Sound of No Damage

Fool! My traps are protected with an indestructible alloy! I shall laugh as your pathetic attacks bounce off with a cutesy "clink" sound! Mwa ha and ha! —Kobayashi, Kid Radd

Most Video Games use one or two sound effects to punctuate the inflicting of damage against an enemy. And then there's a special sound effect used to warn that an attack has been repelled, blocked, or otherwise failed to affect the target. This is a case of Sound-Coded for Your Convenience (as a clue to stop wasting your attacks), and may involve Arcade Sounds.

The Sound of No Damage is largely associated with projectile weapons (think of that "bullet ricochet" sound from any Old West film, for example), but can also occur with melee weapons — expect to hear this a lot when facing the Shield Bearing Mook or if testing whether an element of the environment (like that cracked wall or oil barrel) really is or is not destructible.

This is common in Platform Games and Shoot Em Ups, and a high-pitched, metallic or hollow "ping" is the most popular sound effect used, but a blunt "thud" is also fairly common, and some games may opt for a deliberately humorous sound effect to mock the attacker.

Often, this sound effect will also be accompanied by a special visual effect, such as the projectile visibly deflecting from the target, or (for melee attacks) a special recoil animation as the attacker's strike bounces harmlessly off. Other accompanying clues may include the absence of a Flash of Pain, or a "Guard" or "No Effect" message in place of normal damage numbers.

If not described otherwise, most examples are simply a simple "ping" sound with no accompanying visual effect.

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Video Game Examples

• Hero Core
• Cave Story: metallic ping sound+different graphical effect+the obvious lack of damage numbers
• Swim Ikachan: see Cave Story
• Guxt: see Cave Story
• Maze of Galious: Hollow ping sound + projectile ricocheting off.
• La-Mulana: The same as in Maze of Galious.
• Mega Man: A metallic "ping" sound effect, plus the projectile ricocheting away (which still counts towards your three-shots-at-a-time limit). In the Mega Man X series, the sound effect is clearly more metallic, and some projectiles (like charged Buster shots) have special 'dissolving' animations instead of merely bouncing off.
• Solar Jetman
• In Distorted Travesty it's a thud instead of a ding.
• The Legend of Zelda used a metallic "ching" sound for Link's shield deflecting attacks, as well as enemies getting hit in armored areas. Projectiles such as spears or rocks bounce off Link's shield before disappearing.
  • The Zelda series also uses it in another way; bombable walls make a different sound when you strike them, making it a good way to check for hidden areas (in fact it's the only way to find completely hidden ones at all, since you're unlikely to spam bombs everywhere).
  • Zelda II the Adventure of Link has that weird "ooee" sound.
• Fire Emblem: In the Game Boy Advance version, any attack that does no damage will make a high-pitched ping sound. Even magical attacks like Fire and Thunder. Even when the person getting attacked isn't wearing armor.
  • This sound is often referred to as "tink." The sixth game has a different sound, called "spang."
• Kingdom Hearts II features a rubbery bounce sound when an attack has no effect, accompanied by a ripple where the enemy was struck.
• A soft "clink" in the Paper Mario games, like a small object falling into a tin cup, is heard when an enemy fails to damage Mario with their attack (or vice versa). It's visually accompanied by a harmless yellow star graphic instead of the large white star and damage numbers.
• This happens in RuneScape, actually, and it's really disorienting sometimes. Even if your enemy is constantly hitting zeroes on you, there's still a sound effect of stuff scraping off your armor (if you are wearing armor, that is).
• Castlevania games have a snapping or metallic sound for this.
• Grandia II has this during the few Hopeless Boss Fights, when any attack produces just a metallic clanking sound without dealing any damage.
• In Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age games, attacks that are nullified through enemy immunity (or damage reduction) don't produce special sounds but prompt the party members to loudly comment that their attacks have no effect.
• Strangely, in Spiral Knights, what few enemies have invulnerability (mostly bosses, Mecha Knight shields, and spawning Zombies), it makes a purple spark effect accompanied by a very short "pop" sound similar to crystal shattering.
• In the Okami games, it's a "clank" sound and a spray of kanji that translate as "futile".
• The Elder Scrolls series typically uses alternate noise to indicate that your attack did no damage, usually the sound of weapons clashing futilely or a whoosh of air. Later games also featured a special sound for blocking with a shield (Morrowind randomized the chance of shield use based on the Block skill; Oblivion allowed it to be user-controlled).
• Gemcraft plays a metallic clink if an attack on an enemy is nullified by Damage Reduction.
• In the first No More Heroes, a steel-like "clonk" sound will happen when you hit a boss while they are performing an unstoppable attack. Even if they are only flesh and clothing. Generally averted in the sequel, where the bosses do more actual guarding and move-canceling.
• Act Raiser and Soul Blazer share the same metallic sound, which in Act Raiser is also used when the people seal a monster lair.
• World of Warcraft uses "bonk" for blocking an attack, "swoosh" for missing and "clang" for parrying.
• Crystalis plays a ping sound if an attack does no damage either due to your attack power being too low or by the enemy being immune to your sword's element.
• The Touhou Fighting Game spin-offs use a "thud"-type of sound and display some sort of magical shield depending on character if an attack was blocked.
• If you attack the floating bugs in Metroid with something other than the Ice Beam, you will hear a "clang" sound. Oddly enough, this exact same sound is also found in the obscure Rare NES game Digger T. Rock, when you poke your shovel against solid stone walls...
• The Dragon Quest games play three short descending beeps when an attack does no damage. Interestingly, the beeps are slightly higher pitched when a player character fails to damage an enemy, as opposed to when an enemy fails to damage a player character! And for some reason the attack is described as "Miss!" regardless of whether the attack failed to cause damage due to actually missing, or if it simply didn't do enough damage to overcome the target's defense...

Non-videogame Examples

• Lampshaded in Kid Radd comic 197.

Fool! My traps are protected with an indestructible alloy! I shall laugh as your pathetic attacks bounce off with a cutesy "clink" sound! Mwa ha and ha!

• In both Iron Man films, whenever Tony Stark gets tossed, punched, or shot at with his suit on, it makes a loud "ding" sound. Several instances of this happen during his fight with Rhodes in the second movie.