Book Ends/Video Games

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So you played the game from beginning to end...

Note that some Book Ends can be spoilers, so beware.

• In Portal 2: Beginning: "Catch me catch me catch me!" Climax: "GRAB ME GRAB ME GRAB ME!"
• At the end of the first level of Killer7, Harmon shoots Kun Lan in the hand; Kun Lan catches the bullet and rides its momentum to the top of the Space Needle. At the very end of the game, the same scene is repeated 100 years later in China. The implication, as Kun Lan mockingly states, is that their battle will never end.
  • Also, in one confrontation Harmon says "Are you awake from your dream?" to which Kun Lan replies "The size of the world has changed" and in the other Harmon says "Are you awake from your nightmare?" to which Kun Lan replies "The world doesn't change, all it does is turn.", potentially implying that this is one of the few ways they pass the eternities. Switching sides so that they both get a chance to be "good" and "bad"
• Final Fantasy VII begins and ends with the same shot of Aeris looking into the lifestream, possibly implying that the whole game was a Flash Forward, given her Psychic Powers.
  • The prequel Crisis Core begins with a scene that bears striking resemblance to the opening of the original FFVII (a train pulls into a station, with the exact same cinematography even, then Cloud/Zack does a flip off of the roof of the train and strikes a dramatic pose). Crisis Core ends by showing... the original opening of FFVII, but remastered with modern graphics. Can you have three bookends?
• Final Fantasy IX begins and ends with a traveling theater company putting on the same play in the same city, but as a front for a kidnapping the first time and sneaking someone in the second.
• Final Fantasy X-2, Yuna frequently narrates the story in voiceover. One of the earliest cutscenes begins with her explaining, "It all began when I found this sphere of you." Both the Normal and Good endings end with the same line.
  • Final Fantasy X-2 fuses it's prequel, if you obtain the perfect ending. X began with Tidus standing on a little hill in Zanarkand .. the perfect ending of X-2 shows Tidus and Yuna standing on that same hill together, completing their two stories.
• Halo 3 has an excellent example of a bookend in its ending. The Arbiter dismisses the apparent death of the Master Chief with "Were it so easy," mirroring the opening scene where the Chief holds a pistol to the Arbiter's head and all the Arbiter does is dismiss the possibility he either of them could be killed so easily.
  • A second example, bookending the entire trilogy, is in the final video unlocked by sitting through the credits. The Master Chief climbs into a cryo tube to wait for rescue, after climbing out of a very similar cryo tube at the start of the first game (the Master Chief's introduction).
  • At the end of Combat Evolved, we have this exchange:

Cortana: We did what we had to! An entire Covenant armada obliterated, and the Flood... Halo. It's finished. John: No. I think we're just getting started.

• • And then, at the end of Halo 3:

Cortana: You did it. Truth, and the Covenant. The Flood. It's finished. John: ... It's finished.

• • • Bonus points for the using the same song (albeit updated) for both endings.
  • Also, the first and third games both end with you fleeing a disaster that will destroy a Halo ring. The same Halo ring in fact.
    • On a Warthog.
  • The most iconic example on par with the cryo tube scenes is the discovery of a new world to explore. In the first Halo, it was Halo, and in the secret end of the trilogy it is the Legendary Planet.
  • Halo 1 is an example all on its own: you start on the Pillar of Autumn, making your way to an escape pod before it crashlands on Halo; you end the game on the Pillar of Autumn, making your way to an onboard fighter before the Autumn blows up and takes Halo with it. This can actually be extended to cover pretty much the entire game, since the last half of the game is practically the first half in reverse...escape the Pillar of Autumn which is being overrun by Covenant, board the Truth and Reconciliation to rescue Keyes from the Covenant, fight your way up to the Control Room, explore an ancient structure infested by Flood and release them, fight your way through an ancient structure infested by Flood to find a way to destroy them, fight your way down from the Control Room, board the Truth and Reconciliation to rescue Keyes from the Flood, go back to the Pillar of Autumn to escape Halo which is being overrun by Flood.
  • Halo: Reach, being a prequel to the main trilogy, leads directly into Halo 1, with Master Chief, Cortana, and the Pillar of Autumn heading for the Halo ring. Halo likes these a lot, it seems. Also in-game, the story begins and ends with a Dead Hat Shot of Noble Six's helmet.
• Bayonetta: The intro ends with Bayonetta calling out to Jeanne, who responds "I'm okay!" They then pose back to back as they plummet off a cliff face amidst falling rubble. After the final final boss fight, the two witches repeat this exact dialogue exchange (complete with pose), only this time the rubble is Jubileus' statue fragments rather than rocks, and they are plummeting towards the planet rather than a canyon.
• Radiata Stories begins with Jack Russell leaving his home in Solieu Village in the early morning, shouldering a rucksack and his father's sword as a subdued song plays in the background. In one of the two endings Jack Russell leaves his home in Radiata City in the early morning, shouldering a rucksack and his father's sword as a subdued song plays in the background.
  • Not to mention that the first thing we see in the game, even before being introduced to Jack, is Cairn slaying a dragon. No matter which story path you pursue, at the end of the game, Jack Russell, Cairn's son, slays a dragon.
• Shadow Hearts uses this in all three games. The first game begins and ends with a train ride, Apoina Tower is the first and final dungeon of the first disc of Covenant, and the beginning and bad ending of From The New World feature Shania standing atop a skyscraper.
  • You could argue that Yuri's whole story is a giant bookend, as his story begins in Shadow Hearts on a train and, in the good ending of Covenant, at least, ends back on that same train.
• Kingdom Hearts (the first one) both begins and ends on Destiny Islands
  • The first Kingdom Hearts game begins with a scene where Sora and Kairi are sitting on a curved palm tree and Riku is standing, leaning against it. The second Kingdom Hearts game had a scene after the credits where Riku and Sora are once again at that exact spot, but with their positions reversed.
  • Come now, you can do better than that. Every single location is bookended with a logo of the place, and also the game itself. After the prologue, Kingdom Hearts logo. After the credits, Kingdom Hearts logo.
  • The first Kingdom Hearts really went all out with this trope. The final dungeon has the same background music as the Heart Station where the game begins, both of these levels end with an identical shot of the same set of double doors opening and a flood of light coming out, and during the game's epilogue, you see the same unspoken dialogue that you do at the beginning. All together, it creates a rather haunting effect, but in a good way.
  • Even better than that, the series starts with Riku reaching out and Sora going to grab his hand and 2 ends with Sora taking Kairi's hand. Considering what the trio could represent in terms of Light, Darkness and Twilight, this could be heavily symbolic too.
• The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask actually has TWO THREE book ends:
  • One of the very first things you do in the game is play hide and seek with five red-headed children. One of the very last things you do in the game is play hide and seek with five red-headed children.
  • Since the game takes place in a Groundhog Day Loop three-day cycle, the same events repeat themselves over and over. In the very first cycle of the game, you have to go up to the clock tower at the end of the third day and face a boss encounter that you can only survive by playing a particular song on your ocarina. Then, once you play through the entire rest of the game, you have to go back to the same place, at the same time, and play a different song on your ocarina. The events of the battle unfold radically differently this time around, and once you watch the cutscene you get sent to the final dungeon.
  • The opening scene in the game is Link riding Epona through the Lost Woods searching for a long-lost friend. During the end credits, Link is riding Epona into the woods, continuing his original quest. Even the underscoring on the soundtrack is the same.
  • Before that game, The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time closes with Link approaching Zelda in the castle garden in a parallel to their meeting early in the game. This time we briefly see the Triforce of Courage on his hand.
    • There was also another set of bookends in this game. The very first scene with Sheik where you are introduced to the character, and the very last scene with Sheik where she reveals herself to be Zelda, are remarkably similar. They both take place in the Temple of Time and start off with Link running only to stop and turn around to find Sheik standing behind him after she announces her presence with the line "I've been waiting for you."
  • As the plot of The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker kicks off, Link leaves his hometown with the pirates. In the last scene of the game... Link leaves his hometown with the pirates. The tone of the latter scene is much more positive, though. Especially notable is that the first departing-scene had Link waving his grandma and neighbours goodbye with one hand, stoping for a few seconds, suddenly running foreward a few steps and then starting to wave at them again, but this time with both hands. The second departing has his sister Aryll (who stays behind on Outset) doing this just the same way.
  • In The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, the first area you go to outside of the forest is Hyrule Castle after you are turned into a wolf and captured. Hyrule Castle is also the final dungeon of the game.
    • At the beginning of the game, Link has someone call for him at his second story window. At the end of the game, this happens again, but this time, Link isn't inside; he is riding Epona out of the village.
    • The final dungeon of the Fused Shadows arc is accessed from a cave at the bottom of Lake Hylia, and the boss is fought at the lowest point in the entire game world. The final dungeon of the Mirror of Twilight arc is accessed by a cannon that is also at Lake Hylia, and the boss is fought at the highest point in the entire game world. Both bosses have the same music, and both eventually involve latching onto and attacking an eye on the boss's back.
  • The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past did it with bookends within bookends. The first dungeon in the Light World is Hyrule Castle. The last dungeon is also Hyrule Castle. Its analogous location in the Dark World is a pyramid, the first place you go after you defeat Agahnim. After defeating Agahnim again, you go straight back to the pyramid.
  • As a Meta example, Twilight Princess is a launch title for the Wii, while The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword is the final major release for the Wii.
• A notable gimmik of Hitman series -- you tend to return to where the story began at the end.
• In Super Mario Galaxy, the first mission in the first galaxy is titled "Dino Piranha" and has you fighting said enemy. The last mission in one of the optional last galaxies is titled "Fiery Dino Piranha" and has you fighting the boss again, only this time he's on fire.
  • The game itself begins and and ends at the Star Festival.
  • Even the original Super Mario Bros has some sort of Book Ends: The game's second world apparantly features an underwater level followed by a level taking place on top of a broken bridge, and the third world apparantly takes place at night. This is actually reversed for the game's sixth and seventh worlds. And while at the end of World 1-4, the fake Bowser is revealed to be a gray Goomba, at the beginning of World 8-4, a trio of gray Goombas can be seen in a hallway.
  • The title screen of Super Mario Bros 3 is shown on a stage, and so is the game's ending.
  • Back to Galaxy, also at the very beginning of the game, when Rosalina rescues Mario after he is thrown off Bowser's spaceship while attempting to rescue Peach, he can be seen lying unconscious in the middle of a field full of flowers. At the end of the game, after Bowser is defeated for the last time the universe collapses and recreates itself for some reason, and after Mario sees Rosalina's giant floating disembodied head talking to him in the middle of a black void, he, Peach and Bowser are all seen lying unconscious in another field of flowers.
• Sonic Unleashed ends the same way it began, with Sonic crashing face-first into the ground from a great height, except this time Sonic is cured of his werehog problem, and the unconscious Chip is just an illusion.
  • |Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, due to a Reset Button Ending, ends by showing how the opening cutscene plays out differently in the new timeline.
  • The first thing you'll see in Sonic Colors is the title character running along side the Wisps. In the final battle, just before dealing the final blow, Sonic and the Wisps run side by side, ready to bring their powers together.
• Dragon Age 2's Framing Device begins with Varric being dragged into the Hawke mansion for an interrogation, and ends with his interrogator leaving.
  • And, within the frame, when Hawke first arrives in Kirkwall, s/he enters the city via the Gallows Courtyard...which is also the location of the battle with the Final Boss.
• Myst begins with a shot of a book falling through a starry expanse, eventually landing at some unspecified location where the player finds it. In the optimal ending of the sequel Riven, the player character jumps into the starry fissure that will- hopefully- take him home, and the last shot is the player character- from his perspective- falling through the same starry expanse. (There are further sequels after this, but they kind of do their own thing.)
  • There's even a sort of middle Book End. It is explained in other series media that the player lives on Earth. At the beginning of Myst, you link to Myst from a book on Earth, which is where the fissure leads and where you're trying to get at the end of Riven. But in between, you rescue Atrus by taking his missing page to D'ni/K'veer, which is a cavern underneath the surface ... of Earth.
  • Moreover, most of the games and Ages start off with an early glimpse of the place you'll need to get to at the end. In Riven, for example, the site where the starry fissure can be opened is directly in view from where you first link into that world.
• Warhammer Fantasy Battle: Dark Omen begins and ends with a similar conversation between Bernhardt and Klaus. "The crows never lose."
• Shadow of the Colossus begins with a shot of a hawk, which flies into the scene from behind the camera, and it ends with a shot of a hawk, which leaves the scene as the camera overtakes it.
• Fallout 3 begins and ends with "War never changes."
  • So does Fallout: New Vegas. Then again, "War never changes" is a Tagline for the series.
• The 2008 Prince of Persia begins and ends with the Prince walking through a sandstorm, with a voice-over narration asking "What is one grain of sand in the desert? What is one grain amongst the storm?" The difference is that the answer changes from being "nothing" to "everything."
  • The Sands of Time trilogy began and ended with the Prince narrating to Farah:

"Most people think time is like a river, that flows swift and sure in one direction. But I have seen the face of time, and I can tell you: they are wrong. You may wonder who I am or why I say this. Sit down and I will tell you a tale like none you have ever heard."

• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3: The first mission of the Soviet campaign involves capturing and protecting a fortress from an invading force. The final mission of the Allied campaign involves invading and destroying that same fortress before it can launch a rocket ship.
• The original Half-Life begins and ends in a tram. The sequel begins and ends with Gordon in stasis. In addition, the G-Man puts Gordon on a train at the beginning of Half-Life 2, and in the ending the G-Man says "this is where I get off" before stepping through a glowing doorway (much like the ones on the train).
  • Half-Life 2 begins with Gordon Freeman entering City 17 by train. Half-Life 2: Episode One ends with Gordon Freeman narrowly escaping an exploding City 17 by train, thus finally ending the City 17 story arc.
• In Planetarian, the game begins and ends (not the very end, but this does qualify) with Yumemi/Reverie's pitch for the planetarium.
• In Ratchet and Clank, the game opens with Clank learning of a plot, flying from his home planet to Ratchet's and crash landing. This is repeated with both characters late in the game (complete with crash landing after the final boss battle), and the tutorial level is the first part of the last level. The Big Bad points out it's poetic.
  • Goes Beyond the Impossible if you consider the games' endings. The first game ended with the eponymous duo falling from a great height and then, once the danger had passed, apparently splitting up. In this case, it was Ratchet leaving Clank on his own, then coming back. Compare A Crack in Time's ending, which includes the aforementioned toppling from a great height (on Ratchet's part) and, once the time crisis is averted, Clank choosing to stay at the Great Clock, then changing his mind and rejoining Ratchet at the last minute. Considering that, at the time, ACiT was speculated to be the last game in the series, I think it qualifies as Book Ends material.
• The Good End of Silent Hill 1 has Harry (and Cybil, if you saved her) find infant Cheryl in the cemetery just like in the opening cutscene. If you got the Good+ ending, the opening cutscene of a New Game+ begins with Cybil in the place of Harry's wife.
  • Silent Hill Origins ends with Travis finally being able to access the truck he ditched when he saw the Gillespie house on fire.
  • Silent Hill 2 begins and ends with Mary's letter, and depending on which of the Multiple Endings you get, reveals what the rest of said letter reads like.
  • Silent Hill 3's ending theme tune is a vocal reprise of the first game's opening theme.
  • Silent Hill 4 opens with someone waking up in first person view in a haunted apartment; the "21 Sacraments" shows little Walter falling asleep in third person view in the very same apartment. You also re-visit previous worlds in reverse order.
• Mega Man X began with the discovery of the Sealed Good in a Can title character and the subverted Sealed Evil in a Can Ensemble Darkhorse. In the Mega Man Zero series, it's revealed that the former ended with both characters sealing themselves (the former to seal something, the latter to seal himself).
• Mother 3 has two :
  • It begins with it's title logo, half-wooden, half-metallic. When the game finally ends, the Pig Mask Army corrupting the nature is beaten, and the world is reborn as new. The last shot is the same logo, only totally wooden and with a Earth instead of the metal O.
    • It is also the logo to the first game.
  • One of the very first things that happen in the game is a panicked Thomas breaking the doorknob at Flint's house. You finally retrieve it After the End. However, this one may not qualify; if you know where to look, you can learn the whereabouts of the doorknob all throughout the game.
  • EarthBound/Mother 2 doesn't actually begin with it, but it happens close to the beginning. You get woken up by somebody banging on the door loudly and Porky/Pokey rushes into the house. After the events, you are woken up again by somebody banging on the door and this time it's the younger brother bringing you his sibling's message .. starting up for Mother 3
• In Thief, Garrett is discovered when he tries to pick a Keeper's pocket. In the end of Deadly Shadows, he is almost pick pocketed.
  • This is heavily enhanced when Garrett and the pickpocket exchange the same lines as Garrett and the Keeper in the first game:

"That's not for you." "Please sir, I'm hungry." "It's not an easy thing to... see a Keeper. (smiles) Especially one who does not wish to be seen..."

• A tradition in the Paper Mario series. The first game begins and ends with a party, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door begins and ends with Peach obtaining a treasure map, and Super Paper Mario begins and ends with a wedding.
  • The first game has another example. The very first battle is a fight against Bowser in a hall of Peach's castle. The second-to-last fight is another battle with Bowser in the same room.
• Happens in the Mario and Luigi series too. Superstar Saga starts with fighting Bowser in front of Peach's throne, the final battle is fighting Bowletta in front of her throne. Partners in Time starts and ends with fighting Bowser in Peach's castle, except Bowser was a baby the first time. Bowsers Inside Story begins with Bowser fighting Mario after barging into a conference room and as the penultimate battle has Bowser fighting Fawful in the same conference room.
• Call of Duty 3 mirrors Starship Troopers with a briefing in the back of a truck from Sergeant McCullen. The game closes on Huxley making a similar speech in the back of an identical truck.
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2's Character Roach's storyline begins and ends with the disposal of a lit cigar. Beginning with Captain John "Soap" McTavish's cigar on Cliffhanger, which he just tosses off a cliff, and ends with Shepherd tossing the cigar on the gasoline soaked bodies of Roast and Ghost in Loose Ends.
  • The series chronologically starts with (trying to) kill Ultranationalist leader Zakhaev. You finally succeed, albeit with a different player character, at the end. Fast forward to the third game: final "boss" is his follower Makarov, and you're using the same player character (Price) as tried to kill Zakhaev the first time around.
  • The first mission of Modern Warfare 1 begins with Price finishing a cigar, the final mission of Modern Warfare 3 ends with Price lighting a cigar.
• Grim Fandango opens up with a shot with a miniature mariachi band standing next to an ashtray. The ending has a real mariachi band standing in front of a circular fountain.
• The PS 1 Syphon Filter trilogy. The first mission of part 1 and the last mission of part 3 is in the subways of Washingotn DC.
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has a possible example with the Green Tree Python, which appears at the very beginning of the game and the very end.
  • Metal Gear Solid 4 stretches it a bit, but it still fits; after an opening-titles sequence in the Middle East, the story flashes back several days to what kicked off the events, taking place with Snake in the cemetery Big Boss and the Boss are buried at. He salutes Big Boss' grave, and then Otacon arrives to start the plot, arriving by helicopter to give him the appearance of coming out of nowhere. The final scene takes place in this same cemetery, where Big Boss, alive this whole time, appears out of nowhere and after some dialog, salutes the Boss' grave before he dies. Both of these scenes mirror the end of the previous game, where Big Boss stood in the same place and saluted the Boss' grave forty years previous. That scene itself could be considered the actual "opening" bookend depending on plot interpretation.
  • Also, you revisit the ruins of Shadow Moses, the site of the first Metal Gear Solid.
  • The final boss fight of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots calls back to the first and last boss fights of Metal Gear Solid. The last of MGS and the last of MGS4 are both hand-to-hand fights with Liquid on top of a Metal Gear. The first of MGS and the last of MGS4 are both against Revolver Ocelot. The difference is that in their first fight, they were both agile, powerful warriors. In the second, they're dying old men.
• Fate/stay night does this -- even though Shirou is the protagonist, both the prologue to the entire game and the epilogue to the True Ending of Heaven's Feel (the last route in the game) are played from Rin's perspective.
  • Similarly, Tsukihime has Shiki Tohno meeting Aoko Aozaki in the prologue and epilogue.
• The finale of Deus Ex Invisible War takes place on Liberty Island, where the first Deus Ex started.
  • Also, the ending of the original where you let the Illuminati rule the world as a shadow government has a conversation that mirrors the opening conversation.
• The true final stage of Raiden IV uses a remake of Raiden II's first stage music.
• In Mitsumete Knight, the game starts with the following sentence : "April 1st, 26, in Dolphan Era. An Asian was about to immigrate to the Dolphan Kingdom, as a mercenary.", and then you see the Asian (aka the player avatar) arriving at Dolphan Kingdom by boat ; the first person he meets then is a Customs' Official. At the end of the game, this same Customs' Official is the last person he meets (barring any girl he could have scored during the game), and he leaves Dolphan by boat. If you got the Bad Ending where the Asian got neither the Holy Knight Title nor a girl's confession of love, the following sentence will also appear : "March 16th, 29, in Dolphan Era. An Asian was about to leave the Kingdom, as a man.".
• In the Wrath of the Lich King expansion to World of Warcraft, the opening cinematic features a voiceover of King Terenas Menethil telling a young Arthas of the duties of a king, using Dramatic Irony to contrast with the latter's current status as the titular Big Bad. The final cinematic, upon the defeat of the Lich King in Icecrown Citadel, shows the ghost of Terenas comforting his dying son that "no king rules forever".
• In intro cutscene of System Shock, the Hacker hacks into the Tri-Optimum's Citadel Station's databases to look for the info on Military-Grade Neural Interface. At the ending cutscene, after refusing the job at Tri-Optimum (good move, considering the backstory of the sequel), he is back at the same building, same room as in the intro, hacking into Tetracorp's databases to look for the info on powered armor. Old habits die hard indeed.
• Chrono Trigger can end with Good Morning, Crono...except everybody's a Reptite.
  • In most of the other endings, it closes with the same Millennial Festival that Crono attends at the start of the game.
• Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World: the story begins and ends with Marta in Palmacosta near the same shop with Emil arriving soon afterwards fulfulling her wish.
• BioShock (series) begins in the water outside a lighthouse, the endings from Bioshock 2 all show the same lighthouse.
• It's not the same locale, but in Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards, Stage 1 of Pop Star is almost visually identical to Stage One of Ripple Star and shares the same stage music.
• The title screen of Limbo shows a treehouse with a broken ladder and flies hovering over two small corpses. The end shows the protagonist reuniting with his sister near the ladder of a treehouse, then returns to the title screen for maximum impact.
• Psychonauts as well, which begins and ends with Coach Oleander giving a speech in the campfire area (aided by Ford, the second time)...well, until that other ending
• The first game in the Game and Watch line was called 'Ball' and featured a juggler. The final game, released 11 years later was titled 'Mario the Juggler', and featured the exact same gameplay.
• Done in Infinite Space, although not in the beginning. During the first confrontation with Lugovalos near the end of Act 1, Bastian blasted the Vasta star using Krebs exalaser to take down the enemies and prevent their advance to LMC. Ten years later near the end of Act 2, during the final confrontation, Bastian's brother, Dietrich performed a Heroic Sacrifice by doing the exact same thing to prevent the enemies from chasing Yuri.
• In Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright: Justice for All, the game starts with Phoenix having a nightmare where the Judge tells him he is not fit to be an attorney. Phoenix dismisses the dream as nervous jitters. The scene occurs again near the end of the final case, where its meaning to Phoenix is more relevant under his current circumstances.
• A more short-term one happens in Call Of Duty: Black Ops. In the beginning of the first Vietnam mission CCR's Fortunate Son plays on the radio. At the end of the mission it's playing again.
• In Beyond Good and Evil, the action begins with Jade opening her eyes during morning meditation and ends with her opening her eyes unleashing her powers to revive everyone in the Great Crypt.
• Epic Mickey has two:
  • The first level you play in is Dark Beauty Castle, where you meet Gus, and learn to play. The final level is Dark Beauty Castle, where you must meet with Oswald and set up some fireworks.
  • The Opening cinematic of the game shows Mickey going through his bedroom mirror into Yen Sid's study, the Ending cinematic shows Mickey returning through his mirror, into his bedroom.
• Persona 4 begins with the protagonist arriving in the town of Inaba on a train, and ends with him leaving the town of Inaba on a train.
• SaGa 2 / Final Fantasy Legend II begins with the protagonist's father explaining to him/her/it that he needs to leave on a mission, before exiting the house through an open window and abandoning both his child and wife. It ends with him explaining to the protagonist that he needs to leave on a new adventure, but this time, all three family members agree to go together, and all exit through the open window. The 2009 remake adds another bookend, with a pre-title screen sequence that parallels the ending's Boring Return Journey.
• The first three games of the Dragon Quest series form the Loto trilogy. The trilogy begins and ends in much the same way. The last third or so of Dragon Quest III almost exactly mirrors the plot of the first game, taking place in the same world in the past with essentially the same plot.
  • The beginning of Dragon Quest VII is during the Amitt Harvest... and so is the end. Each time, you also are woken up by your mother to get out of bed and bring a fish sub to your father. That also happens at one other point in the game, but not during the festival.
• Crysis 2 has "They call me Prophet."
  • Regarding the series as a whole, we see Prophet and his Raptor Team sent to Lingshan Island near the Philippines as part of a rescue mission to evacuate a group of archaeologists who discovered an ancient alien structure. By the end of the third game, Prophet re-enters Earth after being pulled to space by a wormhole, eventually ending up landing on the very same islands he and his team first served in.
• The first dungeon in Skies of Arcadia is Shrine Island, an ancient, ruined temple. You come back to it at the end of the game to enter the final dungeon, Soltis, which Shrine Island was originally a part of.
• [VideoGame/BrokenSword: Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars] begins and ends with an explosion, even apparently reusing parts of the same animation. Averted in the Director's Cut, in which the game starts with Nicole (sidekick to the main hero) witnessing a politician being shot instead.
• Pitfall: The Lost Expedition begins with a Hopeless Boss Fight against the Demon Jaguar, in which Harry is pinned down and about to be killed, then it flashes back to how he got there. Near the end of the game, you fight the Jaguar again, and he pins Harry down like before, but Quickclaw steps in and saves him.
• In Super Metroid, the first and second bosses are Ridley and then Torizo. The final bosses before the Final Boss are Golden Torizo and then Ridley.
• Dead Space begins on board the USG Kellion where Issac Clarke is watching a video in which his significant other, Nicole Brennan, is obviously distressed. The video ends with static just before the player learns that this transmisson came from the USG Ishimura, which ominously has been sending out distress signals. Issac watches the same video immediately before fighting the Final Boss. Where it is revealed that the video ended with his wife commiting suicide by lethel injection. Meaning that the Nicole he had just been taking orders from was a hallucination produced by the Marker
  • The game also begins and ends on the USG Kellion. The First time he is heading towards the USG Ishimura with Kendra, Hammond and at least one pilot. However the second time Issac is alone and fleeing the Ishimura or so he thought..
• Red Dead Redemption starts with John heading to Fort Mercer to find and kill Bill Williamson. He instead gets himself shot and nursed back to health by Bonnie. At the end of the game, the military find John, and continue to Swiss Cheese him.
• The Infocom text adventure game Trinity ended with a time loop; you go back to the beginning of the game. This time, of course, you know what needs to be done, and the game ends with text to this effect just a few moves in.
• Assassin's Creed: Ezio's life as an Assassin really begins with his family getting executed, and it ends in the same place when he dies there.
• Entomorph Plague Of The Darkfall: "How many more times must I encounter you?" - You begin the game and the final showdown with these words from the T'Urthrax Mata, after which she sends you back in time. But the second time you have a way to counteract that.
• Escape From St Marys: Starts and ends in Murughesan's classroom with similar narration.
• Asura's Wrath: The game starts with Vlitra's appearance, a Title-Screen like moment complete with press start, and Asura jumping off of Shinto. The last episode starts with Vlitra's reappearance, a Title-screen like moment complete with press start, and Asura jumping off of The Karma Fortress.
• In Mass Effect, the Citadel is your first stop after the tutorial zone and the location of your showdown with Saren at the end of the first game, but it's also the Catalyst and the site of the ending of the third game. There's a similar effect in Mass Effect2 , where the Sahrabarik system is both where you begin after taking control of your ship and where the relay to reach the Very Definitely Final Dungeon is located.
  • Mass Effect 3 has a double helping, both in the game and for the trilogy. Within the game itself, the battle begins and ends at Earth, which you can only visit at the beginning and end of the game. For the trilogy overall, in both the first and third game you needed to make use of the Conduit and face off against an indoctrinated opponent who thought they weren't.
• A musical meta-example in Touhou fangame Concealed the Conclusion: the theme of the Final Boss fight, after which Gensokyo ceases to exist, contains a piece of the very first theme of the first Touhou game. In a way, the same music that marked the beginning of Gensokyo, also marks its destruction.

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...want to go try for a New Game+?