History Main / OneHitPointWonder

Compare UntouchableUntilTagged (where a single failure to dodge dooms a character) and HPTo1 (an attack which turns characters into this). Contrast OneHitKill. If it's a mook whose One Hit Point is exceptionally hard to remove, you've probably encountered a MetalSlime.

** Shedinja is a unique example of this in a game that doesn't usually use it. While lifebars do exist in-game, Shedinja only ever has a single hit point (as in, the game is scripted in such a way that Shedinja ''can not'' have more than 1 HP. Anything that would cause its max HP to increase, such as leveling up or using certain items, either just ''don't'' or cant be used on it to begin with, respectively. Even the [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Dynamax]] mechanic from Generation VIII, which can ''double'' a Pokémon's max HP, has no effect on Shedinja's), making its own life bar rather pointless. It's kept from being a [[JokeCharacter novelty Pokémon]] by its ability, "Wonder Guard", which protects it from all direct damage that isn't [[ElementalRockPaperScissors super effective]]. Unfortunately, Wonder Guard doesn't protect Shedinja from ''indirect'' damage; meaning everything from StatusEffects, damaging weather such as hail or sandstorms, entry hazards like Stealth Rocks or Spikes, Leech Seed, and even recoil from its own attacks are fair game.

** Most of the early games made the titular hero a One-Hit-Point Wonder. He can survive one hit if he has the "Heart" power-up, which acts as a SingleUseShield. Starting with the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 era, Bomberman got a lifebar.

* Most games in the ''VideoGame/AdventureIsland'' series do this. Even though you have what looks like a LifeMeter, it's actually the timer. One hit kills you. Tripping on rocks also decreases the meter. The exception is ''VideoGame/AdventureIsland: [[UsefulNotes/WiiWare the Beginning]]'', in which taking hits knocks time off the meter.

* ''VideoGame/{{ESWAT}}'': Uses BodyArmorAsHitpoints. You die in one hit without the titular PoweredArmor, and you don't have it in the first few missions, which have you working your way up in rank. This is different in the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis version (''City Under Siege''), where you have a shorter life bar in the Captain and Chief missions.

* ''VideoGame/NinjaSpirit'': In the UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 version, Moonlight has five hit points in PC-Engine mode, but only one hitpoint in Arcade mode.

* ''VideoGame/TinyToonAdventures'' does this in the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] game, and other games based on [[WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures the show]] often make you a one hit point wonder in hard mode, such as in ''[[VideoGame/TinyToonAdventuresBusterBustsLoose Buster Busts Loose]]'' for the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] and ''[[VideoGame/TinyToonAdventuresBabsBigBreak Babs' Big Break]]'' for the UsefulNotes/GameBoy.

* ''Bugs Bunny: Crazy Castle'' (''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes''): This old UsefulNotes/GameBoy and {{UsefulNotes/NES}} game has Bugs running around dozens of floors of a castle where the other Looney Tunes have been brainwashed or something, and running into one of them just once sends you back to the start of the level. Only two items can circumvent this: one that temporarily lets you walk ''through'' other characters and one that temporarily lets you walk through and ''kill'' other characters. Made worse in that some characters follow you around and a few ''float through walls and floors.''

* ''Atomic Robo-Kid'': You can't take a hit without exploding, except in ''Atomic Robo-Kid Special'', the ReformulatedGame for the UsefulNotes/PCEngine.

** Shedinja is a unique example of this in a game that doesn't usually use it. While lifebars do exist in-game, Shedinja only ever has a single hit point, making its own life bar rather pointless. It's kept from being a [[JokeCharacter novelty Pokémon]] by its ability, "Wonder Guard", which protects it from all direct damage that isn't super effective. Unfortunately, Wonder Guard doesn't protect Shedinja from ''indirect'' damage; meaning everything from StatusEffects, damaging weather such as hail or sandstorms, entry hazards like Stealth Rocks or Spikes, Leech Seed, and even recoil from its own attacks are fair game.

** Aria and Coda only have half a heart and cannot obtain heart canisters, and therefore die if they take any damage (Unless they have a potion, which Aria starts with and is good for a single revival, or if they are wearing glass armor, which saves them from being hit once). Additionally, they die if they miss a beat.

* ''Film/BatmanReturns'': The UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem version, unlike the UsefulNotes/GameGear version from which it was converted, does not give Batman a life bar.

* ''VideoGame/ClockTower'': Not exactly, because in terms of gameplay, your character has several different stages of health, but they don't actually die if it hits 0. When that does happen, they can no longer avoid your [[ImplacableMan enemy]] if they catch you. However, the character does not actually get hurt unless they die, making this an odd example, especially in Clock Tower 2 (1 in the US) and The Struggle Within, where failing these events kills you, no matter how much health you have. Surviving them makes your health go down, as opposed to dying. This makes it more of a, "You have a health bar, but you still die if you're hit at all".

* ''VideoGame/AnotherWorld'' (known as ''Out Of This World'' in US) [[NintendoHard worked this way]]. Some combat elements, such as the blaster pistol capable of creating blaster shields, made it rather complicated to get through certain firefights, almost qualifying it as a PuzzleGame. The unsuspecting player is in for a surprise if he tries to run past the worms crawling on the ground in the first area.

-->-- '''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd''' on ''VideoGame/SilverSurfer'' for the UsefulNotes/{{N|intendoEntertainmentSystem}}ES

* ''VideoGame/SilverSurfer'': As quoted above, this game, exacerbated by the fact that [[DeadlyWalls touching walls will kill you]]. Made even more annoying by the fact that one of the Silver Surfer's superpowers is being {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le! [[EverythingTryingToKillYou The rubber ducky will kill you.]]

* A single bullet is enough to send you back the the nearest checkpoint in ''VideoGame/{{Ghostrunner}}, while a single stroke from your sword can cleanly cleave through just about any enemy you come across.

** In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRun'', Toad moves faster than Mario but can't collect Super Mushrooms, so one hit is enough to take him out and cost you some precious time.

* ''VideoGame/CommanderKeen'': While not a Mario offshoot, this game was designed with Mario in mind, and the title character is just as vulnerable. One hit and the Defender of Earth is dead. Ditto ''Dangerous Dave'', another early John Romero game.

* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'': The title character ''lives'' (or rather dies) by this trope (at least in earlier installments), sure you can get Aku-Aku masks to take up to two extra hits, but those tend to be rare unless you die several times in a row between checkpoints (where you're then given a freebie mask upon respawning). Regardless, when Crash is by himself, he croaks at even the slightest contact with an enemy or hazard... even seemingly harmless ones like ''turtles'' and ''skunks''.
** Not even His Sister Coco is safe from being killed in one hit in The VideoGame/CrashBandicoot series Video Games she is playable in and in VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime even Tawna, Dingodile and even Franchise villain Dr Neo Cortex can be killed in one hit, when you play as them.

* ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' 4, just like most Mario platformers, in that while on Super Hard Mode you technically do have more health, you always ''start'' the levels with only one hit point left, usually right in front of a monster ready to kill you on contact. So you're always a One-Hit-Point Wonder for the first half of every level.

* In virtually all microgames in ''VideoGame/WarioWare'', as well as most of the unlockable minigames, the player character dies after being damaged once. It would be easier to list the exceptions, such as the ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' clone at the end of Jimmy's stages in the original and ''Gold'', but even then, some opponents have a OneHitKill punch.

Has ''nothing'' to do with a OneHitWonder, [[PunBasedTitle although it is sometimes referred to as such]].