History Main / ATasteOfPower

* ''VideoGame/TheMatrixPathOfNeo'': You start the first level as Neo with a bunch of special moves and abilities... then the level ends and then it's back to regular guy Thomas Anderson until you get the abilities back. (Although as this level doubles as a test to suggest a difficulty for the main game, most players will find it more challenging than the next few... or even the next half of the game.)
* ''VideoGame/{{Nier}}'': the game's opening segment has you fight off swarms of Shades with Grimoire Noir, leveling up quickly and gaining new spells at a fast rate. Afterwards, when the game begins proper, you start back over at level 1, and when you obtain Grimoire Weiss, you only have the Dark Blast spell to start off, the other spells being obtained as you progress.

* Unlikely the two [[VideoGame/StarCraftIIWingsOfLiberty previous]] [[VideoGame/StarCraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm instalments]] of the ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'' trilogy, ''[[VideoGame/StarCraftIILegacyOfTheVoid Legacy of the Void]]'' starts with the player in control of a massive army of protoss warriors, including units you will only be able to recruit much later in the game. Immediately after the mission is over, [[spoiler:Amon mass mind-controls almost all living protoss]], leaving you with only a tiny force going forward.

* ''[[VideoGame/DotHackR1Games .hack//INFECTION]]'' has Orca, Kite's first Party Member. [[{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}} Good news, everyone!]] He's [[TheAce one of the strongest players around]]! [[TemptingFate Nothing can stop us now!]] Wait, who's this white-clad [[MysteriousWaif girl]]? What's with that [[MacGuffin book]] she gave him? And now we've got a [[TheGrimReaper new monster]] carrying a [[strike: [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic Cross]]]] [[{{Bowdlerization}} Q-Stick]] who's [[NighInvulnerable immune to Orca's attacks]]. [[OhCrap Uh oh...]]

* ''Videogame/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole:'' The game starts right after [[Videogame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth the last one]], with you and your party being utterly powerful heroes of a fantasy story. And then Cartman declares they're all superheroes now, and everyone starts back at the bottom as their superheroic alter-egos. Amusingly, you later use time travel to come back to this exact point in time, and your party while you still had this taste of power is a ''boss fight'' for your current party.

* In ''VideoGame/ChaosRingsIII'', the game begins with you controlling the legendary Thousand Voyager Johannes. Johannes starts out with a powerful high level Gene with awesome stats and skills and easily solos the forced encounters in the tutorial level. The game then switches to the Protagonist, who hasn't even ''heard'' of Genes yet or has one equipped.

* The new ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' game has a tutorial shortly after the beginning with several powers available to you. Although you get to practice them all, don't expect to use ''any'' of them until the game tells you it's okay (except zip line kicks, those you can do right away).

When starting a video game, a player sometimes starts out with an extremely powerful party, character, weapon/equipment or ability, which can easily slaughter anything it comes across. The player is in no real danger of losing, and often [[ForegoneVictory can't lose even if they tried]]. But this incredible power never lasts long. Once the introductory segment is complete, the player switches to the ''real'' party, usually at [[StarterEquipment level 1 with basic starter gear]] and/or [[BroughtDownToNormal stripped of all those cool powers]].

* In the first Chinese mission in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' after a bit of exploration you can find ''two'' Overlords, which is arguably the most powerful ground unit in the game - basically a Generals version of Mammoth/Apocalypse. They turn the mission into a walk in the park, especially if you upgrade at leas one of them with the all-healing propaganda tower.
** Subverted in one later Chinese mission, which starts with a massive armored column (including Overlord tanks) moving across a bridge. Then the bridge is bombed by GLA, leaving you with only a handful of troops making it across with which to rebuild and retake the city.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer3TiberiumWars'' allows you to use the GDI's superweapon in the tutorial mission. However, you won't be able to use it again until much later into the game. Also an example of CutscenePowerToTheMax. While being highly devastating, Ion Cannon does not, normally, evaporate entire enemy bases in one shot. The NOD buildings are just rigged to all die no matter what via map scripting - try firing the ion cannon at the outskirt of the base rather than the center.

* ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'' does this in the UEF campaign, where the player's commanding officer gives him a couples of T2 tanks and missile launchers while lampshading the fact he can't build them because "they're a bit above your pay-grade". The don't break the mission right open, but careful use of the missile units will make clearing out Point Defense Turrets a cakewalk.

* In the very first level of ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'' it is possible to obtain the RPG from a secret. Next level, Duke gets captured and enters a NoGearLevel where he need to get replacement weapons.

* ''Manga/FairyTail'': [[NextTierPowerUp Every.]] [[StoryBreakerPower Single.]] [[ShowyInvincibleHero Time]] a Dragon Slayer gets to use [[SuperMode Dragon Force.]] It is stated to be the final form of dragon slayer magic and gives the user power comparable to a real dragon. While the claim at the time was very debatable, given how none of the dragon slayers at the time had anywhere near enough power to actually fight a dragon, [[CurbStompBattle the actual power it displayed was still nothing to scoff at.]] The form puts people like Natsu and Wendy on a level where they're actually a serious threat to S-class, and even '''Wizard Saint''' level opponents. It's not something any of the first gen slayers can activate at will. And as such, Natsu himself only ever gets to use it a total of three times so far against opponents far above his weight class. The first two instances result in pure victory, while the last one has him running out of power before he could deal the final blow (though granted, he was really serving as a distraction for Gray to deliver the real final blow).

This is sometimes done by means of a CrutchCharacter who leaves, is killed, or is {{depower}}ed after the segment is over, weakening your fighting strength. It frequently ends with a WarmupBoss.

* ''VideoGame/JediKnightMysteriesOfTheSith'' has you play as Kyle Katarn, the full-powered Jedi Knight from the main series, for the first few levels. Then your point of view switched to Mara Jade, who was still in training.
* In ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'', Komaru has full access to all of the Hacking Gun's powers in infinite amounts for her first battle. Shortly afterwards, however, she's captured by the Warriors of Hope and the gun is modified to "balance it," leading to it being severely downgraded so that she has to find and reinstall all of its abilities. And even after she regains all of the gun's functions, she never regains the infinite ammo.
* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2: Episode One'', you begin in the Citadel and shortly afterwards get the Supercharged Gravity Gun, the EleventhHourSuperpower from the previous game. Once you contain the Citadel's core, though, the Gravity Gun returns to normal. Unusually for this trope, you never get it back.

** In the ''2023'' reboot, the player starts with a 2024 Chevrolet Corvette C8 E-Ray in Maple Valley (USA) in a practice lap session then the second race starts in a 20-lap endurance race starting you from the last two laps in Hadoke, Japan putting you in hands of your 2023 Cadillac V-Series.R #01 Cadillac Racing. At the end of race, no matter your position, you have a selection of somewhat powered cars like the 2018 Honda Civic ([=FK8=]), the 2019 Subaru WRX [=STi=] (VA) and the 2018 Ford Mustang ([=S550=]).

* When you start ''VideoGame/GridLegends'', you get to try out with a powerful {{Fauxrrari}} Le Mans prototype around the mountaious Strada Alpina.

** ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'' has the optional tutorial missions at the beginning of campaigns meant to introduce players to some of the new mechanics of the game. For example, Karl Franz has [[DropTheHammer Ghal Maraz]] and most of his buffing auras in the tutorial, items that he won't actually gain access to until late game.
* The tutorial of ''VideoGame/UFOAftershock'' consists of 3 missions during which you control characters (1 in first mission, 2 in second and 3 in last part) with early game weapons but with armour (at true beginning you have no armour for your soldiers) and mid/late game skills and abilities (probably most notable is Ranger wielding double laser pistols).

** Also in Orge Battle 64, during an EscortMission where the player has to protect prince Yumil as he marches to the end of the map to the enemy fort, which is kept from being nearly as bad most missions of its kind by the fact that he's protected by four black knights, a high level melee class that isn't available to you, and you won't be seeing as enemies, until much later in the game. Unlike most examples on this page however, while the black knights are much stronger than anything the enemy throws at you in the level and likely to rip through anything in their, you can't control them, and they never stop heal. Because of this, they don't guarantee a victory since they can die if the player lets them get into too many fights.

* In the prologue in ''[[VideoGame/Yakuza1 Yakuza Kiwami]]'' the Dragon style starts out with almost all its moves unlocked. After spending 10 years in prison, it gets degraded into a very weak style that lacks most basic functions and requires NonStandardSkillLearning to upgrade.

* The ''Videogame/{{Fallout}}'' series often allows players to acquire weapons [[DiscOneNuke intended for higher level players]], but keeping them supplied with ammo is a real issue as enemies will still be using plinkers; you need to cough up the caps to buy ammo from a store, or shove the gun into storage once the initial supply is out.

* ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'' has one of the two primary characters start out with a futuristic (and powerful) energy beam weapon. It doesn't take long for it to run out of energy, and the game doesn't provide a way to recharge it.