History NeverSayDie / VideoGames

** ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheOrigamiKing'' goes back to avoiding "die". Bobby mentions a friend of his who was "scrapped".

* In ''VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline'', when you die you are "knocked out". The game also usually refers to killing mobs for quests as "destroying" or "knocking out".

* An egregious if little known example is the European English version of ''VideoGame/DragonBallZLegendarySuperWarriors'' on the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor. It appears that the censors did a find/replace on the words 'die', 'died', 'death', 'kill' and 'killed' and switched them all for 'lost', regardless of sentence structure. So while things like "I can't believe Piccollo lost!" make sense, more or less, you also get dialogue like "Lost, Vegeta! Lost!", "The entire planet will lost!", and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymuczR7oZH4 "I guess you DO want to lost!"]]

** Ironically, two of Nintendo's own titles got away with it in the {{UsefulNotes/SNES}} era. ''VideoGame/FZero'' got to keep its Death Wind courses, and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' retained Death Mountain even in the American version (likely thanks to the GrandfatherClause, since the name first appeared in the original ''VideoGame/{{The Legend of Zelda|I}}'' manual before the policy was strictly enforced). This trope is averted in the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda1 first]] and [[VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink second]] Zelda games--specifically, the FDS ports of these two: in the English/Western NES releases, the file deletion function is called "Elimination Mode", but in the original Famicom Disk System ports, this function is ''explicitly'' referred to as "Kill Mode".

* The {{UsefulNotes/SNES}} port of ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' replaced the "Super Death Blow" (actually a literal translation of "Chou Hissatsu Waza", the Japanese term for Super Moves) with a "Super Fire Blow". The ending also awkwardly phrases the assassinations of Lonette Sakazaki and Jeff Bogard as "defeats".

** The later games (UsefulNotes/{{P|layStation2}}S2-era on) definitely avert this trope, replacing the word "Capture" with "Execute" - complete with death quotes (usually pleas for mercy) and the telltale sound of a sword being unsheathed. Although it's usually a good idea to hire them first if they're skilled - then to check to see if they've got a large family. Executing someone with the family name Sun will make your life very difficult later.

* The manual for the ''Franchise/ActionMan'' game on UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor makes a big deal about the fact that all the enemies are robots and that your weapons are [[{{EMP}} anti-robot only]].

* The 1992 UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis fighting game ''Deadly Moves'' (originally called ''VideoGame/PowerAthlete'' in Japan), was retitled ''Power Moves'' when it was ported to the Super NES. It became HilariousInHindsight when Nintendo later published a certain game called ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct''.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' renamed the Death and Kill spells "RUB" and "XXXX". Even the later UsefulNotes/PlayStation release still used lighter names, "Reaper" and "Doom".

** Ironically, two of Nintendo's own titles got away with it in the {{UsefulNotes/SNES}} era. ''VideoGame/FZero'' got to keep its Death Wind courses, and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' retained Death Mountain even in the American version (likely thanks to the GrandfatherClause, since the name first appeared in the original ''VideoGame/{{The Legend of Zelda|I}}'' manual before the policy was strictly enforced). This trope is averted in the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda1 first]] and [[VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink second]] Zelda games--specifically, the FDS ports of these two: in the English/Western NES releases, the file deletion function is called "Elimination Mode", but in the original Famicom Disk System ports, this function is specifically referred to as "Kill Mode".

** Ironically, two of Nintendo's own titles got away with it in the {{UsefulNotes/SNES}} era. ''VideoGame/FZero'' got to keep its Death Wind courses, and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' retained Death Mountain even in the American version (likely thanks to the GrandfatherClause, since the name first appeared in the original ''VideoGame/{{The Legend of Zelda|I}}'' manual before the policy was strictly enforced). This trope is averted in the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda1 first]] and [[VideoGame/Zelda2TheAdventureOfLink second]] Zelda games--specifically, the FDS ports of these two: in the English/Western NES releases, the file deletion function is called "Elimination Mode", but in the original Famicom Disk System ports, this function is specifically referred to as "Kill Mode".

** Ironically, two of Nintendo's own titles got away with it in the {{UsefulNotes/SNES}} era. ''VideoGame/FZero'' got to keep its Death Wind courses, and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' retained Death Mountain even in the American version (likely thanks to the GrandfatherClause, since the name first appeared in the original ''VideoGame/{{The Legend of Zelda|I}}'' manual before the policy was strictly enforced).

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** Overall Zigzagged.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'':
*** The game averts it in a surprisingly dark moment in the game's intro, where Captain Cyllene says, in no uncertain terms, that she will kick the (teenage FishOutOfTemporalWater) protagonist out of the village and leave them to "meet your fate -- and perhaps your death" if they can't pull their own weight and earn their keep. Once they've proven themselves to her, she hammers the point home with "It seems we won't have to leave you to die, after all".

** The game changes [[VideoGame/{{Castlevania}} Richter Belmont]]'s iconic line from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' from "Die, monster! You do not belong in this world!" to something that removes the references to death.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]'''s in-game filter in the chatroom and ''shikigami'' comment sections does not allow posts containing the kanji for "death" 死, making it difficult to talk about a skill of [[ThePenIsMightier Hangan]]'s where he writes said character in explosive ink, for one.

* In ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1989'', the turtles don't die, they "get caught". Justified at least in the NES version since they DO get caught if defeated and can be found tied up in a chair and rescued in later levels.

** Overall: zig-zagged. The main games in the series use "fainted" when a Pokémon is given a NonLethalKO in a battle. However, "fainting" in battle is explicitly a separate concept from death both in and outide of it, as there are cemeteries in the games and regular mention of post-mortem Pokémon. Ironically, "fainting" was used as the term because Satoshi Taijiri didn't want kids to pick up on a DeathIsCheap message: running off to heal your critter after letting it fight to exhaustion? Understandable. Forcing critters into a death match, resurrecting them, then making a sport out of it? Not so much.