History Main / CashGate

[[folder: Survival Horror]]

* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow'' has a variant. It is not required to progress through the game, but there are three rooms that require the last three digits of your money to be a certain value (eg. 666) in order for them to open. ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'' uses this for a couple of the subquests too, but in this case you don't get any more map space for it, but quest rewards.

** In ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4: Episode 2'''s bonus stages, you need to collect a certain number of rings to continue along the path to the Chaos Emerald. Ditto for ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2''. Also, getting to the special stages that give you emeralds is done in a similar way in [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 the first game]], [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 the second game]], and VideoGame/SonicColors.

* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', you need to pay Tanaka a total of 40,000 yen- one installment of 20,000 yen and two more installments of 10,000 yen- to access the Devil Confidant. Unlike Chihaya from ''P5'', Tanaka never returns the money, but offers you advice as "compensation."
* In order to progress Chihaya Mifune's Confidant rank in ''VideoGame/Persona5'', a 100,000 yen holy stone must be bought from her. While she returns it later on, its quite the investment, especially in the early game.

* From ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', in [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1549 SCP-1549]] a programmer shares his internet based portal network to The Foundation and is willing to cooperate. But instead of enjoying the beautiful webpages as intended, they are very uncooperative and rebuilds the network for the purpose of globally transporting resources. Eventually leading to war. At the end the creator gives up and blocks all the portals with a paywall requiring 10E10^100 USD in physical payment.

* Played straight and then mocked mercilessly in the console game adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'': a leprechaun runs an upgrade shop and appears in two levels asking for payment to progress. He then appears in the penultimate level demanding a billion coins, which you obviously won't have, only for Mongo to step on him, allowing Shrek and friends to continue freely.

* In ''VideoGame/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, {{Karl Marx|HatesYourGuts}} [[AvertedTrope DOESN'T]] hate your guts!

Upon completing the quest, your money may or may not be lost forever. Compare FameGate, BeefGate, and YouRequireMoreVespeneGas.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' requires you to purchase food/bait (60 Rupees at the cheapest) and arrows (80 rupees). These items are needed to advance in dungeons.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'': A early example is used when you have to pay 10 rupees to the monkey to accompany you (as long as you don't get hit) and another 100 to open the first Dark World dungeon's door. You also need to collect at least 500 rupees before that to be able to buy Zora's Flippers. You also need 100 to buy a super bomb to blow up a wall that contains the solver arrows.

** You must also pay a fee to open the gate in Light Foot Village that leads to Cape Claw.

** A early example used in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link To the Past]]'' when you have to pay 10 rupees to the monkey to accompany you (as long as you don't get hit) and another 100 to open the first Dark World dungeon's door. You also need to collect at least 500 rupees before that to be able to buy Zora's Flippers. You also need 100 to buy a super bomb to blow up a wall that contains the solver arrows.

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', you must buy your first shield, and having one is mandatory. Mido refuses to let you see the Great Deku Tree (and, by proxy, the first dungeon) until you have both a sword and a shield -- while you find the sword in a chest, you have to buy the shield at the store.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', the Gibdos in the Ikana Well require a multitude of different items before they will let you pass them. While most of the items they ask for are normal pickup that can be found throughout the overworld, one Gibdo requires for you to give him five Magic Beans (or one, in the 3DS remake), which must be bought. Also in this game is the Powder Keg; while you do get a free one that you could use to enter Romani Ranch, you must purchase another Powder Keg in order to get through Ikana Castle.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', you may not proceed to the final dungeon until you have paid exactly 3184 rupees to Tingle for him to decipher the charts showing where to find the sunken [[spoiler:Triforce pieces]]. The HD remake considerably lessens that amount, as there are fewer charts to decipher.

** Given that ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'' has a few instances of this, but mainly in the form of Link's arsenal: most of the his items, which are necessary for beating dungeons and traversing the overworld, must be purchased from Ravio. If you're confident in your ability to not die at any point in the game, you can simply rent the items instead for lower prices, though you trade-off the ability to upgrade them in the process.
** In order to get into [[LadyLand Gerudo Town]] in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', Link must be DisguisedInDrag using Gerudo garb. Link can only get this outfit by paying 600 rupees to Vilia.

** A early example used in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link To the Past]]'' when you have to pay 10 rupees to the monkey to accompany you (as long as you don't get hit) and another 100 to open the first Dark World dungeon's door. You also need to collect at least 500 rupees before that to be able to buy Zora's Flippers.

** The same thing happens on Telos station in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords''. If you want to buy the czerka technican's pass codes off him you'll need 2500 credits. If you want to be light side, other wise you can just kill him and take it.

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', the Gibdos in the Ikana Well require a multitude of different items before they will let you pass them. While most of the items they ask for are normal pickup that can be found throughout the overworld, one Gibdo requires for you to give him five Magic Beans (or one, in the 3DS remake), which must be bought.
*** Also in ''Majora's Mask'' is the Powder Keg. While you do get a free one that you could use to enter Romani Ranch, you must purchase another Powder Keg in order to get through Ikana Castle.

* In the first ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'' game, some doors require a certain amount of red orbs to open. It returns for a while in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry2''; the first sealed door in Lucia's first mission needs 45 Red Orbs to open. They are all but [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness gone in the next games]].

* The Ginza area of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' features a section ruled by the [[TheSocialDarwinist Ring of Gaea]] that believes money is a form of power, restricting access to the spawning grounds of the most valuable VendorTrash of the game and the shops stocking the best weapons and armor. To unlock them, you have to seek Hunters willing to sell you their access cards, and each is ''keenly'' aware of how much their cards are worth. In total, 155,000 Macca are required to purchase the necessary cards... after which the game will slap you with the ''obscene'' prices of every one of the stores.

* The original ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'' has sealed door requiring red orbs to open them. They are all but [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness gone in the sequels]].

* In ''Videogame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey'', one of the story missions requires you to raise 15000 drachmae in order to pay a mercenary for information about your mother's whereabouts.

* In ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'', the main path to Crystal Peak is through a toll gate that costs 50 Geo, but to see the mechanism, [[DoubleUnlock you first need to purchase the Lumafly Lantern]] for a staggering 1800 Geo.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' requires you to have 2000 caps on your person in order to enter the Strip, or pay 500 caps to purchase a forged passport (which can be negotiated down to 375 with a high enough Barter skill). [[TakeAThirdOption Or hack 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. Or shoot the robot-guards in the face with a hunting rifle.]]

-->'''Ratchet:''' What? Even the ''computers'' are charging us now? That's it, this place blows.

** In ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'', you need to pay Klubba in Kremcoins in order to access the the Lost World. This is not required to beat the main quest, but is needed for [[spoiler:[[HundredPercentCompletion 102% Completion]]]].

* Each level in ''VideoGame/SpongeBobSquarePantsBattleForBikiniBottom'' has a hungry clam that can be fed with Shiny Objects, either to open the way forward or just to access small side areas, depending on which level you're in. The level ''[=SpongeBob's=] Dream'' is especially notorious for having a series of expensive tolls that [=SpongeBob=] has to pay in order to progress. There's also Mr. Krabs, who will trade Golden Spatulas (the game's main objective) for increasingly large sums of Shiny Objects, though these are never required for anything other than OneHundredPercentCompletion.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': Several blades require spending quite a bit of money directly (Sheba) or raising a lot of money to buy a large number of objects (Adenine and Boreas) in order to fill out their affinity charts and make their sidequests available.