History Main / OneHitPointWonder

* Could arguably apply to the Cevidroni from ''Website/GoodbyeStrangersAndTheFearfulFrontier'', whose flesh is so weak it loses its tail and mouth after generation. And they don't grow back. And when it tries to attack sensitives, it damages itself instead.

Compare UntouchableUntilTagged (where a single failure to dodge dooms a character) and HPToOne (an attack which turns characters into this). Contrast OneHitKill. If it's a mook whose One Hit Point is exceptionally hard to remove, you've probably encountered a MetalSlime.

** [[spoiler:Tainted Lost]] in ''Repentance'' take it even further. He foregoes the safety of a Holy Mantle and has to rely on the much more weaker and randomly dropping Holy Cards for a single hit of protection and can't get ExtraLife items and certain powerful defensive items. In exchange, he has a better item pool that excludes normally useless items and has a higher chance of finding rarer items, which can lead to beyond godlike runs (where instant defeat is ''always'' right around the corner).

** In the earlier games, it was quite possible for a first-level player character to have only one hit point, since you rolled only one die to set your maximum hit points. Common house rules were to set all first-level characters first hit die as the maximum roll, and this got formalized by 3rd edition.

** In the earlier games, it was quite possible for a first-level player character to be this. [[SquishyWizard First-level magic users were especially prone to being this]] due to having the smallest hit dice in the game and their inability to equip any armor, leading to a tendency to die if an enemy so much as ''looked'' at them funny. This was partially fixed in version 3.5 with the rule that all characters get their maximum hit die roll at first level.
*** To clarify, you were supposed in early D&D to roll for hit points at all levels and to roll for stats using 3d6. This meant you were unlikely to have a sufficiently high Constitution to get bonus hit points and had a chance to have a penalty to hit points rolled, minimum 1 per level. This mean magic users, roll a four sided dice with a possible penalty, had a really good chance to embody this trope literally.
** High level play in 1st through 3rd edition, has this effect due to the sheer number of save or die effects which bypass hit point pools and just kill outright.
** 5th edition can allow this sort of gameplay by combining it with CriticalExistenceFailure. Characters who fall to zero [=HP=] have three turns to save themselves and become stable, but having even one hit point lets the character get back up and fight (although any maintained effects like a barbarian's rage or concentration-requiring spells are ended). Combine with Healing Word (a ranged healing spell available to several classes that can be cast as a free action), and some encounters turn into cycles of one poor IronButtMonkey who keeps taking horrifying amounts of damage, dropping to zero, being revived and attacking until he falls again while the rest of the party attacks the enemy.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Shedinja is a unique example of this in a game that doesn't usually use it. While lifebars do exist in-game, Shedinja only ever has a single hit point, making its own life bar rather pointless. It's kept from being a [[JokeCharacter novelty Pokémon]] by its ability, "Wonder Guard", which protects it from all direct damage that isn't super effective. Unfortunately, Wonder Guard doesn't protect Shedinja from ''indirect'' damage; meaning everything from StatusEffects, damaging weather such as hail or sandstorms, entry hazards like Stealth Rocks or Spikes, Leech Seed, and even recoil from its own attacks are fair game.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'': In the Wanted multiplayer mode, everyone dies in one hit.

* ''VideoGame/BattleKidFortressOfPeril'', as a natural consequence of being heavily inspired by ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy''.

* ''VideoGame/SoManyMe'': [[PlayerCharacter Filo]] and his Mes will burst into green mist upon being hit by any enemy or obstacle in the game.

** Jumpman (later renamed [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]), from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' arcade game. Not only will he die from touching one of the various hazards (barrels, spring-things, fire, pies), he'll also die [[UpToEleven just from falling several feet.]]

* The tank from the eponymous minigame in ''VideoGame/WiiPlay'' cannot take a single hit, else it will be destroyed. Many of the opposing tanks can only tank just as many hits.

* ''VideoGame/TrainYourMinibot'': If [[PlayerCharacter Minibot]] touches the floor, the level's failed and he goes ragdoll.

* ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' 4 had a weird example of this, in that while on Super Hard Mode you technically do have more health, you always ''start'' the levels with only one hit point left, usually right in front of a monster ready to kill you on contact. So you're always a One-Hit-Point Wonder for the first half of every level.

* ''VideoGame/TokiTori'': The eponymous chick dies in one hit from an enemy or {{spikes|OfDoom}}. Since the game is a PuzzlePlatformer, it is mandatory to find out ''how'' to avoid the monsters; avoiding them is the easy part.
* ''VideoGame/TrainYourMinibot'': [[PlayerCharacter Minibot]] can [=NOT=] touch the floor, otherwise the level's considered a failure and he goes ragdoll.

* ''VideoGame/{{Ristar}}'' featured this. The highest ({{s|elfImposedChallenge}}ecret) difficulty level not only turned the titular character into a 1HP Wonder, but also a One-''Life'' Wonder; one touch is literal instant death, and all health and 1ups are converted to gems. However, as compensation, the game gives unlimited continues in this mode, meaning death only sends one back to the start of the level.

* Ironically, Ado, the ThatOneBoss of ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamland3'', is this. Once you defeat all her drawings, she jumps down from her pedestal and blindly charges forward, only to die to '''ANY''' attack. Even Kirby's ''sliding kick'' can defeat her in one hit, and that attack is normally useless against bosses or minibosses. [[FridgeBrilliance There's a reason she makes you fight so many living drawings beforehand.]] The same applies to Adeleine in ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'' and their robotic Expy Holo-Defense API in ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot''.

* ''VideoGame/DontLookBack'': Although combined with DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist.

** Jumpman (later renamed [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]), from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' arcade game. Not only will he die from touching one of the various hazards (barrels, spring-things, fire, pies), he'll also die if he falls several feet.

* The titular character from ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' is this whenever he doesn't have rings. ''Videogame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' and ''Videogame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' took full advantage of this with their FinalBoss [[BossOnlyLevel levels]], The Final Zone, and Death Egg zone, which do not contain even a single ring.

* The titular character from ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' is this whenever he doesn't have rings. ''Videogame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' took full advantage of this with its FinalBoss [[BossOnlyLevel level]], Death Egg zone, which does not contain even a single ring.

** ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'': Dread Mode, a difficulty added in a free update on February 9, 2022, turns Samus into this, meaning ''any enemy'' will kill her in a single hit.