Ah, endings. Be it happy, sad, bittersweet or on the rocks with a twist, give games life. They are what give them definition and a sense of being whole. Sure, Pac-Man can be fun, but do you seriously want to spend all of eternity hearing the same ‘copa copa’ sound over and over and over again? Humans, being the complicated creatures that we are, yearn for closure, crave for some finality to what we start and a perfect ending to a video game can give us just that. A truly spectacular ending allows us to reflect back on our accomplishment and realize that we have taken this untamed beast of a game and conquered it, completed it, and to the victor go the spoils. The end.
Below we have a list of possibly some of the best endings out there. But be warned, everyone probably has a special game in their heart with an ending that gave them goose bumps and made them feel all gooey on the inside, but sadly we cannot cover them all. So here we go:
7. Hitman Blood Money: Requiem, the dramatic conclusion to Hitman: Blood Money, leaves us with Mr. 47 been taken down by Diana’s apparent betrayal when she injects him with what appears to be a lethal injection. This, in turn, leads to the complete obliteration of the I.C.A. by The Franchise. To conclude, we are taken to 47’s memorial where he is set to be cremated so that his bone marrow cannot be harnessed to create another perfect clone. The place is surrounded by FBI agents and the former FBI Director, “Jack” Alexander Leland Cayne. Diana then drapes 47’s custom silver ballers on his chest after applying some lipstick and kissing him on the lips. This is when the party really gets started, it becomes obvious that Diana used the same fake death serum that 47 used in the earlier mission with Mr. Smith and her lipstick is the antidote. Now the game can either play out in one of two ways, you have the choice of button mashing and bringing a shiny white suit clad 47 back to life, or simply letting him roast. The button mashing alternative is obviously better as Mr.47 hops right into assassin mode and slaughters everyone in sight. Blood Money unlike most games provides you with a truly interactive ending that literally has your trigger finger pressed until the credits roll. The last scene shows Diana reopening the I.C.A and receiving a call from someone who she refers to as “Your Majesty” showing you how deep the roots of the I.C.A go and thus perhaps opening the gate for another sequel. Hitman 5 anyone?
6. Final Fantasy X: What is it about the Final Fantasy series and great endings? Even if you have played just one from the series, you know what to expect in terms of gameplay and a riveting conclusion. Just like the rest, Final Fantasy X does not disappoint. The brilliant story line and characters that you just have to fall in love with a truly memorable ending. After crashing Sins party and defeating Seymour, Jecht’s spirit, Yu Yevon and then eventually Sin itself, we are left with some magnificent visuals of all your aeons floating around peacefully as the pyreflies from within them are dispersed and the spirit’s of Spira’s fayth are freed from their imprisonment. Here comes the twist, as it turns out, Tidus is also a by-product of the pyreflies and he too will vanish into oblivion as the pyreflies disperse. With a very Casablanca-ish goodbye, Tidus gives Yuna one last embrace as he’s fading away and then jumps into nothingness. Later, Yuna is shown whistling out to Tidus, so he can come back, and find her. Now if that isn’t heart wrenching enough for you, I don’t know what is. The ending sequence concludes with Yuna giving a speech to the people of Spira about everything they love and everything they have lost, and how it’s time to rebuild their lives. And then just when you think it’s over, Tidus is shown underwater, opening his eyes as the screen fades to white. Final Fantasy X has all the elements to make it a perfect game, including an ending that leaves you begging for more.
5. Metroid: The next game on the list is the NES classic Metroid. Before Lara Croft, before Ripley (Sigourney Weaver from Alien) and before we even knew it, we had Samus Aran, the protagonist of Metroid. Back when it was taboo and unheard of to have a female lead in a game, Nintendo defied all and gave us Samus. Players didn’t even know they were playing with a female character until the end of the game when after whooping the living daylights of the last big bad, she takes of her helmet and then transforms into this hot chick doing a little dance and everything. Metroid may not possess majority of the qualities of the games on this list in terms of graphics and story line, but there is definitely something about the ending that will leave you remembering it for years to come.
4. God of War II: God of War II concludes with an epic battle between Kratos and Zeus which leads to Athena eventually sacrificing her life to save Zeus and Kratos finding out that Zeus is actually his father. Athena’s sacrifice was an attempt at breaking the cycle of the son killing the father, which started with Cronos killing his father Uranus, and then Zeus defeating Cronos. Zeus was hoping to break the cycle himself by killing Kratos, his son. Learning of this, Kratos is infuriated beyond reason and vows to destroy Zeus and all of Olympus along with him. Kratos then goes back in time to ‘The Great War’ and brings back the Titans for some serious back up. If that itself isn’t awesome enough for you, we later see Kratos perched atop the back of Gaia as she and the rest of the titans scale mount Olympus towards Zeus and the rest of the gods leaving the city behind them in flames. Father Vs Son, Ex God of War Vs King of the Gods, Athena’s blades Vs Zeus’s thunderbolt and to add to it we have 100 foot plus titans just waiting to unleash hell on Olympus. All that itself makes for an ending that goes right up there with the best of the best. And if that’s not enough for you, the end of God of War II leaves you with a prophetic warning: The End Begins… (which makes the wait for God of War III even more agonizing).
3. Chrono Trigger: Chrono Trigger is one of the very few games that has multiple endings. The ending you get depends on your actions throughout the course of the game. You can choose to go straight to Lavos at the first chance you get, which leads to him just destroying the entire world in one *poof*. To truly savor the ending and feel the Chrono Trigger experience, you need to go through the various time periods that Chrono Trigger lays before you and complete the side quests of all your party members. Only then will you be able to see one of the better endings that the game has to offer. For its time, the game still boasts of pretty stills and cartoon-like ending images that leave you with an ending that is enough to satisfy even the most hardcore game aficionados.
2. Metal Gear Solid 3: Few can disagree that the ending to Metal Gear Solid 3 is one of the most dramatic and emotional ones that they’ve seen. Play it once, twice, or twenty times, no matter who you are, this ending will move you. You think you know what’s going on, and then just at the end this huge bomb is dropped on you, and you are left dealing with the revelation that The Boss is not actually the big bad that you thought her out to be, and realize that she was undercover and her final mission was to die at Snake’s hands, under the guise of a traitor, to prove the US’s innocence in Volgin’s nuclear attack from the beginning of the game. The last scene shows Snake standing in front of a nameless grave which is presumably The Boss’ and he lays down her gun and some flowers and salutes, and sheds a single tear. Through all the twists and turns of the intricate story line, we are finally given something concrete to go with. And we finally know what is actually going on, or at least we are led to believe that we do.
1. Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII: For the final game on our list we have, drum roll please. Yes, that’s right another game from the Final Fantasy series. Crisis Core is a prequel to Final Fantasy VII. The end of Crisis Core leaves you with your protagonist Zack Fair fighting off what appear to be hundreds of Shinra soldiers. This is completely interactive, and lets you take as many of them down with you as possible. It’s quite sad really, to know that you cannot do a thing to stop him from dying besides fighting as much as you can and just wait for your impending doom. Just watching him crumble before you and fall prey to a barrage of their attacks is truly heart breaking. The scene after that shows Zack talking to Cloud, and telling him to carry on his legacy, and live for the both of them. You are then shown various memories from Zack’s past as he falls past death’s black veil. The visuals, the music, the characters and everything about it make Crisis Core unique in all sense of the word. The last scene shows Cloud entering Midgar on a train which lead up to the events of Final Fantasy VII and thus sets the stage for perhaps one of the most epic RPG’s of all times.
- By Joshua D’mello