History Main / MagicalMysteryDoors

* ''Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures'' for the SNES plays this trope with statues rather than doors...But then, nearly every level in that game is an extremely annoying gimmick level.

* ''Toejam and Earl: Panic on Funkotron'' included an area with mystery doors as part of level 15 (The Bottomless Pit). Most doors take you to a variant of the same area, distinguishable by different plants and different characters that appear. Only one door in one of these variants leads out of the maze.

* The final level in ''Tempo'' for the 32X used this. Oddly, the player had to skip the first two areas through easily noticeable elevators and then go explore a maze of doors. At the end, the player is presented with 4 doors. The game tries to trick the player into entering the second, but the right door is the fourth.

* Film example: ''YellowSubmarine'' has some MagicalMysteryDoors. This is determined when hunting for George and Paul. It takes multiple tries and a close call with a train to find the door Paul is behind...

* ''FinalFantasyI'' and its aptly-named Castle of Ordeals.

* The first ''[[StarOcean1 Star Ocean]]'' features a set of fast-moving ''slimes''. Some will trigger battles, some will warp you further on, and some will punt you back to the beginning. Luckily each "puzzle" only spans a single room, but it can get frustrating.

* ''FinalFantasyXII'' has the Great Crystal. It is one of the few areas in the game without a map and contains some of the most useful items in the game. It's also compulsory. There is one way out, and one save point. And attempting to make a map on one's own will likely end in tears, for the area names are a code in goddamn Sanskrit. And it has gates that block the way unless the player turns off corresponding mechanisms, usually in a far off room. And then the gates will close back up anyways if the player doesn't get to the gate in time. Is anyone surprised that this is possibly the most reviled level in the game?

* ''Game/TheGoonies II'' was all about this. Two side-scrolling maps were connected entirely by a massive labyrinth of mystery doors... which was [[UnexpectedGameplayChange presented in first-person.]]

* ''MarvelUltimateAlliance'' has one with a unique twist. At one point, Dr. Doom (now with AGodAmI powers) creates a system like this, where entering one door would spit you out of another one instantly ala ScoobyDoors, with Doom's laughter mocking the player every time this happens. So how do you beat it: [[spoiler: Go back the way you came. It will spit you out in the next room.]]

* The penultimate stage "Simba's Return" of the SNES/Genesis ''TheLionKing'' licensed game.

* In the interactive fiction game ''{{Game/Adventure}}'', there are two mazes, one where all you see is "twisty passages all alike" and one where all you see is "twisty passages all different". Or, if you're paying attention, you might notice [[spoiler: different all twisty, passages little. That is, in the "different" maze, each room actually has a different description - but they read like the same sentence at a casual glance.]]

** A minigame in one of the ''MarioParty'' games (I think it was ''4'') had this with the pipes, too.

* ''HotelMario'' had a lot of these.

* The penultimate stage "Be Prepared" of the SNES/Genesis ''TheLionKing'' licensed game.

** ''Super PaperMario'' has this in the second world. Oh, and there's the added bonus of a '''''literal''''' DemonicSpider with NighInvulnerability that comes to kill you if you stay in one room too long. Often the rooms are hard to navigate.

* The final level of ''CommanderKeen 5'' contains one of these.

* The penultimate stage of the SNES/Genesis ''TheLionKing'' licensed game.

* ''Renegade'' has Magical Mystery Doors in the very last stage. Pick the wrong door and you're taken back to the beginning of the stage. Pick the right door and a thug with a machine gun jumps out of nowhere and kills you with a single hit, taking you back to the beginning of the '''game'''.

* In ''8 Eyes'', for the NES, half the stages are designed like this, turning the game into a sadistic Möbius Strip where you [[WraparoundBackground run past the same scenery over and over]] until you [[GuideDangIt resort to a handy issue]] of Nintendo Power.
** Which never in fact covered the game.
* Several times in the ''Kirby'' series.
** ''Kirby Super Star'': the planet Skyhigh in "Milky Way Wishes"
* ''SuperMarioBros.'' resorts to this on occasion:
** The final stage of the original ''Super Mario Bros.'' has pipes that operate this way: Each area has several pipes, one of which will take you onward, and the rest of which will take you back to the beginning of the level.
*** There's actually a subtle clue there, though... [[spoiler:it's always the pipe after the pool of lava.]]
** In ''Super Mario Bros. 3'', the first fortress of World 3 has several doors that drop you into water, leaving you to swim back to the only door you can reach from here, which returns you to the beginning of the area.
** Several of the Ghost Houses in ''Super Mario World'', especially the last one.
** ''New Super Mario Bros.'' (Nintendo DS). Hey, it's a game with Magical Mystery Doors that ''wasn't'' released for the NES! There's a section of the game where you're perplexed by a series of doors. The only way to discover where they lead is to test each and every one of them. Fortunately, it's much shorter than most Magical Mystery Doors segments tend to be in NES games.
** A minigame in one of the ''MarioParty'' games (I think it was ''4'') had this with the pipes, too.
** Super PaperMario has this in the second world. Oh, and there's the added bonus of a '''''literal''''' DemonicSpider with NighInvulnerability that comes to kill you if you stay in one room too long. Often the rooms are hard to navigate.
*** The first two games in the series also had this in the final dungeon. Both times there were two floors, and on both sides of each room, there was one door on each floor, making three doors to choose from when you ignore the door you just came out of. The solution was the same in both games: [[spoiler:It's always the door with a lit torch next to it, and it's always on the right side.]]
* Hotel Mario had a lot of these.
* ''Super {{Shinobi}}'' (aka RevengeOfShinobi)

* The online pet/game site [[http://www.neopets.com Neopets]] once included a MagicalMysteryDoors puzzle as part of a plot (a periodic site event). The building containing the doors was known as the Temple of 1,000 Tombs. A detailed explanation of the puzzle and the entire plot is still available [[http://www.neopets.com/desert/ldp/solution.phtml here.]]
* The penultimate stage of the SNES/Genesis ''TheLionKing'' licensed game.
* Any teleporter in ''KidChameleon'' can send you... somewhere. More frequently "Elsewhere" (the name of a great deal of mini-levels), sometimes backwards, sometimes necessary to advance.
* The first of the new ''{{Prince of Persia}}'' games has two rooms pretty much made of doors, which if you didn't go through the right two just sent you around in circles. The only clue to the correct doors was the sound of water splashing as you walked by them.
* In the interactive fiction game "Adventure", there are two mazes, one where all you see is "twisty passages all alike" and one where all you see is "twisty passages all different". Or, if you're paying attention, you might notice [[spoiler: different all twisty, passages little. That is, in the "different" maze, each room actually has a different description - but they read like the same sentence at a casual glance.]]
* Indiana Jones Greatest Adventures for the SNES plays this trope with statues rather than doors...But then, nearly every level in that game is an extremely annoying gimmicklevel.
* ''Sonic 2006'' offers a slightly watered-down, but no less annoying, variation of MagicalMysteryDoors on the way to the old Soleanna palace using portals.
* In ''SonicAdventure'', in Amy's version of Final Egg, there's a room with five doors. A random one of these doors leads to the last part of the stage; the others lead to dead ends with blue hovering robots. In ''SonicAdventure DX'', one mission in Mission Mode requires you to hit a button, then find a flag within a few seconds. The flag is hidden in a random one of the dead ends, and if you go down the path that takes you to the next part of the stage, you have to start the stage over in order to complete the mission, or just the section if you didn't hit the checkpoint.
* Nearly every {{Pokemon}} game, including some of the spinoffs, have a Magical Mystery Teleport Tiles section somewhere, usually in the bad guy's hideout.
** Most {{egregious}}ly in the Psychic Gym in Red/Green/Blue/Yellow (and later repeated in [=FireRed/LeafGreen=]), where there are nine rooms, the entrance and the leader have one teleporter each, and the rest have four, each going to a separate room. Oh, and all those other rooms? each has a Jr. Trainer. Strangely, you can brute-force the tiles by just going to the one on the same side as you, avoiding the line-of-sight of each trainer, getting to Sabrina easily.
** There are also Magical Mystery Doors on every end of each room in Turnback Cave on Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. And they're ''randomized'' each time you go through the cave. However, there are occasionally pillars that appear in a new room to tell you you're going the right way.

* A small section in one of the two added dungeons in the DS remake of ChronoTrigger has another teleport section where you need to guess which one leads further.
* MarvelUltimateAlliance has one with a unique twist. At one point, Dr. Doom (now with AGodAmI powers) creates a system like this, where entering one door would spit you out of another one instantly ala ScoobyDoors, with Doom's laughter mocking the player every time this happens. So how do you beat it: [[spoiler: Go back the way you came. It will spit you out in the next room.]]

* The [[ScrappyLevel incredibly annoying]] junkyard level in ''MegamanZX Advent''.
** Just switch to your ninja form (can't recall the name). His radar'll tell you which four doors lead to the room where you drop to a pile of garbage & a switch, at least.
* ''Game/TheGoonies II'' was all about this. Two side-scrolling maps were connected entirely by a massive labyrinth of mystery doors... which was [[UnexpectedGameplayChange presented in first-person.]]
* A rare literature example appears in the fifth HarryPotter book. It's the antechamber of the Department of Mysteries.
* Film example: YellowSubmarine has some MagicalMysteryDoors. This is determined when hunting for George and Paul. It takes multiple tries and a close call with a train to find the door Paul is behind...
* SilentHillShatteredMemories has one towards the end. It's not that difficult when you realize you just have to go into the doors surrounded by icicles... but try to figure that out on the move, while you're being chased by enemies and running like hell.
* ''Sensory Overload's'' Biochemical Storage Area. "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike." A randomly generated maze of near-identical four-door rooms, which, with a bit of luck, will lead you to the Silencer.
* {{Earthbound}}'s desert monkey maze, with monkeys blocking hallways demanding various foods and trinkets before they will move out of the way, just so you can get to another room with [[ChainOfDeals more monkeys demanding more trinkets that are located in a hallway guarded by some other monkey.]]
* In ''TheLegendOfZelda: LinksAwakening'', you must go through Magical Mystery Corridors in the Wind Fish's Egg to get to the final boss. Fortunately, you can find a book in the library that tells you the exact order in which you must take each path to reach it.
* The final level of ''CommanderKeen 5'' contains one of these.
* ''SecretOfMonkeyIsland 2: [=LeChuck's Revenge=]'' has one of these near the end. You have a hint, though, in the form of a cryptic song you've got written down.

* The final planet in ''The AdventuresOfRadGravity'' has a magical mystery teleporter maze, which can by [[DungeonBypass mostly bypassed]] via [[GoodBadBugs teleport glitching]].
* Level 15 of the SNES adaptation of ''PrinceOfPersia'' has these.

* {{Earthbound}}'s desert monkey maze, with monkeys blocking hallways demanding various foods and trinkets before they will move out of the way, just so you can get to another room with more monkeys demanding more trinkets that are located in a hallway guarded by some other monkey.

* ''FinalFantasyXII'' has the Great Crystal. It is one of the few areas in the game without a map and contains some of the most useful items in the game. It's also compulsory.

See also DoorRoulette.

* ''FinalFantasy'' and its aptly-named Castle of Ordeals.

* In TheLegendOfZelda: Link's Awakening, you must go through Magical Mystery Corridors in the Wind Fish's Egg to get to the final boss. Fortunately, you can find a book in the library that tells you the exact order in which you must take each path to reach it.

Probably one of the most annoying {{Stock Video Game Puzzle}}s of the eight-bit NES era. It is the PlatformGame equivalent of TheMaze, and just as infuriating. The player will be placed in a small room littered with doors. Entering a door will lead him to another room packed with doors, or a dead end, or the start of the stage, or a small moon orbiting Jupiter. There's a faint possibility that one of the doors will actually take you to the end of the stage, but it will take much [[TrialAndErrorGameplay trial and error]] and profane screaming before you discover it. And heaven help you if the game has little pickups to find for HundredPercentCompletion, because there ''will'' be one of those lying somewhere in a dead end.

Magical Mystery Doors are a subset of [[MalevolentArchitecture Malevolent Architecture]], although this trope in particular is very rarely lethal. However, if the game in question has a time limit, you can quite literally be bored to death by opening all those damn doors. It could also be considered the sadistic first cousin of the far more helpful [[DoorToBefore Door to Before]].

* The final planet in ''The AdventuresOfRadGravity'' has a magical mystery teleporter maze.