A mechanic that'll take us to the origins of RPGs, the most iconic of places, and a man in a tutu for some reason.
Healing, the act of restoring health and one of the most iconic video game mechanics. Unlike in real life where breaking an arm can lead to months of recovery, in a video game, just unbreak your arm and viola, you're fully healed.
So, it might be a tiny bit unrealistic, but no one wants to see a character heal themselves in a realistic manner that'd take hours, possibly days. Real life healing just isn't that cool.
[Credit: 看護師転職ほっと]
I stand corrected. Restoring health is such a commonplace practice in video games, it begs the question...
What's the Earliest Video Game to have Health Restoration?
Well, that's a tough question to answer. From the top of my head, I'd guess the original "The Legend of Zelda" in 1986. Health can be restored in that game, such as through collecting fairies.
You might be thinking: what about the Super Mushroom from "Super Mario Bros.?"
Well, the thing with the Super Mushroom is that... You don't really restore health when you pick it up, you gain an extra hit. You aren't healing damage, you're getting extra health. Keep in mind, in every new game of "Super Mario Bros," Mario starts small.
However, neither of these were the first use of health restoration in video games, in fact no Nintendo-related game used health restoration first. I've bamboozled you all.
The origin of health restoration items dates all the way back to 1975 with three games: "Pedit5," "Dnd," and "Dungeon" on Terminal. They're primitive dungeon crawlers with randomly generated dungeons, making for endless replay value.
I can confirm "Pedit5" and "Dnd" have healing items, "Dungeon" likely also has healing items, but I couldn't find any screenshots or footage of it. "Pedit5" has Cure Spells that restore health while "Dnd" has healing items, such as a ring that regenerates health.
[Credits: OldGames.sk (Pedit15) & Gotta Play 'Em All! (dnd)]
Unfortunately, it's unknown which exact days these three games came out. So, we only know the first three games to use healing first, but not the first game in existence to use healing.
All three games also came out one year after "Dungeons & Dragons" released, the first role-playing tabletop game. I don't think this is a coincidence since... D&D... "Dnd..." So, it's possible that "Dungeons & Dragons" influenced the creation of health restoration in video games.
Types of Healing
Now... There are a LOT of types of healing that are used in video games, this may not be all of them, but most of them. Also, some games use multiple healing varieties.
Healing Items
Healing items are self-explanatory, I'm going to explain it anyway though. Healing items heal you use them and they can usally be used whenever as long as you aren't at full health.
Sometimes they're equipment like a ring that automatically heals or an item used from your inventory.
[Credit for first picture: Gotta Play 'Em All!]
You see healing items in everything: RPGs, platformers, action/adventure games, survival games, and many more. From food, to potions, to even a snowman piece, the list goes on forever.
[Credit for third picture: 큐블렛]
Some games, mainly survival horror and survival games, make healing items scarce. That way, it makes the player more careful to not get hit or take unnecessary risks, and makes enemies scarier.
[Credits: RabidRetrospectGames ("Resident Evil Remastered") and G E N E R A IL ("The Forest")]
Health Pickups
Health pickups are also self-explanatory, you pick up a thing, and bam, healing. Unlike healing items, health pick-ups aren't stored for later use, they're used on the spot when touched. They tend to drop after defeating enemies or breaking items.
[Credits: NintendoComplete (Mega Man 2) and xRavenXP (Castlevania)]
This is most common in older games, mostly platformers. Health pickups are still used today, but they aren't as common.
Heath pickups are also weird. They can range from hearts to up arrows like in "King's Quest," to burgers in "Wolverine" for the NES. When has Wolverine ever eaten burgers-
Wait, that was a thing?!
Healing Abilities
A healing ability can range from healing spells or healing yourself. You know about putting bandages on a boo-boo? That's a healing ability, ask any doctor. It's most common in RPGs.
However, healing abilities also exist in beat 'em ups, platformers, and more.
[Credits: MajinObama ("Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith") and the "Touhou Luna Nights" Steam Store Page)]
Regenerating Health
Regenerating health is when health regenerates on its own. Depending on the game, regenerating can be fast if you don't get hit, or slow.
Fast regeneration is most often used in shooter games to keep the flow of gameplay smooth. It also gives players incentive to use cover systems.
Role-Playing Games often have slow regeneration. In cases like the Mystery Dungeon JRPG genre, health is restored for each step you take. Steps are quick so it's not too long to heal, but it can take a bit. Other games let the player heal by staying still... Which is, as riveting as it sounds.
[Credits: The "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon™: Rescue Team DX" Nintendo Store Page and RiderKnight548]
Damage Regeneration
It's a bit tricky to explain, but in team fighting games, when a damaged character is taken out of a fight, there will a bleeding bar from their health bar. If the character is out of the fight, that bleeding bar will fill up as they're out of the fight, restoring health.
[Credits: The respective Steam Store Pages of "Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3" and "Skullgirls 2nd Encore"]
Usually, the more damage a character takes, the more health they'll recover. However, this bleeding bar tends to disappear if the character is used in the fight again. It's extremely helpful and even adds good reason to not just use one fighter.
Time Passage
This applies to games where the player can use sleep or wait mechanics to get to the proper time to start a quest. However, sleeping and waiting has the side-effect of healing your character most of the time. This is most common in Bethesda's games.
[Credit for second picture: Noobnut125]
It's very handy, if broken since instantly restoring all health whenever is quite overpowered. Also, highly unrealistic.
I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for many things but sleeping for eight hours is not one of them.
Healing Areas
Healing areas are where you can restore health, sometimes for free, other times you must pay to heal. The most iconic healing area would be the Pokémon Center in the... Well, "Pokémon" series.
These are most common in RPGs, but other genres like platformers use them as well.
[Credits: RetroArchive ("Kirby: Triple Deluxe") and Braindead Entertainment ("Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure")]
Ally Healing
When you're being healed by an ally/partner, that's ally healing. This only applies to when another player or computer NPC/player is healing you.
[Credits: Gamer Max Channel (Left 4 Dead 2) and HiGPS (Team Fortress 2)]
As you can tell from the screenshots, this is the most common in first-person shooters.
Upgrades/Leveling Up
When the player upgrades or levels up, their health will be restored too. As far as I'm aware, this is only present in games where a health system is present, and not all of them.
Get Health Back Based on Your Performance
Some games don't have traditional health bars, some games have performance meters that lower or increase depending on the player's performance, they'll lose health or regain it. This is most common in rhythm games, where if you miss too many notes, you lose health or game over. If you do well, you can get the performance bar high.
[Credit for first picture: guitarheroROXS]
Technically, hitting notes successfully below when the performance bar's starting point does count as regaining health. A few visual novels with logic puzzles make use of this mechanic too, where depending on your performance or if you complete a section, health is restored.
[Credits: Slyzer and the "Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc" Steam Store Page]
Life Stealing
Life stealing, or sometimes referred to as leeching, is when the player steals some of their opponent's health to refill their own. I'm sure it's used frequently in video games, but only the "Dragon Ball Z" fighting games come to mind.
Only in "Dragon Ball Z" fighting games including Android 19, Android 20, and the pre-perfect Cell forms can these at least one of these characters steal health from their opponent.
Health Swap
This is another one I've only seen in a "Dragon Ball Z" fighting game. Health swapping is when you swap your health bar with the opponents and vice versa. The side who ends up with more health is healed.
This does come with the risk of losing health and healing the enemy if used prematurely, but on the bright side it'll make a nice addition to any fail compilation when it happens.
Elemental Healing
Some games have elemental systems, where an enemy is resistant or weak against other elements. For example, in Pokémon, a fire type takes extra damage from water type attacks but less damage from grass type attacks.
Sometimes, when an enemy is immune to a certain element, being attacked by an element that they're immune to heals them. So, a fire type enemy being hit by a fire attack will heal them, although that isn't the case in Pokémon. It is for these guys though:
[Credits: Ron Rambo Kim ("Valorant") and Leochan100 ("Genshin Impact")]
I think outside of "Valorant," it's possible for the player to be elementally healed. Unfortunately, if it's possible, I've never run into a way to do it.
Revivals
In some games when you get down your character just thinks... "No, my multiple flesh wounds won't keep me down, I want back in this thing!" Other players and computer players can revive or bring back up their teammates to keep on fighting when downed.
Being revived in a game not only brings back the player's ability to keep on fighting, but also restores some of their health so they can keep on fighting. This is most common in shooters, but a few other genres can incorporate it.
Also, to be clear, I'm not talking about respawning. Respawning is when you're brought back by the game itself, usually teleporting away from where you died. Reviving is done by another character or player.
The Feeling of Healing
What do you think it feels like to be healed of all wounds instantly? Or even from a magic spell that heals you to full health? I ask because there are many games that have different feelings for when the player/their character heals through visual and audio effects.
For example, a med-kit will often have the sounds of using medical supplies or a mechanical beep to it. The animations of healing with the med-kit, if present, will have the character usually wrapping their hands around their arms and body.
Healing magic will often have a visually cool colour (blue, green, white), with a soft sound cue to go with it. Sometimes it's a harp, other times it's what sounds like a chime.
Or sometimes, the visuals themselves are going from a damaged, unstable state to a clearer state with subtle audio SFX.
I say all this because each healing type, magical or mechanical, is given proper sound to have that punch when a healing item, ability, and so on is used. That might be obvious, but really think about how much this creates not only the action, but the feeling of healing.
Healing spells often have a mystical, soothing feeling to them. Futuristic games naturally use futuristic sounds to indicated healing with advanced technology. Medic-Kits have more immersive sounds.
It's interesting how healing, which can only last up to a few seconds to maybe 30 seconds, can convey so much.
When can you Not Heal?
Mainly in games where you die in one hit, so pretty much most retro arcade games. In some cases, that's because of artificially jacking up the difficulty, other times it's because the game's design doesn't lend itself to health restoration. Like, would the classic "Pac-Man" be as good if there were healing items? I'd argue no.
Sometimes, it's the rush of knowing one mistake brings you closer to a game over that makes even the simple games exciting.
Then again, even in some games with health bars like the main "Ace Attorney" Games, you have no method to restore health until you beat a trial day. Most non-team fighting games rarely have healing options with only a few exceptions that come to mind
[Credits: The "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy" Steam Store Page, CyberWorld 9000 (Second picture), and SoulCalibur ARCHIVE (Third picture)]
Healing in some games would also just take away the challenge, maybe making it too easy. A perfect example is "Cuphead," this game wouldn't be nearly as fun nor rewarding if you could traditionally heal and if reviving your partner wasn't tricky.
Some genres also just... Shouldn't have certain healing types, such as how a healing ability shouldn't be present in a survival horror game. Isn't that right, "KUON?!"
Other times there's just no method of taking damage, like in visual novels like "Zero Escape" and "Fate Stay/Night." These types of games only take one bad choice to get a game over/bad ending.
When a game should give the choice to heal can vary depending on many factors. These include:
Genre
Mechanics
Challenge
Balancing
Health System
Game Design
Does the protagonist wear a tutu?
I swear it's important to game design. While it's easy to decide to put in healing when it comes to RPGs, other genres can be trickier. It's possible I'm just overthinking, and it just boils down to a roulette, but it's interesting to think about.
The Takeaway
Healing is important and surprisingly varied. Healing occurs in so many different genres and it's by far one of the most mechanics video games have. Health and health bars allow room for error, but the lack/restriction of either or both can lead to greater challenges to conquer.
Besides, without healing, we wouldn't have so many iconic healing items/places like Pokémon Centers, health potions, heart containers, and so many more. Video games wouldn't be the same without healing.
So, the next time you get healed in a video game, make sure to write out a three-page essay about your appreciation. Or sacrifice a pet rock to show your appreciation, that works too.
Comments