History Main / CashGate

[[folder:RPG -- Western]]
* ''HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' 3 has the barbarian campaign where you're required to gather 200,000 gold to advance.

* In ''{{Sonic The Hedgehog 4}}'''s bonus stages, you need to collect a certain number of rings to continue along the path to the Chaos Emerald. Ditto for ''SonicTheHedgehog 2''.

* ''EndlessOcean'' does this in its sequel. After the intial foray into the sunken temple, the cave is closed by an earthquake. You must raise 1 million Pelagos with guided trips, treasure hunting and photography to open the cave again.

** Getting to the special stages that give you emeralds is done in a similar way in [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog the first game]], [[SonicTheHedgehog2 the second game]], and SonicColors.

* In ''{{Psychonauts}}'' you must purchase a divining rod which allows you to find hidden caches of arrow heads, which in turn allows you to buy a mental cobweb remover, which you need to complete the level which will take you to the second half of the game.

* In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'', there's a part where you have to pay 50k GP to proceed. Hardly you would have the money by now, but there's a side quest to obtain a gold bar that sells for exactly 50k GP.

** ''TheLegendOfZeldaLinkaAwakening'' required you to buy the bow for 980 rupees. Or you could steal it, if you didn't mind never being able to return to the shop and the subsequent scarcity of arrows and bombs.

* Getting the best ending in ''FableIII'' basically requires you to spend several hours doing this.

Upon completing the quest, your money may or may not be LostForever. Compare YouRequireMoreVespeneGas.

A BeefGate is a VideoGame element that prevents you from proceeding past a certain point in the story until you've done enough LevelGrinding. A CashGate is a character or [[BrokenBridge other obstacle]] that makes you collect a certain (very large) amount of GlobalCurrency before you can move on with the story. The point of such assignment is to make {{sidequest}}ing and exploration your ''main'' quest for a while.

[[folder:RPG - Eastern]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''BaldursGate II: Shadows of Amn'', you have to collect 20,000 gold pieces to pay [[spoiler:the Shadow Thieves (or vampires)]] for breaking Imoen out of Spellhold. It gets reduced to 15,000 when [[spoiler:the Shadow Thieves]] realize that you have a competing offer. [[AntiFrustrationFeature Curiously]], this happens the very moment you ''have'' 15 grand on your person for the first time.
* In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire''', there's a part where you have to pay 50k GP to proceed. Hardly you would have the money by now, but there's a side quest to obtain a gold bar that sells for exactly 50k GP.
* In ''DragonAgeII'', you need to gather 50 sovereigns to finance Bartrand Tethras' expedition to the Deep Roads, which finishes Act I. This money is returned to you at the start of Act II.
** Interestingly, you can ''fail'' at this. Since there is only a finite amount of money to be had in Act 1 (~80 gold) if you finish all the side quests but come up short because you bought too much stuff, an [[AllDevouringBlackHoleLoanSharks honest dwarf investor]] will offer to make up the difference. In Act II he tries to extort you for more money so you get to kill him.
* There's a character in ''NeverwinterNights - Hordes of the Underdark'' that knows and sells true names. You are only required to get Reaper's true name so that he teleports you to the main boss because the boss also knows his true name and specifically forbid him from doing so. However, you can buy lots of other true names, some of which don't do anything, but you can even buy the main boss in question's true name and tell him to kill himself.
* While you aren't asked for a specific amount, Chapter 3 of ''DragonQuestIV'' qualifies, since near the end you must buy a large amount of weapons and armor, so you need to hoard a crapload of cash. Thankfully, RandomDrops during the chapter are really, really good, helping a lot. Additionally, you need 35000 gp to open the store (though you can get 25000 by selling a statue), and you need 60000 gp to build the tunnel. There's a person that will buy a certain set of weapons/armors for 60000 gp.
* In ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'' you must collect 100 coins in the local currency (which is apparently [[YourMoneyIsNoGoodHere worth a lot more than]] the Mushroom Kingdom's) to get past a tollbooth (the guard for which [[JerkAss attacks you anyway]]).

* Getting the best ending in ''FableIII'' basically requires you to spend several hours doing this.
* A mission in ''{{Warcraft 3}}'' requires the player to harvest 10,000 lumber to proceed to the next mission.
* ''GrandTheftAutoViceCity'': You need to buy property to progress in the game, and said property is very expensive. If you spent too much bucks on gun or safehouses and failed to buy the building that allows you to participate in street races...well it's easier to start game from a beginning. And even if you bought it, it won't be pretty anyway.
** ''GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' has a similar situation to Vice City - you need to buy an abandoned airfield to [[ScrappyLevel train your piloting skills]] and advance the main plot.
* ''FalloutNewVegas'' requires you to have 2000 caps on your person in order to enter the Strip. Or 500 caps to purchase a forged passport. [[TakeAThirdOption Or hax the securitron that checks you with a high enough Science skill. Or curry a favor from the local gang leader for a fake passport. Or sneak aboard the McCarran monorail. Or pass aboard the monorail with enough NCR reputation or in Boone's company.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', Chapter 2-3, you need to make 1,000,000 rubees by working in a generator room after breaking one of Mimi's vases. [[spoiler:In actuality, this merely involves raising around 1000 rubees to get access to the more lucrative work room, and then to buy the password to the vault which contains the remaining cash for 10,000 rubees]].
* The fairly obscure RTS game ''Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood'' had, for a good two thirds of the game, the main task of gathering 100,000 pounds to pay for king Richard's ransom. Thankfully, if you had spent too much money on bribing guards or buying hints and had finished the main game quests while well short of that sum, the game would let you play infinite minor sidequests until you could afford to advance the plot.
* In ''{{Oblivion}}'', in order to get master level training in mercantile, you have to have 10,000 gold on your person. However, the master trainer doesn't take the gold from you, she just wants you to have it to prove yourself worthy as a student.
** Similarly, to advance in the early thieves guild quests you must earn money though thefts (i.e. case an NPC or house, rob them and sell their stuff to the guild's fence). As with the mercentile example above, this is just to prove yourself and they don't take any money from you.
** If you get kicked out of any of the guilds for whatever reason (usually for stealing from or attacking a fellow member) then you have to perform a sidequest that involves either TwentyBearAsses or this trope.
* In ''{{Sonic The Hedgehog 4}}'''s bonus stages, you need to collect a certain number of rings to continue along the path to the Chaos Emerald. Ditto for ''SonicTheHedgehog 2''.
** Getting to the special stages that give you emeralds is done in a similar way in [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog the first game]], [[SonicTheHedgehog2 the second game]], and SonicColors.

* ''Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland'' consists almost entirely of a series of cash gates, interspersed with occasional dungeons.
* In ''{{Recettear}}'', paying off Recette's DisappearedDad's debt is arguably one of these. Failing to make a repayment is still the GameOver condition, but the game allows you begin NewGamePlus nonetheless - in fact, it's ''very'' difficult (but not quite impossible) to complete the game without doing this once.
** Clearing the CashGate by making the final repayment unlocks Endless Mode, where the game continues without the money pressure, allowing you to focus on dungeons and plot; and Survival Mode, where the debt constantly ramps and can can't ever be fully paid off.

* In FinalFantasyThe4HeroesOfLight, there's one part of the game where Jusqua has to raise 10,000 gil in order to un-BalefulPolymorph Princess Aire, who got turned into a cat, even though [[spoiler: he's got the wrong cat]]. To help with this, at this point you have the option to open your own shop and, fortunately, [[KarlMarxHatesYourGuts Karl Marx]] [[AvertedTrope DOESN'T]] hate your guts!
* In ''FinalFantasyVIII'', you need 3000 gil to ride the train to Timber and another 3000 to get to Deling City.
* In ''MassEffect1'', you have to get the "Rich" Achievement to unlock the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Master Spectre gear]]. Said achievement is awarded for having a whopping million credits in your purse at once. It also overlaps with a subtle BeefGate later on: to get even ''better'' Spectre gear, you need the "Rich" Achievement ''and'' level 50 characters.
* The Amazon level in ''VideoGame/DuckTales'' has a cash gate at one point, although this can be [[SequenceBreaking bypassed]] [[GoodBadBugs with a certain glitch]].
* In ''OregonTrail'', you can either pay for the Barlow Toll Road (which has a couple dangerous hill sections in ''II''), or you can take the hard route by rafting down the river.

* This is the main purpose of the aptly named Moneybags in the ''SpyroTheDragon'' series.
** At least, it is up until ''A Hero's Tail'', where he's there to sell you items.

[[folder:Other Media]]
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon! Dungeon!]], the [[http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1339/dungeon boardgame.]]
* In RealLife, there's a building owned by [[http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/the-million-dollar-club/article1482153/ Morgan Meighen & Associates]], where you need $1 million dollars to proceed beyond the soft yellow interior.

* In [[VideoGame/BreathOfFire Breath of Fire]], there's a part where you have to pay 50k GP to proceed. Hardly you would have the money by now, but there's a side quest to obtain a gold bar that sells for exactely 50k GP.

* Subverted in ''{{Nethack}}'' within the [[spoiler: lairs of Asmodeus and Baalzebub]]. Unless [[spoiler: you're wielding {{Excalibur}}]] they'll ask you for your gold in order to pass safely, but by that point it is usually faster to just kill them.

* n ''{{Recettear}}'', paying off Recette's DisappearedDad's debt is arguably one of these, since if you fail to pay it off you can start again and once it's paid off you enter "Endless Mode" where you can focus on activating plot related events rather than paying off the debt.

* The Amazon level in ''Game/DuckTales'' has a cash gate at one point, although this can be [[SequenceBreaking bypassed]] [[GoodBadBugs with a certain glitch]].

* ''FalloutNewVegas'' requires you to have 2000 caps in order to enter the Strip. It's not the only way to advance though.

* In ''The Legend of Zelda: WindWaker'', you may not proceed to the final dungeon until you have paid exactly 3184 rupees to Tingle.