Critical hit

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In many role-playing games and video games, a critical hit (or crit) is a chance that a successful attack will deal more damage than a normal blow.

The concept of critical hits originates from wargames and role-playing games, as a way to simulate luck, and crossed over into video games in the 1986 JRPG Dragon Quest,^[1] set at a fixed rate of 1/64 (~1.56%).^[2] However, many other video games that use critical hits may have ways of increasing the likelihood of them occurring, such as by increasing the player character's level or attack statistic.^[2]

Both role-playing games and video games may also opt to use a less traditional version of critical hits, either by using different names,^[3] offering different effects than dealing more damage,^[2] including specific targets or weakpoint(s),^[4] and rarely by the inclusion of critical miss effects.^[5]