A hit point system is any system that represents the amount of damage a video game character can take before it is killed. Hit point systems are very popular in RPGs, where they are almost a necessity. But, it can be argued that any game that features a video game character that can take two or more hits uses a hit point system. This is only applicable because of the inherit nature of programming health.

More importantly to the player, a hit point system is based in numbers that the player can actually see. In this case Metroid can be considered a game that uses a hit point system.

Death

Naturally, a character "dies" when his hit points reach 0 or below.

Max Hit Points

When using a hit point system, it is assumed that the character has a maximum hit point limit that changes over time. In most RPGs, the max hit points are raised when the character gains a level. How many is often dependent on the character class type. In action/adventure games such as Metroid, the max hit points limit is raised whenever the character gains an item that has this effect. In the case of Metroid, this is an energy tank.

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