A desperation attack in a video game, commonly in fighting games, is an unusually powerful attack a character will do, desperate to even the odds or defeat the opponent.
Examples
In many Beat 'em up games, a desperation attack can be used at any time. Although this attack is guarunteed to hit the opponent and cannot be interrupted, the player's character loses a fraction of life in the process. In some games, like Streets of Rage, the character performs a desperation attack right after reviving so that the opponents cannot gang up on the player. In the Final Fight series, this type of move was called "Extra Joy". Desperation attacks are noticeably featured in many SNK fighting games, although Battle Arena Toshinden is one of the few non-SNK fighting games that uses desperation attacks. When the fighter's life is at a certain point (usually 25%), the fighter can execute an extraordinarily powerful attack which may outright defeat the other opponent. Although used in a different manner, many games in the Guilty Gear series have instant death moves which serve as a means of desperation attacks. They can only be used once, and if the player misses, he or she cannot use super moves anymore. The Final Fantasy series Limit Break is also a form of a desperation attack.
