimateChickenHorse'''s Transformidable Update added an option to have slowly-rising lava on any level. You can also have the lava come from another direction, making it an AdvancingWallOfDoom or DescendingCeiling.
173* ''VideoGame/WarioLandSuperMarioLand3'' has an advancing lava wall in the first level of Stove Canyon. It seems ridiculously easy to outrun at first, until you realize that the reason for this is that there is a hidden TreasureRoom key in this level.
174* In most ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'' games, after the [[StalkedByTheBell round timer expires]] the land often begins to slowly sink into the water.
175* In ''VideoGame/YoshisCraftedWorld'', at one point in [[EternalEngine Mr. Geary's factory]], Yoshi must climb to the top of a vat as the lava inside it rises.
176----
177-->[[TheStinger Wait... Why would]] [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarepants SpongeBob]] [[FridgeLogic need to avoid water]]?

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