History Main / ItsShortSoItSucks

[[folder:Party Games]]
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioParty'' has been heavily criticized for the amount of content not justifying its $60 US price tag. There's only four game boards, beating out the previous record-holder ''Mario Party DS'' for least boards in a ''Mario Party'' game by one, and all of them are much smaller than the boards in previous games. The other game modes (including the entirety of the online multiplayer) are all very brief mini-game compilations, and the maximum number of turns you can apply to a game has been downgraded from fifty to twenty on top of that. There was so little content many players thought for sure there were going to be future updates that added more boards, but even more than two years after launch no such plans have ever come to light.
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/YoshisStory'' got a lot of flack for this. Though there are multiple paths, a single playthrough only takes the player through 6 individual levels at most.

* While there's some acclaimed short story authors, such as Creator/EdgarAllanPoe, Creator/JorgeLuisBorges and, more recently, Noble Prize winner Alice Munro, the format in general is often regard as "inferior" in literary circles and is much harder to be picked by publishers due to the public in general prefering novels to short story collections.

* While there's some acclaimed short story authors, such as Creator/EdgarAllanPoe, Creator/JorgeLuisBorges and, more recently, Noble Prize winner Alice Munro, the format in general is often regard as "inferior" in literary circles and is much harder to be picked by publishers due to public in general prefering novels to short story collections.

* One massive criticism of ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' was its having exactly four areas in the game and being over in about a day's worth of gameplay.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake'' has received much flack for being significantly shorter and more linear than the original ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'', and for reusing the engine and most of the assets from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake'' -- most feel that for what it was it should have been DLC for the previous game rather than a full-priced release.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'' faced criticism for not taking too long to complete. Despite having a total of nine dungeons and four mini-dungeons, plus one more (Color Dungeon) in its Game Boy Color and Nintendo Switch versions, the game could be beaten in up to ten hours. And compared to entries like ''Wind Waker'' and ''Majora's Mask'', the game doesn't offer a whole lot of sidequests to alleviate the issue.

** Speaking of portable entries, a criticism ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'' faced was that it doesn't take too long to complete. Despite having a total of nine dungeons and four mini-dungeons, plus one more (Color Dungeon) in its Game Boy Color and Nintendo Switch versions, the game could be beaten in up to ten hours. And compared to entries like ''Wind Waker'' and ''Majora's Mask'', the game doesn't offer a whole lot of sidequests to alleviate the issue.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'' got this flak as it only has six dungeons and a single mini-dungeon. In comparison, the earlier ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle]]'' games each have nine main dungeons (plus one more, Room of Rites, during a linked playthrough), with ''Seasons'' having additionally two mini-dungeons and ''Ages'' having four. Even the first portable entry (''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'') has nine dungeons and four mini-dungeons in its original release, plus one more (Color Dungeon) in its Game Boy Color and Nintendo Switch versions.

* When ''Film/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'' was released, it received complaints about being notably shorter than its predecessors despite the adventure theme. The first two Narnia movies had a runtime of 143 and 150 minutes respectively, while ''Voyage'' comes short of two hours at 113 minutes.

* When ''Film/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'' was released, it received complaints about being notably shorter than its predecessors despite the adventure theme.

* The otherwise really quite good ''VideoGame/FreedomFighters'' can be completed in about ten hours, or less once you work out the optimal order in which to carry out your objectives.

* One of the major criticisms of ''VideoGame/GoneHome'' is the extremely short length of the game coupled with little to no replay value. You can actually beat the game in about two minutes if you know what you're doing since the secret room containing the final key (which the story is supposed to eventually point you towards) isn't locked, so you can go straight there upon starting the game (it's right next to where you start too), grab the key, and go straight to the end. A first-time player could easily stumble across this secret room by accident just by exploring diligently enough (which is kind of what you're supposed to do in an adventure game) and skip 95% of the game without ever even realizing it.

Fast-forward to the 1990s and 2000s, where more arcade-style genres began to take a backseat in popularity to [[AdventureGame adventure]] and [[RolePlayingGame role playing games]]. Now games were expected to last dozens of hours, with hour-long games quickly becoming regarded as short, budget titles to be avoided at all costs. The mentality developed that a game's length must be directly proportional to its price, and it's a mindset that has only gotten stronger as we enter the present day. In other words, ''[[TitleDrop it's short, so it sucks]]'': it doesn't matter what genre the game being targeted is: {{first person shooter}}s, [[ShootEmUp shoot 'em ups]], [=RPGs=], {{action adventure}}, you name it. If you can beat the game in a day or two, or worse, in one sitting, expect review sites to, at best, [[EightPointEight cut off a whole point or letter grade]].

If people are screaming this because the work happened to be awesome for how little there was, and they're upset there wasn't more of them to enjoy, then you have a yourself a case of AwesomenessWithdrawal.

* One of the major criticisms against the ''Film/JonahHex'' movie is its 81 minute runtime (with about nine minutes of that being credits). Probably doesn't help that all of its action movie competitors are closer to 2 hours.

* This was one of many criticisms of ''Film/TheLastAirbender''. They somehow took 20 episodes and edited down to only 103 minutes (for rather vague reasons), meaning that whole scenes had to be either dropped, replaced with narration or combined in ways that just made it a mess. And that's not even including the scenes that were added that ruined what the series set up.

* ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'' was criticized by for being too short at 120 minutes for an ensemble film. After the divisive audience reception to ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', Warner Bros. executives mandated that the film should last no more than 2 hours, allegedly to allow for more screenings per day and address the complaints that ''Batman v Superman'' was too long. The problem is that while a shorter run time would be appropriate for solo movies, this ended up hurting an ensemble film like ''Justice League'' since there is less time devoted to developing each hero. A lot of footage was cut from Creator/ZackSnyder's originally intended version and eventually made it to the [[Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague Director's Cut]], which is a whopping four hours long.

* For decades there has been debate in literary circles as to what defines a true "novel", with some scholars/readers stating any book less than a certain length is not a true novel. Shorter books as a result often get the label "novella" attached, even if they're 150-200 pages in length. Aside from semantics this has also stretched into quality arguments, even though there are literally thousands of examples of subversions, such as ''Heart of Darkness'' by Joseph Conrad, Charles Dickens' ''A Christmas Carol'', and ''Jonathan Livingston Seagull'' by Richard Bach, to name only three.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

** From 1963-89, the series was presented as a serial, with storylines sometimes taking a month or longer to unfold. When the series returned in 2005 it adopted a more US-style format consisting of standalone single episodes and a couple of two parters per season (though each season to date has had a background story arc of some sort). Some die-hard fans complained (and continue to complain) that they miss the more leisurely pace that four, six, or more weekly episodes afforded the viewer.
** In the '80s the series actually moved to something closer to the current format with an experiment during the Colin Baker era of splitting stories into two 45-minute episodes (as is done now) and with a few Peter Davison stories clocking-in at two 25-minute episodes (not much longer than a stand-alone 45-min episode from post-2005 series). Another thing worth mentioning is that, especially in the Eccleston and Tennant eras, there were complaints that some writers (often those who grew-up watching the 63-89 run) were scripting stories that were more suited to 4x25mins rather than a single 45min episode meaning that sub-plots were resolved extremely quickly, there was poignant dwelling on the death of characters the viewer had only known for about 15 minutes etc etc.
* The first ever ''Franchise/JamesBond'' adaptation, ''Film/CasinoRoyale1954'' from ''Climax!'', is a whopping 54-minutes long. This is fairly forgivable as it was produced solely as a low-budget CBS 'movie of the week', performed live, and [[PragmaticAdaptation happens to be a damn good adaptation of the source novel]], despite the Americanization of James Bond.

* This was also a complaint about Music/{{Devo}}'s "Whip It", one of the first really famous songs to become a hit as an MTV video. The song is not only very short, but ends very abruptly - and it is so catchy that you really, ''really'' want it to keep going.

* Short albums are the norm in {{Grindcore}}. For example, Gridlink's first two albums that are both less than thirteen minutes long, and their third and final album is less than twenty-two (though the CD version was bundled with instrumental "karaoke" mixes of the tracks which doubled the length of the album). Assück's two albums are both around fifteen minutes long (though ''Anticapital'' was bundled with some bonus material on CD that brought the album length up by around nine minutes). And so on. This is the Joey Ramone quote above taken UpToEleven. This is one of the reasons that grindcore is a polarizing genre. Most grindcore albums are longer than Gridlink's and Assück's, but it's still uncommon for grindcore albums to exceed thirty minutes in length, though this may simply be because many listeners would find grindcore albums that long to be exhausting.

* In WWE this was the fate of most women's matches from roughly 2009-2014. Due to WWE's belief in the GirlShowGhetto, matches were rarely given much time. It was considered a good day if a ten minute slot was given (compare this to the fifteen and sometimes twenty minute time frames others would get). Finally averted as of 2015 and WWE attempting to take women's wrestling seriously.

* The eight episode of '' WebVideo/MovieFights'' only lasts for about half an hour (instead of the usual 90 minutes) due to the producers being in a rush to celebrate Thanksgiving. As a result, the gladiators were barely given the chance to defend their choices, and a lot of people were not pleased with the end result.

* A frequent criticism levied by WebVideo/MauLer towards other reviewers and video essayists. He feels that the ten to twenty minute format often used by essayists is often insufficient for them to meaningfully argue their thesis or points they present in their videos. They simply do not afford themselves the time to support their arguments with supporting details and evidence. The inverse of this happens with [=MauLer’s=] critics, citing that the videos he makes are too long and sometimes go longer than the movie or show he is critiquing, thus creating a meme known as "long man bad".

* The short, four-episode first season of ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'' is about the only real complaint about the series, already considered one of the best video game adaptations yet. The second season is longer at eight episodes, but still has this as one of the few complaints.
* Each book/season of the [[GenreAnthology sci-fi anthology]] series ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'' is only ten, 11-minute episodes long. Some fans like the brevity of each story arc, feeling they allow the plots to be succinctly told without overstaying their welcome and that they make recommending the show much easier due to the smaller time commitment. Others believe that 110 minutes worth of episodes for each season results in the conclusions to each arc coming across as too rushed at times, and leaves far too much story potential with any given cast of characters unrealized.

* The shortest officially released ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short, ''WesternAnimation/AnyBondsToday'', is only a minute and a half long and nothing more than a PatrioticFervor [[WartimeCartoon propaganda short]] to make people buy war bonds to support the U.S. government's UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo effort. It manages to be entertaining, but still leaves you with a dissatisfied feeling because of its short length and the fact that Bugs, Porky and Elmer do nothing but sing and dance.

* ''VideoGame/{{ICO}}''. 6 hours or so on a first playthrough -- maybe 8 or 10 if you just sit around [[SceneryPorn watching the scenery]] -- and it can be finished in 2 ½ hours on a replay. It's still regarded as a ''very'' fine example of the genre. Hilariously enough, the HD version of ''Ico'' has a trophy for beating the game under 2 hours. There are other games with speedrun trophies (like ''VideoGame/GodOfWarI'' HD for 5 hours) but never before was it two freaking hours. Even the developers acknowledge the game's short length.
* ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' is very short, roughly 7 hours but only if it's your second (and so on) playthough. Because in your first one you probably didn't know how to kill the Colossus, so one battle could easily spanned for 1-2 hours. It is after all, also a puzzle game.

* Some people complained that ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden: Dragon Sword'' could be completed in 6-8 hours. However this didn't really affect its actual reception.

* One of the major criticisms of ''VideoGame/GoneHome'' is the extremely short length of the game coupled with little to no replay value. You can actually beat the game in about two minutes if you know what you're doing, since the secret room containing the final key (which the story is supposed to eventually point you towards) isn't locked, so you can go straight there upon starting the game (it's right next to where you start too), grab the key, and go straight to the end. A first-time player could easily stumble across this secret room by accident just by exploring diligently enough (which is kind of what you're supposed to do in an adventure game) and skip 95% of the game without ever even realizing it.

** ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' has been criticized for this, as the single-player only lasts for about six hours. Infinity Ward has actually responded to this criticism, saying that the story largely came first and they designed the game around it without for the effect this would have on the length, because they specifically wanted to avoid artificially padding it out. ''Modern Warfare 2'' has a similar length for the same reasons, but a new co-op gametype is being introduced, with scenarios based off of ideas suggested for the single player campaign that were ultimately left out because there wasn't any good place or good reasons to put them in.

* ''VideoGame/{{Homefront}}'' has a tiny 3-4 hour single player campaign, which means that you're basically buying it for the multiplayer, and at the time that was already being done bigger and better in ''Bad Company 2''.

* A common criticism regarding ''VideoGame/LollipopChainsaw'' was its incredibly short length. There are only six chapters in the game (seven if you count the Prologue), and each one takes about a half hour to complete (sometimes longer). While the game was very well-received by general gamers ([[CriticalDissonance but not so much by critics]]), everyone agreed that it was far too short, and not worth $60.

* thatgamecompany's titles has had been met with this at least once, but of particular note comes ''VideoGame/{{Journey}}''. It takes around 80 minutes to beat the game, and about 2-3 hours for a player to earn all 14 trophies. In comparison, around one hour is how much time is needed to beat ''VideoGame/{{Flower}}'', which [[WordOfGod Jenova Chen]] said was a "interactive poem".

* ''VideoGame/WarioWare''. More so with ''Snapped'', and likely the ''D.I.Y.'' games, because those games have way less characters than there were in previous games[[note]]Though if you combine both the DS D.I.Y. and Showcase, there are really only 4 characters missing[[/note]], and in the former, only around 20 microgames.

** ''Enter the Dragonfly'' (although there were claimed to be [[ObviousBeta more problems than length]]). There's only a single hub, a single boss fight (done twice in slightly different ways) and no more than fifteen levels. Apparently the designers planned to make the game much longer, however they were working with relatively new software and literally ''ran out of disc space''. It was also ChristmasRushed.

* The Xbox Live Arcade game ''VideoGame/{{Limbo}}'' has already gained this reputation for some, thanks to its 4 hour game length, its $15 price tag at launch (though this has since been reduced to $10) and most importantly, its almost complete lack of replay value. While gamers who felt cheated after completing the game didn't hate it, they thought it was fun but forgettable.

* A common criticism of ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'', with some going so far as to say the story missions can be finished in four hours. This is partially due to the drastic change in pacing after the first half, and the lack of proportionate attention given to the third (and most threatening) final enemy army. Creator/TimSchafer says the single player is a multiplayer tutorial at the core. But Creator/ElectronicArts [[MisaimedMarketing did not want that getting out.]]

[[folder:Role Playing Games]]

** One concern that many players had with ''Monster Hunter Generations'' during the first year since its release was the lack of G-rank -- the tier of quests that comes after High Rank and is only added in {{Updated Rerelease}}s of "vanilla" ''Monster Hunter'' games -- [[AmericansHateTingle particularly in the West]] which hasn't had a ''Monster Hunter'' game without G-rank since ''Monster Hunter tri-'' in 2010 (this is because the games without G-rank that were released during that period, ''Portabe 3rd'' and the original ''Monster Hunter 4'', [[NoExportForYou remained exclusive to Japan and Korea]]). Something of note is that a ''Monster Hunter'' file that reaches the end of High Rank usually has about ''100-150 hours'' logged, with G-rank adding another hundred or so hours; the concern wasn't that "100 hours is too short for a game" so much as "we're so used to three tiers of quest difficulty that it feels weird having only two". The overseas LateExportForYou of ''[[UpdatedRerelease Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate]]'', which does have G-rank, had aggravataed this particular sore spot for much longer than necessary.
** ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'' ended up one-upping ''Generations'' in terms of feeling like an incomplete game, with only 31 large monsters at launch (to compare, ''Generations'' has 73 and ''Generations Ultimate'' has almost 100), once again a lack of G-rank (although this ignores the fact that no generation of ''Monster Hunter'' games has ever had G-rank in its first game), and barely any variety of monsters in its endgame. While more monsters have been added over time, it's still a comparatively small list, some of these monsters are TemporaryOnlineContent, and some players accuse Capcom of artificially extending the life of the game and punishing those who bought the game early. The complaints were largely addressed with the released of the ''Iceborne'' expansion.
* ''VideoGame/PanzerDragoonSaga'' can be completed in around 12 hours, and even by JRPG standards is extremely linear with virtually no side areas outside of some post game content. This is compounded by the game coming on 4 CDRoms.
* While this trope doesn't apply to ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' itself, it's a common criticism of the first expansion ''Ashes of Ariandel''. It adds only a couple of new areas and two bosses, one of which is optional and only really consists of fighing an NPC player character and a recurring KingMook simultaneously. While the other boss is generally regarded as [[AwesomeBosses/DarkSouls one of]] [[MarathonBoss the best]] in the series, the general consensus is that's not enough to justify the price tag. Since ''Ashes of Ariandel'' is one of the only two expansions ''Dark Souls 3'' is getting it compares poorly to the DLC in the other entries in the series, (''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' had one expansion with four bosses, ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' had three expansions with three bosses in each one and the SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' had one expansion with five bosses) and as such it also raised concerns from fans about the longevity of the game compared to it's predecessors.

* There are players who believe ''Gradius [=ReBirth=]'''s five stages are worth $10, due to ''[=ReBirth=]'' being pretty cheap for a new ''Gradius'' game, when the past several iterations have been around $30.

* The [[VideoGame/TonyHawksProSkater Tony Hawk]] video-game franchise has been going downhill for a long time (no pun intended), many considering the beginning of the end to have been Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, whose single player could be beaten in about 2 hours the first time through, and replays of single player (which you must do to unlock everything) could be completed by experienced players with 100% completion in ''under 30 minutes''. The following game, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, took an up-turn for the series, with 190 single player goals, competitions, mini-games, and collectibles; finishing with 100% completion could take over 10 hours. After that brief return to (lengthy) glory, each game has been annoyingly short.

* Creator/HideoKojima specifically stated that the original ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' game was designed to be completed at a leisurely pace in about ten hours, so that the people it was marketed towards (adults) would be able to work it into their busy schedules. The short length ended up being a frequent complaint about it and its sequel (although ''Metal Gear Solid 3'' and ''Metal Gear Solid 4'' were somewhat longer). Complaints about shortness also extend to the level designs. For instance, Grozny Grad is suppose to be the prototype for Outer Heaven, a city sized fortress. Yet, you only need to explore a section of it.

* Some ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' fans have given ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations'' flack for this. Not only does it have the shortest single-player campaign in the main series, it also has far less sidequests than that of the previous [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII two]] [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood installments.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' gets some flak for take around eight hours to complete at a normal pace. Some still consider it worth it due to feeling like a more advance "classical-style" stealth game, however.

* ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'' is a critically acclaimed {{Deconstruction}} of military shooting war games in general. It's also highly criticized for being short, with playthrough on the normal difficulty only clocking around three and a half hours. Or six hours if one dies often or trying to collect all the collectibles and secrets (including several one of a kind weapons that can't be found elsewhere in the game).

** ''VideoGame/UnchartedGoldenAbyss'' on the PS Vita handheld gets the worst of this, since it takes place in a single locale and can be completed in around 3 hours.

* The length of ''VideoGame/MafiaII'' (2010) pales in comparison to [[VideoGame/MafiaTheCityOfLostHeaven its predecessor from 2002]], and there is a fair amount of unused content within the game files. Swathes of content was cut just before release. Also, all three [=DLCs=] for the game are relatively short and made so cheaply they look like fan mods.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' got this because the main quest doesn't take too long thanks to having only four main dungeons plus the Moon. However, defenders point out that much of the content lies in the abundance of side quests, and the lengthy pre-requisites to ''get into'' the dungeons, and the dungeons themselves take a while to complete.

Fast-forward to the 1990s and 2000s, where more arcade-style genres began to take a backseat in popularity to [[AdventureGame adventure]] and [[RolePlayingGame role playing games]]. Now games were expected to last dozens of hours, with hour-long games quickly becoming regarded as short, budget titles to be avoided at all costs. The mentality developed that a game's length must be directly proportional to its price, and it's a mindset that has only gotten stronger as we enter the present day. In other words, ''it's short, so it sucks'': it doesn't matter what genre the game being targeted is: {{first person shooter}}s, [[ShootEmUp shoot 'em ups]], [=RPGs=], {{action adventure}}, you name it. If you can beat the game in a day or two, or worse, in one sitting, expect review sites to, at best, [[EightPointEight cut off a whole point or letter grade]].

* The shortest officially released ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short, ''WesternAnimation/AnyBondsToday'', is only a minute and a half long and nothing more than a PatrioticFervor [[WartimeCartoon propaganda short]] to make people buy war bonds to support the U.S. government's UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo effort. It manages to be entertaining, but still leaves you with a dissatisfied feeling because of its short length and the fact that Bugs, Porky and Elmer do nothing but sing and dance.
* The first season of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' is accused of this. Downplayed, while the "it's short, so it sucks" is tossed around, the minuta of these complaints are less about the length of the season (12 episodes), and more about the poor pacing of its events; trying to tell a story that by itself was too big to tell in 12 episodes while also tacking on a rather unpopular romance subplot. That this season was written as a standalone MiniSeries before the crew received additional episodes only adds to the criticism.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'':
** ''Revenge of the Island'' lasted 13 episodes, as half as long as the 26 episode seasons (not counting the 27th episode specials in ''Island'' and ''Action'', or the former season's big recap before the finale), and (besides the point that it mirrors the head count of 13 contestants) it's often blamed for having rushed plotlines (specifically, a double elimination).
** The ''All Stars'' title sequence is also criticized by fans, as it lasted 20 seconds and uses an abbreviated version of the theme song.
* Many fans of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' have called out the Season 3 episodes "Keep Calm and Flutter On" and "Magical Mystery Cure" as being rushed, and say they should have been two-parters. Unfortunately, the season was already set to be 13 episodes (allegedly to make the show a SixtyFiveEpisodeCartoon) and had already started with one two-parter, meaning a significant chunk of content would have to be lost to make this happen. Of course, that just transfers the criticism to the whole season rather than just these episodes; if it had had the standard 26 episodes, there would have been more room to extend stories that needed it.

* Even those who greatly enjoyed the polarizing ending of the [[Recap/StarVsTheForcesOfEvilS4E37Cleaved finale]] for ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' think that the half-hour length of the episode, despite it being twice the length of the show's usual 11-minute episodes, was rushed and a little confusing. Many think that an hour-long runtime would have allowed the episode's various plot points, from the characters discussing if destroying magic is a good idea to Star and Marco's separation, to have more breathing room and/or have greater impact.

* From 1963-89, ''Series/DoctorWho'' was presented as a serial, with storylines sometimes taking a month or longer to unfold. When the series returned in 2005 it adopted a more US-style format consisting of standalone single episodes and a couple of two parters per season (though each season to date has had a background story arc of some sort). Some die-hard fans complained (and continue to complain) that they miss the more leisurely pace that four, six, or more weekly episodes afforded the viewer.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' got this because the main quest doesn't take too long thanks to having only four main dungeons. However, defenders point out that much of the content lies in the abundance of side quests, and the lengthy pre-requisites to ''get into'' the dungeons, and the dungeons themselves take a while to complete.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' received some accusations of having a short length for its main quest (only seven dungeons instead of the usual nine[[note]]There were plans to add two more dungeons, but they had to be dropped due to time constraints[[/note]], even with the [[{{Padding}} sailing]] and the Triforce Chart quest. The HD remake makes said short length more noticeable by adding a special sail to speed up sailing and cutting down the Triforce quest. Defenders argue that the game still provides plenty of side quests and mini-dungeons to extend the actual gameplay, including several optional islands.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': While the game is overall much longer than any previous ''Zelda'' game, this is accomplished by loading the game up on optional content and downplaying the main story. Thus, the main story on its own often gets this criticism from fans who prefer the longer main stories of previous [=3D=] ''Zelda'' games. This is due to the main quest consisting of only four main dungeons, each of which are very small on their own, one final dungeon which consists of many optional segments and little required ones, and very brief pre-dungeon quests to open the way to each dungeon.

* One of the major criticisms of ''VideoGame/GoneHome'' is the extremely short length of the game coupled with little to no replay value. You can actually beat the game in about two minutes if you know what you're doing, since the secret room containing the final key (which the story is supposed to eventually point you towards) isn't locked, so you can go straight there upon starting the game (it's pretty much right next to where you start too), grab the key, and go straight to the end. A first-time player could easily stumble across this secret room by accident just by exploring diligently enough (which is kind of what you're supposed to do in an adventure game) and skip 95% of the game without ever even realizing it.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioParty'' has been heavily criticized for the amount of content not justifying its $60 US price tag. There's only four game boards, beating out the previous record-holder ''Mario Party DS'' for least boards in a ''Mario Party'' game by one, and all of them are much smaller than the boards in previous games. The other game modes (including the entirety of the online multiplayer) are all very brief mini-game compilations, and the maximum number of turns you can apply to a game has been downgraded to twenty from fifty on top of that. There was so little content many players thought for sure there were going to be future updates that added more boards, but even more than two years after launch no such plans have ever come to light.

* ''VideoGame/WarioWare''. More so for ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' with ''Snapped'', and likely the ''D.I.Y.'' games, because those games have way less characters than there were in previous games[[note]]Though if you combine both the DS D.I.Y. and Showcase, there are really only 4 characters missing[[/note]], and in the former, only around 20 microgames.

* All of the VideoGame/StarFox games (other than ''Adventures'' due to a GenreShift) carry the same criticism noting their short lengths. Ironically, ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault'' receives the most flak for this, despite being ten missions long with repetition and objective shifts, whereas the more popular ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' and the SNES game are seven and six missions respectively[[note]]Although the original game has three routes, while ''64'' has 16 stages total (including both variants of the final stage) and about 25 different ways to get to the end of the game[[/note]], with only ''one on-rails segment'' in each. ''VideoGame/StarFoxCommand'' is a bit more varied.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' got this because the main quest doesn't take too long thanks to having only four main dungeons. However, defenders point out that much of the content lies in the abundance of side quests, which drastically increases playtime. Not to mention, actually being able to access the dungeons require some lengthy pre-requisites, and the dungeons themselves take a while to complete.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' received some accusations of this. If you take out the FakeLongevity, such as the [[{{Padding}} sailing]] and the Triforce Chart quest, the game isn't particularly long by ''Zelda'' standards. The HD remake is even worse since it provides a special sail to speed up sailing and cuts down the Triforce quest. Granted, as with ''Majora's Mask'', the game still provides plenty of side quests and mini-dungeons to extend the actual gameplay.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap The Minish Cap]]'' also got this flak as it only has six dungeons and a single mini-dungeon. In comparison, the earlier [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle games]] each have nine main dungeons (plus one more, Room of Rites, during a linked playthrough), with ''Seasons'' having additionally two mini-dungeons and ''Ages'' having four. Even the first portable entry (''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'') has nine dungeons and four mini-dungeons in its original release, plus one more (Color Dungeon) in its Game Boy Color and Nintendo Switch versions.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds A Link Between Worlds]]'', despite having as many dungeons as ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link To The Past]]'', got this response due to the item rental system allowing for quicker progression than usual. Defenders argue that the game has no less content than its handheld predecessors and just got rid of the FakeLongevity that plagued the DS titles.

** While ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' is overall much longer than any previous ''Zelda'' game, this is accomplished by loading the game up on optional content and downplaying the main story. Thus, the main story on its own often gets this criticism from fans who prefer the longer main stories of previous [=3D=] ''Zelda'' games. This is due to the main quest consisting of only four main dungeons, each of which are very small on their own, one final dungeon which consists of many optional segments and little required ones, and very brief pre-dungeon quests to open the way to each dungeon.

* ''VideoGame/HarryPotter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2'' can be finished in just a couple of hours... which means you could watch [[Film/HarryPotter the movie it's inspired on]] in the same timeframe and [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames have a more enjoyable experience]].

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' got this because the main quest doesn't take too long thanks to having only four main dungeons. However, defenders point out that much of the content lies in the abundance of side quests, which drastically increases playtime.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', especially the HD remake. Granted, this was in response to what was eventually seen as FakeLongevity in the original release; sailing was [[{{Padding}} much slower]] in the GCN version and the tedious Triforce Chart quest that replaced the two dungeons [[ChristmasRushed that were scrapped]] was much longer as well. The game also features many sidequests and extra islands to prolong its overall duration for completionists.

* ''WesternAnimation/WinnieThePooh2011'' film was criticized in some circles for being only ''about an hour long'', partly because the movie was so good that they wanted it to keep going. It got infinitely worse once people realized it was the [[EndOfAnAge last 2D-animated movie Disney ever made (so far).]]

* Disney's 2011 ''WesternAnimation/{{Winnie the Pooh|2011}}'' film was criticized in some circles for being only ''59 minutes long'', partly because the movie was so good that they wanted it to keep going. It got infinitely worse once people realized it was the [[EndOfAnAge last 2D animated movie Disney ever made.]]

* ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' was criticized by for being too short at 120 minutes for an ensemble film. After the divisive audience reception to ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', Warner Bros. executives mandated that the film should last no more than 2 hours, allegedly to allow for more screenings per day and address the complaints that ''Batman v Superman'' was too long. The problem is that while a shorter run time would be appropriate for solo movies, this ended up hurting an ensemble film like ''Justice League'' since there is less time devoted to developing each hero. A lot of footage was cut from Creator/ZackSnyder's originally intended version and eventually made it to the [[Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague Director's Cut]], which is a whopping four hours long.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengence'': gets this criticism quite a bit. Partially because, unless you listen to the completely optional Codec conversations, you never really get to know either Raiden or his team all that well. However, another criticism of the game is that it feels ''deceptively'' short. See, the game consists of a prologue mission, and then seven actual missions. The prologue is about 30 minutes long, and the first four actual missions are fairly lengthy, taking about 60-90 minutes to complete, and featured multiple boss fights along the way. Then mission 5 is a short walk down a linear street with only a few mobs of {{Mooks} to fight. Mission 6 is just a boss fight and nothing else, and Mission 7 is a short trip through an Air Force base capped off by the FinalBoss. Ultimately, some fans were unhappy when it turned out thew the first four (of seven) missions contained about 90 percent of the actual game.