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{{quote|''"Look, it's the extra dungeon for after you beat the game. Good luck!"''|'''Alice Margatroid''', ''[[Touhou Project|Subterranean Animism]]''}}
Where the [[Bonus Boss]] usually lives. As mentioned, hardcore gamers (especially roleplaying gamers) often feel cheated that the popularization of video games has lead to a lessening in difficulty.
The
Sometimes, the [[Infinity+1 Sword]] will be waiting at the bottom.
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Since these are usually secret levels, expect the examples to spoil accordingly.
{{examples
== Action Adventure Games ==
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
*** In fact, you can go back to it afterwards and find the [[Up to Eleven|the difficulty has increased]].
** Also in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
** There's an extra dungeon in ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** The [[Updated Rerelease]] of ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** The two ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Oracle
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
* ''[[Okami]]'' features a particularly evil example. In different areas of the overworld there are 3 caves that are home to (slightly) upgraded versions of a previous giant demon spider boss. Defeating them earns a reward, but you can then return to the same cave later to find a demon gate eerily sitting there. Going through forces you to battle wave after wave of superpowered regular enemies. Even the lowliest of [[Mooks]] can waste you with a couple of hits in these battles (oh yeah, you have to go through 10 of them to get the reward) and have HP that would make some of the late-game bosses jealous. These battles could be considered a refreshing change of pace compared to the general easiness of Okami if not for their sheer sadism.
** To emphasize how very cruel some of these are, the most difficult has you face several bosses from the past in groups, usually two or three at a time. Including {{spoiler|Waka and two possessed Raos.}} Don't forget those healing items!
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== First-Person Shooter ==
* ''Doom 2'' from the ''[[Doom]]'' series had 2 bonus levels "Wolfenstein" and "Grosse" that were [[Shout
* ''[[Marathon
* The first two ''[[Descent]]'' games had several secret levels, where the difficulty jumps from the regular levels' [[Nintendo Hard]] to ''[[
** Ditto for the second secret level, where to rescue the hostages and get [[
* ''[[Medal of Honor]] Underground'' featured a campaign after the main game. Players reprised the role of Jimmy Patterson, hero of the first game, as he stormed the castle of a [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|mad Nazi scientist]]. The castle was replete with...interesting...new enemy types, including attack dogs operating armored vehicles and automatons made from suits of medieval armor. Patterson even constructs his own automaton - a man-sized nutcracker.
== Hack and Slash ==
* The Playstation 1 translation of ''[[Gauntlet
== Platform Games ==
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** The Training Hall and the Large Cavern in ''[[Order of Ecclesia]]''. While the latter is a [[Monster Arena]], the former is strictly a platforming challenge.
* The "Warp Zones" in ''[[Dangerous Dave]]''.
* Every game in the ''[[
* While not actual dungeons, the ''[[
** Episode 1: Only seven out of sixteen levels actually need to be beaten to finish the game. The remainder, one of which is a secret level, are optional. Getting to the secret level is rather tricky, though.
** Episode 2: Ten out of sixteen levels need to be finished to beat the game.
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** Episode 6: Of the sixteen levels in the game, ten need to be completed to finish the game. The remainder, including a very dangerous one and a secret level, can be skipped.
* ''[[Eversion]]'' has Stage 8 {{spoiler|and '''[[Layered World|Layer 8]]'''}}, which is unlocked by getting all the gems before finishing Stage 7.
* ''[[
* ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' 2 and 3 both have Lost Worlds that you need bonus coins to enter, and these coins are hidden in the regular levels.
== Role-Playing Games ==
* The Ancient Cave in the ''[[Lufia]]'' series has gone from 12 levels, to 100 levels, to 200 throughout the various games on SNES and Gameboy.
* Very common with ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games, especially in [[Updated Rerelease
** The Via Infinito in ''[[Final Fantasy X
** Fanatics' Tower in ''[[
*** Also the Dragon's Den in ''[[
**** The Soul Shrine ain't no picnic either.
** The Sealed Temple in ''[[
*** There are a ton of these in the original game as well, such as the water tower in Worus Castle (which gave you the Shiva summon), the basement of Castle Bal (for the Odin summon) and several others. Technically, everything after the Pyramid is optional, as you can go straight to the [[Very Definitely Final Dungeon]] as soon as you reclaim the [[Global Airship]] in the third world.
** Deep Dungeon in ''[[
** ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics
** The Deep Sea Research Facility in ''[[
** The Omega Ruins in ''[[
** ''[[
*** Don't forget the Nabreus Deadlands and Necrohol of Nalbudis. How bad is it? The goddamn [[Everything Trying to Kill You|save/gate crystal tries to kill you.]]
** The Gameboy Advance version of ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
*** This is actually easier than the rest of the [[Very Definitely Final Dungeon]], and you're specifically told to go through it, though.
** ''[[
*** The DS version lost this ability due to [[Suddenly Voiced]] cutscenes, and removed both dungeons. It compensated for this by adding a pair of utterly horrifying [[Bonus Boss
*** ''[[Final Fantasy IV:
* 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 Abyss in ''[[Wild
* 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.
* [[Amusement Park of Doom|Neverland]] in [[Resonance of Fate]].
* The Hades Cup in ''[[Kingdom Hearts (
* The Netherworld, Auldburg, Trials of Elore, Jewel Beast's Lair, Purgatory, and Shadow Palace from ''[[Romancing
** ''[[Romancing
* ''[[Paper Mario:
** A similar Pit of 100 Trials is also found in ''[[
*** Two of them, in fact, one of which must be completed twice to get everything from it.
* The ''Pokémon'' games have these, starting with Mewtwo's lair, the Cerulean Cave in ''[[
** ''[[
** The Battle Frontier in the various games can also be counted as a type of
* The Seraphic Gate in all three ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]'' games. ''[[Valkyrie Profile 2|Silmeria]]'' and ''[[Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume|Covenant]]'' scales up the difficulty every time you beat it, and all require them to be beaten at least 10 times to get the [[Infinity+1 Sword]], the latter two being far harder due to reasons stated above.
* The ''[[Star Ocean]]'' games all have at least one
* Yet another 100 floor dungeon exists in ''[[
* Mull's Dungeon in ''[[Atelier Iris]]'' is only accessible after beating the game and contains a [[Bonus Boss]] stronger than the final boss.
* The Chrysler Building in ''[[Parasite Eve]]''.
* The Moria Gallery from ''[[
* Completionists playing ''[[
* ''[[
** Its sequel has two of them, one of which requires you to be on a second playthrough. Bonus doesn't begin to describe it.
** The Japan-only [[
* ''[[
** The [[
* The 60-floor bonus dungeon of ''[[
* Monad block in ''[[
** ''Persona 3 Portable'' has the Vision Quest, hosted by {{spoiler|Margaret, from ''[[
* Pork City in ''[[
* Chapter 8 in ''[[
* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne]]'' has both the Labyrinth of Amala and the Bandou Shrine. Completing the labyrinth gives you a sixth ending (and [[Bonus Boss]]), and the shrine gives you the chance to acquire the [[Infinity+1 Sword|secret 25th Magatama]].
* Crossbone Isle of the first ''[[
** The second ''[[
*** And Treasure Isle, Yampi Desert Cave, and the turtle's secret island, all of which had their own bonus bosses (which did not necessarily have to be beaten before taking on the Anemos Sanctum, but you might as well since you had to at least progress part of the way through each to get the Djinn inside before you could unlock it.)
* ''[[
** The original ''[[Grandia (
** And ''[[
* After beating the final boss in ''[[Digimon World]]'', there is a
* The most recent ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
** The PSX/DS remake of ''[[
** The [[
* ''[[
* ''[[
** Of course, some players created game mods making him ''harder'' just to ramp up the challenge further. Some people...
*** Which are nothing compared to the mods making the final bosses (of both the original and the expansion) easily 10 times harder to fight. And add a [[Boss Rush]], because just fighting them one at a time is for sissies.
* The [[Updated Rerelease]] of ''[[
** Even the original SNES version of the game had the Black Omen, an optional dungeon (although necessary to access [[New Game
* ''[[.hack]]'' gives us the Bonus Dungeons after the end of every game. In ''G.U.'' one of those is called the [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Forest of Pain]]. How utterly appropriate.
* ''[[
** 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!
*** And let
* Probably about a third of ''[[
* ''[[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 "Another Goddess" quest in ''[[Half Minute Hero]]'', aside from being very long for the game's scope (most levels last about 30 seconds, while this one will take a good five minutes), harkens to another Marvelous Entertainment-created RPG: ''[[Valhalla Knights]]'' (the title even changes to reflect this). It's accessible during normal play, but because of the major change in style, the Time Goddess urges you to walk past it, on to the next quest. In order to actually play it, you have to defeat [[108]] bosses first. Harsh.
* There's six of the things in ''[[
* ''[[Blue Dragon]]'' has the [[Expansion Pack|downloadable]] Shuffle Dungeon, which gives you several new items to collect and some new monsters to fight.
* ''[[
* The ''[[
* An early example in ''[[Sword of Vermilion]]''. Unlike all other dungeons in the game, nobody ever asks you to visit, or even mentions the existence of the dungeon where the [[Infinity+1 Sword|Death Sword]] is found.
* ''[[Phantasy Star IV]]'' had a couple of optional dungeons that contained some nice loot, and in one case a [[Continuity Nod]] to the previous installment.
* The Server Room in ''[[Opoona]].'' It opens up about midway through the game, but actually ''challenging'' it at such a point is not especially advisable. In addition to containing [[Mooks]] that are extremely fast, can heal themselves, and prevent you from using your Force (magic), the battle stages are full of bombs, which prevent you from using just about any hit-all abilities lest they explode. (And if they do so, they'll knock off about 100
* 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 (
* ''[[Monster Girl Quest Paradox]]'' has the Labyrinth of Chaos, unlocked after clearing the story. It has two components, the (confusingly-named) Labyrinth of Chaos and the Trials of Chaos. The Labyrinth consists of an infinite number of floors, each based on one of the maps in the main game. It's inhabited by stronger versions of every normal monster, which only grow stronger as you advance. Every ten floors, you're pitted against a boss. Every hundred floors, you can choose to fight either the normal boss, or a much more powerful "superboss" (which rewards you with better loot). The Trials are similar except that they're always ten floors in length, have a specific theme (e.g. the Eternal Forest has forest-themed maps and enemies), end with a boss and give large rewards when completed. Both Labyrinth and Trials differ from the main game in that: the the entrances and exits of floors are randomised, there are [[Preexisting Encounters]] instead of the usual [[Random Encounters]], and various minigames (some with no combat at all) are interspersed among the floors.
== Shoot Em Ups ==
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== Turn-Based Strategy ==
* The Hellgate from ''[[Tactics Ogre]]'' was 100 levels deep, and interestingly actually tied into the plot, as the bottom level was where one of the [[Bonus Boss|villains]] in the game had retreated to. Beating him didn't change the main plot of the game, though. In order to get the ultimate "bragging" item in the game, one had to go through the Hellgate twice, as well as get 4 specific weapons from special encounters with recolored monsters.
* Beauty Castle and the Alternate Hell from ''[[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness]]'', as well as a world within every item which is generated randomly. Fittingly, the Alternate Hell was the
** Also fitting in that the Beauty Castle is the last dungeon in another [[Nippon Ichi]] game, [[
* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'': ''The Sacred Stones'' has two of these: the Tower of Valni, and, more fitting, as it is only available toward the end of the main game, the Lagdou Ruins.
== Wide Open Sandbox ==
* After trudging through Zero's [[Scrappy Level|first two missions, which involve shooting down/fighting with toys on a very tight timer]] in ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'', you are treated to...an RTS mission. However, it is probably the most fun mission in the game since it's virtually impossible to screw up, and hearing David Cross cheer you on when you do well at it creates quite the fuzzy feeling. Oh, and one of the previous scrappy levels becomes infinitely replayable after you beat it, although there is now no longer a penalty for failing it.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Video Game Settings]]
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