Minigame

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In Fantastic Dizzy, the player has to complete a sliding puzzle to get an extra life.
In Fantastic Dizzy, the player has to complete a sliding puzzle to get an extra life.

A minigame, sometimes called a subgame, is a short video game often contained within another game. The minigame is always smaller or more simplistic than the game in which it is contained. Minigames are sometimes also offered separately for free for promotion purpose of the main game.

Minigames occur either as gameplay features or as Easter eggs. In the latter case, they are often called "secret games." In the former case, the successful completion of such minigames may or may not be required in order to finish the encompassing game.

Some games, such as Wario Ware, Inc., or some Cinemaware titles like Defender of the Crown are made up of many minigames strung together into one video game. Similar games such as the Mario Party series are considered party games, games specifically developed for multiplayer amongst players. Usually the minigames involve doing something faster or collecting more of something than other players to win.

An example of a minigame is Arcomage, contained within Might and Magic VII. It involves building up a tower whilst trying to destroy the computer opponent's tower. It is a simple but very addictive game that can be played at the inns around the Might and Magic VII game-world, the same way Shenmue II has arcades of early Sega games available to play.

An example of a separately offered minigame is Castle Attack 2 as promotion for Stronghold 2.

Other examples of minigames include:

  • The Resident Evil series is often known for its inclusion of added minigames or scenarios in several of its installments. This includes the "4th Survivor" scenario in Resident Evil 2, "Operation: Mad Jackal" in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and "Separate Ways" in Resident Evil 4. Some of these contribute to the plot of each game, while others are just there to provide replay value or unlock added content to the main game.
  • Lazy Jones for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MSX and Tatung Einstein released in 1984 is essentially a collection of fifteen minigames. The game takes place inside a hotel with three floors, connected by an elevator. The character is apparently a lazy hotel employee, who doesn't much care for his work, but prefers to sneak into the rooms to play video games instead.
  • In Sam & Max Hit the Road, the player could access several minigames in different locations throughout the game, including "Whack-a-Mole" and "Car Bomb." Some (though not all) of these games needed to be completed in order to progress in the game.
  • The Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3 arcade game, which can be played by the human-controlled hero in the mess hall in Doom 3.
  • Final Fantasy VII features some minigames that are mandatory to advance the plot, and all of them (plus some others) can later be replayed at will at the Gold Saucer.
  • Donkey Kong 64 includes the arcade games Donkey Kong and Jetpac, which represent major achievements of the two companies who developed the game, Nintendo and Rareware. These games must be completed in order to yield the Nintendo and Rareware "coins", tokens which unlock the final area of the game.
  • The game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas contains a several minigames that can be accessed from games consoles and arcade cabinets inside the game world; Polarity, Let's Get Ready To Bumble and They Came From Uranus. It also features eight ball billiards, basketball and rhythm games in the form of disco dancing and "bouncing" the suspension on lowrider cars. It also contains the controversial "Hot Coffee" sex-based minigame. This was abandoned before the game's release and locked out so players could not reach it, but a simple modification to game files revealed its existence.


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