Finishing Move - Television Tropes & Idioms

FINISH HIM!

The Finishing Move (In Japanese, hissatsu waza) is the martial arts equivalent of the Forgotten Superweapon — a special combat maneuver that is only ever used to cap off a battle, especially one that's already been won. Usually some variety of Kamehame Hadoken, it's often incredibly flashy, frequently requiring a "charge-up" time long enough that it would be impractical to use if your opponent weren't already on the ground in a bloody heap. Even without a "charge-up" time, using a Finishing Move at the beginning of a fight is often unwise (especially if It Only Works Once), because if the enemy can counter it, they most likely will.

When a new Finishing Move is introduced in a story, it's often treated as a case of Crossing The Streams — if the move isn't carried out perfectly, it could backfire and kill our hero(es), or even cause The End Of The World As We Know It. Inevitably, the move turns out to be the only thing that can save them this week, and so it works perfectly, and it's treated as being reliable from then on.

Limit Breaks in videogames are usually intended as Finishing Moves, but often have different uses. Finishing Moves are also common as a natural part of gameplay in games, as opposed to being intended to be used when you probably don't need it and it's just cool.

A Coup De Grace may be used as one, as might Kick Them While They Are Down. See also Coup De Grace Cutscene.

For the non-martial arts version, see Finish Him.

Examples:

open/close all folders

Anime and Manga

In Dragonball Z, almost every character seems to have a few of these. Although nearly every time, the target just shrugs them off to little or no effect.
Ranma 1/2 parodies this with the "Saotome Secret Maneuver" — which is running away from a fight one's losing to regroup and reconsider tactics.
- Ranma and Ryoga both have what could be considered finishing moves in the Hiryu-shoten-ha and the Shi-shi-hokodan. While Ryoga's shi-shi-hokodan is not always the end of a fight (Ranma survives several blasts of the "perfected" version), Ranma's Hiryu-Shoten-ha is only kept from being a show winner because it tends to stick around. After Ranma uses the technique (which creates a tornado), he often times gets swept up in it, and there is a sizable chunk of time dealing with this. At the end of the manga, with a bit of help from some artifacts, Ranma manages to blow up a mountain.
- No he doesn't, in either case of moutain destruction. Firstly, the mountain was already weakened by Herb's repeated blasting and the scramble to save the unlocking kettle. The Hiryuu Kourin Dan (never seen again) was just the really strong gust of wind to knockdown the already battered house. Secondly, Saffron was the one who "blew up a mountain" with one of his fire techniques. The only thing Ranma did that was impressive was make the Dragon Tap "look up at the sky" and blast Akane with the water she needed.
Most characters in Rurouni Kenshin have their own Finishing Move: Kenshin's Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki, Aoshi's Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren, Saitou's Gatotsu Zeroshiki, etc. Subverted with Sanosuke, who only knows one special move, the Futae no Kiwami, (the Sanjuu no Kiwami, its finishing variation, was made up on the spot and is never used again), and Sojiro, whose finishing move is merely a combination of simple battoujutsu and his incredible speed. The Big Bad of the Kyoto Arc, Shishio, has a Finishing Move as well, but we never see it executed.
- As for damage to self, the Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki requires incredible will as well as impeccable timing to execute, or the reversed blade may well slash Kenshin's left leg off in the process. (The detrimental effects of the entire Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu on Kenshin are well detailed elsewhere.) Repeated use of the Futae no Kiwami turns Sanosuke's hands into broken wrecks, much to Megumi's displeasure.
- Kenshin's mentor, Hiko Seijuro XIII, knows all the same moves as Kenshin, but seems to prefer Kuzu Ryu Sen as his finisher, despite Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki being more powerful. Then again, Hiko is so ridiculously stronger than everyone else in the entire series that Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki would be beyond overkill for him.
A few Naruto characters have Finishing Moves. There's a technique called "Double Snake Suicide" that instantly kills both the user and the intended target. Kakashi's Chidori/Raikiri strike has to be charged up (which is noisy as hell, so it can't be used as a sneak attack); the only apparent use for it is a Single Stroke Battle situation. Given the many ways ninjas in Naruto can cheat their way out of being hit (shadow clones, substitution jutsus, etc.), these moves seem to be more trouble than they're worth.
- Many people do comment on how the technique is reckless and nearly useless, including Kakashi's own teacher. In fact, he kept telling Kakashi not to use it for those very reasons: It just wasn't a very good technique, especially not for a Ninja. It flat-out wouldn't work in any sort of real fight without the broken abilities of his Sharingan, which he didn't have yet when he created the technique.
  - Kakashi's teacher, on the other hand, created the far more practical Rasengan, which is similar in power but can be prepared more quickly (not needing any hand signs, for one thing) and doesn't tire the user like Chidori. Despite Kakashi having learned the Rasengan himself, he never uses it except once in a demonstration. For some reason he insists on using his own mostly inferior attack. Naruto himself, on the other hand, uses the Rasengan as his signature attack, and it (or one of a few upgraded versions) is almost always his Finishing Move.
- This is also parodied, with Kakashi's "Leaf Style Secret Ninja Art: One Thousand Years of ~~Death~~ Pain", which amounts to performing kancho (a Japanese practical joke that involves poking someone in the rectal area) on your opponent.
  - Naruto later converts it into a very serious technique, though. Instead of a finger poke, he jams a kunai in an opponent's rectal area. An exploding kunai.
Nearly every pilot in G Gundam has one of these. Naturally, it takes about eight to ten episodes for hero Domon Kasshu to learn the "Super Mode" stance, the activation of which usually marks the ending 3 minutes of the episode.
The Giga Slave from Slayers was at first treated this way; since it worked the first time, Lina was fully ready to depend on it again. It was subverted in the second season due to the fact that the consequences for failing (of which she apparently wasn't fully aware) turned out to be so high that she became terrified to try it again.
The Guyvers in Bio Booster Armour Guyver (aka Guyver: The Bioboosted Armour) can fire devastatingly powerful "Mega-Smasher" beams from their chests. In something of a subversion, even though the charging time is relatively short for a Finishing Move, it is frequently interrupted (it is one of the only attacks with any charge time at all). In addition, a Guyver cannot use this attack if the protective panels on his chest have any kind of injury, which happens surprisingly often.
Starlight Breaker of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha's titular character, which generally caps off the big battle of the season. Since it gathers residue magic from the environment, the later it's used in a magic battle, the harder it hits. Interestingly, each time Nanoha uses Starlight Breaker in the anime, it's always a stronger variation of the one she used before.
Fist Of The North Star contains fighting styles that pretty much consist entirely of finishing moves. The flashier ones became "Fatal KO" moves in the PS 2 Fighting Game.
- Sengoku Basara X has the "Basara KO," which works a lot like Fist Of The North Star's Fatal KOs, and comes complete with Crowning Music Of Awesome.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann 's Giga Drill Break(er).
- Pointedly subverted after the Time Skip and ostensible Genre Shift, when the move not only fails to defeat a foe, but is performed offscreen, in blatant violation of the rules of the genre. Of course, the foe is defeated shortly thereafter, but the point is made.
Sailor Moon. In fact, it can be argued that all she has is a finishing move, which she uses after the others have weakened the Monster of the Week. (Unless you count her Moon Tiara.)
Gao Gai Gar has "Hell & Heaven," which ends up inverting the "super-risky new move" subtrope — it starts out as a Once An Episode finisher until the characters realize it's slowly killing the mech's pilot, at which point it gets an upgrade to Dangerous Forbidden Technique.
- Then the Goldion Hammer, the weapon they devised to replace Hell and Heaven, turns out to be just as deadly. Instead of trying again, they decide to build a robot whose job is basically to act as a giant oven mitt so that Gao Gai Gar can use it safely.
Mahou Sensei Negima has given a finishing strike to Negi, Kotaro, and Setsuna on a fairly regular basis. However the noteworthy thing is the lampshading Rakan does on it, stepping into Meta Guy talking about how important having a Finishing Move is. he then proceeds to offer to sell one to Negi for an absurd amount of money. To be fair Negi often uses his Finishing move (Oukahouken) without it ending the fight, as its power is based on the number magic arrows he fires in a given attack.
Voltron's blazing sword.
Inu Yasha has had a succession of these since he obtained Tetsusaiga: first was the Wind Scar; then the Backlash Wave; when Naraku's barrier prove able to endure the Wind Scar, Inu Yasha found a way to make his sword stronger, resulting in the Red Tetsusaiga; later he earned the Adamant Barrage; then came Dragon Scaled Tetsusiaga; finally in conflict with his half brother Sesshomaru, Tetsusiaga gained the Meidō Zangetsuha (Dark Path) from Tenseiga.
- He also had two of them before acquiring the Tetsusaiga (Iron Reaver Soul Stealer and Blades of Blood), but they rapidly fell into disuse once he had the sword.
When Hayate The Combat Butler goes up against another Battle Butler, the guy shows off one of his Finishing/Ultimate Moves, (specifically, one that creates a huge gout of fire... from a wooden sword) and tells Hayate that he's surprised that he doesn't have one. In his words "every butler should have a finishing move or two". Almost certainly a Lampshade Hanging, especially since these are literal battle butlers.
- At the end of volume 6, Hayate finally develops one, called the "Hayate No Gotoku" (Whimsical Hurricane).
"I call upon the Viridian Forest...give us the power! The power of...MEGAVOLT!!"
- Yellow is also given the task of delivering the final blow to the fake Kyogre when nine Elemental Beams wasn't enough to dispell it. Two Pikachu and their Pichu kid launching themselves in the air on a Surfboard for a triple Volt Tackle...EPIC.
- In the anime, Ash's Charizard always performs a literally over-the-top Seismic Toss to finish off his opponents, first flying high into the sky, and, as soon as he builds momentum (by circling the moon), tosses the opponent brutally back to the ground.
One Piece varies up what moves finish a fight, but Luffy's Gomu-Gomu no Bazooka was notable for commonly either ending a fight or breaking through an opponent's defenses long enough for Luffy to score a true finishing blow. Interestingly, Luffy's Gomu-Gomu no Gatling was given an upgrade and promoted to finisher after it was voted the most popular attack in the series. Chopper probably plays this trope most straight, however - his fighting style consists of maneuvering his opponent around until he can transform into Arm Point and use one of his Roseo moves.
Kitano from Angel Densetsu, despite being an Actual Pacifist gets one. We only see it used when his few Berserker Button s are pressed however, and being an 1-hit KO that simply puts the opponent unconscious without real permanent damage it's ''Actually'' pacifistic. His father got the same one, albeit being sligtly more Technical Pacifist.

Close Anime and Manga

Film

Live Action TV

Professional Wrestling

Common in Professional Wrestling. Some wrestlers even have multiple finishing moves, either done alternately, or in sequence.
Several finishing moves have become synonymous with the wrestlers who used them.
- Of particular note is the Camel Clutch used by the Iron Sheik, which hit all cylinders by being visually effective, some real basis to it's effectiveness, and hitting the Evil Foreigner trope.
- The Claw, used by the Adkisson (Von Erich) family.
- Hulk Hogan's notorious Atomic Leg Drop, where it was puzzling to the casual observer if Hogan actually made any contact with the opponent.
- Chris Benoit's Crippler Crossface.
- Masahiro Chono's STF.
- Randy "Macho Man" Savage's flying elbow drop.
- Paul Wight's (The Big Show) choke slam.
- The Undertaker's Tombstone Piledriver.
- The Rock's People's Elbow (actually, insert any move you want here.) In the same vein, Sting's Stinger Splash.
- Steve Austin's Stone Cold Stunner.
- Diamond Dallas Page's Diamond Cutter.
- Jake "The Snake" Robert's DDT.
- Ric Flair's Figure Four leglock.
- Triple H's Pedigree.
Finishing moves also have included the Rule Of Funny .
- Mick Foley, in his non-Cactus Jack personas of Dude Love and Mankind, would parody other wrestler's signature moves. The most famous would be Dude Love's "Sweet Shin Music," a parody of Shawn Michael's "Sweet Chin Music" aka the super kick. Dude Love would do Shawn's trademark stomp, and then kick the opponent in the shins. When the opponent doubled over in pain, he would execute a DDT.
- The Honky Tonk Man, himself an Elvis parody, would do a hip shake before executing a swinging neckbreaker, which he called "Shake, Rattle and Roll."
- Rick Rude used a hangman's neckbreaker with creepy LGBT overtones and called it the Rude Awakening.
The legendary tag teams also have legendary finishing moves, the most famous being The Legion of Doom's Doomsday Device.
- The Dudley's were notorious for breaking tables as part of their finishers.
Several finishing moves have been copied so often, that they are no longer associated with a single wrestler, although sometimes little variations are added just to appear different.
- Variations of the Boston Crab have been used by Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Sting, and more.
- Tito Santana's flying forearm (nicknamed lovingly by Jerry Lawler as the Flying Jalapeno) was later used as a finishing move by Lex Luger, and today is no longer even considered a finishing move.
- The superkick, first made popular by Chris Adams, was later used by his student Shawn Michaels and others.
- The choke slam is now a signature move of all "giant" wrestlers.
- The top rope splash has been used by Eddie Guerrero, various tag teams, and more.
- The moonsault, a notoriously difficult move to execute, is no longer used as a finisher, but has a prominent place in the 5MovesOfDoom in lightweight and ladies' wrestling.
- The cobra clutch, a form of sleeper hold, was used by both Sgt. Slaughter and Ted Dibiase ("The Million Dollar Dream") while they were both active in the WWF.
- The fisherman's suplex was a finishing move for Harley Race and Kurt "Mr. Perfect" Henning, but is a staple move for light heavyweight and ladies competition.
Finishing moves are also subject to Villain Decay, as more and more elaborate moves make previous moves seem much weaker by comparison. Ivan Putski used a double axe handle blow as his finisher in the '70's, but today it probably isn't even good enough to be one of the Five Moves Of Doom.
- Also in this category, every single move Ric Flair uses.
- Hulk Hogan's Atomic Leg Drop.
- Chair shots, kendo sticks, guitars, etc. even though they are still just as dangerous. Recently, to Gain A Level Of Badass, Triple H used a sledgehammer, and getting hit by a car (and even car bombs) became a standard prop.
Several finishing moves have more to do with character development than actual utility. The Ur example would be the Undertaker's Casket Matches, where as soon as the casket is closed, the opponent is considered defeated.
- Breakaway props are also in this category. All country-music themed wrestlers (Honky Tonk Man, Jeff Jarrett) carry prop guitars that they use during the course of the match to cheat.
- LGBT-themed attacks are generally considered more character building rather than effective.
  - Goldust would use LGBT finishing moves, usually involving groin attacks, male-to-male kisses or inappropriate body contact.
  - Rikishi's Stink Face, where he would sit on the opponent's face, also had LGBT overtones. Interestingly, Vince Mc Mahon would use this to as part of his "Kiss My Ass" gimmick.
  - In a similar vein, Yokozuna's Butt Bomb was used to emphasize how heavy he was.
- On several memorable occasions, Jake "The Snake" Roberts would bring one of his pet pythons to the match. During one of Andre the Giant's runs in the WWF, he was given a snake phobia.
- Before women became legitimate talents, limp-wristed slaps by female managers (like Miss Elizabeth or Lita) would be the equivalent to a chair shot or Mr. Fuji's kendo stick.
Several moves have been used as finishers by some wrestlers, and part of the 5 Moves of Doom of other wrestlers, sometimes in the same federation simultaneously.
- In various incarnations, the sleeper hold has been used as finisher, a move, or as a rest hold.
- The double leg takedown was used as a finisher by Arn Anderson (Spinebuster) and a setup move by the Big Bossman (Bossman Slam).
- Variations of the suplex are used as a finisher by Koko B. Ware and Bill Goldberg, but as a move by Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit.
- The hurricanrana is a regular move performed by Rey Misterio Jr several times during one of his matches, a leaping version is used as his finisher, and a standing version is done by Scott Steiner as the Frankensteiner, and is a staple move for light heavyweights and ladies wrestling.
Another type of finishing move has more flash and substance, and people would often question if the move actually hurt or not, although in the days where suspension of disbelief was strongest, these were often accepted by the audience.
- The most notorious of this type would be variations of spinning an opponent, like the airplane spin, in that being dizzy somehow knocked out the opponent.
- The Kiwi Roll, used by Chavo Guerrero, popular in Mexico, is incomprehensible in the US.
- Flash paper was a common type of cheat, until a wrestler (can't find the source atm) was badly burned.
- The Gorilla Press, invented by Gorilla Monsoon, and later used as a finisher by the Ultimate Warrior, was simply a body slam raised about a foot higher.
- Although visually stunning and expertly performed, it is clear that the opponent's face and head don't touch the canvas in either Triple H's Pedigree nor the Undertaker's Tombstone Piledriver.
- Jackknifing in the middle of a top rope splash doesn't add any extra impact to Eddie Guerrero's Frog Splash over any other splash.
- To help sell a particularly weak finishing move (e.g. the Von Erich's Claw,) the opponent would cut themselves with a hidden razor, in a practice called blading, to pretend that the move was more dangerous than it actually was.
Cheating would comprise an entire category of finishing moves.
- Brass knuckles, rolls of coins, and other "punch improvers" were often used, most interestingly by Steven Regal in his "Power of the Punch," brass knuckles-aided, finishing move.
- Mr. Fuji, as mentioned above, would finish a match with a strike from his kendo stick.
- All garbageman gimmick wrestlers would somehow find a way to use a garbage can during the match.
- Jimmy Hart's megaphone often ended matches.
- As expected, subversion abounded as the Face would counter, reverse, take away, show the ref, or otherwise win the match by using the heel's cheating method.
- As a corollary to the Glass Jawed Referree, incumbent champions would attack the referee to gain a DQ to keep the belt.
- In a rare case of a Face having an outside object, Hacksaw Jim Duggan would often bring a 2X4 board to the ring, although he rarely used it to cheat to win. He was much more likely to have it grabbed by the heel and used against him.
- Outside objects were a fixture in ECW, "Hardcore" or "shoot" matches, although rarely did they decide the outcome of the match.
- A favorite of heels, they would put their legs on the ropes to gain additional leverage during a pin, or pull the trunks during a roll-up.
Odd subversions of finishing moves also occurred when the script couldn't be followed because of injuries during the match.
- In 1997's Summerslam, Owen Hart was scripted to drop the IC title against Steve Austin, but accidentally broke Austin's neck in a botched piledriver. To maintain the script's outcome, Steve Austin used a roll-up pin to win the title.
- In the infamous Hell in the Cell match at King of the Ring, Mick Foley sustained severe injuries after being chokeslammed off the top of the cage onto the announcer's table, and then chokeslammed on top of the cage, breaking the wire, and then falling down to the mat. He was knocked out several times in the match, and was unable to recall events. The Undertaker used a stalling tactic to allow Foley to regain consciousness, and they finished the match.
- Gruesomely supported in 1990, when Shawn Michael's Rockers tag team accidentally broke the neck of unknown Charles Austin. When Austin whispered to Marty Jannetty that he was severely injured, Jannetty had no choice but to roll him into the middle of the ring for Shawn's finishing move, a flying elbow off the top rope. Luckily, Austin would later get his revenge by A) not becoming a parplegic and B) winning a $26.7 million lawsuit against the WWF.
And then, there's a whole category of finishing moves that are just weird and/or surreal.
- Of course, Mick Foley would have one with his Mandible Claw. As time went by, it began to be looked on as a rather lame finishing move, and then he added a twist through self-parody: creating a sock personality (Socko), pulling the sock from his groin area, wearing the sock on his hand like a hand puppet, and then doing the Mandible Claw. Ring announcers would then comment that the move was effective not because of the hold itself, but because of the cleanliness of the sock.
- In a case of a finishing move arms race, the Dudleys would increase the number of tables they slammed opponents through, reaching rather ludicrous proportions when slamming through 3 or more tables.
- In his memorable return as Chainsaw Charley, the chainsaw using serial killer, Terry Funk did one groin attack after pulling out his opponent's athletic cup.
- Haku/Meng (aka Tonga Fifta, one half of the Faces of Fear) had an arsenal of moves as part of his Five Moves Of Doom, but his finishing moves were rather odd. One of them, the Tongan Death Grip, was basically a Von Erich Claw applied to the soft area under the chin (try it, and see if it hurts.) He also had the Tongan Spike, which appeared to be his thumb jammed into the jugular vein. His Five Moves Of Doom, on the other hand, consisted of power moves like the atomic drop, super kick, power bomb, and many other moves other wrestlers were using as their finishers.
- The Finger Poke Of Doom signaled the death knell for WCW.
- Ron Garvin invented a rather interesting finishing move called "The Garvin Stomp," where he would walk around a prone wrestler and stomp every section of their body. As anybody who's had a charley horse knows, that is a pretty cool way to kayfabe cripple somebody. However, for whatever reason, he was the only one who ever used it.
  - Randy Orton uses it, though not as a finishing move. He's an asshole, though, so it makes sense to kick them while they're down...
- Another example of the finishing move arms race occurred during the Von Erich/Freebird feud in the WCCW. In the first match, Kevin Von Erich used the Claw to win. In the second match, a 2nd member of the Freebirds ran in, and Kevin used the left-handed version of the Claw on the second Freebird. In the third match, he had the Claw on the first Freebird, left-handed on the 2nd Freebird, and when the third Freebird ran in, he used a leg scissors, so he had all three in a hold and wasn't touching the ground.
  - An interesting subversion occurred when the heels of the WCCW figured out that they could block the Claw, Three Stooges Style by putting their hand in front of their forehead, which is when the Von Erichs unleashed...the ABDOMINAL CLAW!
- As part of his character, Shane "The Hurricane" Helms parodied the choke slam used by the larger wrestlers. His version, called the Hurrichokeslam, involved him dramatically grabbing a much larger opponent by the throat, and then failing to lift him up. This was especially funny the time he tried it on the Big Show, as his arm was fully extended to reach the Big Show's throat. Rock, it's online.
- John "Earthquake" Tenta, a 400 lb. wrestler, used the Earthquake splash, which had three steps: First, he would jump around the opponent's body, shaking the ring, and then run back and forth in the ropes, and then do a flying squat on top of the victim. For some strange reason, his opponent would try to sell the jumping part of the move as causing pain.
- W!! O!! R!! M!! Pose. Pose. Standing elbow drop.

Close Professional Wrestling

Tabletop Games

Video Games

"Finish him!" The Mortal Kombat games are infamous for their "secret" Fatality finishing moves, which evolved in later games into Babality, Animality, Friendship, Brutality, and so on.
- From Deadly Alliance onward, you can FINISH HIM! before the round ends in some arenas. You don't get the bonus koins, though. (You get 100 koins in Armageddon, but that's nothing compared to the 500 you can get with a kustom fatality.) And for some reason, if you do it on round 1, he gets up again for the next round.
Madworld has a finisher for each boss, one which makes the Mortal Kombat fatalities look reserved by comparison. One involves shooting someone so many times they get skeletonized, then explode.
Almost any Capcom fighter with a super meter. While not strictly a finishing move, since you can perform them any time your meter is full, they do produce special effects when the player lands a killing blow with one, possibly including the announcer Calling Your Attacks, a special icon denoting your win by super move, or a dramatic background flash.
- Of particular note is Akuma's Shun Goku Satsu, which depending on which continuity you're looking at either is an inumerable number of punches, each firing a Hadoken, or Akuma drags you to hell. In Street Fighter III, he gets another secret attack, the Kongo Kokuretsuzan, which Akuma has used to split mountains.
Old-school robot fighting game One Must Fall has the Scrap and Destruction-moves after an opponent was defeated, which basically work the same as Mortal Kombat's Finishing moves.
Ultra and Ultimate combos in Killer Instinct. Ultra Combos function like a No Holds Barred Beatdown, while an Ultimate Combo is your standard "Fatality" finisher. If you're doing exceptionally well in a battle, you can also go for the dreaded "Humiliation", where you force your opponent to dance in shame.
The videogame Mega Man X: Command Mission features a "Final Strike" move where all the characters fire everything they have at the enemy — sometimes a pointless gesture, since it can only be done when the enemy has received 75% of their current HP in damage in one action (i.e. one character's attack). However, it can be a lot more useful on bosses.
The Instant Kills from the Guilty Gear franchise.
- And its successor Blaz Blue has Astral Heats. Unlike the aforementioned instant kills, you can only use an Astral Heat in the final round of a battle (one win for each character in a best-of-three fight).
In the game Gears Of War, shooting something down not through the head won't kill them, it will incapacitate them, meaning that they can be finished by a melee attack, a headshot to their downed body, more bullets in them, an explosive or just wait for them to bleed out (aside from the multiplayer mode Execution, in which they can get back up after waiting long enough, removing the bleed out possibility). Explosives and headshots automatically kill when doing enough damage if they are still standing. In the singleplayer mode, however, your enemies don't automatically become 'downed' from taking too much damage from bullets, unless shot in the knees or perhaps legs.
- And don't forget the chainsaw bayonet! Instant kills any enemy it hits (even in multiplayer), with the downsides that you have to be close enough to kiss them for it to work, it takes a few seconds to rev up, and if you are hit during the animation you are stunned and become easy pickings for any player with half a brain. Its riskier than the stomp, but isn't the payoff worth it?
  - CHAINSAW BAYONET... why are you even asking that?
In the Real Time Strategy game Warhammer 40000: Dawn Of War, nearly every unit capable of fighting in close combat (which is most of them) has a number of special killing animations when they win the fight. Some even have special animations depending on who the poor sap is.
- A particularly impressive one is when a Space Marine Brother-Captain takes down a Khorne Bloodthirster, complete with a Colossus Climb.
- Although you don't get to see it very often, Tau Fire Warriors kill human-sized melee opponents by placing their very powerful guns to the enemy's face, then pulling the trigger.
Every character in Valkyrie Profile has one of these (called "Purify Weird Soul" in-game), and can only use them by filling a combo meter. Timing the order of the party's attacks is important, so if one wants to use these finishing moves, Button Mashing is a no-no. With careful planning, it's possible to have all four of Valkyrie's party members use these in a single turn.
- Valkyrie Profile 2 increased the scale of these to the epic level. They are no longer called "Purify Weird Soul", but "Soul Crush" instead. By the end of the game, these moves range from summoning 50 meter tall lances to ripping asteroids out of orbit to invoking supernova-like explosions.
Rogues and Cat-form Druids in World Of Warcraft have Finishing Moves which are powered by Combo Points given by their other attacks (and which consume them). They come in multiple variations, some of which aren't particularly suited to finish a battle. For example, the Rogue has a rarely-used Finishing Move that reduces the opponent's armor instead of damage.
- Warriors have a more standard example: the Execute skill converts all of their rage into damage in one attack, but the enemy's health has to be below 20% to use it.
  - Which is often a massive overkill if the attack is critical. Except against raid bosses, which still can withstand a lot of punishment at 20% health. There is even one that starts at 20%.
- Warlocks can spec for Shadowbutn spell, which is an instant cast spell that can be used at any time, but unless the target dies within a few seconds of casting, you lose a Soul Shard so it's mainly used as a finishing move. Warlocks also have Drain Soul, a channeled spell which deals 4 times it's normal damage when the target it below 25% health. There is also a high-end demonology talent that reduces the cast time of Soul Fire ( normally very impractical spell due to it's long cast time) by 60% if the target is below 35% health and is hit by Shadowbolt or Incinerate.
  - Something of a trend lately, first Paladins got a slightly less deadly but ranged version and Hunters are scheduled to receive their own version in Wrath of the Lich King.
  - And Priests' Shadow Word: Death damages the caster if it doesn't kill the target.
  - Several classes also have talents that increase damage dealt to targets that are low on health.
Either under special circumstances never revealed or just randomly, the Samurai Shodown IV videogame allowed the winning player to perform a fatality-like move on the opponent, or a losing player to perform a fatality on themselves. Later, in the arcade version of Samurai Shodown V Special, finishing moves called Zetsumei Ougi were introduced, which like in Guilty Gear would automatically end the match, and in a very gory fashion.
The Final Smashes in Super Smash Bros. Brawl don't necessarily auto-KO opponents, but they're still very flashy and require the use of a special item to perform.
- Some of them are guaranteed KO's, provided that they connect, of course.
- Only one of the Final Smashes is an instant KO. And it is still not absolutely guaranteed to kill, because there are some areas where the target will ricochet and still survive, or "Super-Armored" against by something like Ike's Aether, which will result in the target taking 61% and not moving at all.
- There's also the Dragoon, which is a an item that when it hits it is like a weaker version of Marth's Critical Hit (the OHKO Final Smash) that anyone can use. Likewise, it also can be "Super-Armored" against.
- Of course, since this is Smash, this all assumes there's a place for the opponent to go in the first place. If you're playing in a boxed-in stage made through the stage builder, you could Critical Hit someone with 999% health and they wouldn't go anywhere. (Theoretically. Whether the game's collision detection can properly handle a character flying at mach 10 is another issue.)
- test this theory.
The entire premise of Battle Chess was finishing moves... in chess! It had dozens of animated fatalities depending on which type of piece took which other piece, and the gimmick alone made it one of the most popular chess titles of its time.
Colonel in Mega Man Battle Network 6 has a Finishing Move that blinds you with his cape, then cuts you in half (complete with the screen going black, then a sword flash). At first, it was believed that the move was an instant-kill; later, it was discovered that Colonel's AI simply only used the move when your HP was below its damage.
- The wonderful thing about that move is when you have Undershirt installed, it doesn't kill you, but it does turn Mega Man to angry mode, doubling the damage of his next attack. If one has a powerful attack already lined up, it can be possibly to take out Colonel on the next shot. Unless You Suck so much that by the time he pulls this on you you haven't really dented him, of course.
In some Super Robot Wars games, the animation for some attacks (usually that Humongous Mecha's high-end attack) extends whenever the attack destroys an enemy; these are called Dynamic Kills. They often just show the mecha watching the explosion or striking a pose against it, or continuing past the normal attack animation to finish the target off, but the worst example has to be the Super Robot Wars W's resident god-bot Valzacard and it's Exa Nova Shoot OVER. Normally, this attack just pierces the enemy with multiple crystal ray things in an already delightfully overblown sequence involving transforming and cutscenes. If it would kill an enemy, it then seals them in a giant red alchemic-esque circle, where six shining copies of the Valzacard charge it and erase it from existence. (Link; normally, the attack stops before the crystals turn red.)
- This Troper feels the Dynamic Kill for it's Dimension Breaker is worse: The Dynamic Kill lives up to its name by cracking a hole in reality, and blasting the victim clear outta the galaxy through Hyperspace. (You decide for yourself).
- Solvlius Rex of K presents a rarity: a dynamic kill that's considered worse than the normal animation. The mecha calls the stages of its Crystal Heart Sword sequence on the cockpit screen (in Gratuitous German), then finishes it off by displaying "SIEG". But the Dynamic Kill skips the "SIEG" when it goes into the rest of is animation. The irony, of course, is that "sieg" means victory and would be more appropriate to a killing shot.
- Partially subverted in the Dynamic Kill for the Astray Red Frame's Power Loader: It's normal melee attack has the Loader clamping down on the target with a massive claw, then punching them away. The Dynamic Kill actually cuts the animation short as the clamp attack crushes them right there.
These are a vital game mechanic in Ninja Gaiden II for 360 in order to ensure that enemies are truly dead and not trying to grab Ryu for a suicide bombing; fortunately, it is easy to pull these off. They even have the snappy name of "Obliteration Techniques". Ninja Gaiden had the Fiend Sealer and its variants, which can only be used on downed opponents.
The new MMORPG Age Of Conan features "fatalities" which sometimes trigger upon the use of a combo or spell. In contrast to the normal MMO kill, where the enemy just falls over, these involve decapitation, arterial sprays, electrocution, and such. Even better, upon delivering such a fatality, your character receives a buff for a few seconds, increasing damage and regeneration of mana and stamina. The type of fatality depends on the weapon used (one-handed edged, one-handed blunt, etc.)
Amusingly, the Tenchu franchise features opening finishers. If the protagonist manages to hit a guard who doesn't know you're around, you're treated to cinematic, sometimes disturbingly convoluted killing strokes. No matter how many Hit Points the guard had, he's instakilled. If you are seen, however...oh boy, you're in trouble. For all your training and mystical ninja killskillz? You Suck in melee combat. As a result, the only time a true Tenchu master should be getting into melee combat at all is when he or she is fighting a boss, since bosses cannot be stealth-killed.
- Justified, since shinobi are trained more to be stealthy assassins than powerful melee fighters. You're still skilled, but a samurai is trained all his life to fight in open battle. They are more powerful than you and don't have to worry about Conservation Of Ninjutsu.
The Manhunt Series also have Opening Finishers as Sneak Attacks. Aproach an enemy with a shard of glass for the right time and kill him the most gruesome way possible.
Okami had you figuring out the finishing move on the enemy and then preforming it after you've defeated the enemy as it enters a Bullet Time death to gain Demon Fangs.
Link has a finishing move in The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess that can be used whenever an enemy has been knocked over. If you press A before the enemy gets back up, Link does an over-head jump strike, stabbing the monster through the chest or stomach. Later he also gains an attack called "Mortal Draw", which lets you perform an instant-kill on any enemy as long as you keep your sword sheathed and the enemy is close enough. (Putting you at risk of getting hit.)
Soul Calibur IV introduces the "critical finish" to the series, though the mechanics of it make it very difficult to pull of in most matches. It's mostly there as a deterrent to those abuse guarding. However, it's always a 1-Hit KO, and you get a special victory pose if you win a match with one.
There are plenty of these in Achaea, with the available choices depending on the character class. One of the more graphic ones is called 'Cleave', and uses a broadsword to slice the helpless opponent in two. Vertically.
Tales Of Vesperia has finishing moves, called fatal strikes, that can only be performed after you have sufficiently damaged an enemy with a large enough amount of related skills. Though they aren't instant kills — they just do a very large amount of damage and are usually enough to finish off weaker enemies. But don't be surprise to use three or more on one boss and still not kill it. More conventionally, Burst Artes and Mystic Artes are performed by expending the overlimit meter filled by hitting or being hit by the enemy repeatedly. They are very shiny with special animation and even a special quote from each character as you perform their unique mystic arte. Horribly, horribly subverted by the "minimum damage" skill which make even these two flashy moves do only one point of damage. The fact that you get a lot of Grade points for performing Burst and Mystic artes means that this has become a central pillar of the technique known as "grade farming"
- Most of the Tales Series Hi-Ougis (also known as Mystic Artes or Aurora Skills, among other monikers) are simple Limit Breaks with a nice illustration. While they trigger off of varies from game to game, with many of the most powerful only triggering when the character in question is at very low levels of health and can't be used on the first playthrough of a game. A few of them lean more towards being finishing moves. Anise' Fever Time in Tales Of The Abyss will penalize you something like 200k Gald if the enemies survive, Presea's Hien Messhoujin in the Japanese port of Tales Of Symphonia only triggers if all other party members are down for the count, and Tales Of Eternia has a number of true finishing move hi-ougis that will only trigger if the enemy is at low enough health to be killed by the attack. For fun, control Meredy or Keele in the fight against Sekundes and cast Indignation when S is under 50% health.
In Fire Emblem, Characters of the Assassin class have a skill called "Silencer" that does Exactly What It Says On The Tin — it instantly kills anything, even if the Assassin could not damage it with its normal attacks. It looks the same as a Critical Hit, but there's a flash that makes it different.
- In Fire Emblem 8: The Sacred Stones, Silencer would even override a General's Great Shield, which prevents the General from taking any damage.
- In Fire Emblem 9: Path of Radiance, Silencer is called Lethality, and you have to use a rare item on the game's only assassin to make use of it.
  - In Fire Emblem 10: Radiant Dawn, it's still called Lethality and the assassin from Path of Radiance already has it when he joins your army.
In Soul Reaver, the only way to kill the vampires is to use a finishing move, either impaling them on a spike or a spear, lighting them on fire, blowing them up with the Soul Reaver, or using sunlight or water. If you run into a vampire and you don't have access to any of these, you're better off just running away.
Prince Of Persia: Sands of Time had the Prince need to dispatch sand creatures by planting the Dagger of Time in them after knocking them down, lest they get back up again. Warrior Within and The Two Thrones (aka Rival Swords) removed this need.
The Wild Stomp from Devil May Cry 3, with Dante filling a prone enemy with lead and then kicking its body away, is clearly meant to be one of these, but on higher difficulties it is never enough.
- Dante's "Dance Macabre" attack in Swordmaster style, on the other hand, will murder almost anything that isn't a boss in Devil May Cry 3 and 4. In 3, the combination even ends with a final big swing and Dante saying "Down and out!".
  - Assuming, of course, that it doesn't get interrupted by that one enemy lurking just offscreen.
Alyssa has a devastating Finishing Move in Clock Tower 3 which can kill the first few bosses in a single hit, but which needs to be unlocked by tethering the enemy in place by pulling off several charged shots from different angles before the enemy can break free. Given that Alyssa must spend most of the fight running around in circles looking for an opening to get in a good shot, the fights are hard enough. In the final battle, however, her opponent Lord Burroughs has his own finishing move which works in exactly the same way, and is a guaranteed one-hit kill, and he doesn't need to charge his shots as Alyssa does to bind her in place. A minor laundry issue may ensue.
Failure to perform finishing moves on fallen foes in Eternal Darkness often results in their standing back up & attacking you again. Don't abandon your melee weapons; gun finishers burn ammo quicker than you'd think.
City Of Heroes/City of Villains players who buy the "Super Booster I: Cyborg" expansion pack gain a "Self Destruct" power that can be used as a Pyhrric finishing move — although it kills the character using it, it does so with a massive explosion that inflicts obscene amounts of damage to every enemy in a rather large area.
The Force Unleashed combines this with Reaction Commands; when a boss's health is low enough, pressing the right buttons and/or moving the Wiimote at the right intervals allows Starkiller to perform an over-the-top (and often brutal) finisher that varies from one boss to the next.
- So does God Of War
In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Soma must finish off bosses by sealing them within magic glyphs. Failure to do so within the time limit will just resurrect the boss with enough power to put up a fight again.
Kingdom Of Loathing: Finishing an opponent with a Disco Combo ending in a Face Stab results in FATALITY! and increased stat points for the fight.
The Warriors has this as special attack during rage mode. If done correctly, you can instantly kill enemies, excluding bosses.
Onimusha(all of them) has a finishing stab that is more or less an instant kill to non-boss enemies when they are prone on the ground.
Even Deadly Creatures has this. The Scorpion, in the game, plays as more of brawler than the Tarantula, and consequently it has the default special ability of Finishing Move, where battering an enemy into sufficient weakness and then pressing the C button triggers a Quick Time Event where a specific set of Wiimote and Nunchuck gestures triggers an enemy specific, and very brutal, killing strike.
Mana Khemia Alchemists Of Al Revis's Finishing Bursts, Exactly What It Says On The Tin...
Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side.
The little-known fighter WeaponLord had "barbaric victories" that functioned similarly to traditional fatalities; during a brief stun animation at the end of the match characters' moves took on fatal properties (projectiles lopped off limbs, etc.) These had unique ties into gameplay. If you were killed via barbaric victory you were not allowed to continue and received an automatic game-over. If you did not finish your opponent with a barbaric victory you had to face every opponent you failed to dispatch as such in a gauntlet level before the final boss.
The end of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story has Bowser finishing off Dark Bowser with five charged up punches, the last one being so powerful that Dark Bowser flips into the air and explodes from it.