Bonus Stage: Difference between revisions

* Is entered after the end of a regular level, or at points within a regular level.

* Usually hidden, or requires a certain level of performance or number of pickups, but in some games they always appear at set points.

* Typically, it is a [[Mini Game]], or differs significantly in some other way from normal gameplay.

* If it's possible to die at all, it will only kick you out of the bonus stage without taking a life.

 

This is also not to be confused with [[Bonus Stage (Web Animation)|the web animation of the same name]], or [[Bonus Round]], which is for game shows and tends to function similarly. See also [[Secret Level]].

 

* Various arcade-style games, such as ''[[Gauntlet]]'', ''[[Mario Bros (Video Game)|Mario Bros]].'', ''Binary Land'' had bonus stages after completing a certain number of regular stages.

** ''[[Sonic Rush Series (Video Game)|SonicRush]]'' did the same thing, but only for Sonic's story - Blaze got a Sol Emerald automatically after every boss fight. The Chaos Emeralds AND the Sol Emeralds were both necessary to access the final stage in this case.

* As sort of a weird example, in ''[[Earthworm Jim (Video Game)|Earthworm Jim]]'', each regular level would be followed by "Andy Asteroids?", a race with Psy-Crow. Beating him would allow you to go on to the next stage without incident and possibly rack up an extra continue, while losing to him forced you to fight him before going on to the next stage.

* In ''[[Skull Monkeys]]'', the bonus rooms are accessed by collecting the "Swirly Q"s and entering a special exit at the end of the level. It's most remembered for the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al0XOLM9FPw song] that plays there, which must be heard to be believed.

* In rather similar fashion to some of the Mario games, ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' has loads of secret areas filled with goodies, some of which behave more like part of a normal level and some of which behave more like levels in their own right.

* In ''[[Street Fighter II (Video Game)|Street Fighter II]]'', after every two or three rounds, your character got to beat the crap out of a car or pile of oil drums for extra points.

** And ''[[Street Fighter III (Video Game)|Street Fighter III]] 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future'' has two bonus stages in which you destroy a car or tech [[Joke Character|Sean's]] basketballs.

* The credit rolls of the ''[[Tetris the Grand Master]]'' series have you continue playing. Some modes have you simply continue playing as the credits roll, with no effect on your score or grade. Some others, like ''TGM2'''s and ''TGM3'''s Master mode, have the "disappearing roll," in which pieces vanish 5 seconds after locking down; in ''TGM3'' clearing lines during this part will add a small fraction of a whole grade. Then there's the infamous "invisible roll" in which pieces vanish upon locking; in ''TGM2'', this is required to earn the Grand Master rank (failing will net you an M grade instead), and in ''TGM3'', this nets even more grades per line clear, and clearing enough lines ''and'' surviving are just part of the [http://www.tetrisconcept.com/wiki/index.php/Tetris_The_Grand_Master_3#GrandMaster_Requirements requirements] for ''TGM3'''s Grand Master rank.<ref>And believe me, those two requirements alone are hard enough. How hard? Well, out of the millions who've played ''Tetris'', only '''''3''''' of them have this rank.</ref> Finally, ''TGM3'''s Shirase credit roll has you playing with fully-visible double-sized pieces, but has no effect on your grade.

** Getting more of a certain item than the opponent does, however: that's a [[Shout Out]] to the original game which has a bonus game - In the first Bubble Bobble, the player(s) race to get the most of a type of item on the screen in a time limit.

* A [[The Golden Age of Video Games|classic example]] is the Challenge Stages of ''[[Galaga]]''.

* Every world in ''[[Purple (Video Game)|Purple]]'' has one bonus stage which can be unlocked by finding a hidden switch. These stages contain lots of 1-ups.

* ''[[Batman Doom]]'', unusually for a vanilla ''[[Doom]]'' mod, has one of these. During your first boss fight with the Scarecrow, mayor Kroll is tied to a ticking bomb in the vicinity. If the bomb explodes, the level ends and you go to the next one (map16) like normal. But if you manage to actually defeat Scarecrow before the explosion, you go to map31. It's a big, empty (and thus somewhat creepy) city map where you're trying to collect a bunch of random bonuses before you can access the exit and continue onto map16. This is also where you can access the [[Secret Level]].

* ''[[Donkey Kong Country Returns]]'' had hidden rooms that contained many bananas, banana coins, and balloons. Collecting everything would reveal a Puzzle Piece necessary for [[One Hundred Percent Completion]]. Falling off would not result in death.

* In [[American Football]], the "extra point" and "two-point conversion" qualify. They come after a major score, and failure usually has no consequence other than not getting the extra points. However, in extreme cases, [[Epic Fail|it's possible for the other team to score]].