History Main / UnexpectedGamePlayChange

** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'''s ''Operation Anchorage'' expansion pack, set in a VR simulation of the liberation of Alaska from the Chinese, is a squad-based military action shooter.

** In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}: Far Harbor'', retrieving DIMA's memories involves a 3D HackingMinigame reminiscent of ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', utilizing the Workshop interface to [[LightAndMirrorsPuzzle direct a decoder beam with relay blocks to deactivate a series of firewalls]], build a path of computer code blocks to for "data bugs" to travel along, and [[EscortMission place turrets to defend the bugs from the computer's countermeasures]].

* ''[[{{VideoGame/SpaceRangers}} Space Rangers 2]]'' starts off by being a RPG-esque space arcade/sim with economic elements. Then there's the RTS sections with HumongousMecha, which you also can control directly in third person view. Then there's the text-based missions which range from logic puzzles, to math excercises, to "choose your own adventure" style sequences. And ''then'' there's the straightforward arcade "fly around and shoot everything" sequences inside wormholes.

* A slight case with the ''Literature/TreasureIsland''-chapter (see Nested Story above) in the german RPG ''Videogame/DieReiseInsAll'': Aside from changing up the main character and setting, this part remains overall similiar to the main game, with a strong focus on puzzles, exploring, humor and a few mini games. Though, it lacks the typical [[{{TurnBasedCombat}} Turn-based combat]] of the rest of the game.

* The fourth mission of ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Conviction'' is a flashback to the Gulf War that plays more like a tactical FPS/TPS in the vein of ''VideoGame/GhostRecon'', and you are instead playing as Victor Coste, who has to rescue Fisher.

* ''VideoGame/SoulBlade'' goes from 3D fighting game to first person during Mitsurugi's ending: You have to fight [[AllThereInTheScript Teppou Hei]] wielding Tanegashima (a primitive firearm) from a first-person view.
** Then again it's less of a fight and more of a "sidestep left twice in a rapid succession, mash forward, press any button, win".
** ''[=SoulCalibur=] III'' has shades of this in its Chronicles of the Sword mode, which arranges the fights on an RTS-style map and implements RPG levelling, while individual encounters are resolved in the traditional 3D-fighter-with-weapons style. The combination of AI that really only knows how to ZergRush, bizarre arena effects, and the fact that the enemies will always be at least five levels higher than your main character can lead to moments of frustration.

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* In the [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom Furry]] [[RomanceGame Romance]] HGame ''VideoGame/{{Amorous}}'', Zenith's storyline contains a shooting minigame, when you go to a shooting range with him.

* The [[ThatOneLevel infamous]] [[DownTheDrain swimming level]] in ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''.

* The final area of ''VideoGame/ThePedestrian'' takes the third-person puzzle platformer gameplay and adds in first-person elements. The situation is explained as [[spoiler:the player character you were following for most of the game, an icon of a human being, having helped their designer assemble a reality-warping device. Said designer becomes the protagonist of the first-person segments.]]

[[folder:First Person Shooter]]
* The ''Bioshock'' series:

** ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' has two of these. "All Ghillied Up" is a [[StealthBasedMission stealth-based]] SnipingMission, and "DeathFromAbove" puts you in the gunner's seat of an AC-130 gunship. There's much to be said, after being in missions where you're outgunned and outnumbered, to be in a mission where it's the enemy and their [=AKs=] versus you and your 105mm howitzer, 40mm rapid-fire cannon, and electric minigun. "All Ghillied Up" is a particularly masterful example of a well-done UnexpectedGameplayChange; the first hint that it's going to be mostly stealthy is when as the game fades into view of an empty field of grass, your companion is only revealed when ''a piece of the scenery gets up and creeps forward''.

* ''VideoGame/FoxNForests'': The game is mainly a PlatformGame, but the second level of the Summer Season, Tricky Treetops, changes it into an auto-sides-crolling shooter where [[PlayerCharacter Rick]] is riding on Patty's back as she flies him over a burning forest.

* ''VideoGame/{{Sockman}}'' includes hidden arcade cabinets that the player can find once per world. If they have coins to spend, they get to play clones of classic [[TheEighties 1980s]] games like ''VideoGame/{{Breakout}}'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Pang}} Bubble Buster]]''.

* Parodied in ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' when [=GLaDOS=] "accidentally" sends you to a battle-droid training chamber because the usual testing area is being repaired. (Given that [[spoiler: the Enrichment Center is deserted]], this is almost certainly a half-truth at best.) Instead of figuring out how to get around strange logic puzzles, you need to use your skills to deactivate the security drones.

* After four and a half games of straight puzzle game, Chapter 6 of ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheMiracleMask'' turns into a top-down dungeon crawl. There are still puzzles, but the format is wildly different, and even among the more normally formatted ones, there's a pair (''Hershel vs. Mummies'' and ''Tilt to Traverse'', respectively) that require reasonably fast reaction time or use the 3DS gyroscope to slide blocks around. They're the only puzzles in the series to do so aside from their bonus content sequels.

* In ''VideoGame/EnterTheGungeon'', the third stage of the fight against the [[BonusBoss Resourceful Rat]] changes tack from the game's normal BulletHell shooter format to a ''VideoGame/PunchOut''-style boxing match. Considering that the preceding stage of the fight involved the Rat piloting a fairly explicit [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Metal Gear REX]] {{expy}} against you, this is a direct reference to the fist-fight that Solid and Liquid Snake held atop the machine. Of course, winning the third round is optional; your run still continues if the Rat knocks you out.

* The Gummi Ship mini-games in ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', where you go from an AdventureGame to piloting a ''VideoGame/StarFox''-esque spaceship against waves of enemies. In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the Atlantica world throws you into a sort of RhythmGame; this was possibly in response to the original Atlantica, which stayed in-genre but added a badly-implemented third dimension. Finally, one of your Summons allows you to temporarily switch to "[[FirstPersonShooter FPS]] Mode".
** One part of the final boss fight also notably played it like a rail shooter rather than the game's typical fighting system.

** Another game show example was from the first (1981-82) run of the short-lived Creator/{{NBC}} game ''Series/{{Battlestars}}''. The front game was essentially ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares'' [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!!]] (and with the game being played changed from "Tic-Tac-Toe" to "Dots"), but the endgame (referred to as either ''Battlestars Two'' or as the "picture round") revolved around the contestant picking magnetic cards for host Creator/AlexTrebek to insert into a decoder; this would remove blocks from a picture of someone famous. After the three cards were scanned (and the contestant's free pick, depending on when in the run it was), they would attempt to identify the face for up to $5,000. (The ''New'' run of the show, which was only for a few months in 1983, averted this with an endgame that was actually relevant to the maingame.)

* In ''[[VideoGame/DragonSlayer]]: The Legend of Heroes'', you have to defeat an old man in a game of Reversi.

* ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune: Payback'' changes from a run-n-gun FPS to a NintendoHard tactical shooter in its final mission, due to the [[DifficultySpike large unexpected increase in the damage dealt by enemies]].

** The other minigame, ''Mukimuki SD: Memorial'', appears to be a dating sim. But then, suddenly, with almost an audible *POP*, the girl becomes a cyborg, the mascot of the game, METAL FISH [=MSX3=] TURBO R PLUS, appears, and you begin dueling the girl in a parody of the game ''Videogame/{{Snatcher}}''. It's an Unexpected Gameplay Change inside an Unexpected Gameplay Change!!

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** The [[StealthBasedMission stealth portions]] in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and subsequent games.
** The dancing and rhythm minigames in VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames. And they ''are'' required to progress, and caused many players to become stuck in them due to their high difficulty, especially the rhythm one, which can be insanely hard if you've never played a Rhythm game before.

* While you would expect a lightcycle race or two in the video game ''[[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh Tron 2.0]]'', they show up in some strange places at the end.
* The Super Nintendo ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' game (not to be confused with games of that name for other platforms) is an overhead action/adventure game outdoors and a first-person shooter indoors. Oddly enough, the first-person shooter segments were almost trivially easy, whereas the outdoor segments could be difficult at times, what with the enemies abruptly jumping out from under nearby foliage.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterRancherEVO'' gets shades of this from the fandom, seeing as it toned the monster-raising simulation bits down and turned up the RPG-like customization of the games.

* The first three games in the ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}'' series have you play through the majority of the game fighting human enemies using the standard cover-based tactics of shooting games. Then they throw non-human enemies at you, requiring significant changes in tactics.
** The [[VideoGame/UnchartedDrakesFortune first game]] takes a turn into survival horror with the introduction of the zombie-like Descendants. These are more fragile than humans and can't attack at range, but they're incredibly fast and charge right at you without sticking to cover. Their claws can kill you in one or two hits, and it's impossible to hurt them in melee. You have to avoid sticking to cover and use "blindfire" (firing without aiming) to deal with them. The change in enemy is compounded by the different environments: dark, claustrophobic hallways that emphasize the survival horror elements. The mood that these segments evoke is similar to the "cut the power in the alien base" segments of the ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy''. The difference being that Samus is essentially wearing a tank and Nathan Drake goes down from a few slashes.
** The [[VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves second game]] introduces the Guardians, hulking yeti-like monsters [[spoiler:that are actually transformed humans]]. They are deadly {{Lightning Bruiser}}s, strong enough to kill you with a couple of melee attacks, tough enough to survive an entire magazine of bullets, and run faster than you and can also jump long distances. In your first few encounters with them [[HopelessBossFight they are actually impossible to kill]]. In later encounters, they alternate between using ranged weapons and charging at you to fight in melee, forcing you to also alternate between using cover and avoiding it.
** The [[VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception third game]] has the Djinn, who initially seem to be ordinary human enemies and use guns. After being killed, however, they revive as fiery monsters that can teleport and throw fireballs. They're also impossible to hurt in melee in this state, as they release a burst of fire if you approach them. They can revive again when killed in this state, forcing you to kill them three times to put them down permanently. The teleportation is particularly annoying, as it lets them dodge your attacks and move behind you (requiring you to move to new cover). You need to focus on one enemy at a time to avoid having to fight multiple Djinn at once. Subverted in that, not only are the Djinn only in one sequence of the game towards the end and are never seen again, but also that they're not really there in the first place; [[MindScrew it's a side effect of Nathan Drake drinking the hallucinogen-laced water in Iram, so he's fighting enemies that aren't really there!]]
** The [[VideoGame/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd fourth and final game]] also invokes this trope with it's FinalBoss. The gameplay remains fairly standard for most of the game, a combination of duck-and-cover gunfights, driving sequences, stealth segments and GoodOldFisticuffs. And then in the climax, [[spoiler:Nathan Drake takes on Rafe Adler in a sword fight]]. The game mechanics change dramatically for this sole battle, not just with the weapon of choice, but with two counter-melee buttons rather than just the one used in normal gameplay.

* ''VideoGame/InFamous'' had the side missions where you had to follow a Mad Bomber around without being seen until he put down his package, at which point you retrieved it. And you couldn't kill him, you just had to sneak around and hope you stayed in sight, because if you lost him you had ten seconds to find him, so sometimes you had to jump from the rooftops and try to stay undercover. Sometimes it was a real pleasure finally getting to blow him up at the end.
* The demo for ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'' depicted it as a third-person HackAndSlash action sort of game. Granted, everything in the demo is there, but it quickly devolves (or evolves, depending on your viewpoint) into a unit-commanding massive RTS game for the rest of it.

* ''VideoGame/LuigisMansionDarkMoon'' has the Shrewd/Scornful Possessor boss battle in the Secret Mine. Up until now, the whole game has been a fairly slow paced survival horror/puzzle game with a certain style of ghost hunting mixed in. This boss, however, becomes a RailShooter as you race through a tunnel on a bomb-shooting sleigh to try to blast the boss as it escapes from you down the mine shaft. You use similar machines twice before in the game — once earlier in the level to shoot burning charcoal, the other back in the second level as an optional way to get money and a Gem — but it can still be jarring (especially since it requires more precision and you only have a limited amount of time before the sleigh overheats).

* ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'' in the third game, "Defender of the Future." While you are exploring the ocean and fighting its denizens, you can come across a football mini-game known as Dolphin Soccer. You use your adventurous dolphin to try scoring goals against the AI opponent.
* ''VideoGame/NoStraightRoads'' has the boss battles with DK West. While the rest of the game's levels involve combo-based action platformer gameplay with rhythm elements, his battles play much more like a traditional rhythm game, as you dodge his projectiles to reach his shadow puppet and inflict damage.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' has two missions like this, one on a bike, the other on a missile, the bike mission plays like your standard driving level, the second one is a homage to ''VideoGame/SpaceHarrier''.
* ''VideoGame/{{Turrican}}'' is a platform/shooter series. In the third level set of ''Turrican'' and ''Turican 2'', it becomes an autoscrolling shoot'em up, the latter being more explicit by switching to a ship.

* ''VideoGame/ROMCheckFail' ''is nothing but this''. It randomly chooses a player character, targets/enemies, along with expected gameplay and behavior of both and mashes them together into 20 mind twisting levels
* The River staqe in ''Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' for the NES is an overhead AutoScrollingLevel, and the BossBattle of the LevelInTheClouds is an UnexpectedShmupLevel, where you ride a cloud that shoots hailstones, [[BattleshipRaid against a heavily-armed zeppelin]].
* ''VideoGAme/GunstarSuperHeroes'' did this as well. Most of the game is a beat-em-up with little variation, however a top-down shooting stage is suddenly put in on the 2nd Moon and on any difficulty higher than easy it essentially becomes a LuckBasedMission and ThatOneLevel due to the ridiculous damage you take from projectiles. The original version on the Sega Genesis did this as well, placing a space shooter stage into the game towards the end which also carried into the sequel (albeit the space shooter was far easier).
* The first ''VideoGame/LEGOStarWars'' game had three vehicle levels (podracing, gunships blowing stuff up on Geonosis, space battle over Coruscant) which were all partly different between each other and having gameplaywise nothing to do with the platforming/action part. It got better. Vehicle levels are now of the same standard and no longer have their own rules for every level.
* Stage 4 in ''{{VideoGame/Contra}} III'', the first half of which is an auto scrolling ride on a jetbike, the second half of which has you hanging from missiles. These concepts carried over into most later games.
** Contra III also featured two top down "3D" like levels, with full 360 rotation. Probably inserted to show off the UsefulNotes/{{Super Nintendo|EntertainmentSystem}}'s [=Mode7=].

* ''VideoGame/JourneyToSilius'''s last stage is unexpectedly an AutoScrollingLevel, which greatly adds to the difficulty.
* ''Raid 2020'', by the kings of unlicensed garbage, Sachen and Color Dreams, has an unexpected gameplay change to a boat shooter in the second level, and a space shooter in the fourth.
* ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'': All the random gameplay changes through the game between several different styles is an intentional version of the principle behind the trope, in that it's meant to keep you on your toes. None of them feel tacked on either, like a lot of other examples of this trope.
* ''VideoGame/ElShaddaiAscensionOfTheMetatron'', halfway through its 12 chapters,all of a sudden throws you onto a [[RacingMinigame motorcycle chase sequence]] in the middle of an Action-Platformer game. Then it goes back to normal for the whole game.
* ''VideoGame/MsSplosionMan'' has a drastic change when fighting [[spoiler:the final boss -- the climatic battle -- ends up being a clone of ''VideoGame/PunchOut'', with Ms. Splosion Man trying to reach the top of the "Big Science" circuit.]]

* The insertion of action elements (sometimes called "[[PressXToNotDie twitch scenes]]") into {{Adventure Game}}s became increasingly common through the 1990s, as developers began to think that players would be attracted by them. The interactive movie game based on ''Series/TheXFiles'' turned briefly into a RailShooter, ''VideoGame/DreamfallTheLongestJourney'' includes a number of combat scenes, etc. "Purist" adventure game enthusiasts decry the shift, firstly because they see it as a "dumbing down" of the genre, and secondly, because adventure game developers are, on the whole, not very good at writing action sequences. Or at least, not with an interface horribly unsuited to quick reactions. It's very very easy for those action sequences to become ThatOneSidequest.
* Creator/{{Sierra}} was particularly infamous for this. Far too many of their games have action sequences, many of which poorly written and frustrating. Most of the time they were skippable in some way (except for the poker sequences, only possible through massive SaveScumming), but HundredPercentCompletion was forfeit. ''VideoGame/{{Conquests of the Longbow}}'', for example, had an "arcade difficulty" slider in the options. Sierra developers were sadist like that.
* ''VideoGame/ConquestsOfCamelot'': Slaying wild boars with a spear by timing each hit just right.
* ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'': Examples include the landspeeder/skimmer sequence in the [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestITheSarienEncounter first game]] and remake, Astro Chicken, HumongousMecha FinalBoss battle, and the Railroad shooter escape of ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIIIThePiratesOfPestulon III]]'', and the burger-making minigame in ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers IV]]''.
* So, so many Sierra games also have pointless gambling simulations shoehorned in. It worked kind of well in the vice-themed worlds of ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry'', but that was about it. This may be due to their dabbling in card game software with the ''Hoyle's Official Book of Games'' series in the late 80's.
* The remake of ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest'' at least allowed you to skip the poker bit.
* The adventure game ''VideoGame/HopkinsFBI'' had a FirstPersonShooter section near the end of the game. It had Doom's mechanics, but a millionth of the fun.
* In the game ''VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}}'', you play the role of Lucas Kane, who was possessed and forced to commit murder. You play through the game mostly by interacting with a context sensitive environment and moving analog sticks to on-screen prompts to determine the outcome of movie-like cut-scenes. In two chapters of the game, you are forced to look back into events in Lucas' past as a child, living in a military base, where he must stealthily sneak past guards and spotlights. The game engine simply wasn't built to handle a StealthBasedMission like this, as the camera is terribly restrictive, and the player is forced to react to obscure prompts to find the single proper path, instead. The game also featured a brief, completely plot-irrelevant target range sequence.
** Quantic Dream's previous game, ''The Nomad Soul'', also had a significant GenreShift towards first person shooting action, and more worrisome, towards beat'em up. None of the segments were particularly good, although some sequences were optional. Woe be to you if you reach the dramatically linear third act of the game without as many medikits as you can buy, however. No going back, and no purchasing more.
* Adventure game ''VideoGame/FutureWars'' changes, right at the end, to a lengthy shooting sequence and an even lengthier run-through-the-maze sequence. It kind of felt like they didn't even bother to think up puzzles for the ending. At least the sequences are in line with the [[UnwinnableByDesign deadend-filled]], rigidly linear and [[EverythingTryingToKillYou extremely punishing]] rest of the game.

* At the end of the second episode of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'', the game switches from a click-and-point adventure to a turn-based strategy game. Also, the penultimate mini-game of the fifth episode is [[spoiler:a Doom-eqsue first-person shooter]]. The final mini-game [[spoiler:plays out like a boss in an old adventure game, complete with [[{{Retraux}} low-res textured graphics]]]].
* The first ''VideoGame/{{Dune}}'' game started off as an adventure game, then eventually turned into a strategy game for the remainder.
* An example of gameplay change done right would be the arcade-style mashfests in Cyberflix's two games, ''VideoGame/DustATaleOfTheWiredWest'' and ''VideoGame/TitanicAdventureOutOfTime''. They're a complete 180 from the point-and-click gameplay of these adventure games, but not only are they pretty easy, there's no penalty for failing (other than missing out on one or two insignificant pieces of dialogue). The game will proceed exactly as if you'd succeeded.
* The ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' games were {{Point And Click Game}}s (excepting {{Minigame}}s), until ''Episode 3'' of ''[[VideoGame/SamAndMaxTheDevilsPlayhouse The Devil's Playhouse]]'', which is an ''Franchise/AceAttorney''-style VisualNovel. [[HalfwayPlotSwitch For the first part, anyway]].
* ''VideoGame/MissionCritical'' is a fairly well-done adventure game about a man who wakes up alone on a spaceship in the middle of a crisis and must resolve several immediate issues as well as uncover the backstory. Halfway through the game, the player has to connect to the ship's tactical system, at which point it turns into a RealTimeStrategy (or TurnBasedStrategy, depending on your abuse of pauses), where the player has to destroy the opponent's capital ship(s) while defending his own. The end of the game does this as well.

* Dodging [[http://larryniven.wikia.com/wiki/Slaver_Sunflower Slaver Sunflowers]] in a vehicle that only moves left and right in ''[[Literature/{{Ringworld}} Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch]]''.
* Canoeing the river in ''Amazon: Guardians of Eden'', described in this [[http://lparchive.org/Amazon-Guardians-of-Eden/Update%209/ slowbeef Let's Play]]. The rocks are already difficult to dodge, but then the boat ends up in positions where it's [[TrialAndErrorGameplay too late]] to move out of the way.
* The otherwise typical point and click adventure game ''VideoGame/GeminiRue'' has several occasions where you get into shoot-outs with bad guys. Complete with taking cover, popping out to take your shots, and reloading all in real time. Although these are not really difficult, they can be a stumbling block or severe irritation if you're not good at more action-y sequences. Especially since ammo isn't unlimited and for best results in some of the shoot-outs you would have had to do a bit of a PixelHunt for some extra ammo.
* In ''VideoGame/TheFeebleFiles'', there is a brief RailShooter segment where you have to shoot at guards who pop out from behind cover.

* Chapter 3 of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeTrueColors'' sees the main characters participating in a LARP session. The final battle of this flips the gameplay into that of a turn-based fantasy RPG, thanks to Alex's empathic powers allowing her to see the scenario from the stylised perspective of ten-year-old Ethan, who is by that point fully invested in the game.

* The [[PlatformGame platform jumping]] areas in the NES versions of ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' games. Mission 6 of the second game has a ''Franchise/MegaMan'' style TemporaryPlatform sequence, and Mission 7 has conveyor belts and spinning gears. And there's the hallway in the TempleOfDoom in most versions of the first game where you have to navigate a DeathCourse of SmashingHallwayTrapsOfDoom and SpikesOfDoom.
* ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfBayouBilly'' was probably one of the first examples of this although it might not have been all that unexpected. The game was mostly a side-scrolling early BeatEmUp in the vein of ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon''. There was still the odd driving levels and a ShootEmUp level where you had the option to use the Zapper light gun in place of the regular controller.
* ''[[VideoGame/StreetsOfRage Streets of Rage 3]]'' originally [[DummiedOut intended]] to have motorcycle and aquascooter sections, evidenced by pre-release screenshots. [[FanRemake A fan remake]] named ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRageRemake'' managed to include them, however.

* ''Driver'' had a mission where you had to deliver a crate of explosives in a pickup truck. [[NitroExpress Too many bumps, and it blows]].

* ''VideoGame/SoulBlade'' goes from 3D fighting game to first person during Mitsurugi's ending: You have to fight [[AllThereInTheScript Teppou Hei]] wielding Tanegashima (a primitive firearm) from a first-person view.
** Then again it's less of a fight and more of a "sidestep left twice in a rapid succession, mash forward, press any button, win".
** ''[=SoulCalibur=] III'' has shades of this in its Chronicles of the Sword mode, which arranges the fights on an RTS-style map and implements RPG levelling, while individual encounters are resolved in the traditional 3D-fighter-with-weapons style. The combination of AI that really only knows how to ZergRush, bizarre arena effects, and the fact that the enemies will always be at least five levels higher than your main character can lead to moments of frustration.
* ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureHeritageForTheFuture'' has this in the form of N'Doul, a villain with the power to control water. When playing as one of the good guys, the game shifts from a fighting game into a side-scroller where you have to avoid various water hazards. It's difficult at best, though [[AntiClimaxBoss at the end of it you only have to punch N'Doul once to win]], since he's blind and can't fight back. The UsefulNotes/PlayStation port of the game has a "Super Story Mode" with an event for every antagonist the party faced in the original manga. A few are like N'Doul and incorporate part of the "fighting genre" controls into an action sequence, but there are also events that are entirely different genres. Some are used several times, like breaking up narrative sequences with [[PressXToNotDie quick time events]]. Other genres are only used once, like the Lovers stage [[UnexpectedShmupLevel being a shoot-em-up]].
* The story mode gameplay of ''Videogame/GodzillaSaveTheEarth'' has you unexpectedly have a rail shooter battle against Ebirah if you play as Godzilla 2000. And playing the story mode in hard mode as M.O.G.U.E.R.A has you fight a rail shooter battle against [[spoiler:Spacegodzilla.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheOutfoxies'' has a gameplay change on the last level. Instead of another one-on-one duel, you start off outside a seemingly empty mansion. Unsurprisingly, the mansion is booby-trapped. [[spoiler: Once you get past a deadly obstacle course, you reach the final showdown--your rocket launcher versus a combat helicopter.]]
* ''VideoGame/PlayStationAllStarsBattleRoyale'' has this trope with many of the Level 3 {{Limit Break}}s with the cast. The game turns into a FirstPersonShooter with Radec, Sly Cooper, and Ratchet, for example. Some of the other Supers don't fall into specific categories, but also invoke this trope. Zeus turns the arena into his own personal whacking space [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever while also making himself huge]], Isaac turns the game into a pseudo Asteroids parody, Drake, Dante and Raiden alter the arena and/or enemies with the Sarcophagus of El Dorado, Devil Trigger, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and boxes]], respectively. It has quite bit of variety.
* In the Super Famicom ''[[http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/taekwon-do Taekwon-Do]]'', matches follow the rules of real Taekwondo competitions, with points scored based on where you hit the opponent (which are used to determine the winner if time runs out) and a fighter losing if he's knocked down five times. In the last match of the story mode, however, [[spoiler:the boss opens the bout by [[PunchedAcrossTheRoom kicking the referee into the scoreboard]], destroying it. Suddenly,]] you're in a standard fighting game where you must empty the opponent's health bar to win, as your final opponent has single-handedly thrown the rules out the window and is now trying his hardest to ''kill you''.

* In the last third of ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}} 2: Durandal'', you're unexpectedly sent from assaulting the enemy's strongholds to missions set in allied bases, populated with friendly characters ("Bobs"). The stated goal was to defend the bases from invading aliens and to sniff out the evil clone Bobs, which explode on approach. More hidden text from the original game's BOB-heavy level, ''The Rose'': "BOB jam? Apply grenades liberally!" Saving [=BOBs=] in this series is really more of a SelfImposedChallenge.
* ''VideoGame/TimeSplittersFuturePerfect'' - mid-level/mid-game, there's a good portion of the level dedicated to solving a puzzle [similar to Slime Tube or whatever it was called] to get Cortez past security doors.
* Happens in ''Franchise/StarWars: [[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Knight II]]'':
** The part when [[StealthBasedMission suddenly the main character must sneak around an Imperial base without being seen]], or the Stormtroopers will rush and hit an alarm button and summon a garrison of Stormtroopers, who will arrest you. This would be at least understandable in the early levels when you're without Force powers (or have very weak versions), but it comes late in the game when you're an unstoppable Jedi of Death and a garrison of Stormtroopers is about as threatening as a garrison of kittens. And during the vehicle sequences.
** The stealth mission can be made more like the rest of the game if you can get to the alarm button before any troopers can, since they need to physically hit the button to actually catch you - it's pretty hard for them to do so when you're standing right between them and it, saber in hand and active.
** ''Jedi Academy'' makes liberal use of these. It has a variation on the NoGearLevel in which the player is captured and must break out, obtaining weapons as they go. Another level places the character at the controls of a speeder bike. One level is essentially a puzzle level with no enemies to fight, other than sandworms which serves as enviromental hazards. Others have unique enemies found nowhere else in the game, including a couple areas where a creature is your main opponent and another that's basically a game of cat-and-mouse with Boba Fett.

* In the "Hunt for the King Tiger" level in ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor: Allied Assault'', you get to drive a tank for the first time in the series.
* ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune: Payback'' changes from a run-n-gun FPS to a NintendoHard tactical shooter in its final mission, due to the [[DifficultySpike large unexpected increase in the damage dealt by enemies]].

* The [[TankGoodness tank]] and [[MiniMecha walker]] levels in ''VideoGame/QuakeIV'', in addition to a few RailShooter segments.

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'''s bi-monthly event brawls often incorporate this: ''Uprising'' had "Uprising" and ''Halloween Horror'' had "Junkenstien's Revenge", both collaborative [=PvE=] that involved capturing/defending objectives against waves of omnics. ''Year of the Rooster'' introduced a Capture the Flag game mode, and ''Winter Wonderland'' had "Mei's Snowball Offensive", which involved playing as the eponymous scientist and ... loading snowballs in your Endothermic Blaster and hurling them at each other. Most bizarre was "Lucio Ball", the ''Summer Games'' event's brawl which can best be described as "''VideoGame/RocketLeague'' with Lucios instead of cars".
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' had driving, boating and crane sequences to break up the shooting, as well as a SurvivalHorror chapter with sparse ammunition.

* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' had [[spoiler:the Panchaea level. Whereas in the rest of the game you've been fighting organized soldiers and using cover, here you're faced with hordes of fast pseudo-zombies who use melee, similar to the ''Uncharted'' example. While the devs (and many players) were somewhat dissappointed with the end result, they claim that it was their intention to introduce a sudden gameplay change.]]
* The River Extraction mission in ''VideoGame/PerfectDark Zero'' has a ''Halo'' style vehicle combat sublevel where you pilot a hovercraft along the river and Jack mans the gunner seat. Later, in Jungle Storm, you get to fly the Jetpac you saw earlier in the game.
* The ''Bioshock'' series:
** ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' had a hacking minigame that strongly resembled ''VideoGame/PipeDream''. This is in fact a remnant of when a splicer was supposedly to be running the vending machines, so you shoot him some extra [=EVE=] in exchange for discounts and more stock.
** ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' had a different hacking minigame; instead of "not-''Pipe Dream''", you have to press the green (or blue for bonuses) portions in real time to hack machines. Delta and Sigma can also use darts that automatically hack the machine in a pinch i.e. surrounded by Splicers as your Little Sister is harvesting.
** ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'''s last level has alternatively been described as [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation "a tower defense level"]] or the only true escort mission in the game. You have to defend energy core of [[spoiler:the ''Hand of the Prophet'']] from waves and waves of [[spoiler:the Vox Populi]] to get to your destination.
** The second episode of the [=DLC=] "Burial at Sea" turned into a stealth game as Elizabeth, physically weaker than Booker, not good with a gun, and [[spoiler:having lost her RealityWarper powers gained at the end of the main campaign as a result of having already been killed in Rapture Prime]], is forced to wander the halls of Fontaine's Department Store to find a way out of Rapture.
* In ''VideoGame/PAYDAY2'', the Car Shop and Goat Simulator Heists culminate in you having to drive a car to the drop-off, either because the car is merely loaned to you in order to get the loot (Goat Simulator), or the car IS the loot (Car Shop).
* ''VideoGame/FarCry3:'' You'll be spending most of the game exploring the Rook Islands, shooting mooks and being nibbled on by the local wildlife, but we also have:
** Two unskippable stealth missions.
** Two different driving mini games, one against the clock and one against [=NPCs=].
** A generous selection of QuickTimeEvents, including one to beat the final boss.
** Hallucinations.
* ''VideoGame/SniperGhostWarrior3:'' What's that you say? My sniper game contains rock climbing, and it's necessary to reach some mission objectives?

* ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'':
** The FinalBoss, in the game's [[GuideDangIt hard-to-reach]] fifth ending, is not fought in the same way that other major enemies have been, HackAndSlash for ground enemies and [[SimulationGame Flight Sim]] for aerial enemies. The game orients with the dragon flying a circle around the boss as it emits white and black colored circles. The player has to emit a white circle back for a white circle and so on with black circles, turning the game into a simplified version of Simon. That said, the patterns emitted by the FinalBoss are [[NintendoHard soul-crushingly difficult]] to replicate at times.
** There's a similarly frustrating battle in the sequel: On the path to Ending B (and the final ending), the protagonist Nowe is forced to fight [[spoiler: the Bone Casket/Seed of Resurrection where Nowe was created]]. Surrounding the structure are several colored crystals (?). The "boss" only has two abilities--it glows with a colored light, and a shockwave. However, touching the boss while it's glowing is an instant kill. The shockwave is also instant death. The only way to damage the boss is to use the downward strike, and then hide behind the crystal that matches the color the boss is glowing. And then you only have a split second to jump off (or summon Legna and fly off) before the boss starts glowing again. The timing of your attack and the boss's color pattern can be very hard to gauge, and if you die you have to start all over again until you win.
** The third game has a redux of the first game's final boss, this time as a fleshed out rhythm game segment with multiple parts, confusing patterns and camera angles actively working against you. The song is about seven minutes long and the last note must be guessed because the screen has already turned [[KaizoTrap pitch black]]. One wrong button input and it's back to square one. No wonder it became the series' ThatOneBoss overnight.
* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' intersperses hack-and-slash mayhem with open sandbox city exploration, item collection, a Galaga-esque space shooter sequence, public services such as cleaning up the park or mowing lawns, hitting a baseball through a row of enemies, and avoiding obstacles on a highway chase.

* The rougelike ''VideoGame/CavesOfQud'' has an exceedingly frustrating one early in. While the game is normally an open world survival RPG, it has some rather frustrating elements which come into play in the fourth quest. [[spoiler: Upon arriving in the factory you were sent to, you jump down onto a conveyer belt with enough BenevolentArchitecture to make VideoGame/HalfLife proud, the walls are mostly steam vents which shoot streams of flame that will instantly kill most characters of the appropriate level to survive in the surrounding jungle, '''every''' other turn, there are a few eel infested pools of acid that you can use to put yourself out on the way down, and at the bottom, there is a deceivingly hard Boss Battle with a partially randomly generated boss whose name will somehow include the word "Cloaca". If it is beaten with a melee weapon, which it most likely will due to the penetration scores of the highest level long gun/bow being just barely too low to make at least 25% of its shots on the target,]] you will contract a disease which makes simple things such as eating and drinking cause you to bleed profusely, until your tongue falls out. During your time infected with the disease, and in the aftermath of being tongueless you will be unable to speak, and trading will be nigh impossible. If you have regeneration, your tongue will grow back, and immediately start to rot and bleed again. If you have hemophilia, you will die trying to eat without at a minimum, 5 bandages to stop the bleeding. If you have mutations both, the game is Unwinnable if you cannot make the cure, which it is possible for it to be impossible to make, by requiring that you make a mixture that requires more parts of one ingredient than is possible to mix in game! Suddenly, it has become a survival game where there are no options to survive.

* Not so much UnexpectedGameplayChange and more like Unexpected Gameplay, period but the last episode of VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry contains some puzzles you have to answer to get bonus scenes and a choice which decides which of the MultipleEndings you get, its not much, but even this minuscule bit of gameplay was very unexpected for a series that for 7 episodes was a straight visual novel with absolutely no interaction whatsoever.
* ''VideoGame/SinAndPunishment: Successor of the Skies'' is a pretty standard rail shooter, up until the last stage of the last boss of Chapter 6 where it suddenly shifts to a side on Street Fighter like fighting game.
* Most of Creator/ZapDramatic[='=]s games are about negotiating with others, but the very end of ''Sir Basil Pike Public School'' turns into a RhythmGame.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', Parradamo Tor is a giant monument to this trope. If you want to complete the Chains of Promathia mission series or have a fight in Boneyard Gully, you're forced to climb it, an activity that more than anything resembles a cross between maze-crawling and tightrope-walking.
* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' is mostly a classic MMORPG, but one phase during the Behavioral Adjustment Facility trial bears more than a passing resemblance to a TowerDefense game.
* ''VideoGame/AuraKingdom'' Throughout the game, you will occasionally play as [=NPCs=] on Stealth mission-like quests to deliver items into certain locations without being spotted. If you are spotted, then you will have to try again. You may also have to kidnap some mobs and bring them in for bounty or as an item to continue quests.

* The "Secret Weapon" mode of ''Pinball/RevengeFromMars'' turns into a FightingGame, though the attacks are still performed by hitting targets.
* Creator/{{Sega}}'s ''Pinball/StarWarsTrilogy'' has the player thaw Han Solo out of carbonite by answering ''Star Wars'' trivia questions.

* ''Pinball/SharkeysShootout'' has players competing against various opponents in 8-ball or 9-ball billiards... except for the final WizardMode against Jeanette Lee, which features a four-ball multiball called "The Web".
* In Creator/BallyMidway's ''[[Pinball/MrAndMrsPacManPinball Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man Pinball]],'' players periodically stop the pinball game to play a primitive maze game, using the flipper buttons to move Pac-Man (a flashing yellow light) around a grid. It's as exciting as it sounds.

* Modern platforming games such as ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'' and ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' often have you enter races in order to gain items or otherwise progress in the game.
** The ''Sly Cooper'' games have also thrown in vehicular combat, ''Robotron 2084''-esque shooting segments, and rhythm-based sequences as well. Some fans of the [[StealthBasedGame stealth-focused]] [[VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus first game]] have complained that this wrecks the point of the series.
** Most will agree the rhythm battle with Mz. Ruby in ''VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus'' is among the best boss battles in the series.

* The ''Franchise/TombRaider'' series has various driving sequences.
** The Underwater Propulsion Vehicle sequences on the DownTheDrain level Lud's Gate.
** ''VideoGame/TombRaiderTheLastRevelation'' opens with a sixteen years-old, defenseless Lara. It's a tutorial segment, so no big deal... until ''VideoGame/TombRaiderChronicles'', where a lengthy segment with Young Lara is tossed in the middle of the game. Not an unwelcome variation for a game that had become so formulaic by then, but still unexpected and potentially troubling.
** The motorcycle stages in ''VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend'', one of which is an obvious {{homage}} to ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''.

* ''ComicBook/{{Bucky OHare|and the toad wars}}'', a very good but rather obscure NES platformer, also becomes a (very good) side-scrolling shoot-'em-up in the last level.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' loves to shift from 3D gameplay to 2D gameplay, but the opening level of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' takes the cake -- it starts on a strict 2D plane, then becomes 2AndAHalfD (as in that Mario can roam freely around the ground, yet the game is still in a sidescrolling state), and then fully 3D by the time Mario reaches the castle.
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'', while mostly a standard Mario game, has [[UnexpectedShmupLevel side-scrolling shooter levels]] for 2-3 and 4-3, including the final boss.
* ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' has it a bit backwards--while the ''VideoGame/StarFox'' series is a shooter, ''Adventures'' was a Zelda-esque game, so when the game threw in "classic-style" shooting elements [[spoiler: including the final boss]], it felt a bit weird. One can attribute this to its origins as ''Dinosaur Planet'', a game that had nothing to do with ''VideoGame/StarFox''.
* Played straight with the Aquas submarine level in ''VideoGame/StarFox64'', and the two tank levels. The difference is in the absent crosshair. It appears briefly when one does a [[ChargedAttack Charged shot,]] but because all charged shots are auto targeting the enemies, it only purpose is to show which enemy is going down when you release the A Button. In other words, aiming is more difficult.

* ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'' does this twice in the Hall of Former The Guys. In Sinistar's room, opening the way forward requires playing a game of Break-Out, and in the room after it, you mount the Vic Viper for a brief shooting segment.
* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' Ironically, it's practically a series tradition to include a shoot 'em up section (main series Kirby games are, spinoff games and mini-games aside, platform games).
** ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' parodied the concept by having a boss fight that uses RPG mechanics.
* ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'':
** ''VideoGame/DKKingOfSwing'' had a level in the last world that had no pegs at all, consists of only one area, and revolves flying around a rocket barrel. The final battle against King K. Rool [[spoiler: is really just two Jungle Jam events -- a race and a battle -- complete with the "ready, go!" beginning]].
** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' has two different arcade machines: one for the original ''Donkey Kong'' and one for Rare's ''Jetpac''. They seem at first to be amusing distractions, until you get to the final door in the final level and find that it's embedded with Nintendo and Rare icons; you have to beat the original Donkey Kong (the easy mode for the Golden Banana and the hard mode for the Nintendo icon) and score enough points in Jetpac just to reach the final boss. For many uncoordinated children who hadn't grown up with those games, this is a bit of a brick wall.
** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble'' has a level, Krack-Shot Kroc, where an offscreen villain is continuously trying to shoot you, with a big crosshair showing where his next shot will go. An UnexpectedGameplayChange comes in one of the bonus areas of this level, where you control the offscreen cannon and must kill all enemies in the bonus area. The boss of the same world would challenge you to a snowball fight similar to a group of minigames you may play just before entering his area.
* The ''VideoGame/RocketKnightAdventures'' series frequently breaks up the platforming with [[ShootEmUp shmup]] segments, and on top of that each game has one boss take the form of an extremely simple FightingGame.

* N64 PlatformGame ''VideoGame/RocketRobotOnWheels'' featured several "vehicles," which could be ridden around the worlds; this itself didn't necessarily institute a gameplay change, but it frequently led to "racing" segments (or PassThroughTheRings). Also, one section of the game includes a miniature roller coaster-building sim. It's not quite a mini-game, but it's still... unusual.
* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'':
** The final level of the first game is not a platform stage like the others, but a TV-style quiz show.
** ''Banjo-Tooie'' features several "Breegull Blaster" segments, where the game's usual platforming action strays and the game becomes a first-person shooter with Kazooie as the gun. Not only do you fight a boss this way, but all of the maps from these modes are included in the multiplayer mode as "shootouts." Both the maps and the control scheme replicate those from Rare's FPS ''Goldeneye''.
** Rare struck it backwards again with ''Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts'', which strayed from the series' typical platforming to be a user-generated vehicle game with some platforming in the HubLevel.
* ''[[VideoGame/HammerinHarry Hammerin' Hero]]'' is a side-scrolling TwoPointFiveD platformer for the first 11 stages, and then the last level turns into a free-scrolling ''VideoGame/RType'' clone. Even the BigBad (who you fight in the second-to-last stage) fights you in a spaceship which looks a lot like the R-9 Arrowhead, complete with Force Bit.
* ''VideoGame/MischiefMakers'', a side-scrolling platformer, has one level which consists of a series of Olympic-style events, with gameplay not unlike that of ''VideoGame/TrackAndField''. Furthermore, one of the events in this series is an Unexpected Gameplay Change in itself: amidst a bunch of athletic events is a math competition. Another event in that stage that stands out is the one where you have to catch balls in a pot while making sure none belonging to the other team gets in.
* The final eight stages of ''VideoGame/{{Plok}}'' are a ''gauntlet run'' of unexpected gameplay changes. Each stage of the Fleapit puts Plok behind the wheel of a different vehicle with touchy controls and (in most cases) nigh-useless weapons. The final stage arms Plok with the "Secret Super-Vehicle", a weapon so supposedly awesome that ''the manual only shows it in silhouette.'' [[spoiler: [[PowerupLetdown It's a pair of spring shoes, a can of flea spray and a football helmet.]] That's right, the game ''{{nerf}}s'' Plok for the final battle with the Flea Queen, and rather severely at that.]]
* The [[SpaceZone Asteroid Belt]] and FinalBoss stages in ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfRadGravity'', where you're in zero gravity and have to [[RecoilBoost use your gun to propel yourself]].
* In ''VideoGame/Gamer2'', after Hailey jumps through the factory portal, she finds herself falling through a bottomless void. She has to dodge falling debris for almost a minute, and she can't even shoot at hazards.

* The unlicensed ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' ripoff ''Rocman X/Thunder Blaster Man'' has an AutoScrolling motorcycle shmup level late in the game.
* ''Magic Planet Snack'' has four microgames:
** 1. Normal game. Take the orbs, but don't eat trolls or lava.
** 2. Hyper mode. Achieved by picking up 10 orbs. All things except trolls turn to cake. Each cake is worth 1000 points, twice as much as an orb.
** 3. Wizards. In the center of each planet is a wizard with two familars and 1-5 [=TVs=]. Take all the [=TVs=] and you can then attack the wizard directly. The two familiars are shooting bullets during this time, and the familiars can only be eaten in hyper mode.
** 4. Satellites. In between planets, satellites will appear and lay mines to block your path.
* In ''VideoGame/DynamiteHeaddy'' the normal (though not very normal) platforming is replaced with a flying shoot'em up for one level.
* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheTwoThrones'' has two chariot races. Two thoroughly infuriating chariot races. Otherwise, the game was an excellent balance of platforming and combat.
* Occurs frequently in the ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' series, such as the Rush Jet [[UnexpectedShmupLevel shmup sequences]], the AutoScrollingLevel in Dr. Cossack's Castle, the waverider level in ''VideoGame/MegaMan5'', and the snowboarding sequences in ''VideoGame/MegaMan8''.
** Particularly memorable in the UsefulNotes/GameBoy ''VideoGame/MegaManV'', where you begin by dodging indestructible asteroids, then taking on {{Mooks}} with the BreathWeapon Rush is now equipped with, then dodging lasers on the way to fight the [[ThatsNoMoon Wily Star]].
** The first stage of the FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/Rockman4MinusInfinity'' enters BulletHell territory which was clearly inspired by ''Franchise/TouhouProject''. The health and life bars even appear on the bottom of the screen. The second stage has you stripped of nearly everything but the Buster, and after that you have to fight all of the Robot Masters at the same time. Halfway through, Proto Man appears, giving you the [[EleventhHourSuperpower Wily Buster]]. After beating the Robot Masters, Wily activates a SelfDestructMechanism and an EscapeSequence with the Hell Wheel occurs.
* ''VideoGame/TheLionKing'' was a side-view platformer except in the wildebeest stampede level, which had Simba racing towards the camera.
* ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'' starts off as a normal platformer but soon throws in gameplay changes in the levels as the story progresses: riding dinosaurs, shooting zombies, and lava surfing, just to name a few.
* In ''VideoGame/TheAdventureOfLittleRalph'', an obscure Japanese platformer for the original UsefulNotes/PlayStation, the hero, Ralph, was originally a man, but the main villain turned him into a boy. Ralph spends almost the entire game like this, but just prior to the game's midboss fight (halfway through the stages) Ralph randomly turns into a man again. Then, he fights the villain in a traditional fighting-game style (complete with health bars) until the villain is defeated. Then Ralph randomly turns back into a boy again. However, past the second time this happens, it is no longer unexpected, as all of the boss battles after the midboss are played as in a fighting game.
* ''VideoGame/NinthRock'' is largely a platform game with minor stealth elements. One of the latter challenges involves using a crane to move crates to block the vision of guards, and the final task is a spherical maze which must be manipulated to collect all the energy orbs and get them inside.
* ''VideoGame/{{Something}} series'':
** Yosu no Tera has a section where Mario has to use the P-Balloon in order to navigate the pseudo-SHUMP section, and Yosu no Tera 2 does the same thing to Luigi in Something Else.
** Fantoma Mura, Yurei no Jinja, and This is Something in Something Else also have the same gimmick.
* ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'' has this, more so in the sequel. ''[=LittleBigPlanet 1=]'' featured unlockable side levels containing various mini-games, but they were completely optional. In ''[=LittleBigPlanet 2=]'', about halfway through the main storyline (that is, ignoring the side levels), conventional platforming starts taking a backseat to top-down and side-scrolling shmups and other arcade genres.
* ''VideoGame/ChildOfLight'' starts as a {{Metroidvania}} platformer with puzzle and RPG elements, but after you defeat the first boss and gain the power of {{flight}}, it becomes an aerial turn-based RPG.
* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' is chiefly a combat-focused platforming Metroidvania up until the White Palace (and by extension the [[BrutalBonusLevel Path of Pain]]), which consists of a series of PlatformHell gauntlets in the style of ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'', ''VideoGame/SuperMeatBoy'', et al.
* ''VideoGame/MichaelJacksonsMoonwalker'' (the SEGA home version) has you in an action platformer throughout the bulk of the game. The last boss is fought in a 1st-person spaceship shooting sequence, quite of nowhere. It's easy to play through the whole game and get wiped out on the last boss figuring out what you're supposed to do.
* ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' stays remarkably consistent in its gameplay, never adding gimmicky mechanics that break with the standard it sets, but it does flirt with different genres, and features a few platforming-based stealth missions. Then there's the fourth level of the third chapter, which stands out in a cute platformer for adopting an entirely serious stealth-horror style of gameplay as you try to solve puzzles for keys while evading the terrifying Queen Vanessa in her manor.
* ''VideoGame/TheMessenger2018'':
** The game switches from being a ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden''-esque platformer to [[spoiler:a full-on {{Metroidvania}}]] after defeating TheDragon, [[spoiler:with the Ninja being tasked to find the notes of the Music Boxes after allowing his own Messenger to die]].
** In the ''Picnic Panic'' DLC, [[spoiler:a giant version of Barma'thazël after he fuses with the Dark Messenger]] causes the game to switch to a ''VideoGame/PunchOut''-styled battle with the [[spoiler:Arcane Golem]] taking the place of Little Mac.
* ''VideoGame/{{Pikuniku}}'' suddenly has a rhythm game come out of nowhere at one point, which is required to progress.

* Parodied in ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' when [=GLaDOS=] "accidentally" sends you to a battle-droid training chamber because the usual testing area is being repaired. (Given that [[spoiler: the Enrichment Center is deserted]], this is almost certainly a half-truth at best.) Instead of figuring out how to get around strange logic puzzles, you need to use your skills to deactivate the security drones.
** Soon after this point the whole game begins to subtly genre shift from a simple, plot-less puzzle platformer to a more straight-up platformer with puzzle elements added in, with a storyline resembling survival horror more than anything else.
** The 'straight-up platformer with puzzle elements added in' is, essentially, just making the story part of the puzzles.

* After four and a half games of straight puzzle game, Chapter 6 of ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheMiracleMask'' turns into a top-down dungeon crawl. There are still puzzles, but the format is wildly different, and even among the more normally formatted ones, there's a pair (''Hershel vs. Mummies'' and ''Tilt to Traverse'', respectively) that require reasonably fast reaction time or use the 3DS gyroscope to slide blocks around. They're the only puzzles in the series to do so aside from their bonus content sequels.

* ''VideoGame/TheTuringTest'' is generally a very slow-paced game, but a few puzzles require twitch reflexes: you have to suck an energy ball out of a door switch and then dash through the door before it closes.
* A puzzle in ''VideoGame/EnglishCountryTune'' has you use the built-in level editor to teach you a new gimmick. It's the only puzzle in the game that does that.

* ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'' has a few "boss fights" which, while still fought with the same units, suddenly feel more like a ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' boss. The encounters become "locked" and the bosses start leaving attack target marks on the ground that you have to move your forces out of, and some periodically leave the battle area to do a special attack or to let you deal with adds briefly.
** ''VideoGame/StarCraftIINovaCovertOps'': The first mission was half StealthBasedMission and half UnexpectedShmupLevel.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'': Every Tiberian/Red Alert game has at least one campaign mission that is more real-time tactical than real-time strategy. The player will control a small (1-4) number of elite commando units and have to use a combination of tactics, stealth, and scripted events to outmaneuver a militarily superior foe. The original ''Red Alert'' was particularly fond of these, often setting them inside missile silos or bombed-out towns in central Europe.
* ''VideoGame/LittleKingsStory'': The otherwise ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}esque'' core gameplay is traded for a Vertical Scrolling... Avoider? before going back to the original gameplay for the final boss sequence. Some units escape each time you take damage, so the better you do here, the more units you have to work with against them.

* In ''VideoGame/GitarooMan'', one stage takes away U-1's Gitaroo for roughly the first half of the level. Instead of the normal gameplay loop, you have to start by dodging. If that wasn't bad enough, you start at low health because you didn't get the chance to charge beforehand! You never expect to play any stage without the Gitaroo, so this comes off as a surprise to the player.

* In ''VideoGame/EnterTheGungeon'', the third stage of the fight against the [[BonusBoss Resourceful Rat]] changes tack from the game's normal BulletHell shooter format to a ''VideoGame/PunchOut''-style boxing match. Considering that the preceding stage of the fight involved the Rat piloting a fairly explicit [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Metal Gear REX]] {{expy}} against you, this is a direct reference to the fist-fight that Solid and Liquid Snake held atop the machine. Of course, winning the third round is optional; your run still continues if the Rat knocks you out.
* ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'': Most of the gameplay is about collecting permanent items to become stronger and killing enemies and bosses in the player's path. ''Repentance'' changes this with a special series of rooms in Mines/Ashpit II: [[spoiler:The player temporarily loses their pickups, items, and everything "gained" in the run except their health, forcing them at base stats. After grabbing Knife Piece 2, a chase sequence starts up with an invincible enemy, where the player has to perform light puzzles that involve red bombs and buttons. Puzzle-solving had been a growing part of the game throughout its expansions, but never to this degree, and never to the extent of the segment locking the player out of what they had collected prior.]]

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' when you suddenly have to play as Joker, your pilot with brittle bones disease who can't fight or even run. The level is practically a walk-in cutscene as all you can do is walk slowly along the one safe path while [[spoiler:the rest of the crew gets abducted]] around you. Straying from the safe path will get you instantly killed by enemies that you would normally squash like a bug. It has a very survival/horror feel to it.
** "Lair of the Shadow Broker" includes an aircar chase through the skies of Ilium that [[ShoutOut bears a striking resemblance]] to that sequence in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''.
* In possibly the earliest example of the trope, the second[[labelnote:*]]strictly speaking, the first called ''Ultima'', its predecessor was named ''Akalabeth''[[/labelnote]] installment of ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'', a turn-based high fantasy RPG, required the player to buy a spaceship, engage in real-time one-on-one space combat, and become a "Space Ace" in order to finish the game. And ''you'' thought that astronaut on the cover was just bad art...
* The Pokemon Contests in ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire''.
** They've been carried over and made even more complicated in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl''. If you want to master them, you may have to actually train Pokemon specifically for contests, giving them different moves than battle-concentrated Pokemon, and manipulating their natures to fit the contest you want.
** Diamond & Pearl also have two new mini-games thrown in to take advantage of the DS's touch-screen and wifi capabilities: (There are benefits to [[SocializationBonus playing them at the same time as friends]].)
*** A "Poffin-making" game consisting of making circles with the stylus, adjusting the speed and direction in reaction to signals on the screen. The main purpose of this is to make your 'mons perform better in one phase of the contests.
*** An "underground" game allowing you to encounter other players, and set harmless "traps" for them. There's also a mini-game within the mini-game that's somewhat similar to Battleship. Both of these parts are encouraged, to achieve 100% completion.
** HGSS has the Pokéathelon, which is the Olympics [[RecycledInSpace with Pokémon!]]
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRanger: Guardian Signs'', there are levels where you have to chase someone underwater by diving down and levels where you have to dodge swarms of energy bullets.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' has little minigames and extra challenges in its Gyms: the Grass Gym has you herding Wooloo, and the Water Gym has a puzzle involving switching on and off large water pipes, for instance. [[spoiler:The Dark Gym is the only outlier, with players simply fighting their way through opposing trainers to reach the Gym Leader. The Dark Gym also stands out by its lack of a Power Spot, thus leaving Pokémon unable to [[SuperMode Dynamax]].]]
* The Gummi Ship mini-games in ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', where you go from an AdventureGame to piloting a ''VideoGame/StarFox''-esque spaceship against waves of enemies. In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the Atlantica world throws you into a sort of RhythmGame; this was possibly in response to the original Atlantica, which stayed in-genre but added a badly-implemented third dimension. Finally, one of your Summons allows you to temporarily switch to "[[FirstPersonShooter FPS]] Mode".
** One part of the final boss fight also notably played it like a rail shooter rather than the game's typical fighting system.
** ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartscoded Kingdom Hearts Re: coded]]'' is, for the most part, an RPG with a battle system closest to [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]], but every level ends with something different. Olympus, for instance, turns into a turn-based RPG (appropriate, since Cloud is there).
** [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth By Sleep]]. Disney Town. You have three minigames, in each character's story you have to do one of them. They are: Kart Racing, a Rhythm game and this volleyball...thing. And you HAVE to do the one in your storyline. And you can't just get a 'decent' score on the rhythm game, it has to be a high one.
* The (optional) Galaga-esque flight segments of ''Videogame/JadeEmpire''.

* ''Videogame/SuperMarioRPG'' has many minigames, which themselves have [=UGCs=]; one minigame has you sliding down a waterfall in one part and riding barrels down a river in the next, and another has you riding in a mine cart, alternating between Mode 7 sequences and MinecartMadness.
* ''Videogame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' featured small sidequests in between chapters where the viewpoint shifted temporarily to Peach or Bowser. Three of these mini-chapters starred Bowser playing through parodies of [[NostalgiaLevel levels from the original]] ''VideoGame/{{Super Mario Bros|1}}''.
* ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' has one BossBattle that becomes a pastiche of ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'', and another had a DatingSim-esque segment before the actual fight. There's also an UnexpectedShmupLevel.

* The {{NPC}}s in ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' force Ryu to perform so many mini-game based quests, that players may feel justified in joining Fou-Lu to blow them all up in the [[MultipleEndings Bad Ending]].

* Quite painful in ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' when you enter into a gear combat tournament. This brings in a rather simplistic Franchise/StreetFighter style combat system, despite the fact that you're not actually doing anything different than when you are usually fighting in your gears (which is standard RPG style).
** For that matter the on foot combat and Gear combat use somewhat different mechanics and after the first few hours the game is mostly exclusively Gear combat. However there is still the occasional dungeon where you have to go about on foot, notably the Disc 1 finale which is about a 4 hour segment where the characters are entirely without their Gears the entire way.
* ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos'':
** ''VideoGame/BatenKaitosOrigins'' has a brief stealth segment, as well as a couple of scenes where you have to collect evidence to solve a bombing.
** The original game, ''Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean'', has a BlockPuzzle. A really diabolical BlockPuzzle, thanks to the perspective not quite lining up with the basic directions, meaning half the time you'll be straining up against the block and it won't be moving. There's also the Trail of Souls, an UnexpectedShmupLevel made to troll those who are going for HundredPercentCompletion, and the Ice Goddess and Wizard Shadow battles, both of which seem to think that regular fights in ''Eternal Wings'' aren't quite luck-based enough.

* ''VideoGame/HellgateLondon'' has one mission in which you control a group of fighters which turns the game into an RTS. This section is also incredibly much harder than the rest and is generally beaten by triggering a bug to avoid losing, then chain airstriking the boss for 20 minutes.
** It also had a mission that essentially switched the game from third person Hack & Slash to Arcade Shooter - it consists of nothing but manning a heavy gun turret and keeping the firing button pressed for about ten consecutive minutes in order to shoot down an Exospector and the armies of critters it shits out in regular intervals.
%%** The turret section.
%%** The RTS mission "The Wall,".
* ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance'' makes you play some ''Pitfall'' with the character who activated the machine as the game character. This can be pretty annoying when characters that can usually fly or teleport keep falling into pits.
** And also an instance of ''Breakout'' where one of your characters actually pushes the paddle left and right and plays the game, while the others should try to avoid getting hit by the ball.
* ''[[{{VideoGame/SpaceRangers}} Space Rangers 2]]'' starts off by being a RPG-esque space arcade/sim with economic elements. Then there's the RTS sections with HumongousMecha, which you also can control directly in third person view. Then there's the text-based missions which range from logic puzzles, to math excercises, to "choose your own adventure" style sequences. And ''then'' there's the straightforward arcade "fly around and shoot everything" sequences inside wormholes.
** Sometimes these text-based missions turned out to be economic simulators. Once it even became a text version of the Space Rangers itself. And it's hard to tell what exactly it will turn out to be when you take the quest. Just what are developers ''[[ViewersAreGeniuses expecting from players]]''?
* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'' has several plot-specific mini-games, ranging from a top-down shooter to a rhythm game.
* ''[[VideoGame/BaldursGate Baldur's Gate II]]'' is a straightforward party-oriented Western RPG based on the Dungeons & Dragons ruleset -- except for one part of the Watcher's Keep area that's a text-based dungeon crawl.
* ''VideoGame/ThreadsOfFate'' requires you to play three platform jumping games before you can talk to Fancy Mel and continue your quest.
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' features a jet bike race in a post-apocalyptic future. There was also the portion where your weapons were confiscated and you had to use stealth to avoid enemies. Having Ayla in your party makes things a bit better, though.
* At one point in ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant'', most of the team is captured by the villains -- the only one that escapes? Blanca, your wolf. This triggers a StealthBasedMission. Specifically, it is a direct parody of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': In order to hide behind walls, the wolf gets up on its hind legs and peers around the corner.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games:
** ''VideoGame/Fallout2'': The level 2 storage area of the Enclave oil rig is a maze with a puzzle with an electrified floor.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'''s ''Operation Anchorage'' expansion pack, set in a VR simulation of the liberation of Alaska from the Chinese, is a squad-based military action shooter.
** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' is a pretty straightforward FPS/RPG. Then the ''Dead Money'' DLC turns it into a pretty straightforward SurvivalHorror. In turn, the final run to the vault in that DLC is a DeathCourse of stealth, dodging speakers and holograms, and some platform jumping.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}: Far Harbor'', retrieving DIMA's memories involves a 3D HackingMinigame reminiscent of ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', utilizing the Workshop interface to [[LightAndMirrorsPuzzle direct a decoder beam with relay blocks to deactivate a series of firewalls]], build a path of computer code blocks to for "data bugs" to travel along, and [[EscortMission place turrets to defend the bugs from the computer's countermeasures]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Anachronox}}'' is a JRPG-style game with unskippable debris-dodging, rail-shooting, and turret-defense sequences. Also included are different minigames for character skills, from coin-flipping to democratic debate.
* In ''VideoGame/BraveFencerMusashi'', instead of a traditional sword battle, one of the duels against the QuirkyMiniBossSquad required the player to play a version of Simon, with rhythm elements incorporated. It's even {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d when Musashi gleefully rushes in to fight and she takes offense to the idea that he WouldHitAGirl before challenging him to a dance-off instead. There's also the [[ThatOneLevel brutally]] [[FakeDifficulty difficult]] Gondola segment in the mines.
* In ''Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes'', you have to defeat an old man in a game of Reversi.
* ''VideoGame/{{Okamiden}}'' includes a point where the game becomes a RhythmGame with your brush (stylus). You have to pass this game to proceed with the story.
* This is part of the mechanics for boss fights in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}''. Certain bosses can change the color and behavior of your soul, restricting your movement and changing your abilities.
* Chapter 2 of ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' features a sudden ''VideoGame/PunchOut''-style boxing minigame when Queen challenges Kris to beat her at an arcade game. [[spoiler:It comes back in a more elaborate form for the FinalBoss fight]]. The same chapter also features [[spoiler:the one-off return of ''Undertale''[='s=] shoot-em-up "yellow soul" mechanic during the Spamton NEO fight]].
* For most of the game in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'', it's a typical rpg with normal attacks where you can use skills called "Crafts" and magic called "Arts". However, the game decides that your two final boss fights are in [[HumongousMecha Divine Knights]] where the combat system is now suddenly a TacticalRockPaperScissors fight where attacking a part of the enemy will result in Rean getting a chance to unbalance the enemy to give him a chance for a bonus attack. And just to twist the knife further, the FinalBoss is a HeadsIWinTailsYouLose fight. Fortunately, the mechanics are fixed in the sequel where they've added a lot of things in the Divine Knight battles.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Evoland}}'' series is built around this trope. The first game is a stroll through gaming history, switching between several RPG sub-genres and graphical styles as the game progresses. The sequel is less about history and more about cramming in as many different genres as possible. The base game is an ActionAdventure with RPGElements, but it has sequences of StealthBasedMission, ShootEmUp (both top-down and side-scrolling), BeatEmUp, PlatformGame, TurnBasedStrategy, EndlessRunningGame, FightingGame, RhythmGame, MatchThreeGame, and of course a CardBattleGame.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission'' is a game-long example - every other ''Mega Man X'' game is a platformer, but this is an eastern RPG that plays much more similarly to Capcom's ''Breath of Fire'' series. Unlike other examples, it's not a GenreShift - the plot of the game fits in thematically with other entries to the ''MMX'' series.
* The UsefulNotes/{{PSP}} adaptation of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' has a few:
** One of the Sub-Episodes is a BreatherLevel where [[ItMakesSenseInContext Mimi dates a Numemon]]. The only gameplay involved is in the form of PopQuiz, no exploration and no battling whatsoever.
** The Episode "Centarumon, The Guardian!" suddenly puts you into a puzzle sequence in the Ancient Dino Region's ruins where you have to figure your way out after falling into a trap. There are no wild Digimon encountered there whatsoever until you're reunited with your partner Digimon.
** One of the early Episodes starring Sora contains a StealthBasedMission where you have to navigate the Overdell Graveyard's dungeon without being spotted by the patrolling Bakemon in order to rescue Piyomon/Biyomon (who cannot fit into the small passage you crawled into to escape in the first place), and then Jou/Joe and Gomamon.
* One of the major bosses of ''VideoGame/DarkSouls1'', the Bed of Chaos, was the game's one and only PuzzleBoss- rather than being able to damage it normally, you have to run to one side (while dodging its swipes) and smash a glowing root (which will cause the floor to start dropping out around the arena and for the boss to start lunging at you with a giant fiery claw) then to the other side and smash the other glowing root (which will cause the boss to start generating firestorms). Then you have to make a running jump onto a tree root in the pit in front of it, run up the root and smash through some tangled roots to get to the center of the boss, where you find a weird bug-creature which dies in one hit- then you win. As a puzzle/platforming challenge in a game that was all about careful, measured melee combat (and also had infamously awful jumping controls which you otherwise rarely had to use), it was a drastic departure from every other boss in the game, and also hailed by almost everyone as the absolute ''worst'' boss in the entire series.
* The only other PuzzleBoss in the "Souls series" was the Dragon God from ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls.'' Like the Bed of Chaos, you couldn't fight it head-on, instead having to [[StealthBasedMission sneak along the platforms without being seen]] and smashing rubble out of your way to reach the two ballistae positioned on either side of it. Once you'd activated both ballistae, the Dragon God would be rendered helpless and you just had to run down to smack its head until it died. Again, it was considered one of the most disappointing bosses in the game.
* A slight case with the ''Literature/TreasureIsland''-chapter (see Nested Story above) in the german RPG ''Videogame/DieReiseInsAll'': Aside from changing up the main character and setting, this part remains overall similiar to the main game, with a strong focus on puzzles, exploring, humor and a few mini games. Though, it lacks the typical [[{{TurnBasedCombat}} Turn-based combat]] of the rest of the game.

* During the final mission in ''VideoGame/MetalSlug 3'', the player characters board "Astro Slugs", and the game turns into a top-side scrolling shooter.
* In the ShootEmUp ''VideoGame/{{Dogyuun}}'', the final stage involves you boxing two robots to death with a giant robot of your own...and there is no foreshadowing to this whatsoever unless you play the two player mode. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcrkIjmW4Ts Watch it here!]]

* Should you unlock the second loop of ''VideoGame/{{Ketsui}}'', the game will dramatically change the scoring system; instead of a chain-based system where you point-blank enemies and then chain enemies for '5' chips, you can only get '1' chips and you can't chain enemies. In the standard "omote" loop, you won't get chips if you prevent enemies from firing their [[LastDitchMove post-death bullets]] by killing them up-close, but you get a bonus for doing so in the special "ura" loop.
* ''VideoGame/SuperCyborg'', for the most part, is a side-scrolling RunAndGun action game, save for the fifth level which suddenly shifts to a top-down perspective. After killing the boss you then shift back to side-view for the rest of the game.
* ''VideoGame/{{TAGAP}}'' has a few sections that change the gameplay, such as where you can fly/swim (8-way movement) and/or are in control of a vehicle (can only use the vehicle's weapons, which have infinite ammo). Two notable ones are in the second game:
** A turret section on a dinghy that's speeding forward. Various enemies try to predict your trajectory and shoot you, but you can briefly speed up or slow down the dinghy to make them miss.
** A platforming section on a scooter, while you're completely defenseless except for a charge attack. Most of the level is spent timing your sprints to jump over obstacles, or by progressing through a series of jumps.

* ''VideoGame/TheSims4: [=StrangerVille=]'' is a story-based game pack that sees your Sims solving a supernatural mystery in the titular town and [[spoiler:ends with a full-on boss fight]] — not something you see every day in a ''Sims'' game!
* ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X3: Reunion]]'' has one in the second mission, where the space simulator combat of the rest of the game is replaced by an incredibly buggy, poorly implemented rail shooter sequence.

* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'', part of the mission to destroy [[spoiler: the Machine Gun]] is an UnexpectedShmupLevel, while destroying [[spoiler: the Bomber]] culminates in a flight-action sequence.
** Also, Sequence 8 has all of the player's weapons disabled and you're only able to use [[spoiler: the Apple of Eden while you cut off all of Cesare's resources.]]
** In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations'' Den Defenses are TowerDefense minigames, while the sections where you dive into Desmond's history after collecting Animus Data Fragments are first-person platformers that require the careful placement of geometric shapes to complete. All that's missing, especially during the final sequence, which [[spoiler:takes place in Desmond's memory of Abstergo]], is a psychotic female AI snarking at you.
** III and IV have Fanorona and Nine Men's Morris mini games, and IV adds Draughts (Checkers) as well. All of these are complicated enough that you won't win unless you have a very good understanding of the game but not so complicated that your opponent can't be a [[PerfectPlayAI near-perfect play AI]]. The computer never concedes and is happy for games to go on forever as long as it can deny the player a win. Nine Men's Morris is perhaps the worst since it effectively has a handicap system that prevents an early lead from becoming a certain victory. These games aren't necessary to complete the story but they are linked with achievements/challenges and so can rob the player of that LastLousyPoint.

* ''VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'' is for the most part a thrilling mashup of throat-slashing stealth and amazing first-person melee combat. Fighting an armed prison guard head-on is likely to get you killed. 2/3rds through you finally pick up a firearm of your own, which turns it into a 1st-person shooter. The REAL gameplay change though, comes after you get access to a nigh-indestructible mech and get to crush all those enemies you hid from for most of the game in pure power fantasy style.

* TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering features the cards [[http://magiccards.info/cedi/en/237.html Chaos Orb]] and [[http://magiccards.info/lg/en/143.html Falling Star]], which involve literally dropping the cards onto the playing field to damage/destroy what they fall onto (nothing else in the game involves physical dexterity, besides cards from joke sets anyways). For this reason they were eventually banned.

* ''{{VideoGame/Jazzpunk}}'' has this trope as an occasional incentive to explore the various levels. For example, a frog wants to hack a nearby coffee shop Wi-Fi password, but his Augmented Reality goggles are located in the middle of the road. Cue a sudden match of ''{{VideoGame/Frogger}}''.
* About halfway through ''VideoGame/OddworldStrangersWrath'', the game switches from a bounty hunt where you go from town to town collecting outlaws to [[spoiler: a survival game where you are the outlaw, the money you have been collecting is useless and everyone is out to kill you]].

* ''VideoGame/JetForceGemini'' is a gory, fast-paced 3D shoot 'em up - except for the one stage that's a ''kart racer''. Complete with power-ups and a multiplayer option. Makes a bit more sense if you remember the game's engine was originally written for Diddy Kong Racing, but still...
* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar2'' has a stealth mission which was actually cut from the campaign, but can still be played via optional [=DLC=]. At the very beginning you are given the option of doing the stealth mission or going in guns blazing. If you do the stealth mission and are detected, the game just switches over to straight combat.

* The final stages of ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' do this a ''lot''. Once the [[EliteMooks Special Forces]] arrive the gameplay shifts violently from fighting hoards of stupid slow zombies to fighting intelligent enemies with ranged weapons who capture instead of killing, with a lot more emphasis on stealth. The second-to-last part of the story suddenly puts you into a gun turret fighting off a tank. Then for the final boss you lose all your weapons and have to fight him with those hand-to-hand moves you probably never bothered to learn because a chainsaw always worked so much better.
* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' has a few of these. Throughout the game, you'll find yourself in a top-down tank battle game a-la ''Combat'', a side-scrolling beat-'em-up, and a text adventure or two. ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' also featured some of the same brief gameplay switcheroos, only they were all confined to one particular mission.