History Main / RareCandy

[[caption-width-right:219:"Your Bulbasaur evolved into...''Bidoof?''"]]

** [[InvertedTrope Conversely]], ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Emerald]]'' and beyond have special Berries that have the opposite effect of the vitamins: they ''remove'' 10 effort values from that stat, freeing the Pokémon up to earn them in another stats.

* Golden Apples in the ''[[VideoGame/MadouMonogatari]]'' games give you an instant level up. Some are in chests, others...are in weirder places. [[spoiler:In ''Final Test'', you have to run straight into a wall to find one!]]

* Golden Apples in the ''[[VideoGame/PuyoPuyo Madou Monogatari]]'' games give you an instant level up. Some are in chests, others...are in weirder places. [[spoiler:In ''Final Test'', you have to run straight into a wall to find one!]]

* The original ''VideoGame/{{Rogue}}'' itself had potions of Gain Level and potions of Gain Strength. In addition, drinking a healing potion while at maximum hit points would increase that maximum. However, LevelScaling is partially based on the character level, so using this excessively without acquiring the necessary material to progress properly can result in a very fast [[TheManyDeathsOfYou Yet Another Stupid Death]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Growlanser}}'' has an interesting inversion. The Blessing Bell item. Quite rare on its own, when used it reduces the character's level by 10. It does not, however, reduce any of the characters stats, or take away ability points. You are just as strong, only 10 levels lower. When you regain those 10 levels, you are that much stronger, faster.

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[[quoteright:219:[[Webcomic/SuperEffective https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rarecandy.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:219:"Your Bulbasaur evolved into...''Bidoof?''"]]

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* In ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', consumable items are the ''only'' way to raise a stat other than HP, and correspondingly are quite common. Two that are quite hard to get--Curious Mushrooms and Absolute Shadow Ramen--both [[RandomlyDrops increase the drop rate]].

* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'' games have a share of rare candies.

** Rock Candies raise a random stat... which can be combined with an easily purchasable item to [[GoodBadBugs increase your stats as much as you wanted]].

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' some of them can be refined from items that can be bought at store. There is also an exploit that allows you to buy items at store, refine them into something, and sell that for a net profit. Therefore, you can max some stats of your characters once the refining abilities are unlocked without any junction ... if you have patience for it.

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' had peanuts, cookies, bread, apples, mint leaves, and... pepper. Ground pepper, which boosts a character's Luck, riffing on the superstition that if your nose itches, you will become lucky.

** Additionally, the seventh and eighth installments had an item that you could use on one, and only one, character to slightly increase their growths. These only affected the chance of getting better stats, so using it on a character with capped levels or stats made it useless.

* They're simply called Power Ups in ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork1'', which upgrades [=MegaMan=]'s ArmCannon in three categories (Power, Rapid Fire, and Charge). There are twelve of them in total, enough for all three fields to reach the cap of 5. The [[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork2 second game]] also has this system before being dropped for the Navi Customizer system in later games.

** ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'':
** Stat berries (and better stat berry+ items) come in ''very'' limited supply. One of the {{Bonus Dungeon}}s has a sizable amount of each berry, but it's still limited to only a scant amount of each type.

** There are stat-boosting Seeds. You can buy [[GameBreaker as many as you want]], provided you've got the money, once you recruit a certain character to run an item shop on Crescent Island. One of the Seeds (Dexus-Agility) is not available for sale, but is frequently dropped by a certain BonusBoss that you can fight repeatedly.

* ''VideoGame/MakaiToshiSaGa'' has HP-boosting potions to buy, which boost HP by a random amount (SaveScumming anyone?). However, after reaching the HP level indicated by the item name, the potion would only boost one HP. Still, comparing costs it turns out cheaper (if slower) to max out your HP by constantly buying the low-end potions. The game also has potions called STRONG and AGILITY to boost those respective stats and are priced rather cheaply early in the game. You can juice those stats far beyond the displayable {{cap}} by about halfway through the game. The other two UsefulNotes/GameBoy ''VideoGame/{{SaGa|RPG}}'' games make these potions dungeon items only.

** Each of TheSixStats has an associated variety of Manual/Tome that gives a permanent "inherent bonus" to one of TheSixStats. They come in a range of strengths, but the bonuses aren't cumulative; only the largest one applies.

** First is performing Konso on a Whole, which gives the Soul Reaper who performed Konso a full 100 exp, which is an entire level.

Manuals/Tomes of [adjective] [noun] in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' give a permanent "inherent bonus" to abilities. They come in a range of strengths, but only the largest single bonus for a given stat applies.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has:
** The TropeNamer, Rare Candy, which increases a Pokémon's level by one. Naturally, these can never be bought with regular old Pokédollars; they have to be found throughout the world (some of them are invisible to boot), randomly obtained with the Pickup ability, or exchanged for Battle Points and other special currencies.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'' has even more potent foods in Join Avenue's Cafe: the Wonder Dessert increases a Pokémon's level by three, and the Wonder Dinner increases a Pokémon's level by ''eight''. ''[[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY X/Y]]'', on the other hand, has the Rare Soda and Ultra Rare Soda in Lumiose's Juice Shoppe, which increases a Pokémon's level by anywhere from one to five at a time.
** It should be noted that a Pokémon leveled up to [[{{Cap}} 100]] solely by Rare Candies is actually weaker than an equivalent Pokémon leveled up to 100 by battling. This is because of [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Effort_values Effort Values,]] a hidden attribute that increases a Pokémon's stats based on the Pokémon it defeats in battle (or by using the aforementioned vitamins, but again, only up to 100 out of a maximum 255 [=EVs=] for each stat). Whereas Gens I and II use a slightly different system that still allows level 100 Pokemon to stat train, level 100 Mons in Gens III and IV are out of luck. [[AntiFrustrationFeatures Thankfully]], Gen V and beyond award [=EVs=] even if the Mon is level 100 and recalculate its stats every time anything changes at all, and Gen VI adds a method to stat train without battling at all.
** To resolve this problem there's also Vitamins, which include HP Up, Protein, Iron, Calcium, Zinc and Carbos, which add 10 Effort Values to a Pokémon's HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense or Speed, respectively, up to a maximum of 100. These can often be bought in Department Stores or through special [=NPCs=], though they can still be found.
** Also included in the Vitamin category are PP Ups, which increase the PP of a Pokémon's move by 20% and can be used up to 3 times on the same move, and the PP Max, which acts as three PP Ups on a move (though it won't increase PP by more than 60% of the move's base PP). Like Rare Candies, PP Ups and PP Maxes can only be found in the wild or through Pickup, or exchanged with special currencies.
** [[InvertedTrope Conversely]], ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Emerald]]'' and beyond have special Berries that have the opposite effect of the vitamins: they ''remove'' 10 effort values from that stat, freeing the Pokémon up to earn them in another stats.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' introduces EXP Candy, the Rare Candy's weaker cousin. They come in varying sizes similar to the Candy from ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee'', and directly give EXP to a Pokémon when used. The amount of EXP given by a Candy is related to its size; for example, EXP Candy XS only gives 100 EXP per Candy, while EXP Candy M gives 3000 EXP per Candy.
* The ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' series has these in both the stat-boosting and level-raising varieties. Common to all of the games are various vitamins (which raise a particular stat other than HP by a few points), Sitrus Berries[[note]]only if the user has full HP at the time[[/note]] and Life Seeds (which raise your maximum HP by two or three points, respectively), and Joy Seeds and Golden Seeds (which raise your level by one and five, respectively). Though they normally only affect one Pokémon, it's possible to pass the effects to up to three of them by using a Pierce Band-holding Pokémon to throw them through the rest of the party.
** Rescue Team and Explorers have gummis, which on top of boosting a Pokémon's IQ stat can provide a small increase to a random stat or sometimes even all of them. They're actually the easiest way to increase a Pokemon's strength, due to being fairly common compared to vitamins and the stat gains from level-ups being minimal.
*** Explorers of Sky in particular introduces a serious GameBreaker in the form of Spinda's Cafe, where you can further increase the effects of gummis by turning them into drinks, on top of potentially getting stat boosts from various edible items that wouldn't have any effect on your stats if consumed normally.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonGatesToInfinity'' has devices, which will boost every stat other then HP on a particular type of Pokémon. Though normally rare, you're guaranteed to find at least two of them each time you run one of the five DLC dungeons that house one of the starter Pokémon, which lets you easily turn any Grass-type, Water-type, Fire-type, Electric-type, or Dragon-type Pokémon into a Game Breaker [[BribingYourWayToVictory (If you're willing to spend two dollars, that is)]].
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSuperMysteryDungeon'' buffed Oran Berries by making them boost max HP temporarily even if your HP wasn't full at the time. Capped at 100 and expires when you leave the dungeon. Sitrus Berries were also buffed lightly, in that they provide the same permanent HP increase, but don't require you to heal fully beforehand to get it.
* The ''VideoGame/WildArms'' series has apples. It actually makes sense for apples to be rare and valuable in most of the games because of the rarity of successful plant life in Filgaia.
** ''VideoGame/WildArms1'' has an easy duplication trick that allows you to become a god once you get at least one of every apple.
** ''VideoGame/WildARMs3'', in addition to LVL Apples that give a full level up, has the Grab Bag and Big Grab Bag, which provide 500 and 1000 EXP, respectively.
* The ''Franchise/ShiningSeries'' has food items. Quick Chicken boosts dexterity, Power Potions or Power Wines boost attack, Defense Potions or Protect Milk raise defense, Bright Honey increases mana (MP), and Life Bread boosts HP. However, be careful when using them in the original game. Due to a bug, the boosts are lost if you promote the unit you used these items on, so it's always better to use them ''after'' promotion. This has been fixed in the sequels and remakes, and the Brave Apple (increases level by 1) does not have this problem.
* In the ''VideoGame/RuneFactory'' series of games, you can use hard-to-find items from RandomDrops battles to create a wide variety of RareCandy to raise your levels and various stats, once your Pharmacy skill is high enough.
** And in most of them, having a vibrant field with many plants will attract Runes and Runeys, which increase your skills and stats respectively.
* Most of the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series has these. They are usually quite rare.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', they are called Sources, and can be obtained in unlimited quantities by killing the right RandomEncounters in the right manner.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' some of them can be refined from items that can be bought at store. There is also an exploit that allows you to buy items at store, refine them into something, and sell that for a net profit. Therefore, you can max some stats of your characters once the refining abilities are unlocked without any junction ... if you have patience for it.
** Even though ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' has a board game-like mechanic (the Sphere Grid) to develop characters, there still exists a category of them: Purple Spheres, which can be used to fill up empty nodes in the Sphere Grid. Like most examples of Rare Candy, while these are some of the rarest variety of Spheres, there is a way to farm them legitimately, only it entails fighting some difficult {{Bonus Boss}}es in the Monster Arena. Their stat bonuses also have higher yields than the regular Red Spheres.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' isn't the [[{{MMORPG}} type]] of game to have any sort of permanent stat boost items, but it does offer experience point scrolls, which ''can'' level you up if they give enough EXP for the next level. Doesn't work with Merit Points, sadly.
** This is the only way to level up {{Mons}} in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2''. Fortunately, the majority of the Candies are not particularly Rare.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyBraveExvius'' has Metal Cactuars, which will give experience points when fused into a unit, plus Pots (based on the recurring Magic Pot enemy) for each stat which can further boost that particular stat upon fusion. As the game features LevelUpAtIntimacyFive, it also has Trust Moogles, which increase the Trust Value by a set amount.
* In ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'', some items allow you to instantly uncap any item of certain rarities: Sunlight Stones can be used to uncap nearly any summon in the game, while Damascus Bars and Gold Bricks can be used to uncap almost any weapon in the game. The Codices are the equivalent for uncapping characters.
* ''VideoGame/MakaiToshiSaGa'' has HP-boosting potions to buy, which boost HP by a random amount (SaveScumming anyone?). However, after reaching the HP level indicated by the item name, the potion would only boost one HP. Still, comparing costs it turns out cheaper (if slower) to max out your HP by constantly buying the low-end potions. The game also has potions called STRONG and AGILITY to boost those respective stats and are priced rather cheaply early in the game. You can juice those stats far beyond the displayable {{cap}} by about halfway through the game. The other two UsefulNotes/GameBoy ''VideoGame/{{SaGa|RPG}}'' games make these potions dungeon items only.
* ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]'' has ''mitama'' of many varieties and quality which increases ''shikigami'''s stats when equipped. The higher the quality and/or level, the better the stats. Furthermore, these ''mitama'' grant bonuses when equipped in ''sets'': two of the same kind give a huge boost in a certain stat, while four of the same kind give special and at times ''hilarious'' effects unique to each kind. ''Mitama'' can be bought in the store or collected in dungeons, especially the ''mitama'' dungeon.
** There are also the materials used to Awaken ''shikigami'' which come in four types, and the materials for one type come in three tiers. In order to Awaken a ''shikigami'', you need a set amount of materials belonging to certain types and tiers. These materials can be found in the Awakening dungeons or are given as rewards along with high-quality ''mitama'' after fighting an [[PinataEnemy Octopus]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Lufia}}'' has Sources for each stat, as well.

** ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'' had stat berries (and better stat berry+ items), which came in ''very'' limited supply. One of the {{Bonus Dungeon}}s has a sizable amount of each berry, but it's still limited to only a scant amount of each type.

* The ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' series had the Small Animals for your [[{{Mons}} Chao]] that would boost up their stats.
** Chaos drives also serve a similar role (minus the ability to alter or add body parts of your chao like animals could). However, they also will hinder the [[GuideDangIt methods it takes]] to turn that chao into a Chaos chao (unless they are either character chao like the Tails Chao, or are already a Chaos chao).
** To further elaborate, the animals enhance multiple skills at a higher rate and add animal parts and mannerisms to the chao at the cost of deducting other stats by nearly the same amount and overwriting any other animal features or mannerisms at random. Chaos Drives on the other hand provide less experience points per use and make no changes to the chao, but enhance one skill with no drawbacks based on the color it is (Green for speed, red for power, yellow for swim, purple for flight.)
** VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 also has the somewhat expensive Chao Fruit and Mushrooms, that enhance all stats or enhances Stamina by triple as the chao eats them respectively.
* The ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games have "seeds", one for every stat (the exception being the games with a Style stat, which is increased by a ''flower'' instead).
** In the [[UpdatedRerelease remakes]] of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'', part of [[PlayerMooks 'recruiting your party']] involved feeding a prospective ally five stat-raising seeds in whatever combination you wished, to help determine their {{Personality|Powers}}. It's justified by them being "A gift from the king"...but if that's the case, then why can't the king give ''you'' a few bags of those ''delightful'' seeds?
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' had peanuts, cookies, bread, apples, mint leaves, and... pepper. Ground pepper.
** The Pepper item boosts a character's Luck. It's a play on the superstition that if your nose itches, you will become lucky. Ground pepper is a frequent cause for sneezing.
* Rock Candies in ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'' raise a random stat...which could be combined with an easily purchasable item to [[GoodBadBugs increase your stats as much as you wanted]].
** More common (disregarding the above glitch) are "capsule" items, which raise individual stats (usually Vitality and IQ, which affect HP and PP growth respectively.)
* ''VideoGame/CastleOfTheWinds'' had Draughts of Increase Strength and so forth for each stat and whole level as well as cursed counterparts that permanently did the opposite!
* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' has Incense, one for each stat. Each of the varieties were incredibly rare and, if you wanted them, you either had to get lucky opening up a Mystical Chest (doing it during the Full Moon helped) or by getting it from exchanging 10 Lucky Tickets at a shop in ''Nocturne''.
** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' has Minor Arcana cards (obtained by trading {{g|lobalCurrencyException}}emstones found from boss fights, or doing well on tests) that boost stats. There's also the arcade, and a rare benefit from Cups during Arcana Chance.
** ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'' had Noises that corresponded to each stat, like HP Noise, MP Noise, Magic Noise, etc. Most of these were gotten as occasional drops from random battles later in the game. [[spoiler: But Magic Noises could easily be harvested from Horus' in the optional 3F area of the Brutes base. They're the only enemy you encounter in that area, and they're weak against Death, which by that time any competent player should have Mudoon to quickly dispatch them.]]
** The incenses in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}: Innocent Sin'' are absurdly common compared to other [=MegaTen=] games. If you want to unlock the (ridiculously high-level) Satan and Lucifer personas, the most convenient dungeon for late-game LevelGrinding has a fairly common monster that can drop the All Incense, which works just as it sounds. Combined with other ways to enhance stat growth, it's very possible to achieve max stats for all party members. (Then again, if you're going for Satan and Lucifer, you're obviously after the Armageddon fusion spell that makes a joke of even the final boss, so it's not like perfect stats matter.)
** ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' still has Incenses, which, while not plentiful by any means, are moderately more common than in other games of the franchise. More rarely, you have Gold items, which are only useful for money. Even rarer are Grimoires, which reduce the amount of experience necessary to level up (Light Grimoires by about a sixth of the full exp needed, Heavy brings it down to 1). Gold items, Grimoires and App cards are available in the extra DLC missions.

* Manuals/Tomes of [adjective] [noun] in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' give a permanent "inherent bonus" to abilities. They come in a range of strengths, but only the largest single bonus for a given stat applies.
** In 3rd Edition, at least. In the various Bioware Infinity Engine games based on the 2nd Edition rules (''VideoGame/BaldursGate'', ''VideoGame/IcewindDale'', etc), they only added one point per book, but the effects were cumulative. Fortunately, you typically couldn't get more than one book per stat per game, but item duping was possible both with and without cheating. [[GameBreaker Of course, since stats only went up to 25 and anything above 18 (normal human maximum) was obscenely powerful...]] Even if you didn't want to duplicate them, you could also export a character at their current level and stats, then import them into a new game. Assuming you had nothing better to do with your free time, you could play through the game, get all the stat boosts on your character, then start over and do it all again until you'd maxed out your stats the slow way.
*** You could - assuming you got a perfect stats roll at the start of the first game - end up with all 25s by the end of Throne of Bhaal.
** Not to mention the Book of Vile Darkness and Book of Exalted Deeds, which gave a free level to evil or good [[ReligionIsMagic divine spellcasters]] respectively. Both in-game items happen to share a name with {{splat}} books focused on especially evil/good characters.
* ''VideoGame/TheLastStory'' has random drops that can raise Zael's stats. Rarer drops are five times as effective, and even rarer ones affect the entire party.Also, there is a single item that can be found in only one part of the town or determined sidequests that increases damage done by the crossbow's basic ammo.
* In the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' series:
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has tomes that give stat, talent, and skill boosts, as well as books that allow you to learn specialisations. There's also [[spoiler:certain objects that you find in the Fade that increases the main character's stats.]] Finally, some of the DLC allows you to have skill/stat boosts as soon as your character comes under your control.
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' also has stat and skill increasing items, though they're not as common as in the first game. Also, the Night Terrors side quest has 3 different ways of increasing Hawke's attributes, although 2 of them can be [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost]] because [[spoiler:failing the barrel puzzles causes monsters to appear, and the puzzles can't be repeated once failed]]. Finally, in Act 3, you can brew the Elixir of Heroism, which can only be crafted once-per-playthrough if you found its unique and easy-to-miss recipe in Act 2 and have a ton of resources (including the unique, easy-to-miss, and completely unobtainable in certain story branches Ambrosia), but gives your entire party a free LevelUp.
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' has Amulets of Power, which grant a skill point to a specific character.
* ''VideoGame/NetHack'' has countless permanent boosts to stats and even a few for levels, including eating a mind flayer corpse (int) or spinach (str), or being attacked by a nurse while [[spoiler: naked and unarmed]] (hp), or [[DeusSexMachina successful]] [[OptionalSexualEncounter "grappling"]] with a [[HornyDevils Succubus/Incubus]].
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has tabs/capsules that increase Power, Magic, and Speed (sadly, none for the other stats).
** You can charm one Power Tab per battle from an infinitely-respawning enemy: [[spoiler:The Tubster in the Black Omen, right after the room with the two Nu]]. However, since the only characters that won't max out their Strength by the level cap don't use the stat, and the fact that this exploit is only available very late in the game, it might not be very useful.
* In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'', the four kinds of beans can be blended into seven different kinds of coffee: one to increase each of the brothers' six stats, and one to increase a randomly selected stat. Making them also gave you a ''very'' powerful accessory item for each one, and an amusing scene with Professor E. Gadd. Each of these beans were hard to obtain, at first. But later in the game, you'll see that the Woo and Hee beans are very easy to obtain. The Hoo and Chuckle beans become increasingly rare the more you dig them up, though there is a way to easily get them late in the game. [[spoiler:Beat the time of 40 seconds in the Surfing game to get one of each. Beat the course in 38 seconds and you get two of Woo, Hoo, and Chuckle beans. (Note: Times are rounded down.)]]

* Many {{Roguelike}}s feature a variation of the standard potions/scrolls of gain level.
** The original ''VideoGame/{{Rogue}}'' itself had potions of raise level and potions of gain strength. In addition, drinking a healing potion while at maximum hit points would increase that maximum.
** Many {{Roguelike}}s also have a difficulty curve, though, a mixture of dungeon level plus character level, divided by two. Using a lot of Potions of Gain Level early on, without acquiring the material one needs to progress properly, can result in a very fast [[TheManyDeathsOfYou Yet Another Stupid Death]].
* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' had tomes that could be used by hero units to raise any of their primary stats or experience. ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', on the other hand, has no such items whatsoever.
* The original ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' had elixirs for the four primary stats (Strength, Dexterity, Magic, and Vitality) which were occasional drops in the dungeon and even rarely purchasable in the stores from level 26. With enough cash, one could patiently reach the maximum values for three of the four stats (Vitality potions aren't on sale) by repeatedly joining multiplayer games and seeing if Adria sold any elixirs. ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' also had some similar items, but typically as one-shot quest rewards.
* The ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' has various herbs like sage and saffron that would increase various stats. Frequently, another item could be used to boost their potency.
* ''VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery'', apart from the normal potions of [stat], has morgia root and moss of mareilon, both references to ''Zork''. In a variation on the trope, they can simply be picked from the right herb bush, but stop working once the stat reaches a certain level. Characters with the Food Preservation skill could also generate corpses from slain monsters, and eating corpses had a wide variety of effects, including stat gains in some cases (but other corpses could do nasty things, necessitating lots of experimenting or a GuideDangIt).
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' has a different item to increase each of a character's stats, although what they are called varies from game to game (ie, a goddess icon in one game is an Ashera icon in another). In the eighth installment, there was an item that decreased a character's level by 2-5. More useful than it sounds, since a character using it keeps their old stats, so they get that many more level-up boosts worth of stats, though it could only be obtained by either hacking or by use of a bonus disc sold with certain copies of ''Mario Kart: Double Dash''.
** Additionally, similar to Pokemon's Vitamins above, the seventh and eighth installments had an item that you could use on one, and only one, character to slightly increase their growths. These only affected the chance of getting better stats, so using it on a character with capped levels or stats made it useless.
* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' had Drives. Interestingly, [[GameplayAndStorySegregation the story presented]] drives as horrible, mind-altering, addictive stimulant drugs. One character uses one and goes temporarily insane. As items, they just up a stat. They are also the key to making the JokeCharacter [[LethalJokeCharacter lethal]] in the final stages of the game where almost everything is done in [[HumongousMecha Gears]] and character stats stop being relevant for everyone else.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' has many different items that give experience towards raising a stat. Since gaining levels is just a matter of raising your main stat to a certain point, these could theoretically give you a level as well, but the only item that specifically gives you enough to raise a level is the Ultimate Wad, which is obtained by destroying an Ultra-Rare item. And when they say Ultra-Rare, they mean it. Ultimate Wads are almost never actually used, since even at [[AbsurdlyHighLevelCap absurd]] levels it's not really worth the expense (currently, one Wad costs about $30 of real-life money).
* ''VideoGame/{{Gothic}} 2'' has the dragon root herb for strength and goblin berries for dexterity. These can be also brewed into potions which provide a greater increase in stats (+5 as opposed to +1) but are very hard to get or create.
* ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}}'' sometimes award XP lamps for finishing quests, which give experience points in a chosen stat. Alternatively, the Genie random event has him give these to you as a fixed reward. Some have level requirements (they'll award you 20,000 xp in a skill, but it has to be higher than 30, for instance), and they aren't an effective way to get to 99 (they cap at fifty thousand, and it can require upwards of ''two million'' xp to advance a level), but they are good for getting a skill off the ground and into better experience or better profit applications.

* ''VideoGame/{{Boktai}} 2'' introduced a level system to the series. Django gets three stat points per level-up and can distribute them as he likes. But he can also find Tarot cards, of all things, and some of these increase a particular stat ala Rare Candy.
* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'' has various colours of candy, each which increased your attack strength with a certain element.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' both have stat boosters, but they're quite hard to make, so until the inevitable grind to HundredPercentCompletion, they're TooAwesomeToUse.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' has a unique variation, where the RareCandy is the ''only'' way to raise your character's level. In exchange, however, you get one every time you gained enough EXP to legitimate a "Level Up". The RareCandy can then be equipped and unequipped every time you want to. There's also special panels that double, triple or even quadruple their effect.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' has a variety of sweets you can give your Dream Eater allies which each provide a chance to boost a particular one of their stats. They're easily obtained, as well, able to be purchased from stores, received as drops, or given as rewards from clearing link portals.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 1}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' have various rare, single use stat boosts you can obtain. In the first game, there are Skill Books that raise skills, although unlike the newer games, each stat doesn't have a Skill Book. In the second game, most stat boosts are memory modules that a super computer surgically implants in your character.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' had these in the form of Bobbleheads; there are 13 (one for each skill), that increases a skill by 10 points, and 7 (one for each SPECIAL stat) that increases a stat by 1. There's also Skill Books, which increases a skill by 1, or by 2 with the Comprehension Perk. and a perk that ups your level by 1 right away.
** In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', Skill Books return, but there's far fewer in this game than in ''3''. To compensate, they increase a skill by 3 points, or by 4 with the Comprehension Perk. You can also find Skill Magazines, which give a temporary 10 point boost (20 points with comprehension). Surgical implants are also available, most of which raise a SPECIAL stat by one, although your implant limit is based on your Endurance (5 Endurance = maximum of 5 implants).
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
** Starting with ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', and continuing into the games that followed, skill books serve this purpose. They raise a particular skill one point upon reading them and contain [[InGameNovel short stories]] relating to that skill.
** Each main series game except for ''Morrowind'' contains the Oghma Infinium, a legendary book associated with the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]] [[EldritchAbomination Hermaeus Mora]], which either gives stat points to spend (''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena Arena]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'') or directly raises skills (''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''.) ''Morrowind'' instead has the Bitter Cup, an [[UpgradeArtifact artifact]] associated with the Daedric Prince [[DealWithTheDevil Clavicus Vile]], in a similar role that plays with the trope. It will raise your highest two attributes, but also ''lower'' your lowest two attributes by the same amount.
** Skill Trainers are a form that skips the middleman (you pay them, they raise a skill). Most trainers, however, can only raise you to a modest cap, often 50, after which you've SurpassedTheTeacher. Some more advanced trainers can take you train you a bit more, but typically have a cap of around 75 and are usually associated with a guild or faction you must join in order to get their services. Finally, there are the "Master Trainers," who can take you all the way up to 90 (100 is the cap). There is typically only one master trainer in the game for each skill, and some are difficult to find. Finally, in ''Oblivion'' and ''Skyrim'', you can only be trained 5 times per level (with 10 skill increases needed to level up). Regardless of game, high level skill trainers are almost always extremely expensive.

* ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre: The Knight of Lodis'' had a slew of stat increasing items, the Stone of Swiftness for speed, Sword Emblem for strength, Cup of Life for HP, Crown of Intellect for intellect, Sorcerer's Cup for MP, and three items that altered alignment.
** And ''VideoGame/OgreBattle64'' had those same items, except that there was an easy to do and very abusable item duplication glitch which allowed you to get as many of those items as you wanted and more! Champion statuettes, anyone?
* ''VideoGame/ManaKhemiaAlchemistsOfAlRevis'' with different "Stat" Fruits, as well as a "Youthful Apple" ([=HP=]) and "Eternal Peach" ([=SP=]).
* In ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', there are stat-boosting Seeds. You can buy [[GameBreaker as many as you want]], provided you've got the money, once you recruit a certain character to run an item shop on Crescent Island. However, one of the Seeds (Dexus-Agility) is not available for sale.
** Dexus Seeds are frequently dropped by a certain BonusBoss that you can fight repeatedly.

* In the Chinese RPG ''Legend Of Sword And Fairy'', many items that are valued in Chinese medicine such as ancient mushrooms, sariras (pieces of [[{{Squick}} cremated bodies of Buddhist masters]]), and certain herbs can be used to gain stats. Most notable, however, is a "Golden Worm", which levels you up when consumed and could be [[ItemCrafting Item-crafted]] without too much difficulty in the first game, allowing you to level your characters up by about 10 levels in the end of the game.
* ''VideoGame/{{Baroque}}'' has several unimaginatively named (Read: the item is called "Evolution") items used to raise your stats, as well as the stats of items you have equipped.
* In ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', consumable items are the ''only'' way to raise a stat other than HP, and correspondingly are quite common. Two that are quite hard to get--Curious Mushrooms and Absolute Shadow Ramen--both [[RandomlyDrops increase the drop rate]].
* Both ''VideoGame/DarkCloud'' games have the Fruit of Eden, which increases any character's life meter, and a specific favorite food for each character that increases their defense. (The first game also has Gourds to increase characters' thirst meters.) There are also items that instantly levels up a weapon: Power Up Powder (first game) and Level Up Powder (second game).
* ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve2'' has protein capsules that fully recover your HP, and raises its max by 5. Likewise, lipsticks refills your MP and raises it by 1. These two items are the only way to permanently boost your base HP and MP since the two stats are determined by what armor you wear.
* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'' games have a share of rare candies.
** ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'' has a {{Game Break|er}}ing moment where you can make use of a cooking function to max out EVERY stat with absurd ease. All it requires is patience and a bunch of money, and you can even cook up high-sell items to help with the latter requirement.
** The [[VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII third game]] has its power up items which can be stolen from select enemies and received as gifts from faeries. They can also copy those items and you can assign more than 1 fairy to the task, but each attempt takes close to an hour and there's always a chance they're either unsuccessful at copying it or screw up completely and turn the original item into an useless piece of junk.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Risen}}'' you can mix potions to permanently raise stats if you have level 3 in alchemy and the appropriate recipe. Since raising stats in this game requires character points, it can help a lot, but the recipe does require the incredibly rare Hero's Crown plant, so players need to think of what to raise. You can also just eat the stat-raising ingredients on their own, but the effect will be less.
* ''VideoGame/BlackSigil'' has a secret shop that sells stat-boosting potions for all stats. If the player knows how to abuse the catalogues (required to use that shop) [[GameBreaker they can easily raise all the stats to maximum as soon as they got that catalogue]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Dubloon}}'' features colour-coded capsules that permanently increase a specific stat each.
* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline'' has two different kinds:
* The first one are items called Materials, which grant small permanent boosts to stats and are rather hard to find. Everything except for Accuracy and elemental resistances can be increased this way. Depending on your character's race, they have certain limitations[[labelnote:*]]You can use 125 HP materials and 125 TP Materials (although Androids can't use the latter, but TP materials only appear in Challenge Mode anyways). Humans can split 250 among their stats, while everyone else can use 125 since they get regenerating HP or TP.[[/labelnote]].
** The other one are most of the Armor Units, in an odd sort of way. Instead of providing stat bonuses, they increase your ''base'' stats, allowing you to learn new Techniques and equip weapons you couldn't normally, so long as said Armor Units are equipped. They range from "slightly increase an elemental resistance" to "increase all of your stats by several levels". This only becomes a problem late in the game, since every class has stat caps and Armor Units ''won't'' go beyond them.

* RealTimeStrategy example: The Mercantilism upgrade available from Church or Mosque (or Embassy) in ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresIII'', which instantly levels you up so you can get another shipment from your Home City. It costs 1500 Coins, which is more than the highest amount of coin that can arrive in chests from your Home City...

* ''VideoGame/{{Opoona}}'' has several, including some which are easily purchasable. (However, the buyable ones tend to only raise stats that are important in the ''storyline,'' not battles.) Of particular note is the Roulette Pizza, which increases a random stat. Also notable are the Heart Cookie and White Chocolate, which increase your HP and FP in addition to your storyline stats. These can effectively be "bought," but only through the [[GlobalCurrencyException Points System]].
* Praxis kits in ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', which gives you a [[TechPoints praxis point]] upon being picked up. They are software packages that activate your dormant augmentations: you normally have to grow accustomed to your body to accept the augs' presence (itself a justification for the ExperiencePoints system), but the Praxis system lets you skip some of it.
* Brewing flowers creates potions in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheDrunkenPaladin''. The flowers can be picked up in most of the maps and respawn once in awhile.
* ''VideoGame/LegendOfLegaia'' has the various stat waters:
** Power Water, Guardian Water, Swift Water, and Wisdom Water permanently raise that character's ATK, DEF, SPD, or INT by +4.
** Life Water and Magic Water raise that characters HP or MP by +16 and +8, respectively.
** Miracle Water (and the Honey mentioned above) raises all of that character's stats by +4.
** There are similar items in ''Duel Saga''
* ''VideoGame/GinormoSword'' has a RareRandomDrop in the form of apples, which boost a single stat by 1 point.
* Some chests found in ''VideoGame/CthulhuSavesTheWorld'' give instantaneous stat boosts to either Cthulhu or his entire party. The developers explicitly did so to avoid players who would normally hoard stat-boosting items indefinitely (not to mention lack of a sophisticated inventory system).

* The flash game ''Hero RPG'' has a variant. In one of the early towns, you can buy turkey legs that, the vast majority of the time, do absolutely nothing when consumed. Rarely, though, eating one will increase a random one of your stats by several points -- usually three, which is the same number of distributable stat points you would get for leveling up.
* Stat Seeds in ''VideoGame/RakenzarnTales'', usually obtained from chests, quests and boss fights. They can raise HP or RP by 50 or one of the four base stats by 3.
* ''VideoGame/AVeryLongRopeToTheTopOfTheSky'' has Nuts to boost stats, and are also {{RareDrop}}s dropped by monsters in the Temple of the Elder Gods, Life (Max HP +20), Mana (Max MP +5), the others give +1 to the corresponding stat. Attack, Defense, Spirit, Agility
* ''VideoGame/BraveHeroYuusha'' has fruits to boost each stat: Lemon (Max HP +5), Orange (Max MP +5), Apple, Watermelon, Raspberry, Banana
* ''VideoGame/LuxarenAllure'' has Serums to boost each stat: Heart (Max HP +12), Mystic (Max MP +5), and the other serums increase their corresponding stat by 2, Strength, Defense, Ether, Lucky, Resistance, and Speed.

* ''VideoGame/RakenzarnFrontierStory'' has Boost items. You can increase the stats of a class by a small amount or you can find Class Boosts that increase your Primary Class level by 1 or 3.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}'' has various "Go up a level" cards, which you can play to, well, go up a level. As befitting the game's humorous NoFourthWall tone, they can range from silly in-game things ("Boil an anthill") to "out"-of-game things ("Whine at the GM") to the really meta ("Play a 'Go up a level' card"). As a side note, although you win the game by getting to level 10, the rules explicitly note that you can't play one of these cards to win unless the card itself says you can. One of the "Go up a level" cards that allows you to win like this, Divine Intervention, says that if you win with it, you're allowed to mock the other players mercilessly.
* ''VideoGame/FarCry5'' has perk magazines that grant one perk point apiece, which in turn can be used to improve the Deputy's existing abilities or unlock new ones. Most of these magazines can be found in the prepper stashes scattered all over the county while another bunch is hidden at generic locations. They're a convenient method for circumventing most of the game's challenge system that is the only alternative source of perk points.

* ''VideoGame/StardewValley'' has Stardrop fruits, which permanently increase maximum energy when eaten. There's only a few, and they're largely only awarded as prizes for completing the hardest challenges in the game, including catching every fish, donating every item to the museum, and reaching the maximum [[RelationshipValues friendship level]] with your spouse.
* Universal Bulin and Prototype Bulin in ''Videogame/AzurLane'', which can be used in place of the same type of ship to LimitBreak your ship and increase your ship LevelCap. They're very rarely drop or built and most often given as weekly reward or sold at high price.
* ''VideoGame/Disgaea3'' and ''VideoGame/Disgaea4'' had Stat Serums that would increase their respective stat, but the bonus was lost upon Reincarnation, hence they'd be saved for a final incarnation.
** ''VideoGame/Disgaea5'' took a more traditional direction with Revenge Shards, which dropped from enemy units killed in Revenge Mode, and Extracts, which were made from interrogating prisoners and choosing to extract some of their power. This was a permanent stat boost to the character, but Shards and Extracts counted together alongside stat gains obtained from Chara World (and excluding HP, capped at 10 million. HP capped around 1 billion.)
* ''VideoGame/TrinityUniverse'' had its MonsterArena, where you used items to create bosses that, upon death, would give items that permanently increased stats. Clearing the game with a good ending unlocked the Conversion Shop, where items could be traded in for special points, and those points could be spent on unique items -- with the stat boosting items being on that list.

Compare HeartContainer and ExperienceBooster. The temporary-effect version is PowerUpFood.

* ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve2'' has protein capsules that fully recover your HP, and raises its max by 5.

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''

** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3D'' has a variety of sweets you can give your Dream Eater allies which each provide a chance to boost a particular one of their stats. They're easily obtained, as well, able to be purchased from stores, received as drops, or given as rewards from clearing link portals.