History Main / PlayerDeathIsDramatic

** While each main game in the ''[[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Metroid Prime]]'' sub-series has Samus scream and her visor cutting to black like an old CRT television turning off when taking her final hit -- if the player died in Morph Ball form, Samus is also shown exploding beforehand -- the Game Over screen itself has its own imagery in each entry. [[VideoGame/MetroidPrime The first game]] shows Samus with her [[BrokenFaceplate visor cracked]] and her head slumping over once her vitals flatline; ''[[VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes Echoes]]'' shows Samus going into cardiac arrest; and ''[[VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption Corruption]]'' has Samus's blood spilling onto the screen, with the NonStandardGameOver where Samus's corruption levels get too high having a brief scene of her transforming her into another Dark Samus play before showing the Game Over screen (with the spilled blood now being blue rather than red).

** Every 2D Metroid game after Super Metroid did this. When Samus takes her last hit, she freezes in place & the entire screen turns black, except for her, and her body is exposed. Each game has a slight variance to this animation:
*** In ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'', ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'', and ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'', her Power Suit breaks apart after the above happens.
*** ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'' uses similar death animations, but Samus' suit just disappears instead.
** The ''[[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Metroid Prime]]'' sub-series has its own share of death animations, some being quite dark thanks to the jump towards 3D. Each game has the visor cut to black like an old CRT television turning off while Samus screams. What happens after is different in each game:
*** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'': The game shows Samus with her [[BrokenFaceplate visor cracked]]. Once her vitals flatline, her head slumps over. If Samus dies while in ball form, everything freezes in place while her suit detonates in a massive explosion (the same as a Power Bomb) before cutting to black.
*** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' shows Samus going into cardiac arrest and then her heart stops completely. Samus' death in Morph Ball form was made less dramatic by having the ball explode (sans the massive explosion previously) and break apart into fragments like a grenade.
*** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' shows Samus' blood spilling onto a blue screen and then "Game Over" is displayed. If Samus' corruption levels get too high, the game shows the Phazon inside Samus overtake her body completely, transforming her into another Dark Samus. The game over screen then appears, but blue substance/blood is shown instead and "Game Over: Terminal Corruption" is displayed.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' has Samus scream as she collapses and her suit fades out if she dies, leaving her body exposed to her killer(s). Adam screams out her name [[spoiler: until he goes missing later on in the story]] and then the Game Over screen appears. If Samus dies in lava, she reaches out with her hand before it slowly sinks back into the lava.

--> "You were killed by a grenade. Watch out for the grenade danger indicator."

** In the SNES original, crashing kills the soundtrack as the camera slows down and turns around to look at the smoldering pile of debris that used to be your machine. The GBA sequels (''Maximum Velocity'', ''GP Legend'', etc.) combined this with scary/sad music to [[PlayerPunch place even greater emphasis on your failure]].
** In ''F-Zero X'' on the Nintendo 64, your machine breaks apart & explodes as the soundtrack fades out, and the announcer says "Too bad, you lost your machine..." as the screen wipes to black.

* While DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist in ''Videogame/BurnoutParadise'', the player crashing hard enough triggers a "crash cam". This means the music suddenly stops, the camera cuts to a favorable angle and time slows down to show body panels crumpling and flying off as the vehicle is destroyed by its own inertia. By contrast, AIs the player wrecks are shown with a brief shot of their destroyed car in real time.

How this manifests itself varies, in some early video games, everything except the player would disappear and be replaced by a black void, removing all distractions from the character's corpse. In more modern games, all entities that are not the player (enemies, bosses, [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]], etc.) would freeze in place as the player character dies. DramaticSpotlight may be involved if the work is being showy. Due to the nature of this trope, it's very rare for TheManyDeathsOfYou to apply, but if it does, expect all death scenes to have something in common, even if it's YetAnotherStupidDeath.

** Exaggerated with the Knight, as not only is the Knight's death dramatic, what with it violently disintegrating, but even ''taking damage'' is emphasized with a brief freeze-frame and glass-cracking effect[[note]]though the glass effect is absent on low visual quality settings[[/note]], a loud thud, and any background music cutting out for a second before fading back in.

* This trope was one of the things that made ''VideoGame/DonaldInMauiMallard'' a surprisingly creepy game about the short-tempered duck. Die and you're treated to a scene of him getting dragged into hell by a demonic hand. Dramatic enough to make a native hold his wig as a sign of respect, but not dramatic enough to stop him from simply shrugging it off a few seconds later and happily moving on with his life.

* When the titular character of ''VideoGame/SparkTheElectricJester'' dies, he collapses pale and wide-eyed into a black void as the soundtrack cuts off. When playing as Fark, the robot instead malfunctions and comically falls offscreen, but still on a silent black void.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' While Mario was no stranger to dying in his games, in the games before Super Mario 64, he just fell off the screen if an enemy or hazard killed him. In Super Mario 64, Mario does not do that, instead he falls onto the ground and tries to get back up before dying, and you can see his corpse has X’s in his eyes when he dies. When the games before this one were not as scary when Mario died, to see your favorite Video Game hero die in this fashion when he just fell off the screen in the earlier games is quite unsettling. Not to mention what happens when he drowns or dies of toxic gas in this game.

** In the SNES original, crashing kills the soundtrack as the camera slows down and turns around to look at the smoldering pile of debris that used to be your machine. The GBA sequels (Maximum Velocity, GP Legend, etc.) combined this with scary/sad music to [[PlayerPunch place even greater emphasis on your failure]].

* In ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'', when enemies die, they silently keel over, collapse, or explode. When ''your'' crew die, their deaths are audible, including sound effects such as human death grunts and Engi clanking.
* ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'': Whenever Zagreus is killed, the game cuts all enemies and backgrounds out to a black void, as he dies and is dragged back into the underworld. Even when he has [[OneUp Death Defiance]] charges remaining, the game will slow down and all sound will go quiet while the Defiance restores him to life.

* Starting with ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', whenever the PlayerCharacter dies, the party's MissionControl will panic before the screen fades away.

* Games by ''Creator/TobyFox'' tend to have this.
** ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': During battle, the human's SOUL (represented by a red heart) is visible when fighting monsters. If the human's HP hits 0, then all monsters on screen, along with the entire interface, vanish. Only the human's SOUL remains visible before cracking, and promptly shattering into pieces, signifying the human has died. The Game Over screen also features text of [[spoiler:Asriel begging Chara not to give up while they're on their deathbed, though before the game's backstory gets fleshed out it looks like this is addressed to the player]].
*** The FanRemake ''VideoGame/UndertaleBitsAndPieces'' accompanies this animation with Frisk having a heart attack before falling on the ground.
** ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' does much the same thing, however you will either simply be asked to try again in Chapter 1, or in Chapter 2, Susie and Ralsei will beg Kris to get up and try again.

* If your shields are completely drained in ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' you get to watch your Arwing spiral out of control (if in outer space) or tumble across the ground (if on a planet with solid ground) before exploding, followed by your teammates [[SayMyName screaming Fox's name]] or letting out a BigNo. If you happen to die while fighting Andross, you get to hear Fox scream instead since he is fighting alone.

* ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' takes this trope & just runs with it. If Maverick dies, you're forced to watch as him shield himself from an [[ExplosiveInstrumentation exploding control panel]], followed by his entire ship being vaporized. And for double {{TearJerker}} points, [[ItsAWonderfulFailure you then have to attend his funeral]].

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': Starting with the first Solid game, MissionControl characters who you speak with on the Codec will become alarmed if [[TheHero Snake]] dies. Otacon provides the page quote. While the same style was used in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', a notable example comes from Rose; if Raiden dies, Rose calls out for his name before frightfully gasping/holding back tears. Justified since Rose and Raiden are a couple.

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' takes this to the extreme. '''Every''' game in the series has death at the hands of the terrifying animatronics be accompanied by an ear-shatteringly loud JumpScare.

* Every game in the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series plays this trope completely straight with [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou Lord class]] characters (Marth, Roy, Ike, etc.) as when they die, they say their LastWords and another character is either saddened or [[OhCrap freaked out]] by the fact that their leader has just died. If any other unit dies however, it's a subversion, as the game does take it seriously, but [[ForgottenFallenFriend just keeps going anyway]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'', the continue screen is a shot of Bayonetta's body sprawled across the ground. If the player declines to continue, she will be DraggedOffToHell. If you let Cereza get taken by the Joy, however, [[NonStandardGameOver her doll will be in Bayonetta's place instead]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'', the GameOver screen is a shot of Bayonetta's body sprawled across the ground. If the player declines to continue, she will be DraggedOffToHell.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' While Mario was no stranger to dying in his games, in the games before Super Mario 64, he just fell off the screen if an enemy or hazard killed him. In Super Mario 64, Mario does not do that, instead he falls onto the ground and tries to get back up before dying, and you can see his corpse has X’s in his eyes when he dies. When the games before this one were not as scary when Mario died, to see your favorite Video Game hero die in this fashion when he just fell off the screen in the earlier games is quite unsettling. Not to mention when happens when you drown of die of toxic gas in that game.

* ''Franchise/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' takes this to the extreme. '''Every''' game in the series has death at the hands of the terrifying animatronics be accompanied by an ear-shatteringly loud JumpScare.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'' series usually only uses DeathThrows, but in ''Kirby 64'', dying while playing as Kirby or King Dedede causes them to stumble around dizzily and pass out as the screen fades to black. Even the death music is remixed to sound dramatic. Some amusing MoodWhiplash ensues in Kirby’s case, as he shouts his usual hit noise before he falls down, an overexaggerated “OUCH!” This death animation is reprised in ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'', but with the standard musical sting.

{{Permadeath}} is more or the less the ultimate version of this trope, since the dead character will remain dead. This isn't to be confused with ItsAWonderfulFailure, as that is for showing the player the dramatic consequences of their failure, often in [[NonStandardGameOver specific circumstances]], while this about the player character themselves dying '''being''' dramatic by itself.

* ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' takes this trope & just runs with it. If Maverick dies, you're forced to attend his funeral.

* ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'' and ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' have Ness/Ninten in a black void with a spotlight over him if he and his friends are defeated in battle. ''VideoGame/Mother3'' does the same thing, only with the lead character collapsed on the ground instead.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'' series usually only uses DeathThrows, but in ''Kirby 64'', dying while playing as Kirby or King Dedede causes them to stumble around dizzily and pass out as the screen fades to black. Even the death music is remixed to sound dramatic. Some amusing MoodWhiplash ensues in Kirby’s case, as he shouts his usual hit noise before he falls down, an overexaggerated “OUCH!”