History Main / AdaptationalAlternateEnding

* The original ending of ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'' was [[AudienceAlienatingEnding controversial]] to put it nicely. After [[ArcFatigue 70-chapter snoozefest]] of a final arc where the slice-of-life elements that made the series popular get replaced with a bad shonen battle imitation featuring a boring InvincibleVillain with no identifiable motivation to speak of, the series just ends with no resolution to anything the characters went through in the previous arc. However, of note are the "resolution" to the two main ships in the story, Legosi x Haru and Louis x Juno. After everything they went through, the end of Legosi and Haru's relationship arc is "Haru will openly acknowledge Legosi as her boyfriend in public now". Louis gets it even worse, with the way his relationship with Juno ends being actively antithetical to his character arc. He decides to break up with the only girl who ever made him happy to marry his fiance who makes him utterly miserable because that's what's expected of him by society, when his whole arc was supposed to be about not being a slave to others' expectations. While the official ''Creator/{{Viz}}'' translation can't completely fix the trainwreck of an ending they were handed, they did change up the dialogue somewhat so that the resolution to the ships doesn't leave a bad taste in peoples' mouths. Legosi and Haru get engaged in the final chapter instead of the series ending with Haru simply willing to acknowledge Legosi as her boyfriend. And rather than marrying Louis, Azuki caught the hint when trying to have sex with her caused Louis to vomit all over their hotel room, and breaks off the engagement leaving Louis free to pursue a relationship with Juno.

** The live-action film, ''Film/DeathNoteTheLastName'', veers even farther away from the source material while simultaneously retaining the sequence of Light asking Ryuk to kill his captors. Rather than being killed by Rem, L instead immunizes himself from the Death Note's effects by writing his own name in it ahead of time with the condition that he wouldn't die until twenty-three days later. Having proven to the Task Force that Light is Kira and with himself unable to die from Light writing his name, Light tries to get Ryuk to kill everyone else with the hope that he and Misa could physically overpower L so long as he had no other backup. Like the manga, Ryuk instead writes Light's own name, though at least in this version Soichoro is alive to share Light's final moments.

** The live-action film, ''Film/DeathNoteTheLastName'', veers even farther away from the source material while simultaneously retaining the sequence of Light asking Ryuk to kill his captors. Rather than being killed by Rem, L instead immunized himself from the Death Note's effects by writing his own name in it ahead of time with the condition that he wouldn't die until twenty-three days later. Having proven to the Task Force that Light is Kira and with himself unable to die from Light writing his name, Light tries to get Ryuk to kill everyone else with the hope that he and Misa could physically overpower L so long as he had no other backup. Like the manga, Ryuk instead writes Light's own name, though at least in this version Soichoro is alive to share Light's final moments.

* ''Manga/DeathNote:'' The manga ends with Mikami revoking his opinion of Light as a god, calling him worthless trash instead. Light, completely out of options, begs Ryuk to kill all the people around him to spare himself from being arrested. Ryuk instead writes Light's name in his Death Note, Light having proven that he's totally out of ideas if he's desperate enough to ask Ryuk for help. The anime ends with Mikami staying loyal to Light, killing himself with a fountain pen to distract those around him while Light uses the opportunity to escape while injured. Rather than speaking with Ryuk directly, Ryuk instead thinks to himself that he'd rather not wait around for Light to die in prison and his killing of Light comes off more as a MercyKill than a final insult.

* ''Manga/DeathNote:'' The manga ends with Mikami revoking his opinion of Light as a god, calling him worthless trash instead. Light, completely out of options, begs Ryuk to kill all the people around him to spare himself from being arrested. Ryuk instead writes Light's name in his Death Note, Light having proven that he's totally out of ideas if he's desperate enough to ask Ryuk for help. The anime ends with Mikami staying loyal to Light, killing himself with a fountain pen to distract those around him while Light used the opportunity to escape while injured. Rather than speaking with Ryuk directly, Ryuk instead thinks to himself that he'd rather not wait around for Light to die in prison and his killing of Light comes off more as a MercyKill than a final insult.

* ''Manga/DeathNote:'' The manga ends with Mikami revoking his opinion of Light as a god, calling him worthless trash instead. Light, completely out of options, begs Ryuk to kill all the people around him to spare himself from being arrested. Ryuk instead writes Light's name in his Death Note, Light having proved that he's totally out of ideas if he's desperate enough to ask Ryuk for help. The anime ends with Mikami staying loyal to Light, killing himself with a fountain pen to distract those around him while Light used the opportunity to escape while injured. Rather than speaking with Ryuk directly, Ryuk instead thinks to himself that he'd rather not wait around for Light to die in prison and his killing of Light comes off more as a MercyKill than a final insult.

* ''VideoGame/NarutoShippudenUltimateNinjaStorm3'': As the war was still ongoing at the time in the ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' manga and anime, a non-canon ending to the story was made. Defeated, Tobi, Madara and Kabuto fall back, thus giving victory to the Allied Shinobi Forces. The Five Great Shinobi Countries shinobi return to their villages while the Kages discuss on preparing for a counter-attack against Madara's group along with improving the peace between them and their countries. Naruto is congratulated for his victory upon awakening from his battle with Tobi in Konoha and is spurred by the spirits of his parents to join his friends. Sasuke, however, leaves the Mountain's Graveyard to find Naruto.
* The ''VideoGame/OnePiecePirateWarriors'' games end differently compared to the [[Manga/OnePiece original source]]:
** ''Pirate Warriors 3'' ends with Dressrosa arc. Because said arc was still ongoing by the time the game was released, the developers went for an alternate ending where Luffy and Law fight Doflamingo in the arena.
** ''Pirate Warriors 4'' also does this with the Wano arc. However, the Arc ''had'' been ongoing for a while, so certain story beats follow as close as they can and we get to see Kaido's Devil Fruit power.

* The manga version of ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'' ends with Ichigo and Masaya getting together by celebrating a fake wedding, with a brief SequelHook with Berry (the main character in the sequel manga, ''Tokyo Mew Mew -- à la mode'') passing by the Mew Mew Café only to discover it's closed. The anime instead ends on a more generic HereWeGoAgain with the main characters going to fight an undescribed new menace.

* ''Webcomic/AOTNoRequiem'' explores an alternate ending to ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' where Eren [[spoiler: defeats the Alliance and annihilates all humanity outside of Paradis]]. In this fan-made version, the father of Historia's child [[spoiler: isn't an unnamed farmer, but Eren himself]].

* ''Fanfic/TalesOfTheMonkeyQueen'': In the canon rewrite of ''Franchise/DragonBall'', Gohan is the one to kill Kid Buu rather than Goku. After having the energy of the Genki Dama transferred into him by Goku, he finishes Buu off with his signature move: the Ryuhameha.

* ''Anime/GuiltyCrown'' had a BittersweetEnding with Shu going blind and his LoveInterest Inori [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing herself]] to save him, while Da'ath was left undefeated. ''Fanfic/AkaneNoGuiltyCrown'', a ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion''-like reboot, makes it an EarnYourHappyEnding: Da'ath is defeated for real, Inori is restored back to life with Shu's sight restored, Ayase's disabled legs are recovered from surgery and is married to Heath alongside giving birth to a son, and Shu and Inori are married in giving birth to a daughter.

* [[WesternAnimation/AnimalFarm1954 The 1954 Halas & Batchelor animated adaptation]] of ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' is a LighterAndSofter adaptation of Creator/GeorgeOrwell's hard edged allegory, so the ending is inevitably made more uplifting. The book was a {{Satire}} of the Russian Revolution, [[DownerEnding so things do not end well in it]] and [[FullCircleRevolution the pigs become the new tyrants]]. The animated movie has a slightly more upbeat ending in which the farm animals rise up against their new overlords and put a decisive end to them.

* ''WesternAnimation/GnomeoAndJuliet'': In ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', both of the main characters die. In this comedic adaptation [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace with lawn gnomes]], the only character to die is Tybalt—-and somehow ''he'' gets reassembled for the DancePartyEnding! This is even Lampshaded during Gnomeo's conversation with a Shakespeare statue, where he calls the original a "horrible ending."
* The book ''Literature/TheTrueMeaningOfSmekday'' has a century-long TimeSkip at the end where Tip suddenly dies of old age during the unveiling of the time capsule. The film adaptation, ''WesternAnimation/Home2015'', completely throws this out in favor of a happy ending, and Tip lives.
* Mondo TV (the same people who did ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTheTitanic'') did [[WesternAnimation/SuperLittleFantaHeroes their own adaptation]] of ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', where everyone is [[SparedByTheAdaptation spared by the adaptation]] (yes, even Frollo). [[note]]not only that, Phoebus and Fleur get turned into hunchbacks, Djali gets turned into a [[HumanityEnsues human girl]] for Gringoire to marry, and Quasimodo becomes handsome and Esmeralda marries him, while a redeemed Frollo performs the wedding ceremony. Yes, really -- see for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55qW04A6aFs[[/note]]
* The ending of ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameBurbankAnimation'' is not the grim thing of the book. Almost nobody dies, Esmeralda's innocence is proven and she congratulates Quasimodo.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBFG'': The ending is changed significantly from the book. For one, the Fleshlumpeater is a much bigger problem in the climax when it turns out that he wasn't among the giants tied up by the soldiers and has to be dispatched by the BFG siccing a living nightmare on him. The BFG also returns to his home dimension with Sophie at the end, whereas in the book he decided to integrate into human society.
* ''WesternAnimation/ChristmasCarolTheMovie'' gives Scrooge a happier ending than usual, as he and Belle make up and get another chance at love.
* ''Literature/TheLastOfTheMohicans'' ended on something of a downer, one of the colonel’s daughters Cora is killed by one of Magua’s men and Uncas the son of Chingachgook is killed by Magua during their final confrontation, leaving Chingachgook as the last living Mohican and when he dies the Mohican tribe will go extinct, the Creator/HannaBarbera version has Uncas survive and Alice leaves with him to marry him and repopulate the Mohican tribe.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'': The film is a loose adaptation of the graphic novel ''ComicBook/JLAEarth2'' and changes things so that instead of the Justice League being forced to leave the Crime Syndicate's universe after learning that theirs is a world where evil always triumphs over good, the League are successfully able to defeat the Crime Syndicate and end their reign over the planet.

* ''Series/SweetHome2020'': In the [[Webcomic/SweetHome2017 webtoon]] the remaining survivors make it to the mountain safely after Hyun-su and Eun-hyuk sacrificed themselves in the process of defeating the BigBad and they eventually find themselves in a military encampment. In the series, the remaining survivors encounter the military right after emerging to a snowy cityscape after hours of walking through an underground tunnel network. They're escorted off to a van except for Yi-kyung, who parts ways to find answers about her fiancé on her own after the military refuses to co-operate with her due to the survivors' actions. Meanwhile, Hyun-su wakes up to find himself being driven by a possessed Sang-wook to somewhere. Cue FadeToWhite.
* ''Series/TheRiseOfPhoenixes'': The novel ends with Zhi Wei and Ning Yi faking their deaths to go and live quietly away from the palace. The series ends with Zhi Wei committing suicide.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "The Inheritors", the fate of those who entered the alien machine built by Jacob Hardy, Kelly Risely and Curtis Sawyer is left ambiguous. At the end of ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' two-parter of the same name on which it is based, it is revealed that the disabled children are being brought to the aliens' planet so that they can live out their lives free of their infirmities.
* ''Series/CatchTwentyTwo'': The original novel ends on an up note with Yossarian resolving to go AWOL and live a life of adventure on his own terms, while the series ends with Yossarian refusing to wear clothes and continuing to fly bombing missions, with no more desire to leave the military. He has apparently "gone insane" per Catch-22.

* Literature/TheNightmareRoom did this a few times
** ''Don't Forget Me!'': The book ended with the protagonist's friend addressing her and Peter by the wrong names, implying her memories of them have been replaced. The episode ends with the family moving away, only for another to move in.
** ''Locker 13'': The book had a rare happy ending for this series, while the episode had a teacher discovering the bad luck charm inside a frog that the protagonist placed it in.
** ''My Name is Evil'': Another happy ending, the episode had the main charecter giving in to their evil side, but only doing it to bad people.
* ''Series/{{The Sandman|2022}}'': The episode "[[Recap/TheSandman2022S01E04AHopeInHell A Hope in Hell]]" adapts an issue of ''ComicBook/{{The Sandman|1989}}'' called "Passengers", in which a woman named Rosemary gives a lift to the deranged John Dee. The original version ends with a HopeSpot where it seems like John has been impressed by Rosemary's kindness and is going to let her go unharmed, and then he kills her anyway. This adaptation inverts that ending: it seems like John is going to kill Rosemary, but instead he lets her go unharmed because he's been impressed by her kindness. The change reflects a shift in John Dee's characterization from the comic to the screen: in the TV series, he has a warped world view from his upbringing but is still capable of recognizing the good in people, whereas in the comic he was an unrepentant agent of chaos with no regard for other people.
* ''Series/{{Scarlet Heart}}'': In the novel that the TV series adapted from, Zhang Xiao doesn't return to the present time of China after she dies in the Qing dynasty era in another person's body. This ending got slightly changed in the TV version. Instead of just dying and remaining stuck in that time period, Zhang Xiao awakens from her coma after her car accident that brought her back into that time period, she ends up seeing a reincarnated version of Yin Zhen in a museum but he unfortunately doesn't recognize her. She feels extremely guilt-ridden for all the things she had done while stuck in his time period and doesn't say anything to him other than taking her glasses off as the tears start to fall down on her face.

* This is not the only time Christie changed the ending of one of her works when adapting it for the stage. In the stage version of ''Appointment With Death'', the novel's solution is replaced with SuicideNotMurder.
* ''Theatre/{{Carousel}}'' is a musical adaptation of the play ''Film/{{Liliom}}'', which ends with the dead protagonist being escorted back to purgatory after striking his widow. Oscar Hammerstein made this DownerEnding into a BittersweetEnding by having the protagonist stick around for one more scene, in which his daughter graduates and the entire cast sings a reprise of "You'll Never Walk Alone." Ferenc Molnar, author of ''Liliom'', saw this ending and approved of it.

* Shakespeare's ''Theatre/KingLear'' is a somewhat complicated example: in 1681, Nahum Tate wrote an adaptation in which Lear saves Cordelia from being hanged and is restored to his throne, while Cordelia marries Edgar (her canonical husband, the King of France, having been cut from this version). While modern audiences tend to find this level of adaptation of a Shakespeare play horrifying, Tate's changes proved quite successful in their own time; it was not until 1838 that the play's original ending became common in performance again. Less known to the modern reader, though, is that Shakespeare's play itself is also an example. The ending of Tate's adaptation is similar to that of Shakespeare's key source, anonymous play ''King Leir,'' although ''Leir'' has no Edgar as that subplot is Shakespeare's invention, as is the tragic ending. As Shakespeare's audience might have been familiar with the story from the earlier play and a number of other sources, the deaths of Cordelia and Lear must have been quite shocking to them.
* John Luthor Long's original novella of ''Theatre/MadameButterfly'' has a BittersweetEnding: Cho-Cho-San attempts suicide, but her maid Suzuki stops her and they take her child and run away rather than give the boy to Pinkerton and his wife. When David Belasco adapted the story as a one-act play, however, he changed the ending so that the heroine does commit suicide, and Puccini's opera followed suit.
* In the fifth canto of ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', Dante meets the damned adulterous lovers Paolo and Francesca, hears Francesca's story, faints with pity and moves on with his journey after recovering. In the finale of Ambrois Thomas's opera ''Françoise de Rimini'' based on the canto, a heavenly choir led by Beatrice appears to announce [[DeliveranceFromDamnation Paolo and Francesca have been forgiven for their sins and shall ascend to Heaven]].

* The arcade version of ''VideoGame/DoubleDragonII: The Revenge'' ends after Billy and Jimmy defeat their shadows, showing a photograph of themselves and Marian (who gets killed during the opening) during happier times. In the NES version, the game continues with an additional stage (when played on the hardest difficulty) in which the Lee brothers confront an additional enemy after defeating shadows. Defeating this enemy results in the Lee brothers fulfilling a prophecy which restores Marian back to life.

* The remake of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' has an alternative ending in the "Ninja" chapter if you went "full genocide" and killed 100 people in Ode Iou's Castle. If you went the pacifist or neutral route, the ending plays out pretty much like the SNES original, with [[UsefulNotes/SakamotoRyoma Ryoma Sakamoto]] complimenting you and (if you didn't kill anyone) giving you Oboro's InfinityPlusOneSword while the sun rises in a clear morning sky. If however you killed all 100 people in Ode's castle, the sky suddenly '''darkens''' with black clouds covering the morning sun, and a strong thunderstorm starts while the narration simply states the number of lives you've taken. This is a nod to ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', which was in fact largely inspired by the SNES original, implying that the murders you commited '''will''' weigh on Oboro's conscience and implies that what you did '''will''' have dark consequences for the future of Japan.

* ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacingNitroFueled'' came with nearly all of the content of ''VideoGame/CrashNitroKart'', but without its adventure mode. Consequently, when the [[DownloadableContent final Grand Prix event]] added Emperor Velo XXVII as the only missing racer from it[[note]]While he ''did'' come in the base game, it was only in his real form.[[/note]], he got reintroduced in the context of being Gasmoxia's true ruler as Oxide teams up with him for a grudge match with Earth's racers.

* In Creator/GameToons's take on ''Series/SquidGame'', Player and Noob are the the only two to survive through all six games and the ending was overall uplifting as light shines upon them. In the original ''Squid Game'', only Gi-Hun makes it out alive and the ending was more somber.

* The Disney WesternAnimation/SillySymphonies short "Babes in the Woods" (which is actually an adaptation of Creator/TheBrothersGrimm story Literature/HanselAndGretel'') changes the ending to where Hansel and Gretel are almost turned into animals by the witch forever, but they end up getting saved by the town of Dwarves they met earlier. And whereas the witch was killed by being kicked into an oven in the original story, the cartoon has her [[AndIMustScream get turned into stone]] by [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the potion she was using on the children she had kidnapped.]]

* The Disney short cartoon "The Brave Engineer"; In real life, John Luther "Casey" Jones actually died in the train crash. The Disney cartoon [[SparedByTheAdaptation lets him live.]]

* Part of the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Wasted Talent" is [[CharlieAndTheChocolateParody a spoof of]] ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' with one key change: in the original film, Charlie and Grampa Joe steal Wonka's Fizzy Lifting drinks and nearly get themselves killed floating up to a ceiling fan. Wonka gives no indication that he knew about the incident until after the factory tour, and although initially upset over them and revoking their lifetime supply of chocolate, he relents when Charlie returns the Everlasting Gobstopper that Slugworth was interested in. In the ''Family Guy'' parody, Pawtucket Pat was waiting for Peter and Brian outside the room with Permasuds (in execution similar to the Fizzy Lifting Drinks and in concept similar to the Everlasting Gobstoppers) and immediately kicks them out of the tour, leaving the rest of the episode to [[HalfwayPlotSwitch go in a different direction]].

* In Literature/TheLastOfTheMohicans it ended on something of a downer, one of the colonel’s daughters Cora is killed by one of Magua’s men and Uncas the son of Chingachgook is killed by Magua during their final confrontation, leaving Chingachgook as the last living Mohican and when he dies the Mohican tribe will go extinct, the Creator/HannaBarbera version has Uncas survive and Alice leaves with him to marry him and repopulate the Mohican tribe.

* ''Anime/GuiltyCrown'' had a BittersweetEnding with Shu going blind and Da'ath was left undefeated. ''Fanfic/AkaneNoGuiltyCrown'' as a Rebuild of Evangelion-like reboot, makes it an EarnYourHappyEnding of Da'ath finally being defeated, Inori is restored back to life with Shu's sight restored, Ayase's disabled legs are recovered from surgery and is married to Heath alongside giving birth to a son, and Shu and Inori are married in giving birth to a daughter.

* ''Film/{{Matilda}}'': In [[Literature/{{Matilda}} the original book]], Matilda [[BroughtDownToNormal loses her telekinesis]] in the epilogue. In the film, she retains it, if only for [[MundaneUtility minor chores]].

* ''Scarlet Heart'': In the novel that the TV series adapted from, Zhang Xiao doesn't return to the present time of China after she dies in the Qing dynasty era in another person's body. This ending got slightly changed in the TV version. Instead of just dying and remaining stuck in that time period, Zhang Xiao awakens from her coma after her car accident that brought her back into that time period, she ends up seeing a reincarnated version of Yin Zhen in a museum but he unfortunately doesn't recognize her. She feels extremely guilt-ridden for all the things she had done while stuck in his time period and doesn't say anything to him other than taking her glasses off as the tears start to fall down on her face.

* When ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' was first released as ''Mother'' for the Famicom in 1989, the ending simply had Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd face the camera after Giygas retreats, while the credits rolled behind them, after which Ninten and his friends vanish and the words "ToBeContinued" appear. Come the 1990 localization (which wouldn't be released for 25 years), Nintendo of America decided to replace this with a WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue to be better received by American children. This ending ended up working out a lot better in hindsight, given that the sequel focused on a completely different set of protagonists, so it was put into the Japanese GBA release as well.

* ''Series/SweetHome'': In the [[Webcomic/SweetHome webtoon]] the remaining survivors make it to the mountain safely after Hyun-su and Eun-hyuk sacrificed themselves in the process of defeating the BigBad and they eventually find themselves in a military encampment. In the series, the remaining survivors encounter the military right after emerging to a snowy cityscape after hours of walking through an underground tunnel network. They're escorted off to a van except for Yi-kyung, who parts ways to find answers about her fiancé on her own after the military refuses to co-operate with her due to the survivors' actions. Meanwhile, Hyun-su wakes up to find himself being driven by a possessed Sang-wook to somewhere. Cue FadeToWhite.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov and Creator/RobertSilverberg's ''Literature/ThePositronicMan'': The [[Literature/TheBicentennialMan original story]] ends with Andrew's dying words, but this {{Novelization}} ends when the World President appears to shake hands with Andrew in recognition of Andrew [[BecomeARealBoy as a human]].

* ''Victorian Undead 2: Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula'': The mini-series places Holmes and Watson during the events of the Dracula novel but a lot of things go off the beaten path as originally told. For one, they fail to kill Lucy after she turns into a vampire who flees from both them and Dracula rather then continue in the conflict. Another is that the finale doesn't have Dracula fleeing back to Transylvania but rather attempt to kill the Queen of England. He's ultimately thwarted and is staked in the ensuing fight via the wood of a building they crashed into (though Quincy still does die as a result) and the whole escapade reveals the supernatural to the world rather then just be an isolated incident between the main characters as in the novel.

* ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'' ends with Megatron weakening Sentinel Prime and then sarcastically asking for a truce, only for Optimus kill him and then Sentinel. In the novelization, Megatron instead saves Optimus and teams up with him to kill Sentinel, then realizing the pointlessness of the conflict declares that the Autobots and Decepticons enter a truce to rebuild Cybetron without harming Earth and letting their long conflict end once and for all with all sides agreeing.

* The manga version of ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'' ends with Ichigo and Masaya getting together by celebrating a fake wedding, with a brief SequelHook with Berry (the main character in the sequel manga, ''Tokyo Mew Mew - à la mode'') passing by the Mew Mew Café only to discover it's closed. The anime instead ends on a more generic HereWeGoAgain with the main characters going to fight an undescribed new menace.

** Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' heavily changes the ending of the story - in the original Creator/VictorHugo [[Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame novel]], both Esmeralda and Quasimodo die; in the Disney version, they both survive, Esmeralda marries Phoebus and Quasimodo gets accepted by the society. Interestingly, the ScreenToStageAdaptation of the Disney movie places the ending [[BittersweetEnding somewhere in the middle]], killing off Esmeralda but not Quasimodo.

* Mondo TV (the same people who did ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTheTitanic'') did [[WesternAnimation/SuperLittleFantaHeroes their own adaptation]] of ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', where everyone is [[SparedByTheAdaptation spared by the adaptation]] (yes, even Frollo). [[note]]not only that, Phoebus and Fleur get turned into hunchbacks, Djali gets turned into a [[HumanityEnsues human girl]] for Gringoire to marry, and Quasimodo becomes handsome and Esmeralda marries him, while a redeemed Frollo performs the wedding ceremony. Yes, really - see for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55qW04A6aFs[[/note]]

* ''Film/ALittlePrincess1995'' radically changes the climax. In [[Literature/ALittlePrincess the book]], Ram Dass steadily fills Sara and Becky's attic room up over a few months with fine food and fresh bedding, which Miss Minchin never sees. In the film the room is filled up overnight (and Ram Dass is implied to be magical) and Minchin assumes Sara has stolen the finery. Sara escaping from the police prompts the climax - wherein she bumps into her father, who has been SparedByTheAdaptation. Also Becky ends the book becoming Sara's personal attendant. Due to the ValuesDissonance, the film changes it so that Becky has been adopted by Captain Crewe at the end. In the book Miss Minchin remains on at the school, living in fear that Sara could ruin her with one word to the right people. In the film she does lose the school and is reduced to working as a chimney sweep at the end.

* ''Film/MySistersKeeper'': The book originally ended with Anna getting into a fatal car accident, and her kidney are then used for Kate - who goes into remission. The film swaps this around so that Kate dies from her leukemia with dignity, and Anna gets to live.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In the episode "Operation - Annihilate", Spock is temporarily blinded when they test a cure for a neural parasite on him before using it to free a planetary population. In the {{novelization}} of that episode, the planet is freed from the infection ''before'' Spock goes through the procedure, which does not blind him.

* ''Series/PrettyGuardianSailorMoon'' diverges greatly from the manga's Dark Kingdom arc. First of all Minako is suffering from a terminal illness and dies before the final battle. In the manga all the girls are killed in the fight with Queen Metaria. In this version it's actually Usagi's SuperpoweredEvilSide that destroys the world. In the manga (and first anime) a dying Usagi wishes for the Silver Crystal to restore everyone - and it does, removing all memories of the last six months. This time the girls remember instantly when they are restored to life. The series also plays around with a HeelFaceTurn for Queen Beryl - where she realises she can't control Metaria and decides to FaceDeathWithDignity, while Jaedite (who at this point in the manga had long been killed off) stays loyally by her side.

* Big Fish Games have adapted the works of Creator/AgathaChristie but changed some details about the original stories due to [[ItWasHisSled how well known the endings are]]. Their 2010 point and click adventure game of ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'' had the original ending and three [[TheReveal curve balls]]. The first one? That isn't Pierre in the conductor's uniform. That's ''one of Daisy Armstrong's kidnappers'' seeking revenge against Cassetti! The second one? Cassetti didn't kill Daisy Armstrong - he killed the kidnapper's daughter by mistake! The third one? Daisy is on the train! The original story's BittersweetEnding is made a bit sweeter with Daisy's reunion with her grandmother.

* The remake of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' has an alternative ending in the "Ninja" chapter if you went "full genocide" and killed 100 people in Ode Iou's Castle. If you went the pacifist or neutral route, the ending plays out pretty much like the SNES original, with [[UsefulNotes/SakamotoRyoma Ryoma Sakamoto]] complimenting you and (if you didn't kill anyone) giving you Oboro's InfinityPlusOneSword while the sun rises in a clear morning sky. If however you killed all 100 people in Ode's castle, the sky suddenly '''darkens''' with black clouds covering the morning sun, and a strong thunderstorm starts while the narration simply states the number of lives you've taken. This is a nod to VideoGame/{{Undertale}}, which was in fact largely inspired by the SNES original, implying that the murders you commited '''will''' weigh on Oboro's conscience and implies that what you did '''will''' have dark consequences for the future of Japan.

* The remake of VideoGame/LiveALive has an alternative ending in the "Ninja" chapter if you went "full genocide" and killed 100 people in Ode Iou's Castle. If you went the pacifist or neutral route, the ending plays out pretty much like the SNES original, with [[UsefulNotes/SakamotoRyoma Ryoma Sakamoto]] complimenting you and (if you didn't kill anyone) giving you Oboro's InfinityPlusOneSword while the sun rises in a clear morning sky. If however you killed all 100 people in Ode's castle, the sky suddenly '''darkens''' with black clouds covering the morning sun, and a strong thunderstorm starts while the narration simply states the number of lives you've taken. This is a nod to VideoGame/{{Undertale}}, which was in fact largely inspired by the SNES original, implying that the murders you commited '''will''' weigh on Oboro's conscience and implies that what you did '''will''' have dark consequences for the future of Japan.

* The first part of ''Anime/Megazone23'' ends with main protagonist Shogo Yahagi getting thrashed by his nemesis, B.D., after witnessing one of his friends, Tomomi, get killed. He survives, albeit severely wounded to the point of near death, with another one of his friends, Mai, leaving, with girlfriend Yui left all alone. When this part was adapted into the movie of ''[[Anime/{{Robotech}}'', thanks to ExecutiveMeddling on [[Creator/TheCannonGroup Cannon Films']] part, it ends with Shogo (who, in the Robotech version, is now [[DubNameChange "Mark Landry"]]) racing to the airport to save Professor Embry (who, in Megazone, was Mayor Yumekano, who was merely a supporting character originally) from a cloned Colonel B.D. Andrews' army, defeating him, and reuniting with Yui ([[DubNameChange Becky]]).