History YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle / VideoGames

* VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog:

** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Aria of Sorrow]]''. We fight the reincarnation of Dracula, the day is saved, and then... [[TomatoSurprise surprise!]]

** In ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosDS'', Bowser Jr. actually drags Princess Peach from one castle to the next (which is subject to quite a bit of FridgeLogic of its own). A variation of this happens near the end where you defeat the "final" castle, only for a new path to suddenly reveal itself and lead the way to the true final castle.

** The phrase was actually used in an early draft of the ''Film/SuperMarioBros'' [[TheMovie movie]].
** In ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' Bowser Jr. actually drags Princess Peach from one castle to the next (which is subject to quite a bit of FridgeLogic of its own). A variation of this happens near the end where you defeat the "final" castle, only for a new path to suddenly reveal itself and lead the way to the true final castle.

* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has several points like this, particularly the first battle with Magus and the Ocean Palace. The latter is particularly clever, as the main character, Crono, is likely close to getting his final ability, or will get it by or during this dungeon. On the other hand, if you've been LevelGrinding like mad or are playing a NewGamePlus, you can win the UnwinnableBossBattle and end the game.

* ''[[VideoGame/LEGOAdaptationGame LEGO Marvel: Avengers]]'': One quest in Asgard has the player solve a puzzle to unlock Laufey. Just as they do it, the actual Laufey rushes in and nicks his own character token, requiring the player to pummel him a bit so they can get it for real.

* Multiple times in ''VideoGame/GhostRecon: Advanced Warfighter''. The President gets recaptured, your ride gets blown up/shot down, the nuclear football gets stolen and moved several times, and so on.

* In ''VideoGame/ArcStyleBaseball3D'', you're told that Team Crystal is the final challenge in Tournament mode... But there's one more: the Arc Stars, which is an exhibition of [[Creator/ArcSystemWorks the company]]'s best known characters.
* In ''VideoGame/ArTonelicoMelodyOfElemia'', [[SealedEvilInADuel things happen in such a way]] that you can actually declare that you're ''not'' going to continue through another castle for the princess, and if you do, [[HeroicSacrifice the princess won't blame you for that decision]]. However, if you want the best (and canon) ending, get your castle-breaking equipments, for you're in for a serious ride.
* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' you fight a climatic battle with the BigBad in Venice. In time all your allies appear to help you. Then, the BigBad escapes.

** Due to ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' being a semi-throwback to the original games, you once again defeat the Elite Four, climb the suitably epic ascent to the Champion to find... N ([[WellIntentionedExtremist the antagonist]]) has defeated him with his new uber-dragon. He then raises a GIANT castle, forces you to catch a giant dragon, and fights you. It then happens AGAIN when Ghetsis takes over for the FINAL final boss fight. And then there's the whole rest of the game where you fight the real Champion, Cynthia (champion of Sinnoh) and Shigeki Morimoto, one of the developers. All of whom are much, MUCH stronger than you'll be after you beat the game.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'' does a fair job of averting it, though you do find out you can board the Team Plasma Frigate one more time after you surf over to the P2 Laboratory, and battle Colress again. His Pokémon took a few levels since the last battle, too. (Although the game does have {{Bonus Boss}}es up the yin-yang.)

** [[http://www.dailymotion.com/user/raocow/video/x44lh2_smi2-this-was-raocow_videogames Secret Bonus Boss after all that]]

* Played for laughs at the end of ''[[{{VideoGame/Zuma}} Zuma's Revenge]]'' when the fake "final boss" dies in one hit, followed by partial fake credits, only for the ''real'' boss to reveal that you'd actually just "defeated" his ''cook''. After that you get to fight his "final form," followed by his ''true'' final form, followed (and completed) by a dark mirror version of your character.

Examples of YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle in video games.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' interestingly pulls this off with a ''king'' of all things. The game is gearing you up for a final showdown against King Vendrick in Drangleic Castle. When you battle your way through his most elite knights and directly into the passage where he's supposedly sequestered himself off from the world, you realize he's not there and has long fled the castle. The next part of the game is the process of chasing him down. And ''then'' when you finally find King Vendrick... he's long since gone hollow, reduced to a decayed, near-naked zombie shambling mindlessly around his chamber. While you can fight him [[BonusBoss if you want to,]] all you need to do is grab his ring from his pile of discarded equipment and quietly leave, because Vendrick never was the FinalBoss.

* The ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' hack "Super Mario Infinity" does this about FOUR times over the course of the game. First you're fighting through normal levels, and having to defeat Bowser. After getting through the final world, involving fighting him in every other level, it turns out Big Boo and Kamek were plotting against everyone including Bowser; cue another world with boss battles in every level, and a level with TWO 16 stage {{Marathon Boss}}es. After this, it still doesn't end, cue an airship and prison level. Then a Pit of 100 Trials. It's at this point some previously unknown great evil has been plotting to destroy reality, so when that plot point becomes known, there's another world to explore, complete with a 100 floor tower and ANOTHER MarathonBoss. Then you get a star in the box at the top of the screen, which allows you to return to the first level and fight a BonusBoss... In case that was too lengthy, the ends of these videos show what we mean:

** In the first ''VideoGame/RedFaction'', the miners' escape shuttle takes off just as you arrive at the docking bay, then immediately gets shot down. "Maybe being slow isn't such a bad thing", says Hendrix.
* Happens many times in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' and ''VideoGame/DinoCrisis'' series. If you are escaping by helicopter, train, or plane, it ''will'' get shot down (''VideoGame/DinoCrisis'', ''VideoGame/{{Resident Evil 3|Nemesis}}'', and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''), attacked by mutants (''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2''), or redirected to the enemy base (''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'', and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations'').

** In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', DamselInDistress [[ThePresidentsDaughter Ashley Graham]] gets recaptured at least twice.

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'': It seems like you're finally the number one assassin; finally defeating everyone else. I guess it's time to use the potty... then before you know it, an assassin busts in and cuts your head off. Unless you get the good ending, where you have to fight your brother.

* ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' has two false climactic dungeons: Orochi's Cave one third of the way through the game, and then Oni Island, at about roughly the two thirds point. While before you enter these areas the game heavily portrays them as being TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, once you're actually inside, they have a curiously lighthearted and unhurried atmosphere. The real final dungeon on the other hand is treated with the appropriate amount of melodrama and gravity.
** Then there's the fact that when you get to Orochi's Cave and Oni Island, [[GottaCatchThemAll you still haven't collected all thirteen brush techniques yet...]]
** ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' did this so often that the place felt like an ExpansionPackWorld. "Yay! We're done! But what's this area over HERE for?"
** Continued in ''VideoGame/{{Okamiden}}'', and they went all-out to make it convincing. Got all the brush techniques? Yep. Appropriately climactic dungeon? Heck, it's a two-parter. Is the guy threatening? He has a HumongousMecha MoonRabbit (Daidarabotchi) going to destroy the world if you lose. [[OverlyLongGag Unique and lengthy fight music?]] [[http://youtu.be/p5D9EW6wJqQ Uh-huh]]. Is King Fury the final boss? '''''HELL NO.'''''

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', the dragon master Lance is set up as the final boss. [[ItWasHisSled As even casual fans know by now]], he isn't; the true champion is Blue/Green/Gary/Asshat/[[HelloInsertNameHere Whatever the heck you named him]]. Likewise, in [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver the sequel]], both Lance and Blue are set up as the final boss at separate points, with Lance qualifying as a DiscOneFinalBoss as well. There is actually little indication that the the true final boss awaits [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome at the top of Mt. Silver, where you meet a trainer that greets you with "......"]]. Cue the collective shock of millions of children during the height of the Pokémon craze as they face [[PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo Red, the player character from the original games]], with the highest-leveled mons in the entire series.[[note]]Red briefly lost the "highest level" crown to the Sinnoh rival in ''VideoGame/PokemonPlatinum'', but regained the title in the remakes of Gold and Silver.[[/note]]
** In Ruby, Sapphire, Diamond, Pearl and especially Emerald and Platinum after you beat the game, you have a small island to explore. Also, if you beat the Champion 20 times in D/P/PL, your rival's Pokémon gain multiple levels, in Platinum even if he is the most leveled NPC in any Pokémon.
** Due to Black & White being a semi-throwback to the original games, you once again defeat the Elite Four, climb the suitably epic ascent to the Champion to find... N ([[WellIntentionedExtremist the antagonist]]) has defeated him with his new uber-dragon. He then raises a GIANT castle, forces you to catch a giant dragon, and fights you. It then happens AGAIN when Ghetsis takes over for the FINAL final boss fight. And then there's the whole rest of the game where you fight the real Champion, Cynthia (champion of Sinnoh) and Shigeki Morimoto, one of the developers. All of whom are much, MUCH stronger than you'll be after you beat the game.

* ''VideoGame/CommanderKeen IV'' requires the player to rescue eight Gnosticene Elders. One level, the Pyramid of the Forbidden, is much more difficult than any other level, and it turns out that the person you rescue at the end is merely a janitor, thus making the level a BonusDungeon of sorts. That would have been nice to know beforehand, since the only way back to the main part of the map is to meet said Janitor. Can't sleep, blue guys will fucking melt me...

** This trope [[TropeNamers gets its name]] from [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 the original game]] with the Mushroom Retainers (Toads) saying the well known line that ''actually'' goes: ''"[[BeamMeUpScotty Thank you Mario! But our Princess is in another castle!]]"'', forcing you to go through four more stages and seven more worlds. In context, though, both parties know this, but the guy's confused why you took a detour to help out instead of making a beeline straight for Bowser. Then the Princess also symbolically does this at the end of the game by informing Mario that he was finally successful but there's [[NewGamePlus another quest]] waiting for him. (Actually the same game with all goombas replaced by beetles and the enemies moving faster.)
*** And in the Famicom and Virtual Console versions of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels'' you have to play through the game seven more times without warping to reach the final four worlds and the true ending.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'' had Mario rescue a fake princess after every boss, which quickly turned into a monster (based on the theme of the world) and ran off.

* In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'''s first chapter, you rescue Rodrigo and his TrophyWife Fabiana, only for the latter to be captured again in the second chapter and taken away to several more "castles", before ultimately being StuffedIntoTheFridge.

*** ...[[UpToEleven And then along comes Repentance.]] Boasting an alternate path to the descent into the basement, you fight through the Downpour, Mines, and Mausoleum, completing a few puzzles to unlock a special knife and the new VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, The Corpse, and the new TrueFinalBoss "Mother". [[spoiler: And then it turns out that "Mother" isn't even the TrueFinalBoss, and you have to complete a '''different puzzle entirely''' to find Dad's Note and ascend through the floors you've conquered until you reach [[WhereItAllBegan Home]] and fight the embodiment of Christianity's [[TheFundamentalist Fundamentalism]], [[SnowyScreenOfDeath Dog]][[AngelicAbomination ma]]. And then, when you kill it, it gives you an item named after it so you can fight and kill the [[Literature/BookOfRevelation Uber-Harbingers and the Beast of Revelation]], which unlocks an ending that [[TheEndingChangesEverything changes everything you thought you knew about the game]].]]

* ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfWar'': "The Bright Lord" mission presents itself as the endgame and urges you to complete all side-missions as the very nature of the game changes after you complete it. [[spoiler: ... and turns out, Talion (read: You) is abandoned by his wraith Celebrimbor, who was also animating his corpse after he was executed [[VideoGame/ShadowOfMordor in the previous game]]]]. He saves himself from dying by [[spoiler:putting on Isildur's ring]]. Point is they weren't kidding, some of your abilities are permanently changed, [[PermanentlyMissableContent you can't go back to do the sidequests]], and you must complete the Shadow Wars Siege quests in the PlayableEpilogue to get the true ending.

* In the original ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', in Episode 2, Mission 6, "Halls of the Damned", you go through a long corridor, up to a room with an "Exit" sign and a switch, that when you throw the switch the floor collapses into a room with a whole bunch of nasties; it was a trick to make you think it's the end of the level.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'': The Nottagen plot pulls this ''twice''. First off it seems you've rescued the town... yet dispelling the gloom blocking out the sun caused a plant monster to wake up and destroy the town again. Then when you save the town from the plant, hellworms invade and destroy the town. All in all, the town is [[PunnyName very well named]] (for those who don't get it, "[[spoiler:Not again]]!").
** Pulled off brilliantly in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'', with the battle against Dhoulmagus. Even though it obviously can't be the FinalBoss fight due to the around half the map remaining unexplored, the game does such a good job of matching the feel of a genuine FinalBoss battle ([[OneWingedAngel multiple forms]], [[ThatOneBoss extreme difficulty]] and all) that that while you're fighting it's easy to forget it's not one. The dungeon you explore to get to him is also creepy enough to give the impression of a final dungeon as well.

* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'', Isaac and friends have finally cornered Saturos and Menardi at the top of Venus Lighthouse and demand the last of the Elemental Stars so the power of Alchemy can be sealed again, along with the hostages. Nope! Saturos gave the Jupiter Star to Felix and sent him ahead with the hostages. Better yet? ''That's the end of the first game.'' [[MagnificentBastard Damn you, Saturos!]]
** ''The Lost Age'' pulls one of these on you in the final boss battle with the Doom Dragon. Damage from summons is decided by the size of the foe's hitpoint meter, so most bosses, even MemeticBadass Dullahan, can be taken out by spamming summons all at once. The Doom Dragon is unique for having three forms, ''each with its own hitpoint meter''. Instead of ending the boss battle quickly, a summon rush just kills the weaker first form and begins [[TurnsRed the far stronger second and third forms]], [[FromBadToWorse with your party massively debuffed from spending all their Djinn on those summons]]. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Oops!]]

** And ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'' pulls the VideoGame/DonkeyKong gambit with a defeated Bowser suddenly becoming super-sized.

** ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'': Kirby and company retrieve the broken parts of the Lor Starcutter in the span of five worlds. Then Magolor takes them to Planet Halcandra, where they must retrieve the Master Crown. Cue Worlds 6 and 7.

* ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters'': In a rare example where the revelation that the ending was fake is actually a ''good'' thing, at the end of Refrain ''Little Busters'' comes to an apparently conclusive (if ''extremely depressing'') DownerEnding, and it's only after three minutes of credits (and, likely, sobbing on behalf of the player) that the game goes black...and then gives you one final choice, which leads to the epilogue and the true ending. ([[MindScrew Or, if not the true one, at least a much happier one.]])

* In Case 2 of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney: Trials and Tribulations'', after you prove your client innocent of theft by proving that he was in another place at the time. Right after the verdict, it is found that at the same time as the theft, there was a murder exactly where you proved he was. At which point you then have to prove that the guy that you've ''proven'' as the real thief is actually the real ''murderer'', despite the fact that he did indeed pull off ''both'' crimes, which happened ''at the same time''. Phoenix understandably freaks out several times. A very memorable case.
** Don't forget the first game. Despite a bit of interference, you manage to prove Edgeworth isn't the murderer... and then it turns out the whole trial was a BatmanGambit by Manfred von Karma to get Edgeworth to confess to his own father's murder 15 years ago.

* ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'': After killing Nero Chaos, Shiki assumes that all the vampire problems are over. Arcueid points out the obvious fact that Nero didn't leave corpses and ''couldn't'' have been the vampire responsible for most of the incidents. And the savvy reader realizes the story is way too short otherwise.