Games where damage removes abilities?

[Squire Grooktook]

IE stuff where you can get a limb damaged or chopped off, and certain attacks become unavailable or hindered.

This is usually something that's filed under "no fun" in action games, and is usually avoided. I'm curious though if there's examples of the idea being done well.

Examples off the top of my head:

Bushido Blade (haven't played, but I believe this was a mechanic?)
Dead Space (for enemies only)
NieR Automata (lose some chips and minor mechanics in combat)
Some mech games???

[Obiwanshinobi]

Explosions under certain circumstances make the playable character hearing-impaired for a while in Metal Gear Solid 3. Likewise, I believe playable character suffers from afterimage when flashbanged in some FPP games. I would seek more of that in "combatant simulators" like Operation Flashpoint.
Pretty sure getting scarred in Fallout 1&2 affects how attractive your character is for NPCs (altering the dialogue options), so I would expect drugs not to be exclusively beneficial in combat either. Real-time as well as turn-based tactical games tend to employ impairments received during playable parts of a game (like you can't run once non-lethally wounded in Rainbow Six 3 for example).
Don't you lose high-jump boots and such when hit once in a number games? Like super-'shroomed Mario can't break bricks once hit & shrunk in Super Mario Bros. 'till he gets a new mushroom.

[BIL]

Strictly off the top of my head, a few STG examples come up... Axelay (SFC) blowing your special weapons away (while leaving your base assets intact) does the "fuck! I needed that! effect pretty well, I think. Deleterious but not stultifying. I can't quite recall offhand whether Silpheed (MCD, and possibly its earlier PC incarnations) actually reduces your maneuverability, but there's an awesome sense of peril as damage sees first your weapons systems, then shields and engines failing (to appropriately dire status warnings). I'm suspecting you can still move about ok... seem to recall scraping through a late-stage with nothing but improv dodging and the peashooter.

I can't think of fast-action games offhand where getting significantly crippled or lamed is a thing. Of course there's "stat effect" stuff ala SOTN, and similar like CV Bloodlines' st5-1 pollen or Shinobi III's st2 boss inverting your L/R directions temporarily. I'm guessing you also consider the whole subgenre of POW-driven action games (Bloodlines, Revenge of/Shinobi III, Alien Soldier) a slightly different matter.

You can lose your sword and shield in both AC/FC Trojan, changing your moveset from slash/guard to punch/kick - though in the port, it's very short-lived due to restore items. I've not played AC much, but I wonder if it's more significant there. Makes me think of disarming/de-masking Claw in the later SFII entries.

Enemy-only, but in the various Technos beaters, stamina is a key mechanic (tied to remaining HP). You can't grapple DDIIFC/Hard's Ropers and Right Arms without inflicting significant damage beforehand; likewise in DD1FC, Kunio 1FC and DD Advance, stronger enemies will shrug off your mounted finisher until significantly injured (the resulting jab to the throat does damage and can even kill you in DDA). For a more bilateral version of this see AKI's "Virtual Pro Wrestling" series, my favourite being Wrestlemania 2000 (edit: favourite US/EU; Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 for JP N64 is the ultimate, but you'll probably need a translation guide to get the most out of it). Can't land power grapples on a fresh target, gotta soften 'em up first. For gritty combat games, I prefer this approach to traditional lifebars ala Final Fight, where fighters are as vital at death's door as they are fresh out of the locker room.

[Stevens]

Red Zone on the Megadrive - Helicopter loses shit like radar, steering, and access to certain weapons. Not sure on the last one, but probably.

Poseidon Wars 3-D on the SMS - Radar, sonar, missiles, vulcan, and your ability to see can all be lost to enemy fire.

[Ruldra]

Destroying limbs is a viable tactic in Front Mission games. Not so fun when it happens to you...

Status effects in RPGs should count, but usually they're impractical. Either the enemy is immune to them or it's better off to just use regular attacks. It's great on the rare occasion it works though. There's one boss in FFX who automatically heals 9999 damage every time you attack him, so my solution was to poison him and wait until he died.

Some space flight simulators like TIE Fighter have weaponry that disable enemy ships rather than destroying them. Used to great effect in story missions when you need to capture a specific target.

[Blinge]

Driving games heh

[JBC]

in Run Saber for SNES you can die pretty quick, then the game respawns you without reloading the stage. You respawn with no powerups, so it makes staying alive to keep them feel pretty important. Fun Strider-like game.

There are also all the classic brawlers where any weapons you pick up will be dropped if someone starts pummeling you, then you'll have to recollect them before they disappear. This happens in the best of them like Final Fight, Streets of Rage, and Double Dragon if I remember correctly.

Gradius is another example of being able to recover your lost abilities after taking a hit. It only applies to your 'options' though, the little orbs that duplicate your ship's movements and attacks. It's nice to be given a chance to retrieve them, and so crushing if you miss one. Without this mechanic I think some of the games would be broken by their difficulty.

Oh, and lets not forget all the survival horror titles that slow your player character to a crawling limp if you're damaged enough!

I suppose the stamina meter in Dark Souls like games can be considered a variation of this. The more damage you absorb or deflect, the worse for the wear your player character will be. If stamina drops too low you'll no longer be able to parry or run. You'll roll or dodge a lot slower, and your attacks will deal less damage. It makes paying attention to how winded you're getting much more important and adds a nice layer of realism to the encounters. Tire yourself out and there goes all your defense and stopping power. Raising a shield will slow recovery time down, so it encourages you to be fully aware of yourself in relation to your enemy's position. It's the reason why victory in combat is so satisfying in those games.

Some of these games are more like Bushido Blade than others, but they each share a variation on a similar concept. It doesn't feel like punishment so much as a natural consequence of playing badly. If you get a chance to play Bushido Blade check it out. It's very much an experiment and feels very different from anything else. It's one of my prized possessions on PS1.

[BIL]

Oh, another STG example - MagMax (AC/FC)'s whole gimmick is building the titular super robot by collecting its legs, upper body and armaments. Default ship is his dong. What livens it up slightly compared to straight "collect 'em all -> POW mode" is, you gain/lose parts in real time - so if your lazoring upper body gets blown away, you'll still have a pair of rocket-launching legs attached, and vice-versa. As you'd expect, the completed robot is powerful but presents a much bigger target. Fun tug-of-war going on.

[BrianC]

There's the infamous Time Killers and BloodStorm arcade games where fighters can lose their limbs.

The Makaimura series has a magician than can temporarily deabilitate Arthur by turning him into different forms.

Robot Tank for the Atari 2600 has various things that can happen when you get hit, including impared mobility and vision.

Galdiator has where both you and oppoents can knock off armor and shields.

[Mischief Maker]

There's the new Battletech game where strategic dismemberment is one of the main gameplay elements.

Does Cave Story count?

[mamboFoxtrot]

I suppose its debatable to what degree Hybrid Heaven is an "action" game, but your limbs, body, and head are damaged differently by attacks in addition to raw HP loss, with differing side-effects like losing attacks with limbs (damaged legs also slow your movement), stamina regen loss for torso, and for head obviously you just fkn take a dirt nap for a bit. This seems to apply to the enemies as well, but so far in the game I only have managed to damage an enemy's torso since repeated body slams are a quick way to end most fights. I think head blows for concussions might be needed to initiate floor grappling, but idk.

On the shmup side, didn't Twinbee have getting your hands blown up? There seems to be a good deal of stuff like that, little bits that do something for you but can also take some hits for you. Weapon Pods in Einhander act like that as well.

[Mortificator]

Physical disfigurement is surprisingly rare outside of games where the avatar is a mech or some other kind of vehicle. Machines can, of course, get their bits blasted off and then be repaired without breaking credibility. But video games frequently have humans heal bullet wounds by running over medkits or hiding behind crates for a while, so that's not much of an excuse.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I wouldn't quite count stamina bar mechanics, Monster Hunter-style, as "damage" (same with overheating as you boost or special attack etc.), HOWEVER bleeding & poisoning in Metal Gear Solid 3 counts if you ask me (not so much hunger & pupillary light reflex there, since those simulate unavoidable effects of living one's life). Doesn't Hajime no Ippo PS2 games (Victorious Boxers) simulate "damage" (called so in Japanese, I seem to recall from anime), though? While not strictly "removing" abilities there, it hampers the speed & responsivity of a fighter.

[Specineff]

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. You need to be at full health to use the Soul Reaver in the material world, once acquired. Vagrant Story and SD Snatcher could count, since targeting legs affectss motion, and so on.

[Squire Grooktook]

There's the new Battletech game where strategic dismemberment is one of the main gameplay elements.

Yeah, on that note this was inspired by the TRPG I've been playing in for the last year and a half.

The game is themed around weaponized body horror. Characters don't have hit points, they have "parts". IE "Feet", "Hand", "Tentacles", "Extra Eyes", "Maggots", "Acid Blood", "Extra Heart" etc. which are assigned to different Hit Locations (Head, Arms, Torso, Legs), and provide different crucial gameplay functions. When you're hit, the attacker tries to aim for a specific hit location, and if they succeed, the defender must choose which parts to discard based on how many points of damage inflicted. After battle, you may recover your Parts by devouring/assimilating defeated opponents bodies, and when you eventually level up, you choose a new part to add onto yourself.

It makes for a battle system that's both tactical and visceral, since every time you get hit you lose crucial abilities, which feels just as devastating as hearing descriptions of your character being eviscerated. You might think you're doing good, and then suddenly you lose your feet (no longer able to move) while surrounded by zombies. Big boss battles provoke the feeling of weary, shambling half-human abominations gradually whittling eachother down with horrific blows fueled only by sheer determination.

Probably the best turn based combat system I've ever played by far, vidya or otherwise. Really got me curious how something like that could be handled in realtime.

i
I suppose the stamina meter in Dark Souls like games can be considered a variation of this. The more damage you absorb or deflect, the worse for the wear your player character will be. If stamina drops too low you'll no longer be able to parry or run. You'll roll or dodge a lot slower, and your attacks will deal less damage. It makes paying attention to how winded you're getting much more important and adds a nice layer of realism to the encounters. Tire yourself out and there goes all your defense and stopping power. Raising a shield will slow recovery time down, so it encourages you to be fully aware of yourself in relation to your enemy's position. It's the reason why victory in combat is so satisfying in those games..

Erh, stamina doesn't effect your roll/dodge speed. That's weight of your current equipment. Stamina is very binary in Souls: either you have enough to perform the move, or you don't and you can't execute it.

Nioh does kind of expand on this system though, since attacking/countering enemies at certain times reduces their stamina, allowing you to execute finishers and such if you drop it to zero.

You can lose your sword and shield in both AC/FC Trojan, changing your moveset from slash/guard to punch/kick - though in the port, it's very short-lived due to restore items. I've not played AC much, but I wonder if it's more significant there. Makes me think of disarming/de-masking Claw in the later SFII entries.

I do like that kind of switch up in gameplay! Watched your run of the game recently, hoping to give it a go after finals!

[BIL]

Physical disfigurement is surprisingly rare outside of games where the avatar is a mech or some other kind of vehicle. Machines can, of course, get their bits blasted off and then be repaired without breaking credibility. But video games frequently have humans heal bullet wounds by running over medkits or hiding behind crates for a while, so that's not much of an excuse.

Disfigurement made me think of games where damage might somehow derange the character, not necessarily in a flatly bad sense - more of a tradeoff. And so I recalled Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (NES/FC), now infamous in popular internet gaming culture. I recently tried the FC ver, which starts in a much more aesthetically and mechanically appealing town stage. Lots of ornate doors to duck in ala Rolling Thunder, except instead of Albatross springing out to bust a fuckin cap, it's some scurred wiener lacking so much as a good pair of mitts. For the uninitiated, taking too much abuse as that bitch Jekyll brings out Hyde, who can (+) shoot lazors but (-) will actually die, if he doesn't swiftly escape his reverse-scrolling shadow realm by blasting varmints.

I like the balance - Running To The Right Avoiding Miscreants VS Receding To The Left Killing Motherfuckers - particularly as you need to play as Hyde for the true ending (if I remember Macaw and kitten's posts correctly). Unfortunately, performance and motion is unacceptably choppy; sub-Micronics. Hyde's lazor resembles Contra's flamethrower sans 75% of its frames, sabotaging the notion of a tense shooting test. Still, the concept of horrendous yet functional adaptation, and the channeling into an alternative game style, is sound.

Balancing and implementation could vary wildly depending on the tone of action you're going for (a wackily body-ramming, tastefully damage-tanking free for all? something more methodical and punishing? or puzzle-inflected cinema, ala Prince of Persia?) Regardless, the idea is less flat-zero "WHAMGONDOBOUTMAHLEEEG," more life gives you lemons->make skull-stripping acid jizz and bust in a motherfucker's face.

KID's soccer action platformer Doki Doki Yuuenchi (FC), besides some quasi-Recca pumpin choons, has a very basic iteration of this. The closer you are to death, the more your balls swell up and the stronger your attacks. Aggressive players may promptly burn 75% of their lifebar to demolish its otherwise hardy enemies, even as the game becomes a tenser 1HKO affair. The character's colour-changing uniform even brings to mind Border Down, amusingly.

EDIT:

There's the new Battletech game where strategic dismemberment is one of the main gameplay elements.

Yeah, on that note this was inspired by the TRPG I've been playing in for the last year and a half.

The game is themed around weaponized body horror. Characters don't have hit points, they have "parts". IE "Feet", "Hand", "Tentacles", "Extra Eyes", "Maggots", "Acid Blood", "Extra Heart" etc. which are assigned to different Hit Locations (Head, Arms, Torso, Legs), and provide different crucial gameplay functions. When you're hit, the attacker tries to aim for a specific hit location, and if they succeed, the defender must choose which parts to discard based on how many points of damage inflicted. After battle, you may recover your Parts by devouring/assimilating defeated opponents bodies, and when you eventually level up, you choose a new part to add onto yourself.

It makes for a battle system that's both tactical and visceral, since every time you get hit you lose crucial abilities, which feels just as devastating as hearing descriptions of your character being eviscerated. You might think you're doing good, and then suddenly you lose your feet (no longer able to move) while surrounded by zombies. Big boss battles provoke the feeling of weary, shambling half-human abominations gradually whittling eachother down with horrific blows fueled only by sheer determination.

Probably the best turn based combat system I've ever played by far, vidya or otherwise. Really got me curious how something like that could be handled in realtime.

Aww sheeit, posted before seeing this. I like it.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I don't think it's something that's seen in games often cause it's hard to manage the balancing so that it's fun, as opposed to frustrating.

MGS3's been mentioned a few times, but the biggest one in the game is

Spoiler

the plot-related injury where you lose an eye and that directly affects your eyesight any time you're in first person mode aiming from then on.

[BrianC]

I don't think it's something that's seen in games often cause it's hard to manage the balancing so that it's fun, as opposed to frustrating.

MGS3's been mentioned a few times, but the biggest one in the game is

Spoiler

the plot-related injury where you lose an eye and that directly affects your eyesight any time you're in first person mode aiming from then on.

I was thinking Metal Slug 3 when I read that for some reason. That game has a stage where you can become a zombie with slow movement and a blood attack. Metal Slug 2 has a stage where you can become a slow moving mummy that can only use the standard gun, but can still use bombs.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I have barely begun playing Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, but if memory serves, the first time you fight a mech there, its attacks become fiercer when one of its legs is damaged. Pretty expected reaction coming from a (Konami) videogame boss, but there you have it.

[Jeneki]

I remember laughing pretty hard in one of the Twinbee games, when my arms got blown off and an ambulance came down to fix me up.

[Turrican]

Christopher Belmont's fire bullet can be used only when in full health in the first DD.

Alas, the most infamous permanently removed ability must be Shadow's Interceptor due to the rippler bug in FF6. No matter how careful I am, I always end losing the doggie.

[jd213]

There's Veigues Tactical Gladiator on the PCE/TG-16, one of the few games I had for the system as a kid. It's not a great game (not that bad either IMO) but I really liked it's graphics at the time.

[Specineff]

Soldier Blade and some games in the Aleste series reduce your weapon power when you get hit. It's more of a shielding mechanic, but counts.

Also, Star Raiders on the 2600, though you can get your ship repaired at starbases.

[WelshMegalodon]

I remember laughing pretty hard in one of the Twinbee games, when my arms got blown off and an ambulance came down to fix me up.

Pop'n TwinBee takes away an option every time your ship gets hit without a barrier. While it's more forgiving than dying outright, it's also more annoying.

[Gespenst]

3D Super Robot Wars games (GC/XO, Operation Extend and Neo too I think) has targetable body parts in which completely destroying one part will affect accuracy/movement/attack power. IIRC there are some scenarios that forces you to attack ONLY body parts to neutralize an enemy mech since destroying said mech would resulting in game over.

Lethal Skies/PS2 era Sidewinder has individual components that can be damaged (wings, engines, weapons, radar, etc), only applies to you of course.

Legging (crippling one of mech's leg) in earlier three MechWarrior games usually means easy kills and salvages since it instantly disables the mech. In MW4 onwards including the latest Battletech game it significantly reduces mech movement instead of downright disabling them.

Armored Core 3: Silent Line and (notoriously) Last Raven have breakable weapons (the former) and parts (the latter) for both you and enemy ACs

Naval Ops series has component damage for your ships that can be fixed during gameplay using emergency repair (hull breach, fire, engine/deck/rudder damage)

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Alas, the most infamous permanently removed ability must be Shadow's Interceptor due to the rippler bug in FF6. No matter how careful I am, I always end losing the doggie.

Rippler in general is a buggy, buggy spell. I remember playing it as a kid too and wondering where Interceptor left since he'd stopped popping up... I think some of the later ports of the game fixed it? But there were still other Rippler bugs even in those. Nowadays you can play via emulation and apply a patch so the spell behaves as it should: http://www.rpglegion.com/ff6/hack/rippler.htm

If you want to play the cart, probably best to use Strago in any team with Shadow so you can try to Rippler Interceptor back...