10 Times Games Accidentally Lost All Of Your Progress
1. Mr. Briney - Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire
Mr. Briney is an old sailor from Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire who offers to transport the player to Dewfort Town when the player doesn't have access to HM Surf yet.
However, despite his helpful nature, Mr. Briney is secretly responsible for ruining the save files of countless Pokemon trainers.
Whenever Mr. Briney transports you between Dewfort Town and the mainland, his sprite stays at your destination to ensure you have a way of going back.
Unfortunately, this failsafe is actually pretty failed itself because if you choose to use an escape rope or Teleport to escape to Dewfort's Pokemon Center after already taking Mr. Briney's ferry to Route 104, the old man will remain where he dropped you off, leaving you stuck on Dewfort Island forever.
Since there aren't two versions of Mr. Briney for each port, once you get separated from him, you have no way of going back. And if you save your game after teleporting away from him, you might even get stranded permanently, with no other choice than to start a new save.
Nothing like becoming a castaway in the middle of a populated island...