Endless Game: Difference between revisions
Blitter Boy
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Note that this trope applies to most [[The Golden Age of Video Games|golden age]] arcade games because of the need for the game to be over in order for other people to play. However, specific examples follow:
{{examples}}
==
* In ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', the game Strategema could turn into one if neither side can gain a winning advantage. Data uses this fact in order to defeat a person who beat him in a normal version of the game.▼
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'': Most editions of the game allow the characters to continue playing, if not endlessly at least far longer than any group could ever hope to maintain. In 3rd edition, the rules scaled infinitely (though balance becomes an issue, combats take longer, and adventures are harder and harder to prepare so in practice most DM's draw the game to a close and start over.) The point of the game is the experience and working your way through a shared adventure.▼
** While all editions encouraged a beginning, middle, and end to their games, 4th edition is the first to avert this within the game mechanics. When the characters reach 30th level, they achieve their "Epic Destiny." This could be anything from ascending to minor god status, to fading into the shadows becoming a mover and shaker unseen. But the point is you won, you pick up a new sheet and start again.▼
*** The Dragonlance campaign averted this earlier, with only a few exceptional characters in Krynn above level 18, and none above level 20.▼
*** The old "colored box" games also had a definitive ending—characters who become immortal, rise to become rulers of the universe, give it up to become mortal again, become immortal ''again'' and rise to become rulers of the universe ''again'' are recruited into the [[Eldritch Abomination|Old Ones]]. Um, yay?▼
* Referenced in [https://web.archive.org/web/20131220160130/http://www.ernestcline.com/spokenword/ Ernest Cline's] monologue "When I Was A Kid": "...and there were no multiple levels, there was just one screen... forever. And it just kept getting faster and harder until you died. Just like ''life''."▼
== Video Games ==
=== [[Action Adventure]] ===
* ''[[Critical Mass 1995 (video game)|Critical Mass]]''. The four factions are locked in an unwinnable war, so your character keeps doing missions until he is killed.
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* ''[[Tutankham]]'' loops after 16 stages, most of which are [[Hard Mode Filler]].
=== [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]]s ===
* Most MMORPGs could be said to fall into the trope, but especially the greatest MMO of all time, ''[[Progress Quest]]''!
** ''[[RuneScape]]'' plays with this trope. When all skill levels are maxed out and released quests are completed (which takes years), [https://www.webcitation.org/5krwN5Aiv?url=http://forum.runescape.com/forums.ws?74,75,228,59739473,goto,8 a message appears]: "You have completed the game! GO OUTSIDE! ~Love, Jagex"
* A number of flash games on [[Neopets]] follow this, but scoring well on the high-score tables nets you a [[Cosmetic Award|permanent trophy]]. One game, called ''[[Hopeless Boss Fight|Neverending Boss Battle]]'', somewhat [[
=== [[Platform Game]] ===
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* ''[[Shadowkeep]]'' for the PC was an interesting variation: you ''could'' win the game and defeat the Shadow King. HOWEVER, once you did, the game wouldn't end. You had to actually ''quit the game'' to end it—and get chided for being a coward and a knave.
=== [[Shoot
* A great many vertical scrolling [[Shoot'Em Up
** Even moreso if you count shooters that loop back to the first stage with increased difficulty, such as the ''[[Gradius]]'' series.
* The arcade version of ''[[Commando (film)|Commando]]'', while having more unique levels than the NES version, infinitely repeats after level eight, while the NES version, with only 4 unique stages, ends after the fourth loop, with a [[Blind Idiot Translation]] [[A Winner Is You]] screen.
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** The remake also has multiplayer modes Arms Race and War Party, the first of which gives each player three lives, while War Party gives you infinite lives and a respawn timer- the game ends when there are no surviving players on the screen.
* ''[[Bosconian]]''
* ''[[Blitter Boy]]'' pits you against increasing waves of baddies on each floor until they inevitably overwhelm you.
=== [[Simulation Game]]s ===
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** All the missions in ''Trauma Center'' are timed. The ones that aren't don't have patients that die.
* A staple of the ''[[Anno Domini]]'' games. There are also scenarios and a campaign.
* ''[[Crazy Bus]]''▼
=== [[Sports Game]]s ===
* ''[[
* The ''[[Punch-Out!!]]'' remake for Wii. It doesn't matter how good you are at the game; you WILL lose eventually, resulting in the game's [[Downer Ending]]. It's possible to beat "Mac's Last Stand"; but after that, it goes into "Champion" mode, in which any fighter (including Glass Joe) can knock you down with just one punch (a reference to the NES game's "Dream Fight" mode where you fight Mike Tyson/Mr. Dream). It keeps going this way until you mess up. There is no "good" ending. To add injury to insult, the file you were using is listed as "retired" afterwards. You can still access it, but you can only play the game's exhibition mode. The game's career mode can never be played again with that file. You have several save slots, but still.
* ''[[Football Manager]]'': The player character manager will never die. So you can play until you get bored or you die in real life.
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** Minecraft has an End! As of the official release, it has a new area known as "The End," home of the Enderman and the Enderdragon. If you manage to [[Nintendo Hard|defeat the]] [[That One Boss|Enderdragon]], then you get [[The End]] credits! You still get to keep playing after that, but it is the canon ending at this point.
== Other
▲=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===
▲* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'': Most editions of the game allow the characters to continue playing, if not endlessly at least far longer than any group could ever hope to maintain. In 3rd edition, the rules scaled infinitely (though balance becomes an issue, combats take longer, and adventures are harder and harder to prepare so in practice most DM's draw the game to a close and start over.) The point of the game is the experience and working your way through a shared adventure.
▲** While all editions encouraged a beginning, middle, and end to their games, 4th edition is the first to avert this within the game mechanics. When the characters reach 30th level, they achieve their "Epic Destiny." This could be anything from ascending to minor god status, to fading into the shadows becoming a mover and shaker unseen. But the point is you won, you pick up a new sheet and start again.
▲*** The Dragonlance campaign averted this earlier, with only a few exceptional characters in Krynn above level 18, and none above level 20.
▲*** The old "colored box" games also had a definitive ending—characters who become immortal, rise to become rulers of the universe, give it up to become mortal again, become immortal ''again'' and rise to become rulers of the universe ''again'' are recruited into the [[Eldritch Abomination|Old Ones]]. Um, yay?
▲=== [[Theatre]] ===
▲* Referenced in [http://www.ernestcline.com/spokenword/ Ernest Cline's] monologue "When I Was A Kid": "...and there were no multiple levels, there was just one screen... forever. And it just kept getting faster and harder until you died. Just like ''life''."
▲* In [[Star Trek: The Next Generation]], the game Strategema could turn into one if neither side can gain a winning advantage. Data uses this fact in order to defeat a person who beat him in a normal version of the game.
* The [[Ur Example]] may be the pre-electronic arcade game pinball. You keep going till you run out of balls (lives) and the only reward for playing well is [[Bragging Rights Reward|bragging rights]].
▲* [[Crazy Bus]]
{{reflist}}
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