History Main / ContinuingIsPainful

* In ''VideoGame/{{Sifu}}'', each time you respawn in a stage, your age increases by however many times you've already died. For example: you start off at age 20, so the first time you die, you'll turn 21. The second time, you'll age two years, so you'll turn 23. At three deaths, your age increases by three years, so you'll turn 26. The more you die in a stage, the faster you will age, and the greater risk you run of [[OutOfContinues dying of old age]].

* Later instalments in the ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'' series uses this trope. After your entire party dies or is knocked unconscious, you "narrowly escape death" by waking up in the starting town with 1 HP, 1 Mana, and all the gold you had on your person gone forever. Of course, since its a PC game and you have unlimited saves, you can always load a recently saved game instead of continuing to save yourself the hassle. In the early instalments, it was simply an end-of-game situation.

** Some of the harder BonusBoss fights make it so that even being in a position where a party member needs to be revived can be a serious setback. In the Weapon's Refrain trial, if any player gets incapacitated while fighting the Ultima Weapon, it will add to the boss's LimitBreak meter. If it reaches 100%, it starts suspending players in the air one-by-one and one-shotting them while leaving their bodies out of reach for healers, guaranteeing a TotalPartyWipe.

** Similarly, ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' makes a one-way trip back to the beginning the price of running out of continues (though not lives; you can start from the beginning of the world instead of the game after a GameOver, but only twice. And warp zones are harder to find in this one!)

!!Non-VideoGame Examples:

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** ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' makes dying a bit less painful than 3.5. Instead of causing the character to actually lose a class level and the associated abilities, Pathfinder's negative levels are a penalty to all rolls that the character makes and to their maximum HP; characters at level 1 instead suffered 2 points on Constitution drain, in a similar fashion to 3.5. Unlike the penalties from 3.5's revival magic, the character doesn't have to just accept the fact that they have these penalties, as the negative levels or Con drain can be removed through certain healing magic. The downside is that the magic needed to remove negative levels or Con drain ''also'' require expensive components, so your party needs to pay several thousand gold for the spell to bring you back, plus another thousand gold ''per negative level''. And that's assuming that the party has someone who can cast the spells themselves, otherwise you have to pay someone to cast the spell for you on top of the component costs.
* The ''Shards of Alara'' expansion in ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has [[http://magiccards.info/autocard.php?card=Lich%27s%20Mirror Lich's Mirror]], which effectively gives you a fresh start if you were to lose the current game. However nice a new hand and 20 life may seem, though, [[AwesomeButImpractical you've removed all of your resources from the battlefield]]. Unless you planned ahead and eliminated your opponent's resources beforehand, expect them to [[AttackAttackAttack swing you]] in a couple of turns.
** Inverted with [[http://magiccards.info/query?q=Karn+Liberated&v=card&s=cname Karn Liberated]]. His ultimate ability literally restarts the game. However instead of causing an endless loop of the same thing, he puts anything he exiled under your control, including other people's creatures, enchantments, artifacts and so on. If you did a good job of protecting him while he was exiling stuff, you can end up with anything from a decent advantage to an army that can beat your opponent's face in during the same turn.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'', you start with a "six pack" of clones, which activate in sequence as the previous ones die. You can buy another set of clones, but they'll have defects, such as being color-blind (fatal in that setting).

* ''TabletopGame/ArkhamHorror'' 2nd Edition: Investigators who fall to zero [[MultipleLifeBars Sanity or Stamina]] have a choice -- lose half their items and be sent to the TraumaInn, or reset their meter to full and gain a Madness or Injury card with a permanent debuff. Those cards can easily add up to hobble the character, plus they increase the threat of {{Permadeath}}.

** Characters who are brought to the brink of death both suffer on the SanityMeter and have a chance of suffering a permanent penalty like [[AnArmAndALeg limb loss]].

* In the NES adventure game ''VideoGame/{{Nightshade}}'', continuing the game is a puzzle in itself. If Nightshade gets knocked out, the villain ties him up in a DeathTrap, and you have to figure out how to escape before Nightshade gets killed: If you don't figure out the puzzle, Nightshade dies (and the game is over). However, if you run out of energy 5 times, the BigBad decides that he's done holding the IdiotBall and puts you in an inescapable trap, and the game is over. [[NintendoHard Did we mention you can only restore your energy 4 times in the entire game?]][[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' does this for single player mode by cutting your score in half if you continue after being defeated. This can be extremely devastating to players who are aiming for the best score. ''Melee'' and ''Brawl'' used this trope again ''and'' took some of your coins if you continued (except ''Brawl[='=]s'' Adventure Mode, where you lose half of the stickers you collected in the stage instead). On top of that, you'd get a Game Over automatically if you didn't have enough coins to continue.
** Continuing also often locks the player out of an unlockable character, as some of those require no continues as a condition to be challenged.
** If you used a continue in ''Brawl'', you'd get a 20,000-point penalty ''in addition'' to getting your score cut in half, making it a more serious blow to anyone going for a high score.
** The game also ''gives'' you one point for every continue, so that the high score keeps track of how many times you continued to get it in the 1's place.
** In the fourth game's Classic Mode, accepting a Continue when you lose takes away some of your prize money, a few of your earned rewards (from 1 prize at difficulty 2.0 up to '''5''' at 9.0), and automatically lowers the difficulty by 0.5. This last part is particularly infuriating for anyone going for the Challenge for beating Classic on 9.0, because a single Game Over anywhere in your run (including [[NintendoHard Master]] [[MarathonBoss Core]]) means you're totally screwed.

* A sort of moral version in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII''. Your punishment for continuing? You score a single point. This might not seem so bad, but since all other points are scored in multiples of 100, this single point remains a visible stain on your honour for the rest of the game, not to mention that anyone viewing your initials on the high score table can see how many times you continued to get there...
** And if you think you can just continue 10 times to round out the ones digit, the lowest score normal action in the game earns 100 points, so you'll need to continue ''at least'' 100 times to avoid anyone knowing that you continued at least once.

** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse'' is even worse than the first game about this, thanks to the ludicrously [[SequelDifficultySpike ramped-up difficulty]], ([[DifficultyByRegion especially in the NES version]]). The levels are longer and, unlike in the first game, are brutal the whole way through rather than mostly at the end, which means each GameOver is going to force you to retread a ''lot'' of insufferable aggrivation. The final level, however, curiously averts this: When you die against Dracula, you are sent back to the second section, before the pendulums and the GoddamnedBats, where Trevor can pick up an axe, which is very useful against Dracula's third form.

* When you die in ''[[VideoGame/ShirenTheWanderer Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer]]'', you're sent back to the starting town, knocked down to level 1 and stripped of any equipment, weapons and armor you hadn't the foresight to store. This is the standard for ''most'' {{Roguelike}}s that don't have {{Permadeath}}, including games such as ''VideoGame/AzureDreams'' and ''VideoGame/{{Izuna}}'' (which at least spares you the level drain -- when Izuna [[LampshadeHanging complains about losing her stuff]] in the second game, Shino tells her to [[NoFourthWall be grateful that she keeps her levels!]]).

* In the ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' games, if you, your partner or any [[EscortMission special [=NPCs=] in your party]] (or, in ''VideoGame/PokemonSuperMysteryDungeon'', your leader) die and you have no Reviver Seeds (the in-game equivalent of the aforementioned Amulet of Lifesaving) on hand to save you, you will be forcibly teleported from the dungeon you were in. This not only forces you to start from the first floor but you will lose all the money you carried and some of your inventory items, usually the best ones.
** This can actually potentially be inverted with the [=SOS=] mail mechanic. Should another player rescue you, [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist you can continue where you left off]]. You can then go ahead and send [[VideoGameCaringPotential a Thank-You mail.]]
** For the ''really'' unlucky or foolish, invoking [[EasilyAngeredShopkeeper Kecleon's Wrath]] prevents any chance of a [[BigDamnHeroes rescue attempt by other players]], and turns ''your entire inventory'' into '''''Plain Seeds''''', the item which a reviver seed turns into after it's been used. Useless and not even good for ShopFodder.
* Likewise, losing in any of the ''VideoGame/ChocobosDungeon'' games boots you out of the dungeon, and all of your cash and items on hand that aren't equipped or stored away are lost.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'', you start with a "six pack" of clones, which activate in sequence [[KillEmAll as the previous ones die]]. You can buy another set of clones, but they'll have defects, such as being color-blind (fatal in that setting).

* ''VideoGame/{{B3313}}: In most of the areas, dying will drop Mario at the basement area with red mist in a deliberate attempt to confuse the player. As such, it can be a pain to find your way through the maze again. Running out of lives will then reset the game to the usual Mario face screen, but it's possible to overflow the life counter into negative values to prevent it. This is important to know in case you need to deliberately get Mario killed in the areas with different respawn locations.

* Oh, ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}''...you'd lose half your [[NintendoHard challenge]] without invoking this trope. Feel like [[CollisionDamage slamming headfirst into]] that Bacterian Core Fighter? Have fun amassing your power-ups again.

* ''VideoGame/StarFox64''. Get killed by a boss even when you have full upgrades? Well, get ready to fight him again, but with half your lifebar and one-third your firepower. That oughta help! ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault'' was guilty of this as well.
** Of course, that's assuming you didn't come into the fight with only one wing and on your last legs. In certain highly difficult levels (such as Area 6) you might be in no shape to fight the boss ''anyway'' the first time you get there, so dying just gives you a refill.
** Continuing is especially painful when facing the improved Star Wolf on Venom. Couldn't beat them with the best firepower upgrade? Try doing it with your weak default laser. It doesn't help that you are immediately thrown into the fight.

** In ''VideoGame/{{Raiden V}}'', you get to keep your powerups after death, but continuing resets your score, which determines which story path you take and which of the MultipleEndings you receive.
* Depending on your general experience level in ''VideoGame/{{Faxanadu}}'', death can carry a very stiff penalty. When you die, your HP and MP are fully restored, but you lose ''all'' of your experience points and Golds up to a certain point, which is determined by your title. If you've earned enough experience to receive a promotion, but get killed before you reach a guru to promote you, all of the extra EXP is lost.
** Example: A player with the title of "Fighter" has 5000 EXP, a little bit more than enough to earn the rank of "Adept". If the player loses his/her life at that point, their EXP level would reset to 3500, the minimum required to reach the rank of Fighter.

** The eject button is actually a dedicated BigRedButton under a flippable plastic cover. The designers' original intention was to replace the plastic cover with ''a glass pane you'd have to smash'' - making this trope literal.

* ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'' also uses the 'cut your score in half' mechanic (which is ''really'' annoying if you're going for the high score challenges) but what's even worse is that dying automatically [[DynamicDifficulty bumps your difficulty down]]. Why is this such a bad thing? Because higher difficulty means better loot, which you ''will'' need if you ever want to stand a chance in multiplayer or later levels on [[HarderThanHard Intensity 9]]. And the lowered difficulty even ''de-powers'' the loot you ''already obtained'' before dying! Not only that, some levels have seret areas hidden behind "Intensity Gates", gates that will only open if you play on a specific difficulty. Playing on Intensity 8 and die just before the 8 marked gate? Sorry, you're on Intensity 7 now, no gate for you!! And then, of course, there are the challenges that require a specific intensity level...
** This Intensity system was the direct inspiration for the one in ''Smash 4''.

* Due to {{Permadeath}} (and a bit of VideoGameCaringPotential) in the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games, character deaths are usually very painful. Your best unit dies to a crit because the RandomNumberGod hates you? Well...you just lost him/her. You usually can keep going, but...
** And don't even think about resetting in [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade 6]], [[Videogame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade 7,]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones or 8]] in order to try and save that character. Since the game auto-saves after each combat result (including the random number seed), you'll just end up watching them die the same way all over again. The only way to save them is to restart the entire level from scratch.
*** Averted in later games in the series, where playing in "Casual Mode" would just cause the defeated unit to retreat from the battle instead of being lost forever. [[WhatTheHellPlayer Jeigan will still chews you out]] [[PlayerPunch if you fail to keep people 'alive' during battles, though.]]

* The [[DifficultyByRegion International]] version of ''VideoGame/BombermanHero'' steals your Bomb Count, Firepower and, most annoyingly, [[UpToEleven your health upgrades]] when you get a GameOver! While the first two can ''easily'' be regained, the last one cannot as you need 200 crystals to get one upgrade! [[note]]Bomberman starts with four hit-points. A health upgrade adds one HP, with a maximum of 8 HP (four upgrades). That means you need ''EIGHT HUNDRED CRYSTALS'' to get all four upgrades back.[[/note]] Woe betide the Bomberfool who loses their last life during the endgame BossRush, thus making everything ten times harder. [[FromBadToWorse Even worse]], if you turn off your UsefulNotes/Nintendo64, You'll ''still'' lose everything meaning that you essentially need to beat the game in one sitting, without [[GameOver Game Overing]] if you don't want to grind! This is thankfully [[AvertedTrope averted]] in the [[DifficultyByRegion Japanese]] version, which keeps your upgrades no matter what.

** Even worse, in the first game, at a point where you will only have one or two Waters of Life (assuming you've been searching ''all'' the random boxes and barrels you come across), you can die and get sent back to a fairly out of the way village. While this usually wouldn't be too much of a problem, as reviving is fairly cheap at that point in the game, everyone in the village, including the healer, is currently a tree. So you'll have to trek a loooooong way back to get those characters healthy again. [[UpToEleven You better hope all the enemies you encounter are willing to let you run on your first attempt...]]

* Oh, ''VideoGame/{{Henry Hatsworth|InThePuzzlingAdventure}}''. As if it wasn't enough that you only get checkpoints when the game loads a new map (and these maps can be ''long'', people), the game resets your Super Meter to 50%, a decent (but not remarkable) amount, and gives you a new [[VideoGame/PanelDePon Puzzle Realm]] board on the bottom. So, all those items (including hearts and even 1-ups) you collected on the top screen [[DoubleUnlock but forgot to activate on the bottom screen]]? They're gone! Did you enter a new map with a full Super Metre ready to unleash [[SuperMode Tea Time]] on all the pathetic [[{{Mook}} mooks]] you could get your hands on? Too bad, sucker! [[NintendoHard This kind of dickishness]] is indicative of how the rest of the game treats you, too.

* When you die in ''Videogame/{{Descent}}'' ([[NintendoHard which will likely happen a lot]]), all your weapons (save for the level 1 dual laser cannon) are scattered about your death point, both primary and secondary. On top of that, you ''lose some of your missiles!'' Although you lose a [[VideoGameLives life]] in the process, the main upside is that your shields and energy are restored to 100%.

* The [[DifficultyByRegion International]] version of ''VideoGame/BombermanHero'' steals your Bomb Count, Firepower and, most annoyingly, [[UpToEleven your health upgrades]] when you get a GameOver! While the first two can ''easily'' be regained, the last one cannot as you need 200 crystals to get one upgrade! [[note]]Bomberman starts with four hit-points. A health upgrade adds one HP, with a maximum of 8 HP (four upgrades). That means you need ''EIGHT HUNDRED CRYSTALS'' to get all four upgrades back.[[/note]] Woe betide the Bomberfool who loses their last life during the endgame BossRush, thus making everything ten times harder. [[FromBadToWorse Even worse]], if you turn off your UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}}, You'll ''still'' lose everything meaning that you essentially need to beat the game in one sitting, without [[GameOver Game Overing]] if you don't want to grind! This is thankfully [[AvertedTrope averted]] in the [[DifficultyByRegion Japanese]] version, which keeps your upgrades no matter what.

* The DarkerAndEdgier ''[[VideoGame/{{BombermanActZero}} Bomberman: Act Zero]]'' had a 100-level single player mode, where you, in each level, effectively played Bomberman-style deathmatch against various other AI-controlled Bombermen/women, but you had a health meter. You could regain health, but ONE death alone would be enough to send you back to the title screen with no saves whatsoever.

** The [[DifficultyByRegion Japanese]] version of ''VideoGame/{{Bomberman 64 The Second Attack}}'' one-ups all the other games by taking away all of your power-ups after ''[[DisproportionateRetribution one death!]]'' The American version [[RegionalBonus remedies]] this by adding a [[VideoGameLives lives system]] that allows you to die three times and keep your powers.

** This can actually potentially be inverted with the [=SOS=] mail mechanic. Should another player rescue you, [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist you can continue where you left off]]. You can then go ahead and send you [[VideoGameCaringPotential a Thank-You mail.]]

* Dying in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' without a Ring of Sacrifice equipped means respawning at the last bonfire you visited, reverting to Hollow, and losing all of your souls and humanity. You can get the souls and humanity back if you collect the bloodstain that appears where you died, but if you die again before reaching it, it's gone for good. And getting there usually isn't easy, since most enemies respawn when you rest at a bonfire, meaning whatever killed you the last time is more than ready to kill you again. Additionally, a bonfire that you haven't kindled will only fill your Estus flask partway when you respawn.

* Continuing in a ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' game is bad. It invariably flushes your score, frequently adds a mark of shame in the form of a +1, and almost always locks you out of the good ending (only averted in the Phantasmagoria games). And in 10 through 12 it sends you back to the start of the stage with two lives in stock. Since the games are generally based on saving up lives for the final boss...
** The eighth game, ''Imperishable Night'', is even worse for this. Continuing costs you Time, and taking too long automatically earns you the Bad Ending. Continue once before the end of Stage 5 and you can't access Final B, the game's true final stage. Oh, and if you run out of lives in Final B ''you don't even get the chance to continue - you just get the bad ending by default.''
** On the other hand, the Touhou games are a bit forgiving: in all but one of the games that feature power and in-place continuing, after losing your last life a bunch of full-power icons fly out of you. You can grab them after expending a continue (''Ten Desires'' just sets you to full power as soon as you continue instead). ''Subterranean Animism'' takes the concept a step further and does this when you lose your last ''reserve'' life (so you're still alive, but one more hit is game over).\\

* Due to {{Permadeath}} (and a bit of VideoGameCaringPotential) in the ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' games, character deaths are usually very painful. Your best unit dies to a crit because the RandomNumberGod hates you? Well...you just lost him/her. You usually can keep going, but...

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' penalized you for continuing after a defeat by sapping all your PP. Not only that, but also whatever quantity of money you have with you in the moment of your death is cut by half. Also, the continue only revives Ness, and you have to carry the ghosts of the rest of the party to the nearby hospital to be revived. [[SubvertedTrope However]], for all the penalties the player suffers for continuing, there is a saving grace: The ATM system means that no amount of money needs to be lost.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' resets all the stages you cleared in a world if you lose all your lives and continued, forcing you to do them all over again (although the toad houses and slot machine games are restored as well). However, mini-fortresses cleared (and the doors that clearing them unlocked) and rocks smashed on the map stay cleared, and if you've made it to the airship, it will still be present as well.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' has you start at ''[[ExaggeratedTrope the very first level of the game]]'' should you lose all your lives. Died at World 8-4? Have fun getting back there from World 1-1!
** There ''is'' a continue code (hold A when pressing Start on the title screen) to let you start at the first level of the World instead (8-1 in the above example). You still have to redo up to three already-cleared stages though. For those who don't know about that, the warp zones are not that hard to find. So, more like "have fun getting back there by taking 1-2's warp zone to 4-1, then 4-2's warp zone back to 8-1." Still, when you finally do beat the game, it ''will'' be because you did your fair share of redoing to achieve mastery.
** Also, if you lose a life in the later part of a stage, the invisible checkpoint is usually located immediately after the power-up in the level. In World 8, [[CheckpointStarvation checkpoints don't exist]], but power-ups are so infrequent that losing a life will likely cause just as much trouble.
** Speaking of World 8-4, there are no power-up blocks in the final stage, not even hidden ones. If you finished the previous stage with your Fire Flower, try not to lose it. You may need the extra hit in the third room full of flying Cheep-Cheeps, or you may need it in the fifth and final room where a Hammer Brother and a nearby Podoboo block your path. If you survive, you must then immediately face Bowser who is ready to attack with both fire and hammers. Die once, and you have to replay the entire stage as small Mario.
* Similarly, ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' makes a one-way trip back to the beginning the price of running out of continues (though not lives; you can start from the beginning of the world instead of the game after a GameOver, but only twice. And warp zones are harder to find in this one!)
* A GameOver in ''VideoGame/WarioLandSuperMarioLand3'' causes you to lose one of your treasures, and you must retrieve the lost treasure again.
** If you had no treasure when you get a GameOver, you lose half the gold from your bank instead. This is actually a lot worse than losing some of your treasures as gold is much harder to come by; Lost treasures can easily be recovered by simply replaying the level you found it in, which takes only a few minutes at most. Recovering the lost gold, in comparison, can take ''hours'' (or a lot of luck with the betting minigame).
** Also, losing a life costs you all the coins you got in that level so far. Of course, you'll probably get them back upon redo.)

* In the ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' games, dying during a boss battle would mean respawning right there (assuming you've got extra lives)...minus the special weapon ammo and Energy (or Sub) Tanks that you had used, reducing your chances of success by a lot. It became really annoying if you had a lot of lives stacked, as you had to lose them all in order to regain your powerups and get a fighting chance.
** True for every one except ''VideoGame/MegaMan8''. Dying would send you back to the tunnel before the boss with all weapons fully restored. Additionally, the game didn't have E-tanks, but did have two Rush modules that could be used to restore life during a battle (one which dropped healing items for a limited time and one which gave one random item that ranged from virtually useless to full restoration - if it gave anything); these could be used once per life and were restored upon the next life.
** On the plus side, while restarting here didn't give you back your weapons energy, many players found it advantageous to die intentionally, using only the Mega Buster, when first fighting the boss so they could A. see the tactics it uses and B. make sure they've got a full health bar going into the fight.

*** Even if you don't care about your rank or EX Skills, dying can still be a problem for new players because the game overs in the Zero series are handled differently compared to other Mega Man games. If you lose all your lives, you don't get booted back to the stage select screen with a new stock, you have to restart from your last save. If you saved with no extra lives, the game could get much harder since you then [[CheckPointStarvation couldn't rely on in-stage checkpoints]] until you got more, and the series is hard enough as it is. Sometimes, even if you still managed to beat a stage, if you died a lot and had no extra lives left, it would be better to simply reset and try to beat it again with more lives than to save and continue in that predicament.
** Played with in Megaman Zero 1, where running out of lives and continues on a mission doesn't just cause a game over, but rather, the plot continues to the next mission, just with minor plot details changed to accommodate for Zero failing. However, if you KEEP losing, the rebel's base is attacked, and the game pits you against a boss from much later in the game, who you most certainly are not skilled enough to fight if you've lost enough for him to show up this early.
** The Zero/ZX Legacy Collection actually inverts this trope entirely, via a new feature: a checkpoint system called "Save Assist". If you activate it, then the lives system will be ignored and instead you're given checkpoints that you need to step into. They will act as both a quick save system, in case you need to turn the game off and aren't near a terminal, and as a unlimited lives system. If you die, it'll roll the game back to the last checkpoint you passed, with full health and Weapon/Biometal energy. Doing this also undoes any damage or time wasted between the last time you reached a save-point and your death(Thus, you dont get more damage penalty or enemy score reset), making it LESS painful to reach rank A/S and obtaining those EX skills(Or in ZX, it allows you to just return to last check point in case you are trying to score a LV4 victory and accidentally hit the enemy on its weak point), as well as avoiding the need to get extra lives/have save files or restart the level from scratch. You are also not penalized in any way or form for using this system(You can still earn achievements/trophies/ZZ cards with this feature).

** In ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'', noted to be the most NintendoHard of the series, you respawn in ''the temple in which you begin the game.'' This means it's a long and tedious walk, sometimes through several un-bypassable mini-levels that will chip away at your health and magic, to get back where you were. You also lose all of your experience points[[note]][[DifficultyByRegion This was worse in the Japanese version]], in which all of your stats (life, magic, and power) ''went down to the level of your lowest stat''[[/note]], and any 1-Up dolls you picked up can never be collected again. Also, fairies, potions, etc. are all one-time-use items that ''cannot'' be stored. However, cleared palaces remain cleared, and within the level you were playing, any needed items, keys, etc. remain in your inventory. Averted in the seventh and final level, the Great Palace, where getting a GameOver simply puts Link back at the start of the dungeon instead of all the way back to the Northern Palace.

* In pretty much any game, this applies to running out of your healthy stock of lives, returning from the Game Over screen, and having to start that super-hard level all over again with only a handful of lives. While this can apply to any game with a lives system, platformers are particularly well-known for it.

* In the ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'' series, you lose credit for any Prisoners you rescued beforehand.

* ''VideoGame/{{killer7}}'' somehow straddles the border between DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist and ContinuingIsPainful: When one of the Smiths is killed, you start over at the nearest Harman's Room, with no penalty apart from not being able to use the same Smith again — unless you pick Garcian, the 'cleaner', and trek back to where you died to pick up their body. This is particularly irritating, because Garcian is armed with a dinky pistol that can't be upgraded at all, and if he goes down, [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou the game is over for good]]. Thankfully, playing as Garcian makes fewer enemies appear, but it's still easy to make a level {{unwinnable}} in ''killer8'' mode if a character dies behind an enemy that only that character can kill with ease.