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7 Dual-Layer DVDs just to install GTA V on PC.
  • The 7th Guest came on two CDs, while its sequel The 11th Hour came on four owing to the higher-quality video clips.
  • The original Japanese version of Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere came on two CDs, with the first containing the UPEO, General Resource, and Ouroboros I story branches, while the second contained the Neucom and Ouroboros II arcs, plus the extras. The exported version, on the other hand, fit on one disc, mostly because most of the original's story content was cut out completely.
  • The Adventures of Willy Beamish: The floppy version comes on six disks on DOS or twelve on the Amiga.
  • Age of Mythology came in two CDs, and Age of Empires III was in three.
  • Alfabet Smierci is on three floppy disks if you're playing the 32-color Amiga 500 version or on four floppy disks for the 256-color Amiga 1200 and later version, with an additional disk required for game saves for the latter. The game would frequently give you a prompt to "insert disk x" and read its data once you do so when you try to move to a location not present on the disk, as there's no way to save it on the hard drive.
  • Alone in the Dark: The floppy version of the 1992 original comes on four disks.
  • Alter Ego (1986): Most releases of the original version come on three disks, with the exception of the Commodore 64 one, which comes on six.
  • Amazon: Guardians of Eden has the floppy version on seven disks. This is one of the few floppy games that actually supports SVGA.
  • American McGee's Alice was originally released on two installation discs.
  • Angel: Devoid Face of The Enemy comes on four CDs.
  • The third Arc the Lad game was the first and only entry in the series to be released across multiple discs. The disc swap happened when you obtained the hovercraft, thus opening up the world more.
  • Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura comes on 2 CDs.
  • Armed & Delirious is spread over 5 CDs, each of which contains a different set of areas. The player has to switch discs when traveling to an area on a different CD.
  • Awesome comes on three floppy discs.
  • Armored Core:
    • Armored Core: Master of Arena includes two discs. One is for the main story and the other includes the bonus "EX Arena" with extra fights, parts and an AI-training feature.
    • Armored Core: Nexus comes on two discs. "Evolution" is the main storyline and is typical Armored Core fare while the "Revolution" disc consists of bonus missions and material set in the universe of the original PS1 trilogy.
  • The Xbox 360 versions of Assassin's Creed III and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag came on two discs each with disc 1 containing story mode and disc 2 containing multiplayer.
  • The original Baldur's Gate was spread across five CDs, with each containing certain portions of the game world, so you were prompted to insert a specific CD when accessing the respective region. Baldur's Gate II, despite being even larger in terms of world size, profited from the interim advancements in the asset compression tech and fit on "only" four.
    • Baldur's Gate III Deluxe Edition: the PS5 use two UHD game discs (100 GB for the data disc, 66 GB for the play disc), while the Series X is distributed on four 50 GB discs (originally three discs, but it requires an additional 500 MB for another disc before went gold), for the first time the latter platform reach these amount of discs in a base game (excluding separate games in the set nor the Complete Edition).
  • Both Baten Kaitos games were originally released on two discs. Naturally, being GameCube titles, their discs are smaller, and probably would have fit on a single full-size DVD. The remaster comes on a single cartridge, and the lack of disc switching eliminates the potential for a nasty softlock.
  • Batman: Arkham Series:
  • The PS2 adaptation of beatmania IIDX 16 EMPRESS comes on two discs: Disc 1 is the traditional port of the arcade game with songs introduced in EMPRESS along with some returning songs from older versions. Disc 2 is the PREMIUM BEST disc that basically serves as a "best hits" disc with mostly songs from older versions, with the whole product serving as a Season Finale to the PS2-era IIDX games. Most IIDX PS2 ports have 60-80 songs; EMPRESS features 99 songs on each disc for a total of 198 songs in one package. Both discs are standalone software and do not require inserting the other disc first to play.
  • Beneath a Steel Sky took up as many as 15 disks in its floppy disk edition.
  • Big Red Adventure's floppy disk version came on 12 disks.
  • Black & White 2 comes on 4 CDs in the US while the European release is on 1 DVD.
  • Black Dahlia has eight CDs.
  • Blue Dragon was split into 3 discs — the second disc started after the victory feast celebrating the destruction of Nene's flying fortress, and the third disc started after rescuing Kluke and waking up in Devour Village.
  • Blue Force comes on eight disks in the floppy version.
  • Call of Duty
  • Codename: ICEMAN is on four 3.5'' disks (the Amiga version has five) or nine 5.25'' disks.
  • Creature Shock comes in two discs, and halfway into the game it will tell you to "Insert Disc 2". Appropriately enough, that moment happens right after the Disc-One Final Boss encounter, making it a literal example of the trope.
  • The physical releases of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of Cyberpunk 2077 came on two discs, one for installing the game and the other for playing it.
    • The Ultimate Edition on the Series X contains Phantom Liberty expansion between three 50 GB game discs, while the PS5 only has the voucher code for the expansion itself (the base game is on the 100 GB disc instead with version 2.0).
  • Colony Wars comes with two discs, the second of which only stores the FMV cutscenes for the back half story branches (Loading disc 2 always require inserting disc 1 first, so that the main game data can be loaded into the console's RAM, and it's actually possible to play through the whole game on disc 1 by pressing triangle when the "Please insert disc 2" prompt appears). The sequels would be released on a single disc.
  • Chaos Legion's PC port was initially released on two CDs, while later re-prints and regional versions would have the game on a single DVD.
  • Chrono Cross used two discs, cutting right as a climactic area would be revealed.
  • The Command & Conquer series, up until Red Alert 2 (inclusive) has one disc for one side's campaign and one for the other side's campaign. Convenient for local multiplay, since each disc is enough for one player.
  • Company of Heroes originally came on 6 CDs in the US while Europe got it on 1 DVD. The Limited Edition, later releases, and expansion packs all came on 1 DVD.
  • Dark Seed comes on five floppy disks, partially due to being one of the earliest games to use the high at the time resolution of 640x400 and using more detailed backgrounds.
  • The Xbox 360 versions of Dead Space 2 and Dead Space 3 both needed two discs, while the Blu-ray format of the PS3 meant that only one disc was needed for its versions of both titles.
  • Defender of the Crown: Most early versions of the game came on two disks.
  • Devil May Cry 2 is on two DVDs. The first one lets you play as Dante, the main protagonist of the series, while the second lets you play as Lucia, who'd only appear in this installment.
  • Diablo II comes on 3 CDs; disc 1 being the play disc, disc 2 being the install disc, and disc 3 being the cinematics disc.
  • The PS2 release of DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou is unusual; the second disc is just a DVD of a high-level playthrough of the game with text commentary. As a port of an arcade shmup, the actual game is more than small enough for one disc.
  • Doom:
    • The original shareware release of Doom was distributed on two floppy disks, while its full version was sold on four. Doom II and The Ultimate Doom would later be sold on five floppy disks. Later re-releases and compilations during the 1990's and early 2000's would go on to ship these games on CDs such as the Doom: Collector's Edition and the id Anthology.
    • The PC version of Doom³ was originally sold on three CDs.
  • The DOS home edition of Dragon's Lair took up 13 floppy disks.
  • Dragon Quest X has the distinction of being the first and only Wii game to use 2 discs. It also came bundled with a 16 GB USB flash drive since, as an MMORPG, it needs to download updates and additional content, which wouldn't have fit on the Wii's 512 MB of built-in storage.
  • Dreamfall: The Longest Journey comes on 6 CDs in the US while the European release is on 1 DVD. The Limited Editon comes on 3 DVDs.
  • In DuckTales: The Quest for Gold for the Commodore 64, when you travel to an area, you are prompted to put a second disc in. The first disc starts the game and lets you view the map, dive in Scrooge's money vault, or view your money.
  • Elvira: The first game on three to five disks depending on the system. Same thing with the sequel.
  • Fallout 3's Game of the Year Edition came on 2 DVDs on PC and Xbox 360 with the second disc containing all of the DLC content. Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition was also on 2 DVDs on Xbox 360 while the PC version was on 1 DVD with the DLC content being an online download.
  • Far Cry's CD version spans 5 discs. It was also released as a single DVD.
  • The Fear has 2 discs with FMV footage.
  • The original PlayStation release of Fear Effect comes on 4 CDs. Ditto for the sequel, Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Final Fantasy VII is the most famous example of this, coming on three discs. Indeed, the bigger storage capacity was one of the major reasons Squaresoft switched from Nintendo to Sony, and it was used as a major selling point. (Some releases contained a fourth disc that contained some promotional material for other games.) The third disc consisted of the final dungeon and boss — the main purpose of the disc being to allow to backtracking and side-quest completion. Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy IX came out on four, using a similar setup for their last discs. All told, if it wasn't for the FMVs, the games probably could have fit on one, but it didn't stop multi-disc games from being associated with long, meaty JRPGs.
    • Final Fantasy VII Remake is one of the few PS4 games to use 2 discs. Its sequel Final Fantasy VII Rebirth also comes on two discs and is the first multi-disc game on the PS5.reason
    • Final Fantasy XIII: Three discs are needed for the Xbox 360 version, in spite of that version having reduced-quality FMVs. In contrast, the PlayStation 3 version was released on a single Blu-Ray disc.
  • Forza Motorsport 3 and 4 are both fully playable with the first disc, but installing the second adds on a ton of bonus content.
  • Franko: The Crazy Revenge: The game comes on three disks, but the credits state that if everything planned was implemented, there would have been twelve disks.
  • Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist: The floppy version is on six disks.
  • The first Galerians was released on three discs.
  • Gabriel Knight:
    • The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery comes on six CDs.
    • Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned comes on three CDs. That's half of the previous game, likely due to late 1990s 3D graphics not taking up as much space as full-motion video.
  • The first Galaxy Fraulein Yuna on PC-Engine CD is a subversion: the game came with a second HuVideo disc that featured various artwork and other bonus material that can be viewed.
  • Gears of War 4 is an interesting case — it originally fit on a single disc, but future patches ballooned the file size so much that a reprint had two.
  • Geppy-X comes on four PlayStation discs. Though the actual game comfortably fits on one disc, the gimmick of its presentation (being set up like a '70s super robot anime, complete with openings, endings, and ad breaks) means that the extra space is filled by a ton of pre-rendered cutscenes.
  • Gilbert Goodmate is split to two CDs.
  • Gran Turismo:
    • The first game shipped in a double-sized jewel case normally used for games on multiple discs, but only had one disc. The extra space was apparently for the thicker than usual manual.
    • The second game, due to the large increase in content over the first, split the two main game modes into separate discs: one for "simulation mode", which is essentially the main career mode, and one for arcade mode, which is a "pick your car and go" mode. The simulation disc contains the vast majority of the arcade disc's data — only missing its FMVs and track previews — resulting in a mod existing that combines the two, and by cutting out the FMVs it is entirely possible to fit both modes onto a single disc.
    • Additionally, one French release of the second game included an additional bonus disc containing a save game with some extra credits and a bunch of race cars.
    • The PlayStation 4 release of 7 is on two discs (A "Data Disc" you install to the console, and a "Play Disc") but the PlayStation 5 release is on a single disc due to using the higher capacity 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray discs (100 GB as triple layer).
  • Grand Theft Auto:
    • The PC versions of Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City were released on two CDs, each labeled "Install" and "Play". Certain regions would get a single DVD release of the latter, such as the "Green Pepper" release sold in Germany.
    • Grand Theft Auto IV came on two DVDs on PC.
    • Grand Theft Auto V was on two DVD-ROM discs on the Xbox 360. The PC version, which carried over the enhanced graphical assets from the later PS4 and Xbox One versions (both released on a single Blu-ray disc), was released on a whopping seven DVD discs set in physical format. This is different on the PS5 and Series X versions, as the former uses a single 100 GB disc, while the latter uses two 50 GB discs.
  • Grandia III comes on two DVDs.
  • Halo:
    • Halo 3: ODST came with a campaign disc, which was effectively all the new content, and a multiplayer disc that contained the entirety of the Halo 3 multiplayer, with all the map packs included. (Including one that was temporarily exclusive to the ODST disc.) Unlike most 360 games, both discs were entirely separate.
    • Halo 4 separates the campaign and multiplayer modes on separate discs too, but uses the standard "install the second disc to the hard-drive" approach.
  • Harvester comes on three CDs, with it giving a prompt to insert the next one at certain points. More specifically, the "Please Insert CD #2" screen shows up once Day 4 is over, while "Please Insert CD #3" shows up once the door to the Lodge truly opens.
  • The Nintendo GameCube version of Killer7 was spread out onto two discs (the first covering the first four chapters, and the second covering the last three). Since the game is linear and doesn't have any backtracking, this is a relatively minor inconvenience (and there's plenty of space left in each disc for high-quality, uncompressed cutscenes outsourced to animation studios). The PlayStation 2 port is on a single DVD.
  • Heart Of China has its DOS version on five to seven disks, while the Amiga version has nine.
  • Heart of Darkness comes in two discs, with the swap occurring just after the first act.
  • Horizon Forbidden West has a variant where the base game has the PS4 version on two BD (50 GB) discs and the PS5 uses one UHD (100 GB) disc, while the Complete Edition on the PS5 containing The Burning Shores expansion uses two UHD discs (one 100 GB for the data disc and one 66 GB for the play disc) as the total size reaches 121 GB to prevent the download code for the DLC expansion.
  • It Came from the Desert (1989): The Amiga version comes on four disks, while the DOS version comes on four 3.5'' disks or eight 5.25'' disks.
  • King's Quest:
    • King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human comes on two 3.5'' disks or three 5.25'' disks. While the game uses the simplistic AGI engine of the predecessors, it is comparatively larger.
    • King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella comes on four 3.5'' disks or eight 5.25'' disks. The AGI version which runs at a lower resolution, has simpler music, and is generally less resource-heavy comes on three 3.5'' disks or six 5.25'' disks.
    • King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!'s floppy version is on ten 3.5'' disks or six 5.25'' disks (even though 5.25'' store less space, for some reason there's less of them).
    • King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow's floppy version is on nine 3.5'' disks. That said, when developing the Amiga version, the game was outsourced to Revolution Software, the developers switched to the Virtual Theatre engine, reduced the color palette from 256 colors to 32, and simplified multiple puzzles and locations to compress it significantly, but the game clocked in at ten disks (as Amiga's don't offer as much space) anyway.
  • Knights of the Old Republic's PC version spans 4 discs.
  • The Xbox 360 version of L.A. Noire is on three discs (or four in the Complete Edition) due to the complex motion-capture facial animations requiring a lot of space. The game started development as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, and was likely designed with Blu-ray in mind.
  • The Legend of Dragoon comes on four discs. Each disc contains a part of the map, so if one wants to go back to already beaten locations, they would need to swap discs back.
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - Second Chapter on the PSP has two discs. Due to the large scope of the game, after much time on the second disc, a temporary swap occurs back to the first disc, then back again disc 2 near the endgame.
  • Leisure Suit Larry:
  • Lighthouse: The Dark Being has two CDs.
  • Loom: The Amiga and Atari ST versions are on three disks, while the DOS version is on three 3.5'' disks or six 5.25'' disks.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age: The GameCube version is on two discs.
  • Lunar:
    • The PlayStation port of Lunar: The Silver Star was released on two discs due to its high volume of FMVs (the original Sega CD version and the Sega Saturn port, by comparison, only took up one disc each). The second disc marks the last act of the game and you switch to it when heading to the frontier. The PlayStation version also includes a soundtrack CD and a bonus disc with behind-the-scenes features.
    • Lunar: Eternal Blue is an interesting case. While the Sega CD version only takes up one disc like its predecessor, the initial Japanese release tossed in a bonus mini CD containing two songs and a few skits between the game's characters. Meanwhile, the Sega Saturn port was released on two discs and the PlayStation port occupied three, both due to the large quantity of FMVs. Disc 2 was reached once you finally obtained a ship, and disc 3 marked the last act of the game being reached after the goddess tower. The PlayStation version also includes a soundtrack album and a bonus disc with behind-the-scenes features.
  • Mad TV (1991) comes on two disks.
  • The PC version of Madden NFL 2005 was split into three CD discs.
  • The original PC release of Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven comes on 3 CDs while the PC version of Mafia III comes on 6 DVDs.
  • Mass Effect:
    • The Xbox 360 version of Mass Effect 2 was split into two discs, since they were on DVDs rather than Blu-Ray discs like on PS3. This actually affected the structure of the game: the intent was to allow the player to get all Squad Mate Dossiers at the start and freely choose who they wanted to recruit. Since it had to be split up onto two discs (and installing games onto the hard drive didn't arrive on 360 until the end of its life cycle), the Dossiers were split up into two groups, and many situations became Dummied Out by not being possible anymore, such as bringing Tali and Samara to recruiting Grunt or Mordin.
    • Perhaps as a reaction to the above, Mass Effect 3, while also on two discs on Xbox 360, had a much more linear story structure compared to the first two games, where you meet characters and do primary story missions in a rigidly-defined order. While very much against style, it benefited the climactic nature of the story by that point.
    • The Updated Compilation Re-release Mass Effect Legendary Edition comes on two discs on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, due to it containing 3 already large-for-their-time games with newly updated assets. By this point installing games onto the hard drive was now par for the course, but Mass Effect 2's structure was left unchanged, with two halves just like original release. The "why" is unknown, but it was likely due to budget, time and the amount of work required to change it, as well as authenticity to the original game.
  • The Xbox 360 version of Max Payne 3 was split into two discs, with the first disc containing the multiplayer and story mode, and the other disc including the second half of the story.
  • The Nintendo GameCube version of Medal of Honor: Rising Sun used two discs.
  • Mega Man X8's 2004 PC port was split between two discs in most regions due to some prints supporting multiple languages, while other regions such as China, Taiwan, or Korea are shipped in a single disc with their respective languages only, with some prints also bundled with Mega Man X7.
  • Metal Gear:
    • Metal Gear Solid has two discs, despite having very few FMV files, as a result of the huge amount of voiced dialogue. The disc change occurs after the player enters the blast furnace for the first time, but it's still possible to backtrack to almost all the previous areas in the game after reaching Disc 2 without the need to swap back to Disc 1, as all of the map data is on both discs. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots includes a bit during Act 4, when the player visits the ruins of Shadow Moses, in which Otacon calls Snake after he reaches the same exact spot in order to remind him to swap discs, only to remember that the game is on a single dual-layered Blu-ray disc.
    • Metal Gear Solid: Integral, an expanded edition of the game released exclusively in Japan, adds a third disc featuring an expanded VR Training mode with 300 stages, a photoshoot mode featuring high-polygonal models of Mei-Ling and Naomi, and preview trailers for the game. Since the main game was basically just the English-voiced version translated back to Japanese with a few minor new features, while the bonus disc was pretty much independent from the main game, the latter was sold by itself in other regions as Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions disc in North America and Metal Gear Solid: Special Missions in Europe (where it required a PAL copy of the original Metal Gear Solid to load language data). The PC port, which was based on the Integral edition, managed to include all of the VR Disc's content on the other two discs by cutting out video files for the trailers and opening.
    • Twin Snakes, the GameCube remake of the original Metal Gear Solid, also came out on two mini-DVD discs, but the disc change occurs during a much earlier point of the main game (particularly when the player enters the first Communication Tower). Unlike the original PlayStation game, the in-game assets are distributed among the two discs, meaning that disc-swapping is now required when backtracking to prior areas.
    • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was originally a single disc game, but its Subsistence re-release split its content into two discs. However, the main game is still only on one disc, with the second disc being filled with supplemental content such as Metal Gear Online, "Duel Mode" (a boss rematch mode), "Secret Theater" (a collection of self-parodying cutscenes originally uploaded on the game's official website), the "Snake vs. Monkey" mini-game carried over from the original version, and full-fledged ports of the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (the latter getting its first official English localization). A limited edition also came with a third disc that is essentially gameplay and cutscene footage from the main game edited to form a feature-length movie. Note that when the game was re-released on the Essential Collection box set in North America, only the first disc from Subsistence was included, as the main draw of the second disc, Metal Gear Online, was discontinued by the time the box set was released. The equivalent Japanese 20th anniversary re-release of Metal Gear Solid 3 did come with a new second disc that only included the MSX2 games and nothing else, which just happens to be the only extra content from the second disc carried to the HD Edition ports of Metal Gear Solid 3.
    • The Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, which was on a single disc on the PS3, required two DVDs on the 360, with the first disc containing the HD-enhanced ports of Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 (at the cost of the significant audio compression), while the second disc contains Peace Walker by itself. This is also how the games were sold digitally on the Xbox Live Marketplace, as well as in Japan, where the HD port of Peace Walker was sold separately as a stand-alone game in physical format, even on the PS3.
    • The Xbox 360 version of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain comes on 2 discs, and requires the second disc to be installed to the hard drive like many other late 360 releases.
  • The physical edition of the 2020 version of Microsoft Flight Simulator comes on an insane 10 discs. The Xbox Series X version cuts this down to 2 thanks to using Blu-ray Discs (50 GB discs).
  • Monkey Island:
    • The initial floppy release of The Secret of Monkey Island had a joke where, upon trying to go down a secret passage in a tree stump, the player would be prompted to insert Disc 22. Since there were only four discs, this was impossible. The joke was removed from the CD versions, partly because there was no disc-swapping required at all, and partly because - in an example of Poe's Law - the LucasArts hint line was swamped with people who mistook the joke for an actual puzzle and wanted to know how to get through the passage.
    • Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge' floppy version is split to five disks on DOS or eleven on Amiga.
    • The Curse of Monkey Island is split on two CDs, one for acts 1 and 2, another for the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th.
    • Escape from Monkey Island is split to two CDs.
  • The Myst series broke and made trends of its own back in the day:
    • Myst: At the time, when most grand productions were spread across multiple floppy disks, Myst was the codifier to place the entire game onto one CD. This opened a new world of possibilities to computer users, as an incentive to buy a CD-ROM drive for their computer.
    • Riven: The original launch version of the game had the game spread across 5 CDs, 4 for each island you can travel to in the immediate vicinity, plus 1 for the extra locations beyond the world of Riven, and the one island that you can only reach via a special method. The later DVD edition shrunk this down to one single disc.
    • Myst III: Exile: The original launch version of the game was contained on 4 CDs, in the same manner as Riven: 3 for the four main worlds you visit, and 1 for the intro + final endgame locations. The later DVD Collector's Edition version, again, shrunk this down to one disc.
    • Uru: Ages Beyond Myst: This game, on the other hand, starts to completely invert the pattern. Originally it was released on one disc, with a promised online MMORPG section to follow, but never materialized substantially. The content was later released as expansion packs; first for free (To D'ni), then as paid content (The Path of The Shell). Eventually, the entire game, including the expansion packs, was released as Uru: Complete Chronicles, on two discs.
    • Myst IV: Revelation: This game was released on 2 DVDs (never released on one disc), and could either be played by disc-swapping, or be installed on one's hard drive, albeit with very steep space requirements (8 GB + DVD-ROM) for 2004/2005 computers.
    • Myst V: End of Ages: The finale to the series came on 3 DVDs, but was installed all-at-once on the user's hard drive. (Although Disc 1 was used for DRM-checking.)
  • The Oregon Trail: The 5.25'' DOS version has two disks.
  • Both, the original Parasite Eve and its sequel, were two discs each.
  • Phantasmagoria is on seven CDs, one for each chapter, with the Japanese Sega Saturn version having one more. By comparison, its sequel, Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh, is on five CDs.
  • Planescape: Torment originally came on 4 CDs, with the German version having an additional disc for the manual and patches. Later releases managed to compress the game down to 2 CDs.
  • Police Quest:
  • Policenauts was originally a single CD-ROM game on the PC-9821, but the 3DO and PlayStation increased this to two discs due to some of the cutscenes being remade in full-motion video, with the disc change happening in the middle of Act 3. The Sega Saturn version further increased it to three discs, with the first disc containing the prologue, epilogue and a slew of behind-the-scenes videos that are unlocked after completing the main story once, while the rest of the game is on the second and third discs.
  • Psychonauts on PC is split to five CDs.
  • The second PC port of Quantum Break (the first was download-only) comes on seven DVDs, and still doesn't include all the data- the live-action HD cutscenes have to be streamed from the developers' servers.
  • The DOS and Windows versions of Rama come on three CDs.
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 is notable for being the first console game to require two Blu-ray discs (50 GB) on initial release (since the game size does not fit into a 100 GB minimum storage).
  • Resident Evil:
    • Resident Evil 2 consisted on two discs on its original PlayStation release. Rather than having a character selection screen at the start of the main game like the first game did, the character that the player used was determined by which disc was loaded into the console: the first disc contained Leon's scenario and the second one contained Claire's and the player could start the A scenario as one character and then play through the B scenario as the other one. The need for multiple discs was mainly due to the inclusion of pre-rendered CGI videos throughout each character's scenario (including intro variations for each scenario that changes the way how Leon's patrol car crashes), as most of the in-game assets and even the minigames (4th Survivor, Tofu Survivor and, in the DualShock-compatible re-release, Extreme Battle) are all stored on both discs. The N64 version manage to fit the whole game into a 512-Megabit ROM cartridge through elaborate compression techniques (but also by cutting some of the FMV variations), while the GameCube version was released on a single disc thanks to the console's mini-DVD format. There was also a single DVD release of the game by ported SourceNext with uncompressed FMVs and better compatibility for Windows XP and onward, but it was only released in Japan.
    • Resident Evil – Code: Veronica required two GD-ROM discs on the Dreamcast. Unlike RE2, there's no way to pick which character to start with (the player starts the game as Claire by default and then switches to Chris by the second half), so the disc change occurs in a more conventional fashion after a certain point in the story (particularly when Claire and Steve reach Antarctica), giving the player a free save before asking to swap discs. The PS2 version, Code: Veronica X, managed to include the whole game on a single DVD disc, but kept the free save anyway, but the later GameCube version went back to being two discs.
    • The GameCube versions of the Resident Evil remake, Resident Evil 0 and Resident Evil 4 all came on two mini-DVD discs each, with disc swapping all occuring in the middle of the campaign.
  • Rise of the Robots: The DOS version has ten floppies, the Amiga 500 version has nine, while the Amiga 1200 version has one for installation, seven for the game, and five for the intro.
  • Rival Schools: The Japanese PlayStation version (titled Shiritsu Justice Gakuen) came with two discs, the first disc containing a straight port of the arcade game, whereas the second one, dubbed the "Evolution Disc", contains an enhanced version that removed the cutscenes but added more characters and mini-games. The Japanese version also came with a school student simulation mode titled Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki (Diary of a Hot-Blooded Youth), where the player goes through a school year within Justice High School as a custom character. The student mode was axed from the U.S. release, but unlike the Ace Combat 3 example listed above, the game still came with two disks.
  • Robot City came on two discs for Windows 3.1. The first disc largely covered the inside of plot-specific buildings, while the second made up the randomly generated city streets outside.
  • Sakura Wars (1996) was originally released on two CDs, with Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die and Sakura Wars 3: Is Paris Burning? increasing it to three discs.
  • SD Gundam G Generation Genesis is one of the few PlayStation Vita games utilizing two game cards of 4GB each - a data card to be installed to the Vita's memory card and an actual game card to launch the game from.
  • Shadow Hearts:
    • Koudelka is on four CDs.
    • Shadow Hearts: Covenant is on two DVDs.
  • Shenmue on the Dreamcast uses three GD-ROM discs for the main game, plus a "Passport Disc" with bonus material. The sequel, Shenmue II, uses all four of its discs entirely for the main game, which became one disc on the Xbox thanks to its DVD-ROM format. Both titles were later re-released as Shenmue I & II on the PS4 and Xbox One as a single Blu-ray disc.
  • Shivers Two: Harvest of Souls comes on two CDs.
  • Silent Hill:
    • The PC version of Silent Hill 2: Director's Cut was released on three CD-ROM discs.
    • The original CD-ROM version of Silent Hill 3 for PC comes on five discs.
  • SimCity 4 needs two CDs to be installed.
  • The Sims 2's original PC version came out on 4 CDs while the Special DVD Edition and later releases were on a single DVD.
  • Skies of Arcadia was originally released for the Dreamcast on two GD-ROM discs. When it was ported to the GameCube as Skies of Arcadia: Legends, it was reduced to a single mini-DVD. This came with a caveat though, as the GameCube version has noticeably lower audio quality than the Dreamcast version.
  • Snatcher came out on five 5.25'' disks on the PC-8801 and three 3.5'' disks with a sound cartridge on the MSX2. The PC-88 version in particular requires a dual floppy drive, using one disk as the main system to run the main program and save progress, while the second drive is used to load the other four disks, which are the scenario disks containing the graphics and text. The MSX2 version works in a similar matter, but with the Sound Cartridge containing the main program in addition to the sound chip, while the three floppy disks contain the text and graphic data. Later console versions reduced this to a single CD-ROM disc, although the PC Engine version did came on a dual disc jewel case in order to store its two manuals (a small manual for the playing instructions and a larger manual with an introductory comic and an in-universe guide to the game's lore).
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
    • The Sega Channel version of Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island split the game into two "parts", since there was not enough space in the Sega Channel adapter to fit the entire game. The first part featured the first four zones (Green Grove through Diamond Dust), and the second part featured the remaining levels (Volcano Valley through Panic Puppet, plus the final boss).
    • The PC versions of Sonic Adventure DX and Sonic Heroes came on two CDs.
  • Space Quest:
  • The International version of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (also known as the Director's Cut in Japan) was spread out across 2 discs to accommodate new characters and dungeons that weren't in the original Japanese release, which was a single disc release. Its PlayStation 4 re-release rectified this, mostly due to it being a digital download.
  • Street Fighter Collection for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn came out on two discs: the first disc contain ports of Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II Turbo (the final two iterations of Street Fighter II at the time), while the second disc came with the latest game at the time, Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold.
  • The PlayStation version of Strider 2 came with a second disc that includes a port of the first game, but the U.S. version has both discs mislabeled, causing the disc marked Strider 2 actually being the disc for the first game and vice-versa.
  • S.W.A.T.:
    • Police Quest: SWAT comes on four CDs. The first has the training exercises while the remaining three are for each of the missions.
    • SWAT 3's Tactical Game of the Year Edition comes on a Tactics CD and a Play CD.
    • SWAT 4 comes on two CDs.
  • The Nintendo GameCube version of Tales of Symphonia was shipped with two discs in order to fit the entire larger scope of the RPG into a system known for its small data size, with the first disc containing two-thirds of the game and the second disc containing the rest. The time to switch the discs comes at the point in the story where Lloyd and his group defeat Forcystus and liberate the Iselia Human Ranch, which is about midway through the second act.
  • Unusually for a sports game, the Nintendo GameCube versions of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 came on 2 discs, due to a single 1.5 GB GameCube disc's inability to hold their large amount of golf courses.
  • Titanic: Adventure Out of Time comes on two CDs.
  • Tokimeki Memorial 2 holds the record for most CDs for a PlayStation release — a whopping five. Much of this was occupied by the "Emotional Voice System" used to allow characters to pronounce the player's custom name in naturalistic ways. In fact, it took up so much data that it could only be used for three girls, with the other twelve's Emotional Voice System code being included on additional CDs packaged with the tie-in magazine Hibikino Watcher.
  • Toonstruck is on two CDs. The US version makes them have vastly different designs, while European versions just slap a big number on them. May also double as Spoiled by the Format, since the player doesn't swap discs until it's time for what you THINK is the ending cinematic, when in fact you're only half way through the game.
  • Twinkle Star Sprites on the Sega Saturn is a subversion as its second disc contains bonus materials such as artworks and concept art, promotional material, the game's anime opening FMV, and a collection of fanart submitted for a contest which was MC'd by Memory's voice actress.
  • Unreal:
    • Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition added a second CD with optional fan content like ChaosUT and Rocket Arena.
    • Both Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal II: The Awakening were shipped on three CDs.
    • Physical launch releases of Unreal Tournament 2004 come in two formats, one of which is six CDs. First-run editions of the DVD version also came in a bundle with a microphone and a second DVD with tutorials on how to use the included level editor. The later Editor's Choice Edition added more discs for both formats to include its extra content, up to ten CDs or two DVDs.
  • Virtual Nightclub came on three CDs for Macintosh and Windows. The first takes up the main areas of the titular club, while the other two comprise various VIP areas. The manual also mentions the game's ability to detect more than one drive simultaneously, should the player have one.
  • Similar to GTA V, the Xbox 360 version of Watch_Dogs came on two discs, one for installing the game, and the other for playing it.
  • Waxworks (1992): The DOS version comes on four disks, while the Amiga version comes on ten. The game would tell you to switch disks during gameplay — sometimes when you're just about to see the death screen, potentially weakening the impact.
  • Weird Dreams: Some versions come on two disks.
  • Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? (1997) has two disks, each one neatly containing one half of the game.
  • Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom: The PC booter version comes on three disks.
  • Wolfenstein: The New Order: The Xbox 360 version came on a whopping 4 discs.
  • Despite the Xbox Series X uses 4K Ultra HD disc drive, they have yet to use it on their physical games. The games mention utilizing two 50 GB discs instead for 100 GB games:
  • Xenogears has two CDs. Infamously, the first one has most of the gameplay, while the second is relatively non-interactive and consists mainly of cutscenes until you get to the last dungeon.
  • The PlayStation version of The X-Files Game was spread across 4 discs of FMV footage.
  • The first three entries of the Ys series were released on Japanese microcomputers, with the NEC PC-8801 series being the primary platform, and thus were all released on floppy disks, with the number of disks varying by platform.
    • The original Ys consisted of two 5.25'' floppies on all platforms, one for each half of the game. The sole exception being the MSX2 version, which was released on a single 3.5'' floppy.
    • Ys II consists of four floppies: a program disk required to load the opening and ending sequence, two scenario disks containing each half of the actual game, and a user disk for saving progress (which can also be done by formatting a generic blank disk like on the first game). On the MSX2, the two scenario disks were reduced to one disk, reducing the total number of disks to just three.
    • Wanderers from Ys is comprised of a program disk, three data disks (one just for playing the opening) and a user disk, for a total five disks.
  • The original 1996 version of Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom spanned 6 CD-ROM discs and that was with compressing the hell out of its cutscenes. It was later notable for being one of the first ever games to get a DVD-ROM release that brought it down to a single disc and still had room for higher quality video.
  • The Japanese version of Yakuza 2, titled Ryu Ga Gotoku 2, consisted of two single-layered DVD-ROM discs on its initial release. Disc 1 goes all the way up to Chapter 9, while Disc 2 covers the rest of the game. The U.S. version and later "The Best" reissue in Japan reduced the game to a single dual-layered disc.
  • Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders: The 5.25'' DOS version comes on two disks, while the Atari ST version has three.

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