History Main / CrosshairAware

* In the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis game ''VideoGame/XMen2CloneWars'', there's a mutant with a jetpack in the background who tries to shoot you during most of the Asteroid M level. You can see his crosshair. He actually does become the level boss at the end, but by then he's in the foreground and he no longer has a visible crosshair.
* In ''VideoGame/RollingThunder 3'' for UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, if you take too long in a mission before the exit or boss, there will be a sniper that will try to kill you with crosshairs marked. This is averted in the plane hijack level for obvious reasons.

* In ''Hany on the Road'' for the UsefulNotes/PCEngine, the volcano stage has shadows appearing where lava rocks are about to fall.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'': you'll be able to see where a Gekko is aiming if Snake is wearing the Solid Eye.

* One of the bosses in ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}: Hard Corps'', a CombiningMecha, has a move where a crosshair appears on the floor, and then it fires out a lot of explosives into the air. Seconds later, the explosives land on the entire floor [[ViolationOfCommonSense EXCEPT the crosshair]]. Needless to say, if you were standing/jumping outside the crosshair, prepare to be blown into bits.

%%** Search Man from ''VideoGame/MegaMan8''. %%No context.
** Blast Hornet from ''VideoGame/MegaManX3'' will use this as a DesperationAttack, making bees home in on you. Cyber Peacock from ''X4'' locks onto you before he fires his [[HomingProjectile homing]] explosive FeatherFlechettes.

* In ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' on UsefulNotes/GameBoy, when climbing buildings, your spidersense tells you when something's about to fall on you.

* ''VideoGame/SpiderManShatteredDimensions'': Part of the first Amazing Spider-Man level is viewed from the sniper scope of Kraven the Hunter.

** The Deku Toad, MiniBoss of Lakebed Temple, uses the "shadow that tells you where it's going to land" variation. Hopefully, it misses by at least a tad[[note]][[JustForPun pole]][[/note]].

** In ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon|1}}'', a spinning crosshair of sorts marks the area where an [[DeathFromAbove Inkstrike]] is about to fall. For the sake of your well being, keep your distance.
** ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' introduced the Tenta Missiles, which cause a reticle to appear underneath you, and the ensuing rockets will be marked by small circles on the ground. The large reticle also has a small bit that points towards the general direction of the player firing the Tenta Missiles.
** In Salmon Run, a small fishing lure floats in green ink and emits a pulse when it gets close to players just before Maws erupts from the ink to [[OneHitKill feast on Inklings]]. You ''need'' to get away before then; even the Inkjet will ''not'' save you as they surface quite high.

* ''[[Videogame/AlienVsPredatorCapcom Alien vs. Predator]]'' beat-'em up features a mad Predator as the penultimate boss. When he's about to use his shoulder cannon, his signature triangle crosshair will lock on the player. Jump away quickly - it ''hurts''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}''

** Inverted in ''Lotus Land Story'', where one of Yuuka's spellcards has a circle show up. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgxBdiNTOB0#t=30s That circle is the safe spot; everything else is filled with bullets.]]

* During the sniper battle with The End in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', occasionally there's a short period where you're looking at Snake through The End's scope, just before he fires. This doesn't happen very often, but when it does it's a serious ''Oh, crap!'' moment.

* ''VideoGame/HeavenDust'': When you point your gun, a crosshair appears over where the bullet will hit.

%%* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': [=AoE=] telegraph markers work in a very similar way to the ''World of Warcraft'' example above. Unlike in [=WoW=], the forecast time for telegraphs is generally the same throughout the whole game, and the difficulty instead ramps up by having bosses spam [=AoEs=] in challenging patterns, or by using markers that need to be interacted in different ways besides "don't stand in the bad". It's implied that your character's ability to see (most) of your foes' attacks in advance is [[CombatClairvoyance part of their gift of the Echo]]. %%Examples shouldn't rely on other examples for explanations.

[[AC:Arcade]]
* In ''VideoGame/RoboCop 2'' (the Creator/DataEast UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame), Cain uses this before certain attacks.

* Combined with JawsFirstPersonPerspective in the first boss of ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}''.

* Almost all the attacks of [[spoiler:Super Dimentio]] from ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' work like this.
* The titular ''VideoGame/TrillionGodOfDestruction'' telegraphs its attacks like this. Squares start with a white crosshair, then yellow, then red right before the attack lands. Complicating things is the fact Trillion can launch many attacks at once and carpet the area with overlapping threat zones. On the other hand, training your Overlord's speed stat makes the warnings last longer, giving more turns to thread the needle.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': Many bosses and encounters feature effects that broadcast the locations of attacks in advance. Regularly, bosses create areas that will damage the player. Bad juju, harmful magic, fire pits, and collapsing earth are just some examples of things you need to watch out for. The colloquialism for these areas is "Not standing in the fire."
** Getting hit by an attack that telegraphs itself like this is generally a sign of being TooDumbToLive (which is appropriate, because the attack will probably kill you).

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': [=AoE=] telegraph markers work in a very similar way to the ''World of Warcraft'' example above. Unlike in [=WoW=], the forecast time for telegraphs is generally the same throughout the whole game, and the difficulty instead ramps up by having bosses spam [=AoEs=] in challenging patterns, or by using markers that need to be interacted in different ways besides "don't stand in the bad". It's implied that your character's ability to see (most) of your foes' attacks in advance is [[CombatClairvoyance part of their gift of the Echo]].
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': continues the trend. Most bosses make liberal use of area-of-effect attacks, which usually come with a second or two of advance warning. Aside from any special mechanics for a given boss, the main strategy for fighting them amounts to "avoid the [=AoE=]".

* The not-quite-[[spoiler:not-quite-]]final boss in ''VideoGame/ApeEscape'' fights you with some ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' camera action.

** ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' uses this very often. The most common form of it is making panels briefly flash yellow to indicate which ones are about to be struck. The crosshair variant is also seen frequently, the various cannon viruses, some Navis (Search Man in particular), and a number of battle chips making use of it. The shadow variant shows up as well and almost always is used as a warning sign for [[CollapsingCeilingBoss falling rocks]].

** Search Man from ''VideoGame/MegaMan8''.

* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' does this a few times, some examples have about thirty missiles, and the target goes from white to red to show how long till they hit. One is easy, but the swarm they use can be tricky if you're also avoiding other attacks.
** At one point you actually see the cross hair through the boss' eyes.

* ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' has this for the final boss's fireball attacks (and small red arrows showing where rocks fall and make holes in the platform).
** ''Yoshi's Island'' also had it for a couple minor enemies, such as the baseball dudes that would throw eggs at you.

* Completely {{inverted|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}: Hard Corps''. One of the bosses, a CombiningMecha, has a move where a crosshair appears on the floor, and then it fires out a lot of explosives into the air. Seconds later, the explosives land on the entire floor [[ViolationOfCommonSense EXCEPT the crosshair]]. Needless to say, if you were standing/jumping outside the crosshair, prepare to be blown into bits.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fraxy}}'' has the Remote Blast part. Bonus points for going at 3 different speeds, including ''instantaneously''. If the part is looped, even better.
* Green's Seven Force's Tiger Force in ''VideoGame/GunstarHeroes'' uses these. It either uses a small crosshair, which indicates where it will fire a small beam to, a very large crosshair which indicates where it will fire a large explosive (that covers the entire area of the crosshair), or a dotted line that indicates where it's going to shoot a laser beam.
* Some bosses in the ''VideoGame/RaySeries'' use these to telegraph attacks such as {{Macross Missile Massacre}}s.
* A laser from a ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' boss is usually announced with a thin white beam you must stay away from.
** On that subject, ''Most Valuable Vajra'', Shou's [[ThatOneAttack ridiculously hard spellcard]] does this. When a circle appears, one of the pairs of lasers is going to move its origin point there! While still rotating. The spellcard is borderline impossible to capture on anything above easy (and even then, it's only capturable on easy because the easy version only has one pair of lasers, not two).

* The Great Shard of ''VideoGame/FableII'' telegraphs its DeathFromAbove beam with such a crosshair.

[[AC:Stealth]]
* During the sniper battle with The End in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', occasionally there's a short period where you're looking at Snake through The End's scope, just before he fires. This doesn't happen very often, but when it does it's a serious ''OhCrap'' moment.

* The cannons on the Egg Fleet in ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' have crosshairs that appear on the ground. Apparently the characters can see them too: "Get away from those target markers!"
* Speaking of Sonic, in later games such as ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' a targeting reticle will appear over nearby targets while Sonic is airborne to let the player know which one Sonic will charge towards when using the Homing Attack.

* That inconspicuous blinking targeting laser for the Terran nuke in ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}''. The only attack that has both an early warning and a counter. In ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'', the player doing the launching sees the full crosshairs - everyone else just sees the dot.

* The snipers in ''VideoGame/AgentUnderFire'' have some very conspicuous [[LaserSight laser sights]]. You get shot if you happen to cross them.
* In ''VideoGame/{{N}}'', the gauss turrets have visible crosshairs that try to follow and target you.

** Pretty much the same thing happens in ''VideoGame/UnrealIITheAwakening''. The Drakk robots will track you with a laser, and then zap whatever is painted by that laser. You better get away before that happens. Of course, the entire laser beam is visible...

* ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' features a short passage in which the player has to fight his way through a bunch of mooks while seeing himself through the scope of Nord's sniper rifle. Just a bit later he has to evade Nord's sniper rifle again, this time in the normal third person perspective but with a clearly visible red laser sight showing where the sniper is aiming.
* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'': When enemies have their backs facing the player, they sometimes "hear" the gunshot from the sniper rifle, despite the rifle firing a super-sonic bullet, and turn to engage the player, sometimes avoiding the bullet or shooting Max before dying.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', the [[DemonicSpiders Trap Door]] enemies in the [[ThatOneLevel Sealed Cave]] will track down a party member in one round, then cast ''[[OneHitKill Nth Dimension]]'' (formerly ''Disrupt'') on him or her. Then it will move on to the next party member... While this attack can be reflected, you need good anticipation, because the crosshair and spell are two parts of the same action.

* ''VideoGame/RollingThunder 3'' for UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis does this to you. If you take too long in a mission before the exit or boss, there will be a sniper that will try to kill you with crosshairs marked. This is averted in the plane hijack level for obvious reasons.

* One of the Tau Commander units in ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar: Dark Crusade'' can call in an [[KillSat orbital strike]] anywhere in a radial area, which manifests itself in a [[PillarOfLight beam of light]] that grows wider and then pretty much obliterates any forces unlucky enough to be standing there; those units having about, oh, half a second to move as soon as they see the light.
** Speaking of which, the Skyray Missile Gunship places some HUGE crosshairs when it opens fire, although I'm pretty sure they're only visible to the player who ordered it.

* This is the main disadvantage of flashlights and laser sights in ''VideoGame/Battlefield3'', though they can be switched off in order to facilitate an ambush.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' also indicates AOE attacks with markers on the ground. Players targeted for certain attacks or mechanics will get a marker floating over their heads. Some bosses in the ''Heavensward'' expansion have attacks which mark a character or location with bright orange arrows, indicating the party needs to stack on them to avoid damage (or instant death).

* Quadraxis in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' has a variant: The target marker appears on Samus' visor. In Morph Ball form, it shows up as a laser.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', that frog-thing uses the "shadow that tells you where it's going to land" variation. Hopefully, it misses by at least a tad[[note]][[JustForPun pole]][[/note]].
** Another boss, Blizzeta, relies on the player using the reflection in the ice floor Link is running on.
** Also done with one of the late game bosses in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Wind Waker]]''.
** Also occurs in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks''; during the boss battle with Byrne, purple crosshairs appear on Link right before Byrne launches his claw at him.

* In ''Robocop 2'' (the Creator/DataEast UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame), Cain uses this before certain attacks.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'', a spinning crosshair of sorts marks the area where an [[DeathFromAbove Inkstrike]] is about to fall. For the sake of your well being, keep your distance.
* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2''
** Being targeted by the Tenta Missiles causes a reticle to appear underneath you, and the ensuing rockets will be marked by small circles on the ground. The large reticle also has a small bit that points towards the general direction of the player firing the Tenta Missiles.
** A small fishing lure floats in green ink and emits a pulse when it gets close to players just before Maws erupts from the ink to [[OneHitKill feast on Inklings]]. You ''need'' to get away before then; even the Inkjet will ''not'' save you as they surface quite high.