Game Over

, also stylized as , refers to both the mechanic of the player ultimately losing the game and the menu shown when Link dies and/or when he fails his quest in .
==Overview==
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In , whenever 's is fully depleted, begins to spin around in circles before fading away completely. The screen then appears, giving the player the choice to continue playing or to the game and return to the screen. If the player chooses to respawn, will start from the if died in the or at the beginning of a if he was defeated inside one. The game will also count the number of times that the player has a .
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In , the screen appears whenever loses a life. The screen will brightly flash (red in subsequent releases to prevent epilepsy) and will turn into a silhouette and then disappear. If runs out of all his lives, a different screen appears, stating that has returned.The specific appearance of the game over screen varies somewhat between versions. In the Japanese version, it was depicted with a fully black background with a synthesized roar (implied to belong to Ganon) being heard in the background. In the overseas release, it has a red background with Ganon in silhouette in the background while he is heard laughing. The laugh was reused from the NES version of Punch-Out for various fighters, most infamously Soda Popinski. The player can choose to respawn at the or save and return to the . If dies inside the , selecting "Continue" will respawn him from the entrance to the instead of the . Getting a resets 's to zero, and therefore should be avoided.
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In , the screen appears when 's completely runs out. will spin in circles and then collapse face-first onto the ground, then being focused to the middle of the screen and disappearing as the words "GAME OVER" appear with a few options for the player. The menu allows the player to and continue playing, Save and quit the game, or don't save and respawn from the last saved point. Choosing the respawn will make respawn in a predetermined location, depending on where ed. If died in a , he will respawn at the entrance to that . can avoid a if he has a with him, as the will appear and heal seven from his after it runs out. If died anywhere else in the , he can choose to respawn in , the , or the . In the , will respawn atop the . The game also counts the number of times that has ed and displays them next to the save file after completing the game. During the credits, a breakdown of how many times died at various locations in is shown.
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When 's is fully depleted in , will spin in circles and fall. The menu appears and gives the player the options to either and continue playing, respawn without , or and quitting to the . IF Link steals an item from the Town Tool Shop and returns, the Shopkeeper will kill Link with a magical lightning beam that will swiftly deplete his entire Life Gauge, which the Secret Medicine could not revive Link from. A secret ending to the game can be earned if awakens the without ever getting a . In , a winged Marin can be seen flying across the screen. In , Marin's image appears in the sky and then slowly fades, revealing a Seagull. In - the 3D remake, it's similar to , although Marin's image is animated briefly to have her close her eyes and shudder slightly in an apparent giggle before fading away.
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In , gets a after his is fully depleted. He grunts weakly, falling to one knee (both knees in the 3DS remake), before collapsing face-first onto the floor. All other moving objects freeze in place, and the screen darkens so that only and are visible as collapses. If dies from drowning, he chokes and thrashes about before his body goes limp and floats to the surface of the water (if he is wearing the underwater when he drowns, the standard collapsing death animation is used instead). If death occurs in a place where the Goron Tunic is required, Link will catch on fire. The menu has the options to either the game and respawn, respawn without , or to save and go to the . can avoid death if he has a , where after losing all the in his , he will die as usual, but the will appear and restore Link's life, saving him from a .
In , the "Game Over" text looks different, featuring simple, white lettering rather than the bolded, fiery text of the original.
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In there are two scenarios: one when 's depletes fully, which uses the dying animation from Ocarina of Time, and a second where the crashes into . The "Game Over" text does not appear in either scenario.
For the latter, a cutscene plays that shows the Moon slowly approaching Clock Town as the clouds in the sky spin uncontrollably, before touching down on the tower and spreading a fiery inferno across all reaches of the land. is seen standing in a black void against a dark red sky at the horizon, as the shockwave begins to approach him. braces himself and is immediately swept away, presumably killing him. Afterward, is shown, followed by someone speaking of 's "terrible fate" while the 's laugh is heard in the background. The then saves by resetting the three-day cycle, though all progress he made within the doomed cycle is lost.
The 3DS remake adds a passage of text, which reads "And so the angry moon fell from the sky, annihilating this world and its many inhabitants. All items and such gained these last three days are lost." In this case, unlike the original N64 version, the game must be reset in order to continue.
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In , an instant occurs if gets squashed between the closing walls in two of the rooms in the .
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The screen in appears whenever depletes his . An instant can occur if pesters the and his flunkies too many times by destroying the structure that they were attempting to build, where the will finally notice him and lock him inside the shack as the explosive he set goes off, blowing everything up and leaving only rubble. Staying inside the structure while it blows up results in an instant , which cannot be prevented by a .
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In , when the of one runs out and the group doesn't have enough to revive him, the group will . The screen will show only the defeated spinning and collapsing, with "" appearing on screen.
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When 's is depleted in , will wobble unsteadily and collapse on his back as the screen appears, the letters falling in place one by one, each letter producing a thud as it lands. The menu allows the player to either quit the game, and quit, or respawn. If is knocked into by the killing blow, he will thrash for air, sink beneath the surface, then slowly resurface face-down and link as the screen appears. However, should Link run out of time while swimming will awaken on the shore of an island if he was close enough after drowning, although he will still die if his is at zero.
 has a slightly different animation should he die on the ; he falls down more gently and remains in a sitting position against the gunwale of the boat, and he does not gasp upon hitting the deck. This animation is more easily seen in the , as less attacks will knock Link off the boat than in the original.
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A Game Over will occur in if Link's is fully depleted.
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A Game Over will occur in if Link's is fully depleted, or if the third bell chimes and drains the from while Link battles the inside . Link is given 3 minutes to defeat said Darknuts.
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A Game Over will occur in if 's are fully depleted. Upon the last hit, he lets loose a strangled gasp and staggers before he is seen collapsing to the ground accompanied by a mournful choral version of the Hyrule Field theme. If he drowns or dies while in water, his body will float lifelessly to the top of the water. Dying on will result in Link collapsing on her back. Dying in form will result in Link staggering, before letting out a whine and collapsing to the ground while hovers over him, shaking her head. Interestingly, Midna shares the same disappointed reaction even after Link grows on her.
If fails to escape ' storehouse, a series of explosions will appear onscreen before a final, larger one covers the player's view, revealing the Game Over screen when it fades away.
Should fail to extinguish the wagon's fire while escorting , , and to , a quick shot of the burned wagon in a black void with its inhabitants dead is briefly seen before cutting to the Game Over screen.
If jumps into while wearing the , if he fails to jump off the after it catches fire, or if he is hit by his own , he will lose all his , but will not get a unique death scene.
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A Game Over will occur in if Link loses all his hearts. When this happens, the music stops and everything freezes, Link gasps and falls on his back as the camera slowly zooms out while the Game Over music plays. If Link or dies inside the Goron Temple, the one not being controlled at the time will be seen dying before the Game Over screen appears. If the 's heart containers are fully depleted, Linebeck will announce that they are sinking and the ship will mostly sink into the sea. If Link has any objects in his hands at the time of death, it will stay in the spot Link was holding it at, making it appear to levitate in the air.
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A Game Over will occur in if Link loses all his hearts, or if the takes too much damage, in which it bursts into flames as Zelda as Zelda shouts Link's name. If Link is carrying a passenger and crashes the train, the passenger is the one who says something rather than Zelda. The Game Over screen is shared with '; however, the music is different. The words 'Game Over' also fall between two wisps of smoke.
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A Game Over will occur in if Link's hearts run out, in which he will react in several ways depending on how he died. If he was launched from the front, he will attempt to stand up off his back before expiring and vice versa. If Link is hit by a Sky Octorok or a tornado, the camera will focus on him falling before cutting to the Game Over screen. Link also has an animation for drowning, but should he drown while crawling through a tunnel, he will use his "Launched from behind" animation instead.
Instant Game Overs include if Link is run over by the inside the , if Link is touched by lava near the inside the , if Link is crushed by the statue in the after obtaining the , or if Link allows to destroy the by reaching the top of the . The former two events yield no unique cinematic but in the case of the Ancient Cistern statue, Link is heard screaming as the statue lands on and crushes him and for The Imprisoned, it advances towards the Old Woman while roaring, who despairs that it is too late and all is lost before the screen fades to black.
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A Game Over will occur in if Link's heart meter runs out. He will spin around and subsequently fall to the ground, similarly to , before the screen fades to black and the words 'Game Over' appear. If Link was renting any tools from , they will scatter around him before grabs them and flies away.
Link will respawn in , unless the Game Over occurs in a dungeon, in which case the option will be presented to spawn in said dungeon or inside his house. Should this happen in before Link has traveled back to Hyrule via a , Link respawns inside the .
Because collects 's and forces him to buy them again, and because asks him if he is all right afterwards, it is implied that running out of hearts does not cause to die in this game; rather, (in ) or the (in ) drag back to their respective upon his defeat.
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A occurs in when the have run out of and deplete their or fail at a . Failing a time-based leads to a regardless of how many remain. However, a in is functionally the same as when a is completed; no penalty is accrued and the amount of is not recorded. Any accumulated and screenshots taken with the are kept, progress is saved automatically, and the return to the lobby in . A disconnection from a Multiplayer game is handled in the same manner, except the "Game Over" text and accompanying music do not appear.
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In , a Game Over will occur when Link runs out of hearts. If he is hit by a strong enough attack, his body will ragdoll before the Game Over screen appears. If he is hit by a weak attack, he goes through a prerendered animation of him stumbling before he collapses.
Getting a Game Over presents the options to either continue the game from the most recent save, or to quit and return to the main menu. The 'Game Over' text will usually appear in red, however it can appear in blue or yellow if Link dies as a result of drowning or freezing or if Link dies from an electricity-based source, respectively.
If the base game has been updated or DLC is installed and enabling the Hero's Path Mode, it will display areas where Link has died with a red cross and "R.I.P." text when hovered over. Reaching a death marker while viewing 's journey results in an impact noise and the sound of Link falling into an abyss as his marker disappears, before it swiftly reappears where he respawned. In all versions of the game, the "R.I.P." marker will permanently appear on the map where Link last died; a new marker replacing the old with each death.
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In , a Game Over functions identically to that of the previous game, reusing the same voice clips and ragdoll physics. However, the menu has been updated to reflect the game's new themes (notably showing the dragon ring logo behind the word "GAME OVER").
A Game Over will also occur if Riju's health is depleted whilst defending Gerudo Town from Gibdos, in which she is shown dropping to one knee and weakly apologizing to Link before the screen fades in.
=== Echoes of Wisdom ===
In Echoes of Wisdom, a game over occurs when Zelda runs out of hearts and doesn’t have any fairies. When that happens, Zelda will utter a soft moan before she collapses face first to the ground.
==Other Appearances==
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When a warrior loses all of their health in battle, they will scream and fall to the floor as the word "Defeat" appears in purple writing. A remix of the game over music from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask will play during this. This screen can be skipped with the + button. The player can then choose to continue from their last save point (or restart the whole battle in Adventure Mode). Interestingly, the character being controlled is seen breathing after being defeated, implying that they are not dead but their forces simply had to withdraw due to being unable to take on the mission without them able to fight. If a vital character that isn't playable is forced to flee, this can cost the battle. The player can also lose if a mission-critical base is taken over by enemy forces. In Legend/Free mode, a support character will lament this before the screen appears.
==Nomenclature==
==Trivia==
*During the final battle against or in , if the Hero of Time is defeated and the player consequently receives a Game Over, they have technically acquired one of the game's possible endings, which leads into the "." However, there is no unique cutscene or cinematic for this (as it was never planned during development). This makes 's screen the only one in to be considered canon, according to Hyrule Historia.
*The Game Over theme from the original The Legend of Zelda is reused for the music played by Evan of The Indigo-Go's in Majora's Mask.
*Normally, when the player continues from a Game Over, Link will resume his quest with only three Heart Containers recovered.
*The Game Over/communications error screens in are reminiscent of that found in the EarthBound series, where each respective protagonist appears in a dark void under a spotlight.
==Gallery==
File:MM3D Game Over 2.png| before being swept away by a fiery shockwave in 
File:HWDE Defeat.png|The message shown when the dies or fails the objective in 
File:HWDE Defeat 2.png|The screen that appears after the "" message while playing in or in 
File:HWDE Defeat 3.png|The screen that appears after the "" message while playing in in 
File:BotW Game Over Yellow.png|The screen that appears after dies to an -based source in 
File:BotW Game Over Blue.png|The screen that appears after dies to an or -based source in