History Main / EmergencyWeapon

The problem with having BreakableWeapons (or non-BottomlessMagazines) is that, if you run out of weapons, the game becomes practically {{Unwinnable}}. To work around this, many developers are nice enough to give you a weapon with unlimited ammo in case of emergencies. It may not be as powerful as your main arsenal, but it's there when you need to get out of a jam.

* Many FirstPersonShooter games, at least those before QuickMelee became popular, have a unique melee weapon - often a [[ImprovisedWeapon random object]] that the protagonist uses like a club - which becomes iconic for the series, such as the crowbar from ''VideoGame/HalfLife''

** The series provides a crowbar in most games, to the point where it's the iconic weapon.
** ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' expansion ''Opposing Force'' gives you a slower but more powerful pipe wrench, and later a combat knife that works just like the crowbar.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1470090274007735500

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1470090274007735500

-->-- Reason #1 as to why 3D games are not like real life, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kp_CkH5AKM 3D Games - Realistic My Ass.]]''

* Many FirstPersonShooter games, at least those before QuickMelee became popular, have a unique melee weapon - often a [[ImprovisedWeapon random object]] that the protagonist uses like a club - which becomes iconic for the series, such as the crowbar from ''VideoGame/HalfLife''
* ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' has the simple army knife.

* ''VideoGame/ChexQuest'', based on the Doom engine, has the "Boot Spoon", which can do some Zorch damage to enemies when used. Being a game about cereal, it makes sense... kinda.
* In ''{{VideoGame/Marathon}}'', you have your fists (one per mouse button) to rely on. Interestingly, by giving yourself a running start, you can do increased damage and take out weaker enemies with surprising speed; it's kind of funny to repeatedly berserker-charge an alien soldier and punch him in the face, and funnier when it makes pretty short work of the guy.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Hexen}}'', each of the classes has a different infinite-ammo starting weapon. The Fighter's fists are actually quite potent (they even have a combo attack), but the Cleric's mace is a joke. The Mage is unique because his Sapphire Wand is [[RangedEmergencyWeapon a ranged weapon]] - it fires extremely fast shots that pierce enemies, quite fast and with deadly precision. Technically it does less damage than any other attack in the game, but it fires quickly and in many cases (mainly crowd control) it is more useful than his spells. All of the starting weapons share one important quality: they can't be bounced back at you. One common mook species and some bosses have shields which can reflect missiles, but the none of the above weapons can be reflected.
* ''VideoGame/RainbowSix: Lockdown'' and the ''Vegas'' games feature pistols with infinite magazines (although limited shots per magazines), but considering the fact that in ''Vegas'' you can carry two 'primary' weapons with upwards of ''ten'' full magazines for each, there's really no excuse for running out of ammo (unless you [[CripplingOverspecialization over-specialize]] one of them). Though it does make you look much more badass.
* ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAirborne'' and the 2010 reboot do the same. Warfighter extends this to the entire secondary slot, which now includes shotguns and submachine guns. It also lets you stomp on enemies during your parachute descent, making you lethal before your feet even touch the ground. ''VideoGame/{{Section 8}}'', which has all players drop in from orbit when they spawn, does much the same.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Darkwatch}}'', ''every'' weapon had some bladed or spiked component to allow it to be used in melee. For those few situations where a bayonet will not do, [[http://forum.pafoa.org/gun-pictures-24/10037-cz-75-sp-01-tactical.html breech teeth]].
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'', Bond can deliver a swift karate chop to take down enemies if he ran out of ammo. A karate chop to the back of the neck is more powerful than any other single attack in the game, with the exception of the [[OneHitKill Golden Gun]] of course.
* ''VideoGame/GoldeneyeRogueAgent'', the player is provided with a pistol with infinite ammunition, in addition to a few of the lethal uses for your [[MagicTool golden]] ElectronicEyes.
* Some newer games are providing very useful backup melee attacks. ''VideoGame/CounterStrike'', the ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'' series and later ''Call of Duty'' games feature a knife that is an instant kill, and ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon F.E.A.R.]]'' not only has pistol whips and rifle butts but also jump and slide kicks that are instant kills.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has a different melee weapon for every single class - A [[BatterUp baseball bat]] for the Scout, an [[ShovelStrike entrenchment shovel]] for the Soldier, a [[PercussiveMaintenance wrench]] for the Engineer, a butterfly knife for the Spy, a {{Kukri|sAreKool}} for the Sniper, a bonesaw for the Medic, a [[GrievousBottleyHarm whiskey bottle]] for the Demoman, a fire axe for the Pyro, and [[GoodOldFisticuffs bare fists]] for the Heavy. The game offers [[UnlockableContent unlockable weapons]], including many melee options that have more utility than just bare damage -- this often makes the stock weapons [[ExaggeratedTrope fall into this trope on a meta level]], as despite how unlockables are designed to be [[NecessaryDrawback sidegrades with new power but new drawbacks]], many are considered by players to be direct improvements since function over pure emergency damage that they have guns for makes them vastly more useful (such as the Soldier's "Escape Plan", [[PowerfulPick a pickaxe]] that gives him bonus running speed just by holding it out, or the Heavy's "Fists of Steel", [[PowerFist metal gauntlets]] that protects him from incoming gunfire).
* ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'' had Duke's Mighty Foot, which was, oddly enough, more powerful than the pistol. In fact, in the original version of the game, it was possible to set your weapon to kick and use both that and the quick-kick button ''at the same time'', [[GoodBadBugs giving the impression of dropkicking the enemy several times in succession or doing]] ThatRussianSquatDance (dealing great damage in the meantime). If you do the same [[LiterallyShatteredLives while auto-kicking a frozen enemy]], you can get ''three legs on screen''!
* ''VideoGame/SeriousSam''

* The difference between ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' and most first-person perspective shooters is readily apparent in its "backup weapons"--the infinite-ammunition close-combat weapons remain at least marginally useful to the end of the game. This is especially after completing the mission for one of the Triads--you get a melee nanotech light saber.
* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' gives you takedowns, with a twist: you have to have at least one full energy cell to use a takedown, meaning there are times when you don't have the energy to take out an opponent. However, your ''last'' energy cell doubles as an emergency energy cell: it takes 40 seconds to reach a full charge after emptying it (upgradable to 20 seconds), meaning that with enough patience, you can punch or stab everyone in the game (except for three of the bosses) without worrying about recharging your batteries.

* The ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament''

* ''VideoGame/UnrealIITheAwakening'' also has a dispersion pistol, but unlike the first game, this really is a emergency weapon and nothing more.
* ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' provides the blaster, which fires fairly slow and weak energy projectiles at a fairly slow pace. At least it has unlimited ammo.
* ''VideoGame/QuakeIIIArena'' had the gauntlet. It was the only melee weapon in the game, but it does deal a fair amount of damage by the standards of emergency weapons and was unlimited use. The game would keep track of how many gauntlet kills you'd racked up in a match, and the announcer would call "[[CherryTapping Humiliation]]" every time you pulled one off.
* Unlike most FPS games, ''VideoGame/BioShock1'''s wrench is arguably the most useful weapon in the game. With the proper upgrades, it allows you to effortlessly kill Big Daddies as well. Using the "Wrench Lurker" Gene Tonics with both Electro Bolt and Insect Swarm give Jack a huge boost (150% or 200%) against stunned Splicers[[note]]Insect Swarm becomes slightly more useful in the long run with the "Electric Flesh" Splicers being introduced in later levels[[/note]] along with the boost from "Wrench Jockey" (350% or 550%).
* In ''VideoGame/BioShock2'', your Drill can be ludicrously useful. With the right Gene Tonics and all upgrades, you can drain health, freeze enemies, and even reflect projectiles with your drill... but unlike the melee option in the first game, it requires fuel. Played straight with each weapon's pistol whipping functionality, a quick melee strike that can be performed with any weapon minus the Research Camera.
* The first weapon you find in ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' is a lead pipe which requires no ammo to crush enemies' skulls. In ''VideoGame/SystemShock 2'', you can find a wrench which needs no ammo and can be very deadly with proper upgrades. You can also change to laser rapier or alien crystal if you want, which similarly require no ammo but need investing experience points into proper weapon skills.
* ''VideoGame/Prey2006'' gives you both a pipe wrench and an alien hybrid machine gun/sniper rifle that can slowly recharge one clip worth of ammo when you run out.
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsRepublicCommando'' has melee attacks associated with every weapon via the melee quick-hit button. The default Commando-issue [[SwissArmyWeapon Swiss Army Rifle]] includes a deadly strike with the [[BladeBelowTheShoulder retractable blade in the left glove]], while other weapons resort to [[PistolWhipping beaning your enemies with them]]. The actual emergency weapon slot is the [=DC-15s=] pistol that you fall back on if you manage to run out of ammo for ''all'' your weapons. It has infinite ammo, a recharge time, and about zero usefulness other than saving ammo. Actually PistolWhipping with said pistol is the weakest melee attack in the game (which wouldn't be so bad, except you can't switch to an empty weapon should you want to melee with that one instead); the console versions won't even let you use it if you've picked up something besides the aforementioned rifle until you're totally out of ammo for it.
* The starting weapon in ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' is an enormous machete the BigBad slammed into the wall just above your head. Any attack from stealth with it will either kill or critically wound the target, but they'll usually shout and give away your position before they die.
* ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' definitely goes the route of "iconic weapon" for its machete - it's used for everything from stealthily picking off bad guys to skinning animals for their hides, with a few upgrades making it deadly on par with your actual guns in solo engagements or even against small groups of enemies. Some loading screens even mention that Jason is famous throughout the islands for his use of the machete, encouraging you to live up to the legends as much as you can. Of course, you can also upgrade to [[KatanasAreJustBetter an even better, sixty-year-old Japanese tanto.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'' allows you to use your fists as melee weapons in addition to a PistolWhipping quick-hit button. While this may sound fairly unimpressive, remember that the PlayerCharacter is clad in PoweredArmor and can punch holes in brick walls. As a result, your fists wind up being one of the most lethal weapons in the game; a single punch in Strength Mode is a OneHitKill to everything except bosses. In Strength Mode, you can also throw barrels/crates, debris, and even [[GrievousHarmWithABody enemy Mooks at each other]] as your Emergency Weapon.
* ''Crysis 2'' does away with having fists in a melee weapon slot, but combines more functions into the quick-hit button. Tapping it deals a regular punch, holding it down launches a Strength Mode kick (Strength Mode is no longer a separate suit mode), and pressing it while behind an enemy deals an instant-kill {{Backstab}}.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRenegade'' had the silenced Falcon pistol. However, its status as an emergency weapon varies across the game; early on if you can consistently nail [[BoomHeadshot headshots]] it's the most useful weapon you could possibly have, but later on when you're up against multiple armored foes at a time (or in multiplayer), it falls purely into this trope.
* ''[[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh Tron 2.0]]'' gives you, in addition to the iconic Disc weapon, three other base weapons and a number of modifiers for all four weapons. However, using a modifier or a different weapon consumes energy, which is also used for tasks like recovering files from storage bins, so you'll find yourself using the unmodified Disc through most of the game. (It helps that it's a solid all-around weapon, as well as a defense against other Disc attacks.)
* ''VideoGame/{{Heretic}}'' gives you a wooden staff you can poke enemies with and the much more useful ''Gauntlets of the Necromancer'' which can electrocute enemies at close range. The latter is especially useful when combined with a Tome of Power, as the gauntlets will heal you for the damage you deal.
* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' has a pistol as your backup weapon that has unlimited ammo and it's the only weapon that you can use if you are downed. Grabbing a second pistol gives you GunsAkimbo.
* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'': You can trade both pistols for a melee weapon or HandCannon, both of which kill regular zombies in one hit. However, if you're downed and you have a melee weapon instead of either pistol type, [[HyperspaceArsenal the default pistol replaces your melee weapon until you're helped up]].
* In ''VideoGame/AlienTrilogy'', when all out of ammo, your pistol will still be able to fire, but you have to reload between each shot. It's like you have an infinite number of one-bullet magazines.
* In ''VideoGame/BlakeStone: Aliens of Gold'' you start off with the Auto Charge Pistol. It's very weak and can only fire one shot at a time, but it automatically recharges (giving effectively infinite ammo) and has stealth capability (firing it does not alert other enemies).
* ''VideoGame/{{Singularity}}'' starts you off with the knife, which is almost useless and truly only for desperation or self-imposed challenge. It's shortly replaced with the Time Manipulation Device, which has the Impulse attack, a burst of force that does a lot more damage than the knife, and can hit multiple enemies. However, the Impulse chews up a not-insignificant chunk of the [=TMD's=] energy bar, especially early on, and you can only carry a limited number of energy charge vials at a time. If you're out, it has to recharge - slowly.
* ''VideoGame/NosferatuTheWrathOfMalachi'': The Cane Sword, the weakest weapon in the game. Once you get enough ammo, you're going to be using guns as much as possible, but the Sword still comes in handy if you're running low, the enemy is too close or weak enough that you don't want to waste bullets on them, or it's taking too long to reload.
* In the original ''Videogame/PlanetSide'', the various empire-flavored knives are emergency weapons carried in every loadout bar the MAX PoweredArmor. The knife is pretty pathetic, dealing very little damage with poor range unless the secondary powered mode (i.e. revving up the [[ChainsawGood Chainblade]]) is activated, which still requires at least two stabs to kill. Pistols were ''intended'' to be this but are never used by anyone other than [[SpyCatsuit infiltrators]], as the HealingShiv and MagicTool are more useful and take up the same sidearm holster.
* In the ''VideoGame/ShadowWarrior2013'' reboot, Lo Wang's [[WeaponSpecialization weapon of choice]] is his favourite katana. Rather than simply being something you pull out as a last resort when you run out of ammo, the katana makes for a very potent primary weapon as it can be upgraded to deal more damage and is also capable of powerful KiManipulation as Lo Wang grows in strength. There's a more powerful demon-slaying katana, the [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement Nobitsura Kage]], up for grabs too.
** The sequel has the Eternal Infinitor - infinite ammo uzi, but you can only customize it with the weakest grade of weapon mods. And of all the melee items in the game (and there are a lot), the Arm of Orochi is the only one with free-use Force Slash attacks, making it indispensable for close-quarters combat with enemies that dodged your bullets until you ran out.
* ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'' has a melee function that lets you whip enemies with the butt of your gun, though it will do very little damage unless the enemy is not armored. The sequel introduces proper melee weapons and when charged up, can do quite a bit of damage. This makes it quite handy to have until you can get some more ammo again.
* You start ''VideoGame/EightBitKiller'' equipped with a handgun which has quite a piddling rate of fire and deals only 1 point of damage per bullet, but doesn't consume your UniversalAmmunition. It still remains useful for dealing with enemies that fall in a few shots.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Dusk}}'', Duskdude starts with a pair of sickles that do weak damage but attack quickly. He can later upgrade them into a much more powerful sword that's capable of blocking attacks. Both melee weapons have an additional use: they can deflect projectiles.
* In ''VideoGame/Blood1997'', Caleb has his trusty pitchfork that will be your best friend against lone zombies or for rushing an unaware cultist and stun-locking him, saving valuable ammo for tougher and/or more numerous foes. Being a pitchfork, its range is reasonable once you get used to it and each of its four prongs even has its own little hitbox for added realism.

* ''VideoGame/{{Oni}}'' has limited ammunition available for guns (even though there are only two ammo types overall), and some later bosses are resistant to them. This isn't much of a problem, though, as the hand-to-hand fighting is typically the focus of combat, anyway.

* The wrench from ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' not only has unlimited uses but boomerangs when thrown and when properly upgraded is described as the most deadly weapon in the galaxy.
* The ''Franchise/TombRaider'' series has Lara with her default dual Pistols that have unlimited ammo, which is used mainly as a backup weapon halfway through the game once you collect other guns and ammo. It's the weakest weapon.
* In ''VideoGame/PsiOpsTheMindgateConspiracy'', you have your silenced pistol with rare ammunition (since no enemy really carries one) and a larger gun. Since it usually takes about a clip, per enemy thankfully you have {{Telekinesis}} as back-up or your main weapon. If you run out of psi energy, you'll still have GoodOldFisticuffs.
* The first ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'' had the Air Taser, which uses no ammo, had long range, counted as a silent weapon (unless the enemy starts screaming when they get lit on fire), and is lethal if it latches on any part of the enemy's body. The developers seem to have realized how they've made the Emergency Weapon too damn useful, so they changed it to a combat knife in later games. [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks And killed all the fun.]]

* ''VideoGame/BinaryDomain'' gives you the infinite-ammo sidearm - a simple semi-auto pistol. It's fairly useful even when other guns are available - if you're only facing a few standard mooks, downing them with a few pistol headshots lets you save up ammo for the big guns. And if you haven't upgraded the assault rifle's precision, and don't have a sniper weapon as your secondary, the pistol is also the most precise weapon at your disposal.
* ''VideoGame/MetalArmsGlitchInTheSystem''. The starting weapon is the recharging "mining laser", and even fully upgraded, it's only slightly better than useless. And even that's better than Glitch's weak Melee.

* The Snub Pistol from ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' is rather bad, unless you're skillful enough to fire all shots into an enemy to down them. Because of that, it's rather impractical to use unless you swap it for [[RevolversAreJustBetter Boltok]]. Also, your main gun has a built-in {{chainsaw|Good}} ''{{bayonet|Ya}}'' for anyone who gets too close.

* The arcade game ''Narc'' switched you from automatic fire to semiautomatic if you ran out of ammo, cutting your firing speed in half.
* The ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit'' series first ammo is the Blaster, weak bullets that never are used up and are useful until you find better ammo. Although getting some rapid fire Power-ups make them very good weapons on their own.
* Similarly, ''Abuse'''s base weapon, a simple repeating laser rifle, uses ammo to increase its firing rate (up to several hundred units) rather than to shoot at all. If its ammo falls to zero, it just shoots less quickly.
* Later iterations of the ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'' series had special cores that allowed up to two back-up weapons to be stored inside, for use when the main weapon ran out of ammo or got destroyed. However, the back up weapons were limited by size, so you could then only really use a small pistol or laser blade. Worked well for players that rely mainly on ammo based weapons during missions with a ton of GoddamnedBats.
* The console ports of ''VideoGame/{{Ikaruga}}'' offer a "Prototype Mode" in which you have limited shots. If you use up those shots, you switch out for weaker shots that are only effective at point blank.
* ''Punisher'', 2005 game has 'Instant Kills'. Grab an enemy, horribly dispose of them and take their guns. Sometimes with a knife to the face. Oddly, face/knife is possible early on in the Ryker's Prison section. Someone forgot to search Frank.
* You have a kick in ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'', but your [[RPGElements strength stat]] must be upgraded enough for it to be useful. Due to this, the [[ShortRangeShotgun shotgun]] (which has infinite ammo) fills the Emergency Weapon role. It's essentially the only weapon you have access to on [[HarderThanHard Ultimortal]] difficulty.

* ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice'' gives you the Vorpal Blade, a kitchen knife that can be used as a melee weapon or thrown, after which it will reappear in your hand several seconds later. It is the only weapon that uses no Willpower for either attack.
* ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim'' has a blaster with lots of types of ammo, all of which are limited. The plain ammo is finite but refills itself slowly when low.
* In ''VideoGame/RollingThunder'', if your pistol runs out of bullets, you can still actually fire. The catch is that the bullets you'll fire are {{Painfully Slow Projectile}}s.

* ''VideoGame/SummonNight: Swordcraft Story'' lets you use your forging hammer if all of your [[ItemCrafting forged weapons]] break.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' have limited uses for all of their moves. If they run out, they can resort to Struggle, which does little damage and costs HP. Also comes into play when the opponent uses Encore (must repeat the last move several times), Taunt (must use attacking moves), Disable (cannot use a certain move for several turns), Torment (cannot use the same move consecutively), or Imprison (cannot use moves shared by the opponent), and/or if your Mon is holding a Choice item (boosts a certain stat, but locks in your first move) -- if due to any combination of these and depleted PP, your Mon has no usable moves, it will use Struggle.

* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'''s mage starts with a weak wand that does piddling damage and never runs out. It's fine for the first level or two when you're limited to cantrips, but as soon as you learn proper spells and are able to buy proper wands you might as well dispose of it. The enemies become stronger very soon, but the wand's damage doesn't, so if you ever find yourself with everything but the first wand exhausted you might as well reload, because firing it will do you about as good as spitting.
* On the magic-wielding side of things, the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series has the "Osmose" spell, which [[ManaDrain drains an enemy's MP to restore the caster's own]] and is usually cheap, if not free, to cast. Its effectiveness varies, since some enemies have 0 MP and the spell will never restore more than it drains, but it can save an Ether or two in a pinch.
** Osmose, and its counterpart Rasp (damages MP without draining it) become viable offensive spells in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', where some enemies, including a few bosses, die if they run out of MP. An OptionalBoss in the GBA remake's BonusDungeon even has to be defeated this way, as it'll continually resurrect itself otherwise.
* ''VideoGame/HarryPotter'' video games have introduced the Flipendo knockback jinx, a basic attack spell which consumes no {{Mana}}.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** Throughout the series, if all else fails, you can still use your fists. The BreakableWeapons present in the series prior to ''Skyrim'' were the most common cause of resorting to this.
** In additional to your fists, ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' has a weak {{Fireball}} spell that every protagonist starts with. It's easy enough for non-mages to cast, and your ManaMeter recharges fast enough that the spell can be cast without end.
** These return for ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', though due to the game no longer having BreakableWeapons, it is rare to be left without a weapon.[[note]]Being hit with the "Disarm" shout is about it.[[/note]] If you lack a weapon, you can still punch people. Barring that, you have a basic Flames spell available. As with ''Oblivion,'' the spell is not particularly great, but it's always available to all races so players are never at a lack for ''some'' kind of offensive capability. Additionally, once you reach a certain point in the main quest, [[LanguageOfMagic Thu'um Shouts]] become accessible to the player. You get the initial word of "[[BlownAcrossTheRoom Unrelenting Force]]" as part of the main quest, and the Thu'um cooldown is separate from any of your other meters, so it can be used even if you are out of Magicka or Fatigue. It does extremely minimal damage on its own, but can stagger enemies to allow for escape.
* In ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'', the main characters fight by transforming into demons. If they are caught by surprise or are forced to revert to human form, they have guns as emergency weapons. Some enemies are actually weak to gun attacks, though the guns generally do less damage than any other attack in your arsenal.
* The ''Citadel'' DLC of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' has the M7 Lancer, a gun that uses a cooldown system instead of ammunition, [[CallBack like the guns]] in [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 the first game]].

* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'', you have your fists at all times. You can also pick up [[BatterUp a baseball bat]] for when you're out of ammo. Later games added alternatives to the bat, such as knives]] and [[ChainsawGood chainsaws]].
* The player characters of ''VideoGame/DeadIsland'' pack kick and stomp attacks that are surprisingly effective. They're mainly used to clear space between you and zombies, but a well-placed stomp to a prone enemy will [[OneHitKill crush the skull]].
* The characters in ''VideoGame/DontStarve'' can all physically punch for a last-resort attack, but it's slow and weak enough to rarely be worth using (the game doesn't even [[ContextSensitiveButton default]] to attacking unarmed, even against enemies, requiring a specific command to do).

* In the ''Total War'' series, archers and most other ranged units will pull out a knife when out of ammo. Needless to say, they're totally useless at that point. However, some ranged units will pull out swords and are rather well-trained at using them or just so heavily-armored to the point where they can just hold off the enemy with pure defense.
* In ''{{VideoGame/Age of Empires III}}'' (Definitive Edition), this is the default behaviour for light infantry type units, specifically archers and rifle infantry, who are usually forced to do a pityful {{pistol whip}} in melee. This is frequently a losing battle even against melee focussed units they usually counter. Meanwhile, other primarily ranged units like Musketeers and light cavalry avert this trope by generally packing at least some punch in melee. Settlers/villagers are an odd case, as they pack much more of a punch in melee (somehow) but also always default to their ranged blunderbuss attack.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'': Most of Olimar's moves requires him to use a Pikmin to actually strike the foe, though he does have a (very few) weak melee attacks that don't use Pikmin.
* ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' has surface-to-orbit missiles. While they might destroy lone scouts or even small groups of starships that are PointDefenseless, they become much less useful once the enemy either has sufficient point defense or [[WeHaveReserves brings enough spares]] to the battle. No substitute for a proper battle fleet, they are.

* Sidearms in ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance 2'' are relegated to this role by mid-game, particularly in the v1.13 update. They're not very effective against proper body armor or at long range, unless you're packing a HandCannon with all their accuracy issues, but the AP cost to draw and fire one is significantly lower than reloading or unjamming your primary weapon. The various melee weapons are another kind of Emergency Weapon; guns are very nearly useless at point-blank range (which is TruthInTelevision), and a blade or even bare fists is more use if you walk right into an enemy mook whilst clearing a building. v1.13 even includes a special blades-only inventory slot so you can give one to every team member without wasting inventory space.

* ''[=OpenXcom=]'' -- a remake of 1994 ''X-COM'' -- allows to add this feature in mods.
** ''VideoGame/TheXCOMFiles'' has GoodOldFisticuffs. Civilians suddenly became quite capable of beating early enemies. Using ranged weapons as clubs is still impossible, unlike some other mods.

* Should Jack run out of spears in ''VideoGame/LostInBlue 2'', he can take enemies on with his bare hands. Punches hit for puny damage, but successful dodging can lead to him taking down a ''tiger'' like a man.

* In ''Beat Blades Haruka'', the characters have attacks that require no energy to use. However, they're very inaccurate and will only ever inflict 1 damage whenever they do hit, meaning that if you ever run out energy for normal attacks, you'll be in trouble.

* ''VideoGame/CryptOfTheNecroDancer'' has glass weapons that are extremely powerful, but break if you take any damage, leaving you unarmed. If this happens, a glass shard weapon will appear that acts like a reskin of the regular dagger (only does one damage and has no range unless it's thrown, which leaves you completely unarmed with absolutely no weapon)

* While ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' does include melee attacks, most bosses can only be harmed by heavy weapons (or, in one case, a [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame sniper rifle]]). To help out, infinitely respawning ammo pickups are placed in the boss arenas. The final boss fights are notable though in that you only have your bare fists (''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'') or your sword (''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty''). ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' lets you keep your other weapons and even some mid-game bosses can be beaten with melee maneuvers, but if the final boss (named [[spoiler:The Boss]]) manages to grapple you while you're wielding a firearm, she'll actually DISMANTLE the gun and throw away the pieces. You can pick them back up, but do try keeping the gun holstered during close-quarters combat the next time around.

* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil''. Survival horror games often give you the almost completely useless knife, since the fear of running out of ammunition is supposed to add to the suspense.
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'':
*** The game for the most part is a big exception, as Leon is equipped with a much more useful knife. For the most part, you use it as an ammo-saver: you can bust open barrels and crates with it, or finish off weakened Ganados. It can also save your ammo when fighting against the Gigante; if you hop on the monster's back, you can slice it with your knife, or stab the eye of the final boss with it as well. It also becomes useful in a few cutscenes, the first time you face Jack Krauser being the best example. Later on when Krauser plants an ambush for you in normal game play, the most efficient way to hurt him is using your knife. You can empty clip after clip into him, but it takes a lot of ammo to get him to back off compared to one slash of your knife.
*** Against Krauser, the knife does about as much damage as a ''magnum bullet''.
*** Two things that make the knife so useful in the fourth and fifth games is that A. it doesn't take up an [[GridInventory inventory slot]], and B. you don't have to go into the menu to equip it. This makes it much more convenient to use, whereas in most games it's ditched because that one useless knife takes up the same amount of inventory space as, say, 50 shotgun shells.
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'' was really the first game to make a useful knife. The ammo was VERY scarce, so most of the time Claire/Chris have to take care of zombies with the knife. Ironically, the other game featuring Claire, had probably the worst knife in the series, taking a whopping 50 slashes to kill ONE zombie. However, it's pretty common that "hardcore" fans of the series will perform knife runs, only using the knife and no other weapon unless it's completely necessary. It helps that, due to a GoodBadBug, the knife ignores enemy MercyInvincibility when aimed down and can strike numerous times in a single slash, making downward slashes more powerful than ''handgun bullets''.
** ''Resident Evil 5'' gives you the option of buying the Stun Rod around level 3. It is a melee weapon that is swung like a bat and delivers an electric charge. Kills normal enemies and in groups has the potential to kill a lot of them at the same time.
** In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard'', Ethan Winters gets his first combat experiences when he is attacked by [[spoiler: [[DemonicPossession his wife, Mia,]]]] who he has to fight off in a close-combat encounter, with a nearby Hatchet against the attacker's Butcher Knife. The hatchet comes in handy when [[spoiler: Ethan gets his left hand chainsawed off shortly after, and has to fight the subsequent foe with only one functioning limb]]. He loses the hatchet soon afterwards when ambushed by [[TheDragon Jack Baker]] and dragged into the family house, and has to spend the next few encounters playing cat and mouse with the [[ImplacableMan unkillable madman]]. Following this, he begs for aid from a Police deputy investigating the property, and whilst the cop refuses to give the frantic Ethan his gun, citing Ethan's suspicious behaviour, he does humour his pleas by giving him a foldable pocket knife, which becomes Ethan's Melee Weapon for the rest of the game. As expected, it's not an impressive weapon, but it's unbreakability means Ethan always has a means of defending himself.
*** In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'' Ethan's melee weapon is now a hunting knife he finds in the titular abandoned village when he first stumbles into it. Fitting with the game's [[ActionisedSequel more action-packed focus]] Ethan never has to use it in any story context [[spoiler: save cutting himself free of his bonds to shoot Miranda at the climax]] and instead, thanks to the game's abundance of Ammo through either Crafting or The Duke's services, Ethan's main form of attack will always be his guns, with little fear of running out. Other melee weapons exist as post-game unlockables, but the hunting knife still qualifies as the dedicated last-ditch weapon because it's impossible to drop from your inventory.
* ''Franchise/SilentHill'' contains melee weapons which tend to see more use than the guns, which have very limited ammo. Fortunately, these melee weapons are both strong and unbreakable for the first four games. ''Un''fortunately, Silent Hill fans who were used to invulnerable wooden planks and unbending steel pipes were given a very rude shock when the prequel ''VideoGame/SilentHillOrigins'' came and brought the concept of all melee weapons breaking eventually. If players weren't careful and didn't conserve their best melee weapons, they would be reduced to beating down bosses with toasters, screwdrivers or their ''bare hands''.
* ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'', which has several survival horror elements while not being a complete example of the genre, provides Aya with a club. You can even find upgrades for the club, but like in most survival horror games, any club is just about useless.
** Unless you spend an obscene amount of time, points, and tools to increase the strength of the club. While the lack of range remains a problem, it can become ridiculously overpowered.
*** Due to its swinging in an arc, and having little recovery time the Tonfa was very spammable, and was probably the most effective weapon vs GoddamnBats.

* Prior to ''Mists of Pandaria'', this was what melee weapons were for the Hunter class in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. These were intended for use only when your pet has lost aggro or died, or you've run out of ammo. Over time, patches removed the need for ammo, the minimum range for ranged weapons, and eventually merged the melee and ranged weapon slots into a single slot. [[note]]Makes one wonder if it's because the developers were as sick of the "Hunter Weapon!" meme as everyone else was.[[/note]] But when they were necessary, the primary consideration when choosing one was on stat bonuses rather than melee damage. For example, one of the most common from vanilla [=WoW=] was [[http://www.wowhead.com/item=19106 Ice Barbed Spear]].
* In ''Franchise/StarTrek: [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]: Elite Force'', the Phaser was almost certainly ''intended'' as the Emergency Weapon, since it has its own separate ammunition supply that recharges on its own. However, it's powerful enough that many players use it even when all the other weapons have plenty of ammunition, thus conserving the big guns for that ''other'' kind of [[BossBattle emergency]]. Like the other weapons, it has an alternate fire mode that fires a more powerful beam but drains the energy supply much faster. However, unlike a typical Emergency Weapon that is useful almost any time, the phaser is no more useful against the Borg than any other weapon except the I-MOD, as they adapt to it within a few shots.
* In the ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'' series, the Emergency Weapon is a set of machine guns with infinite ammo. Later games gave it a power-up that would run out, turning it into a viable weapon until it ran out and reverted to normal.

* ''VideoGame/AliensVsPredator'':
** In the first game for the PC, if you ran out of weapons for all of your guns you ended up using your pulse rifle as a club. The exception is the fact that, given the type of enemy you face in the game, if it comes down to that you're screwed already.
** The second replaced this with a knife, which was about as useful as you'd expect. The most recent addition to the series gives you an infinite-ammo pistol, which is generally enough to fight off a single Alien, but not much more.
** This is, though, entirely keeping in line with the human marine, who is extremely equipment dependent. Predators fall back on wrist blades and combisticks, which use no ammo, and are effective against xenomorphs to a slight degree, and humans to a much greater degrees. Predators also have the ability to regenerate energy for their discs, electro-pistols, and shoulder cannons. The xenomorphs, however, never use ammunition, and can always fight with claws, teeth, and tail spikes.
* ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}'':
** The Vulcan Cannon in the original game. It received a [[GameBreaker game-breaking]] upgrade in ''II'' with the Gauss Cannon, but was once again {{Nerf}}ed in ''3'' with the Vauss Cannon, which replaces both.
** To a greater extent, the Flare. Since you can run out of energy for your energy weapons and ammo for the above, launching flares(horribly slow without energy) will always do one point of damage.
* In the ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' games, ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDuty World At War]]'', and ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'', the knife is meant for when you find yourself in melee situations. Since it's an instant kill, however, many people just run around the battlefield using it as their primary weapon. Combine this with the Commando Perk (allows longer melee range), Tactical Knife (faster melee speed), and Lightweight (faster character speed) in [=MW2=] and you have what is arguably a GameBreaker. The earlier ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' games have more ''Halo''-esque gun melees.

* While ''VideoGame/CaveStory'' has weapons that use ammo, there is only one weapon (two if you count the upgraded version) that has ''limited'' ammo, the missile launcher. The ammo for the Machine Gun recharges quite quickly, even quicker if you find an upgrade for that, and the Bubble Gun recharges very slowly on Lvl 1 and very quickly on Lvl 3.
* In 1980s sci-fantasy ShootEmUp, ''Gondomania'' by Nihon Bussan/AV Japan, your hoverbike riding samurai has to earn money to pick up the weapons lying around the battlefield. If you have no money and ran out of weapons to shoot/throw, your samurai has an endless supply of weak throwing knives to hurl at foes.
* If you're unarmed in ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', you can actually slug away with your bare fists, but SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs when you see how pointless trying to punch an EldritchAbomination is in practice. Thankfully, outside of one scripted event, each character's melee weapon is unbreakable and quite powerful to use in hacking off enemy limbs and heads, with projectile weapons often being inferior to the various melees until you move far enough in the timeline to be using rifles and shotguns.
* ''VideoGame/AmidEvil'' has the Axe of the Black Labyrinth, a melee option and the only one of your weapons that doesn't use mana. One swing does more damage than many of your early ranged weapons, and it has the ability to pull enemies towards you at close range. It's more than capable of dealing with most of the basic mooks you'll see in each chapter and is a viable option for when you need to save mana.

** ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' introduce weapons that only function in melee (specifically, an [[LaserBlade energy sword]] and a [[DropTheHammer gravity hammer]]), but they have limited energy. Both are still usable as blunt objects once they run out, but the sword is no longer a near-instant kill and the hammer loses both its power and knock-back ability.

** These return for ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', though due to the game no longer having BreakableWeapons, it is rare to be left without a weapon.[[note]]Being hit with the "Disarm" shout is about it.[[/note]] If you lack a weapon, you can still punch people. Barring that, you have a basic Flames spell available. As with ''Oblivion,'' the spell is not particularly great, but it's always available to all races so players are never at a lack for ''some'' kind of offensive capability. Additionally, once you reach a certain point in the main quest, [[LanguageOfMagic Thu'um]] [[MakeMeWannaShout Shouts]] become accessible to the player. You get the initial word of "[[BlownAcrossTheRoom Unrelenting Force]]" as part of the main quest, and the Thu'um cooldown is separate from any of your other meters, so it can be used even if you are out of Magicka or Fatigue. It does extremely minimal damage on its own, but can stagger enemies to allow for escape.

The problem with having BreakableWeapons (or non-BottomlessMagazines) is that, if you run out of weapons, the game becomes practically {{Unwinnable}}. To work around this, many developers are nice enough to give you a weapon with unlimited ammo to use in case of emergencies. It may not be as flashy or powerful as your main arsenal, but it's there when you need to get out of a jam.

Often, this weapon is [[BareFistedMonk your bare hands]], because if you "run out" of ''bare hands'', you probably have a ''lot'' more trouble on your, um, hands already than your limited weapons.

* Tools, such as a [[CrowbarCombatant crowbar]] or [[WrenchWhack wrench]]. [[PipePain Lead pipes]] are also popular.

* The GoodOldFisticuffs (occasionally replaced by kicking)

Normally emergency weapons are the province of a ranged fighter or a melee fighter with breakable weapons. However, a few melee fighters like to keep their options for ranged combat open just in case they find themselves at the wrong range, leading to the RangedEmergencyWeapon.

** In additional to your fists, ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' has a weak {{Fireball}} spell as a default spell. It is successful enough for non-mages to cast, and cost a small enough amount of [[{{Mana}} Magicka]] to be cast repeatedly thanks to the constantly-recharging [[ManaMeter Magicka meter]] added to the series in this game.

* The Citadel DLC of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' has the M7 Lancer, a gun that [[CallBack uses a cooling system]] like the guns in [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 the first game]] instead of heat sinks.

** ''Second Encounter'' adds a chainsaw to the mix - though it has to be acquired first, it's often one of the first three weapons you find in each time period.

** ''BFE'' gives Sam a sledgehammer and a [[CoolGuns Desert Eagle]] that has inherited the old revolvers' infinite ammo.

* ''VideoGame/Driv3r'' - Tanner's 17-bullet-per-mag [[AKA47 9mm Automatic]]. If you run out of ammo for your other guns (including several machineguns, two other pistols, one of which is silent and fires faster, a grenade launcher and an assault rifle) in a later mission, where you're facing an ass load of dudes with ALL of those guns, bend over and kiss ass goodbye.
* ''VideoGame/FatalFrame''
** Starting from the [[VideoGame/FatalFrameIICrimsonButterfly second game]] onward, there is the Type-07 Film. It's the weakest of the film types, but you have an infinite supply of it; this makes it a good film to use when snapping at the [[GuideDangIt many, many hidden and vanishing ghosts]] in the game and it's still around, even if you have used up all your stronger films.
** The [[VideoGame/FatalFrame1 first game]] had the Type-14 Film, the second-weakest film type in the following games. It isn't infinite like the Type-07 in the other games, but it is the one film you can always restock at a save point.
* ''VideoGame/CryptOfTheNecrodancer'' has glass weapons that are extremely powerful, but break if you take any damage, leaving you unarmed. If this happens, a glass shard weapon will appear that acts like a reskin of the regular dagger (only does one damage and has no range unless it's thrown, which leaves you completely unarmed with absolutely no weapon)

* In ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'', Caleb has his trusty pitchfork that will be your best friend against lone zombies or for rushing an unaware cultist and stun-locking him, saving valuable ammo for tougher and/or more numerous foes. Being a pitchfork, its range is reasonable once you get used to it and each of its four prongs even has its own little hitbox for added realism.