History Main / CriticalAnnoyance

* ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'' frequently showed meters and red alerts or had the ship computer or a crewmember declare that the ship's power was low or how long the ship had before it was to be destroyed, occasionally with Kirk or another senior officer looking exasperated at the news. Notable example: During "The Corbomite Maneuver", Balok threatened to destroy the Enterprise, giving the ship a ten minute countdown. Sulu kept a diligent track of the remaining time, much to the annoyance of the rest of the bridge crew.
-->'''Sulu''': Four minutes, thirty seconds.\\
'''Scott''': [[DeadpanSnarker You have an annoying fascination for timepieces, Mister Sulu.]]
* In the ''VideoGame/RomeTotalWar''-based game show ''Series/TimeCommanders'', the team was warned of imminent victory or defeat by a blaring siren, flashing lights and a voice announcing "Victory Imminent" or "Defeat Imminent". This text would also appear flashing across the screen the team was using to direct the battle. Now, if the message was "Victory Imminent", this would be the show's SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound - but having "Defeat Imminent" blasted all over their efforts turned more than one team into a catatonic mess.
* Possible TropeMaker, at least in Japanese media: The {{toku}} series ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'', with the title hero's signature warning light will turn from solid blue to blinking red with an accompanying chime whenever he's running out of energy. When he's running on fumes, it gets higher-pitched and more frantic. Many of [[Franchise/UltraSeries his numerous successors]] have one as well. Considering how the Pokemon series was partially inspired by the Capsule Monsters used by Ultraman's [[Series/UltraSeven successor]], it's highly likely that the warning sound used there is derived from this series.

* Both of the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' games have the HEV suit announcing major or minor injuries and warning about "User death imminent" whenever you're under 25% or take massive damage from a fall. Very distracting, especially as it drones on for about 30 seconds in an emotionless monotone.
** At least the first ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' allowed you to turn down or ''turn off'' the suit's "voice", and its expansion packs avoided the voice altogether, because their protagonists weren't wearing HEV suits. In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' the suit's voice was quieter and had fewer line prompts.

''(For the proper experience, run the "music" from [[http://www.infinitelooper.com/?v=JWTJRLW6uRM&p=n this video]] while reading this page.)''

* [[VideoGame/Left4Dead2 Both]] ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' games have this when your health is in the red. Your survivor will constantly complain every minute or so that they are hurting or are about to die. Yes Ellis, you're gonna die, but I don't got anything to heal you with so shut up and kill zombies. Your vision also turns grey if you've been incapacitated too many times and are low on health. You'll also hear a heartbeat among all the complaining coming from your character.

** ''The original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' has this annoying, screechy sound that plays when you walk around with a poisoned character. This also occurred in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII''.

** JXQ, when he did an audio commentary of an ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' tool-assisted speedrun, mocked this trope by saying "You're almost dead! You're almost dead! You're almost dead!" in cadence with the sound effects.

** 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 Pokémon cries speeds up battles in some games (particularly [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Gen 1]]), and hence subjecting yourself to this becomes a necessity during such runs.

* The English dub of ''Manga/{{Chobits}}'', with Sumomo's [[CatchPhrase frequent]] high-pitched "WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!", almost always indicating an extremely trivial threat. It's amazing no one ever smashes her with a hammer to get that noise to stop.

* In ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture,'' rather than an alarm klaxon, the refitted ''Enterprise'' had a tinny disembodied voice that would say, "Red Alert! Red Alert! The ship is on Red Alert!"

* Possible TropeMaker, at least in Japanese media: The {{toku}} series ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'', with the title hero's signature warning light will turn from solid blue to blinking red with an accompanying chime whenever he's running out of energy. When he's running on fumes, it gets higher-pitched and more frantic. Many of [[Franchise/UltraSeries his numerous successors]] have one as well. Considering how the Pokemon series was partially inspired by the Capsule Monsters used by Ultraman's [[Series/UltraSeven successor]], it's highly likely that the warning sound used there is derived from this series.

* In the ''VideoGame/RomeTotalWar''-based game show ''Series/TimeCommanders'', the team was warned of imminent victory or defeat by a blaring siren, flashing lights and a voice announcing "Victory Imminent" or "Defeat Imminent". This text would also appear flashing across the screen the team was using to direct the battle. Now, if the message was "Victory Imminent", this would be the show's SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound - but having "Defeat Imminent" blasted all over their efforts turned more than one team into a catatonic mess.

* While ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'' doesn't have an aural indication, your health indicator will start flashing if you have less than 50 health. The ChaosUT mod adds a heartbeat sound. Not that you'll be able to hear it.

* ''[[VideoGame/Galaxian3ProjectDragoon Galaxian³: Project Dragoon]]'', an UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame with a huge cabinet that players sit in, has loud klaxons and red lights go off inside the cabinet when the ship's shields drop below 20%. Made worse by the fact that there is no way to restore the ship's shields.

* ''VideoGame/CrisisCore: VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has the left edge of the screen turn yellow when Zack hits half HP, and then red when he's about to die. Fairly useful, really.

* A mod for VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion used this in an interesting way. When your health dropped below 15 percent, the screen would start to blur. You could also set it so the blur started at 80 percent, but the magnitude was less noticable. It was called "Immersive Health Indication" in case anyone wants to use it.
** This was integrated in ''Videogame/TheElderScrollsOnline'', as reaching critical HP levels makes the borders of your screen turn red, the colors of the world to lose saturation and the sound to dim. Actually dying dyes everything in a ghostly blue and changes the music to a requiem-like ominous chant.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' don't have this in the traditional sense; rather, when your head is crippled, your vision will go fuzzy, accompanied by a loud ringing noise. It's meant to simulate a concussion, and while it's no big deal in 3 or New Vegas' Casual Mode, on NV's Hardcore Mode, it can rapidly become incredibly aggravating if you're in the wastes and poorly supplied. They also have the loud HeartbeatSoundtrack when health is low.

* The original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' has this annoying, screechy sound that plays when you walk around with a poisoned character. This also occurred in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII''.
** Later ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games replaced the horrible screeching with a sound akin to a heartbeat and by making the lead character flash red with every step.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', the screen flashes red when a character is low in health.
** That changes once players get to the point in the game where every enemy can put party members in the red with one hit.

* ''Galaxian³'', an UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame with a huge cabinet that players sit in, has loud klaxons and red lights go off inside the cabinet when the ship's shields drop below 20%. Made worse by the fact that there is no way to restore the ship's shields.
* ''{{VideoGame/Gauntlet}}'', when a player's health falls below 200: "WizardNeedsFoodBadly." "Wizard is about to die." ''Dun-un. Dun-un.''

** The "low shield" warning in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}''. It's relatively quiet and short-lived. If you're under fire and it can't regenerate, you're probably going to die soon. If not, it goes away in a couple of seconds.

* From the Creator/{{Taito}} ''Landing'' series:

** ''[[VideoGame/LandingSeries Top Landing]]''[='=]s "emergency" voiceovers aren't as loud, but now they're repetitive. Expect to hear "EMERGENCY, LEFT TURN, LEFT TURN. EMERGENCY, RIGHT TURN, RIGHT TURN." for the duration of later stages.
* [[VideoGame/Left4Dead2 Both]] ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' games have this when your health is in the red. Your survivor will constantly complain every minute or so that they are hurting or are about to die. Yes Ellis, you're gonna die, but I don't got anything to heal you with so shut up and kill zombies.
** Your vision also turns grey if you've been incapacitated too many times and are low on health. You'll also hear a heartbeat among all the complaining coming from your character.

* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'' and ''VideoGame/Persona4'', if anyone has an ailment or is low on health, your navigator will keep nagging you to heal them at the start of each controllable turn.

* In ''VideoGame/Scrabdackle'', the player will hear a constant beeping noise whenever Blue runs out of healing vials, indicating they will die from one more hit.

* R2-D2 screaming in just about any ''Franchise/StarWars'' game he's in. Though in some games (such as ''Star Wars Trilogy Arcade''), he does so when you die, rather than when your life runs low.
** It's especially bad in the ''Rogue Squadron'' games, since losing R2 also means you can't regenerate your shields.

** In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', the first-level Critical Annoyance only starts when you're at or below 20% of your current max HP. So, at level 1 (10 HP), you have to drop to 2 HP for it to happen. No matter your level or max HP, second-level Critical Annoyance still happens at 1 HP left.

** ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion''. When his health is low there is an annoying heartbeat sound, and whenever you get hit, Luigi cries out in agony. Also, pressing A normally has Luigi call out, "Mario?". As his health lowers, he sounds increasingly scared ("M-M-Mario?").
** ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion3'': When Luigi's health gets low the music is completely muted and replaced with a two-tone sound that also makes the Joy-Con vibrate.

* In the early UsefulNotes/AmstradCPC game ''Tubaruba'', when your energy bar depleted enough, the constant background music became rather wonky and unsettling...
* ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal: Head On'' has a truly annoying siren that constantly loops when you're low on health. ...[=BooEEEP=]... "[[CaptainObvious Health is low]]" ...[=BooEEEEP=]...

* "Dammit!" / "We're not gonna make it!" / "Neku, do something!" / "Yo man, we in trouble!" from ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''.
** This is generally fair, and since it's not continuous it's usually not that annoying... until it gets worse.

%%* ''VideoGame/StarTropics''
%% * ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'': The low health beep.






* The ''VideoGame/OperationWolf'' LightGunGame had this as well as your health ran down. It would also flash helpful messages if your ammo was low, too.
* From ''VideoGame/RayCrisis'': ENCROACHMENT OVER 90%.
* In the arcade version of ''[[VideoGame/NineteenFortyTwo 1943]]'', warning beeps will sound when the player is low on health. In the NES edition, the music is replaced with a rather high-pitched tune when this happens.
* Never play ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' with less than 25% battery life in your Wii Remote, no matter how much playtime that would normally get you in other games. Seriously, don't.
* In ''VideoGame/WinBack'', the music [[SongsInTheKeyOfPanic speeds up and intensifies]] when your health gets low.
* ''VideoGame/TheOregonTrail'': The infamous [[ScareChord "DUN DUN"]] music when someone is sick or injured.
* ''VideoGame/RedFaction II'' has a "blip blip blip" sound when you're out of health kits and your health is low.
* ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis'': "DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!" Better [[PressXToNotDie duck to avoid losing a life]]! There's also the obligatory beep when the timer is running low.
* While ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'' doesn't have an aural indication, your health indicator will start flashing if you have less than 50 health.
** The ChaosUT mod adds a heartbeat sound. Not that you'll be able to hear it.
* ''VideoGame/MagicSwordHeroicFantasy'' sounds a loud klaxon over and over when the player character's lifebar gets critically low.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Baroque}}'', the lower your health and vitality are, the faster and louder the protagonist's heart beat is.
* ''F/A-18 Hornet/Precision Strike Fighter'': "Altitude! Altitude!" ad nauseam when you're flying too low, and the beeping sound when an enemy missile is headed towards you. And "Bingo! Bingo!" when fuel is running low.
* ''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 KilledOffForReal.
* In ''VideoGame/TransformersWarForCybertron'', getting low on health triggers an InterfaceScrew where red warning text (in alien script) starts popping up, the corners of the screen begin to turn fuzzy and the audio becomes muted. Fortunately, all you have to do to rectify this is wait outside the line of fire for your health bar to regenerate.
* The "beebeebeebeep" sound in ''Janitor Joe'' when oxygen/time is running out.
* ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' plays a smoke alarm-sounding beep when you are running low on oxygen.
* Casual Internet games like those Yahoo ones which are time-based will yell out a very piercing repetitive noise when time is running out, guaranteeing you'll panic and lose the game.
* The ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' games have an annoying near-death alarm.
* Gerda from ''VideoGame/ComicJumper ''. "You have less than 25% Health, Captain! Stop sucking!"
* ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' has a near death alarm. The character also flashes red, and their HP count turns red as well.
* ''VideoGame/{{Rift}}'' has an InterfaceScrew with a HeartbeatSoundtrack.
* ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheTriad'' has an audio alert, which decreases in volume after the first alarm.
* The ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'' series has the interface flash red and the words HEAD SHOT appear when a sniper is [[OneHitKill targeting your head]].
* The Russian sci-fi flight simulation game ''VideoGame/{{Echelon}}'' intro has a plane being badly damaged and crashing. It tells the pilot about [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ-qxw6liF8 every little problem]] before he dies.
* Some of the ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games use a [[RedFilterOfDoom red filter]].
* ''VideoGame/TheJourneyManProject'': "BEEP BEEP BEEP. Energy level 50 %... Energy Level Critical". :{{Flatline}}:. In the Mars Maze, the music slows down as your OxygenMeter depletes, and is replaced by a HeartbeatSoundtrack at critical levels.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fairune}}'' has the borders of the game screen pulse red, and a three-note alarm play about once a second.
* The Gameboy game ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Shadow'' not only has an annoying beeping sound to warn you when you're on your last unit of health, but the entire status display starts flashing in the most obnoxiously distracting way.
* ''VideoGame/RaptorCallOfTheShadows'' had a very grating alarm that would play once hull energy reached around 15%, even if the player finished the level and bought the Phase Shields (therefore no real danger). It is understandable given that normally each subsequent hit would permanently take away one of your weapons, but did it really have to be a continuous and loud sound effect?
* ''VideoGame/BangaiO'' has a low-pitched alarm sounding off when your health is in the red, which goes faster if it's lower. Between the game's [[NintendoHard difficulty level]] and [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist lax standards for continuing]], you can be expected to hear it a ''lot''.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' has a high-pitched continuous whine of violins that starts when your total party health is around 50%. If only one character is standing, it's all you hear.
* ''[=GunNail=]'' has an alarm go off when all of your shields are gone (with the next hit being a GameOver). Made worse by the score multipliter, which increases as you lose more shield. This means a high scoring run will consist of hearing the alarm for 98% of the game.
* ''VideoGame/{{Vanquish}}'' has the screen [[InterfaceScrew blur and pulse red]] with [[HeartbeatSoundtrack frantic heartbeats]].
* ''Videogame/HarmoKnight'' will have a flute play a low pitched "Toot!" sound constantly when you have one HitPoint left. This can, and ''will'' knock you off-beat.
* ''Mystery Quest'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem beeps constantly when the player character runs low on health.
* ''VideoGame/WonderBoyInMonsterLand'' has a rather irritating "bleep bleep balaleep bleep bleep"(arcade version) or "woowoowoowooweet"(SMS version) low health alarm.
* In ''VideoGame/MrDriller'', an alarm sounds and the player character begins to gasp for air once their tank falls below 30%. At 5%, the alarm speeds up and the tank percentage appears above the character's head.
* When playing ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'' on a LifeMeter that causes a GameOver if emptied out[[note]]The default gauge won't hit 0% unless you miss 50 notes in a row, but you need to finish with at least 80%[[/note]], the gauge and its corresponding numerical gauge display will begin to flash when it drops below 30%. It flashes faster the lower it gets. On Hazard mode, where [[OneHitPointWonder one combo break results in immediate failure]], the gauge flashes ''at all times.''
* ''VideoGame/{{Shadowgate}}'' is an adventure game where DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist and occurs with shocking frequency. Even looking at the wrong object can kill you. The only death that really matters is failing to find enough torches, because they burn on a real-time timer and serve as the de facto failure state of the game. The music that warns you that your torch is running out is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO4GnDRFVyE horrifying]].
* ''VideoGame/CopyKitty'' features HP warning as an additional instrument layered over the soundtrack. It's proven quite popular among players, to the point where it was added as an option in the Sound Test menu, and shows up twice in the OST.
* ''VideoGame/StarTrekNewWorlds'' had the classic Red Alert alarm going off whenever your units are under attack. It will sound multiple times whenever more of your units are under attack.
* ''VideoGame/FreedomWars'' has AI allies called [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Accessories]]. If they die, you get this:
--> '''Dying Accessory''': ''Critical damage sustained. Commencing temporary shutdown... Assistance required.'' *Repeat every five seconds*
* Both ''Videogame/BattleZone1998'' and the sequel have critical alerts when your base is under attack, along with a distinctive high pitched klaxon. Losing buildings, defensive units, and combat units will create an obnoxious cacophony of alerts as you fail your mission. Thankfully, the "''AMMO DEPLETED''" and "''WARNING: DAMAGE CRITICAL''" alerts for your own HoverTank only play once.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Faria}}'', a klaxon plays every few seconds when you run low on health.
* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' starts playing a fairly soft chime when your health falls to about 20%. At 5% or so, the audio around you ''slows down''.
* The ''Eschalon'' series uses a heartbeat sound when you're at 15 hp or less. The closer you are to death, the faster the beat.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning'' has an annoying but attention-getting cymbal crashing, accompanied by your health bar blinking.
* ''VideoGame/LegendOfFae'' plays a siren noise as long as your health is at critical.
* Seemingly inversed in ''VideoGame/{{DotA 2}}'' if you bug a hero often enough when an attack isn't ready or they're out of mana. Leads to StopPokingMe .
* In the Famicom game ''Layla'', when low on health the black colors (including the border) of the screen flash red with a repeated sound. This flashes and sounds more frequently the lower health you are. Considering its NintendoHard difficulty, you'll be very familiar with this "feature" frequently.
* ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal: Black'' and ''Head-On'' use a klaxon as a low-health warning.
* ''VideoGame/RetroCityRampage''uses the ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' low health beep, though not continuously.
* The 2001 remake of ''VideoGame/SpyHunter'' mostly averts the trope, which makes the times when this trope ''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.
* ''Cardiophobia'' is yet another game with a heartbeat warning. In this case, however, it represents how many more scares Felix's weak heart can take rather than how injured he is.
* The first four ''VideoGame/{{Dot Hack|R1Games}}'' games not only have a shrill beeping noise play when a character in your party has less than 25% of the maximum HP left, but their character portrait also flashes red.
* ''VideoGame/{{Colobot}}'' has the beeping you hear when the robot you control is close to running out of energy.
* In ''VideoGame/TheSims4'', very emotional Sims will have the color of their emotion highlighted by a noticeable border. When your Sim is in danger of death by emotion[[labelnote:*]]this is possible with the playful, angry, and embarrassed emotions[[/labelnote]], the border starts flashing.
* In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonLightOfHope'', instead of tired-looking {{Idle Animation}}s like in most titles, there's a beeping noise when the MC is close to fainting. It gets even faster when they're at their breaking point.
* Your dogs in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' will give distressing whines whenever their health is low.
* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' will a play a quiet yet rapid beeping when you are low on health ''and'' out of shields. Once your shield starts {{regenerating|ShieldsStaticHealth}}, the beeping will stop even if you still have only a tiny fraction of your HP.
* ''VideoGame/ToyStory'': During the RC Car driving levels, when the battery runs low, and the timed levels, when the timer runs out.
* In Skill Battle mode from ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyoTetris2'', 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.
* If your Energy bar is low in ''VideoGame/VerdantSkies'', the screen gets blurrier and blurrier, starting from the edges.
* In the 1996 DOS/PC game ''Crazy Drake'', if you're at 15% or less health left, Drake himself will kindly remind you every few seconds.
--> '''Drake''': Uh-oh! Low on energy!
* In ''VideoGame/Spectre1991'', normally a clanking sound plays when you take a hit, but when your tank sustains critical damage, a klaxon sounds instead.

** 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 [[{{Pun}} dead silence]].

* Averted in ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'', which can cause a lot of accidental deaths to ''Halo'' or ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' players who are used to an audio warning to signal critical health. The only sound warning you that your health is low is the death scream of your character when he explodes messily into gibs. The game does have a visual warning, though

* ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'' had an annoying beeping sound once you lost your shield and were at risk of dying.
* ''VideoGame/JustCause'' annoyed you with a continuous heart-beat noise, along with all other sounds almost muted and a red screen to tell you that you had low health.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rambo}}'': The screen flashes red constantly to show the player low on health. This got annoying very fast. It was even worse if you inputted the invincibility code, because it basically triggered the low health flash all the frigging time. The only reason that didn't become famous for triggering epileptic fits (particularly since flashing red is the most likely way to do it) is because of TheProblemWithLicensedGames.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Falcon}}'' series of flight simulators has the audio "Altitude. Altitude. Altitude. Altitude." warning ''ad nauseum'' when you're flying with gear up below a certain... yeah. There's also "Pull up. Pull up. Pull up. Pull up." over and over again if you're headed for the ground. This is apparently based on RealLife, and fighter pilots refer to the nice female you're-going-to-die voice as Bitchin' Betty.

* ''VideoGame/RockBand'' actually has the note highway pulse a clear red whenever either you or a draining crowd meter is in the dangerous red section of the crowd meter (or the bottom 1/4 of it). This red is clearly visible even during solos, and is not synchronized with the music.
** The pulsing of the overdrive meter right next to the strike bar on the note highways is actually a useful, non-irritating reminder to make use of it (and it ''is'' snyced with the music). The highway-obstructing "TILT TO SAVE BAND MEMBER" notice? Annoying as hell. Fortunately, the drummer will probably complete fills on reflex and won't have to worry about the notice too many times (save when someone fails out DURING a drummer's fill, causing the fill to become useless due to a bug)

* ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'' usually ups the volume of the heart monitor once vitals fall below a certain point, and your assistant will also warn you. Gets a bit ridiculous on harder difficulty levels (where vitals drop quicker) - if the drain is fast enough, you might hear the assistant complaining multiple times in a matter of seconds as you approach 25 health and stab in the stabilizer.
** ''Trauma Team'' one-ups this with a shrill beeping alarm whenever vitals fall that low. The raised heart monitor sounds are a lot more subtle in comparison.

* ''VideoGame/{{Repton}} 3'' bleeps and flashes the screen when the timer has less than 15 seconds left. [[ThatOneLevel One level]] has a ''16-second time limit''; your time is replenished each time you take a time capsule, so you get around three minutes to complete the level, but the beeping and flashing will be going on ''nearly the whole time''.

* In the Lamakan Desert in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun1'', 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.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', the screen flashes red when a character is low in health.
** That changes once players get to the point in the game where every enemy can put party members in the red with one hit.
* ''VideoGame/BioShock1'': Whenever your health gets low, a ScareChord plays along with a fast heartbeat. It doesn't last long, though.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' don't have this in the traditional sense; rather, when your head is crippled, your vision will go fuzzy, accompanied by a loud ringing noise. It's meant to simulate a concussion, and while it's no big deal in 3 or New Vegas' Casual Mode, on NV's Hardcore Mode, it can rapidly become incredibly aggravating if you're in the wastes and poorly supplied. They also have the loud HeartbeatSoundtrack when health is low.
* ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'' will pull this on you if your ship's defenses are repeatedly going up and down the alert threshold (which by default is low for shields and armor, and the instant your Structure takes damage). Expect a JumpScare if your defenses get perforated while you're watching a movie in the back.

* ''VideoGame/TwoWorlds'': When your character's health is low, you hear heartbeat. If it's really low, you hear a gong sound in addition to the heartbeat.

* 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 [[DestructibleProjectiles enemy missiles]] and a ''third'' one when your fuel is about to run out.

* ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' does not feature a life metre as such, instead showing your screenshot in the Pause menu becoming hazier and changing colour. However, in-game, once you start taking damage, your controller starts to vibrate [[HeartbeatSoundtrack in the manner of a heartbeat]]. And it speeds up and gets stronger as you become increasingly injured. [[ParanoiaFuel And your own heartbeat climbs in sync with it.]]
** The later ''Franchise/SilentHill'' games have a flashing [[UsefulNotes/TheRedCross red cross]] when you're low on health.

* In the ''VideoGame/KatamariDamacy'' games, there's a somewhat irritating siren every time you have less than 30 seconds left. It's not like you can increase your time, so rather than telling you to refill your meter or something, it just lets you know the level is about to end, even after the King let you know 30 seconds earlier, covering up the entire screen. The proximity alarm that goes off whenever you're near a moving object can also wear thin.
* Most of the ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' games have an obnoxiously loud Eject warning that appears when the game calculates that the next hit is likely to destroy your fighter. This cannot be turned off, although fortunately it goes away after your DeflectorShields have regenerated a bit... assuming your shield [[SubsystemDamage subsystem]] isn't too badly damaged, that is.
** ''Wing Commander 1'' also has alternate music that plays during combat when the player's fighter is badly damaged. The different ports call it either "You're Severely Damaged," "Floundering," or "Time to Eject." It's a repetitive, discordant PsychoStrings melody, as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUSAETRhdL8 the SNES version]] demonstrates.

* Happens in the ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime'' trilogy, especially with the first ''Sands of Time'' game, where enemies hurt you and reduce your health gauge. When it gets down to a sliver of health left, the gauge makes a flashing glow and a loud, high-pitched hum, indicating that you need a drink of water from the fountains, and fast!

* ''VideoGame/AxiomVerge'' has the stereotypical "doot doot doot" beeping when Trace is on low health. The "annoyance" part, however, is cleverly averted because the beeping is actually always on beat with the music. So, instead of being annoying and taking the player out of the game, it only serves to heighten the tension, especially in a boss fight. The volume also starts out loud to let the player know that Trace is on low health, but gets quieter the longer he stays that way.

* ''VideoGame/SunsetOverdrive'' has an increasingly fast EKG beep, which goes {{flatline}} upon death.

* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'', using the party's ability to combine into a HumongousMecha makes the participants invincible, but replaces their HP bar with a steadily filling heat gauge, which starts beeping around the three-quarters mark and forcibly cancels the transformation when full, leaving you unable to use it again for much longer than if you manually drop out. The beeping exists in-universe as well, and the party express their annoyance at it near the start of Chapter 4. It turns out to have a good reason for existing, though: if the warning goes ignored, which a villainous pair do with their own combination, it means you're about to ''explode''.
* In ''VideoGame/DarkCloud'', when one of your weapons [[BreakableWeapons WHP]] gets low, a high-pitched beep begins to sound every few seconds, becoming more frantic as the WHP goes lower and lower until it is near constant. Given that if a weapon breaks it disappears forever, this can serve to remind the player to repair their weapon soon, especially rare ones such as the [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement Serpent Sword]] or [[InfinityPlusOneSword Chronicle 2]].

* If you have only 1 health point left in, ''VideoGame/AdventureIsland IV'', you'll hear constant bleeping noise.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMonkeyBall'' has the announcer, who will yell at you to ''HURRY UP!'' when time is running low. The series also has a countdown to the time limit.
* ''VideoGame/CrisisCore: VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has the left edge of the screen turn yellow when Zack hits half HP, and then red when he's about to die. Fairly useful, really.
* ''VideoGame/RockRaiders'' has a heartbeat sound effect whenever the air supply runs low. And the obvious landslide warning.
* ''VideoGame/{{Overlord}}'' had a loud heartbeat sound when Overlord reaches its last piece of health. It is quite annoying when there is no imminent danger and you're just waiting for health to regenerate.

* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' has a loud, irritating heartbeat noise when your Mental Health runs down. Given that DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist it's enough to drive a player to suicide.
* ''VideoGame/FatalFrame'' games have the character panting heavily when low on health. In the first game at least, you would still hear the heavy breathing even when in the menu AND EVEN WHEN YOU SAVE.
* ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'': If your party keeps dying repeatedly and runs out the lives in the last Checkpoint, the glowing ring on it turns red and an intermittent klaxon-type alarm sounds every three seconds, and the klaxon fades a bit if you go further from it. Once you activate a new Checkpoint, both the red ring and the klaxon stop.

* ''VideoGame/{{Abuse}}'': health low results in a constantly faster and louder [[HeartbeatSoundtrack heartbeat]].

* Utterly averted in ''VideoGame/CallOfCthulhuDarkCornersOfTheEarth'' which has ''no'' heads-up display whatsoever. The only indication you get that you're injured is limping and Jack's gasps of pain, and the only sign that you're dying is that the screen gets grayer and grayer until you die.
* ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'' has an alarm sound playing when a crewman is about to die. Of course, on many occasions it's actually going to help a player who is otherwise overwhelmed and wouldn't have noticed until the crewman died.

* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'' and ''VideoGame/Persona4'', if anyone has an ailment or is low on health, your navigator will keep nagging you to heal them at the start of each controllable turn.

* Having an empty Hero Gauge (at which point your characters start taking life-threatening damage) in ''VideoGame/ResonanceOfFate'' will cause the music to change to the bassy, frantic track "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Danger Danger]]" and make the characters switch from flashy, stylish GunFu to [[ArtisticLicenseGunSafety actually holding their weapons properly]] and emptying the magazine shot by shot, taking time to line up each. Since you're one empty health bar away from GameOver at that point, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools it's really effective at building tension]].

* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', if Chris or Sheva is knocked into Dying status, the screen briefly flashes with a [[PhotoshopFilterOfEvil photo negative filter]], followed by blurred vision for the player controlling that character.

* In ''VideoGame/RavenswordShadowlands'', the game combines ManaMeter with SprintMeter, in that it is affected not only by magic, but also by melee attacks and parrying with a shield. If you get yourself into a fight with multiple enemies and don't have any [[ManaPotion energy potions]] at hand, then prepare to see the "You're exhausted" message ''a lot''. Thankfully, [[RegeneratingMana it recharges fairly quickly]] if you just stop attacking for a few moments.

* ''VideoGame/QuakeChampions'':
** If your HP drops below 50 points, your screen will get less saturated.
** Your character will scream out in pain and start panting heavily if their health drops below 25 points (unless it's [[HeroicMute Doom Slayer]]), in addition to edges of screen turning red. Pain scream can actually be heard by other players, informing them about your critical condition. This gets particularly [=amusing/annoying=] with B.J. Blazkowicz, because his passive Regeneration ability[[labelnote:*]]automatically heals him up to the nearest increment of 25[[/labelnote]] combined with his scream being [[MemeticMutation the longest and the loudest]] in the game can lead to situations, when his health is dropped below 25 HP, triggering the scream, he regenerates up to 25 HP, takes minor damage, which triggers another scream, regenerates again, until he gets a health pick up or dies. At least panting can be turned down or turned off in options.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'''s Space Stage, low Spaceship Health and Energy both have their own Critical Annoyance sound, though the latter is more infamous due to it being so much more common in the normal course of play.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** 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 Pokémon cries speeds up battles in some games (particularly [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Gen 1]]), and hence subjecting yourself to this becomes a necessity during such runs.
** Another such sound is the poison alert. Prior to Gen V, a poisoned Pokémon would take damage as you walked around the overworld. Whenever they lost health, a sound similar to a muffled machine gun would play, accompanied with a visual distortion every couple of steps. Naturally, when overworld poison damage was removed as a mechanic, the noise went with it.[[note]]In Generation III and earlier, the Pokémon in question would even faint after enough steps. In Generation IV, immediately before this principle was discontinued, it will instead cure itself of poison at 1 HP.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries''
** Each character in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' has their own "We're screwed" line.
** Every character in ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' has a few unique "I'm screwed" lines to let you know they're at low health, as well as a line to let you know that Repede is at low health. He's a dog, he can't really say it himself.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' also has this, with quotes to let you know if you've been hit by a powerful attack or if you're near death. Oddly enough, one of Jade's low-health quotes is "looks like we're still okay," meaning he often says that after surviving an attack that has just killed everyone else. [[DeadpanSnarker Although that's quite in character, actually.]] Bonus points if you have Anise in the party who will reply with "We are SO not okay".

* ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' (The Original NES game) has an alarm clock-style health warning beep.
%%* ''VideoGame/StarTropics''
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** The 3D ''Super Mario Bros'' games. Whenever Mario's health is critical, he begins breathing heavily when idle. [[VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine Sunshine]] upped the ante by having him sound exhausted with half-hearted "Woo"s and "Yeah"s.
** ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'':
*** The three ''Yoshi's Island'' games have this in the form of the babies' shrill crying. And you only have to get hit ''once'' for this to happen. The cry was actually made ''more'' annoying during development because testers weren't as focused on recovering their baby as the devs thought they should be.
*** Strangely, for being an ape, Baby Donkey Kong in ''Yoshi's Island DS'' isn't that annoying at all. Baby Mario is still ''unbearable''. And Baby Wario and Bowser are even ''worse''.
*** At least in the first game, there's also a loud beeping if your timer (basically your health meter) dips under ten seconds and Baby Mario's still not on your back. The timer's number turns red and significantly larger until it refills back up to ten again.
*** And in ''VideoGame/YoshisStory'', the music would lose its rhythm and go off-key whenever your life-meter-flower lost all its petals. The flower would also turn blue and frown, and Yoshi would sit down and start panting while idle.
** ''VideoGame/PaperMario'':
*** In the ''Paper Mario'' series, there's a repetitive beep that sounds off if Mario (or, in Thousand-Year Door, the current partner) lets his HP drop below 5. The pitch increases if his HP is allowed to hit 1. In the first two, this noise only occurs in combat, letting the only indication that Mario's health needs improving be a relatively quiet gasping when you let him stand still. (Outside of combat, the partners don't make noise when they're low, but they show visible signs of exhaustion.)
*** In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'', the ''music'' changes once you reach low health. It's less annoying than it is catchy, though.
** In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', the first-level Critical Annoyance only starts when you're at or below 20% of your current max HP. So, at level 1 (10 HP), you have to drop to 2 HP for it to happen. No matter your level or max HP, second-level Critical Annoyance still happens at 1 HP left.
** The ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' series has no critical noise, but the Bros will have exhausted idle animations. In an instance of KO annoyance, if one brother hits zero HP, the other will have to dodge attacks while holding them, which adds a noticeable delay to their moves.
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' has this for a ''low battery'' warning for the Wii Remote. Over long play sessions, expect to hear that beeping sound and see that red battery meter incessantly.
** Although not in relation to a life meter, ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart'' and ''VideoGame/MarioKartSuperCircuit'' have a warning beep if you were 5th place or lower (in ''Super'' it only played during the final lap) and would keep playing until the race ended or you moved up the ranks. Coming in 5th or lower costs you a life, so it does somewhat act like a low life warning.
** ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion''. When his health is low there is an annoying heartbeat sound, and whenever you get hit, Luigi cries out in agony. Also, pressing A normally has Luigi call out, "Mario?". As his health lowers, he sounds increasingly scared ("M-M-Mario?").
** ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion3'': When Luigi's health gets low the music is completely muted and replaced with a two-tone sound that also makes the Joy-Con vibrate.

* Both of the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' games have the HEV suit announcing major or minor injuries and warning about "User death imminent" whenever you're under 25% or take massive damage from a fall. Very distracting, especially as it drones on for about 30 seconds in an emotionless monotone.
** At least the first ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' allowed you to turn down or ''turn off'' the suit's "voice", and its expansion packs avoided the voice altogether, because their protagonists weren't wearing HEV suits. In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' the suit's voice was quieter and had fewer line prompts.
** 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 [[{{Pun}} dead silence]].
%% * ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'': The low health beep.
* Pretty much every ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' game has this when your shields/health are down. A couple of examples:
** In ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'', health and shields are separate meters, so you get separate sounds for low shield (alarm-like beeping sound) and low health (heart pounding).
** The "low shield" warning in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}''. It's relatively quiet and short-lived. If you're under fire and it can't regenerate, you're probably going to die soon. If not, it goes away in a couple of seconds.
* ''{{VideoGame/Gauntlet}}'', when a player's health falls below 200: "WizardNeedsFoodBadly." "Wizard is about to die." ''Dun-un. Dun-un.''

* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'':
** The earlier ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' games have a quick beeping sound when you drop to one health point. The later ones use this when the health bar gets low. The beep only occurs once per "room", though; if you go through a door with your vitality still low, the beep plays again once the new room fades in.
** ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' has the same beep when your life bar falls to about 20% and Kirby starts flashing constantly (but silently), and taking any more damage after that will make a small copy of the health bar appear over his head for a moment.
* In the early UsefulNotes/AmstradCPC game ''Tubaruba'', when your energy bar depleted enough, the constant background music became rather wonky and unsettling...
* ''VideoGame/FableI'' does this in an interesting way. Whenever your health/will is low, you'll get an audio warning from the Guildmaster: "Your health is low...do you have any potions? or food?" or "Hero, your will energy is low. Watch that." In the expansion pack, [[spoiler:He's one of the people you can kill to open a portal to the final boss.]]
** [[spoiler: In the sequel, it's rumored that this is what happened, and the guild leader [[TakeThatScrappy was found with the words "your health is low" carved into his head]].]]
* The same goes for the original ''VideoGame/FZero'', where you need to be above a particular rank as you cross the finish line, with the required rank getting higher with every lap (starting at 15 for the first lap and topping off at 3 for the final one). If you're at the minimum rank or lower, regardless of what lap you're on, a warning beep starts to play, and if you aren't at the minimum rank or higher as you cross the finish line, or if you fall to 20th place, you die.
** In ''F-Zero X'' and ''GX'', a similar klaxon sound is played when your energy is running low, and gets faster as your energy gets lower.
* ''VideoGame/WizardsAndWarriors'' would start playing cheerful music when your health got low.
* A mod for VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion used this in an interesting way. When your health dropped below 15 percent, the screen would start to blur. You could also set it so the blur started at 80 percent, but the magnitude was less noticable. It was called "Immersive Health Indication" in case anyone wants to use it.
** This was integrated in ''Videogame/TheElderScrollsOnline'', as reaching critical HP levels makes the borders of your screen turn red, the colors of the world to lose saturation and the sound to dim. Actually dying dyes everything in a ghostly blue and changes the music to a requiem-like ominous chant.

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateDarkAlliance 2'' made your controller vibrate ''at near-maximum intensity'' in heartbeat-like pulses when your health was critical. If you didn't have a health potion to stop the vibration, you were probably done for.

* ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal: Head On'' has a truly annoying siren that constantly loops when you're low on health. ...[=BooEEEP=]... "[[CaptainObvious Health is low]]" ...[=BooEEEEP=]...
* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' and later ''VideoGame/RainbowSix'' games feature [[HeartbeatSoundtrack loud heart thumping]] and color filters over the whole screen (sometimes a red hue, sometimes black-and-white). If you find them annoying, it might have been intentional, as it somewhat averts CriticalExistenceFailure.
** ''Smod: Tactical'', a mod of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', copies the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' effect... with the addition of the entire world shaking.
** ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune Payback'' also has the RedFilterOfDoom and heartbeat sound.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect''
** Reaching low health in the games results in a red filter and HeartbeatSoundtrack playing. To make it even worse in [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 the first game]], you can't zoom in your aim while your health is below 15% or so. This means you're even ''more'' likely to die unless you burn a medigel or equip certain armor upgrades and wait to regenerate.
** The Hammerhead in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has a constant siren that goes off if it takes even minor damage.
** Shepard and the squad will occasionally call out some variant of "Shields are down!" to warn the player. It's not frequent enough to be annoying, but that also makes it unreliable. Your teammates may also take note when your health is very low.
** In the first game, whenever the Mako tank loses its shields and starts taking health damage, your squadmates will yell phrases like "We're hit!" "Taking fire!" and "Hull compromised!" This gets very annoying in battles with tons of enemies that are constantly shooting you.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps'' not only features a life meter that gives out a warning when it's low, so does your stamina meter.
* Possibly related (in that it doesn't have anything to do with health levels) is the noise of the police cars in the first ''VideoGame/{{Carmageddon}}''. Once the game was completed you had the ability to drive any car in the game, including those you couldn't normally buy. The police cruiser and the six-wheeled personnel carrier were very effective vehicles, but they had the sound of their sirens embedded in that of their engine.
** The second Carmageddon does the same thing with its police cruiser and (even more annoyingly) the boomcar. And it changed pitch depending on your speed. ''Bum... Bum... boom boom boom BA BA BA BA BA BA BRRRRRRRRAAAAA''.
* ''VideoGame/FrontMissionGunHazard'' is a lucky example - lucky in that you have an option to turn the thing off.
* "Don't get caught! / Keep going! ''x'' meters till goal / till rival crosses finish" and the accompanying alarm from ''VideoGame/WanganMidnight''. Particularly embarrassing is if you're trailing so far behind that "Keep going!" doesn't even appear--you just get your opponent's distance to the finish.
* ''[[VideoGame/PanelDePon Planet Puzzle League]]'' lets you choose from several different warning beeps.
* The original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' has this annoying, screechy sound that plays when you walk around with a poisoned character. This also occurred in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII''.
** Later ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games replaced the horrible screeching with a sound akin to a heartbeat and by making the lead character flash red with every step.
* ''VideoGame/HellgateLondon'', complete with the screen changing to monochrome - and the occasional glitch that prevented it from reverting to colour after you healed up.
* ''Galaxian³'', an UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame with a huge cabinet that players sit in, has loud klaxons and red lights go off inside the cabinet when the ship's shields drop below 20%. Made worse by the fact that there is no way to restore the ship's shields.
* "Dammit!" / "We're not gonna make it!" / "Neku, do something!" / "Yo man, we in trouble!" from ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''.
** This is generally fair, and since it's not continuous it's usually not that annoying... until it gets worse.
* ''VideoGame/DarkAdventure'' takes this to the extreme where you start the adventure with a hunger meter - as you progress, your life bar depletes on it's own, and replenishes itself if you pick up food items, only to start depleting after a short while. Should your meter run out, you die ''right on the spot'', keeling over and turning into a skeleton... time to use another life.
* In earlier ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' titles, bringing your LifeMeter down to critical levels causes some sort of "Danger!" screen to flash in the background. ''Dance Dance Revolution Extreme'' is particularly bad with this, with a terrifying clip of a shark jumping out at you.
* "Check your position!" from ''VideoGame/DaytonaUSA''.
** "Watch that redline on the tach!" "Better keep an eye on your time!" "You're almost out of time!"

* In ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite'', while ''your'' health status, as an immortal god, is rarely in question, your villagers refuse to let up on their whining: "Need more civic buildings!" "We must have homes." "Need more food..." You'd think they weren't ''grateful'' for a patron deity!
* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' has a loud, irritating heartbeat noise when your Mental Health runs down. Given that DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist it's enough to drive a player to suicide.
* ''VideoGame/{{Aquaria}}'' has no sound alarm, but gradually covers the screen in a red haze as you get damaged. Plus, once your health is low enough, each hit causes the entire game to drop to slow motion for a second or two while Naija recoils in pain.
* ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'' games feature a vocal warning when your AP drops below 50%, (in For Answer this was changed to 70% and then again at 40%) with a constant warning alarm triggering if you are below 10% in any of the games. Since you cannot heal mid-mission in AC, then the alarm is usually a sign that you must accept your fate or else fight like a madman and then hear the end-mission dialogue over the continued drone of the alarm.
* ''VideoGame/FatalFrame'' games have the character panting heavily when low on health. In the first game at least, you would still hear the heavy breathing even when in the menu AND EVEN WHEN YOU SAVE.
* Website/GaiaOnline's [=MMO=] ''[=zOMG!=]'' has two types. If your health runs low, your heart starts beating loudly. If your stamina runs low, your character starts panting heavily and gasping for breath. Not too bad, provided you can find a safe place (or helpful players) to rest and recover. However, it doesn't stop if you're dazed and waiting to be revived.
** Now they do cease while dazed. But what hasn't changed is that even if you lower/mute the sound effects from the in-game options, it doesn't affect these two.
* ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'': If your party keeps dying repeatedly and runs out the lives in the last Checkpoint, the glowing ring on it turns red and an intermittent klaxon-type alarm sounds every three seconds, and the klaxon fades a bit if you go further from it. Once you activate a new Checkpoint, both the red ring and the klaxon stop.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'', which can cause a lot of accidental deaths to ''Halo'' or ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' players who are used to an audio warning to signal critical health. The only sound warning you that your health is low is the death scream of your character when he explodes messily into gibs. The game does have a visual warning, though
* If you have only 1 health point left in, ''VideoGame/AdventureIsland IV'', you'll hear constant bleeping noise.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMonkeyBall'' has the announcer, who will yell at you to ''HURRY UP!'' when time is running low. The series also has a countdown to the time limit.
* ''VideoGame/CrisisCore: VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has the left edge of the screen turn yellow when Zack hits half HP, and then red when he's about to die. Fairly useful, really.

* In some versions of ''VideoGame/UltimaIV'' (the Master System one, for example) the Avatar's ''every movement'' is accompanied by a high-pitched "clash" sound-effect if the party runs out of food, with the warning "Starving!!" spamming the text window. Fair enough considering the perilous HP loss that accompanies periods of starvation, but it does mean a very noisy immediate future while you trek to the nearest Moongate or food-producing town, or more likely, just wander incessantly until your whole party is dead and Lord British rescues you from the void.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tyrian}}'' features a positively ear-splitting klaxon that sounds when your ship is low on armor and gets faster the lower your ship's armor is.

* ''VideoGame/{{Burnout}}''
** The first ''VideoGame/{{Burnout}}'' has three tiers of music for each track: a relatively calm BGM, a more intense theme once the timer starts to run down, and a countdown theme whenever you have less than 10 seconds left.
** The third game, ''[[VideoGame/Burnout3Takedown Takedown]]'', has a few across it's various modes: Burning Lap audibly ticks down the last five seconds before a medal target, Elimination has a constant beep if you're in last place, and Road Rage has a critical damage indicator if you're one crash away from being knocked out.

* [[VideoGame/Left4Dead2 Both]] ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' games have this when your health is in the red. Your survivor will constantly complain every minute or so that they are hurting or are about to die. Yes Ellis, you're gonna die, but I don't got anything to heal you with so shut up and kill zombies.
** Your vision also turns grey if you've been incapacitated too many times and are low on health. You'll also hear a heartbeat among all the complaining coming from your character.

* In ''[[VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany Battlefield: Bad Company 2]]'', when a team was close to losing a conquest game then loud RedAlert klaxons would sound endlessly. Most annoying when a team managed to turn the tide just before losing and had to listen to the klaxons droning on and on even if they were doing well.
** Recent patches have fixed this. Getting to the "losing" point sounds the klaxons three times...and then never again.
** ''Battlefield 2'' will have a pounding heartbeat become audible to members of the losing team just before a round ends.
*** Other games in [[VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} the series]] also have alarms and flashing lights go off in aircraft, tanks, and [=APC=]'s when they take critical damage and are about to explode.

* ''VideoGame/SteelBattalion'' has a few little alerts when you take damage, along with screen-shake and all that. When you start getting really low, more and more lights and alarms will start going off, and when you're about to go boom EVERYTHING is flashing, klaxons are screeching, panels are exploding, etc. All of this is horrible to play through, especially when you just know you're one good shot away from taking out the last enemy mech... It's also VITAL, because you'll know just when to hit the big old eject button. Otherwise you die, ''and the game erases your save.''

* ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' had a siren in your HUD that would blare if your health went below red after damage, and most times it would also [[VariableMix synchronize to the background music]]. There's also Citadel Station's emergency klaxon that isn't heard until late in the game when you start the reactor's self-destruct sequence, though that alarm is less prevalant in-game, fortunately.
* Most ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' games have a few. Most of obvious is the warning you get when you are about to crash into the ground ("Warning, pull up!"). Also, the warning sound of a missile tailing you (which grows more intense as the missile gets nearer) can be this if you are already low on health or play on a HarderThanHard difficulty where a single hit spells GameOver.
** The worst offender of this by far was the first game: Get hit by so much a pebble? "ALERT, BODY DAMAGE! ALERT, BODY DAMAGE! ALERT, BODY DAMAGE! ALERT, BODY DAMAGE! ALERT, BODY DAMAGE! ALERT, BODY DAMAGE! ALERT, BODY DAMAGE! ALERT, BODY DAMAGE! ALERT, BODY DAMAGE! etc..." every time your plane is damaged.
** ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'' players have learned to ''loathe'' the mission "Solitaire" due to this; the mission in question requires that you get to the objective completely undetected by enemy radar, and due to this you must fly at low level (as in, ''below'' treetop level) in order to stay out of the detection cones, and as such you become very close bedfellows to the following:
--> '''Female Voice''': CAUTION. PULL UP. (incessant high-pitched beeping)
** Every game since ''VideoGame/AceCombatAssaultHorizon'' includes warning sounds when the plane is stalling or it thinks you're about to crash. ''Assault Horizon'' even makes your plane speak in its native tongue - your Sukhoi Su-27 will warn you of missiles in Russian, for instance.
** If you have AI wingmen in a mission, their radio chatter will include them calling out any enemies they see coming for you. Your [[VoiceWithAnInternetConnection AWACS]] will do this regardless.
** Missions with a large amount of AA or fighters become infamous for this; when the battles start picking up, the missile warning chirps become literally constant in your ear. ''VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies'' was a particularly notable offender, since the radar lock warning was a series of buzzes that turned into a long, loud, grating buzz when a missile was fired at you. And you better believe the enemies fire a ''lot'' of missiles.

* From the Creator/{{Taito}} ''Landing'' series:
** In ''Midnight Landing'', if you are not in control of your current altitude? ''(BEEP BEEP)'' "DECREASE ALTITUDE! EMERGENCY, DECREASE ALTITUDE!" / "EMERGENCY! PULL UP! PULL UP!" Because the game takes place at night with only the engine ambient sounds and the occasional spoken radio communication punctuating the silence, and the game comes in a deluxe cabinet that is dark inside (although most likely you're playing on an emulator instead), these warnings can easily come off as a JumpScare.
*** If your horizontal alignment is off, the ATC admonishes you for it:
----> "This is control tower. [[IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming Midnight Air Flight 1]], watch your landing path, over!" \\
"This is control tower. Midnight Air Flight 1, you are out of your landing path, please correct your course immediately!" \\
"Uhhhh...this is control tower. Midnight Air Flight 1, push that button for re-approach and circle the airport and [[MercyMode try landing again]]."
** ''[[VideoGame/LandingSeries Top Landing]]''[='=]s "emergency" voiceovers aren't as loud, but now they're repetitive. Expect to hear "EMERGENCY, LEFT TURN, LEFT TURN. EMERGENCY, RIGHT TURN, RIGHT TURN." for the duration of later stages.

* From ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'':
** "Alert! Our last Control Point is being captured!" and all variants thereof for all of the various mission types. The "Last Control Point" one is especially bad, since in 5-point Control maps, the last point (which is always just outside the defending players' spawn) usually can be solo-capped in only a few scant seconds. So if someone isn't already getting them off of it by the time the alert sounds, it's probably too late anyway.
** The Announcer's various alerts are ''so'' annoying that some players will use her to troll the enemy by repeatedly dropping or picking up the intelligence, stepping on or off the control point when there's no opposition, or triggering the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxVpuMBywwE "Overtime!"]] glitch on servers that have it enabled.
** When calling for a medic, characters will sound increasingly desperate and insistent as their health drops.
** In Mann versus Machine, the various "[Class] is dead!" responses can be this if your team gets overrun.

* ''Videogame/MechWarrior Living Legends'' has several. Incoming missiles with a detected lock cause a vehicle's klaxon to repeatedly beep as long as the missiles are still in the air. In aerospace, this can be deadly as [[SuperPersistentMissile missiles never give up until they run out of fuel]] - forcing a critical damaged aircraft to either die by AntiAir fire while dodging the missiles, or retreat ASAP and die from the missiles exploding their engine - all while the BEEP BEEP BEEP... BEEP BEEP BEEP is playing. Several tanks also engage a klaxon when their rear armor has been heavily damaged (exposing their engine) or their internal structure is critically damaged, though it's generally drowned out by the deafening [[GatlingGood autocannons]] mounted on many tanks.
** ''VideoGame/MechWarrior 3'' has a constant heat warning klaxon when the heat gets respectively high enough. If you're loaded mostly with lasers, you're going to be hearing this ''a lot.''
** ''VideoGame/MechWarrior Online'' subverts this when at critical damage, a warning tone will play for several moments but otherwise stays quiet, the blinking red light in the cockpit and the red "CRITICAL DAMAGE" displayed on your HUD stays until you win/die though.

* ''VideoGame/NoMansSky'' was particularly grating about this at launch, as you would get verbal alerts for low life support, low mining beam, low hazard protection and more at 99, 75, 50, 25, 15, 10 and 5 percent. Fortunately patches would adjust these mainly to display only; you'd only get verbal alerts at 15%, 10% and 5% for just hazard protection and life support (aka "''No really you're about to die''").

* In ''VideoGame/TheEndTimesVermintide'' and ''VideoGame/{{VermintideII}}'', characters complain and get snarky comments from their allies when critically hurt. Normally, it's a useful clue and status update about the team. With powers that allow regeneration and temporary health gains, though, you might hear it over and over.
-->Kerillian: I am lost, lost beyond words.
-->Kruber: You're a bit bloody, elf.
-->Kerillian regenerates a few health, then gets hit again.
-->Kerillian: The Weave calls me back.
-->Kruber: Well, looks like our elf isn't as eternal as we thought.
-->Kerillian regenerates a few more health, then gets hit...

** The ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' series has no critical noise, but the Bros will have exhausted idle animations. In an instance of KO annoyance, if one brother hits zero HP, the other will have to dodge attacks while holding them.

* The ring of light in the center of an Xbox 360 controller becomes this when it's low on battery power. Its threshold for "low battery" is a bit high too, so you end up seeing this ALL THE GODDAMN TIME.
** To elaborate on how high the controllers threshold is, when you hit the Xbox Guide button, if you look in the upper-left corner of the pop-up, you will see the battery indicator, which maxes out at four bars. The Guide button starts flashing at TWO.

*** parodied by [[WebAnimation/DorklyOriginals Dorkly]], showing TormentByAnnoyance is [[https://youtu.be/5ywmGaMBi9g Ganon's secret weakness.]]

** The 3D ''Super Mario Bros'' games. Whenever Mario's health is critical, he begins breathing heavily when idle. [[VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine Sunshine]] upped the ante by having him sound exhausted with half-hearted Woo's and Yeah's.

*** Strangely, for being an ape, Baby Donkey Kong in ''Yoshi's Island DS'' isn't that annoying at all. Baby Mario and Peach are still ''unbearable''. And Baby Wario and Bowser are even ''worse''.

*** In the ''Paper Mario'' series, there's a repetitive "Bla-la-la! Bla-la-la!" that sounds off if Mario (or, in Thousand-Year Door, the current partner) lets his HP drop below 5. The pitch increases if his HP is allowed to hit 1. In the first two, this noise only occurs in combat, letting the only indication that Mario's health needs improving be a relatively quiet gasping when you let him stand still. (Outside of combat, the partners don't make noise when they're low, but they show visible signs of exhaustion.)

** Although not in relation to a life meter, ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart'' and ''VideoGame/MarioKartSuperCircuit'' had a warning beep if you were 5th place or lower (in ''Super'' it only played during the final lap) and would keep playing until the race ended or you moved up the ranks. Of course coming in 5th or lower costs you a life, so it does somewhat act like a low life warning.

** ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion3'': When Luigi's health gets low the music is completely muted and is replaced with a two-tone sound that also makes the Joy-Con vibrate.

* When ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' is about to drown, the music changes to another theme. The drowning music gets louder and more frantic as time goes on until either he dies, gets a bubble or resurfaces. This is usually accompanied by numbers appearing over his head to indicate how much time he has left. (and given the character's SuperDrowningSkills, the drowning music always plays for a short [[HellIsThatNoise and disturbing]] time until air is gotten) 'Ding' noises are hears at intervals before this happens, which is useful because Sonic's OxygenMeter isn't actually visible.

** This is generally fair, and since it's not continuous it's usually not that annoying.
** Which is NOTHING compared to the blipping when it gets a bit worse.

*** Taken UpToEleven in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'', where the ''music'' changes once you reach low health. It's less annoying than it is catchy, though.

** ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion3'' takes this UpToEleven. When Luigi's health gets low the music is completely muted and is replaced with a two-tone sound that also makes the Joy-Con vibrate.

** All of these are turned UpToEleven when the warning systems are malfunctioning, causing warning chimes to go off every fifteen seconds, with no way to make them stop. This has driven people to sell otherwise perfectly working luxury cars. Worse, this carries the same risk as the above-described overzealous smoke alarm -- the driver learns to ignore the warnings, and thus won't notice until too late if something really goes wrong.

* Smoke detectors go off at any sign of smoke, even if it's something harmless like burnt food, a lit match, or even water vapor from a hot shower or the like. The sounds are are very high pitched and annoying, but they are that way so that you can wake up should a fire break out while you sleep. However, if the alarm always goes off because of something harmless, most people will decide to just take out the battery to shut it up, which is always a fatal mistake when a real fire breaks out.

* The English dub of ''Anime/{{Chobits}}'', with Sumomo's [[CatchPhrase frequent]] high-pitched "WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!", almost always indicating an extremely trivial threat. It's amazing no one ever smashes her with a hammer to get that noise to stop.