Summary
Originally, games only ended when the player(s) either had enough or hit a kill screen where progression was impossible. Then they began to have narratives. Even if they were as simple as ‘save the Princess,’ ‘stop Dracula,’ or ‘destroy the bad guy’s weapons,’ video games now had endings the player had to reach to officially beat them.
For some games, one ending wasn’t enough. Their developers wanted togive players multiple options, wherethey’d often make the “best” ending the hardest one to achieve. However, it wasn’t enough for some to cordon it off behind the Hard difficulty or a hidden passageway. These games’ “best” endings made players jump through all sorts of hoops.
Capcom’s medieval platformer is perhaps one of the first games to offer multiple endings and also one of the first to make its good ending a pain to achieve. Whether it’sGhosts ‘n Goblins,Ghouls ‘n Ghosts,Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, etc., they all put the player through a series of intense levels where they have to contend with devils, demons, zombies, and more with just 2 hit points and a set of weapon power-ups.
They were difficult enough to play regularly. So, it was demoralizing when players beat the final boss, only to be told they had to beat the game all over again to get the true ending. Not only that, but they also had to use the right subweapon on the final boss to save the Princess and live happily ever after. Otherwise, they’d get sent back to the start to try again.
By comparison, theCrash Bandicootgames have more mercy. Beating them isn’t so tricky to do, but completing them 100% is. Smashing every box in a level, hunting down gems and crystals, and finding hidden routes could be testing. But it got the player a proper ending. The ‘normal’ ending is less of a conclusion and more of a reminder to try for the gems. It’s a bit of a downgrade compared to the first game.
InCrash Bandicoot 1, beating it normally gave players a good ending. Collecting every gem in the game completes the series of platforms in the Great Hall, giving them the best ending where they save Tawna without fighting Doctor Cortex at all. However, doing this requires gamers to smash every box in every level without dying once. TheN.Sane Trilogyversion makes it a little easier with the autosave feature, but it’sstill a tall order.
Often cited as the best action-basedFalloutgame,Fallout: New Vegassaw its mysterious Courier cross the Mojave Desert in a post-apocalyptic world, only to be robbed, shot, and left for dead. Their quest to retrieve their package and potentially get revenge would see them cross paths with the New California Republic, Caesar’s Legion, the mysterious Mr. House, and the ordinary Mojave folk trying to survive.
Depending on the different missions the player completed, the Good/Bad Karma they built, and more, they’d see a series of slides that would summarize their conclusions. Maybe they sided with Mr. House or Caesar’s Legion, sold Arcade off into slavery, or finished his quests. But getting the best conclusion to all their outcomes required keeping a careful eye on the NPCs and how they played the game.
The same could be said oftheDead Risinggames. The player had to help the survivors of a zombie plague by getting them to safe points and escorting them closely since their AI often wasn’t smart enough to avoid becoming zombie chow. Tricky as this could be, it wouldn’t be too hard to handle if the player wasn’t on the clock.
If they didn’t start and complete mission objectives at the right times, they’d lose out on getting the best ending.Dead Rising 2added to these time management trials by throwing in Katey, the daughter of protagonist Chuck Greene. She needs a regular dose of Zombrex to avoid becoming a zombie, becoming one more spinning plate players need to keep aloft to reach the best ending.
Ironically,Undertale’s worst and best endings are both equally difficult to obtain. It’s just thatthe ‘Genocide’ endingis a lot of work to get harder boss fights, fewer activities, and making Chara spoil the game unless the player fiddles with the data. By contrast, the ‘Pacifist’ ending sees everything work out for the best for everyone, from the player character Frisk to the blooming troll Flowey.
As the name suggests, it involves not fighting anyone at all. Players must rely only on their ability to dodge attacks and use different actions to settle things peacefully. This requires exploring every nook and cranny for items that can ward enemies off, helping former bosses on side quests (eg: date Papyrus and Undyne), and granting mercy. It’s not easy, but it’s worth the effort.
Sometimes, it can feel like game developershate their audienceor hate them for doing certain things. Beating Cavia’sDrakengard100%, an arduous task that can take weeks to fulfill, would give the player an ending where the JSDF blasts their character and their dragon out of the sky. However, players who felt they got punked were likely surprised that this ending would eventually lead toNier.
It was smoother to play thanDrakengard, and its emotional heart clicked better with fans. However, it was still a test to 100% complete, with NPCs often taunting the player for doing so. But they still had to do it to get the game’s true ending, which involved deleting their save data, wiping out their efforts bit by bit. TheNier Replicantremaster lets players restore it, but it was a one-way route to oblivion on the original release.
In a time when RPGs were becoming more action-based, the originalOctopath Travelerwas seen as a nice alternative. It mixed old-school elements like 2D sprites, turn-based battles, and the job system with modern elements like HD polygons, the Break and Boost features, and branching storylines. Instead of one party seeking to collect Crystals, 8 heroes find their paths crossing with each other as they try to achieve their goals.
They share a deeper connection, but discovering that requires completing all 8 of the leads’ tales, the ‘Daughter of the Dark God’ side quest (including stealing the guard’s poem and passing it to Lyblac), and the ‘In Search of Father’ side quest (including giving Kit a Healing Grape and Lapis Lazuli), to unlock thedifficult Ruins of Hornburg dungeon. It requires using everyone’s best abilities to beat, but once it’s completed, players will get the secret ending.
GettingFinal Fantasy 10-2’s Perfect ending requires perfect play and ridiculous luck (or an FAQ). First, it requires beating the game 100%. Every mission in every chapter must be completed, including hard optional bosses and hidden missions that can only be triggered by exploring every nook and cranny of the world. This is time-consuming and not exactly easy, but it sounds straightforward.
However, it also has a quick time event that, if not triggered, makes all that effort moot. After beating Dark Ixion in Chapter 3, players must hammer the X button in the following cutscene until they’ve heard the last of 4 whistles. Later, they’ve got to select the right option when walking through the flower field in the Farplane. If the player flubs either of these, they’ll have to try again from a new game or an old save.
2Valkyrie Profile
An Almost Impossible Ending To Unlock Without Help
Valkyrie Profile, and its PSP remakeValkyrie Profile: Lenneth, have three endings for players to unlock: the bad ‘C’ ending, the normal ‘B’ ending, and the best ‘A’ ending. Getting the first two endings is simple enough: beat the game with a 0 Evaluation score for the former and beat it normally for the latter. But the ‘A’ ending is not only the best; it’s the canon ending to the game.
Getting it requires completing some tricky objectives, like completing the Tower of Lezard Valeth by the end of Chapter 4. The worst is lowering Valkyrie’s Seal Value to 37 or less by Chapter 7, as the player has got to play the right way to bring it down (eg: Visiting Gerabellum will reduce Seal Value by 15 points). Without following a specific guide or route, getting Ending A is practically impossible.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Painis like the theatrical version ofLOTR: Return of the King; it has multiple endings, but it’s missing a bunch of scenes. Players can discover justhow Paz survivedGround Zeroes, what happened to Quiet, and learn Venom Snake’s secret. But the conclusion to Eli’s arc, the ‘Kingdom of the Flies’ mission, was left unfinished, with its rough cuts stuck on the game’s special edition release.
But its online mode has an ending that’s only achievable if every player on the server scraps their nuclear cache. Which is essentially impossible without convincing thousands of people to go along with it. Nonetheless, fans managed to do that on the PS3 version. However, they needed help from a hacker when they discovered Konami hid a cache of invincible nukes just to keep the ending from triggering. Outside this event, it’s only been seen via data mining and from a PC bug back in 2018.
