Mini-Dungeon

One of the oldest, but also most underappreciated, Video Game Settings.

In the same way a Mini-Boss can be placed halfway through the way to the whereabouts of a main boss, a mini-dungeon is a location accesible through the overworld that appears as a precedent to a main dungeon. It is explored for a particular purpose, but in terms of storyline it's less important than a main dungeon. Because of the lower importance, the mini-dungeon has a simpler layout and design, and thus it's not too difficult to tackle. Though the standards of the average mini-dungeon can vary according to the game, there are some general characteristics shared by most of them:

• As a general rule, it's not guarded by a boss, but rather a mini-boss, and sometimes not even that.
• It can share some traits and trends with the dungeon it's preceding, thematically or in terms of gameplay.
• It may combine some aspects of a normal overworld area, similar to a Dungeon Town.
• In some cases, it's a place that is intended for characters to test their skills before venturing into the more dangerous dungeons.

If the place is optional to begin with, then it's either a Bonus Stage or Bonus Dungeon (depending on how and when it's accessed). Compare Dungeon Town, contrast Mega Dungeon. If the first stage in a game happens to be a mini-dungeon, it's a Noob Cave.

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Examples:

Action Game

• Jet Force Gemini: The Spacestation, accessed during the game's second half, is played akin to the cargo ships visited by Juno, Vela and Lupus through their individual routes, but it's severely wrecked and the only relevant thing to do is rescue Tribals.

Action-Adventure

• The Legend of Zelda: Most mini-dungeons in the series are present for Link to search items, abilities or anything else necessary to enter the main dungeons:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: Southern Face Shrine houses the Face Key that gives access to the northern Face Shrine (main dungeon). Also the Moblin Cave, where you save an NPC that allows you to access the Bottle Grotto; and Kanalet Castle, where you acquire Plot Coupons needed to obtain the key to the Key Cavern.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: There are three mini-dungeons in the game. Ice Cavern is a small location in Zora's Fountain accessible only in the future era of the game, and is necessary as Link earns there the Iron Boots, which are required for tackling the Water Temple (and upon their obtainment, Sheik appears and teaches Link the Serenade of Water so he can warp to Lake Hylia and enter the Water Temple at once). The Bottom of the Well is located in Kakariko Village, accessible only during the past era, and the Lens of Truth that lies within is necessary for navigating the Shadow Temple. To a lesser extent, there's the Thieves' Hideout, inside which the young hero has to rescue the four carpenters before he earns the trust of the Gerudo tribe and can proceed into the desert, where he eventually finds the Spirit Temple.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: There are at least four in the game, making up for the lower number of major dungeons in comparison to other games in the series: The Deku Palace where Link infiltrates to learn a song that gives him access to Woodfall Temple, Pirate's Fortress to retrieve the Zora Eggs which are the key to learn the melody that opens the way to the Great Bay Temple, the Gibdo Well to get direct access to another mini-dungeon, the Ancient Castle of Ikana, where in turn Link looks for a way to get access to Stone Tower Temple.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Games:
    • Both games feature each one building erected by a Moblin group led by the Great Moblin. In Ages, as soon as Link enters, he must outrun the floor's crumbling or else he'll have to make his way out by going through a lengthy side-scrolling underground area; in Seasons, he can only venture through its interior after getting the Flippers. In both cases, getting to the end will lead to a Mini-Boss fight against the Great Moblin (though the strategy to defeat him remains the same), and winning will lead to the building's destruction.
    • Oracle of Ages also has the Tokay Cave, an underground temple in the past era where Link is tasked to prove his power, wisdom and courage to traverse it and reach the entrance to the labyrinth surrounded by the Sea of No Return (where, in turn, the Ancient Tomb dungeon awaits). Link opens its entrance upon placing the missing Tokay Eyeball into the statue found in Crescent Island (in the exact same spot where the Moonlit Grotto, a main dungeon, is in the present era), and once within he has to defeat a group of Gibdos, tackle a maze where he's chased by homing spike traps, cross an invisible path above a bottomless pit, and finally navigate through an underwater passageway to reach his destination.
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: The Savage Labyrinth and the Ghost Ship, and both are required to explore in order to get charts that lead to the Triforce fragments to enter the Very Definitely Final Dungeon. The former is a gigantic underground gauntlet located beneath Outset Island comprising of 50 floors, and this chart is located on the 30th floor (the remaining 20 are much more difficult but also optional, thus becoming a collective Bonus Dungeon instead). The latter is, well, a ghost ship that appears on certain islands depending on the phase of the moon, which are determined through its own chart found on Diamond Steppe Island and is inhabited by two Poes and a Wizzrobe that summons ReDeads and Stalfos. The game also has Fire Mountain and Ice Ring Isle, which are short but contain items (the Power Bracelets and the Iron Boots, respectively) necessary to access through main dungeons (Earth Temple and Wind Temple, again respectively).
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap: Royal Crypt is explored late in the game. Upon completion, Link receives a gold Kinstone from King Gustaf to open the Source of the Flow, enter the Veil Falls and reach the Cloud Top to access the Palace of Winds.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: The Bokoblin's fortress is located in Gerudo Desert, immediately preceding the Arbiter's Grounds. The game also has a few caves across Hyrule (with the one in Lake Hylia being almost as long as the first floor of a main dungeon), though they're optional.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass: The pyramidal tombs in the northeast quadrant of the World of the Ocean King were erected by the Cobble Tribe (the first being in the Isle of Dead, and the others in the Isle of Ruins), and are where the corresponding four Cobble Knights rest. In them, Link has to 1) find a way to the isle where Mutoh's Temple is, 2) enable said way in that island, and 3) enter the temple.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: The Lanayru Sand Sea features the Pirate Stronghold as one of its playable islands, and is where Link has to find clues to track the next main dungeon, the Sandship.
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds: There are several of these across Hyrule and Lorule, and they make you focus on using one, sometimes two, of the items you get from Ravio. There is also always a Treasure Hunter guy who hints at how to proceed to the treasure.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: The 120 Shrines scattered across all of Hyrule. They feature no more than a handful of puzzles or just a combat encounter against a small Guardian. Some don't even feature those, as they require completion of puzzles or other challenges on the overworld. The DLC The Champions' Ballad add 16 more, raising the total to 136. There is also the Yiga Clan Hideout, required for the Vah Naboris storyline, a stealth-centric area that ends with a miniboss.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom:
    • There are 152 Shrines scattered across Hyrule, and unlike those of Breath of the Wild these were made by the Zonai instead of the Sheikah. Completing the first four are necessary to learn and master the basic Zonai abilities, as well as gain access to the Temple of Time and enable the way to descend back to the firm ground of Link's homeland. The remaining Shrines are optional, but do provide orbs that can later be traded for Heart Containers and Stamina Containers, and some are useful to practice skills and abilities against Training Constructs.
    • During the questline to unlock the pathway to the Water Temple, Link solves an ancient riddle that leads to the discovery of the Ancient Zora Waterworks, an underground Down the Drain network where the young hero has to blast the rocky obstructions that have blocked the water pipes and fill in the chamber. Doing so allows him to open a waterfall that can be traversed upward with the Zora armor and reach the pathway that leads to the Water Temple.
• Metroid Prime Trilogy: The sunken Orpheon Frigate in Metroid Prime and the wrecked GFS Valhalla in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption are relatively large, intrincate mini-dungeons; they're the respective small equivalents of Phazon Mines and Pirate Homeworld as huge, gargantuan dungeons.
• Ōkami has two: The Sunken Ship and the inside of the Water Dragon. The former precedes the Imperial Palace and even has the ítem that allows Amaterasu to get access to it. The latter is explored to get a magical Crystal Ball in order to give it to Queen Otohime and, right after its completion, a series of dramatic events occurs and leads to the entrance to Oni Island, the next main dungeon.
• Star Fox Adventures: The trope is inverted due to the order of access between the dungeons and mini-dungeons. The main dungeons in the game (the satellital regions of Dinosaur Planet, as well as the Force Point Temples) are always accessed and completed before the mini-dungeons (the Krazoa Shrines). The reason is because, during his quest, Fox alternates between looking for the Spellstones and looking for the Krazoa Spirits; so whenever he finds a Spellstone in a satellital region and puts it in the Force Point Temple where it belongs, his next objective is to find a Krazoa Spirit in a Shrine and take it back to Krazoa Palace, to then proceed to the next Spellstone and repeat the process. This is the reason why the last thing pending before facing the Final Boss is to retrieve the remaining Krazoa Spirits, as by that point all Spellstones have been retrieved.
• Zelda Classic:
  • Isle of Rebirth: There are several mini-dungeons. Two give you more powerful swords, and the rest either act as tunnels or give you keys needed to progress.
  • Isle of the Winds: Several mini-dungeons give you Rupees, several others give you Heart Pieces, and yet others give you Magic upgrades.
  • Origin: There are several around the land guarding Magic upgrades. They resemble the Rupee dungeons from Isle of the Winds.

Platformer

• Commander Keen: In the fourth episodic game, the Castle of Sand Yego is played similarly to the Pyramids (the game's resident dungeons), but it's optional and serves mostly to prepare the player for harder levels.
• Crash Bandicoot: Aside from Bonus Stages, the platform games in the series have special mini-stages that are accessed through special means: Collecting N. Brio or Neo Cortex icons (first game) and stepping on a colored platform or skull-patterned platform, aside from other things (second, third and fourth game). These stages - often called "Gem Routes" or "Skull Routes" - are much harder than the actual levels and rarely have a checkpoint. In the case of Skull Routes, you also have to reach the place without dying beforehand. Completing succesfully the Neo Cortex stages will net you keys that open secret levels; completing the Skull Routes will net you gems (in some rare cases colored ones, which are the ones that give access to the Gem Routes). The Gem Routes themselves only have regular gems as rewards.
• Mega Man X6: Ground Scaravich's Randomly Generated Levels are put semi-randomly; there are 8 of those mini-dungeons and you'll only encounter 4 of them at a time. Getting the stage's Dr. Light capsule, the Heart Tank and the Nightmare portal is thus a Luck-Based Mission.
• Poi: The Snowland has a "Medallion Select" screen like the full levels, but is divided into two halves that only have three Medallions each. In addition, each of those halves has its own 150-Coin Medallion.
• Spyro: Year of the Dragon: Each of the levels have "sub-levels" accessible through separate doors. Most sub-levels have an Egg Macguffin (sometimes two) and extra gems that you have to collect, usually by solving the problems/puzzles in each one. Some of the sub-levels are exclusive to one of Spyro's allies that he has to rescue first.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Super Mario Bros. 2: World 2 has one in 2-1 that serves as an Antepiece to the end-of-world dungeon located in 2-3. The former level begins in an outdoors Shifting Sand Land area but then takes the characters to the interior of a pyramid, which has a large sand pool that has to be dug through until reaching the whereabouts of Birdo (a Mini-Boss). The latter level, analogously, begins in an outdoors desert area and takes the characters to the interior of another pyramid; however, this one has a far more elaborate inner design than its 2-1 equivalent, beginning with a large hollow to fall into, continuing with a pool of diggable sand where the characters have to find a key guarded by Phanto that opens a Locked Door, and ending with a horizontal obstacle course that leads to Tryclyde (the world's main boss).
  • Super Mario Bros. 3: The game set the tradition in itself and subsequent 2D Mario installments to have a midway-placed Fortress or Tower level in each world (two in some cases), often guarded by a Mini-Boss that appears recurringly through the game. In SMB3 itself, conquering a Fortress (which is always guarded by Boom Boom) will open a Locked Door in the current world's map, allowing the player to resume their playthrough by taking a shortcut that takes them past the Fortress's domain should they lose all lives (as the Fortress will stay cleared). The game also has a special Tower level in World 5 that serves as a skyward transition between the ground area of the map and the sky area; however, it's not guarded by Boom Boom.
  • Super Mario World: In addition to having fortresses (which are guarded by Reznor), the game also introduces Ghost Houses, and one of them is guarded by a mini-boss (Big Boo). Ghost Houses are enchanted, maze-like buildings where Mario or Luigi has to find the exit after figuring out whatever trick the House has in its design; the majority of them have two exits, with the secret one being even more hidden. In this game, Both Ghost Houses and Fortresses give the player the opportunity to save their progress upon completion (as do Castles, the main dungeons), a tradition that is carried over by the Towers seen in subsequent 2D games.
  • Yoshi's Island: The games have a Fortress as the midpoint of every world (level 4), with the Castles awaiting at the end (level 8). However, the mini-boss in each fortress is unique to it, a trait that makes the games stand out from the traditional Mario games. There's also the level "KEEP MOVING!!" in the first game, played right before the final level, that has the castle/fortress theme heard and their design style used.
  • Super Mario Bros. Wonder: In a case of role reversal when compared to other 2D Mario games, here the airships are the mini-dungeons while the castles are the main dungeons. In certain worlds, the path Mario and his friends traverse is intercepted by one of Bowser's Battleships, sent to them by Kamek; the characters have to storm it and destroy the Bowser-shaped generating engine (the resident Mini-Boss) and disable the vessel in order to eliminate the threat and resume their path.

Puzzle Game

• Deadly Rooms of Death: The Second Sky has a couple of examples:
  • "Upside-down Mine Entrance" is the prelude to "Shattered Mine"; it introduces the pickaxe and powder kegs, which are the main puzzle elements in the latter level.
  • From early in the game, it's been hinted that the climactic confrontation will take place at Nethlekempt Farrows. To draw out the player's anticipation, the approach to Nethlekempt Farrows consists of two mini-dungeons ("The Scorching Path" and "Fire Hotlands") followed by a full dungeon.

Real-Time Strategy

• Pikmin 2: Challenge Mode is about exploring 30 miniature caves, most of which are only one to three floors deep, and derive from the Story Mode caves whose depths range from 5 to 15 floors except the Emergence Cave, which is a Noob Cave (only 2 floors deep) and thus another mini-dungeon. Even the longest Challenge Mode cave, Collector's Room (7 floors), has the gimmick of each floor being bite-sized and only containing one enemy.

Roguelike

• NetHack has a few side branches, such as the dwarf caverns, a couple towers and the quest.

Role-Playing Game

• Bug Fables:
  • The Chomper Caves are a hidden area consisting of only a few rooms and a boss fight at the end. It is the only optional area besides the more story-heavy Upper Snakemouth to have a unique enemy never encountered in the main path, the Chomper Brutes.
  • Prior to entering the Ancient Castle in Chapter 4, Team Snakemouth has to navigate the Bandit's Hideout, a smaller dungeon that begins with a stealth sequence and ends with a miniboss fight against their leader.
  • Stream Mountain is an optional part of the Lost Sands with water puzzles and enemies normally not encountered until two chapters after it becomes available. While the top is harmless and only holds an item needed for a sidequest, the bottom houses one of the five Bounty boss fights.
• Dragon Age: Origins has The Fade, the realm where spirits, demons, and dreaming human reside. You enter it completely out of nowhere, while exploring a tower where demons have overrun the mages within, and once you're in, you must complete it to continue. The stage itself is a repetitive puzzle maze, your player character is completely alone, there is next to no dialogue or plot progression, and the entire place is intentionally blurry and out of focus. It is so infamous to DA fans that several mods exist which allow you to bypass the mini-dungeon completely while collecting every reward from it.
• EarthBound (1994): The Brick Road dungeon is placed just before the cave leading to Rainy Circle, which contains one of the Eight Melodies.
• Elden Ring: The few castles sprinkling the world. Sometimes tied to a quest, sometimes the lair of a particularly powerful enemy, they are nonetheless usually cleared in minutes.
• Etrian Odyssey: Most games in the series avert this trope as, instead of exploring a set of mini- and main dungeons, the player's party has to explore a gigantic meta-dungeon (Yggdrasil Labyrinth). However, the following games play it straight:
  • Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan has the Caves, single-floored ecosystems with a relatively compact explorable area (usually a 3 x 3 map of quadrants worth 25 spaces each). And each of them has a specific purpose related to a request accepted in the Dancing Peacock in Tharsis, though a few of them are also linked to the main story. Completing a Cave awards a stamp and a brief description of the Cave and its inhabitants. The main dungeons are the much more complex Mazes, or Labyrinths, which are multi-floored locations with mini-bosses and a boss each. And every floor has its own large area (whose map dimensions are also bigger: 7 x 6 at most).
  • Etrian Odyssey Nexus has, in addition to full-fledged labyrinths, sub-dungeons of varying width (though all of them are still only one-floor tall). They're placed not too far from the main dungeons in the overworld map, and employ the same gimmicks seen in them (though often remixed to provide much harder puzzles, as seen with the Blossom Bridge which requires a much more clever use of the transport platforms than in the Petal Bridge). These sub-dungeons are the setting for unique sidequests involving the game's supporting characters.
• Ever Oasis: Many of the cave areas have mini-dungeon aspects to them, but the most fitting candidate is probably the Sanctuary. Despite having keys, it doesn't have a true boss (just mini boss battles with each member of the Chaos trio) and is MUCH shorter than the other dungeons.
• Ikenfell: The game has a several areas you have to travel through that aren’t very long, but do have puzzles and/or enemies you must get past in order to reach the end and gain access to the next area.
  • Chapter 1 has an odd example, where the Forest is the main dungeon, but the last boss of that area is actually found within the inn’s basement, which consists of just a few rooms (although the enemy encounters there are difficult at that point in the game).
  • Chapter 3 has another odd example where you don’t even see all of the Library before you have to travel though the Lockup, which is very small, in order to retrieve Safina’s hat from Blackhat.
  • When you do get to see all of the Library, it turns out to be a small area with only a few encounters before you are joined by Pertisia, who opens the door to the Northern Dorms, which again doesn’t take very long to travel though, although you are stalled by a one-on-one fight between Maritte and Gilda, and then you travel to the actual dungeon that is the Snatcher’s Lair.
  • The Twilight Yard consists of you having to collect stars (while running into some enemies on the way) in order to unlock Chapter 4’s first dungeon, the Astronomy Tower.
  • The Orchard and Cemetery are first new places you visit in Chapter 5, where you just have to fight enemies on the way to Sigbert’s cabin, where the key to the Roost is.
  • While the Roost does have some difficult enemies and puzzles, it doesn’t take as long as the Astronomy Tower or Spirit Oval, and there isn’t a boss fight when you reach the end; that’s saved for the next area, the Ruins.
  • The Duelling Hall is only a few rooms of enemy encounters before the fight with Radegund, who unblocks the door to the Archives afterwards.
• The Last Story: The two areas of Vono Islands explored during the naval arc, namely the Mysterious Forest and the Shipwreck. They're explored before the Gurak Island, a main dungeon.
• Minecraft Dungeons: Most missions have hidden areas that reward the player with a map that grants them access to a Bonus Dungeon. These missions tend to be a lot shorter than the main missions, being able to take minutes at most even if the player isn't speeding through them, and most of them end with a group of enemies attacking the player.
• Sincere Deceit: The Industry District mines is a short mini-dungeon where you traverse an area with some water to fix the elevator needed to get out. The Elsens mine crystals here.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic has an odd play on this trope. There are "story areas" walled off to anyone but a character on a certain point in their class quest. The character enters them and has to fight through some level-appropriate mobs to get to the story goal and progress. You can ride shoutgun on another class's story with someone you're grouped with, but you won't be able to interact with the Cutscene parts at the end.
• Underhero: The Pica Pica Jungle acts as one, where you'll have to travel through the maze-like place to find an item for an NPC so that they'll let you pass through to the volcano.
• World of Warcraft used to have several places commonly referred as mini dungeons or outworld dungeos. These were areas in the main game world (rather than being instances like proper dungeons), that othervise functioned similar to dungeons, with elite enemies designed to be fought as a group. They usually had quests associated with them with rewards similar to ones you'd get from actual dungeons. However, in later expansions most of the enemies in them lost their elite status, making them easier to solo and not any different from normal areas.

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