Bonus Dungeon: Difference between revisions

 

Since these are usually secret levels, expect the examples to spoil accordingly.

== Action Adventure Games ==

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]'' has a number of multi-level gauntlets. Only one is required to finish the game, the rest are hidden on islands around the Great Sea. The (optional) final 20 floors after the required gauntlet form the Bonus Dungeon.

*** ''[[Final Fantasy IV: The After Years]]'' has one at the end of each character's individual chapter, usually given by the [[Moon Rabbit]] Challengingway. Golbez gets ''two.''

* The game ''[[Vagrant Story]]'' has a bonus dungeon called the Iron Maiden. While areas in the game has a map to show which path leads to where, the Iron Maiden map doesn't. There's minimal to no light in the Iron Maiden, and the enemies are much more menacing than usual, and that's [[Nintendo Hard|saying something]]. The boss waiting at the end is the reason why this dungeon is called "Iron Maiden".

* The Chicken Level in ''[[Dungeon Siege]]''. Hidden behind a series of riddles and item-gathering quests, this was populated with... well, killer chickens with an extraordinary number of hit points. The level was filled with large amounts of fabulous treasure and hard-to-find items for anyone brave and strong enough to defeat the fowl beasts (pun intended).

* The Cow Level in ''[[Diablo]] II'' (and the ''Hellfire'' expansion for ''[[Diablo]]''), inserted as a response to a rumor from the original ''[[Diablo]]'' that such a place existed. Later, the 1.11 patch introduced an elaborate Pandemonium quest with several bonus dungeons.

** ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver]]''/''Crystal''/''HeartGold''/''SoulSilver'' and ''[[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire|Emerald]]'' possess a different variant. After the bonus dungeon you encounter, rather than a high-level Pokémon, a trainer with ''six'' high-level Pokémon, often the highest in the game. In GSC this is {{spoiler|1=Red, the protagonist of the original games as well as the male choice of protagonist in their [[Video Game Remake|remakes]], ''FireRed''/''LeafGreen'', with a party including a level 80 ''Pikachu'' and 70+ versions of all three original starters, Snorlax...and Espeon, for some reason. HGSS replaces the Espeon with a Lapras. The whole match has continous hail and all of there levels have been buffed up. ''Pikachu'' is level 88 now!}} In Emerald it's {{spoiler|Steven, the mandatory [[Final Boss]] of the first two games of that generation, now cranked up to 11 as a [[Bonus Boss]]. He has a similar team to the previous game (which was bad enough), but now they're all around level 80 rather than 50-60.}} Both fights are bragging rights only and give no real reward (although they are in fact repeatable, making them among the best spots to grind high-level Pokémon).

** The Battle Frontier in the various games can also be counted as a type of Bonus Dungeon—they are all single player<ref>Although some Generation 4 games had very basic online stuff, and Black and White added a rather roubust online component</ref> tournaments with various gimmicks, which also tend to be source of the better hold items, evolution trinkets, technical machines, etc. This means that if you are going for [[100% Completion]] (or wish to be tournament viable) you will need to master these game motes. Unfortunately [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]] is in ''full'' and ''blatant'' effect.

* The ''[[Star Ocean]]'' games all have at least one Bonus Dungeon. The Seven Star Ruins in the [[Star Ocean 1|first game]], Cave of Trials in the [[Star Ocean the Second Story|second]], as well as its [[Gaiden Game]], and Maze of Tribulations in the [[Star Ocean 3|third]], which jacked up the pot by adding Sphere 211, another 100-level dungeon, and the Urza Cave Temple, a more puzzle-oriented Bonus Dungeon. The [[Star Ocean 4|fourth game]] brought back the Seven Star Ruins and added the Wandering Dungeon. Many of these dungeons share the same background music (slightly remixed) with the Seraphic Gate from Valkyrie Profile.

* Yet another 100 floor dungeon exists in ''[[Beyond Oasis]]''. There are prizes every 10 levels, and if you can make it all the way to the bottom without having to turn back to restock on supplies, your ultimate prize is an indestructible<ref>most weapons break after limited uses, with the exception of your default dagger and a handful of well-hidden weapons</ref> [[Infinity+1 Sword|Omega]] [[Flaming Sword|Sword]].

** The Japan-only [[PlayStation 2]]-version increases the difficulty of Niflheim further. It adds another five floors, and adds two additional bosses: {{spoiler|first, against a souped-up Magnius, Forcystus, and Pronyma on floor 10, and against Mithos' first form (minus wings), Kratos and Yuan on the 20th floor. Did I mention that you can only use three party members as opposed to four for the Mithos/Kratos/Yuan battle?}} Have fun!

* ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'s'' Memory Dungeon. The graphics are blurry, [[Real Is Brown|it's brown]], and all the sound effects sound far away, like you're hearing them on a camcorder recording the actual video game. In here, you fight the party's memories, and with that, every enemy they've faced in the game. This makes for some weird situations, like [[Stone Wall]] [[White Mage]] vs. {{spoiler|[[Brainwashed and Crazy]] [[White Mage]]}} and [[Grumpy Old Man]] vs. {{spoiler|the other half of his [[Split Personality]].}} Strangely, for a game whose characters lampshade many things such as [[Crack Pairing|CrackPairings]] and [[Dude Looks Like a Lady]], this wasn't remarked about at all.

* The 60-floor bonus dungeon of ''[[Tales of Destiny]]'' is a remake of ''[[The Tower of Druaga]]''. A 10-floor version of the tower is the bonus dungeon in ''[[Tales of the World]]: Narikiri Dungeon 3''.

* Monad block in ''[[Persona 3]]''. The game's ultimate boss can be fought on the final floor.

* ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]'' loves these. Of particular note is Purity Forest from the original pair of games. You can only bring one Pokémon in, which is brought down to level one. Also, all your items and money not in storage are destroyed. Good luck.

** Similar to Purity Forest is Zero Isle in the second pair, which is divided up into four parts. Zero Isle North simply doesn't give you any EXP, but South, East, and West drop you down to level one at the start, you can't bring items to Zero Isle South or West and can only bring 16 items to Zero Isle East, and Zero Isle West also limits you to just the one Pokemon!

* Probably about a third of ''[[Xenosaga]] 2'' was side-quests and another third Bonus Dungeons.

* ''[[Shiren the Wanderer]]'' has a bunch of extra dungeons you can take on after beating the main game, including the Kitchen God Dungeon (a special dungeon where you start with Bufu's Cleaver, a weapon that can turn enemies you kill with it into meat), the Cave Behind the Scroll (a possibly shorter dungeon where you start with a Trap Armband, which enables you to pick up and place traps and use them against enemies, as well as gain experience for killing them with traps), Fay's Final Puzzle (a 99-floor marathon where even herbs and scrolls that you find will be unidentified), the Tainted Path (''another'' 99-floor dungeon, with very strong monsters and a boss at the end), the Ravine of the Dead (a 50-floor frolick with tougher monsters, ''fake stairs'', and lots of Monster Houses), and the Ceremonial Cave (a 30-floor labyrinth with tough monsters and another boss). The first three of these dungeons don't allow you to bring any items or money, and you can't bring companions into Fay's Final Puzzle.

* The [[Fallout: New Vegas]] DLC ''Lonesome Road'' adds the Long 15 and Dry Wells maps, which you may or may not have {{spoiler|nuked}} previous to their unlocking.

* [[Wasteland (video game)|Wasteland]], the original Post-Apocalyptic RPG, had this in the form of [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Finster's Head]]. A one-man-solo "dungeon" ({{spoiler|VR sim, actually}}) in a party-oriented game that comes right after what passes for the game's [[Wham! Episode]] can catch you by surprise with its (entirely optional) [[Bonus Boss]] that yields the largest XP boon in the whole game (DOUBLE that if you kill him in melee) and an inventive puzzle maze.

 

== Shoot Em Ups ==

 

== Wide Open Sandbox ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Video Game Settings]]