A Winner Is You: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''You did not disappoint.''|[[The Angry Video Game Nerd (Web Video)|The Angry Video Game Nerd]] in response to the above quote}}

"[[Intentional Engrish for Funny|Conglaturation]]! '''A Winner Is You!'''" on a black background, in perfect silence, and nothing more (except maybe the credits).

If you're ''really'' unlucky, it'll be the same [[Game Over]] screen you'd get for dying. And then, after three seconds, the title screen again. They could have at least spell-checked it. This is most likely to happen with older fighter games, console ports of arcade games and the like, where the game itself wasn't that plot-intensive and [[Tropes Are Tools|doesn't need nearly as much of a wrap-up]]. It's also the cousin to (if not the most extreme form of) [[Bragging Rights Reward]] - in some cases like this, the urge to throw the game out the window may be overwhelming, to say the least.

=== [[Action Adventure]] ===

* If you manage to defeat Jason in the ''[[Friday the 13 th13th (Videovideo Gamegame)|Friday the 13 th13th]]'' game for the NES, you're rewarded with the same picture of Jason sitting down you've already seen twice, and the text "You have finally managed to defeat Jason... [[The End - or Is It?|But is he really dead]]? We're not telling!! END..." Much better is the losing screen, which, right in the midst of Nintendo's [[Never Say "Die"]] period, declared "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1raUvGNbZFg You and your friends are dead]."

* ''[[Legacy of Kain|Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver]]'' was famous in its time famous for a disappointing ending, consisting of not much more than a screen of very cryptic monologue delivered by a voice belonging to a character who hasn't been seen. It makes sense in the context of the series, but is hardly rewarding. This cliffhanger was due to time constraints.: The developers had to cut a solid chunk out of the game to meet the release date. Some versions of the game contained voice files hinting at what this chunk would have contained. Those bits that were planned did make it (in very modified form) into the later games.

* Complete the [[Boss Rush]] in ''[[Goemon (series)|Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon]]'' and your reward is a still shot of [[Humongous Mecha|Impact]] over a cheesy '80s-style background and the word "Congratulations!" The Japanese version had a slightly more interesting picture of the dev team in [[Chibi]] form. Why it was changed is anybody's guess.

* Woe be unto the only child beating the NES version of ''[[Bubble Bobble (Video Game)|Bubble Bobble]]''. If you slogged through the whole game to defeat the final boss, but don't have a second player partner, the game shows the girls being freed, only to have them vanish. To add insult to injury, the game declares "Bad End. This is not a true ending! Try again with your friend." All it takes to see the not-too-shabby (by NES standards) Happy Ending is subbing a second player in just before popping the final boss's bubble.

* The first ''[[Tomb Raider (Videovideo Gamegame)|Tomb Raider]]'' game rewarded the player with a FMV about a second or two long of Lara's ship leaving, presumably going home now that it's all over.

* ''[[Ninjabread Man (Video Game)|Ninjabread Man]]'': If you actually manage to beat the game despite its broken controls and [[Camera Screw|terrible camera]], the screen goes black and you're taken back to the title screen.

=== [[Action Game]] ===

* ''[[Die Hard (Film)|Die Hard]]'' on the NES: The endings say "YOU WIN. GAME OVER." As opposed to "YOU LOSE. GAME OVER." [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPCshXeEtpw A normal ending is here.] [http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/nes/b/die.htm All endings are now listed here.]

* After completing the [[The Problem Withwith Licensed Games|surprisingly fun]] ''Disney's [[Tarzan (Disney film)|Tarzan]]'' video game for [[Play StationPlayStation]], you're treated to a brief clip from the movie, a screen that says "Congratulations" and a voice-over from a Rosie O'Donnell sound-alike congratulating you. Yep, that's it.

* ''[[Wayne's World (Film)|Waynes World]]'' on the NES and Game Boy: "Excellent!" says Wayne.

* The ending in the arcade version of ''[[Strider (Video Game)Hiryu|Strider]]'' was nothing special, but in the [[Porting Disaster|home computer ports]] by U.S. Gold it was replaced by some cop-out ending in which the whole game is revealed to be [[All Just a Dream|a training simulation]], just because the programmers couldn't fit the final boss battle into the ports.

* Good as it was, Capcom's ''[[Darkwing Duck (Animationanimation)|Darkwing Duck]]'' NES game had an extremely unsatisfying ending. After getting through F.O.W.L.'s floating fortress and defeating the [[Final Boss]], you're rewarded with a couple of screens of text, followed by a brief cinema scene of Darkwing driving along a highway. He hits a rock and crashes, "THE END" appears, the theme song starts playing, and... that's it.

=== [[Adventure Game]] ===

* The ending of ''Bloodwings: Pumpkinhead's Revenge'' is, at least according to [[The Spoony Experiment (Web Video)|the Spoony One]], conclusive proof that the developers [[They Just Didn't Care|never intended or expected anyone]] to beat their [[Moon Logic Puzzle]]-laden piece of crap, and instead just slapped on some B-roll footage {{spoiler|(showing an actor in a Pumpkinhead costume and a pair of sneakers dancing around like an idiot for about 7 seconds)}} as a final insult to whatever player managed to crawl through their impossible mess of a game. Even worse is the alternate ending you get for foregoing the moon logic puzzle and using brute force to beat the final boss: {{spoiler|The guy just flips you off}}

* ''[[The Secret of Monkey Island (Video Game)|The Secret of Monkey Island]]'' parodies this trope by including a "cheat code" (Ctrl-W) which allows you to instantly win the game. If you use it, you just get a screen which says "You Win!" followed by the credits.

=== [[Beat'Em Up]] ===

* ''[[Double Dragon (Video Game)|Super Double Dragon]]'', being an [[Obvious Beta]], lacks any actual plot and features a generic text-only ending before the credits after the defeating the [[Big Bad|final boss]]. The Japanese version doesn't even have that; you just get the credits.

* ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' on SNES and Genesis has a total of 44 levels of monotonous gameplay, levels that go on far too long and endless waves of enemies. If you play all the way to the final level and end up defeating Thrakkozog, what do you get? {{spoiler|The Tick yells "Spooooon!", and then you see the exact same friggin' "THE END" title card that you see if you run out of lives and continues, followed by the credits!}} [http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/snes/d/tick.htm And that's all you get!!]

* Beating ''[[Spider -Man]] & Venom: Separation Anxiety'' nets you a picture of Carnage and text saying "GAME COMPLETED".

* The ''[[Comic Books/Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]'' game for [[PSPlayStation 2]], "Teen Titans", has not only an unoriginal title, but when you finish you are merely asked "Wanna play again?", and the characters float there 'till you make a choice. If you say no, you get to sit through bland credits. No skipping.

** [[X -Play|"Yes, I are winner!"]]

=== [[Edutainment Game]] ===

* Two of the last examples for the NES are ''[[Mario Is Missing (Video Game)|Mario Is Missing]]'' and ''Mario's Time Machine''. The latter required only marginally more effort.

=== [[Fighting Game]] ===

* In ''[[Soul Calibur]] III'', after beating the [[Nintendo Hard]] final level in Chronicles of the Sword, complete with a [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|difficult]] [[Final Boss]].... You get "Emperor died (sic)... The empire collapsed, and the people were left only with devastated lands and the memories of the terrible war. The people, however, eventually forgot the hardships. They rebuilt the raised (sic) village and sowed new seeds upon the destroyed fields. Then, by the fire side, they told the tales--the tales of the great ones who spilt their blood upon those lands...".

* "Wow! Incredible!!" That's what you get for beating the original ''[[Super Smash Bros (Video Game)|Super Smash Bros.]]'' on the hardest difficulty: A variant audio sample. Future ''Smash Bros.'' games give you trophies for beating different modes on the hardest difficulty, along with the familiar "Wow! Incredible!" voice clip.

* Beat ''[[Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (Video Game)|Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter]]'' with a [[Secret Character]] and what do you get? "Congratulations! [[Captain Obvious|You've defeated the game with a secret character!]]". The Japanese version for some reason had endings for Shadow Charlie, Tanned Sakura, and Mecha Zangief that [[Bad Export for You|were removed from the international versions]].

* The Japanese versions of the ''[[Street Fighter EX (Video Game)|Street Fighter EX]]'' games actually had text-only endings for each of the characters. For some reason, Arika/Capcom didn't bother to translate them for the international versions (even though they're only two or three paragraphs long each), so they just took them out completely. Averted with ''[[EX 3]]'', which kept the endings.

** [[Street Fighter (Videovideo Gamegame)|The original ''Street Fighter'']] has Sagat saying, "You've outlasted the best. You are now the strongest street fighter in the world!" before the credits roll.

* ''[[WWF No Mercy]]''. Every title has its own set of fights that you can take multiple paths through. Finishing any path for a title showed your character celebrating, and a short crawl of text depending on which title. Fair enough. This trope comes into play for [[Hundred Percent100% Completion]]. Taking ''all'' of the paths for any of the titles takes quite a while, and many of them have sadistic fights (there are paths where you have to throw an easy match, just so you can take the path to a [[Unstable Equilibrium|ridiculous handicap match]]). Your reward for completing every fight available for a title? The exact same text crawl. If you decide to play the title once more and just take any old path, '''then''' you'll realize that there was a glitch with the "100%ed this title" flag, and now you'll finally get to witness the celebration you have earned... a slightly different text crawl from before, depending on the title.

=== [[First-Person Shooter]] ===

* ''[[Doom (Video Gameseries)|Doom]] 64'' ends with a text saying "Finally, the Mother of All Demons is dead".

** Not to mention that the ending sequence before that is exactly the same as the intro... in reverse!

=== [[Four X4X]] ===

=== General ===

* Pirate original games developed for now-defunct systems such as the NES and original Game Boy deserve special mention. Suffice to say a single screen with a misspelled congratulatory message is the norm, while many don't even bother with ''that'' and just unceremoniously boot you back to the title screen. One of the more infamous examples is the port of ''[[Contra]] Spirits'' to the NES, which does actually attempt to recreate the original SNES game's ending, but in place of the original's credits it is captioned "[[Blind Idiot Translation|THEND]]".

* There's an [https://web.archive.org/web/20140116014007/http://www.worldofspectrum.org/speccyspoilers/ entire website] devoted to endings (many of which are examples of this trope) on the Sinclair [[ZX Spectrum]] computer.

* There's one for [[Commodore 64]], [http://www.c64endings.co.uk/ too].

=== [[Light Gun Game]] ===

* While it does have multiple endings, the SNES/Super Scope game ''[[Metal Combat]]'' still managed to rub some salt on determined players. It gives rewards beating the first three difficulties: two cheat codes and a piece of really good playing advice, respectively. The reward for beating the hardest difficulty is a Congratulations splash screen with [[Super -Deformed]] drawings of the good guys and their [[Humongous Mecha]].

=== [[Maze Game]] ===

* The original ''[[PacmanPac-Man]]'' arcade game technically has no end, unless you count a glitch in the programming that corrupts the screen at level 256. The frustration experienced by exhausted Pac Man players is accurately summed up in [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/187076 this flash cartoon by James Jouni].

* ''[[The Tower of Druaga]]'': "Congraturations!! Now you save Ki and the adventure is over," followed by a short list of credits. The [[PC EngineTurboGrafx-16]] remake, with greater attention to the storyline in general, has a longer ending.

* Parodied like so many other things by ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]''. {{spoiler|Your reward for defeating the Naughty Sorceress is being thanked by the Council of Loathing but being told you have to [[Ascend to Aa Higher Plane of Existence]] because the monsters hate you that much and won't leave till you do.}}

** Some of the Game Grid parody-minigames make fun of this trope. Beating [[Gauntlet (1985 video game)|Dungeon Fist]] earns you the message "YOU HAVE ESCAPED THE DUNGEON! [[Intentional Engrish for Funny|CONGRATULATION!]]" and beating [[Street Fighter|The Fighters Of Fighting]] gives you "Game Over! You Win!" (instead of "Game Over! You Lose!"). Subverted, though, because after that you get a score tally and a bunch of valuable ticket items.

=== [[Party Game]] ===

=== [[Platform Game]] ===

* ''[[Sonic Heroes (Video Game)|Sonic Heroes]]'' has an extra hard mode, unlockable after several requirements are met. The only reward for beating it is a "Congratulations" and a brief generic picture of the three main characters. The- the same picture that appears on the title screen and the game's case.

** In ''Chaotix'', the good ending is just the title screen with Sonic and Tails making a cameo.

** A mobile phone ripoff of Sonic, ''Supersonix'', ends with just this text: "Congratulations. The sky is blue, water is wet and you've won the game. You can feel proud, for once again man has defeated machine."

* There are several games from that period (like ''[[The Legend of Zelda (Videovideo Gamegame)|The Legend of Zelda]]'', ''[[Super Mario Bros. (Videovideo Gamegame)|Super Mario Bros]]'' and ''[[Ghosts N'n Goblins (Video Game)|Ghosts N Goblins]]'') that "rewarded" you by unceremoniously kicking you back to the start to play a [[New Game Plus+|Second Quest]]." If you were lucky, you got an ending screen that was slightly better than the one you got the ''first'' time you played through. (Although it was no less likely to be free of [[Gratuitous English|garbled Engrish]].)

** This is called a "second loop" and is popular in [[Shoot 'Em UpsUp]]s.

** When ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' was repackaged for the SNES as ''Super Mario All-Stars'', you did get to see the Princess kissing Mario (or Luigi). If you defeated the slightly harder difficulty, the text was different.

** Though this may be (partly) justified as an instruction to [[Hundred Percent100% Completion|get the rest of the treasures]], presumably hinting that ''then'' the main character will have enough money for the proper ending. The fact that a bug in one of the levels makes this impossible, though, means that the "didn't have the budget" ending is the only one that can be found anyway.

* The NES game ''[[Milons Secret Castle (Video Game)|Milon's Secret Castle]]'' ends with a "Thank you!" As the game had no [[Mercy Invincibility]], which allowed you to be killed quite quickly when cornered, and a million [[Guide Dang It|Guide Dang Its]]s around every corner, this can hardly be said to be anywhere near satisfying.

* The Japanese Disk System version of ''[[Super Mario Bros 2 (Video Game)|Super Mario Bros. 2]]'' (aka ''[[Super Mario Bros the Lost Levels (Video Game)|Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels]]'') features a slightly different ending than the original game. For starters, Peach's sprite has been improved, the ending text is different, and the background will turn blue with the seven Mushroom Retainers from the previous Worlds surrounding Mario and Peach. Unfortunately, when the game was remade for the SNES and GBC, they simply used the same ending they used in the remake for the original ''[[Super Mario Bros. (Videovideo Gamegame)|Super Mario Bros]]''. Compare the [http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/fds/a/supmar2.htm Disk System version's ending] with the ending in the [http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/snes/a/smas_ll.htm SNES] and [http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/gbc/a/mariodx2.htm GBC versions]. This ending was also used for the arcade cabinet remake ''Vs. Super Mario Bros.'', and the Japan-exclusive ''All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros''.

* If you make it all the way to the end of ''[[Ghosts N'n Goblins (Video Game)|Ghosts N Goblins]]'' and didn't forget to pick up a necessary weapon and beat the boss, you get rewarded by having to play the whole game over again, with the message that "This room is an illusion and is a trap devisut (sic) by Satan". If you manage to do that, all you get is a brief scene of Arthur reuniting with the princess and the following text: "Congraturation. This story is happy end. Thank you. Being the wise and courageour knight that you are you feel strongth welling in your body. Return to starting point. Challenge again!" Yes, those spellings mistakes were in the game.

* ''[[Aladdin (Virgin Games (Video Game)|Aladdin Virgin Games]]'' has two [[Bonus Level|bonus levels]] where you control [[Everything's Better Withwith Monkeys|Abu the monkey]]. When you lose those levels you get a black screen with the text "Nice try". When you win you get ''the same thing'': "Nice try". The game's ending is not much better: after Jafar is defeated, Aladdin and Jasmine are shown on a magic carpet ride, then doing a [[Foot Popping]] clinch in which they freeze as "[[The End]]" appears and the credits roll. The other ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' [[Licensed Game|Licensed Games]]s have endings like the movie's.

* The ending to the first ''[[Rayman (Video Game)|Rayman]]'' game could fall under this trope, especially considering how [[Nintendo Hard|unfair]] the game is. {{spoiler|After you beat the final boss, you're "treated" to 10 seconds of fireworks, a narration declaring "You've saved the world!" and then the credits. That's it.}}

* ''[[Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards (Video Game)|Kirby 64]]'' features a variant on this - it has a very difficult [[Boss Rush]], in which you must defeat all 7 of the game's bosses in a row without any form of healing, and you were forbidden to absorb any enemies' powers. Bear in mind that 6 hits will kill you. Normally, after beating this, you simply get a screen showing Kirby's friends throwing him happily into the air with the word "Congratulations!" under the image. But if you beat it without taking a ''[[Nintendo Hard|single hit]]'', you get a screen showing {{spoiler|[[Moment of Awesome (Sugar Wiki)|Kirby wearing various body parts of the defeated bosses, as though it were his personal trophy, with the word "Perfect!" under the image]].}}

* ''[[Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Video Game)|Wonder Boy in Monster Land]]'': [[Blind Idiot Translation|"War is over. Dragon was robot. He may come from star. We regained our peace. People will be happy."]]

* Beating ''[[Jumper (Videovideo Gamegame)|Jumper]]'' and ''Jumper Three'' rewards you with a screen counting all your deaths throughout the game. ''Jumper Two'''s ending on the other hand is... ''[[Gainax Ending|strange]]'', to say the least.

* There's a game for the TI-83 titled ''Iceclimbers'' (not to be confused with the NES game) by downloading a program called Mirage. You get a bland screen that reads "A Winner is You. Victoly!"

* The ending of ''[[Donkey Kong Country (video game)|Donkey Kong Land]]'' consists of nothing but "Congratulations!" followed by the credits.

* This is how the not-by-Capcom ''[[Mega Man (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mega Man]]'' PC games end. To rub salt on the wound, it's even the same ending screen in both games.

* If you beat ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|Bart vs. the World]]'' without collecting all the special Krusty items you just get Krusty telling you "Great work there, Barto... But it's too bad you didn't find all the unique Krusty items. We had a special surprise planned for you. Oh, well. Don't blame me -- You didn't do it!" If you do complete the game with all the special items, you just get a cheap animation of Bart throwing cream pies at Burns and Smithers on Krusty's show.

* The NES ''[[The Adventures Of Rocky Andand Bullwinkle]]'' game is another case of a glorified Game Over screen. Wherein losing the game resulted in a large "YOU LOSE!" beating the game results in a large "YOU WIN!"

* Lampshaded in the online game ''Lee-Lee's Quest''. You beat the boss, the text "The End" appears on the black screen as the narrator briefly states that Lee-Lee got his "[[Wholesome Crossdresser|girl]]" back. Credits start rolling... and that's when Lee-Lee starts complaining about the lack of a proper ending.

* The ending of ''[[Nuts and Milk (Video Game)|Nuts & Milk]]'' has the words "Perfect!" and "Congratulations!" framing Yogurt and Milk standing with a [[Heart Symbol]] between them (as they do at the end of every stage).

* ''[[Athena (Videovideo Gamegame)|Athena]]'' has no exciting ending to reward players who completed this [[Nintendo Hard]] game. In the NES port, after defeating the [[Final Boss]] Dante, it cuts to outside her castle, where Athena stands still as the sky changes. The [[Arcade Game]] instead displays a block of text:

{{quote| NOW, WE HAVE CONQUERED WHOLE WORLDS.<br />

I WANT TO MAKE ANOTHER DRANATIC (sic) ADVENTURE.<br />

WHY DON'T YOU JOIN ME AGAIN?<br />

* The ending of ''Chameleon Gems'' (a ''[[Zuma (Video Game)|Zuma]]'' clone) consists of the simple message "Congratulations, [nickname]! You finished the last level!" and the endlessly repeating credits sequence which can be viewed from the main menu at any point anyway. Oh, and they couldn't even be arsed to compose some original music for the ending - you are treated to the same tune which you've been tortured with for all the 100 or so levels.

=== [[Rail Shooter]] ===

* The DS shooter ''Touch the Dead''. Your character is a convict in a military prison who must fight for survival when zombies attack (and you never find out why, either). The end of the game consists of you being rescued by an army helicopter, and promptly put back in handcuffs. Cue credits. And rage.

=== [[Real Time Strategy]] ===

* Beating the PC game ''[[Syndicate (Video Game)|Syndicate]]'', which is a time-consuming undertaking that throws at least one ridiculously difficult level at you near the end, "rewards" you with ''the exact same'' animated victory screen you see after beating every other level, ''including the first.''

* Paradox Interactive's ''[[Victoria: anAn Empire Under The Sun]]'' was like this. You start off in 1836, build a massive, wealthy empire, probably defeat the Royal Navy at least once (which in of itself is difficult), and all you get to show for your trouble is a screen saying "You won!" followed by the scores of the top eight powers.

* ''[[Rise of Nations]]'' has this for the different campaign modes. You conquer the entire known world as Alexander the Great and all you get is a splash screen that says something along the lines of "Great job. Your empire will surely go down in history as the greatest."

* In ''[[Command and& Conquer]] 3: Tiberium Wars: Kane's Wrath'', after one of Kane's many apocalyptic speeches, he activates the Tacitus, giving the player a CGI sequence for winning the campaign. The catch? It's the opening of the Scrin campaign of the normal game, only BACKWARDS.

=== [[Rhythm Game]] ===

=== [[Roguelike]] ===

** [https://web.archive.org/web/20130620022430/http://www.nicolaas.net/dudley/index.php?f=20050201 Mocked] in the ''Nethack'' fan [[Web Comic]] ''[[Dudleys Dungeon]]''.

=== [[Role -Playing Game]] ===

* The reward for beating twice the incredibly repetitive ''[[Evolution Worlds]]'' [[RPG]] for [[Nintendo GamecubeGameCube]] is a simple "Congratulations" screen with a main cast group shot.

* The original ''[[Eye of the Beholder (Video Game)|Eye of the Beholder]]'' is notorious for crashing to MS-DOS immediately after beating the final boss, with a blue "Congratulation A Winner Is You" window. The authors planned several more puzzles to open the path to the surface, a final cutscene and saving the party for the next game (like in ''EoB 2''), but it was all scrapped to reduce the game size. Some remnants can be seen with a level editor or in the Amiga demo.

* Blue's quest in ''[[SaGa]] Frontier''. Once you deliver the finishing blow to the final boss, the picture freezes in mid-strike and fades to black and white as "THE END" appears on it. This is especially [[Egregious]], as ''SaGa Frontier'' is an [[RPG]] for the PlayStation, and its storyline wasn't exactly minimal; it certainly wasn't minimal for the endings to the six other characters' quests, some of whom had [[Multiple Endings]] each. There's actually a reason for this, however; {{spoiler|despite being so according to game mechanics, that isn't the finishing blow. As revealed in the [[All There in the Manual|accompanying book]], Blue/Rouge and his friends never win the battle, and indeed, it can't be won. Blue and Rouge weren't being prepared to ''defeat'' the King of Hell -- or at least make [[Sealed Evil in Aa Duel]]. That is, they were being trained to keep him busy so he couldn't finish the invasion. ''For all eternity''.}}

* ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'', of all games, ends with a bored-sounding narrator informing you that everyone was killed by the [[Collapsing Lair]] of the final boss. In other words, a ''video game'' ends with [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]].

* This is more or less what happens when you catch all 150 Pokémon in the original ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue (Video Game)|Pokémon Red and Blue]]'' games. You go to the [[DevelopersDeveloper's Room]], and the producers gives you a diploma that [[Bragging Rights Reward|doesn't do anything]].

** Lampshaded, with a [[Shout -Out]] to the original line!

{{quote| '''Earl''': Want to be a winner is you?}}

** In ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (Video Game)|Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]''/''Platinum'', the clown that gives you the Coin Case actually says the line without a hint of irony, in what appears to be another lampshade.

{{quote| '''Clown''': Congratulations! A winner is you!}}

* ''The Bob-Omb Mafia'', a [[Game Mod|ROM hack]] of ''[[Super Mario RPG (Video Game)|Super Mario RPG]]'' has its ending shown affter you collect all four [[MacGuffin|MacGuffins]]s: you immediately return to Bowser's castle and find Bowser and Peach waiting for you. Bowser says, "Hey, good work Mario. Here's the princess." The screen scrolls up as it fades out, and you are greeted by this message:

{{quote| Congratulations.<br />

You beat the hack.<br />

* In ''[[Mario and Luigi Bowsers Inside Story (Video Game)|Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'', Fawful actually quotes "A WINNER IS YOU!" as the first thing he says in the game.

* ''[[Lands of Lore]] 2'' has an ending so disappointing it might ad well simply say "[[A Winner Is You]]". After an epic game filled with awesome cinematics, after finally defeating the evil god Belial, what do you get? The Draracle walking in on Luther and Dawn in bed, telling them he is leaving. That is all.

* ''[[Dragon Slayer (Video Game)|Dragon Slayer]]'', at least in the [[Game Boy]] version, ends with the message, "You are the greatest Dragon Slayer! See you next game!" Considering the game doesn't bother to explain who the player character is supposed to be, it's perhaps to be expected.

* In ''[[Legacy of the Wizard (Video Game)|Legacy of the Wizard]]'', after Roas kills the dragon, he leaves the dungeon to find the rest of his family waiting. They all walk over to the house, and wave to the player, and cuts to the credits from there. The original [[MSX]] version didn't even have any of this, skipping straight from the [[Final Boss]] to the credits.

* The normal ending of ''[[Chrono Cross (Video Game)|Chrono Cross]]'': the {{spoiler|Time Devourer}} breaks apart and vanishes into a portal, then you get a black screen with the word 'Fin' in the corner. Getting the good ending is a big [[Guide Dang It]].

* The NES version of ''[[Dragon's Lair (Video Game)|Dragon's Lair]]'': "Congratulations! Our hero has triumphed! Daphne is saved from Sirges evil clutches. May you both live happily ever after?..."

* Subverted in ''[[Mother 3 (Video Game)|Mother 3]]''. {{spoiler|After you watch the Dragon destroy the world}}, you get a black screen with 'The End...?' on it. However, if you use the D-Pad, you can still move around...

=== [[Shoot'Em Up]] ===

* XBLA [[Mind Screw]]-fest ''[[Space Giraffe]]'' concludes each level with phrases such as the [[Trope Namer]] and "[[Super Mario Bros.|But our giraffe is in another castle]]", along with a few others.

* The obscure [[Turbo Grafx TurboGrafx-16]] shoot'em-up ''Sinistron/Violent Soldier'' ended with a bunch of pictures of the various levels of the game and a Black Screen saying "Congratulation!".

** Although the character endings can be seen [https://web.archive.org/web/20120207103425/http://blazingstar.yukihotaru.com/index.html here]. Most likely it was cut out from the game or something.

* ''[[Alien Breed (Video Game)|Alien Breed]]: [[Updated Rerelease|Special Edition '92]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|hung the lampshade on this thing]], [http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/amiga/a/abre92.htm it so did].

* The NES version of ''[[Nineteen Forty Two (Video Game)|1942]]'' is 32 stages loooooong. After you clear the last stage, you get a "CONGRATULATIONS" message typed out, and then your final score is displayed, sending you back to the title screen. At least the translators at [[Capcom]] managed to spell "CONGRATULATIONS" correctly...

* While the arcade version of ''[[Video Game/Commando|Commando]]'' [[New Game Plus+|loops indefinitely after level 8]], the NES version ends after the fourth mission (16th level) with the [[Engrish]] "Your all misson is all over. Your great player. Thank you for playing. This game was ended".

* ''[[Legendary Wings]]'' for the NES has an ending like this. "You have saved human race from its extinction. Thank you for playing". And then [[New Game Plus+|the game starts over on a higher difficulty]].

* Arcade version of ''[[Wonder Boy III Monster Lair (Video Game)|Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair]]'': "The invaders from the space were destroyed by your courageous fight. They had in advance stolen the Legendary equipments from us which were the threats in their past defeated war. But the Legendary arms were no use for the vicious invaders. The Legendary equipments were put back to the original position and peace was brought to the Earth again." The [[Turbo Grafx TurboGrafx-16]] CD version had a much less gratuitously translated ending.

* ''[[Andro Dunos]]'' for the [[Neo Geo]] ends with a message telling you "PLEASE TRY THE NEXT STAGE". But even if you play on the hardest difficulty and [[Hard Mode Filler|loop]] the game, the endings stay the same.

** On the [[Mega Drive]] version, you get [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made Onon Drugs?|dancing raisins]] instead, which made absolutely less sense.

{{quote| ''Well done. You kicked some butt!!<br />

Congratulations from Rob And Lee.<br />

* The ''[[Touhou (Video Game)|Touhou]]'' spin-off game, ''Double Spoiler'', has this. ''You Are Super Player!'' Something of a weird example, considering that this is immediately followed by unlocking half of the game.

* Beating ''[[Robotron: 2084|Robotron 64]]'' gives you an ugly render of the last human family and a message saying "Thanks to you and your super-human powers, the last human family will see the year 2085."

=== [[Simulation Game]] ===

* Winning ''[[Endgame: Singularity]]'' results in a short text. Given the nature of the game, anything other than text wasn't expected, but it's short, not very exciting, and the real clincher: it's displayed in the same plain box every in-game alert is, and the game goes on afterwards as if nothing had happened.

* For beating the mode one player in ''[[Wolf Quest]]'' you simply get a message telling you that you succeeded in your goal, and a brief synopsis of what will happen afterwards.

=== [[Sports Game]] ===

* In ''[[Legend of Success Joe (Video Game)|Legend of Success Joe]]'', after winning the last match, the game just shows the credits against a shot of Joe [[Riding Into the Sunset]].

=== [[Stealth Based Game]] ===

* ''[[Assassin's Creed (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed]]'' has a decent ending for the Altair plot, but the [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|modernish-day]] plot gives the player {{spoiler|some cryptic scribblings on the wall, the threat of death hanging over the still-imprisoned protagonist}}, and about 8 billion [[Sequel Hook|unanswered questions]].

=== [[Survival Horror]] ===

=== [[Third-Person Shooter]] ===

* ''[[Oddworld]]: Abe's Exoddus'' had a real ending, but taunted players who didn't find all 300 mudokons with the implication that they missed out on something extra special. Upon [[Hundred Percent100% Completion|finding every damn mudokon]], the player is given an apology before sitting through a boring slideshow of concept art, some of which was already seen in the previous game, ''Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee''.

* The ''[[Ghost in Thethe Shell]]'' game for the Playstation promised a "bonus" if you finished the game on its hardest difficult setting without ever dying. Said bonus was a low-res scan of a pinup of Major Kusanagi.

* In ''[[Army Men (Video Game)|Army Men]]: Sarge's War'', after the [[Big Bad]] is killed, all the player receives is a medal, and are unable to save the game after beating the last boss so they can keep the medal.

=== [[Turn -Based Strategy]] ===

* The THQ game ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]: Squad Command'' is a fun game, which, unfortunately, not only has no real ending, but also {{spoiler|has a ten-second cinematic showing your squad [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|completely failing to achieve the objective of the entire game just played and letting loose a massive daemon that will destroy the system]]}}, before cutting to "Congratulations, you have completed the single-player game!" and rolling the same credits available on the main screen.

* The main storyline of ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics a 2A2]]'' has a proper ending, but the reward you get for beating all five level 99 clans in a bonus mission after you completed all 300 missions is just the credits. ''The same credits you get for beating the storyline.'' No [[Infinity+1 Sword]] or [[Bragging Rights Reward]] at all. Keep in mind that all of the clans in this bonus mission displays the finest examples of [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]].

* The terrifying freeware game ''[[Yume Nikki (Video Game)|Yume Nikki]]'' does this. Although there was never a clear plot (which spawned [[Epileptic Trees|so much fan speculation and theory]] on [[Mind Screw|what the heck is going on]]), the ending just pretty much leaves you feeling that you did all that effort of [[Gotta Catch Them All|finding all the different effects]] for nothing. {{spoiler|Giving up all the effects in the ritual room in the dream world, the main character wakes up to find a stepladder, which was definitely not there before, in her apartment balcony. If you walk her up to it, she uses it to jump off the balcony -- in doing so revealing that she has been [[Driven to Suicide]]. The [[Downer Ending]] is quickly cut to the credits the moment she jumps. Feel free to work out what her suicide means, but your guess is as good as anyone's}}.

* Parodied by ''[[Homestar Runner (Web Animation)|Homestar Runner]]'' in the bonus email "videro games" on the "strongbad_email.exe" DVD.

{{quote| '''Strong Bad''': And who doesn't remember staying up all night to beat an [[Final Boss|end boss]] only to be rewarded with a hearty "CONGRATURATION!" They didn't even bother giving you multiple ones. Just a single congraturation they had lying around the [[Buffy-Speak|video game make place]].}}

{{quote| '''BALD GUY''': Hey man, you gonna eat that last Congraturation? <br />

* [[BrentalflossBrental Floss]] has a song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coglCRr77aA devoted to this trope]. It's set to the end credits music of ''[[Super Mario World (Videovideo Gamegame)|Super Mario World]]'', and references several games featured on this page.

* Parodied ''again'' in [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/justinpie/wonderella/series.php?view=archive&chapter=24061&name=wonderella this] ''[[NonThe Non-Adventures Ofof Wonderella]]'' strip.

* ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/5/30/ speculates] what REALLY is supposed to happen when [[A Winner Is You]].

* ''[[MS Paint Adventures]]'' does this in ''[[Problem Sleuth (Webcomic)|Problem Sleuth]]'s'' [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001839 ending].

* Lampooned by ''[[Wrestlecrap]]'''s Blade Braxton as he provides commentary during a [http://www.drunkduck.com/Crossoverlord/index.php?p=574302 bizarre otherworld professional wrestling contest]{{Dead link}} in ''[[The Crossoverlord (Webcomic)|The Crossoverlord]]''!

* ''[[Girly|Cutewendy]]'' did a reference to the [[Trope Namer]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130616030708/http://cutewendy.com/go/56 here].

* Also parodied on the ''[[Guitar Hero (Video Game)|Guitar Hero]]'' episode of ''[[South Park (Animation)|South Park]]'' -- when Stan and Kyle finally broke a million points on ''Guitar Hero'' and unlocked super-stardom, all they got was the message, "CONGRATULATIONS! YOU... ARE... FAGS!" It pissed them off to no end.

** In a popular [[Game Mod|mod]] for ''[[Frets On Fire]]'', named "Frets on Fire X" or "[[Fo Fi X]]FoFiX," getting 100% on a song will get you a sound clip of the "CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE FAGS!" quote from that episode.

[[Category:A Winner Is You{{PAGENAME}}]]

[[Category:Trope Names From Memes]]