History VideoGame / GainGround

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Twenty unique warriors in all. Each is split into categories with different weapons. There are two spear throwers, two archers, four gunmen, four magic knights, four heavy weapon wielders, two grenade-launching characters, and two boomerang-wielding characters.
** However, in normal mode, it is possible to find duplicates of characters you already have, expanding your roster to over thirty soldiers, assuming they all survive to the end. Note however that choosing easy mode skips the modern era, loosing a few extra ones in the process.
** In normal difficulty, there is a total of thirty hostages to add to your party in single player, and forty-five in two player.

* InstantWinCondition: You can clear a level by either getting everyone through the exit or killing all enemies. No matter how many characters still have to reach the exit, the level ends instantly if all enemy troops die.

* FinalDeath: The game's hard mode starts you with all characters. If one dies, they'll be KilledOffForReal![[note]]Assuming you can't save them after they turn into a hostage, that is.[[/note]]

** Every one of the twenty different player characters goes down in one hit, no matter if it's a throwing knife, grenade, fireball, a futuristic laser, or just [[CollisionDamage an enemy bumping into you.]]

* OneHitPointWonder: All player characters die in one hit. See OneHitKill above.

The goal of each stage is to either get all characters you control out of the stage via the marked exit, or to kill all enemies on the map. The latter ends the level without having to get any more characters out, but it can be quite difficult depending on where the enemies are hiding. If the timer for the level runs out before all enemies are defeated, all characters in the player's party that did not make it into the exit are lost, and if all of a player's characters are killed before they can reach the exit of a level, the game ends[[note]]Unless a continue is used, which will reset the player's score and give them the default starting roster of three.[[/note]].

* PointOfNoContinues: You can't continue anymore once you reach the Final Epoch; if all your characters die by that point, your game will be permanently over. To make things even worse, no extra players can join in once the Final Epoch starts, meaning that they cannot cheat in an extra play for you that way either.

The game also has "Hostages" that can be rescued by picking them up and carrying them to the exit. Each hostage unlocks a new character[[note]]starting in the next stage, of course, since characters that have reached the exit cannot be used until the next stage.[[/note]], which will have a unique set of weapons. However, if all of the enemies are defeated before a hostage is brought to the exit, the character will not be obtained. Also, any character that you loose turns into a hostage, who can be saved in a similar manner. However, if you loose another character when trying to save them, then the first disappears for good. This unique mechanic means that your lives are directly tied to the tactics you have to choose from- if you loose a character and cannot rescue them, you're down a life AND you've lost the weapon they had.

** Exit(s) are giant yellow rectangles with the word ''EXIT'' written on them in bold text. Enemies refuse to stand on them, and they are almost always placed on a contrasting background, especially when they're anywhere but the entire top edge of the screen.

** Most enemies can be defeated in one shot, especially in the first round. In fact, some weapons are strong enough to take out enemies in one hit no matter their health (excluding bosses), namely Mud Puppy's plasma cannon.

* AIIsACrapshoot: The Gain Ground system is the BigBad.

* EasyModeMockery: Playing on easy mode will cause the game to skip the entire fourth world.

* FinalDeath: The game's hard mode starts you with all characters. If one dies, they'll be KilledOffForReal!

* NoticeThis: Hostages blink in different colors, are not moving or animated at all (until you pick them up), and are much smaller than any other enemies in the game in order to indicate they are important things to collect and not mooks.

* PointOfNoContinues: You can't continue anymore once you reach the Final Epoch; if all your charactes die by that point, your game will be permanently over!
** To make things even worse, no extra players can join in (which in turn makes the inability to continue uncircumventable)!

The game set in the year 2348 a long period of peace has deprived the earthlings of their instinct to wage war. The Federated Government, greatly concerned regarding this ever increasing dangerous situation, developed a Gain Ground simulation system in the year 2348 in an effort to instigate their ever waning fighting spirit. However, suddenly without warning, the Supercomputer went berserk and took many of the citizens as hostages. In order to rescue the people, three of the bravest warriors were urgently dispatched to go forth into the deadly Gain Ground.

The goal of each stage is to either get all characters you control out of the stage via the marked exit, or to kill all enemies on the map. This last ends the level without having to get any more characters out, but it can be quite difficult depending on where they are.

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** To make things even worse, no extra players can join in (which in turn makes the inability to continue uncircumventable)!

* AIIsACrapshoot

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Twenty unique warriors in all. Each is split into categories with different weapons. There are two spear throwers, two archers, four gunmen, four magic knights, four heavy weapon wielders, two grenade-launching characters, and two boomerang-wielding characters. However, in normal mode, it is posible to find duplicates of characters you already have, expanding your roster to over thirty soldiers, assuming they all survive to the end.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Thirty in all.

** To make things even worse, no extra players can join in (which in turn stops you from bypassing the inability to continue completely)!

* JustifiedExtraLives: Every life is its own character, with different attacks and range. You gain new lives by rescuing characters in the field (by touching them and then bringing both characters to the exit); if a character is killed, they're frozen on the map, and another character in your control can rescue them. (If a character dies while escorting another, though... the escortee will be lost!)

** To make things even worse, you can't have any extra players to join in (which in turn stops you from bypassing the inability to continue completely)!

''Gain Ground'' is a 1988 action-strategy game by Creator/{{Sega}}. It was originally produced for the arcades, later ported to UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem, UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, and so on. Among them Sega Genesis version is the nearest to original game, while adding one new stage.

* DifficultySpike: The first couple of stages are tough, but managable. The third one, however, introduces regular mooks with fast-firing, straight-shooting projectiles, and the game becomes utterly brutal.
* FinalDeath: The game's hard mode starts you with all characters. If one dies, they're lost for good.

* JustifiedExtraLives: Every life is its own character, with different attacks and range. You gain new lives by rescuing characters in the field (by touching them and then bringing both characters to the exit); if a character is killed, they're frozen on the map, and another character in your control can rescue them. (If a character dies while escorting another, though, the escortee is lost.)
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Thirty in all.

''Gain Ground'' is a 1988 action-strategy game by Creator/{{Sega}}. It was originally produced for the arcades, later ported to SegaMasterSystem, SegaGenesis, and so on. Among them Sega Genesis version is the nearest to original game, while adding one new stage.

* DifficultySpike: The first couple of stages are tough, but managable. The third one, however, introduces regular mooks with straight-shooting projectiles, and the game becomes utterly brutal.

* JustifiedExtraLives: Every life is its own character, with different attacks and range. You gain new lives by rescuing characters in the field; if a character is killed, they're frozen on the map, and another character in your control can rescue them. (If a character dies while escorting another, though, the escortee is lost.)

* AIIsACrapshoot