History Main / OneUp

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': In all of the mainstream platformers you get a 1UP by destroying TV monitors with the character's head on it. Additionally, you can get a 1UP via LawOfOneHundred with the rings you collect in the levels, though this noticeably harder compared to other series, due to Sonic losing rings when he takes damage.
** Starting with Sonic 2, you also get lives for [[Every10000Points every 50,000 points]] you score in most installments.
** Some Zones in Sonic 3, as well as some special stages, allow you to gather hundreds of rings. However, the LawOfOneHundred only counts for when you reach 100 and 200 rings.
** One of the main reasons why ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' is the first Sonic game in ages you're likely to see the Game Over screen in more than once is that for the first time 100 rings don't give extra lives. The only way to get lives is to find them hidden in levels or get A rank or better or attack your score during the results screen.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' series, 1-ups are represented by a an icon of the words "1-UP" in earlier games, and a toy-like miniature of your current playable character in later games. They tend to be uncommon, since ''Kirby'' games avoid ContinuingIsPainful and that usually means [[MeaninglessLives lives are meaningless]] (often, getting a game over will send you back to the same exact place you died in). However, in the more difficult modes where you ''can't'' continue, they become much more valuable, and thus much better-hidden.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' series, 1-ups are represented by a an icon of the words "1-UP" in earlier games, and a toy-like miniature of your current playable character in later games. They tend to be uncommon, since ''Kirby'' games avoid ContinuingIsPainful and that usually means LivesAreMeaningless (often, getting a game over will send you back to the same exact place you died in). However, in the more difficult modes where you ''can't'' continue, they become much more valuable, and thus much better-hidden.

* A reward for EveryTenThousandPoints or [[LawOfOneHundred every 100 coins]].

** In the first trilogy, get a 1-up [[EveryTenThousandPoints every 20,000 points]].

** Starting with Sonic 2, you also get lives for [[EveryTenThousandPoints every 50,000 points]] you score in most installments.

* ''VideoGame/BattleGaregga'' gives you an extra life [[EveryTenThousandPoints every 1 million points]], and also offers one in stage 3 if you destroy a midboss in a particularly specific manner. Given that keeping the game's DynamicDifficulty managable involves, among other things, [[ViolationOfCommonSense dying at periodic intervals to tame it]], ''you will need those lives.''

* While ''VideoGame/{{Xevious}}'' has the player getting these [[EveryTenThousandPoints at certain point values]], they also come in the form of hard to find S-flags,[[note]]an item from ''VideoGame/RallyX'' that became a recurring item in later [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] games,[[/note]] which unlike Sol towers, don't cause the Solvalou's bomb sight to flash when putting it over them. They are only found in specific areas, and their exact location changes every time the game is played.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1307742228068680100
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* ''VideoGame/BloodOmenLegacyOfKain'' has the Heart of Darkness, which, like previous examples, can instantly restore Kain to (un)life if he dies with at least one in his possession. They can also be used as healing items, and while they're available all over the place, there's a very sneaky (and awesome) way to instantly acquire 99 of them at once. And no, it's not a bug.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Dgeneration}} D/Generation]]'' gives you an extra life for each civilian you save. You'll need 'em.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSeedII'' has a curious example of this. Any time you witness the death of a Dark Worlder you receive a 1-up; if Mike is killed, their life-force will be sacrificed in Mike's place. [[spoiler:The very first 1-up you receive upon entry to the Dark World must be used to die in a specific place after obtaining a key item, or else the game is rendered {{Unwinnable}}.]]

* In the ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage'' series, 1-Ups can be rarely found in certain stages. In the first game, it was an icon of the main characters grouped together, the sequel has a simple 1-Up icon, and the third game has an icon of Adam Hunter.
* In ''VideoGame/DevilsDare'', there are the Soul Tokens, which give an extra life to the player, when they're otherwise forced to buy far more expensive continues.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''

* ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheTriad'' has two extra-life power-ups, which give 1 or 3 lives. There is a little catch, though: if your health is less than 75% when you pick one of these up, one of the lives from the power-up restores you full health instead of giving you an extra life. The game also include life items which will give you an extra life if you collect enough of them (they come in values of 1, 5, 10, and 25; and 100 are needed for an extra life). The game also gives you a bonus of 10000 points for every extra life you have when you finish the game.

* ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' has them in the form of blue spheres with the protagonist's face on them.

* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheDarksideChronicles'', the First Aid Spray that usually serves as a full health restore in the series acts more like an extra life, letting the players immediately continue a fight instead of being sent back to a checkpoint after dying. Notably, the instruction manual for the former game says the player can hold up to three of these items at once, but there's always exactly one per chapter and they don't carry over, so the limit never actually matters.
* In the ''Time Crisis'' clone ''VideoGame/GunfighterTheLegendOfJesseJames'' (both games) Jesse can gain an extra Continue by shooting {{Wanted Poster}}s of himself.

* In ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'', the 1-up item was a Mega Man head. In later games, the item became a copy of Mega Man's helmet. The ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series returned to the disembodied heads for the first three games, before the remainder of the series used helmets, while the ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' series both resorted to simple '''Z''' and '''ZX''' icons. In ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'', the [=BckupChps=], represented as blue-colored computer chips, instead raises the maximum number of Back Ups (i.e. lives) [=MegaMan=] can use when entering the cyberworld.
* In ''VideoGame/MightyNo9'', 1-ups take the form of Xel Cores surrounded by multi-colored rays of light, however, unlike most platformers, the extra lives do not carry over between stages and instead resets to the default value.
* The classic platformer ''VideoGame/MonsterBash'' allowed the character to gain more lives by collecting voodoo-dolls of himself.
* ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'' provides a handy explanation to the one-up system: upon dying for the first time, the player is taken to Death's door where Death explains that squirrels, much like cats, are exempt in death as they have as many lives as they "think they can get away with". From that point on, the player can collect squirrel tails around the game world to score extra chances.
* ''VideoGame/CommanderKeen'':
** In the first trilogy, get a 1-up [[EveryTenThousandPoints every 20,000 points]].
** In games 4 through 6, three different ways:
*** A one-up after the first 20,000 points, then double the points after (40 thousand, 80 thousand, 160 thousand, etc.).
*** Collecting 100 of the life items: Lifewater droplets (4), vials of Vitalin (5) or flying creatures called Vivas (6).
*** Collecting a big version of the aforementioned life item: a flask of Lifewater (4) a Keg O' Vitalin (5) or a Queen Viva (6).
** In ''Keen Dreams'', a figure of Keen waving. You can also get three 1UPs and eight "flower power" seeds by getting an "all-seeing eye".
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Glider}}'' series, pieces of paper. (You're a paper airplane.)

* In ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' you collect balloons with a picture of Donkey Kong's head (or Diddy or Dixie's heads in the first two sequels). When you die, one of your balloons pop, and when they're all gone, it's GameOver. There are also green 2-ups and blue 3-ups. There's even an enemy that ''takes 1-ups from you'' instead of killing you. Subsequent balloons don't show any character's face.
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': In all of the mainstream platformers you get a 1UP by destroying TV monitors with the character's head on it. Additionally, you can get a 1UP via LawOfOneHundred with the rings you collect in the levels, though this noticeably harder compared to other series, due to Sonic losing rings when he takes damage.
** Starting with Sonic 2, you also get lives for [[EveryTenThousandPoints every 50,000 points]] you score in most installments.
** Some Zones in Sonic 3, as well as some special stages, allow you to gather hundreds of rings. However, the LawOfOneHundred only counts for when you reach 100 and 200 rings.
** One of the main reasons why ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' is the first Sonic game in ages you're likely to see the Game Over screen in more than once is that for the first time 100 rings don't give extra lives. The only way to get lives is to find them hidden in levels or get A rank or better or attack your score during the results screen.
** In ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4'' on consoles, you can match 3 cards with the Sonic symbol on it to get free lives in Casino Street Act 2. If you only get 1 or 2 cards at one time, they will stay on screen for 15 seconds or so. You can also match ring symbols (worth 10 rings for 3) or Eggman symbols (worth nothing).
* The titular rabbit's head in the ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit'' PC game. A "One up!" sound effect plays when the item is collected. In the second game, the item was changed to a text item that said "1Up."
* In ''VideoGame/Stinkoman20X6'', collecting an icon of Stinkoman's head grants the player an extra life. In an homage to this trope, the 20X6 version of Homestar is named 1-Up.
* The first ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}}'' game had these in the form of figurines fashioned after the titular character. The LawOfOneHundred also applied.
* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' has these in the form of golden statues in the shape of the bear; a life is also gained if all 100 musical notes are collected in a level (though their bigger purpose is to dispel musical gates that are in the way of the protagonists in Gruntilda's Lair). All subsequent games opt for unlimited lives.
* Lives in ''VideoGame/{{Bug|1995}}'' look like golden award medals of Bug's head (since he's a movie star), are generally easy to find, and easy to obtain via {{Bonus Level}}s. [[NintendoHard You're going to need them.]]
* ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'':
** You get a 1-up from purple chests that blink. The 1-ups are mini-figurines of Spyro himself. In addition to that, if you defeat enemies that you have already killed for their gems, they will drop either the 1-up statues (very rarely), or the much more abundant silver orbs. Collecting 20 of these orbs gives you another life.
** In ''Ripto's Rage'' and ''Year of the Dragon'', the 1-up statues were replaced with blue butterflies. They could be found in either Glass Jars, after completing a Skill Point challenge, or after killing every 10 fodder.
* In ''VideoGame/MagicalDoropie'', the 1-ups were miniatures of the heroine.
* In ''VideoGame/ToyStory'', Woody gets extra lives from picking up cowboy hats.
* ''VideoGame/TheFairylandStory'' has this in the form of the Book of Life.
* In ''VideoGame/BombJack'', extra lives were obtained by collecting "E" coins. These would appear only after collecting a certain number of gold coins.
* In ''VideoGame/ScoobyDooMysteryMayhem'' you can earn an extra life by collecting enough ingredients to make a sandwich.
* The ''VideoGame/DarkwingDuckCapcom'' game has dolls of Darkwing serving this purpose.
* In ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfLomax'', some of the breakable pots contain 1-Up balloons.
* ''VideoGame/TheSmurfs1994'': Smurf dolls provide the player with extra lives in all versions except the Gameboy Advance version, where the player has unlimited lives.
* In ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'', they can be found in some stages as disembodied head creatures resembling your chosen character. Freeing and collecting them gives you an extra live. Alternatively, collecting 200 crystals yields an extra life.
* In ''Rolo to the Rescue'', the extra life items are the elephant icons that are particularly plentiful in the {{Bonus Stage}}s.
* In ''VideoGame/KaoTheKangaroo'', you get an extra life whenever you collect 50 coins, and occasionally when you pick up the question mark powerup (which gives you a random pickup).
* ''VideoGame/{{Muri}}'': Picked up in levels. Usually hidden in some way. They look like the protagonist's armored head.
* ''VideoGame/BubbleAndSqueak'': They look like little doll versions of Squeak.
* ''VideoGame/FroggersAdventuresTempleOfTheFrog'' has butterflies that Frogger can eat using his tongue that grant him extra lives.

* ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' and its sequels have an item called a Life Shroom which automatically activates from inventory when Mario (or his partner, in Thousand-Year door) dies, keeping him alive and giving him 10 HP. They may also be selected from inventory.
* The ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' games have a 1-up Mushroom that restores the target player's health with half of his maximum HP. The 1-up Super does the same with full HP. In both cases, a character in the party must still be alive to administer it, and he uses his turn to do so.
* ''VideoGame/FableI'' and ''VideoGame/FableII'' have "Resurrection Phials", which activate automatically from the player character's inventory upon death to let them get right back up. They're sold in shops for around the price of a decent sword, yet [[GameplayAndStorySegregation none of the NPCs seem to use them]].

* ''VideoGame/SecretOfEvermore'' has an item called Pixie Dust and a call bead spell called Regenerate which will restore a small amount of HP if the Boy dies before they wear off. There's also an alchemy spell literally called "One Up", but it's not an example of the trope; it's just a full heal for the still-living Boy.

* In ''Cardinal Sins: VideoGame/JudgementSilversword Recycle Edition'', one stage tasks the player with collecting as many 1-ups as possible. The catch is that the 1-ups can be shot -- if a 1-up is shot too many times, it will ''explode'' and a [[BigNO "NO!"]] message will pop up.1
** The original ''Judgment Silversword'' and its successor ''VideoGame/{{Eschatos}}'' have extra lives drop after destroying a certain amount of enemies. The counter is never shown to the player and resets upon using a continue. Certain enemies in ''Eschatos'', like the spider mini-boss in Area 18, will always drop a 1-up.

* '''VideoGame/{{Meritous}}'': JustifiedExtraLives as physical vitality:

* The Resuscitate item in ''VideoGame/DinoCrisis'' acts as a OneUp; it revives Regina if she is killed, thus you can continue the game without having to reload your last save.

** This also happens in [[Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld the movie]] after defeating the fifth and sixth evil ex-boyfriends, twins. Both versions use a ''lot'' of VideoGameTropes.
--> '''Kim''': What are you doing?\\

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in an episode of "Howard and Nester" in ''Magazine/NintendoPower'', where Nester is called in to consult on a ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' movie. [[http://hn.iodized.net/08.htm Seen here.]]
-->'''Umberto:''' Come, tell [[ThirdPersonPerson Umberto]] how you know so much about up-ones?
-->'''[[spoiler: Howard]]:''' Up-whats?

* ''Series/MinuteToWinIt'', on those shows that it offered the "Blueprint Bonuses," had a 1-up as one of the two possibilities (the other was a 10-second bonus that you could apply to one attempt at one game).

* The first chapter of ''[[Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy Only You Can Save Mankind]]'' is called "The Hero With a Thousand Extra Lives", reflecting how many 1-ups Johnny has managed to get (as well as being a parody of ''Literature/TheHeroWithAThousandFaces'').

* Webcomic/WoodenPlankStudios had a story arc where [[Videogame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]] killed everyone else in the ''Videogame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' roster, so survivors [[Videogame/{{Tekken}} Kazuya]] and [[Videogame/{{Pokemon}} Incineroar]] had to find ways for revival, mostly being extra life methods such as green mushrooms and 100 rings.

* Lives in ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}'' look like golden award medals of Bug's head (since he's a movie star), are generally easy to find, and easy to obtain via {{Bonus Level}}s. [[NintendoHard You're going to need them.]]

* In ''Cardinal Sins: VideoGame/JudgementSilversword Recycle Edition'', one stage tasks the player with collecting as many 1-ups as possible. The catch is that the 1-ups can be shot -- if a 1-up is shot too many times, it will ''explode'' and a [[BigNO "NO!"]] message will pop up.

See JustifiedExtraLives when there is an in-universe explanation, often an {{expendable clone}}, or a [[JustForPun clOne-up]].

The distinction between the stockpile of extra lives and the LifeMeter has faded for most game genres. Consider that "video games" started as pinball machines, then moved to arcade consoles. Customers paid for the games a nickel, then a dime, then a quarter or 50¢ or more at a time (as increased complexity and inflation increased prices). Charging for each life was essential for the game to be paid for. With games moving into home consoles, the game was paid for from the beginning, so having a limited number of lives to play is no longer necessary for most games.

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'', Wade receives one [[spoiler:for playing a perfect game of ''VideoGame/PacMan'' on the video game museum world, Archade]], though he doesn't know it at the time, making a stealth ChekhovsGun.
* The first chapter of ''[[Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy Only You Can Save Mankind]]'' is called "The Hero With a Thousand Extra Lives", reflecting how many 1-ups Johnny has managed to get (as well as being a parody of ''Literature/TheHeroWithAThousandFaces'').
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'': In all of the mainstream platformers you get a 1UP by destroying TV monitors with the character's head on it. Additionally, you can get a 1UP via LawOfOneHundred with the rings you collect in the levels, though this noticeably harder compared to other series, due to Sonic losing rings when he takes damage.

* ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis'' gives us perhaps the most difficult method of obtaining a 1-up in any LightGunGame: you need to shoot 40 consecutive enemies without missing a shot. ''Project Titan'' makes this method easier by nailing 30 hits in a row no matter which enemy you shoot.