History Main / CriticalAnnoyance

** Used as a bit of BlackComedy by ''Machinima/FreemansMind'' in an outtake where Gordon falls to his death. The previously muted voice activates and begins its warning speech in otherwise [[IncrediblyLamePun dead silence]].

** Low health. In earlier games, it even screwed up the cries of the monster you were sending out, since the channels overlapped. This beeping got ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHItAqaW_EA turned into a song]]'' which plays in that situation in the [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite fifth]] [[VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2 generation]]. Starting in ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', the beeping only plays for a second before stopping. This one is particularly annoying for {{speedrun}}ners, as the bit about blocking pokemon cries speeds up battles in some games (particularly [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Gen 1]]), and hence subjecting yourself to this becomes a necessity during such runs.

** It's been theorized that the low life sound may have actually ''saved Samus's life'' in ''Super Metroid''. [[spoiler:The overgrown Metroid hatchling recognizes and releases its "mother" only when she is at near-death health. Why? Perhaps because it recognized the sound her suit was making, which it had heard before when Ridley brought her to similarly low health before running off with it at the beginning of the game.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}}'' would shut down all interaction with the handheld device whenever the battery got low and would flash a low battery symbol constantly until it the battery either ran completely out or was replaced (apparently to avoid save data loss/corruption). However, these alerts (which were impossible to bypass without one of the above solutions) were known to last for days to weeks on end, making users wonder how low the battery could've possibly been.

* The 2001 remake of ''VideoGame/SpyHunter'' mostly averts the trope, which makes the times when CriticalAnnoyance ''does'' occur more egregious. The Interceptor, despite having a talking AI, only gives you audio warnings at various stages (50%, 25%, 10%) of damage. Of course, when the vehicle is [[DisposableVehicleSection visibly disposing of most of its body to turn into a motorcycle]] at the 25% mark, it makes the latter two warnings redundant. The devs also saw fit to have her tell you when you've completed or failed objectives, injured civilians, or when you approach a Weapons Van or level end.

** Some Chrysler models from TheEighties take CriticalAnnoyance to the next level with the Electronic Voice Alert option. Most owners just disconnected it since it was more of a nuisance than anything else. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR0Ofu0M53g]]

%% * The low health beep in the ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'' games.

* In Skill Battle mode from ''[[VideoGame/PuyoPuyo Puyo Puyo Tetris 2]]'', whenever one side, whether it be the player or the enemy, is at low health a warning sound will play. If one side is at low health and is about to be KO'ed by an attack, the sound will speed up and their screen will flash red.

* Windows XP loves this with its stupid little speech boxes. "Low disk space? On my C: drive?"
* Vista, on the other hand, constantly reminds you that your user account control is disabled. Even if you did it yourself. Years earlier.

** Also, the horn. Might seem mundane... but go to Mexico City, ''and try listening to ten thousand car horns honking at the same time... because someone stopped at a red light, which is a bad thing because LOCAL CUSTOM SAYS YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO JUMP IT''.

* ''VideoGame/FridayThe13th'' for the NES has the Jason Alarm when a kid or counselor is under attack by Jason, and you only have a short time to save them. Once a counselor is killed, they're [[FinalDeath perma-dead]].

** ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' still does it, starting at around three hearts, but it seems somewhat quieter than usual. Since it's based off of Dynasty Warriors, you also get messages when your keeps or allied commanders are in trouble.

* While there are usually some "train approaches" warning signs on all grade crossings, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Railroad_Administration FRA]] regulations in the US go quite some steps further than regulations in the rest of the developed world. Not only are there to be boom gates, signs and lights on the crossing itself, no the train is also to sound its horn miles before actually reaching the crossing - no matter what time of night or day it is. No wonder most Americans have strong {{NIMBY}} feelings towards new rail construction. It is possible to apply for so called "quiet zones" where trains don't have to sound their horns as much, but that requires more investment as well as a lengthy and bureaucratic permit process in the crossing infrastructure and few railroads are willing or able to do that.

* 'Tamagotchi' Would shut down all interaction with the handheld device whenever the battery got low and would flash a low battery symbol constantly until it the battery either ran completely out or was replaced(apparently to avoid save data loss/corruption) however these alerts (which were impossible to bypass without one of the above solutions) were known to last for days to weeks on end, making users wonder how low the battery could've possibly been.

* In the Lamakan Desert in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun2001'', you have a dehydration meter you have to watch. If the meter fills up, you get sunstroke and suffer massive damage. This wouldn't be so bad, if your party members would just '''shut up''' about being hot every few steps.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' has this for a ''low battery'' warning for the Wiimote. Over long play sessions, expect to hear that beeping sound and see that red battery meter incessantly.

** ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' scales this back to just having Samus pant heavily when at critical energy, audible through the Wiimote speaker.

* Never play ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' with less than 25% battery life in your Wiimote, no matter how much playtime that would normally get you in other games. Seriously, don't.

** In ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'', a mellow alarm starts once Samus' energy drops below 50, and gets gradually faster the closer it gets to zero.

** In the ''[[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Prime]]'' series, the Energy Low chime first started at 30, then gets gradually higher with every energy tank you collect, culminating to the sound starting when you're on your last energy tank. It was also accompanied by a big orange light in Samus' HUD, as were all the Item Low indicators.

* ''VideoGame/FrontMission: Gun Hazard'' is a lucky example - lucky in that you have an option to turn the thing off.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperScope6'', (at least) five of the games had some kind of alarm: "Blastris A" and "Blastris B" would speed up the music when blocks are one line away from the left/top, all three "[=LazerBlazer=]" games had an alarm ringing when you're down to one HP (from a total of 5), and of those three, "Engage" added a ''second'' alarm for when your fuel is about to run out.

** Low health. In earlier games, it even screwed up the cries of the monster you were sending out, since the channels overlapped. This beeping got ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHItAqaW_EA turned into a song]]'' which plays in that situation in the [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite fifth]] [[VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2 generation]]. Starting in ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', the beeping only plays for a second before stopping. This one is particularly annoying for {{speedrun}}ners, as the near-death sound speeds up battles in some games (particularly [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Gen 1]]), and hence subjecting yourself to this becomes a necessity during such runs.

** Used in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' and parodied by [[WebAnimation/DorklyOriginals Dorkly]], showing TormentByAnnoyance is [[https://youtu.be/5ywmGaMBi9g Ganon's secret weakness.]]
--->'''Ganon:''' Okay, what's with the beeping?\\

** The series has this in almost every game. In the first one, once Samus' health hits about 16 points, her suit begins beeping ''dua-dua-dua-dua-dua-dua-dua-dua''. Run out of health and [[CriticalExistenceFailure it explodes]]. In the [[VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus second one]], a mellow alarm starts once Samus' energy drops below 50, and gets gradually faster the closer it gets to zero, then ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' brought it down to 30 before starting the same sound from the first one again.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[CaptainObvious Now might be a good time to heal...]]

[[caption-width-right:300: [[CaptainObvious Now might be a good time to heal...]]