Auto Revive

I'm a fairy in a bottle baby, come- come- come on and let me out.

A video game item (or spell) which activates automatically upon your death to revive your character from KO, giving you a second chance. It may heal you partially or fully, but either way it is invariably depleted, lost, or destroyed in the process of reviving you.

Expect Artificial Stupidity to really hit your partners if Auto Revives work on them as well, as they'll easily burn through your whole supply when it only really matters if you die or not.

Subtrope of Death-Activated Superpower.

Compare 1-Up.

Examples of Auto Revive include:

• Catching fairies in bottles in Zelda series would have this effect, though you had the option of releasing them early and using them as a simple healing item.
  • In The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening this was Crazy Tracy's Magic Medicine, and you could only hold one of them at once. The The Legend of Zelda Oracle Games used a similar potion, but much more expensive (one third of the money cap).
  • Same goes for The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks and The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass.
• The Reviver Seeds in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. After use, they become Plain Seeds, which are absolutely useless... except in Explorers of Sky, where you can have Spinda make them into drinks that may boost your HP.
  • Well, not completely useless—like most seeds, they fill the belly a little bit when consumed, so they can be used to stave off hunger for a little while (though not nearly as long as an Apple would).
  • In the first games, you could have a Pokemon use the move Recycle with a bag full of Plain Seeds and Used TMs and they'd be Reviver Seeds and whatever TM they used to be again.
  • Subverted with the lookalike Reviser Seeds. Unless the user's IQ is high enough, it'll revive them... and then they immediately faint from spontaneous laughter.
• The Dragon Quest series had items called Life Stones, which wouldn't save you from all kinds of death, but would take the fall if an instant-death spell was cast upon you and worked.
• In the Final Fantasy series, the spell name (and effect) is either Auto-Life, Life 3, or Reraise, depending on the game.
  • In Chocobo's Dungeon, Phoenix Downs were modified to work like this. Using one on yourself while still alive would give you a status effect that would cause you to rise from the dead upon falling... but it would go away as soon as you'd enter the next floor.
    • Crisis Core's Phoenix Downs work similarly, but the effect never goes away, short of dying. It's possible to get said reraise status at the earliest possible moment in the game and keep it throughout the entire game.
    • The Phoenix Downs in Dirge of Cerberus worked the same as in Crisis Core.
  • A classic combo in Final Fantasy VII is to pair the Phoenix summon materia with one that activates when you die (it can't be done infinitely in the same battle, however).
  • It was once possible in Final Fantasy XI to lose Reraise due to a Status Buff Dispel, which was often very annoying in a pinch. The game was eventually patched to make it impossible to lose unless it wore off with time, zoned into certain areas, were placed under a level cap, or changed jobs.
  • Final Fantasy IX has the summon, Phoenix, which can revive all fallen allies when used. However, if the entire party is wiped and Eiko (who is the only character that can use Phoenix) is in the lineup, there's a small chance Phoenix will come on its own and revive the entire party, giving you a second chance. This can happen multiple times in a single fight, but the odds of it happening diminish each time.
  • The Final Fantasy Tactics series has Angel Rings that give Reraise when equipped. Tactics also has the all-powerful Chantage perfumes that gives the Always: Reraise, Regen buff when equipped.
    • Final Fantasy Tactics Advance also has the Blue Magic spell Angel's Whisper, and the Dragoon reaction command Dragonheart. In addition, zombies and other undead enemies always revive after a few turns unless the battle is over or a specific ability is used on their corpse.
  • And in Final Fantasy X, the final battle is quintessentially unloseable because all of your characters always have Auto-Life buffed on them automatically.
  • In Final Fantasy XIII-2, the Cactaurama's feral link can bestow this buff on your party. It's also used by Caius in almost every single one of the fights against him.
• In the first Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, the player can equip Phoenix Downs (normal revive items) on their command menu to have this effect; this is the only way to actually use these items in single player.
• The Life Shrooms in the Paper Mario series would revive you upon death, but only with a pathetic 10 HP.
  • In the sequel, where each of Mario's partners have their own HP, Life Shrooms automatically revive them too; however, if Mario suffers a KO it's Game Over.
• In World of Warcraft, the Priest talent Guardian Spirit (cast on others), the Paladin talent Ardent Defender (self-only), the Rogue talent Cheat Death (also self-only), and the Mage talent Cauterize (also self-only) give their respective beneficiaries the ability to ignore a single blow that would have killed them, instead restoring a portion of their health. Mages burn to death afterwards though, unless healed.
  • Except these three effects prevent death, rather than automatically revive them. There are other effects that trigger from deaths (e.g. Archimonde in the Battle of Mt. Hyjal raid), and these four don't trigger those.
  • Warlock soulstones and the Shaman Reincarnation ability work in a more traditional fashion, letting the user revive himself on the spot, even during combat. Hunter pets have a talent ability that also works like this. Also, the Darkmoon Card: Twisting Nether has a 10% chance to revive the user after death.
  • The Death Knight starting zone has this with Val'kyr, who will resurrect you if you die, but only every ten minutes (assuming you should be competent enough not to die more than once in ten minutes). Although this can lead to a ridiculous moment where you'll die while riding a Frost Wyrm and the Val'kyr will resurrect you.... several dozen feet in the air, allowing you to fall to your death.
• Lost Souls MUD has a variety of "life protection" effects that achieve this, with the most classic being the Amulet of Life Protection.
• Mother 3 has the Magypsy mementos.
• Nethack has the Amulet of Life Saving.
• Rations in the Metal Gear Solid series had this effect if currently equipped.
• The "dream fluff" candies you could buy in Psychonauts.
• In Fable, you can carry up to 9 Resurrection Phials that instantly bring you back to life if you run out of HP. They still exist in Fable II, but serve only to make death even more of a slap on the wrist than it already was.
• The Heart Of Darkness in Blood Omen. Came back as a Chekhov's Gun in a much later title with the exact same ability as Gameplay and Story Integration.
• Boktai 2 and 3 both use the Judgement tarot card for this purpose. Lunar Knights, its Spiritual Successor, has something similar in its Wild Cards.
  • There was also an equip item (Burning Headband) that automatically used a healing item from your inventory whenever your Life ran out while it was worn. Its counterpart (Cool Bandanna) used a restorative when your Energy was completely depleted.
• In the single player mode of Red Faction 2, you can carry up to three health kits, which function like this. If you're already carrying the max number of health kits, then you can still pick them up to gain instant health like in other first person shooters.
• The SaGa Series from Romancing SaGa 2 onwards had Revive.
• A recent module for Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach added a Cleric spell called Death Pact, which will automatically resurrect the caster if necessary.
• In Secret of Evermore, an item could revive the main character upon death, but it had a limited duration.
• Wario Land: Shake It had the Recovery Potion, which restored health to max when health drops to zero. You could only carry two of them however.
• In Dawn of Mana, you can collect chalices that will fully restore your HP and MP upon death.
• Okami has the Astral Pouch. It gradually fills with food and empties itself to revive Ammy if she dies. You can gain up to four of them, and they refill your health completely, which makes it virtually impossible to die. Justified in that you are a goddess.
• In Castlevania: Symphony of the Night the fairy familiar will automatically use a Life Apple to resurrect you if you have one in your inventory. A contributing factor to the game's infamous lack of challenge.
• The Tinker Bell summon in Kingdom Hearts I. She worked differently from the rest of the summons, your party members didn't disappear, and she could stay around indefinitely, only disappearing after she resurrected you or you dismissed her. And in addition to resurrecting you, she would constantly heal you as well. So basically, she was the Regen and Reraise status. In the second game she and Peter Pan are a full summon with all the limitations, and she can still do one Auto Revive per summon.
  • In Chain of Memories, Vexen's enemy card grants Auto-Life if it's in your deck.
  • The Auto-life panel in 358/2 Days had three levels of this: the first heals you up to one-third of your total HP, then two-thirds, then your full HP. Still only works once a mission, however.
• Chrono Trigger includes the Green Dream accessory, which can be acquired in a Sidequest, and the Life Line triple tech, usable by a party of Chrono, Marle, and Robo.
• In Super Metroid, Samus can set her Sub-tanks to automatically activate if she runs out of energy, healing her by up to 400 points of energy.
• In Magic the Gathering, the Regenerate ability lets you pay Mana to put a "Regenerate shield" on that creature, that would save the creature from destruction. They can be stacked, but not stored beyond the end of that turn. The way the game works, however, you don't actually need to put them on in advance.
• In Ragnarok Online, the Soul Linkers can learn an ability to revive them after their death and heal up to a certain percent of their life. Downsides? All previous enchantments are gone (like normally after death), loss of experience (so you might as well die and restore at your save point) and of course the fact that casting this Auto Revive spell takes few precious seconds. Considering that it takes some effort to kill a Soul Linker in the first place (they have an abiltiy to auto-heal them every time they are hit, but it ALWAYS heals and it can drain MP fast), whatever managed to kill him while he was buffed, it will have little to no problems killing a "clean" Soul Linker again.
• The X-Box Ninja Gaiden has Talismans of Rebirth. If Ryu is killed while carrying one, it gets used up to fill his health to the max. There aren't many to find in the game, and they're expensive to buy, so many players would rather restart and save them for the tougher bosses.
• Devil May Cry has Yellow Orbs, but until the third game they were only an automatic revival in the Japanese versions, and in the American versions they just allowed you to continue one room before where you died.
• In Mega Man 7, Beat the bird-bot acted something like this, but only for Bottomless Pits. As a reference to this, the bird-type Cyber-elves do the same in Mega Man Zero.
• The Suikoden series has, by various names known, the "Sacrificial Jizo" item or accessory that, when equipped, allows the character to come back (once) with a few hundred hit-points.
• Since the game ends when the Protagonist is killed in Persona 3 and Persona 4, the Game's Easy Mode grants you 10 Plumes of Dusk (Or Moon Tsukubame in Persona4) that will fully heal the party upon the protagonist's defeat. (You get 20 Plumes of Dusk in Beginner Mode in the PSP Edition). In addition, one can create Homunculi to protect party members from Hama and Mudo skills.
• The Last Breath tarot card in Painkiller revives you with 33 health points the first time you die in a level.
• In Breath of Fire III you can equip Soul Rings for a one-shot full revive. They are pretty much required to stand a chance at defeating the game's two strongest enemies.
• In Guild Wars, you can enchant yourself with Eternal Aura, which resurrects all party members in the area when it ends. If you die with it on, that counts as it ending. Also, you count as a party member. There's a similar effect with the ashes of Naomei, which trigger a wide-area rez when dropped (and if you die carrying them, they drop).
• Many Armor and Aura powersets in City of Heroes feature powers that can revive the user after they've been defeated. The effects range from "Get up through sheer willpower" to "Explode in a burst of flames". Also, all characters have access to revive inspirations, also known as "Wakies". Unless the power has the added bonus of a Enemy Crippling Debuff, anything that can kill you with your toggles on can do so even more quickly without them.
• Phantasy Star Online introduced Scape Dolls to the series - if you die, the doll breaks and you revive on the spot. Rare as shit to find. Becomes a bit more common - and, in some cases, necessary - in the later games.
• In any fantasy game, this tends to be a natural ability of the Phoenix. However, they can either only do it once, or they do so by turning into an egg, which can be destroyed before they hatch again.
• The first aid spray in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.
• In Warcraft 3, the Tauren Chieftain's ultimate skill lets him auto-revive with full health every four minutes, and carrying an Ankh of Reincarnation allows a hero to auto-revive once with 500 hitpoints. The Blood Mage's ultimate summons a Phoenix which turns into an egg on death, from which will spring another Phoenix if it isn't destroyed after about 10 seconds.
• In Castle Crashers, potions are used that way in multiplayer. You can use them as regular healing item though. And you must use them like that on solo mode.
• Spelunky features the Ankh which returns dead spelunkers back to level entrance with 4 Hit Points. This item is actually necessary to get to the City of Gold.
• Heroes of Might and Magic IV features the Potion of Immortality. It can be purchased in any town for only 1000 gold, and if you make your hero drink it, he will be resurrected and revived to full health if he dies. Combined with a high-level Barbarian, this is almost a Game Breaker.
• The "Ancient Crystal" item in Odin Sphere provides this effect when equipped. It is also the only way to remove "Curse" (delayed One-Hit Kill) status.
• In Dragon Age: Origins, Wynne's plot-related ability gives her a chance of magically being revived when she falls in combat.
  • Atton's unique ability in Knights of the Old Republic 2 likewise gives him a chance of reviving, provided at least one of his allies is still standing.
• The Life Ward Potion in Dragon Age II instantly resuscitates a character who drank it before suffering a Non-Lethal KO, with 40% of their health restored.
• The item "Guardian Angel" in League of Legends, as well as Zilean's ultimate.
• Vay has the Life Stone, which instantly and completely brings your party back to life (restoring their HP and MP) if everyone gets knocked out. Since this is a potential Game Breaker item, there is exactly one Stone to be found in the entire game.
• Fatal Frame games have the Stone Mirror. You can only bring one with you at any time.
• Adventure Island IV has a fairy (who fulfilled the role of Invincibility Power-Up in earlier games) who can revive Higgins and send him back right to where he died and dissappear after use. She's acquirable at minigames found throughout the game.
• Some of the Tales (series) series games have the buff Revive which activates instantly when the party member is KO'ed while under the effect of the spell. There are also revive rings which revive character upon KO with a minuscule chance of not breaking upon usage.
• In the Epic Battle Fantasy series, Auto Revive is a status effect gained by casting Revive on an alive player; this even happens with spells like Natz's Genesis limit break, which casts revive on all players.
• The Medicine in Hydlide.
• Solatorobo has the rare Revive parts. If installed when your health hits 0, they do exactly what you'd expect, then vanish forever. Actually fairly useful for the Boss Rush side-missions.
• Baten Kaitos Origins has the rare Cross Pendant, which will revive a character if it's equipped when the character dies. It takes a bit of luck to use it.
• "Aura of the Valar" is a spell featured in Idrial's magic loadout, in Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. The effect of the spell lasts until it's activated or until the encounter ends. The effect of the aura will automaticly revive the character instantly upon death (along with full HP and AP) and give the turn to that character.
  • If cast on the elf herself you can not lose the encounter since she can just cast it again when revived by its effect. This means that she cannot die no matter what. Winning the fight can still be a problem though.