History Main / DoNotDropYourWeapon

-->--'''Charlton Heston'''

* Averted in ''[[FarCry Far Cry 2]]'', where enemies shot in the arm can drop their weapons, resulting in them pulling out a sidearm. Get them to drop that, and they run away.

* Averted in the multiplayer FirstPersonShooter ''RedOrchestra'', where guns can be shot out of your hand. This naturally leads to a frantic search for your weapon in the open.

** In ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'', you can non-lethally disarm enemies by BlastingItOutOfTheirHands.

** As do the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' games. The theater in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' allows you to go back and pinpoint the ''exact frame'' a player dies with this method.
*** Except for the Flood. [[DamnYouMuscleMemory When you fall down and drop your gun after a shot to the head, you DIED, dammit!]]

* The ''VideoGame/XCom'' games play it mostly straight. Enemies only drop their inventories when dead or unconscious. That is, unless you exploit a minor bug in the first game or they are caused to panic (psi attacks, killing their own men, and killing them can do this).

* Used in the ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'' series in various ways. Most commonly, weapons will disappear completely, replaced by a pack that corresponds to that player's chosen class. (''Battlefield 2142'' waits a few seconds before dropping kits to prevent ragdolls from straying too far away, resulting in players that can't be revived.) Items can't be mix-and-matched between kits.

* The late great Charlton Heston said it best.
* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul :Re'', while putting his squad through TrainingFromHell, Sasaki hammers into their heads to ''never'' drop their weapon in a fight. Since an unarmed [[TheHunter Investigator]] is essentially helpless against a Ghoul, this is sound advice.

* Averted in the ''[[VideoGame/AlienVsPredatorCapcom AlienVsPredator]]'' ArcadeGame. Three of the four player characters are armed with a default weapon that they can lose at any moment. The one who can't drop their weapon ''[[ArtificialLimbs has it as their arm]]''!

* Averted in ''VideoGame/DeusEx''. Most NPCs has [[SubSystemDamage separate hit-points for individual body parts]]. If the hit-points for their Arms is depleted, they will drop their weapon and run. Oddly as an inversion to this trope, they don't drop their weapon if they die otherwise. Weapons can still be looted from their corpses however. But not if they are [[LudicrousGibs blown to bits]], as that will make their weapon unobtainable.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/DeusEx''. Every NPC has [[SubSystemDamage separate hit-points for individual body parts]]. If the hit-points for their Arms is depleted, they will drop their weapon and run. Oddly as an inversion to this trope, they don't drop their weapon if they die otherwise. Weapons can still be looted from their corpses however. But not if they are [[LudicrousGibs blown to bits]], as that will make their weapon unobtainable.

* Just about every FightingGame that features weapons will have this even worse--the weapon won't leave your grip even after death or knockout. Whether it's [[VideoGame/{{Tekken}} Yoshimitsu's]] sword, or [[SoulSeries Maxi's]] nunchaku, they hold on to the bitter end, and beyond.

* Averted in ''{{Oni}}'' where not only can you use a disarm move to take someone's gun, but throwing or knocking your opponent down in melee will also cause any equipped weapon to be dropped.

** The ''BadCompany 2'' entry changed it up so that you have to pick up weapons the kit. Arguably, the kit was much easier to get since they would always be easily spotted and didn't fall around when it was dropped.

* Mostly averted in the ''RyuGaGotoku'' games, but played straight as well. Most weapon-wielding enemies can be forced to drop their weapons when hit with certain attacks (such as throws), but a few will hold onto them no matter how hard you hit them. Applies to the protagonist as well, but in a more logical way--he'll drop large weapons like garbage cans and bicycles if he's hit hard enough while carrying them, but not small weapons like guns and knives.

* In ''MirrorsEdge'' all the Disarm moves are also knockout moves, and there's no functional or obvious difference between a knockout and a kill. In fact, killing an opponent using a method other than a gun still counts towards the PacifistRun achievement.

* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', one of the biggest incentives to kill an enemy can be for their weapon, which [[strike:restores [[UniversalAmmo half of your ammo reserves]], and your cloak as a Spy]] can be picked up and equipped as if it were one of your own, if the class you're playing as can equip that weapon.

* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', one of the biggest incentives to kill an enemy can be for their weapon, which restores [[UniversalAmmo half of your ammo reserves]], and your cloak as a Spy.

* Played straight and Averted in the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' series: Held in the original ''Call of Duty'', with an interesting addition: a helmet coming off also signified death. Deliberately subverted in ''Call of Duty 2'', where the same animations could occur despite the enemy not yet being completely dead. In the case of dropped weapons, the enemy in question will pull out a pistol for a last salvo, or crawl toward his fallen weapon. ''Call of Duty 4'' and ''Call of Duty: World at War'' would have dying enemies pull a pistol or or ready a grenade. The latter is harder to tell since they will look dead until you hear a "tink" sound and the grenade indicator appears. Every multiplayer since ''Call of Duty 4'' has the "Last Stand" perk which would allow "killed" players to draw a pistol and fight until they are hit again or bleed out. Oddly enough they don't drop their main gun when they enter "Last stand". And finally (for now) ''ModernWarfare 2'' has the deathstreak "Final Stand" that allows you full access to your weapons and should you survive long enough you get up with full health.

** In ''PerfectDark'', you can non-lethally disarm enemies by BlastingItOutOfTheirHands.
* In ''MedalOfHonor: Allied Assault'', it is possible to knock down an enemy and make them drop their rifle. They will go crawling after it, trying to get up.
* Aversion: In ''PerfectDark'', it's possible, albeit tricky, to shoot guns out of guards' hands. There are also certain weapons that disarm people (such the melee secondary attack). In multiplayer (and rarely in single-player) games it is also possible to be disarmed yourself.

* In ''SoldierOfFortune 1'' and 2, enemies could be disarmed by BlastingItOutOfTheirHands. In the first game, this effectively neutralized them as a threat, since they'd immediately cower and beg for mercy. In the second game, they're smart enough to whip out their sidearm if they have one, or run around looking for another weapon if they don't.
* In extremely rare cases, human ennemies in ''{{VideoGame/Stalker}}'', engaged in very close combat may hit the player in the face with the stock of their own rifles, disarming the player. Some mods turn this ability by default for every NPC, so that any human engaged in CQC will do the logical thing and disarm the player (and sometimes pick up the fallen gun themselves before the player can get it back).

* VideoGame/HaloZero also does this, due to the limitations.

* The ''{{X-Com}}'' games play it mostly straight. Enemies only drop their inventories when dead or unconscious. That is, unless you exploit a minor bug in the first game or they are caused to panic (psi attacks, killing their own men, and killing them can do this).

* Averted in ''CortexCommand'', where disarming is so ridiculously easy that sometimes even the recoil of your weapon can disarm you. And weapons aren't indestructible either. Dying by stepping on a grenade to hard sucks...

* Averted in ''JaggedAlliance 2'', where all sorts of things could cause a character to drop his weapon, particularly the use of stun grenades and other explosives. This includes both friends and foes. However, to keep the player from getting too many powerful weapons in the early stages of the game, some enemy weapons disappear completely once the enemy carrying them dies, for no other reason. This leads some players to try and "steal" weapons from enemies before killing them, which verges on suicidal unless you're really really good at it.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', in which [=NPCs=] drop their weapons under a variety of circumstances besides dying. In melee combat you can steal a knife right out of your opponent's hands if you dodge at the right moment, while you can knock a gun out of out of their hand with a whack from the baseball bat. You can also shoot a person's weapon out of their hand, in which case they'll retrieve a backup (if they have one) or otherwise resort to fisticuffs. In an extreme example of this, this troper once shot a NOOSE operator's M4 out of his hands, so he retrieved a shotgun. I shot ''that'' out of his hands, and he retrieved a Glock.

** As do the {{Halo}} games. The theater in ''Halo 3'' allows you to go back and pinpoint the ''exact frame'' a player dies with this method.

* HaloZero also does this, due to the limitations.

* Played straight and Averted in the ''CallOfDuty'' series: Held in the original ''Call of Duty'', with an interesting addition: a helmet coming off also signified death. Deliberately subverted in ''Call of Duty 2'', where the same animations could occur despite the enemy not yet being completely dead. In the case of dropped weapons, the enemy in question will pull out a pistol for a last salvo, or crawl toward his fallen weapon. ''Call of Duty 4'' and ''Call of Duty: World at War'' would have dying enemies pull a pistol or or ready a grenade. The latter is harder to tell since they will look dead until you hear a "tink" sound and the grenade indicator appears. Every multiplayer since ''Call of Duty 4'' has the "Last Stand" perk which would allow "killed" players to draw a pistol and fight until they are hit again or bleed out. Oddly enough they don't drop their main gun when they enter "Last stand". And finally (for now) ''ModernWarfare 2'' has the deathstreak "Final Stand" that allows you full access to your weapons and should you survive long enough you get up with full health.

* Enforced in SpecOpsTheLine and mentioned in a loading screen tip: "A dying enemy won't drop his weapon until he's dead."

* Certain [[BossBattle psychos]] in ''DeadRising 2'' can make you drop your weapons; chiefly, the redneck security guard who can [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands blast them out of your hands]].

* The Disarmed debuff in ''TalesOfMajEyal'' plays this trope straight, as your weapon stays in its slot and the PC doesn't drop it. The danger of this debuff is that it disallows use of weapon-related talents, effectively eliminating any melee offense. It works both ways - the PC can disarm monsters as well.

->"I'll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands."
-->'''Charlton Heston'''

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' - Guts almost never drops the [[BigFuckingSword Dragonslayer]], no matter how hard he gets hit, how far he falls or how much he bleeds. Post-Eclipse, he does have a literal [[MagnetHands Magnet Hand]], but [[HollywoodMagnet that just raises further questions....]]