Titles in the minority. Most Puzzle games avoid death, but at the same time avoid any characters so there is no potential of death either. For example Tetris.

However some games like Pokemon manage to create character empathy and play out a full story complete with battles and fights and yet none of the characters actually die. Can you guys think of any other examples?

I'm sure there are plenty of examples of games with no deaths. Two that come to my mind are Animal Crossing and Katamari Damacy.

"I'm sure there are plenty of examples of games with no deaths. Two that come to my mind are Animal Crossing and Katamari Damacy.
"

sports games

The main characters or complete lack of death across the board?

If complete lack of death...

BioShock?

The upcoming Fable 2?

"But what happens to all those people when they get rolled up?"

My favorite is the game over: is there any game that doesn't have that eventually?

*RIse from your soil you 2 years old topic on a dead forum about death*
*cough* 
sorry about this but I just couldn't resist to post.
 
This instantly brought a Wario Land 3, for Game Boy Color, to my mind. I really, really liked that game when I was a kid. You never could die or see any kind of game over screen despite it being a pure side scrolling platformer. The worst thing you can experience is to get pushed back to the beginning of the level because of a screw up, such as touching an enemy to turn you into a zombie and falling trough bunch of floors. Of course that's really rare, most of the time there are situations where you just simply lose few seconds, such as climbing up to an earlier point after getting bumped into water from a ledge. 
 
I'd say it still is one of the most fun 2D platformers to date featuring some of the tightest level designs ever. This game also provides me some of the fondest gaming memories I can remember ^^ Definitely recommending to anyone interested to try some old GBC game, there is no doubt that it's one of the best and prettiest looking games on the platform.

Street Fighter? You only get knocked out.

The 2008 Prince of Persia game doesn't have death at all.

" The 2008 Prince of Persia game doesn't have death at all. "

Arkham Asylum, although I guess Batman could kinda die.  And there were dead bodies.  But you don't kill anybody at all.

" Arkham Asylum, although I guess Batman could kinda die.  And there were dead bodies.  But you don't kill anybody at all. "

" @Wildfire570 said:

" The 2008 Prince of Persia game doesn't have death at all. "

Oh, of course. Didn't come to my mind at all. I hated that game and loved the other ones. Deaths are essential for a modern platformer, was only worth a rental for me because of that. "

Flower

Banjo Kazooie N&B. 

" @Nintendude said:

" @Wildfire570 said:

" The 2008 Prince of Persia game doesn't have death at all. "

Oh, of course. Didn't come to my mind at all. I hated that game and loved the other ones. Deaths are essential for a modern platformer, was only worth a rental for me because of that. "

Really? I actually enjoyed that game for that very reason, it was the first platforming game I have played since Jak and Daxter series so it was rough getting used to falling. Kept me from throwing my controller. "

Hmm, maybe another question might be "Games that don't include loss?" Or is that even possible?
 
Because really, as your original post states, games that avoid character avoid death.  Pajitnov could have included the image of  a human manually moving the tetrinos around, who would get "killed" when the lines reached the top of the screen.
But games like tetris just abstract the notion of a human avatar until it becomes unrecognizable.
In other words, although there's no human-like object that "dies" in tetris, you can still "lose", which is essentially dying, until you restart the game.
Same thing for Katamari, you "die" by failing to meet the conditions imposed to pass the level.
 
I'm trying to remember if you can "die" in flower, or whether you just keep going until you win. Do they time out your  game? 
 
*Are* there any games that don't have some form of "death"? And I guess to be clear, by "death" I mean an in-game state where you cannot do anything until you "resart" the game, however that's handled by each game.

Soulreaver

I don't think you can die in The Maw, but I haven't finished it yet, so maybe you can later.

" @Wildfire570 said:

" The 2008 Prince of Persia game doesn't have death at all. "

Oh, of course. Didn't come to my mind at all. I hated that game and loved the other ones. Deaths are essential for a modern platformer, was only worth a rental for me because of that. "

 @thekingoftoilets:  Charlie's dead but yeah, I don't think they ever show someone dying.
  I can't think of a rhythm game that you die in.

" @Nintendude said:

" @Wildfire570 said:

" The 2008 Prince of Persia game doesn't have death at all. "

Oh, of course. Didn't come to my mind at all. I hated that game and loved the other ones. Deaths are essential for a modern platformer, was only worth a rental for me because of that. "

You make my brain hurt. It is essentially the same thing as dying sans the reload screen. Why the fuck would you want the load screen? Do you like wasting your time? "

"*Are* there any games that don't have some form of "death"? And I guess to be clear, by "death" I mean an in-game state where you cannot do anything until you "resart" the game, however that's handled by each game. "

" @LiquidPrince:@LiquidPrince said:

" @Nintendude said:

" @Wildfire570 said:

" The 2008 Prince of Persia game doesn't have death at all. "

Oh, of course. Didn't come to my mind at all. I hated that game and loved the other ones. Deaths are essential for a modern platformer, was only worth a rental for me because of that. "

You make my brain hurt. It is essentially the same thing as dying sans the reload screen. Why the fuck would you want the load screen? Do you like wasting your time? "

It just worked much better in the sands trilogy in my opinion. i loved those and this one was too different for me. I think it's just the matter of not really risking as much as you used to. "

Peggle, sports games, kart racers

" @Nintendude said:

" @LiquidPrince:@LiquidPrince said:

" @Nintendude said:

" @Wildfire570 said:

" The 2008 Prince of Persia game doesn't have death at all. "

Oh, of course. Didn't come to my mind at all. I hated that game and loved the other ones. Deaths are essential for a modern platformer, was only worth a rental for me because of that. "

You make my brain hurt. It is essentially the same thing as dying sans the reload screen. Why the fuck would you want the load screen? Do you like wasting your time? "

It just worked much better in the sands trilogy in my opinion. i loved those and this one was too different for me. I think it's just the matter of not really risking as much as you used to. "

Trust me, I'm Giantbomb's resident fanboy. I still don't understand why people complained about it. "

" @LiquidPrince said:

" @Nintendude said:

" @LiquidPrince:@LiquidPrince said:

" @Nintendude said:

" @Wildfire570 said:

" The 2008 Prince of Persia game doesn't have death at all. "

Oh, of course. Didn't come to my mind at all. I hated that game and loved the other ones. Deaths are essential for a modern platformer, was only worth a rental for me because of that. "

You make my brain hurt. It is essentially the same thing as dying sans the reload screen. Why the fuck would you want the load screen? Do you like wasting your time? "

It just worked much better in the sands trilogy in my opinion. i loved those and this one was too different for me. I think it's just the matter of not really risking as much as you used to. "

Trust me, I'm Giantbomb's resident fanboy. I still don't understand why people complained about it. "

Heheh, it's just a matter of preference and people tending to stick with something more familiar style of mechanic. Especially with this kind of situation where it has always been the other way. For me, it was purely the lack of bigger penalty which made the game feel just that little bit too easy. "

Rapelay! it holy has death if you cant rape correctly

" @Nintendude said:

" @LiquidPrince said:

" @Nintendude said:

" @LiquidPrince:@LiquidPrince said:

" @Nintendude said:

" @Wildfire570 said:

" The 2008 Prince of Persia game doesn't have death at all. "

Oh, of course. Didn't come to my mind at all. I hated that game and loved the other ones. Deaths are essential for a modern platformer, was only worth a rental for me because of that. "

You make my brain hurt. It is essentially the same thing as dying sans the reload screen. Why the fuck would you want the load screen? Do you like wasting your time? "

It just worked much better in the sands trilogy in my opinion. i loved those and this one was too different for me. I think it's just the matter of not really risking as much as you used to. "

Trust me, I'm Giantbomb's resident fanboy. I still don't understand why people complained about it. "

Heheh, it's just a matter of preference and people tending to stick with something more familiar style of mechanic. Especially with this kind of situation where it has always been the other way. For me, it was purely the lack of bigger penalty which made the game feel just that little bit too easy. "

So you're saying people don't like innovation. "

" @Nintendude said:

" @Wildfire570 said:

" The 2008 Prince of Persia game doesn't have death at all. "

Oh, of course. Didn't come to my mind at all. I hated that game and loved the other ones. Deaths are essential for a modern platformer, was only worth a rental for me because of that. "

You make my brain hurt. It is essentially the same thing as dying sans the reload screen. Why the fuck would you want the load screen? Do you like wasting your time? "

the simpsons hit and run

" @masternater27 said:

" Arkham Asylum, although I guess Batman could kinda die.  And there were dead bodies.  But you don't kill anybody at all. "

Never played it myself but that's quite interesting, it's even more rare that way around when a game features enemies to defeat. "