History Main / PlanetHeck

[[AC:RealLife]]
* A real-life example comes from ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. The set they used when depicting barren or hostile planets was nicknamed "Planet Hell" by the staff.
** It was so named because it would regularly reach 110-120 degrees F during shooting, quickly wearing out the cast and crew.

* ''SagaFrontier''. [[spoiler: In Blue's quest, the twist is that the reason for the main quest was so that you could become powerful enough to keep Hell from invading the multiverse the rest of the game is set in. However, you don't accomplish this by ''defeating'' the King of Hell, but by engaging him in an endless battle which neither of you can win -- the game ends "midway" through it, with the apparent implication that it just continues forever: SealedEvilInADuel.]]

* ''{{Doom}}'' is the archetypal example, with the player tasked with stopping an [[TheLegionsOfHell invasion of demons]] at their source. In ''Doom II'', it's the same thing over again, and this time you actually [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu destroy Hell]], and afterwards idly wonder where bad people will go when they die now.

* The last galaxy in the Japanese version of ''SuperMarioGalaxy'' is known as Hell Prominence. Naturally, [[{{Bowdlerize}} this was changed to Melty Molten for the American release]].

* The [[PunnyName Underwhere]] in ''SuperPaperMario''.

[[AC:MMORPGs]]

** Naturally, players were already planning to [[spoiler:''invade Hell'']] almost as soon as they knew it was there. Sure, Toady [[LordBritishPostulate knew it was coming]] and tried to make it as hard as possible with [[spoiler:infinitely respawning hordes of randomly-generated demons, some of which are darn near indestructible]], but it's still happened; at least one fortress managed to [[spoiler:not only colonize it, but use the ominous glowing pits as garbage dumps and grow mushrooms down there.]]

* The [[EpisodicGame Season 2 final episode]] of TelltaleGames's ''SamAndMax'' takes place in Hell. The entire place is a buracratic nightmare.

* The Season 2 final episode of TelltaleGames's ''SamAndMax'' takes place in Hell. The entire place is a buracratic nightmare.

* The final venue in ''GuitarHero III: Legends of Rock'' takes place in Hell [[spoiler:after the player's manager [[LousiCypher Lou]], who is actually the devil - [[IncrediblyLamePun Lucifer]] - in disguise, sends the band there for refusing to perform on Celebrity Has-Been Dance-Off and threatening to fire him for even suggesting it. The band must then perform for the Legions of Hell and eventually face off against Lou in [[ChessWithDeath a climactic guitar battle to redeem themselves]]. The song in question? A rock version of "The Devil Went Down To Georgia", appropriately enough. Afterwards, Hell EXPLODES and the band ride out on flying motorcycles.]]

* The TropeNamer is ''EarthwormJim'', where the second level, "What the Heck?" takes you to a planet of FireAndBrimstoneHell to face off against [[CatsAreMean Evil the Cat]].
** And the background music? ''Night on Bald Mountain.'' You know, that one scene with the Devil rising from a volcano in ''Fantasia''? That one. Then it changes impromptu into the, according to the [[AllThereInTheManual manual]], most evil music genre in the whole universe: [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Elevator music]].
** It's also not a bonus level, but the ''second'' level. Which means Hell is your ''warmup level''.

* ''BaldursGate II''. Twice.
** In addition to the final showdowns, [=CHARNAME=] can visit the Abyss a third time in [=BG2=] and needs to pay at least ''five'' visits to their personal hellish sub-realm in [=ToB=]. Then again it is D&D, where a stroll through Hell is the high-level equivalent of a morning constitutional.
* The ''ShinMegamiTensei'' series have gone there so often, it's probably got a condo there..
* The BonusDungeon in ''LaPucelle Tactics.'' It's called "the Dark World" in the English translation; originally it was simply "Hell."
** ''{{Disgaea}}'' takes place mainly inside the "Netherworld", but it has several bonus levels in alternate Netherworlds, one of which is the same one from ''LaPucelle''.
* ''CaveStory'''s Sacred Grounds level, the hardest area of the game, is only accessible if you've fulfilled [[GuideDangIt a number of obscure requirements.]] Beat it to get the [[MultipleEndings best ending]]. Despite the name "Sacred Grounds", everything is dull red or orange-red and covered in spikes, and it's filled with evil angels.
** It's [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]], too, which is the only reason it's on this page with the name "Sacred Grounds". If you head right from the entrance and drop through the floor, you can read a sign that quite literally says "Welcome to Hell!" Of course, most {{Speedrun}}ners just avoid it entirely...

* Technically, ''GodOfWar'' involved a level in Hades [[spoiler:once the main character died]]. This happened in ''both'' games.
** In the prequel, ''Chains Of Olympus'', the last half or so of the game takes place in Tartarus, which is essentially Hell.
** ''GodOfWar III'' revisits Hades twice, once in an early mission to [[spoiler:kill the god Hades]] and once near the end to [[spoiler:kill the Three Judges of the dead before the final showdown with Zeus]].
* Some of ''TheElderScrolls'' games. The main quest of ''Morrowind'' involves an expedition into the domain of Dagoth Ur, often described in-game as "the devil". [[spoiler:Though he's "the devil" only because he was on the wrong side of the event that made some other guys "the gods".]] Several parts of ''Oblivion'' takes place in Oblivion, [[ConvectionSchmonvection with lakes of fire and lava]] and dead bodies hanging from the ceilings; to close the Oblivion gates which pop up [[spoiler: outside each city, and (optional)]] in the countryside, you have to enter them, fight to the top of a tower, and take the magical gem sustaining the gate. In the most recent expansion, you go to the realm of the Daedric Prince of Madness, Sheogorath which is just an island with gigantic mushrooms and surreal fauna.
* Occurs, somewhat, in ''JadeEmpire''. [[spoiler: After the TreacherousAdvisor kills you, the Water Dragon guides you to her defiled temple, where if it is purified, she can resurrect you. However, its defilement has drawn demons intent on bringing their master, a [[CosmicHorror nameless entity of pure evil from outside the cosmic order.]]]]
* ''SagaFrontier''. [[spoiler: In Blue's quest, the twist is that the reason for the main quest was so that you could become powerful enough to keep Hell from invading the multiverse the rest of the game is set in. However, you don't accomplish this by ''defeating'' the King of Hell, but by engaging him in an endless battle which neither of you can win -- the game ends "midway" through it, with the apparent implication that it just continues forever: SealedEvilInADuel.]]
* In ''{{Rune}}'' the player dies at the beginning of the game, is resurrected and has to fight his way out of the underworld. Upon doing so, he immediately has to turn around and fight his way back ''in'' in order to stop an evil plot, and then fight his way back out ''again'' afterwards.
* The first three ''DevilMayCry'' games have had (near-)endgame levels set in the demon world.
* In ''FinalFantasyII'', the last dungeons; JadePassage and Pandemonium Castle, takes place in Hell. If the party talks to the NPC Paul, he flips out, calling the lot of them insane before wishing them safe passage back (this being the latest in a number of increasingly incredulous reactions to the party's destinations from him).
** In ''Dawn of Souls'', the Soul of Rebirth mode has the player take control of four party members (or almost party members) who suffer PlotlineDeath during the game. They wake up in what appears to be Jade Passage, and later Pandemonium, and go about figuring out what's going on. Turns out that [[spoiler:they were actually in Raqia, and then Arubboth, the heavenly counterparts to Jade and Pandemonium. So this second part [[SubertedTrope subverts]] this trope and reveals itself to be a BonusLevelOfHeaven]].
* The [=UnderNet=] in the ''MegaManBattleNetwork'' games is sometimes this, sometimes a villain base, or a BadGuyBar at its lightest.
** It was only like that in 1. There was then the WWW Zone in 2, the Secret Area (really) in 3, Black Earth in 4, Nebula Area in 5, and the Graveyard in 6. The first three were a sort of noncanonical extension to the main plot, and the last three were just Internet Hell (Graveyard even had gravestones for all the bosses of the series, along with [[NightmareFuel yourself and everyone else you knew]]). All of them contained the BonusBoss, Bass.

* In ''TOCA Touring Car Championship'', a realistic racing game for the Playstation, the bonus track is Hell. It is not as awesome as it sounds; scarcely more exciting than the rest of the game, in fact.
* The last galaxy in the Japanese version of ''[[SuperMarioBros Super Mario Galaxy]]'' is known as Hell Prominence. Naturally, [[{{Bowdlerize}} this was changed to Melty Molten for the American release]].
* The BrutalBonusLevel "Nebulous" in ''JetMoto 2'', which [[ToHellAndBack alternates between heaven and hell]], the hell sections are [[NintendoHard hellishly difficult]].
* Depending upon player choices, a significant portion of the endgame of the PC visual novel ''Animamundi: Dark Alchemist'' has protagonist Georik Zaberisk passing not only through Hell but through Purgetory and Heaven as well in an affectionate recreation of Dante Alighieri's ''The DivineComedy'', complete with ArtShift to what looks like dark-ages wood carvings of scenes from the aforementioned work.

* There is an upcoming video game based on Dante's ''Inferno'', set among the CirclesOfHell as envisioned in the DivineComedy.
* In Guild Wars, the "Elite" bonus zones are the Underworld (realm of the cold/death god Grenth), the Fissure of Woe (realm of the fire/war god Balthazar), The Deep (lair of the demon Kanaxai), and Urgoz's Warren (home of a giant fungus-monster called Urgoz) and the Domain of Anguish (realm/prison of the insane ex-god Abaddon and various and sundry demons and mad spirits).
* ''[[RivieraThePromisedLand Riviera]]'' gives you a bonus level in Hell (accessible from the menu) after you complete the game, no ifs, buts or dancing about theology. Interestingly, you're given generalised stats and a good selection of weapons instead of the ones you had when you finished.
* The last level of ''{{Eversion}}''. [[spoiler:Actually, the ending suggests that the ''entire game'' takes place in a Lovecraftian equivalent of Hell; everything except World X-8 was an illusion caused by dimension distortion.]]
* The second half of ''[[http://www.columbinegame.com/ Super Columbine Massacre RPG!]]'' has the {{Columbine}} killers being sent to Hell, which is one part [[DivineComedy Dante's Inferno]] and ten parts ''{{Doom}}'', complete with demon soldiers, shotguns, and the {{BFG}}. It ends with the two killing a Cyberdemon and becoming Satan's minions, upon which they watch and mock the memorial service for their Earthly massacre.
* Id software's pre-Wolfenstein FPS ''Catacomb 3D'' has its last levels in hell, with some [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel really big scary demons]]!
** So too does Wolfenstein 3D's sequel ''Spear of Destiny'', the last level of which takes place in Hell and feels somewhat like a forerunner to {{DOOM}}, which it sort of is.
* The entirety of ''{{Painkiller}}'' takes place in Purgatory, and only at the very end of the game does the player actually reach Hell itself. [[spoiler:Where you fight Lucifer amidst a diorama of man-made horrors and wars frozen in time.]]
* TheDarkness video game adaptation gives you ''two'' bonus levels of Hell for the price of one! [[spoiler: One for each time Jackie kills himself; the second time so he can go confront TheDarkness directly, in its own realm.]] It's never explicitly stated to be "Hell", just where TheDarkness lives, which is close enough as to make no difference.
** But didn't the darkness buy a one way ticket to hell and back? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaaCOHmAbR0
* Muramasa: Demon Blade features a nice ''[[GratuitousJapanese jigoku]]'' level, replete with oni galore.. Really freakin' tough oni that take tons of damage and rarely flinch..
* The [[PunnyName Underwhere]] in SuperPaperMario.
* The Reaches from TheWay.
* The SNES game Zombies ate my Neighbors has several bonus levels at least one of which (been a while since I played) takes place in Hell complete with lava and fire pits.
* [[FZero F-Zero GX]] has a track in the underworld, full of mines and lava strips so you can die quickly. You race against the BigBad here one-on-one in Story Mode. Sadly, it's not avaliable elsewise, although [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOZS2U1TAnA for good reason]].
** Fire Field, for the series in general.
* The final battle of ''PuyoPuyo'' is against Satan himself, appropriately set in Hell.
* In the 2010 version of ''DwarfFortress'', you can [[spoiler:literally dig your way to hell]].
** Naturally, players were already planning to [[spoiler:''invade Hell'']] almost as soon as they knew it was there. Sure, Toady [[LordBritishPostulate knew it was coming]] and tried to make it as hard as possible with [[spoiler:infinitely respawning hordes of randomly-generated demons, some of which are darn near indestructible]], but it's still happened; at least one fortress managed to [[spoiler:not only colonize it, but use the ominous glowing pits as garbage dumps and grow mushrooms down there.]]
* DungeonCrawl has conquerable optional levels like the Iron City of Dis or Tartarus, but there is a truly infinite level called the Abyss, where you wander around running from or fighting demons of varying power until finding a randomly generated exit or being brutally slaughtered by something absurd.
* GanbareGoemon 2 had hell as a secret level with Dracula and Kabuki as bosses. The entrance is an amusement park apparently.
* World 8 in ''SuperMarioBros 3''.
* A real-life example comes from StarTrekTheNextGeneration. The set they used when depicting barren or hostile planets was nicknamed "Planet Hell" by the staff.
* The "danger zones" in ''LegendaryWings''.
* ''SuperMeatBoy'' has the aptly named Hell World which is pretty much this.

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*** It's a symphonic poem by the late 19th century Russian composer Modest Musorgski. Disney just used it because it was popular, good and public domain.

* The final venue in ''GuitarHero III: Legends of Rock'' takes place in Hell [[spoiler:after the player's manager Lou, who is actually the devil - [[IncrediblyLamePun Lucifer]] - in disguise, sends the band there for refusing to perform on Celebrity Has-Been Dance-Off and threatening to fire him for even suggesting it. The band must then perform for the Legions of Hell and eventually face off against Lou in [[ChessWithDeath a climactic guitar battle to redeem themselves]]. The song in question? A rock version of "The Devil Went Down To Georgia", appropriately enough. Afterwards, Hell EXPLODES and the band ride out on flying motorcycles.]]

* With all the spirits, demons and otherworldly characters wandering around the ''{{Touhou}}'' universe, it's not surprising that a few of the games have the characters travelling to the Netherworld (and, predictably, "befriending" the inhabitants via MoreDakka). Although this isn't the ''Western'' Hell, it's indisputably the Realm of the Dead. So far Reimu's been to Makai (''Highly Responsive to Prayers'', ''Mystic Square'', and ''Undefined Fantastic Object''), Yuyuko's Netherworld (''Perfect Cherry Blossom''), the Sanzu River and the Yama's realm (''Phantasmagoria of Flower View''), Hell (''Highly Responsive to Prayers'' and ''Subterranean Animism''), and Heaven (''Scarlet Weather Rhapsody'').

** Naturally, players were already planning to [[spoiler:''invade Hell'']] almost as soon as they knew it was there.
*** Fortunately Toady was one step ahead of them and predicted this: [[spoiler:Demons are themselves pretty much indestructible and spawn infinitely with no end, so it is impossible to win. The best you can ever hope to achieve is to block off hell with a wall, and woe betide you if an unkillable gas demon is near the point where you break through...]]

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* ''Super Meat Boy'' has the aptly named Hell World which is pretty much this.

* The TropeNamer is ''EarthwormJim'', where the second level, "What the Heck?" takes you to a planet of FireAndBrimstoneHell to face off against Evil the Cat.
** And the background music? ''Night on Bald Mountain.'' You know, that one scene with the Devil rising from a volcano in ''Fantasia''? That one. (At least until a record-scratch is heard, changing the music to something unrealistically happy with [[NightmareFuel blood-curdling screams added in.)]]
*** According to the [[AllThereInTheManual manual]], the pleasant music in the background is actually elevator music, which is considered one of the most evil things in the universe.

* In ''Tony Hawk's Underground 2'', the level one can unlock by passing Career mode has three sections: a space station, a South American temple, and Hell itself. In spite of this, however, it's not a big deal; There aren't any goals to accomplish, or anything.

** Then you get to play the hellish BonusBoss song Through The Fire and the Flames during the credits.

* The NintendoHard bonus track "Nebulous" in ''JetMoto 2'', which alternates between heaven and hell, the hell sections are hellishly difficult.
** Also, the first JetMoto has the NightmareFuel -ing Nightmare track, and the third game has the Planet X track(if you can get past the already NintendoHard Sky Park).