10 Video Games That DELETED YOUR SAVE

If there’s one thing video game developers love doing, it breaking the fourth wall to mess with players in meta ways.

From Psycho Mantis reading memory cards in the original Metal Gear Solid and Conker blackmailing the software engineers of Bad Fur Day, to the Scarecrow faking a game crash in Batman: Arkham Asylum, there’s no shortage of ingeniously self-referential gags being pulled within the medium.

Obviously, one of the most popular tricks is having games delete their own save files. True, plenty of titles only appear to do this under certain conditions – we’re looking at you, Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, Animal Crossing, and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice – but just as many (if not more) actually follow through with such threats and requirements.

So, in the spirit of commiserating over shared frustrations, we’ve chosen 10 especially imaginative, malicious, and/or unexpected examples of video games unavoidably doing away with the dozens of hours players put into them.

Were any of these obliterations justified (or even necessary)? You’ll just have to read on and see.

The original Banjo-Kazooie is among the most beloved 3D platformers of all time. After all, the main characters are endearing, the levels are inspired, the music is awesome, the bosses are iconic, and the collectibles are fun to discover.

What’s not to enjoy?!

Well, one thing that definitely grinds our gears – to make an awful Nuts & Bolts pun – is the fact that otherwise lovable antagonist Gruntilda has no problem obliterating your data if you input more than two illegal cheats in Treasure Trove Cove’s sandcastle.

Affectionally known as Grunty's Code Vengeance, the wicked witch will initially pop up to declare, “Stop this cheating, Grunty says, or your Game Pak I’ll erase!” If her warning is ignored, Bottles the Mole interjects: “Banjo! If you use a third cheat code, your Game Pak will be erased! Are you sure you want to do this?”

If Banjo “press[es] A for yes,” Gruntilda comes back and gloats, “You didn’t listen, I’m amazed, so now your Game Pak is erased!” Then, a playfully malicious cutscene plays.

To be honest, she only wipes the applicable save file, not the entire Game Pak. What’s more, it doesn’t happen at all on the Xbox 360 version.