History Main / JustifiedExtraLives

-->-- The manual for ''VideoGame/SylvesterAndTweetyInCageyCapers'' for UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis

* ''Videogame/AlienVsPredator'' on the UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar had the Alien able to lay eggs in Marines. If you died, you would continue from the new alien that was hatched.

* The pioneering cross-platform UsefulNotes/{{Xbox 360}}/Windows FirstPersonShooter ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' uses magic to respawn dead combatants. (Although ironically the original Shadowrun tabletop {{RPG}} is one of the few magic-heavy settings where resurrection is stated to be flat-out impossible.) You only live as long as someone is keeping you alive, and if you die a second time you will vanish into clumps of dirt.

* ''Dare Devil Denis'' for the UsefulNotes/BBCMicro gave the titular stuntman a limited number of takes before getting fired. This premise was later adopted by the Creator/{{Codemasters}} games ''Super Stunt Man'' and ''Stuntman Seymour''.

* In ''VideoGame/SmurfRescueInGargamelsCastle'', you are given five [[NoNameGiven nameless]] Smurfs to play as in your EndlessGame mission to rescue Smurfette, with a bonus Smurf added at 10,000 points in the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} version. Also, the instructions [[NeverSayDie never say that your Smurf dies, but rather "gets tired"]] [[OneHitPointWonder when he gets hit by an enemy, fails to clear an obstacle]], [[TimedMission or runs out of energy before entering new territory]].

* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII'': When a party member dies, the dead character is cloned into a new being possessing the old one's abilities and memories. [[spoiler:This also happens in canon at least once, as your entire party is killed in the crash of Gaila with the planet Palma, but Tyler had everyone cloned.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' game, Professor Farnsworth's invention, the Re-Animator (no, not ''that'' Film/ReAnimator), revives the player after every death. [[spoiler:The game ends when the StableTimeLoop that starts the game results in the machine destroyed and the playable cast dead.]]

* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' uses balloons as extra lives like the original SNES games, except this time the game shows your Kong being carried back into the stage by the balloon if he is defeated.

* ''VideoGame/Einhander'' indicates that your ship is actually part of a squadron - when you go down, another fighter takes over a bit behind where you left off. [[spoiler:This is also true in Stage 7, [[PlotHole despite the narrative treating it as a single pilot going up against Selene]].]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Hellsinker}}'''s manual says that extra lives are due to the [LIFE] system, which excised the concept of being alive, and split it into [[{{Cap}} seven]] parts. Of course, given ''Hellsinker'''s massive MindScrew nature, it's not clear how literally or seriously this is meant to be taken.

* ''VideoGame/{{Hellsinker}}'''s manual says that extra lives are due to the [LIFE] system, which excised the concept of being alive, and split it into seven parts. Of course, this being ''Hellsinker'', it's not clear how seriously this is meant to be taken.

* ''VideoGame/{{Meritous}}'': Revival at a Checkpoint Tile costs [[CastFromHitPoints "some of your natural vitality"]] so it can be only done a limited amount of times. Merit can do it five times.

* ''[[VideoGame/ThunderForce Thunder Force V]]''[='s=] story introduced it as a cloning system called "Circulate Death"

* ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' for the NES gives the player control of each of the four turtles one at a time. If a Turtle runs out of life, April or Splinter will inform the player that he "got caught." This isn't a euphemism - if a turtle is defeated, he can be rescued in a later stage if the player can locate his whereabouts.

** A CollectionSidequest in [[VideoGame/Crackdown3 the third game]] has you collecting DNA from dead agents so their bodies can be cloned.

* ''Mega Man Network Transmission'' says that [=MegaMan.exe=]'s extra lives are backups of his data. However, this is in violation of the canon of [[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork the parent series]], which states that [=MegaMan=] ''can't'' be backed up, because [[spoiler:his code is based on human DNA]].

* The ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'' series replaces each dead player character with a sequentially numbered clone.
** In the second game, where you don't have access to clones, your alien god resurrects you instead. At the end of a certain sidequest, [[spoiler:the same god gives an [[GlassCannon otherwise brittle]] BonusBoss as many lives as you've lost up to that point]].

* Flynn in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' can be revived by Charon the Ferryman if he dies, so long as he has enough Macca (or 3DS Play Coins) to pay the fare. This is part of a deal they have with each other; Charon gets to bring Flynn back to life in the state he was in before he died, and Flynn gets to lighten Charon's eyes-deep workload by just a little bit.

* Nanashi in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'' is backed by a Celtic god of death who can resurrect him as many times as necessary whenever he's killed, no penalties and no disadvantages whatsoever... Which is very weird and way too generous for a ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' game. Granted, there ''is'' a plot-relevant reason of why this even happens.

[[folder:Beat'em Up]]
* ''VideoGame/JackieChanStuntmaster'' have you playing as Chan's character, [[TheDanza Jackie]], with the whole game being an action movie you're filming, and the lives respawned being reshoots. Your extra lives are in fact depicted as clapperboards.
[[/folder]]

* In TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons and derived games like {{TabletopGame/Pathfinder}}, you can use (expensive) resurrection magic to revive your friends, meaning that only a TotalPartyKill causes PermaDeath at high levels. \\