History Main / GameBreakingInjury

->''"I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow to the knee...."''
-->--'''Hold Guard''', ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''

* Piccolo resorted to using Game Breaking Injuries at the end of the first ''{{Dragonball}}'' series. To gain an upper hand in the fight, Piccolo breaks one of Goku's legs and puts a giant gaping hole in his shoulder. To make sure his opponent felt that particular attack, he later rams his elbow into it.

* ''CowboyBebop: TheMovie'' has Spike taking a gunshot wound to the stomach right before his fight with Vincent in the climax fight. For the most part he doesn't feel it until his opponent grabs at it.

* One of the trailers for ''{{Warhammer}}: Age of Reckoning'' features a rather one-sided battle between a Chaos warrior and a Sigmarite Warrior-Priest. lhe Latter is on his knees, having taken a nasty blow to the side, when suddenly his eyes and weapon come alive with a holy fire. The Chaos warrior just cocks his head and knees him in the injured side. You can watch the whole thing on www.blur.com

* The opening scene of ''BatmanBeyond'' has this happen to Bruce Wayne, when his bad heart finally catches up to him during a fight with some kidnappers and he is forced to use a gun to make the last attacker step down.

{{Truth in Television}}, of course, especially in the sports world, where severe injuries can end careers and leave players crippled for life.

** Zoro recently suffered a major Game Breaking Injury from [[EverythingsWorseWithBears Bartholomew Kuma]], and in each of the two or three major encounters since the injuries have slowed him down considerably.

* During the fight with [[MagnificentBastard Shishio]] in {{Rurouni Kenshin}}, the entire cast feels this. Kenshin's been weakened to the point that he has to string multiple special moves together to even get Shishio to flinch, Saito's legs have been injured, making his signature attack useless, Sanosuke can't properly perform his special attack, and Aoshi can barely fight. Ultimately, Shishio's own {{Game Breaking Injury}} is what does him in as [[spoiler:he can't regulate his body temperature following the government's attempt to [[KillItWithFire burn him to death]], and after exerting himself for too long, he spontaneously combusts.]]

** The same happens in the series finale, as when Spike is StormingTheCastle, he is shot in the arm, which puts it out of action. [[BadAss Barely slows him down though]].

* ''{{GaoGaiGar}}'' has an odd example, in that the GameBreakingInjury ''was'' the hero's FinishingMove. Every use of Hell and Heaven strains Shishioh Guy's cyborg body, eventually sending him to the emergency room several times and then warning him not to use it again lest he die. He was, naturally, [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique nearly forced to use it on the next Zonder]], but the Goldion Hammer was completed JustInTime.

* ''{{Anime/Monster}}'', in the battle between Inspector Lunge and [[spoiler: Roberto]], where Lunge forces his thumb into a bullet wound his opponent has taken in order to subdue him. Very rare in that Lunge was a Face at the time, and it was one of the more cringe-worthy versions of it, especially in the anime.

* ''{{Naruto}}'': According to Jugo, Sasuke had trouble facing Killerbee because the wounds he sustained fighting [[spoiler:Itachi]] hadn't properly healed. Earlier on, the curse mark serves as a GameBreakingInjury, popping up whenever Sasuke uses too much chakra, and causing him to double over in pain.

[[folder: Films ]]

* Emperor Commodus in ''{{Film/Gladiator}}'' stabs Maximus right before their final duel to give himself an unfair advantage. Maximus is too much of a {{Determinator}} to let that stop him from kicking the Emperor's ass.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* This is OlderThanPrint. In KingArthur legends, this is how Sir Gawain of Orkney dies. He had an old head wound that was nearly fatally reopened in a fight with Sir Lancelot. Lancelot refused to fight him while he was wounded and sent him to his tent to recover. Ironically, he was nearly healed when news that Mordred had taken over Camelot came. He insisted on going to war with his king, but had his head wound reopened AGAIN in a small skirmish with a bunch of untrained peasants on his way to a ship. He died minutes after the fight was over.

* In DwarfFortress, a character can be crippled by wounds to different parts of the body. For example, broken arms can leave someone unable to wield weapons or shields, a severed motor nerve in the leg can leave someone unable to stand, eye injuries cause blindness, etc. Fortunately, multiple weapons and shields can be equipped to the same hand, and crutches can be used to regain standing ability, albeit at the cost of a speed penalty.

* In {{Transformers The Movie}}, during Optimus Prime and Megatron's final battle, Megatron is aware he is losing the fight and starts tossing rocks at Optimus. He then throws a shard of metal from a ship at him, cutting his side open, taking advantage of the injury and making it worse by slicing open the wound with an energon sword. Later on while holding Hot Rod hostage, he shoots him in the same wound and also in the chest and face fatally wounding him, but just before he passes out he manages to knock Megatron off a cliff, severely wounding him.

* Right before the 1994 Olympics, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed in the kneecap by a man hired by [[BlondesAreEvil Tonya Harding]]'s ex-husband, Shane Stant. Kerrigan would win the silver medal a month later.

* Robert [=DiPierdomenico=] and Dermott Brereton both suffered these during the early stages of the ''AFL'' 1989 Grand Final. Brereton was shortly after the match began but was able to kick three goals while concussed and broken ribs.

* KurtAngle famously won a gold medal with a [[MemeticMutation broken freakin' neck]].

** Joakim Noah, also of the Bulls, sprained his ankle about a game after Rose went down. He missed out on the final two games of the series, where Philly beat Chicago.

** The Oklahoma City Thunder had Eric Maynor, a backup point guard, tear his own ACL prior to the playoffs.
** Miami Heat had Chris Bosh straining his abdominal, but he returned just in time for the end of the Eastern Conference Finals versus Boston.

** Knicks veteran Baron Davis ''also'' screwed his own ACL and dislocated his patella.
** Ricky Rubio, of the Minnesota Timberwolves, tore his ACL and LCL after colliding with Kobe Bryant.
** Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic harmed his back prior to the playoffs.

* Y.A. Tittle, the trope illustrator, had just taken a brutal tackle by John Baker of the Pittsburgh Steelers which gave him a concussion and a cracked sternum.

** Not only that, he play in the Pro Bowl that year too.

* Normally, a torn ACL and a fractured tibia would be ''two'' of these. Tiger Woods won the 2008 U.S. Open on a leg with ''both''. No small feat in professional golf, where you're required to walk four miles a day for four days (and he had to stretch it to a fifth).

** Chicago Bulls had Derrick Rose tear an ALC in his left knee; he'll be back by ''at least'' February of 2013.

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* The 2012 NBA season, coming right out of a lockout, is now notorious for various injuries ultimately benching players from ''any'' team.
** Chicago Bulls had Derrick Rose tear an ALC in his left knee; he will miss [[DroppedABridgeOnHim the rest of the playoffs]].
** Miami Heat had Chris Bosh straining his abdominal.
** New York Knicks had rookie Iman Shumpert and veteran Baron Davis also tearing their ACL.

* In ''TheWorldIsNotEnough'', JamesBond suffers an injury to his shoulder after falling from a hot air balloon. The BigBad ([[spoiler:well, TheDragon]]) later uses the injury to incapacitate him (which gives him a clue to who TheMole is).
* SherlockHolmes has suffered several injuries, mainly one to his shoulder, in SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows which Moriarty [[spoiler: takes advantage of in their theorized fight]] but [[spoiler: Sherlock subverts it by [[TakeAThirdOption taking a third option]]]].

* In the 2012 NBA playoffs, Chicago Bulls' Derrick Rose, the reining MVP, tore an ALC in his left knee; he will miss [[DroppedABridgeOnHim the rest of the playoffs]].

* [[BurnNotice Michael Westen]] is a ridiculously badass spy. Doesn't stop him from nearly getting his ass kicked by a drug dealer in the pilot when the guy punches him in his broken ribs.
* In a recent episode of {{NCIS}}, Gibbs calls upon his mentor Mike Franks to help with a case. While at Gibbs' house, Mike hears a noise, goes to investigate, and ends up [[spoiler: confronting the port-to-port killer. Mike manages to shoot the port-to-port killer in the leg, but dies in the street after being stabbed with a scalpel. Gibbs later discovers that Franks was dying of lung cancer, and had only weeks to live.]] This is actually a ''double'' GameBreakingInjury, since Franks [[spoiler: lost his trigger finger in a gunfight]] not long before this, which is why [[spoiler: the port-to-port killer]] survived [[NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight bringing a knife to a gunfight]].

* Van Damme's character in ''Lionheart'' sustained an injury to his side during a fight. In the final tournament, his opponent uses this to his advantage.
* In ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', IndianaJones hijacks a Nazi truck, runs the rest of the convoy off the road, and knocks almost everyone else off the sides of the truck. But one Nazi manages to shoot him in the arm, and [[BossInMookClothing the last Nazi]] manages to throw him out after punching him in his arm wound several times.

** Sena's legs were already pushed past their limits (to the point his legs were burning up so that stream was coming out of his legs) at keeping up with Agon and he continued on to play throughout the entire again despite the pain.

** Another moment where Sanji suffered a Game Breaking Injury was during the ''Drum Island Arc''. After being buried by an avalanche he later helps defend the doctor who rescued his life. He's unable to fight due to a spinal injury and immediately becomes paralyzed from the waist down.
*** Because the [[DrJerk old bitch]] ''hit him in the back'' to temporarily paralyze him and keep him from aggravating the wound!

* In the ''TalesOfSymphonia'' manga, Lloyd claims that he didn't truly win in his last duel with [[spoiler:Kratos]] because he was weakened from the injury he received defending him.

* In ''DemonsSouls'', the GameBreakingInjury is death. When you get revived in the Nexus, it brings you back as a ghost that has only half the maximum health your physical self has.

** Played straight, subverted[[spoiler:, DoubleSubverted, and [[BeyondTheImpossible Triple Subverted]]]] by Oishi, who [[spoiler:helped save a pregnant woman but injures himself in the process. Unable to play, he instead asks Momoshiro (who had just been kicked out of the regulars) to take his place]]. This injury [[spoiler:[[DoubleSubverted shows up again during the Nationals]] when Oishi challenges Ryoma for the final regular spot. He gets better by the time of the National Finals.]]