History Main / SaveGameLimits

* ''BetOnSoldier'' had terminals that could be used as {{Save Point}}s, but not for free.

* ''VideoGame/{{Kuon}} has small paper boats with candles in them called Vessels that can be used at SavePoints, here various bodies of water in the outdoor areas of the Fujiwara manor

* ''VideoGame/OriAndTheBlindForest'' requires the player to spend a point of energy to create a Soul Link in order to save, as a trade off of being able to save anywhere while on solid ground with no enemies around - something otherwise rare in platformers. Energy is also used for certain abilities ([[AreaOfEffect Charge Flame]], [[DashAttack Charge Dash]] and [[ThrowDownTheBomblet Light Burst]]). It is downplayed in that you can also save at the Spirit Wells which is not only free, it also [[HealingCheckpoint fully heals and recovers energy]], energy becomes abundant later on, and there are skills in the skill tree that make Soul Links reusable, cheaper to create, and also cause them to restore health when created. The sequel, ''VideoGame/OriAndTheWillOfTheWisps'', ditches the Soul Link system in favor of regular checkpoint system.

* ''IndependenceWar 2: Edge of Chaos'', having shifted to more of a WideOpenSandbox, imposes save limits by only letting you save at Lucrecia's Base.

* Almost every entry in the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series until ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' has a limit of three save files. [[note]]''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'' (only in non-Japanese versions of the N64 release), ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass Phantom Hourglass]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]'' lower the save file limit from three to two.[[/note]]Rough times if the game is shared by a large family or in a dorm. Save files can be copied from the file select screen. [[note]]Since the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube installments (and remakes and ports) save to memory cards, you can avoid this limit by having several. On the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} and UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, this takes some creative work with an SD card.[[/note]] ''Breath of the Wild'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom Tears of the Kingdom]]'', on the other hand, have ''one'' permanent save per account, and a few extra slots reserved for autosaves that get automatically overwritten.

* Aversion: All games on the Wii's UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole (with the exception of N64 and Neo Geo games) have a built-in quicksave--just quit the game through the Home menu. On the other hand, the Virtual Consoles on the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS and the UsefulNotes/WiiU allow permanent (unless overwritten with a new one, at least) save files called restore points to be made at any time in addition to borrowing the Wii's quicksave feature, which makes SaveScumming quite easy even for games that didn't originally ''have'' a save feature. For the 3DS ones, if you got the twenty games from the Ambassador Program, the restore points are absent. Some of the NES games were given a proper release for the Virtual Console, and Ambassadors upgrading to that version (no extra cost) would get the restore points. Sadly, this upgrade will only apply to the NES games; the GBA games were stated to be Ambassador exclusive, and haven't been updated to provide restore points (or indeed, ''any'' of the standard Virtual Console functionality).[[note]][[http://ds.about.com/od/nintendods101/fl/Why-Arent-Game-Boy-Advance-Games-on-the-Nintendo-3DSs-Virtual-Console.htm This is actually due]] [[http://www.vooks.net/why-the-game-boy-advance-isnt-on-the-3ds-virtual-console/ to a technical limitation]] [[http://www.vooks.net/why-the-game-boy-advance-isnt-on-the-3ds-virtual-console/#comment-4998 of the original 3DS]]. While the system is able to properly emulate, say, an NES, Game Boy, or Game Gear, it isn't actually powerful enough to properly emulate a GBA. Instead, it uses a variation of the trick that the DS & DS Lite used, and essentially turns itself into a more expensive GBA by simulating the hardware; more specifically, by using both of its main CPU's cores to emulate the GBA's CPU and running a slightly modified version of the DS' actual GBA firmware to provide the games with access to the 3DS' hardware. Unfortunately, the main CPU's second core is also responsible for running all of the background tasks, such as networking, sleep mode, and the like; since the 3DS' processor (an [=ARM11=]; specifically, a dual-core [=ARM11=] running at 268 [=MHz=]) isn't powerful enough to emulate a GBA processor with just one core, and the secondary processor is seemingly too weak to emulate it ''at all'' (the 3DS' secondary processor, the [=ARM9=], is the same chip as the DS' main processor, with the only difference being that the 3DS' runs at 134 [=MHz=] and the DS' runs at 67 [=MHz=]; since the DS slows down its own secondary processor, an overclocked [=ARM7=] running at ~33.5 [=MHz=], to run GBA games on (as the GBA's processor is an [=ARM7=] running at ~16.8 [=MHz=]), this suggests that the DS' [=ARM9=] isn't able to properly emulate an [=ARM7=] running at normal clock speeds, and Nintendo either wasn't able to get it running on the 3DS' faster [=ARM9=], or willing to sacrifice quality to do so), it needs to use both the "game" core and the "background tasks" core, which leaves it unable to devote any processor time to background tasks; this is also why the 3DS can't automatically go into sleep mode when closed while in GBA mode, but games (such as ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'') are able to manually put it into sleep mode if they had that function on the original GBA. In essence, the 3DS has to switch into "GBA mode" instead of running Virtual Console or something like [=VisualBoy Advance=], and while it's in GBA mode, the only options available to it are 1) be a more expensive GBA, or 2) exit GBA mode. The New 3DS shouldn't have this issue (in theory, it's powerful enough to fully emulate the GBA, instead of having to simulate GBA hardware; specifically, its processor is a quad-core [=ARM11=] at 804 [=MHz=] (artificially limited to 268 [=MHz=] for backwards compatibility, unless the current application sets the appropriate flag), which should give it more than enough resources to emulate a GBA while keeping a dedicated "background tasks" core), but time will tell if Nintendo will take advantage of this.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' game allows {{Suspend Save}}s at [[SavePoint owl statues]], but the resulting save disappears once restored. Permanent saves only occur when returning to the Dawn of the First Day, losing all disposable items, un-deposited Rupees, and unfinished quests, plus taking Link back to South Clock Town. The game taxes the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 to its limit, even with the included RAM expansion. Thankfully, the game's GroundhogDayLoop mechanic doubled as a way to take some pressure off the console by simplifying the save system -- only Link's weapons, {{Plot Coupon}}s, and banked Rupees need to be saved; where Link can go in the game world is [[EquipmentBasedProgression determined entirely by what he is carrying]], not by the status of the world itself. The Suspend Save was added as an Western-only AntiFrustrationFeature, but further taxes the console as a trade-off and drops the amount of save files from three to two, with the save RAM presumably being allocated in a manner that makes room for the additional owl save data -- indeed, the Suspend Save feature was absent from the Japanese release, which did have 3 save files. The 3DS remake changes this yet again: this time you can ''only'' make permanent saves at the owl statues (you no longer need a sword to activate them), and reversing time no longer gives you the option. The remake also bumps the number of save slots back up to three because of the system's better hardware. However, this can get annoying to [[DamnYouMuscleMemory players used to the original's save system]], who may lose their data because they didn't know that reversing time doesn't save your progress anymore.

** ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' has an infamous save system. You can save only after clearing a Tower or Castle level, or collecting and spending 5 star coins to open a bonus area. The game's supply of star coins and bonus areas is finite. There's no temporary save system. It being a UsefulNotes/NintendoDS game, you can suspend this game by simply closing the DS to put the game in Sleep Mode, and plugging the DS into an AC adapter. Your "reward" for finishing the game is the ability to save after every level, proving that this save system was not a technical limitation (it was, in fact, done deliberately as a throwback to older Mario games).\\\

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* In the American Sega CD version of ''VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue'', Creator/WorkingDesigns added a constraint to the save system. Whenever you save, it costs a certain amount of Skill Points, with the amount scaling every time you save. These are the same points that you use to, well, learn new skills so you can defeat many of the [[ThatOneBoss very difficult bosses]] and such. This became especially troublesome if you didn't have the sort of time or skill to go without saving for large stretches of time. It also wasn't uncommon to end up short on Skill Points, especially since the cost becomes prohibitively high over the course of the game.

* ''VideoGame/XBeyondTheFrontier'', unlike the later games in the ''X'' series, only allows you to save while docked. You also have to pay a save fee of 10 credits.
* ''VideoGame/BetOnSoldier'' had terminals that could be used as {{Save Point}}s, but not for free.
* ''VideoGame/EnemyZero'' has the player save and load their game using a handheld recorder which starts with 64 charges on its battery. Saving uses up three charges, while loading uses one, meaning that too much saving ''or'' loading could force you to start over.

* In ''VideoGame/OneWayHeroics'', the game may offer to save your progress randomly or if you use a Save Crystal, at the cost of reducing your level by 5.

* The ''VideoGame/RuneFactory'' series was getting infamous because of this. ''Rune Factory'', ''VideoGame/RuneFactory2'' and ''VideoGame/RuneFactoryFrontier'' not only give you a small number of save files (two on the first two, three in Frontier) but they also required that every subsequent save always overwrote your file with no way to keep multiple active saves for a single campaign. This was a particularly big problem for ''Frontier'', since it basically forced you to complete the game more than 10 times from the very beginning (around 50 hours each, at least) if you wanted 100% completion. The latter games thankfully averted this, ''Rune Factory 3'' reverted back to 2 save files but you could overwrite both at any time, and ''Rune Factory Tides of Destiny'' not only discarded the restriction but also gives you around a dozen of save files to use.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonsDogma'':
** There is only one save file allowed, so you can only have one character and its pawn active at a time, though you can back up the save to other media as a means to swap characters.

** The game also allows you to overwrite the {{Autosave}} save any time you are not in combat, and you will restart exactly at that spot, making SaveScumming possible provided you don't do anything to make the game autosave in the meantime. The size and [[EverythingTryingToKillYou danger level]] of the game's [[TheOverworld overworld]] makes manual saves pretty important, since the player can go a long time between changing areas and prompting an autosave.

* Multiple character roguelikes, ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'') this can be beaten by simply making a copy of the save file when outside the game (though this is generally frowned upon amongst the fan community).
** ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' does not allow you to save in any way except by quitting the game. Doing so respawns all monsters and teleports you to the town of the act you're in.

* ''VideoGame/{{Torchlight}} I'' and [[VideoGame/TorchlightII II]] save files are mostly on the Diablo model, but a little more permissive of SaveScumming. They allow you to save at any time and continue playing.

* ''VideoGame/PrincessRemedyInAHeapOfTrouble'': Three save slots. Mainly saving by AutoSave. Only in-game quitting method is Save and Quit. Saves don't mark specific location of save, but latest sub-location entered / exited.

* ''VideoGame/StellaGlow'': Outside the end of a chapter (when a permanent save is offered), it's only possible to save when returning to Alto's room in Lambert City. Every other time, the game only offers a SuspendSave option.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', you can save freely on the overworld, but must use a save point anywhere else. Furthermore, about half the save points not in towns are not activated; you need to use up a "Memory Gem" to activate it, which is a drop from an enemy in the area. Mercifully, they stay activated forever and for unlimited uses, the Gems are interchangeable between all areas, they will always drop from the same specific enemy the first time you beat them, and on a NewGamePlus for a trivial amount of GRADE you can have it so any previously activated spots remain activated on the new playthrough.

* ''VideoGame/GravityRush:'' The game autosaves frequently, but you can only make hard saves at Kat's home base. Your first mission is to build it.
* ''VideoGame/VGAMiner'': You can only save or restore the game when you're in town, not underground.

* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'': This is usually how it works for the Game Boy Advance and DS games, due to very constrained memory from being a cartridge. Select a save file that used for one version of the character, which might be able to be copied to another slot:
** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCircleOfTheMoon'', a game for the Game Boy Advance, save points are particularly far away from each other, and you have no way of quicksaving, making the game very un-portable.
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'' attempted to correct this with a "Quick Save" feature, but all that did was save any changes since you last used a savepoint, so you still have to restart from a savepoint. This is both borderline useless for it's intended purpose of letting people take breaks, and ''highly abusable'' as a way to escape danger or quickly get back from one of the game's many dead ends.
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'' finally gets this right; its quick save feature "suspends" your game and restarts you at the room you were in when you load up your file again.

* ''Nightmare of Druaga''. You can only save your character's stats and items, not your dungeon progress (every time you go into a dungeon, you have to start from scratch). What's more, each save can only be loaded once - if you reset the console and reload, the game will assume that you're trying to get around its (very harsh) penalty for dying in a dungeon, and treat you as if that had in fact happened, stripping your character of most or all of his equipment (and items lost this way are indeed [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost for good]]). Even if what actually happened was, say, a power outage suddenly switching off the [=PS2=].

* The flash game ''[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/580638 Guild Dungeons,]]'' instead of having a save system, records your experience. When you quit, you lose everything you had, but your experience is used to determine how many resources you'll start with next time. \\
This can be used to your advantage, since you can only have one of each stone-producing buildings, but if you get enough experience, quit, and then start again, you'll begin with thousands of stones, which is almost necessary if you want to buy a Keep (which costs 5000 stone and lumber) and unlock the highest-level units.

* ''VideoGame/DistortedTravesty 3'' allows you to save at (almost) any time in (almost) any room. However, doing so only saves which entrance you used or which checkpoint you've reached, and your condition when entering the room/reaching it; it doesn't save what you've done since then, or your current position in the room (with the exception that items & secrets collected in the current room will also be saved).
* The [=PS2=] era ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' games do this. The game saves your inventory and on which planet you are, but upon reloading you're always treated with Ratchet and Clank flying to the given planet and thusly appearing next to the landing pod.

* ''VideoGame/FakeHappyEnd'': The player can only save from the menu 3 times, but stepping on a healing point allows the player to save for free and restore all their save uses, which means the game uses both save tokens and save points.
* ''Franchise/{{Hitman}}'' series.
** ''VideoGame/HitmanCodename47'' has no in-mission saves whatsoever. Bad in a shooter, absolutely inexcusable in a stealth game. Later games allow for saving, but they are limited and there's often a catch (the fourth game, for example, allows saves but they are deleted when you quit as they are intended to be on demand {{checkpoint}}s rather than actual saves). One of the biggest differences between the difficulty levels in the later games is the number of saves allowed -- which, at the highest difficulty, is zero (as in ''[[VideoGame/Hitman2SilentAssassin Silent Assassin]]'', ''[[VideoGame/HitmanContracts Contracts]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney Blood Money]]''), or one save in a single run (as is with ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'' and its sequels).
** To add to the dilemma in the first game. If you did happen to get yourself killed, you had two extra "lives" in which you were respawned away from the action. However this doesn't reset the enemies awareness, thus the moment you stick your head out, everyone starts shooting at you again and defeats the entire purpose of having the safety net in the first place.
** ''[[VideoGame/HitmanAbsolution Absolution]]'' continues the series' trend, limiting saves to a single checkpoint midway through larger levels - and those available only at lower difficulty levels. The saves are erased if the player exits the level, and seems to keep track solely of the player's position and inventory - any enemies the player has already engaged will respawn when the save is reloaded. Oh, and if you're lucky, the save point ''might'' not be in an insanely out-of-the-way location.
** The ''VideoGame/WorldOfAssassinationTrilogy'' games let you save anywhere on the lower difficulties, so long as you're not in combat, and autosaves are frequent and get triggered on a regular basis, or if you do certain scripted events. The highest difficulty levels only allow for one save per run and Escalation contracts forbid them entirely, so you best know what you're doing!
* The first ''VideoGame/AlienVsPredator'' game had no saves either. A patch enabled saving, but only with a limited amount of available saves. This was a deliberate design choice, of course, to preserve the pants-wetting terror of the Marine campaign. Each level is only several minutes long, but they're a ''very'' intense several minutes.
* The first ''VideoGame/IndependenceWar'' did not allow for mid-mission saves, something that ''[[ExpansionPack Defiance]]'' partially rectified.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'':
** In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto2'', you could only save by walking into a church (there's only one in each level). This would cost $50000 (which could be hard to come by at the beginning of the game), and it wasn't possible to save during a mission. In ''GTA III'' and its sequels, you could save at specific "safe houses" for free instead.
** Although saving was free in terms of money and can be done at any time in the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'' era games, it would also advance the time by about six hours, both decreasing your {{Bragging Rights|Reward}} for completion time and making it trickier to save right before time-based quests. Mostly fixed in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'': it transparently saves your progress automatically after every mission, without advancing time. Manual saving, however, still advances time, and you still can't save during missions.
** The original ''VideoGame/{{Grand Theft Auto|Classic}}'' was even worse - you could only save between levels. This wouldn't be so bad, but the "easy" first level took about an hour to complete. The last level took about ''six''.
* ''VideoGame/IzunaLegendOfTheUnemployedNinja'' only lets you save at the inn, and once a player saves, the game quits automatically, returning to the title screen, possibly as an AntiPoopSocking measure. If the player turns the game off mid-play, the next time is game is continued, it treats the player as if having wiping out in a dungeon and all inventory and money that hasn't been stored away is lost (Ouch!). Which is still ''much'', much more benevolent than most {{Roguelike}} games.
* In the NES game ''Magician'' you have exactly 15 saves for the whole game. As in, you can only save 15 times without starting the whole thing over. Thankfully, you have four slots to choose from (allowing at least some degree of SaveScumming) and the game only has nine levels, so it is not as restrictive as it could have been.
* The ''Franchise/TombRaider'' series use of saves changes a lot between games and even versions; ''all'' of the PC versions of the original Core Design games let you save anywhere you want (and in ''VideoGame/TombRaiderIII''[='s=] case even kept the former save crystals and made them give a health boost instead). On the console versions:
** ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI'' had a type of checkpoint system with stationary crystals that could be used whenever you want, but only once.
** ''VideoGame/TombRaiderII'' got rid of this and used a save anywhere system.
** Due to complaints of the ''Tomb Raider II'' system being "too easy" from various people (perhaps in a rare proof of ViewersAreMorons), ''Tomb Raider III'' took the save system of the first game and expanded it by letting you carry the crystals and save them up for use at any time. This backfired, as the "checkpoint" feel of the original game was gone, leaving many players wondering when to use them, resulting in a case of TooAwesomeToUse, combined with the fact that the game was much harder than the first game and that the save crystals were very rare (with there only being around sixty in the whole game, with a lot of them being hidden in secret areas).
** The later games wisely went back to the save anywhere approach. After the Crystal Dynamics ContinuityReboot the series now uses a checkpoint system, with them being regular enough that it amounts to saving after every room... [[FakeDifficulty Most of the time]].

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'', you could only save at computers that you'd usually find in Pokemon Centers, though there was at least one in every dungeon. ''VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'' removed this concept and let you save anywhere. Before saving the game, both Colosseum and XD will check to make sure it's overwriting the same file, meaning you can't copy your data or farm plot-specific items or pokemon to transfer to other games.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' has a quicksave option to save anywhere in a dungeon, but once you resume the game, it gets deleted, and counts as a loss if you turn it off before quicksaving again.

* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'':
** The series has designated rooms to save in, along with Samus's ship, and in certain, albeit rare, occasions you don't get a save point for a long time with a difficult segment or boss in between. In the ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy'', these rooms double as Recharge rooms as well and will restore health. ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption'' averts this by respawning you right at the last major cutscene you experienced. This is sometimes slightly annoying, as you respawn with the same amount of HP and ammo you had at the moment. But the most annoying part is when this happens in the final battle: you have to start back at [[spoiler: Dark Samus even if you were in [=AU313's=] final stage.]] However, those are only checkpoints; if you reload the game you still end up at the last save room (or Samus's ship, which also serves as one).
** Navigation Rooms in ''[[VideoGame/MetroidOtherM Other M]]'' serve as Save Stations as well, and are the ''only'' way, besides Samus' ship, to fully replenish her energy reserves. You can also restore all life and missiles with the Concentrate feature, but the life-restoration bit is only usable when you are about one hit away from death though.
** Saving in ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' and ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'' advances the clock by 7 seconds, which can become significant for speedrunners. The latter game also has both regular save points in the main game (the portion that remakes the original 1986 ''VideoGame/{{Metroid|1}}'') that simply allow saving, and ones that are combined with recharge stations to replenish your health and ammo in the ExtendedGameplay.
* In ''VideoGame/LaMulana'', you can only save in the village where you start the game. In addition, you have to buy your first save slot (save slots 2-5 can be found much, much later in the game). This might not be so bad, except that there are several "mess up and you'll never get that fancy whip upgrade!" puzzles. However, this problem is alleviated when you acquire a teleportation item that allows you to flip back to the starting village anytime, effectively creating on-demand saving (which is in fact much better than in most games). The remake relaxes this by allowing you to save at any Grail point and providing multiple save slots from the start, but your health and coin pots are no longer restored upon reloading. Fortunately, the remake adds a HealingSpring two screens away from the grail point in the village, allowing for convenient healing if you happen to be near a grail tablet.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' game allows {{Suspend Save}}s at [[SavePoint owl statues]], but the resulting save disappears once restored. Permanent saves only occur when returning to the Dawn of the First Day, losing all disposable items, un-deposited Rupees, and unfinished quests, plus taking Link back to South Clock Town. The game taxes the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 to its limit, even with the included RAM expansion. Thankfully, the game's GroundhogDayLoop mechanic doubled as a way to take some pressure off the console by simplifying the save system -- only Link's weapons, {{Plot Coupon}}s, and banked Rupees need to be saved; where Link can go in the game world is [[EquipmentBasedProgression determined entirely by what he is carrying]], not by the status of the world itself. The Suspend Save was added as an Western-only AntiFrustrationFeature, but further taxes the console as a trade-off and drops the amount of save files from three to two, with the save RAM presumably being allocated in a manner that makes room for the additional owl save data -- indeed, the Suspend Save feature was absent from the Japanese release, which did have 3 save files. The 3DS remake changes this yet again: this time you can ''only'' make permanent saves at the owl statues (you no longer need a sword to activate them), and reversing time no longer gives you the option. The remake also bumps the number of save slots back up to three because of the system's better hardware. However, this can get annoying to [[DamnYouMuscleMemory players used to the original's save system]], who may lose their data because they didn't know that reversing time doesn't save your progress anymore.

* ''VideoGame/KirbyNightmareInDreamLand'': The player isn't allowed to save at all when playing as Meta Knight, being forced to go through the whole game in one go.
* The last FPS to use the Doom engine, ''{{VideoGame/Strife}}'', had only ''one'' save slot. You could save as often as you wanted, but good luck if you saved next to a boss while being low on health or ammo and with no suitable powerups in sight. Even the producers found this to be too harsh, and removed the limit in a later patch.
* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot1996'': The only way to save your game (or collect a password) is to go from the overworld map into a level, collect a series of hidden bonus tokens and beat the ensuing bonus level, or collecting a gem by beating a level without dying while breaking all the crates in the area. And when you restore the game, you snap back to just three lives. Fortunately, the sequels made it easy to save your progress in-between levels and keep your lives, and the remake in the ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy'' allows you to save whenever on the world map, abandoning the password system.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' games:
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'': The original NES versions lack any form of save function. The ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'' remakes add this function, but upon a resumed playthrough you restart from the first level of the current world.
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'': Without {{Warp Whistle}}s, the game takes the average player several hours to complete. In theory, ''[=SMB3=]'' tells you the location of one of the warp whistles so you can skip almost half of the game with it next time. In practice, it doesn't, as the whistle is said to be at "the end of the third world". It's actually the end of the third level of the first world, and even knowing that, [[GuideDangIt outside information]] is needed to know how to get to it. The ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'' remake isn't much better. Aside from saving the current world, the only completed levels saved are fortresses, so only some levels can be skipped (via shortcuts opened after completing said fortresses) after restarting after a game over. This limitation is averted in the GBA version.
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'':
*** This SNES cart is the first Mario game with a save system, but one can only save after beating specific levels (namely Switch Palaces, Ghost Houses, Fortresses, Castles, the special GhostShip level found between Chocolate Island and Valley of Bowser, and the even-numbered levels in Special Zone). A switch palace, castle, fortress or Special Zone level has a save point when first clearing it, but not when replaying it. A ghost house is better; one can replay a ghost house to save again. Many players walk the long way back to Donut Ghost House, the easiest save point (and the one closest to the Top Secret Area, [[GameBreaker where you can restock on power-ups and extra lives indefinitely]]). This save system is a form of FakeDifficulty, because there is no technical limitation for why the other levels are not save points.
*** The game does not save extra lives. You say you have 99 lives on that file? Say goodbye to 94 of them if you save and quit! Of course, you can always [[InfiniteOneUps just go get more]], but still!
*** This is averted in the GBA remake, which allows saving anywhere, and does save extra lives.
** ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' has an infamous save system. You can save only after clearing a Tower or Castle level, or collecting and spending 5 star coins to open a bonus area. The game's supply of star coins and bonus areas is finite. There's no temporary save system. It being a UsefulNotes/NintendoDS game, you can suspend this game by simply closing the DS to put the game in Sleep Mode, and plugging the DS into an AC adapter. Your "reward" for finishing the game is the ability to save after every level, proving that this save system was not a technical limitation (it was, in fact, done deliberately as a throwback to older Mario games).\\\
Its successors, starting with ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'', added a SuspendSave system, so players can make a temporary save after any level. The limits on permanent saves, and the reward for finishing the game, are the same as in the DS game. The Wii game has no bonus areas where one can save, but the 3DS game has them again.
** ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' has only save points, which means you have to continue from the last place where you saved. You better save frequently, as not only is this game long, it also has many side-missions that could require you to battle lots of enemies, and seeing as Mario's stats stay very small (maximum 50 HP) for the whole game, it's easy to get a Game Over. Luckily, there is a save point just before all "dungeons", just before all rooms where a boss is fought (optional bosses not included), and in all towns.\\\
The sequels also have save points. ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'' has a better save system because it saves automatically after every level.
** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'' and its two following sequels also need you to save on save points. The fourth game in the series, ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'' finally adds a save-whenever-you-want feature, but keeps the save blocks as a reminder, [[SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity specially before boss rooms]].
* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' has an interesting aversion, in that the game seems to ''pretend'' that it's just a suspend save- you have to quit to save, and it calls it "suspending play", but it's really just a save ([[SaveScumming and you can abuse it by continually re-loading if you make mistakes]]).
* In ''Franchise/SilentHill'' games, you can only save at notepads (first game), red "squares" (second game), red symbols (third game), and Henry's diary/journal (fourth game). Unless you're playing the PC versions, which allow you to save at any point.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Cadaver}}'', you have to pay the gods to save your game, requiring an exponentially larger sacrifice each time. Thus, save too often and you won't be able to save on the last level.
* ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe''. Besides being able to save in-between each chapter, you can only do so ''once'' in the middle of each one, even if there are more checkpoints. So, those endless swarms of ultra-strong enemies? Those bosses that you can't seem to get any good hits in? Those time-consuming puzzles? And god forbid, the dreaded boss rush near the end of the game? Yeah, you'll be seeing them again in the same levels. A lot.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games will only let you [[StealthPun get saved at church]] (or a king in the first three games), and make you read through long repetitive dialogues when you do so.
** The portable remakes of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' and ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' offer a suspend save you can use outside of dungeons, but III's erases itself when you reload. IV's DS remake (possibly due to a GoodBadBug) does not, and the remake of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' on the same system works the same way with its quick-save feature. (On the other hand, ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' has the typical one-time quick-save feature.) On the plus side, if your party gets wiped out, you go back to the last save point with half your gold and all your exp and items, making this less annoying than FF III.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'' had a 'Dragon Potion' which allowed you to save anywhere... but only once. However, a player can replay this game for years and possibly NEVER get one, with the item being a rare drop from a specific kind of Babble. In fact, one would only know of their existence if they [[GuideDangit read about it form a guide]].
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonsters''
*** The game lets you save any time you are in town (although it auto-saves when you breed a monster, something which was thankfully removed from the sequel). In order to keep the feel and tension of other [=DQs=], saving is mostly disabled in dungeons however. Luckily, there are certain randomly generated rooms you can save in that may spawn every 3 floors, and in longer dungeons you will definitely run into them at least once. Additionally there is an single-use item called a 'Bookmark' that allows saving in the middle of a dungeon, you can buy as many of them as needed once you get about halfway through the main game.
*** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonstersJoker'' pointlessly changed the dungeon system, and only allows you to save at checkpoints on the islands. Fortunately these are usually fairly easy to reach. ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonstersJoker2'' then turns around and allows you to save at almost any location in the game.
** The Android / iOS port of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' mercifully adds a quick-save system that allows you to save anywhere in dungeons and the overworld.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' has only one main save slot, however, making separate adventuring files impossible.
* ''VideoGame/{{Turok}} 2'':
** The game features long maze-like worlds that can take hours to finish. Which wouldn't be entirely horrible if there were more than 3 save points in the entire level! Nothing like being ready to quit but either having to backtrack 15 minutes to the last save point first or forcing yourself to press on for another half hour instead. The PC version (at least the remastered version) averts this, as you can save normally as well.
** The N64 version suffers from a form of OnlyOneSaveFile; a single game save takes nearly 3/4 of an entire Controller Pak [[note]]90 out of 123 pages[[/note]]!

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' has a long CheckpointStarvation at the beginning, but allows you to save any time outside of battle and cutscenes... except for a prolonged duration at the end where you have to go through three boss fights and multiple cutscenes. It's an ObviousRulePatch against an {{Unwinnable}} situation, since you can't leave the area and there are no baddies to LevelGrind against; if you go back after beating the game, you will be able to save there since beating the game unlocks what's essentially a level select.

* ''Franchise/FarCry'':
** ''VideoGame/FarCry1'' uses a checkpoint system of saving, with check points scattered around the levels... and, rather infamously, offers no other save options whatsoever. However, since the levels are fairly big and can't account for every path taken, it's quite possible to miss checkpoints, or go stumbling around an area trying to find the arbitrary threshold that enables the checkpoint. Furthermore, some checkpoints are spaced far enough apart that you have to go through several tough fights before reaching the next checkpoint, making these sequences examples of TrialAndErrorGameplay. Quicksaving is [[DummiedOut only available]] through usage of the console or editing a configuration file to actually bind the function to a key.
** ''VideoGame/FarCry2'', on consoles, only allowed you to save at safe houses or after fast-traveling via bus station. Averted in the PC version, where you can save (and quicksave) whenever, wherever, and as many times as you want.
** ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' and on have a variation, where you can save wherever you want so long as you're not in the middle of a mission, but loading the save will place you at the nearest safe area rather than leaving you exactly where you were. The games also have limited numbers of save files, ''3'' and ''[[VideoGame/FarCry3BloodDragon Blood Dragon]]'' limited to three... and ''VideoGame/FarCry4'' limited to just ''one''.
* ''VideoGame/Persona3'' allows you to save at Tartarus' foyer, which you can access at any time (provided you find the teleporter back to the first floor). Sensible enough. However, outside Tartarus, you can only save at the dorm; exiting the dorm and reentering it immediately (even in daylight) will make it nighttime immediately. This forces you to play a whole day of choices, [[RelationshipValues Social Links]], and shopping, without saving. In extreme cases (such as weekdays) making a bad choice during an afternoon quest will force the player to replay the entire schoolday, plus the previous night - or worse, if it's an exam week (which runs uninterrupted from Monday to Saturday), the ''entire week''. The PSP version mitigates this somewhat by adding a save point in the classroom, providing a more convenient opportunity to save during the day. ''VideoGame/Persona4'' learned from this and made things significantly less painful. There are two save points during the day (one in your classroom, which you're literally standing next to once classes are over, and one on the [[HubLevel main shopping drag in town]]), one save point at night (the calendar in the Dojima house, which, again, you literally start the night standing by), and one inside the TV (in the hub area). In the original game, there would also be a save point right before the boss room in each dungeon, but these were removed for some reason in ''[[UpdatedRerelease Golden]]''.
* ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis'', Pick one. Any one. While in the arcade it makes sense not to allow saving all of the home versions also have ridiculous saving systems. You can save after each section, but that only allows you to play that section. You have to play the entire game through in one if you want to unlock every stage.
* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' and ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom'' has a fairly reasonable save limit in that you can as many times as you like in as many slots as you like (so long as you have the system memory to do so), but only outside of battle. The only place where this gets tricky are the Item Worlds where you have to make your way through at least 10 battles in a row (Assuming you don't use your [[StealthPun Mr. Gency's Exit]] item to exit early, which also saved your progress in the item). No continues, so you quickly learn to save often and before every battle. And then the Item World concept goes from tricky to plain horrific when you're aspiring after the Hyprdrive item which in the remakes of the game can ''only'' be obtained after clearing 100 floors (without quitting once!) and destroying an overpowered boss on top of that, all with no chance to save. Granted the game's mechanics, if you are actually trying to get said item you're either TooDumbToLive or can complete most of the floors without major problems, unless you get some unfortunate set of "Enemy Boost x 6" or "Ally Damage 80%" [[GeoEffects Geo Panels]], but it's still very time-consuming.
* ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'': While this [[NintendoHard notoriously hard]] PlatformHell game has four difficulty modes, the gameplay doesn't actually change at all between the modes. The only thing that does change is how many save points you'll come across. Harder difficulty modes have fewer points, which just means that you'll have to traverse through more areas without dying in order to be able to save your progress and avoid having to redo the areas that you've just finished. Culminates in the "Impossible" difficulty mode, in which there are no save points at all and you are therefore expected to beat the whole game in one life. In a game where you're a OneHitPointWonder and [[EverythingTryingToKillYou Everything's Trying To Kill You.]] [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Have fun with that.]] And the one save point in Hard Mode, right before the final boss, actually attacks you.
* Aversion: All games on the Wii's UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole (with the exception of N64 and Neo Geo games) have a built-in quicksave--just quit the game through the Home menu. On the other hand, the Virtual Consoles on the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS and the UsefulNotes/WiiU allow permanent (unless overwritten with a new one, at least) save files called restore points to be made at any time in addition to borrowing the Wii's quicksave feature, which makes SaveScumming quite easy even for games that didn't originally ''have'' a save feature. For the 3DS ones, if you got the twenty games from the Ambassador Program, the restore points are absent. Some of the NES games were given a proper release for the Virtual Console, and Ambassadors upgrading to that version (no extra cost) would get the restore points. Sadly, this upgrade will only apply to the NES games; the GBA games were stated to be Ambassador exclusive, and haven't been updated to provide restore points (or indeed, ''any'' of the standard Virtual Console functionality).[[note]][[http://ds.about.com/od/nintendods101/fl/Why-Arent-Game-Boy-Advance-Games-on-the-Nintendo-3DSs-Virtual-Console.htm This is actually due]] [[http://www.vooks.net/why-the-game-boy-advance-isnt-on-the-3ds-virtual-console/ to a technical limitation]] [[http://www.vooks.net/why-the-game-boy-advance-isnt-on-the-3ds-virtual-console/#comment-4998 of the original 3DS]]. While the system is able to properly emulate, say, an NES, Game Boy, or Game Gear, it isn't actually powerful enough to properly emulate a GBA. Instead, it uses a variation of the trick that the DS & DS Lite used, and essentially turns itself into a more expensive GBA by simulating the hardware; more specifically, by using both of its main CPU's cores to emulate the GBA's CPU and running a slightly modified version of the DS' actual GBA firmware to provide the games with access to the 3DS' hardware. Unfortunately, the main CPU's second core is also responsible for running all of the background tasks, such as networking, sleep mode, and the like; since the 3DS' processor (an [=ARM11=]; specifically, a dual-core [=ARM11=] running at 268 [=MHz=]) isn't powerful enough to emulate a GBA processor with just one core, and the secondary processor is seemingly too weak to emulate it ''at all'' (the 3DS' secondary processor, the [=ARM9=], is the same chip as the DS' main processor, with the only difference being that the 3DS' runs at 134 [=MHz=] and the DS' runs at 67 [=MHz=]; since the DS slows down its own secondary processor, an overclocked [=ARM7=] running at ~33.5 [=MHz=], to run GBA games on (as the GBA's processor is an [=ARM7=] running at ~16.8 [=MHz=]), this suggests that the DS' [=ARM9=] isn't able to properly emulate an [=ARM7=] running at normal clock speeds, and Nintendo either wasn't able to get it running on the 3DS' faster [=ARM9=], or willing to sacrifice quality to do so), it needs to use both the "game" core and the "background tasks" core, which leaves it unable to devote any processor time to background tasks; this is also why the 3DS can't automatically go into sleep mode when closed while in GBA mode, but games (such as ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'') are able to manually put it into sleep mode if they had that function on the original GBA. In essence, the 3DS has to switch into "GBA mode" instead of running Virtual Console or something like [=VisualBoy Advance=], and while it's in GBA mode, the only options available to it are 1) be a more expensive GBA, or 2) exit GBA mode. The New 3DS shouldn't have this issue (in theory, it's powerful enough to fully emulate the GBA, instead of having to simulate GBA hardware; specifically, its processor is a quad-core [=ARM11=] at 804 [=MHz=] (artificially limited to 268 [=MHz=] for backwards compatibility, unless the current application sets the appropriate flag), which should give it more than enough resources to emulate a GBA while keeping a dedicated "background tasks" core), but time will tell if Nintendo will take advantage of this.[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/GranTurismo 4'' has Endurance races, including one that runs for 24 hours. If you screw up on the last lap and get passed, tough luck, it'll take another day to beat the race and win the awesome F1 car. The Japanese version was released without B-Spec mode. 24 hour races, you damn well raced them.
* ''[[VideoGame/DarkCastle Beyond Dark Castle]]'' only lets you save from the "Computer Room", where you can record up to five save states by pulling levers hooked up to a [[ComputerEqualsTapedrive mainframe with a tape drive]].

* ''VideoGame/SimCity'' for the SNES limited you to ''two'' savefiles; if you really liked two of your cities and wanted to start another, tough luck!
* ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'':
** ''F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin'' - With respect to the PC versions, the original ''F.E.A.R.'' game and its two non-canon expansions allowed the player to save (and quicksave) at any time. However, the sequel irritatingly only allows for automatic saves at set checkpoints. The game is broken up into several missions which can be selected at will, but if the player wants to see a specific game event or explore an certain area, they have to play through the entire mission to get to that point.
** The console version of the first game only allows autosaves, and you don't get to keep multiple saves, so if you wind up in an {{Unwinnable}} situation, you have to restart the game, which is easier to do than its sounds because the game can be NintendoHard and be very averse to [[SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity giving you nice big caches of health kits and supplies before difficult segments.]]
** ''FEAR 3'' doesn't let you save manually at all, no matter if you're playing PC or console, as part of its push towards more action, which includes more distinctly-separate levels.
* Not so much in the later ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' games, but there were only a limited number of save slots. In ''Wing Commander IV'' and ''Prophecy'', however, there were two-stage missions, and you weren't allowed to save between the stages, resulting in an annoyingly long stretch of gameplay if you were pressed for time.
* The original ''VideoGame/{{Makai Toshi SaGa}}'' (''The Final Fantasy Legend'' to us American folk) allows you to save anywhere. You get exactly one save slot, however, and God (er, the Creator) help you if you wind up saving in an {{Unwinnable}} situation. Death in that game was [[ContinuingIsPainful anything but a slap on the wrist]].
* ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune'' gives you a limited number of manual saves per level depending on the difficulty. On the first game's Unfair difficulty, you cannot manually save at all, and on Soldier of Fortune difficulty in the second game, you can only save once per level.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' has a quicksave function that let's you save mid-dungeon. However, if you try SaveScumming, the game treats it as a defeat - even if the gamecard was removed, or the game crashed - In other words, if it was an accident that you shut the game off after a quicksave restart, ''The game still treats it as a loss.'' Worse still, the game ''Took all your items away,''(Except for your Bow - Which, considering the thing can never be obtained more then once is a small merit on their part) Making the quick save feature a risk if you were taking the DS anywhere where the card might be knocked out - Which, for some people, is ANYWHERE. Thanks a lot for that. All your unlocked moves, your level and stats, as well as your IQ are saved still.
* In ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'', you can't save in the middle of a stage, mostly because the game saves ''just about any time you do '''anything.''''' Including ''turning off the game.'' This means that if you die for the first time and immediately turn the game off in an attempt to [[SaveScumming save scum]] and avoid [[ContinuingIsPainful a painful continue]], when you get back to the menu, the first thing you see is the achievement for dying! So the trope is inverted -- instead of you being unable to save when you want, the game saves when you don't want it to, leading to anger on your part.
* The ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series is a mixed gab of different forms of this.
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Geneaology of the Holy War]]'' lets you permanently save at the beginning of your turn... until you make one of your units do something. Then you must wait until next turn to save. While it lets you [[SaveScumming Save Scum]], considering the complex and grandiose scale of the game, that's not such a bad thing.
** In the GBA games, ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade The Binding Blade]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Blazing Blade]]'', the game autosaves EVERYWHERE in a chapter, at every significant action. If say, a character is killed or any otherwise unpleasant scenario occurs, turning the game off does nothing, because resuming that file will instantly put you in the same battle, with the same result (even if the attack had low accuracy), though you can make a permanent save before every chapter and choose to restart the chapter from there. ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones Sacred Stones]]'' includes two optional multi-level dungeons with NO chance to save between levels.
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Path of Radiance]]'' removed the constant auto saving (understandable considering it's a console release that relies on memory cards), meaning that you can ONLY save at the beginning of the chapter, though you can suspend data in the middle. This can become frustrating as the chapters increase in length, as one bad move could force you to restart an hour of gameplay. In addition, the fight against The Black Knight takes place after a long chapter, and if you fail that fight you have to restart the chapter all over again.
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Radiant Dawn]]'' gives you the option to save whenever you please during your turn, which invites SaveScumming, but also makes the chapters a lot less frustrating as you can continue from wherever you last saved. If you hope to scrape your way through Hard mode though, you don't get that luxury (only ''[=PoR=]'''s options).
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Shadow Dragon]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem New Mystery of the Emblem]]'' introduce permanent save spots in most of the chapters, where any character can save your progress for that chapter by stepping on them, but the spots disappear once used.
* Both ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' games limited the number of saves you were allowed per level on the hardest level, "[[IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels Dead on Arrival]]".

* The original ''VideoGame/RedFaction'' had the ability to save anywhere; this was replaced by autosaves starting with the second game.
* ''VideoGame/MaximoGhostsToGlory'', while already NintendoHard in some areas, requires you to pay 100 coins every time you use a SavePoint. Of course, you can always go back and do the first level of the first world a few times in a row, which isn't really that hard and nets you a sizable amount of coin each time, but it does get tedious.
* ''VideoGame/SteelBattalion'' handles saving like a Roguelike. One file per pilot, automatically saved when you do ANYTHING. Lose a VT in combat? The supply points spent on it are [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost forever]] (albeit easily replaced). Run out of supply points? Prepare to start from the very beginning. Also expect to start a new game if your pilot dies by not [[EjectionSeat ejecting in time]] when the VT is [[CriticalExistenceFailure about to explode]] or is [[SuperDrowningSkills sinking in deep water while the cockpit floods.]]
* ''VideoGame/WarioMasterOfDisguise'' autosaves whenever you exit a level. If you need to take a break while in a level, you'll either have to find a SavePoint or use a suspend-save from the pause menu. However, if you have a suspend in play, you can't play a different save slot without losing it.
* ''VideoGame/{{Hydorah}}'' puts a limit of saving only up to three times during a playthrough, unless you start from scratch. [[NintendoHard This game is not supposed to be merciful anyway]], but at least you can get extra saves by beating certain levels.

* ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'' introduces 'Hardcore Mode' which, while being about as difficult as the 'Veteran' setting, only allows three saves. There's one 'gimme' save that triggers when swapping discs about halfway through, and it doesn't count towards your three allotted. This wouldn't be too bad, if Hardcore Mode didn't also ''completely remove checkpoints''. If you die against ThatOneBoss? Prepare to lose those three or four hours since you last saved!
* ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'' lets you save everywhere except in the middle of a training center course, likely because of their nature as RandomlyGeneratedLevels where you have to win multiple battles in a row without losing a single one. Also, from the second game onward, there's only one save slot. The EU version of the first game also reduces the default 3 save slots into one.
* [[VideoGame/LivePowerfulProBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball Advance series]]'s save system in [[VisualNovel the success mode]] is a pain. There's only one save slot each, the file will erase itself when you either clear the story or get a game over, and those games themselves heavily rely on [[LuckBasedMission luck,]] making some of the games' bad ends possible in every corner. Also, every time you load a data, you lose some of your stats.
* ''O.D.T.: Or Die Trying'', an obscure NintendoHard [=PS1=] game, had a particularly brutal save system: you could only save your progress at specific saving spots, which are not only rare and often located in secret areas, but also only allowed you ''one single save'' per saving spot.
* The ''VideoGame/MitsumeteKnight'' games have a save system needing only 1 block (2 for the RPG game), but allowing you only three saves per Memory Card.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Glider}}'', you can save anywhere but resumed games are ineligible for high scores.
* ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' deliberately invoked this--the player is never allowed to choose when to save the game; the game saves itself automatically after the player completes major decisions. [[WordOfGod The developers said]] that they set it up this way to force the player to deal with the implications of their actions.
* The ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' computer game features a particularly fourth-wall-breaking example. Throughout most of the game, you can save whenever you want, but once you get to the final area, the save function is disabled for no discernible reason. This means that if you fail any of the challenges in the cave after that point (one of which is a PixelHunt and another of which is a LuckBasedMission if you happened to miss a vital clue earlier in the game), you have to start the whole thing over again. There's even a sign right outside that tells you you can't save.
* ''VideoGame/LuigisMansionDarkMoon'' has an interesting variant, in that you can't COPY the save files. You can save three of them, continue at any time, save after any mission and delete them, but for whatever reason the copy functionality doesn't exist.
* ''VideoGame/{{D}}'' not only has no saving, but no ''pausing'', and a two-hour [[TimedMission time limit.]] Fortunately, that last part means that the game is relatively short.
* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity'' series combines One Save File Per Campaign (pilot in this case) with ''only'' having auto-save -- every time you leave a planet or station, the pilot-file updates to take into account any changes that have occurred since the last time you left a planet/station. This renders SaveScumming (which you might want to do, since ''all'' the games have at least two mutually exclusive storylines, which can only be begun once you've got some experience) possible only by manually backing up a pilot-file.
* This is the difference between ''VideoGame/{{Unrest}}'''s two [[IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels difficulty settings]]. "Myth" allow the player to maintain multiple save files of that playthrough, while "Mortal" is an in-game Iron Man Mode. A "Mortal" playthrough means you only have one save file, and have to live with the consequences of your decisions.
* There is no save feature on the ''Franchise/{{Animorphs}}'' Game Boy Color game. To understand why this is so insane, you have to realize the game itself is a ShoddyKnockoffProduct of ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', with the same basic menu screen and gameplay mechanics. Instead, you are given a password (either by hitting "select" or reaching a checkpoint) that when entered at the title screen will return you to something approaching your current "party" (i.e. group of morphs) and location next time you start the game. Imagine playing Pokemon with the save function replaced by a password that returns you to the last Pokemon Center you visited with the last group of Pokemon you healed there (and only six Pokemon allowed at a time, with no PC), and you'll quickly realize how this flaw (among others) makes the game virtually unplayable.
* ''VideoGame/Goldeneye1997'' only saves your progress after completing a mission and doesn't have any form of checkpoints, so if you screw up at the last leg of the mission, it's back to the very start of the level for you. The remake adds checkpoints.
* ''VideoGame/TheMaidOfFairewellHeights'': Can save basically anywhen, even in the middle of conversations, and there are 15 save slots.
* ''VideoGame/AVeryLongRopeToTheTopOfTheSky'': You save at {{Save Point}}s located all over the world and there are 4 save slots to put your saves in.
* ''VideoGame/BornUnderTheRain'': Save anywhere out of battle. 16 save slots.
* ''VideoGame/GunWitch'': Save anywhere, anywhen, except in cutscenes and special areas like Battle With Goga.
* ''VideoGame/OracleOfAskigaga'': Save anywhere out of battle. 16 save slots.
* ''VideoGame/OkikuStarApprentice'': Save anywhere out of battle. 16 save slots.
* Playing ''VideoGame/{{LISA}}'' in Pain mode causes save points to destroy themselves after one use. However, due to limitations with the game engine, merely ''interacting'' with the save point counts as using it, regardless of whether you actually saved the game or not.
* ''VideoGame/LiEat'': First game: Save anywhere out of battle. 20 save slots in 5 pages of 4 slots.
* ''VideoGame/HelensMysteriousCastle'': Save anywhere out of battle and cutscenes. 15 slots.
* ''VideoGame/ForgetMeNotMyOrganicGarden'': 3 slots, save anywhere outside of cutscenes.
* ''VideoGame/TheHeartPumpsClay'': Save anywhere out of battle and cutscenes. 16 slots.
* ''VideoGame/ThisStarryMidnightWeMake'': Save menu accessed from the map screen. 3 save slots.
* ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'': Once save per ''installation''. It's literally only possible to have one save. This means when you start the game, you play that game until you win, die, or restart and overwrite the save - you can't, for example, have multiple campaigns with different ships saved at the same time.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bug|1995}}!'' automatically saves progress between each worlds but only allow players to resume progress up to 3 times from any of the worlds the player has reached. If you fail to complete a world after your thirds attempt, you will need to start from an earlier world. The Japanese release [[DifficultyByRegion excises this entirely]].
* ''VideoGame/SwordOfRapier'': The game only offers 3 save slots. It does, however, allows players to save at almost any time (even in battles) and also a checkpoint save in-between areas or before boss battles.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Gloomhaven}}'' has a campaign structured much like a video game, including scenarios to complete and scenarios unlocked upon completion of earlier scenarios, unlockable character classes, and upgrades for characters and the setting. Much of what is done in-game is recorded in some way such as by marking or applying stickers to the board or removing seals from boxes, so there isn't any practical way to restore the game to an earlier state.

* ''VideoGame/SwordOfRapier'': The game only offers 3 save slots and progress can only be saved at a Save Point. It does, however, also a checkpoint save in-between areas or before boss battles.

* Almost every entry in the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series until ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' has a limit of three save files. Rough times if the game is shared by a large family or in a dorm. Save files can be copied from the file select screen. [[note]]Since the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube installments (and remakes and ports) save to memory cards, you can avoid this limit by having several. On the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} and UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, this takes some creative work with an SD card.[[/note]] ''Breath of the Wild'', on the other hand, has ''one'' permanent save per account, and a few extra slots reserved for autosaves that get automatically overwritten. ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' (only in non-Japanese versions of the N64 release), ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'' lower the save file limit from three to two.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': The first few 3D titles (''[[VideoGame/SuperMario64 64]], [[VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine Sunshine]], [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy Galaxy]]'') save only the number of {{Plot Coupon}}s gathered and associated records for each one (such as coins collected or race times), along with whether you've used them to unlock new areas. Mario himself has his VideoGameLives reset and is placed back at the starting point in the HubLevel whenever play is resumed (''Sunshine'' makes an exception with the lives, whose current count are saved). ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' goes on to save where on the PointAndClickMap the {{Faceship}} is parked, so you don't have to start at World 1 every time. And from ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'' onwards, the games save the number of lives you've collected as well as your exact location in the map (or, in the case of ''Odyssey'', your latest checkpoint in the current level).

* ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}!'' automatically saves progress between each worlds but only allow players to resume progress up to 3 times from any of the worlds the player has reached. If you fail to complete a world after your thirds attempt, you will need to start from an earlier world. The Japanese release [[DifficultyByRegion excises this entirely]].

* ''VideoGame/OriAndTheBlindForest'' requires the player to spend a point of energy to create a save point. The energy points are also used for AreaOfEffect attacks and throwable projectiles.

* The first ''Donkey Kong Land'' for the Game Boy had one of the ''worst'' save systems in history - every time you want to save the game, you must collect the four hidden K-O-N-G letters in a level. This would be bad enough on a console game; on a portable system, where a player may have to abandon the game at a moment's notice (or the batteries might run out), it's inexcusable.

*** The game lets you save any time you are in town (although it auto-saves when you breed a monster, something which was thankfully removed from the sequel). In order to keep the feel and tension of other [=DWs=], saving is mostly disabled in dungeons however. Luckily, there are certain randomly generated rooms you can save in that may spawn every 3 floors, and in longer dungeons you will definitely run into them at least once. Additionally there is an single-use item called a 'Bookmark' that allows saving in the middle of a dungeon, you can buy as many of them as needed once you get about halfway through the main game.
*** ''Dragon Warrior Monsters: Joker'' pointlessly changed the dungeon system, and only allows you to save at checkpoints on the island. Fortunately these are usually fairly easy to reach. ''Dragon Warrior Monsters: Joker 2'' then turns around and allows you to save at almost any location in the game.

* ''VideoGame/{{Turok}} 2'' features long maze-like worlds that can take hours to finish. Which wouldn't be entirely horrible if there were more than 3 save points in the entire level! Nothing like being ready to quit but either having to backtrack 15 minutes to the last save point first or forcing yourself to press on for another half hour instead. The PC version (at least the remastered version) averts this, as you can save normally as well.
** The N64 version also suffers from a form of OnlyOneSaveFile; a single game save takes nearly 3/4 of an entire Controller Pak [[note]]90 out of 123 pages[[/note]]!

** From ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' onwards, in most games the resumed playthrough puts Link at the entrance of the latest location he was, dungeon or not, thus alleviating the limitations seen with previous entries in this regard. As usual, saving inside a dungeon usually sends you back to the dungeon's entrance on restarting the game. ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' has Oocoo and her son (a pair of Creator/MCEscher-looking [[UncannyValley bird thing and head-with-wings]] respectively) who can be found in nearly every dungeon and allow you to teleport to the entrance and then return to the room you were in. ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' adds save points in dungeon rooms (''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'' doesn't, but the dungeons are usually brief and have warp portals as a shortcut). ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' mostly averts this, by retaining Link's exact position when saving anywhere in the overworld. However, reloading a save inside any Shrine or Divine Beast will always bring you back to the entrance.

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'': The games use restrooms as save points. The problem? In rank missions, these are ''only'' found right before their concluding boss battles, so you'll have to survive until then. In the first game, outside the missions, the only place to save (and thus the only default resuming point in your playthrough) is the bathroom located within Travis' motel room; with the massive city Santa Destroy is, it can be tedious to navigate through it to access the assassination jobs, part-time sidequests, and the ''many'' collectible items scattered, and then make your way back to the motel to save all your progress (even when you're using your motorbike to drive). The game also resumes from the latest save file used (for this same reason, it forces AutomaticNewGame when it's booted for the first time), so you have to manually switch to another file ''after'' resuming the current one). This is alleviated in the sequels: ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'' eliminates the need to traverse the city, giving you access to all activities from a menu; because ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroesIII'' brings back the explorable overworld, it adds multiple restrooms that, upon being repaired, serve as helpful {{Save Point}}s. And in these sequels, the inconvenience over file resuming is eliminated by giving you the option to choose which file to load from the title screen's menu (and there are more of them as well: ten in the second and twenty in the third, compared to the first's mere four).

** From ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' onwards, in most games the resumed playthrough puts Link at the entrance of the latest location he was, dungeon or not, thus alleviating the limitations seen with previous entries in this regard. As usual, saving inside a dungeon usually sends you back to the dungeon's entrance on restarting the game. ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' has Oocoo and her son (a pair of Creator/MCEscher-looking [[UncannyValley bird thing and head-with-wings]] respectively) who can be found in nearly every dungeon and allow you to teleport to the entrance and then return to the room you were in. ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' adds save points in dungeon rooms (''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'' doesn't, but the dungeons are usually brief and have warp portals as a shortcut). ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' mostly averts this, by retaining Link's exact position when saving anywhere in the overworld. However, reloading a save inside any Shrine or Devine Beast will always bring you back to the entrance.

* ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' allows saving anywhere...but only if the room has been cleared of enemies. If a room ''can't'' be cleared because enemies respawn, you can't save. You also can't save during the vampire pursuit, because of its timed objectives.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' games only let you save at the inn or at geomagnetic poles, the latter of which appears only once per stratum after the first one, (''Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan'' also has one per Land after the first). Getting a GameOver only lets you save your map and nothing else. In all other cases, you can only perform a SuspendSave.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'', taking its inspiration from 8-bit {{RPG}}s, only allows for saving in the town. The third installment adds a suspend save feature.

** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Aria of Sorrow]]'' finally gets this right; its quick save feature "suspends" your game and restarts you at the room you were in when you load up your file again.

VideoGames often place rules on when, how and where the player can save their progress in-game. Some of these were originally due to technical limitations of the hardware the games ran on, but with modern consoles having vast reserves of memory and storage space, these limitations are [[TheArtifact more because of tradition than anything else]].

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonsters'' lets you save any time you are in town (although it auto-saves when you breed a monster, something which was thankfully removed from the sequel). In order to keep the feel and tension of other [=DWs=], saving is mostly disabled in dungeons however. Luckily, there are certain randomly generated rooms you can save in that may spawn every 3 floors, and in longer dungeons you will definitely run into them at least once. Additionally there is an single-use item called a 'Bookmark' that allows saving in the middle of a dungeon, you can buy as many of them as needed once you get about halfway through the main game.

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' has a long CheckpointStarvation at the beginning, but allows you to save any time outside of battle and cutscenes...except for a prolonged duration at the end where you have to go through three boss fights and multiple cutscenes. It's an ObviousRulePatch against an {{Unwinnable}} situation, since you can't leave the area and there are no baddies to LevelGrind against; if you go back after beating the game, you will be able to save there since beating the game unlocks what's essentially a level select.

* Almost every entry in the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series until ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' has a limit of three save files. Rough times if the game is shared by a large family or in a dorm. Save files can be copied from the file select screen. [[note]]Since the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube installments (and ports) save to memory cards, you can avoid this limit by having several. On the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} and UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, this takes some creative work with an SD card.[[/note]] ''Breath of the Wild'', on the other hand, has ''one'' permanent save per account, and a few extra slots reserved for autosaves that get automatically overwritten. ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' (only in non-Japanese versions of the N64 release), ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'' lower the save file limit from three to two.

*** This is averted in the GBA port, which allows saving anywhere, and does save extra lives.
** ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' has an infamous save system. You can save only after beating a boss or mini-boss, or collecting and spending 5 star coins to open a bonus area. The game's supply of star coins and bonus areas is finite. There's no temporary save system. It being a UsefulNotes/NintendoDS game, you can suspend this game by simply closing the DS to put the game in Sleep Mode, and plugging the DS into an AC adapter. Your "reward" for finishing the game is the ability to save after every level, proving that this save system was not a technical limitation (it was, in fact, done deliberately as a throwback to older Mario games).\\\

** ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' has only save points, which means you have to continue from the last place where you saved. You better save frequently, as not only is this game long, it also has many side-missions that could require you to battle lots of enemies, and seeing as Mario's stats stay very small (Maximum 50 HP) for the whole game, it's easy to get a Game Over. Luckily, there is a save point just before all "dungeons", just before all rooms where a boss is fought (optional bosses not included), and in all towns.\\\

* The first ''VideoGame/AlienVsPredator'' game had no saves either. A patch enabled saving, but only with a limited amount of available saves. This was a deliberate design choice, of course, to preserve the pants-wetting terror of the Marine campaign.

* ''[[VideoGame/WarioMasterOfDisguise Wario: Master of Disguise]]'' autosaves whenever you exit a level. If you needed to take a break while in a level, you'd either have to find a SavePoint or use a suspend-save from the pause menu. However, if you have a suspend in play, you can't play a different save slot without losing it.