History Main / BonusFeatureFailure

Compare DummiedOut, where the extra stuff was axed entirely. Contrast ShowWithinAShow, where the extra content is a full-fledged game in and of itself. Characters afflicted with this tend to devolve into {{Quirky Bard}}s. And also compare BraggingRightsReward, where you obtain extra content but only past a certain point where you probably won't have much use for it.

Compare DummiedOut, where the extra stuff was axed entirely. Contrast ShowWithinAShow, where the extra content is a full-fledged game in and of itself. Characters afflicted with this tend to devolve into {{Quirky Bard}}s. And also contrast BraggingRightsReward, where you obtain extra content but only past a certain point where you probably won't have much use for it.

** The UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and {{UsefulNotes/Wii}} versions introduce the PRL-412, a futuristic anti-Plagas weapon that is only obtained after beating Professional (hard) Mode, which means there isn't much of any reason to use it, since the player's probably finished everything by then anyway. It's not even particularly great, being a slow charging laser that serves mostly as an unlimited supply of flash grenades unless you spend the time charging it to full power, in which case it kills Plagas villagers instantly, but not much else. Even worse, a weak flash can kill the final boss immediately.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' has the unlimited ammo unlockable, but someone along the way on development apparently forgot such a thing is ''supposed'' to give the player an unfair imbalanced advantage for the sake of [[RuleOfCool cool]] and [[RuleOfAwesome fun]], and so it was monumentally {{Nerf}}ed. You have to unlock unlimited ammo for each weapon ''type'' (handguns, rifles, shotguns, etc) individually, and each one takes a monumental amount of grinding before it becomes available (1,500 enemies with the handgun, and that's the ''smallest'' amount), ''then'' you need to [[DoubleUnlock pay an absurd amount of skill points]] to purchase it (80,000 for the handgun, again the smallest), and '''then''' need to equip it to one of three available skill slots to use it (meaning that, at the cost of no other skills, you can only have three at a time). Compared to ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' and its "here's your unlimited ammo for ''everything'' have fun" feature, it comes as a monumental letdown, and most players can't be arsed to unlock more than one.

* A variant of the KonamiCode can be used in ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}: Shattered Soldier'' that grants the player 30 lives for their first credit. However, ''Shattered Soldier'' features a grading system that evaluates the player's performance at the end of each stage, deducting a percentage of their hit rate based on the number of lives lost. This means that player must lose as few lives as possible (preferably none at all) to achieve a perfect grade. Getting an overall grade below "A" gives the player a bad ending. The Konami Code simply makes it easier to get the bad ending.

** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness'': Trevor mode (probably the most thorough one out of all the bonus characters gameplaywise, as he improves his stats via collectible items, can equip different whips, has selectable subweapons as well as [[EvolvingAttack Item Crashes]], and a moveset almost as large as Leon but a lot flashier).
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence'': Joachim mode (no item inventory, orbs have no effect, making the reward for defeating the BonusBoss a CosmeticAward). There's also Pumpkin (uses the same moveset as Leon but has an unique subweapon which mixes and matches Leon's subweapons).
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLegacyOfDarkness'' rewards you with an admittedly cool scenario for beating the game once: you play as Henry, the child Cornell rescued and [[StealthMentor Stealth Mentored]], who has now [[FutureBadass grown up to be quite badass]] and out to save some captive children. Beat that mission, and you're rewarded with the option to play the original Castlevania 64. Whether or this is an example of this trope or a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] hangs on how much you like that game.

Compare DummiedOut, where the extra stuff was axed entirely. Contrast ShowWithinAShow, where the extra content is a full-fledged game in and of itself. Characters afflicted with this tend to devolve into {{Quirky Bard}}s. And contrast BraggingRightsReward.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': The Tunic of the Wild set, aka ''[=BotW=]''[='=]s rendition of Link's classic green clothes. It's obtained by beating all 120 shrines in the game, at which point Link is completely overpowered. And even if he wasn't, this Tunic is ''not'' the best armor set of the game, stats-wise. That's still the [[DiskOneNuke Champion's Tunic]], and there are other two armor sets that have the exact same defense stats as the Tunic of the Wild that are infinitely easier to find, namely the Hylian Armor and the Ancient Armor. You'll also probably have those armor sets fully upgraded at this point, and to get the Tunic of the Wild up to par with them you'll have to upgrade it as well, which requires tedious grinding to find dragon parts. The fact that a lot people find the clothes design [[WTHCostumingDepartment bafflingly underwhelming]] doesn't help either.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManX''

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' allows to export the player character (with their gear, stats, and skills) from the original campaign into the ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakening]]'' major DLC sequel, but none of the unique items added by the ''Warden's Keep'' DLC (an additional short quest inside the original campaign, with new items) will be transferred. It's especially infuriating because one of its rewards is [[InfinityPlusOneSword Starfang, the best longsword/greatsword available]]. Also, playing the ''Awakening'' campaign while ''Warden's Keep'' is activated causes a bug where Starfang's asset replaces the model of ''Awakening'' own Infinity +1 Sword.

* ''VideoGame/Persona4''

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Imperishable Night]]'' has, as unlockables, solo versions of each team (Reimu only and Yukari only for instance, as opposed to Reimu and Yukari). However, this works by essentially locking your shottype to focused or unfocused. Human characters still can't shoot through familiars, making stages much worse, and youkai characters can't shoot familiars, causing problems with a number of bosses. In addition to this, Remilia's options have a bit of lag when you try to move them when she's solo, and you can't focus to center Youmu's ghost half anymore. Just to make things worse, most solo characters are missing a large portion of their phantom gauge, making them difficult to score with. Except Youmu, whose shortened gauge makes her the best character to score with, even if she's awkward to use.

* ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil0 Resident Evil 0]]'' has two of these:

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'':

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'':

** The Bombchus in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons]]'' are only acquired as a bonus after starting a NewGamePlus, are not particularly useful at any point in the game, and cannot be restocked through drops from defeated enemies.
** The HD remake of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' turns the Hero's Charm into this, since it's gotten there at the end of the Savage Labyrinth instead of Windfall Island. And the Labyrinth is where the Charm would be otherwise very useful to check the HP of the stronger enemies to know how much they have before they die.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'': Getting all the Poe Souls rewards you a Silver Rupee (200 rupees) every time you ask... but by then, Link has already beaten seven dungeons and the Cave of Ordeals to get those souls, filling up his wallet along the way. By comparison, the earlier reward of getting a bottle full of Great Fairy's Tears seems much better. It's NotCompletelyUseless, though, since Rupees also serve as fuel for your Magic Armor.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'': The Tunic of the Wild set, aka [=BotW=]'s rendition of Link's classic green clothes. It's obtained by beating all 120 shrines in the game, at which point Link is completely overpowered. And even if he wasn't, this Tunic is ''not'' the best armor set of the game, stats-wise. That's still the [[DiskOneNuke Champion's Tunic]], and there are other two armor sets that have the exact same defense stats as the Tunic of the Wild that are infinitely easier to find, namely the Hylian Armor and the Ancient Armor. You'll also probably have those armor sets fully upgraded at this point, and to get the Tunic of the Wild up to par with them you'll have to upgrade it as well, which requires tedious grinding to find dragon parts. The fact that a lot people find the clothes design [[WTHCostumingDepartment bafflingly underwhelming]] doesn't help either.
* Downplayed with almost every ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' game from the {{Metroidvania}} group, which have an unlockable mode where you play as another character. While playing through the game again as another completely different character is fun, it still counts for the trope to some people as the unlockable characters can't do most of what the main character can (e.g. can't collect or use items, can't level up sometimes, and doesn't have a pause menu, even for changing controls or sound options).
** [[spoiler:Old Axe Armor]] in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin Portrait of Ruin]]'' is a solo character instead of a team of two, has only two special moves (one of which is used solely for navigation), and is simply a PaletteSwap of an existing enemy. However, [[JokeCharacter it is very likely this was intentional]].
** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]'': Richter mode, Maria mode in the PSP version (she's actually easier to play as than Alucard in the Saturn one)
** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance Harmony of Dissonance]]'': Maxim mode
** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow Aria of Sorrow]]'': Julius mode
** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow Dawn of Sorrow]]'': Julius mode (has its own cutscenes, and the characters can gain levels)
** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin Portrait of Ruin]]'': Sisters mode [[spoiler:(prequel to the main story)]], Richter/Maria mode, [[spoiler:Old Axe Armor]] mode
** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia Order of Ecclesia]]'': Albus mode
** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness Curse of Darkness]]'': Trevor mode (probably the most thorough one out of all the bonus characters gameplaywise, as he improves his stats via collectible items, can equip different whips, has selectable subweapons as well as [[EvolvingAttack Item Crashes]], and a moveset almost as large as Leon but a lot flashier)
** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence Lament of Innocence]]'': Joachim mode (no item inventory, orbs have no effect, making the reward for defeating the BonusBoss a CosmeticAward). There's also Pumpkin (uses the same moveset as Leon but has an unique subweapon which mixes and matches Leon's subweapons).
** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLegacyOfDarkness Legacy of Darkness]]'' rewards you with an admittedly cool scenario for beating the game once: you play as Henry, the child Cornell rescued and [[StealthMentor Stealth Mentored]], who has now [[FutureBadass grown up to be quite badass]] and out to save some captive children. Beat that mission, and you're rewarded with the option to play the original Castlevania 64. Whether or this is an example of this trope or a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] hangs on how much you like that game.

* The US and EU versions of ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'' had the 'bonus content' of letting Vincent DoubleJump... Which does ''absolutely nothing at all'', since the level design is the same as the JP version where Vincent couldn't, and isn't designed to take this new, truly awe-inspiring, ability into account. About the only thing it does is make the InsurmountableWaistHighFence even ''more'' annoying, since you should now be able to clear enough distance to leap right over the sucker, but can't for some reason.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'', you can earn several special party members by going through the two bonus dungeons, the Tower of Valni and the Lagdou Ruins. These characters are all characters who existed in the main story as [[NonPlayerCharacter Non-Player Characters]], some of whom were even bosses. Sounds cool, right? Unfortunately, you can only unlock these characters after playing through the entire main campaign, meaning all you really can use them in are the dungeons in which they are unlocked and random battles on the world map. Worse still, the vast majority of them are some of the worst units in the game, due to coming with high levels, poor base stats, terrible growth rates, and being unable to support other units; even the best among them are easily outmatched by units you recruited in the main campaign. The only ones with any useful equipment or skills are Ismaire (who comes with a unique weapon), Valter (who has an exceptionally rare item), Caellach (likewise) and Lyon (who has a unique class capable of summoning phantoms, as well as a unique infinite-durability tome and a rare staff); the others come with various generic weapons and VendorTrash. Even for completionists, recruiting Lyon may be more trouble than it's worth, because getting him requires you to fight through the [[BrutalBonusLevel Lagdou Ruins]] ''three times''. Just to rub salt in the wound, they are, for whatever reason, unable to be used against other players in the Link Arena.

** [[UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast Like]] [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube its]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} contemporaries]], the [=PlayStation=] 2 also suported 480p progressive scan with the use of component cables. Unlike its contemporaries (except maybe the Xbox), the [=PS2=] could output a 480p signal right out of the box with a component cable, which plugged directly into the console's standard AV port and did not contain any special hardware, making third-party options plentiful. Also unlike its contemporaries, progressive scan support on the [=PS2=] was ''not'' widespread: out of the thousands of games that came out on the [=PlayStation=] 2, only 5% outputted in Progressive Scan. For comparison, 35% of [=GameCube=] games, 70% of Xbox games, and 80% of Dreamcast games supported Progressive Scan. While it can be chalked up to inferior hardware, rumor has it that Sony actively ''discouraged'' the implementation of Progressive Scan in [=PS2=] games and only intended the feature to be used with video DVDs.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' series, following the release of ''VideoGame/MegadimensionNeptuniaVII'', its newest protagonist Uzume was added as DLC to UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} versions the earlier-released ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaReBirth1'' and ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaReBirth3VGeneration''. In ''[=Re;Birth1=]'', she serves as a CrutchCharacter at best, able to join early and build up EXE meter quickly but with skills that are quickly outclassed[[note]]Uzume's most powerful skill is a single-target with 180 Power, while Neptune's is an [=AoE=] with 492 Power[[/note]]. But in ''[=Re;Birth3=]'', she's also stuck with her default weapon, quickly making it near-impossible for her to deal any damage at all.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' allows to export the player character (with their gear, stats, and skills) from the original campaign into the ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakening]]'' major DLC sequel, but none of the unique items added by the ''Warden's Keep'' DLC (an additional short quest inside the original campaign, with new items) will be transferred. It's especially infuriating because one of its rewards is [[InfinityPlusOneSword the best longsword/greatsword available]].

* The DS version of ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has a BonusDungeon (the Lost Sanctum) that consists of almost nothing but FetchQuest after FetchQuest (most requiring time travel), forcing you to trek back and forth across the entire dungeon with an unskippable battle every time. Along the way, you can fight an unbelievably annoying MetalSlime (with nearly impervious armor that counters every attack with a meteor swarm) that requires several NewGamePlus' worth of stat grinding, but when it finally dies you can get an armor that renders the wearer 100% immune to magic! Except only one character can wear it, and it has little application outside of a single optional boss fight. The other three [[BonusDungeon Bonus Dungeons]], the Dimensional Vortexes, are not much better. There's no backtracking, but the areas are purposelessly labyrinthian, composed mostly of pieces of areas you have already been, and capped by uninteresting boss fights.
* ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' features a NewGamePlus mode that, among other features, allows you to replace the main character with another party member for battles. This allows you to experiment with more diverse party combinations... a feature that might mean something if your party wasn't already strong enough to take down the bosses in the first half of the game in a round of basic attacks.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'':
** Defeating optional boss Kaiser Dragon in the Advance release rewards you with the Diabolos Magicite. Its summon and the spells it teaches are all bound by the damage limit, so he'll never do more than 9999 damage, a limit you're already pushing against if you're strong enough to beat Kaiser in the first place. The only use Diabolos has is his level up bonus "HP+ 100%", meaning your HP increases twice as much when you level up, which is good, but other Espers give "HP+ 50%", so ultimately Diabolos does nothing you can't already do with the other Magicite pieces.
** Averted with the other three optional Magicite shards - Leviathan teaches Flood, which is a water-elemental spell, so you can exploit that elemental weakness in enemies more easily (prior to the Advance release, there were no water-elemental spells at all except for Strago's Aqua Rake and Clean Sweep), Cactuar gives a speed boost on level up and is one of only two Espers to do so (and the other one doesn't give as good a boost anyway ''and'' can be given away and {{Permanently Missable|Content}}), and Gilgamesh teaches the Quick spell, letting you teach it to two characters at once -- definitely a boon since it only has a learn rate of 1% and thus takes forever to learn. And ''those'' three are obtainable much earlier on, if you know where to look.
** A larger HP increase means that low level runs let you get even better stats than usual, and Gravija is unique in that it cannot be resisted even by bosses, making it an eminently spammable all-target 9999 damage nuke.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', defeated Ruby Weapon gave you a gold chocobo. However, it's NintendoHard to defeat it ''without'' breeding one in the first place, and this new gold chocobo sucks at races. Averted with Emerald Weapon, where the reward is a set of "Master" Materia. The only other way to get them is to master ''every'' Materia of each type, which will take hours upon hours of training.
* [[spoiler:DualWielding Roxas]] in mission mode in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2''. Sure, in story mode he's awesome (though you only get him for an extremely short time), but in mission mode he's worse than Roxas. This is for two reasons: Mission Mode's enemies are stronger than normal, [[spoiler:and the final mission's enemies have their levels programmed to be ridiculously low for the end of the game, so that Roxas feels as badass as he is in KHI's Secret Ending.]]
* Unbeknownst to most players of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' pressing the Select button activates a First-Person mode. It works fine, except the game is forced back into third-person whenever a [[PressXToNotDie Reaction Command]] is activated, making playing only in first-person practically impossible.
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' series, following the release of ''VideoGame/MegadimensionNeptuniaVII'', its newest protagonist Uzume was added as DLC to the earlier-released ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaReBirth1'' and ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaReBirth3VGeneration''. In ''[=Re;Birth1=]'', she serves as a CrutchCharacter at best, able to join early and build up EXE meter quickly but with skills that are quickly outclassed[[note]]Uzume's most powerful skill is a single-target with 180 Power, while Neptune's is an [=AoE=] with 492 power[[/note]]. But in ''[=Re;Birth3=]'', she's also stuck with her default weapon, quickly making it near-impossible for her to deal any damage at all.

** For maxing out all Social Links in a single playthrough you get the Mandara Robe armour. Which has pathetic defense but boosts Exp gain by 50%. There's several issues with this. First is by the time you max all the Social Links, you only have the final dungeon left to complete, so you probably won't need to grind anymore. Second is it's protagonist-exclusive, and due to CantDropTheHero it's likely the protagonist is overlevelled already. Third, it's outclassed by the Haikara Shirt, which not only has the same effect, better defence and can be equipped by anyone, but is also ''far easier to obtain''. By contrast, completing all Social Links in ''VideoGame/Persona3'' unlocked a unique Persona for fusion.

* In the Rehydrated version of ''VideoGame/SpongeBobSquarePantsBattleForBikiniBottom'', the Movie Theater. In the 2003 original it contained a wide selection of enemy and level concept art. In the 2020 version, it's four or five poorly-compressed level thumbnails from the pause menu. ''It still costs 40,000 Shiny Objects to unlock''.
** With [[AuthorsSavingThrow Ver. 1.0.3]] of Rehydrated, this issue has been remedied, with the Movie Theater now displaying new, original concept art made for the remake.

* The DS version of ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has a BonusDungeon (the Lost Sanctum) that consists of almost nothing but FetchQuest after FetchQuest (most requiring time travel), forcing you to trek back and forth across the entire dungeon with an unskippable battle every time. Along the way, you can fight an unbelievably annoying MetalSlime (with nearly impervious armor that counters every attack with a meteor swarm) that requires several NewGamePlus' worth of stat grinding, but when it finally dies you can get an armor that renders the wearer 100% immune to magic! Except only one character can wear it, and it has little application outside of a single optional boss fight.
** The other three [[BonusDungeon Bonus Dungeons]], the Dimensional Vortexes, are not much better. There's no backtracking, but the areas are purposelessly labyrinthian, composed mostly of pieces of areas you have already been, and capped by uninteresting boss fights.

* The BonusDungeon in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'' is just several levels from normal dungeons stuck onto each other with no rhyme or reason (but with stronger enemies), and no justification.
** Same for ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'', but at least at the end, you get to [[strike:[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punch out Cthulhu]]]] fight God.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', defeating optional boss Kaiser Dragon in the Advance release rewards you with the Diabolos Magicite. Its summon and the spells it teaches are all bound by the damage limit, so he'll never do more than 9999 damage, a limit you're already pushing against if you're strong enough to beat Kaiser in the first place. The only use Diabolos has is his level up bonus "HP+ 100%", meaning your HP increases twice as much when you level up, which is good, but other Espers give "HP+ 50%", so ultimately Diabolos does nothing you can't already do with the other Magicite pieces.

* The two bonus characters in the ''Director's Cut''/overseas versions of ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'' may count. Adray is really just a less capable wizard, a spot already filled by Sophia, with a weapon set nearly identical to Albel's, while Mirage uses effectively the same attack set and play-style as Cliff, but is 40-50 levels lower. The player has the option to gain Adray early into the game when he would be at a similar level to the party, but if you opt to gain him at the next opportunity, much later near the end of the game, he'll still be at that level (lv 19 when the party is roughly 55-70).

* [[spoiler:DualWielding Roxas]] in mission mode in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2''. Sure, in story mode he's awesome (though you only get him for an extremely short time), but in mission mode he's worse than Roxas. This is for two reasons: Mission Mode's enemies are stronger than normal, [[spoiler:and the final mission's enemies have their levels programmed to be ridiculously low for the end of the game, so that Roxas feels as badass as he is in KHI's Secret Ending.]]
* The two bonus characters in the ''Director's Cut''/overseas versions of ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'' may count. Adray is really just a less capable wizard, a spot already filled by Sophia, with a weapon set nearly identical to Albel's, while Mirage uses effectively the same attack set and play-style as Cliff, but is 40-50 levels lower. The player has the option to gain Adray early into the game when he would be at a similar level to the party, but if you opt to gain him at the next opportunity, much later near the end of the game, he'll still be at that level (lv 19 when the party is roughly 55-70).
** In the original, buggy, Japanese version of the game, the four "optional" characters, Albel, Nel, Peppita, Roger, were required. In the ''Director's Cut''/overseas versions, only two of them can be chosen while Mirage and Adray are necessary, however.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' had a similar scenario with the pre-order bonus/''Courier's Stash'' DLC items. Most of them were lackluster to begin with, but were made worse by lack of compatibility with Perks and other DLC. The way the game's engine is written, any given DLC cannot directly act on another -- the end result was that most of the pre-order equipment was counter-intuitively excluded from Perks added by main DLC. For example, the pre-order shotgun is the ''only shotgun in the game'' that doesn't benefit from the ''And Stay Back'' (10% chance to knock enemies over when they are hit with a shotgun) Perk added in ''Dead Money''. Some of the weapons would accept mods, albeit with glitchy results. The only truly unique item was the Vault 13 canteen, an item that would automatically drop the player's dehydration level in Hardcore Mode, but not enough to subsist upon it alone. In Normal mode, it provided a slight automatic healing effect every time you sipped from it (once every few minutes), making it useful only for saving healing items when outside of combat if you were fast-traveling or had some time to kill in a safe area where you didn't have to worry about an attack, and given how many stimpaks you'd be carrying by the midpoint of the game, that wasn't terribly useful either.

* ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' features a NewGamePlus mode that, among other features, allows you to replace the main character with another party member for battles. This allows you to experiment with more diverse party combinations... a feature that might mean something if your party wasn't already strong enough to take down the bosses in the first half of the game in a round of basic attacks.
* ''VideoGame/{{Recettear}}'' lets you unlock [[RobotGirl Arma]] as a playable adventurer after completing Lapis Ruins, the first postgame dungeon. As a boss, she's extremely fast-paced and vicious, uses nearly her entire arsenal of weapons, and most of them will demolish you in just a few hits. As a player character, she starts at level 1, moves very slowly, has no useful specials (the WaveMotionGun eats your entire SP bar and you'll usually take more damage charging it than if you just attacked normally), her weapons are all prohibitively unwieldy and/or do anemic damage -- generally both -- even after leveling up to par with everyone else, and very slow recovery after firing any of them leaves her wide open to counterattack. Even the Omega Cannon, her ultimate fused weapon, fires at such an awkwardly high and slow (backward!) arc and has such a pitifully short homing radius that it's more likely to hit empty space behind your targets when the shots bother curving forward toward them at all. By the time you unlock her, literally any other character in the game save maybe Elan will be able to tackle long dungeons and thick bosses alike much more easily and safely.
* The DS version of ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has a BonusDungeon (the Lost Sanctum) that consists of almost nothing but FetchQuest after FetchQuest (most requiring time travel), forcing you to trek back and forth across the entire dungeon with an unskippable battle every time. Along the way, you can fight an unbelievably annoying MetalSlime (with nearly impervious armor that counters every attack with a meteor swarm) that requires several NewGamePlus' worth of stat grinding, but when it finally dies you can get an armor that renders the wearer 100% immune to magic! Except only one character can wear it, and it has little application outside of a single optional boss fight.
** The other three [[BonusDungeon Bonus Dungeons]], the Dimensional Vortexes, are not much better. There's no backtracking, but the areas are purposelessly labrynthian, composed mostly of pieces of areas you have already been, and capped by uninteresting boss fights.
* Unbeknownst to most players of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' pressing the Select button activates a First-Person mode. It works fine, except the game is forced back into third-person whenever a [[PressXToNotDie Reaction Command]] is activated, making playing only in first-person practically impossible.
* ''VideoGame/Persona4''
** For maxing out all Social Links in a single playthrough you get the Mandara Robe armour. Which has pathetic defense but boosts Exp gain by 50%. There's several issues with this. First is by the time you max all the Social Links, you only have the final dungeon left to complete, so you probably won't need to grind anymore. Second is it's protagonist-exclusive, and due to CantDropTheHero it's likely the protagonist is overlevelled already. Third, it's outclassed by the Haikara Shirt, which not only has the same effect, better defence and can be equipped by anyone, but is also ''far easier to obtain''. By contrast, completing all Social Links in ''VideoGame/Persona3'' unlocked a unique Persona for fusion.
** The protagonist's ultimate Persona, Izanagi-no-Okami, can be fused on a NewGamePlus. [[BraggingRightsReward Except you need to be Lv 91 to summon him and he can't be registered to the Compendium.]] So all you can use him for are the FinalBoss and the BonusBoss, and at Lv 91 it's very likely you don't even need him.

* ''VideoGame/EvolutionWorlds'': For beating the entire game, you get a stat boost item. It makes a single character a tiny bit stronger. That's all you get for choosing NewGamePlus.

** [[UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast Like]] [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube its]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} contemporaries]], the [=PlayStation=] 2 also suported 480p progressive scan with the use of component cables. Unlike its contemporaries (except maybe the Xbox), the [=PS2=] could output a 480p signal right out of the box with a component cable, which plugged directly into the console's standard AV port and did not contain any special hardware, making third-party options plentiful. Also unlike its contemporaries, progressive scan support on the [=PS2=] was ''not'' widespread: out of the thousands of games that came out on the [=PlayStation=] 2, only 5% outputted in Progressive Scan. For comparison, 35% of [=GameCube=] games, 70% of Xbox games, and 80% of Dreamcast games supported Progressive Scan. While it can be chalked up to inferior hardware, rumor has it that Sony actively ''discouraged'' the implementation of Progressive Scan in [=PS2=] games for some reason.

** [[UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast Like]] [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube its]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} contemporaries]], the [=PlayStation=] 2 also suported 480p progressive scan with the use of component cables. Unlike its contemporaries (except maybe the Xbox), the [=PS2=] could output a 480p signal right out of the box with a component cable, which plugged directly into the console's standard AV port and did not contain any special hardware, making third-party options plentiful. Also unlike its contemporaries, progressive scan support on the [=PS2=] was ''not'' widespread: out of the thousands of games that came out on the [=PlayStation=] 2, only 5% outputted in Progressive Scan. For comparison, 35% of [=GameCube=] games, 50% of Dreamcast games, and 70% of Xbox games supported Progressive Scan. While it can be chalked up to inferior hardware, rumor has it that Sony actively ''discouraged'' the implementation of Progressive Scan in [=PS2=] games for some reason.

** [[UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast Like]] [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube its]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} contemporaries]], the [=PlayStation=] 2 also suported 480p progressive scan with the use of component cables. Unlike its contemporaries (except maybe the Xbox), the [=PS2=] could output a 480p signal right out of the box with a component cable, which plugged directly into the console's standard AV port and did not contain any special hardware, making third-party options plentiful. Also unlike its contemporaries, progressive scan support on the [=PS2=] was ''not'' widespread: out of the thousands of games that came out on the [=PlayStation=] 2, only 5% outputted in Progressive Scan. For comparison, 35% of [=GameCube=] games and 70% of Xbox games supported Progressive Scan. While it can be chalked up to inferior hardware, rumor has it that Sony actively ''discouraged'' the implementation of Progressive Scan in [=PS2=] games.

* ''Any'' UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 games that required the [=i.LINK=] port for LAN play is this, as the port was removed on later revisions of the [=PS2=]. So if you had a game that required [=i.LINK=] for LAN play and not the Network Adapter and planned on linking more consoles together for multiplayer, you were out of luck.

** Besides gameplay differences, Wesker Mode in the HD versions is pretty much the same deal as the main game, only with Wesker's model instead of Billy's and nothing else was done to acknowledge the change, not even changes for written lines.

** ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'' is the first game to include cheat codes for extra content, one code for X and one for Zero. X's code gives him access to the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Ultimate Armor]], which doubles his defense and gives him the air dash, hovering ability, unlimited ammo (except for charged attacks), a plasma shot and a spammable [[LimitBreak Giga Attack]]. Zero's code gives him access to his [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Black Armor]]... [[PaletteSwap which is black]]... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin and that's all]]. At least it is fixed in later games, where it doubles his defense, raises his attack, makes him more agile and gives his saber the ability to destroy energy projectiles.

*** ''[[VideoGameRemake Super Mario 64 DS]]'' is ''worse'' than the original in this regard: Since Yoshi is playable in this version, no one appears on the roof, there's no upgraded Triple Jump to be unlocked, and worst of all, the only thing of interest on the roof is Luigi's final rabbit... which gives you a virtually unchanged version of another mini-game you're most likely to have unlocked by that point.

** In ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'', collecting all the Star Medals and getting all golden flags as Mario and Luigi unlocks [[BrutalBonusLevel Special 8-Crown]]. This by itself isn't a bad thing. What ''is'' bad, however, is that you lose the convenient warp pipe between Special 8 and World 8 (the Warp Pipes are the only way to switch between the normal and special worlds), as the Special 8-Crown replaces the pipe to World 8, and the pipe in World 8's map disappears. In other words, you are now forced to use a Warp Pipe in a different world in order to travel between World 8 and Special 8. A more logical solution would have been to give Special 8 an extension that houses Special 8-Crown, serving as a parallel to World 8 map extension featuring World 8-6 and TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon.

* In ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'', the Clank Zapper, a weapon that lets Clank shock nearby enemies with his antennae which was cut from normal play but included as a [[NewGamePlus Challenge Mode]] weapon. The problem? First, despite being available in Challenge Mode, its damage output is still set to Normal Mode levels, so it's woefully ineffective against even the weakest of Challenge Mode enemies. Second, it was cut for a reason: the enemy detection, fire rate and the time it lasts is not conveyed at all, so you're never really sure whether its ended or just taking a long time between shocks. Third, the Clank Shocker ([[LevelGrinding which takes a while to level up to]]), adds laser eyes, which are just as weak and only fire behind Ratchet. And fourth, it cost 2 million bolts to buy. Eventually that becomes chump change, but if you first start Challenge Mode and buy it, you just wasted money you could have spent on an effective Mega Weapon instead.
** For more than a few fans, the Museum in ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2016''. Its Museum is a collection of models and promo art from across the franchise, but unlike the previous Insomniac Museums and the High Impact Treehouses from past titles, it offers no insight into the development of the game itself.

** The infinite battery. It's obtained by defeating the Silver White Knight of the Azure Sky Tower, which is such a prohibitively difficult task it's for all intents and purposes impossible[[note]]You need to get your hands on all the emblems, take on 99 floors of DemonicSpiders, and then defeat the Knight. Three of the emblems can only be obtained via SocializationBonus, so you'd better hope you have three other friends who are doing this quest. The tower also only has 12 floors to start and every time you finish the tower a few extra floors are added, so you'll complete ''over one thousand floors'' before you finally get to 99. If all of that isn't enough, you can't [[SaveGameLimits save]] or [[CheckpointStarvation continue]] at any time in the tower, in a game meant to be played outside on battery no less, and the Silver White Knight is a brutally difficult BonusBoss to boot[[/note]]. Even as an easy unlockable the item would only be somewhat of a convenience at best, as item and ammo capacities are high and means of recharging are plentiful, and anyone who would cheat it into their inventory with a VideoGame/GameGenie could just as easily pop in an unlimited ammo code.