History Main / CounterAttack

* ''VideoGame/JojosBizarreAdventureAllStarBattle'', as with ''Heritage to the Future'', has a number of counters.

* In ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' 3, delivering a finishing blow using a Battle Chip properly timed to be a counterattack sounded a chime and awarded Bugfrags ([[GlobalCurrencyException a second and much more valuable form of currency]]) if you went on to win the battle. If the chip can hit multiple enemies, multiple Counter Hits on multiple enemies stack.
** In 4, this was changed to be more intuitive -- any properly timed chip counterattack can award a Counter Hit regardless of whether or not it was the finishing blow, but chips which [[ColourCodedTimestop darken the screen]] are not eligible. The reward was also changed; a Counter Hit briefly paralyzes the enemy or enemies, makes your ''next'' chip attack do double damage (which is a lot more valuable than doubling the attack that scored the Counter Hit itself, since the attacks you want doubled are often hard to counter with or not even eligible), and bosses don't get the usual MercyInvincibility after a Counter Hit. However, the double damage doesn't stack with multiple Counter Hits on multiple enemies, and you lose it if you get hit before your next chip attack, plus Bugfrags became RandomDrops and therefore harder to obtain.

* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' has the Superguard, an [[ActionCommands Action Command]] which negates all damage from an attack and damages the attacker for 1HP. It can also deflect some projectiles.
** Vital in the ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' series.
** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'' also has CLOTHES that automatically counter attacks afterwards (with a bolt of lightning hitting the enemy afterwards to deal out said damage). It's pretty useful on the later bosses, since their attacks do a ludicrous amount of damage anyway. And on Hard Mode, where attacks do about 7 times their usual damage to the hero (letting you get even on harder enemies without moving a muscle).

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* In ''VisualNovel/FateHollowAtaraxia'', Bazett's Noble Phantasm, Fragarach, is considered "the ultimate counter-attack", and instantly kills any opponent who tries to use their Noble Phantasm against her. Using it as anything but a counter-attack however, makes it little more than an irritation.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* The [[DualWielding Twin Rose]] Style in ''Webcomic/{{Flipside}}'' solely consists of counter attacks. This is parodied in an omake, where, when faced with an opponent who won't attack (flipside) she's reduced to hurling random objects instead.
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Darksiders}}'': The novel ''The Abomination Vault'' mentions one of the titular [[EvilWeapon Grand Abominations]] is Mortis, a buckler built around this concept. Not only would the buckler completely negate an attack successfully blocked by it, it would then unleash a burst of "profane energies" that would seek out someone close to the attacker from their memories (be they friend, loved one, or even just comrade-in-arms) and kill them horribly. Fully awakened, this CounterAttack could hit a target ''across a planet''. In ''VideoGame/DarksidersII'', Mortis "just" unleashes powerful blasts of energies when used successfully to block an attack or with a sufficient combo that home in on targets, though this can be explained in-lore by the fact by this point in canon Mortis is "[[LivingWeapon almost dead]]" and only has a fraction of the power it once did.

*** [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 Shulk]]'s CounterAttack comes in the form of his Monado giving him a vision of the impending attack as a callback to his origin game; this has a very generous window to activate it, but decreases if it is spammed.

** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'': Both versions add [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Greninja]] who uses Substitute, replacing himself with a doll or NinjaLog to take the damage, and attacking the enemy when he reappears. [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Lucina]] has Marth's counter (being a MoveSetClone). [[VideoGame/PunchOut Little Mac]] has a similar counter attack and so does [[VideoGame/KidIcarus Palutena]]. [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 Shulk]]'s CounterAttack comes in the form of his Monado giving him a vision of the impending attack as a callback to his origin game; this has a very generous window to activate it, but decreases if it is spammed. Also, UsefulNotes/{{Mii}} Swordfighters can have a ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' style counter attack for their down special. Finally, DLC Character {{VideoGame/Bayonetta}}'s down special, Witch Time, functions like a counter (Down-Special and Strength dependent on received attack), except instead of automatically dishing out damage, it instead slows down time, allowing Bayonetta to manually deal damage. Additional factors, such as enemy health percentage and if Witch Time was spammed (similar to Shulk), will affect the duration of Witch Time. Lastly, DLC character Corrin has a Counter as well, working similarly to Marth's but adding a MakingASplash effect.
** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'': In addition to bringing back all previous fighters with this move, the game introduces [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry King K.Rool]], who uses his [[{{Kevlard}} gold-plated gut]] as a counter similar to the ''Fire Emblem'' characters (including Chrom, who also debuts in this game and is an [[MovesetClone Echo Fighter]] to Roy). Princess Daisy, being an Echo Fighter of Princess Peach, borrows her counter move (and once again it's used by simply pressing B, instead of holding Down beforehand). [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Incineroar]] has a variation of a Counter called Revenge, where it still takes damaged (albeit reduced) but it powers up Incineroar's ''next'' attack. DLC Character [[VideoGame/Persona5 Joker]] has a variant of counter called Rebel's Guard where he takes reduced damage to fill up his Rebellion Gauge. When deactivated, Joker can deal minor damage to the opponent if he took a hit. Filling up the Rebellion Gauge allows him to summon Arsene, who will replace Rebel's Guard with Tetrakarn, a more traditional counter, and Makarakarn, a reflector. [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]]'s Scintilla creates a reflective barrier in front of him that blocks hits, but the attack comes out even if it doesn't block anything and deals more damage if it does. [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Sora]]'s Counterattack staggers opponents it counters and doesn't redirect projectiles.

* ''VideoGame/PrayerOfTheFaithless'': Countering happens with a probability affected by the equipment worn and skills used.

*** The game outright added a parrying ability, used by shaking the nunchuck for Link to thrust his shield forward. Learning to parry attacks is worth it, since timing it right can stun enemies or knock their projectiles right back at them, and it doesn't [[BreakableWeapons wear down your shield's durability]].
*** [[spoiler: Mastering the Shield Bash's parrying ability is also just about the ONLY way to survive the final boss fight's first stage without a ton of healing and damage reduction potions; just attacking outright will take him down eventually, but you'll lose nearly all your hearts to his counter attacks in the process, while LINK's counter attack strategy can prevent the boss from ever regaining the initiative until he gets serious for the second stage.]]

* Series thick with {{Sword Fight}}s don't hesitate to use these frequently, although they are rarely named. ''Anime/LeChevalierDEon'' is rife with ripostes, notably at the climax of D'Eon's first fight channelling Lia and Durand's first match with Tiellagory. Served Durand right for [[NiceHat messing with Tiellagory's hat]].

** By extension, ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' also permits you to counter enemy attacks once you have the Moon of Malaa-Kalaa accessory. If you just tap the left stick towards an attack before it hits you, Bayonetta will parry it and negate the damage. The timing with this isn't very strict, since you can rapidly tap towards an attack and still parry it, but if your timing is exactly right, she'll automatically counterattack after parrying. This is the only way to get Witch Time when fighting some enemies, and it's just as difficult to time correctly as using Bat Within (pressing the dodge button the exact moment you get hit to negate the damage).

* In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', multiple characters have a move of this nature, or some variant. They usually only have a very small window of being active, meaning the player will have to use very precise timing to successfully activate the counter.
** In Melee, Peach, Marth, and Roy have these, though the last of the three is most noteworthy, due to his counter's strength being based on how much damage the countered move would've dealt. There's also Mr. Game and Watch, who after catching three projectiles with his Oil Panic special can unleash their combined destructive force in a single attack. Peach is also the only character to not have her counter as a down-special.
** Brawl replaces Roy with Ike, whose counter functions in the same fashion. Marth's counter was upgraded to function similarly, but isn't as strong, due it triggering faster. It also adds Lucario, whose Double Team counter can become an extremely powerful KO move if he's at a high damage percentage, but is less reliable due to its physics.
** The fourth games add [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Greninja]] who uses Substitute, replacing himself with a doll or NinjaLog to take the damage, and attacking the enemy when he reappears. [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Lucina]] has Marth's counter (being a MoveSetClone). [[VideoGame/PunchOut Little Mac]] has a similar counter attack and so does [[VideoGame/KidIcarus Palutena]]. [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 Shulk]]'s CounterAttack comes in the form of his Monado giving him a vision of the impending attack as a callback to his origin game; this has a very generous window to activate it, but decreases if it is spammed. Also, UsefulNotes/{{Mii}} Swordfighters can have a ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' style counter attack for their down special. Finally, DLC Character {{VideoGame/Bayonetta}}'s down special, Witch Time, functions like a counter (Down-Special and Strength dependent on received attack), except instead of automatically dishing out damage, it instead slows down time, allowing Bayonetta to manually deal damage. Additional factors, such as enemy health percentage and if Witch Time was spammed (similar to Shulk), will affect the duration of Witch Time.
** In addition to the previous fighters, ''Ultimate'' Introduces [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry King K.Rool]], who uses his [[{{Kevlard}} gold-plated gut]] as a counter similar to the ''Fire Emblem'' characters (including Chrom, who is an [[MoveSetClone echo fighter]] to Roy). [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Incineroar]] has a variation of a Counter called Revenge, where it still takes damaged (albeit reduced) but it powers up Incineroar's ''next'' attack. DLC Character [[VideoGame/Persona5 Joker]] has a variant of counter called Rebel's Guard where he takes reduced damage to fill up his Rebellion Gauge. When deactivated, Joker can deal minor damage to the opponent if he took a hit. Filling up the Rebellion Gauge allows him to summon Arsene, who will replace Rebel's Guard with Tetrakarn, a more traditional counter, and Makarakarn, a reflector. [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]]'s Scintilla creates a reflective barrier in front of him that blocks hits, but the attack comes out even if it doesn't block anything and deals more damage if it does. [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Sora]]'s Counterattack staggers opponents it counters and doesn't redirect projectiles.

* In the ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' series counter-attacks are usually treated as normal attacks and deal the same damage. However some spells specifically increase the counter-attack damage, making it more potent than the regular attack as long as the spell is active.

** Gets cranked UpToEleven in the [[VideoGame/Disgaea4APromiseUnforgotten fourth game]]. There is a Geo Effect called Forever Counter that raises the number of counter attacks so high that if two characters get into a counter war while affected by it, only one them is going to come out alive if they aren't both invincible.

* Seigfried of ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'' has an entire fighting style which consists of him transferring energy back towards his opponents by [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning spinning.]] He also waits until the last moment possible to jump back, and make it appear like his opponent is hitting him, while he's really not, creates the illusion of him being invincible.

* In ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', Domon devises new attacks specifically to counter the {{Finishing Move}}s of the FiveManBand; the [[DoppelgangerAttack God Shadow]] creates afterimages which catch Chibodee's [[RapidFireFisticuffs Machine Gun Punch]] and the [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning God Slash Typhoon]] cuts down George's [[AttackDrone Rose Hurricane]]. The God Field Dash doesn't specifically counter Argo's [[DishingOutDirt Gaia Crusher]], but Domon uses it to put extra stress on the Bolt Gundam's knees, which were already strained by the move.

** FragileSpeedster Miyata's entire boxing strategy is based around using counterattacks to use his opponent's strength against him. Of course, with even the slightest miscalculation his counterattack will lead to a CrossCounter that will probably not fare well for him.

* The trope is discussed and Justified in ''VideoGame/Mafia2'' during the prison section, where Leo Galante explains that weaving around punches builds up momentum, and is much stronger than normal punches.

** Sadly that mechanic has been taken away but you can still counter any move though.
* Also common in the recent ''Zelda'' games. In addition to frequent use of the sword or shield to [[PlayingTennisWithTheBoss reflect enemy projectile attacks]], ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' have melee counters. The "Mortal Draw" in ''Twilight Princess'' is especially risky as Link must have his sword and shield put away to use it, though it's [[OneHitKill still worth using despite that]].
** Many tough enemies are almost impossible to harm when they aren't trying to hit you, as well. Especially Darknuts.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' outright added a parrying ability, used by shaking the nunchuck for Link to thrust his shield forward. Learning to parry attacks is worth it, since timing it right can stun enemies or knock their projectiles right back at them, and it doesn't [[BreakableWeapons wear down your shield's durability]].

* While the Royal Guard style from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3'' and ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry4 4]]'' does not need perfect timing to use normally, blocking or releasing at the moment the enemy attack hits completely nullifies the damage and, in the latter case, dramatically boosts the damage dealt. This is one of the ways of pulling off the really difficult NoDamageRun and killing the hardest-difficulty bosses much faster.

* Effectively every melee-focused combatant in ''VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale'' is given a counter, besides [[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos]], [[VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance Raiden]] and [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]] mentioned above (in Dante's case, they use his parry maneuver [[VideoGame/DmCDevilMayCry from the reboot]] instead of the Royal Guard). Other examples include [[VideoGame/HeavenlySword Nariko]], [[VideoGame/{{Tekken}} Heihachi]] and strangely VideoGame/SlyCooper (perhaps to make up for his lack of a block mechanic).

* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' has a Perk called Ricochet that you can take after spending 10 points in Luck. The perk grants you the ability for a shot fired at you to bounce off you but hit the shooter, instantly killing him. Higher levels grant increasing chances of this instant kill ricochet happening. The downside - you have to be at very low health, at which point, the shot could very well finish you off instead of bouncing off you.

* [[ReactorBoss The Boiler]] in ''VideoGame/ToontownRewritten'' has his "Stamp of Disapproval". He only uses it in his Defensive Phase, and only if someone attacks him, but if he uses it, the offending Toon will take ''50'' damage - and that's only how strong it is in a one-star Field Office!

* ''VideoGame/{{Littlewood}}'': The in-game CardBattleGame have cards able to "reflect" damage, which means that damage that should have gone to the opponent goes back to the dealer. There are a few catches, however. One is that the reflecting card needs to be of the element that beats that of the attacking card in the ElementalRockPaperScissors system. The second is that the player needs to have accumulated enough arcana to play the card and those with reflective abilities require two rounds of weak or entirely skipped moves to be playable. The third is that the cards with reflective abilities are also among the bigger damage dealers and the reflected damage may be smaller than what the card would have dealt if used offensively.

* Several characters in the ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' franchise of games has a move that allows them to counter enemy attacks.
** Munenori Yagyu's Special Skill in Samurai Warriors 4 onwards is a counter. He activates it by striking a pose. If he takes any damage while his counter is active, he will automatically negate the damage and deal a quickdraw counter sword slash.

* Hakumen from ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' has several moves of this sort. His standard Drive has him retaliate with various kinds of throws, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuggahxKKmU Yukikaze]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtTgDCYdERU is a]] SingleStrokeBattle, while [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiO7eQFK0_4 Akumetsu pays awesomely transparent]] {{Homage}} to [[Franchise/StreetFighter Shun Goku Satsu]].
** [[LittleBitBeastly Makoto]] [[ActionGirl Nanaya's]] Space-Counter is a command parry rather than a drive like Hakumen's. Successful use will daze the opponent, leaving them open to a direct Impact reprisal that blows through them and sends them spinning skyward. An ''Extend'' {{nerf}} prevents this from being used too rapidly in succession.
** [[LargeHam Bang]] [[HighlyVisibleNinja Shishigami's]] drive, [[HotBlooded Burning Heart]], is an interesting example. The move contains him doing a [[ElementalPunch fiery punch or kick]] which still works on its own. However, if Bang is hit before he can do his move properly, he will not only block it, but it allows Bang to teleport certain distance, either to appear behind the opponent or to cover distance.
* The counters in ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive 4''. It's amazing how much damage some characters can do with them.
** Really, the whole series. Counter attacks are probably one of the most notable aspects of the series...besides that ''[[{{Fanservice}} other]]'' feature.
* ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' and the other games in the series have a few moves that can be unlocked to counter a grab by a zombie. The first game, for example, has the Judo Throw, which involves Frank tossing the zombie over his head and ripping off its right arm! In the sequel, ''VideoGame/DeadRising2'', these grapple escapes are activated by simply escaping fast enough.
* Carefully timed dodges, blocks, counters, and reversals are the core of ''VideoGame/{{Lugaru}}''[='s=] one-button fighting system.

* Half the moveset of SNK characters [[VideoGame/ArtOfFighting Ryuhaku Todoh]] and [[VideoGame/FatalFury Geese Howard]] revolve around this. [[{{Engrish}} "PUREDIKUTABU!"]]

** In addition to the previous fighters, ''Ultimate'' Introduces [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry King K.Rool]], who uses his [[{{Kevlard}} gold-plated gut]] as a counter similar to the ''Fire Emblem'' characters (including Chrom, who is an [[MoveSetClone echo fighter]] to Roy). [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Incineroar]] has a variation of a Counter called Revenge, where it still takes damaged (albeit reduced) but it powers up Incineroar's ''next'' attack. DLC Character [[VideoGame/Persona5 Joker]] has a variant of counter called Rebel's Guard where he takes reduced damage to fill up his Rebellion Gauge. When deactivated, Joker can deal minor damage to the opponent if he took a hit. Filling up the Rebellion Gauge allows him to summon Arsene, who will replace Rebel's Guard with Tetrakarn, a more traditional counter, and Makarakarn, a reflector.

* In ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'', Chase Young's, [[SharedSignatureMove and consequently, Omi's,]] signature move is Repulse the Monkey, a counter strike specifically designed to take a stronger opponent's power and use it against them.

** Sawamura is also a very good counter puncher. Unlike Miyata, who's counters are high risk, high reward, Sawamura uses low risk, high reward counters where he attacks his opponent just as they begin their punch, and countering before it even is thrown.