Memorable game endings

[GPX 1,224]

Game endings - what any gamer would love to achieve in their favorite games. The topic in question here is, which games have ending credits that have a lasting impression on you still in the present day?

Maybe it was the first ever game you finished? Maybe it had such a cool ending scene? Perhaps even a plot twist? 

 

[TDIRunner 2,369]

Donkey Kong Country.  The first time you beat King K. Rool and the credits start to roll.   I was sitting there thinking how easy it was to beat him, and then after a very short credit roll, he gets back up and you have to fight him again.  That was pretty cool.  Then of course the real ending is ever better.  I love seeing endings that include all of the enemies and characters.

[Reed Rothchild 7,953]

Metal Gear Solid 3

Myth: The Fallen Lords

Final Fantasy III

Starcraft

Dead Space

Portal/Portal 2

Assassin's Creed Revelations

Red Dead Redemption

The Last of Us

Heavy Rain

Steins;Gate Elite (which I just finished)

 

My personal favorite is Myth, which I always rave about.  Basically, nearly the entire world is already lost, the armies of good have been slaughtered, and the last ditch effort by the final remaining unit destroys the source of evil by the skin of their teeth as the last of them are killed.  The narrator is one of the few left to transcribe what has transpired.

[Silent Hill 273]

The "In Water" ending of Silent Hill 2 is brutal. It will always stick with me, even more so now that I'm married. 

[TDIRunner 2,369]

I just thought of another one. 

Tomb Raider II.  After beating the dragon, you think the game is over.  You watch what you think is the final ending cut scene, but it turns out it's just a intro to the final level back at Laura's mansion when the bad guys come for one last confrontation.  That level is hard as balls, but it's pretty satisfying to complete.  

Of course, the actual ending is pretty good as well.  

Edited August 4, 2020 by TDIRunner

[Abelardo 154]

Chrono Trigger has a very cool special ending that is the cherry on top of an already outstanding game, even the standard endings are pretty awesome.

Final Fantasy VI the whole final battle and then the long epic ending, just beautiful.

Zelda games have great endings, in A Link to the Past the epilogue is great, Link's Awakening is a bit cliché but satisfying, Ocarina of Time is also stellar. I haven't played & finished all Zelda games so I'm sure I'm missing some others with great endings.

I like some simpler NES era endings, Super Mario Bros 3 I can still hear the ending tune in my head and recall the ending sequence, I also recall Mega Man 3, the music and the ending sequence is about as good as it gets on the NES.

[Sumez 2,292]

2 hours ago, Abelardo said:

Final Fantasy VI the whole final battle and then the long epic ending, just beautiful.

Every time I see that ending I convince myself that this might be the greatest game ever. It really is the crowning achievement of a game ending when it manages to remind you of everything you've gone through and awaken fond memories of your adventure.

[Gloves 10,352]

3 hours ago, ChickenTendas said:

Metal Gear Solid 4. Mostly because of that long-ass cutscene sequence. Cutscene after cutscene after cutscene.

The ending cutscene is over an hour long.

[RH 4,221]

Myst had the most interesting of underwhelming resolutions. I didn't hate it but I really felt it was quite a let down.

Final Fantasy Adventure is a good one, the music was very reflective and fit the tone.

Super Mario 64 was probably the first 3D game I ever beat. It was really cool to see a more cinematic ending like that, but Zelda OoT was better. Regardless, it stuck with me.

Last, I think Duck Tales for the GB is probably the one game I played the most really, really wanting to beat. I probably would have given up on a lot earlier than I did if it weren't for the smart design choice of allowing the player to play the levels in the order of their choosing. The ending is really uneventful and is basically a glorified points-tally. Regardless, the ending stuck with me because it took me so long to beat it, it was a high moment in my gaming life back then.

 

[PII 1,398]

I may be bending the rules here slightly, but I'll go with The Simpsons: Bart Vs. The World.  If you collect all of the Secret Krusty Items there's a special ending where Bart throws pies at Burns and Smithers indefinitely.  But the real prize is that just before this theater the player is gifted with a two-stage secret level to play.  It starts out on an artists board and features a cameo appearance from "The Happy Little Elves" who are raining from the sky, before moving on to stage two which takes place on a reel of film.  The player can scroll Bart down along the sprocket holes and play each "level" of film from left to right or right to left until finding the exit.  The level layout is not particularly user friendly just the way I like it.  Also, Itchy and Scratchy show up to cause trouble.  What better ending could there be than additional game play?

 

 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by PII

[Abelardo 154]

3 hours ago, Sumez said:

Every time I see that ending I convince myself that this might be the greatest game ever. It really is the crowning achievement of a game ending when it manages to remind you of everything you've gone through and awaken fond memories of your adventure.

You know, been thinking I haven't replayed it in years so I think it's time for me to begin the adventure once more. I can only hope one day we get to see a remake like FF7.

[DarkTone 862]

7 hours ago, Gloves said:

The ending cutscene is over an hour long.

Is it still in the guinness world records for longest ending?

[Tanooki 4,696]

I'm not surprised seeing this going unmentioned so I'm linking the video for you to experience.  ActRaiser.

You play the avatar of a god, re-build an entire dead world, crush the evil, and save existence from damnation basically.  The game isn't overly long at all, short really, but a hell of a ride.  When I finished this back in 1991 the first time I had never experienced such a moving and well through out, let alone that long of an ending.  It so well ties up all the efforts and shows the fruits of your labor, coming off the NES with the popular congraturations style engrish pat on the back close screen style endings.  It's why it still sticks to me, so enjoy.  Zelda LTTP kind of did the same too with its close which came a year later.

 

[GPX 1,224]

I haven’t really been much of an active gamer in the recent few years other than games with hi-score aims. Mainly because of a busy work/family life.

My main years of gaming would be in the 90s to the early 2000s so I have a hazy recollection of the ending credits on games I’ve completed. Probably the one that has stuck with me the most so far was Street Fighter 2. I probably saw all the ending credits before I actually played the SNES-version game! This was because I would be spending most of my spare time when the arcade game came out, watching other people playing and studying the skills and strategies. So it isn’t so much about the ending credits, but more to do with my strong nostalgia for the atmosphere that this game had created, outside the game itself.

[Fio 8]

"TO CONTINUE THE DOOM EXPERIENCE, PLAY THE SHORES OF HELL AND ITS AMAZING SEQUEL, INFERNO!"

Then of course you buy the full version of Doom only to find out that you already played all of the best levels

[JamesRobot 5,118]

1 hour ago, Fio said:

"TO CONTINUE THE DOOM EXPERIENCE, PLAY THE SHORES OF HELL AND ITS AMAZING SEQUEL, INFERNO!"

Then of course you buy the full version of Doom only to find out that you already played all of the best levels

Wow.  Hadn't thought about that in years.  I played the shit out of my shareware Doom.  Kinda wish I still had it.  Good one.

[Murray 2,124]

7 minutes ago, JamesRobot said:

Wow.  Hadn't thought about that in years.  I played the shit out of my shareware Doom.  Kinda wish I still had it.  Good one.

I remember That shit took forever to download on my 2400 baud modem. 
 

Chainsawing ma’s made it totally worth it!

[Bearcat-Doug 4,439]

 

On 8/4/2020 at 7:44 PM, Gloves said:

The ending cutscene is over an hour long.

And I haven't played a current gen game since.

[Reed Rothchild 7,953]

42 minutes ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

 

And I haven't played a current gen game since.

Just cut out 20 hours of wrestling watching a week and you'll have the bandwidth in no time!

[Bearcat-Doug 4,439]

26 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Just cut out 20 hours of wrestling watching a week and you'll have the bandwidth in no time!

That's disturbingly accurate.

[croagunk 798]

I love the ending of Pokémon Crystal on Game Boy Color. It was the first game I’d ever played.

Edited November 1, 2020 by croagunk

[Webhead123 520]

Mega Man X (because of the terrific music)

Beyond Good and Evil

Super Metroid (a sad, yet triumphant finale)

Super Mario RPG

Thief and Thief II

 

The ending to Contra also felt pretty good as a kid.

 

[DefaultGen 4,531]

Metal Gear Solid 4 is the all time great.

Half-Life 2 also very memorable.

 

[themisfit138 522]

@RHI was going to say the same thing about Myst. The ending of the game was just weird. 

Super Mario Bros. 2 - The dream ending with all the characters passing buy really sticks with me. It was one of the first games I remember beating as a kid.    

Mass Effect 1 

[TDIRunner 2,369]

2 hours ago, themisfit138 said:

Super Mario Bros. 2 - The dream ending with all the characters passing buy really sticks with me. It was one of the first games I remember beating as a kid.    

 

SMB 2 was the first game I beat that didn't reset back to the beginning for you to play again.  For some reason, I felt that if I reset the game, I might miss something.  We left the NES on overnight to see if anything changes (like Mario waking up), but the next morning he was still sleeping.