Finishing Move

Overview

A Finishing Move is a technique that the player can use to kill or defeat a weakened enemy. Although most commonly used in fighting games, many other genres and games have included Finishing Moves, such as God of War and Kingdom Hearts 2.

Notable examples

God of War

Another version of Finishing Moves was included in God of War. Some bosses need to be engaged in a quick time event to end the fight. Lesser enemies in the game can also be killed with Finishing Moves, but the sequences are generally shorter and not required. If an enemy is killed via a Finishing Move the player was rewarded with extra experience orbs, health, or magic.

Guilty Gear

In the Guilty Gear series the player could perform a move that, if it connects with an opponent, would instantly kill them, regardless of his health. These moves, though, were usually slow, easy to dodge and would leave the player at a severe disadvantage if he missed.

Kingdom Hearts 2

When fighting certain bosses in KH2 you could not kill them with melee attacks alone. The player would have to engage in quick time events to finish off his enemy.

Manhunt

Manhunt had three different degrees of finishing moves that depend on how long the action button is held down. They can be hasty, violent or gruesome and, in addition to those, jump executions and environmental executions could also be performed.

Mortal Kombat

The Mortal Kombat series has spawned at least eight different finishing moves, including: Animality, Mercy, Babalities, Brutalities, Fatalities, Friendships, Fergalities, Hara-Kiri, and Multality.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Each character features their own unique "final smash", some of which are excellent knockout moves, while others deal a lot of damage to one or multiple foes. A "smash ball" item is required to use this move; when it appears it floats around the screen like a balloon and players must chase it down and hit it until it breaks.

Barbarian

A Commodore 64 title in which player could immediately end the fight by means of decapitation with a sword.

Time Killers

A brutal game with finishing moves limited to limb removal and decapitation for each character.

Dark Sector

An action TPP game similar to Gears of War which besides shooting involves some monster specific finishing moves performed mostly with a three bladed glaive.

Prototype

You can not only finish the enemies in numerous brutal way, but also violently slay innocent bystanders using Alex Mercer's mutant powers.

Ninja Blade

In Ninja Blade when the boss character's health reaches zero the protagonist - Ken Ogawa - is able to initiate a finishing quick time event sequence called todome, which often involves incredible acrobatic skills and a sheer amount of bloodshed.

Nightmare Creatures 2

When certain enemy types are low on health the protagonist can perform a fatality (always done with the same simple 2 button combination). The anti-hero mercilessly slays his monstrous opponents with various swings of his axe with gallons of blood painting nearby walls red.