You Only Live Once

You Only Live Once Is a 2009 flash game by Raitendo. It can be found here and on Newgrounds here.

One day Jemaine, a 28-year-old forester from Kent, receives a note in the mail from the evil Sir Giant Pink Lizard stating that his girlfriend has been kidnapped. Jemaine sets out to rescue his girlfriend.

The game's gimmick is that you literally only live once. Unlike most platformer games, if you die, you die for good. No extra lives, no one-ups, nothing. Instead, when you try to play the game again, you are treated to a series of animations regarding Jemaine's death (or, if you manage to beat the game, Sir Giant Pink Lizard's death). And you will never be able to play the game again. Ever.

Well, technically, you can reply the game by simply deleting you flash history, but shhhhh!! We don't need to tell anyone that.

---

Tropes used in You Only Live Once include:

• Affectionate Parody: Of classic platformer games, specifically Mario.
• Bottomless Pits
• Death as Comedy
• Deconstructive Parody: Of platform games and the idea of multiple lives in video games
• Downer Ending: No matter how hard you try, the ending will always be this.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: You only have one life in the game. Lose it and you won't even be able to replay it.
• Evil Brit: Sir Giant Pink Lizard.
• Fake Skill: Exploits which allow replay. They allow the player to practice until they actually manage to beat the game.
• Final Death: The concept is taken to the logical extreme here. You die in the game and that's it, no playing it over again.
  • The Sequel, "The Execution" performs this too, but with whoever killed you or Jemaine, for murdering Sir Giant Pink Lizard.
• Goomba Stomp
• Sequel: "The Execution".
• Shout-Out: The ending, should you get it, includes one for the first Super Mario Bros. game.