History Main / SaveScumming

* In ''{{Franchise/Disgaea}}'', you can steal items and weapons from enemies using hand items. Most items come in three rarity types, Common, Rare and Legendary. The rarity of the enemy items is randomized, so players save-scum to get Legendary items, especially the Rank 40 Weapons from [[SuperBoss Item Gods]]

* Two examples from ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' and its sequel ''Literature/{{Ward}}'':
** Coil can do something like this. His power allows him to split his perception between two nearly perfect simulations of the near future, separated a decision point that he controls. Having observed two possible futures, he selects one and acts it out, which allows him to try out a pair of strategies while remaining safe and then choose the optimal one. He uses this to great effect in manipulating economics and [[DiabolicalMastermind taking over the city.]] It should be noted that per WordOfGod Coil doesn't fully understand his power and thinks he is actually creating two alternate realities and then deleting one of them every time he uses his ability.
** Imp's power causes others to [[PerceptionFilter completely fail to notice her with any of their senses,]] and [[LaserGuidedAmnesia forget having ever perceived her or anything she's done that they've observed]]. It's on by default, but she can suppress it to allow others to notice her. She uses it to "replay" conversations and interactions with others until she gets the result she wants, by causing people to forget anything she has done and trying again.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'' series:

''Much'' easier (and more tempting) to do with emulators, which often have save state features that allow the player to instantly backtrack anywhere, anytime, making the lives system pointless. This and other emulator features are used to put together or practice for "perfect" runs of pattern-based video games, especially 2D shooters. PlatformHell games are made with this in mind (with [[VideoGame/KaizoMarioWorld horrifying results]]), and SpeedRun players use this to get the exact sequence of events required to make absolute fastest time. These are called "tool-assisted speedruns", and the divide between savescummed and classic speedruns is vast. The gamers on both sides [[BrokenBase defend their position vehemently]]. In addition, emulator save states have one major downfall: the ability to save yourself into a corner. Without limits on when you can save, it becomes possible to save the game in situations that make the game {{Unwinnable}}, such as ''saving at the GameOver screen''. Smarter players will use multiple saves in case this happens by accident, but a newcomer to the art of save state scumming can easily find himself trapped.

** The first game practically doesn't even give you a choice when it comes to getting the Advanced Art Books needed to fully level up your characters' skills. They can only be obtained from boss-level monsters that are all level seventy or higher, and some of them have very difficult spawn conditions. And just to add insult to injury, some of these Art Books have a [[RareRandomDrop drop rate of less than one percent.]] So your choices for getting these books are to either go through the pains to repeatedly respawn these boss-level enemies, then fight them and beat them, and then rinse and repeat until you get the item, or just spawn and beat them once, save, and then open the chest that they drop. Since the contents of the chest aren't determined until after you open them, you can just keep reloading your save until you get the item you want.

* ''{{Hamtaro}}: Ham-Ham Games'', like the other ''Hamtaro'' licensed games, has no manual save function and autosaves when moving between from one area to another. In case you still try Save Scumming your way to victory by restarting in the middle of an event, the game starts up immediately ''after'' the event and [[DevelopersForesight declares you the loser,]] [[NoFairCheating regardless of how you were actually doing in the event itself.]]

* Every ''Franchise/{{Hitman}}'' game has save points to some degree. ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'' lets you have up to seven slots, while ''VideoGame/HitmanAbsolution'' is checkpoint-based (meaning save scumming is actually enforced). ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'' and ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' use identical save systems, and allows you to save in eight separate slots, and combines this with an auto-save, which itself also has eight separate slots.

* Abused as a highly-popular strategy among seasoned veterans of the ''VideoGame/{{XCOM}}'' series. Because a single, sometimes seemingly insignificant unit placement mistake or missed shot can cause someone to have their face melted off with alien plasma weapons at best or a [[UnwinnableByMistake ruined campaign state]] at worst, it would be wise to make and keep many, ''many'' saves as the player progresses through the missions in case something goes wrong.

* The Snake Miraculous in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' has the power of "Second Chance", which allows the user to mark down a specific point in time and then return to that point at will, retaining their memories. This can be done an unlimited number of times, but can only be used to travel back a maximum of five minutes.

* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'': As an homage to classic RPGs, the Rogue abilities and their percentage-based success rates can be overcome if the player is willing to invest enough time and resets until they succeed.

* In ''Series/{{DayBreak2006}}'', Detective Brett Hopper is framed for murder and has to unravel the conspiracy while experiencing a GroundhogDayLoop. While this means he has to do a lot of things over and over again, he finds he can effectively save his progress if he gets certain peripheral things right, eg. once he manages to convince his police partner's ex-boyfriend to go to rehab, he finds that the guy reaches that decision on his own every subsequent day.

* This style of play is seen as an inherent part of the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series. Until ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem Mystery of the Emblem]]'' introduced "Casual Mode"[[note]]-- and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'' introduced the [[EasierThanEasy even more forgiving]] "Phoenix Mode" --[[/note]], every installment had players dealing with FinalDeath at ''every difficulty level''. Any character that falls in battle is unable to be used again and is even removed from the game entirely depending on their plot importance. As a result, most players quickly restart whenever someone is killed to prevent their death.

** This is basically the standard approach to the blackjack game in ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry'', which is necessary to accumulate sufficient finances but is a LuckBasedMission. Same with the slots-o-death machine in ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestITheSarienEncounter''

* A rare dark (almost as dark as it gets) example is in ''Film/FunnyGames'': just when it seemed that the heroes managed to turn the tables on the sadist killers, the latter ([[BreakingTheFourthWall with a wink to the audience]]) literally '''rewinded''' the film and made necessary changes. Alhough used only once, this move instils [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy crushing sense of helplessness on the audience]].

* If you exit the game in ''VideoGame/SlayTheSpire'' and reload, you'll start over at the start of the fight. However, it still uses the same seed, so if you try the exact same actions as before, it'll have the same outcome.
''However'', you can still manipulate the seed by changing the order of card draw or killing monsters and such.

* In ''Nightmare of Druaga'', the save file is marked "Do Not Copy." And if you close the game by any means other than a save and quit, it subjects you to a rant about mucking with the flow of time, and if you answer even ONE question the wrong way, it inflicts you with the death penalty. and the rant gets longer each time, with new questions. Heaven help you if the power goes out while playing.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''

* Subverted with Kang the Conqueror. He admits he can easily go back in time and replay his losses to achieve victory. He also acknowledges he can just go back and stop the Avengers from ever being born. However, Kang finds the Avengers far too worthy foes to take such an easy victory. He wants the satisfaction of beating them in their primes and on their own terms. To simply replay his losses to make them wins would be cheating and Kang knows that undermines any victory he could boast.
* Creator/JonathanHickman's ''[[ComicBook/JonathanHickmansXMen House of X]]'' reveals that [[spoiler:Moira [=MacTaggert=] ]]has a mutant power that works like this. When she dies, her consciousness returns to the moment of her birth and she restarts her life with full knowledge of the ones that came before. She's spent nine lives trying to find a harmonious solution to the problem of human/mutant relations; the series (and by extension all her previous appearances) show her tenth and possibly final attempt.

''Much'' easier (and more tempting) to do with emulators, which often have save state features that allow the player to instantly backtrack anywhere, anytime, making the lives system pointless. This and other emulator features are used to put together or practice for "perfect" runs of pattern-based video games, especially 2D shooters. PlatformHell games are made with this in mind (with [[VideoGame/KaizoMarioWorld horrifying results]]), and SpeedRun players use this to get the exact sequence of events required to make absolute fastest time. These are called "tool-assisted speedruns", and the divide between savescummed and classic speedruns is vast. The gamers on both sides defend their position vehemently. In addition, emulator save states have one major downfall: the ability to save yourself into a corner. Without limits on when you can save, it becomes possible to save the game in situations that make the game {{Unwinnable}}, such as ''saving at the GameOver screen''. Smarter players will use multiple saves in case this happens by accident, but a newcomer to the art of save state scumming can easily find himself trapped.