History Main / MegaDungeon

* ''VideoGame/{{Gauntlet}}'' clone ''Demon Stalkers'' is an ActionRPG mega-dungeon comprising a full 100 levels, with lore telling the story of a previous unsuccessful attempt to kill the demon Calvrax imprisoned on its bottom level. It contained a LevelEditor that could be used to make your own mega-dungeon.

* ''Videogame/Fallout3'' has the DC Metro Area, a collection of above-ground sections inaccessible directly from the main over-world pertaining to real-life DC metro-area locales (the largest of which is the National Mall) and with a number of interiors for aboveground ruins in the areas, connected by a crisscross of subway tunnel ruins. Some (potential) friendlies within the mega-dungeon are a couple Brotherhood of Steel outposts and a colony of Ghouls that functions as an in-dungeon town.

* The universe of ''Franchise/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'' centers on the dungeon simply called the Dungeon. How deep it is not known; the deepest level mortals ever explored is the sixtieth floor below ground. The Dungeon supports a DungeonBasedEconomy because the monsters within contain magic stones, which can be used as a renewable power source. This makes Orario, the city built directly ''on top'' of the Dungeon, an extremely large city.

** The UrExample is ''Maure Castle,'' created by Robert Kuntz in 1972 for a campaign that boasted Creator/GaryGygax as a player. It was finally revised for publication in ''Magazine/DungeonMagazine'' #112.

* In Literature/TheDeathGateCycle, the Labyrinth is a mega-scale dungeon where the Patryn were imprisoned by their rival demigod-like beings, the Sartan. It took them generations to reach the final floor and the exit to the rest of the world(s).

* The universe of ''Franchise/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'' centers on the dungeon simply called the Dungeon. How deep it is is not known; the deepest level mortals ever explored is the sixtieth floor below ground. The Dungeon supports a DungeonBasedEconomy because the monsters within contains magic stones, which can be used as a renewable power source. This makes Orario, the city built directly ''on top'' of the Dungeon, an extremely large city.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'': Generally, games in this series are based around a single massive dungeon located within the fabled [[WorldTree Yggdrasil]], with a [[DungeonBasedEconomy town at its base]], from which adventurers go forth to map the environment and uncover its secrets. Typically, the labyrinth consists of 30 floors distributed in six strata (dungeon labyrinths), each with a specific theme and gimmick. In the third game, it has only 25 floors, with the first five strata having four each and the sixth having five (the game makes up for this by having a playable overworld map, which is set in an ocean). The fourth and sixth games only have their respective final strata (Forgotten Capital in the former, Yggdrasil Labyrinth in the latter) set within the tree proper, thus averting this trope (in both games. the main strata are located in the overworld, though they're still magically linked to the tree).

The mind-boggling scale of a mega-dungeon invites the DrivingQuestion of who built it and why; usually {{Precursors}} are involved, and the place may serve as a massive prison for for some UltimateEvil, or a vault to contain some immeasurable treasure. Either way, it will attract no shortage of adventurers ready to plumb its depths in search of answers. Even if its purpose is not known, it will gain renown far and wide; the greater the mystery, the greater the impulse to uncover it. But of course, the deeper one goes, the greater the danger becomes, both from the hazards inherent to the location and from other adventurers of great power who have also made it this far and are desperate to weed out the competition.

* ''Webcomic/MarbleGateDungeon'' is based around a 12,000+ level extra-dimensional dungeon that appears every seventy five years in new locations and attracts thousands of treasure seekers as well as individuals wanting to test themselves against the monsters inside.

* ''Videogame/{{Diablo}}:'' Technically, the whole game takes place in Tristram's Cathedral, which has 16 levels divided into four distinct tilesets. The place gradually appears to tunnel into Hell itself thanks to Diablo's influence, but the transition is such that it remains the Cathedral the whole time, surprisingly huge for a relatively small town.

* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}:

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* ''VideoGame/Persona3'' has you explore Tartarus at night, which is a 264-floor tower divided into six blocks with an optional 10-floor underground dungeon.

* ''VideoGame/LegacyOfTheWizard'' takes place almost entirely in a single dungeon 16 levels deep. With there being four very, very wide rooms to each level, it's easy to lose your way down there.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass Phantom Hourglass]]'' consists of finding items in dungeons in order to progress further into the Temple of the Ocean King, obtaining what is necessary in order to go and clear more dungeons. There are other objectives and {{Plot Coupon}}s along the way, but the Temple of the Ocean King is ultimately the most crucial location in the game, as it's there where the BigBad (Bellum) is located.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]'' has the Tower of Spirits, a very tall dungeon (and the tallest one in the ''Zelda'' franchise with 30 floors, surpassing the 13 of its predecessor's equivalent) whose magic is connected to that of the rails the trains travel across (the rails also have the function of sealing the Demon King Malladus). As Link and Zelda venture through the temples of Hyrule to restore the rails, they also manage to rebuild the Tower and explore the higher floors, as doing so allows them to explore new parts of the land to access new temples and repeat the cycle. Unfortunately for them, by the time they fully restore the magical seal, Malladus is already freed by Chancellor Cole, so the purpose of the last round of the cycle (which consists of the last remaining temple and the Tower's highest floors) revolves around finding the weapon that can kill Malladus and then gain access to his new location (the Dark Realm).

* ''Videogame/{{Torchlight}}'' provides a {{reconstruction}} of this trope with its 35-floor story-driven dungeon, which is essentially one continuous passage from top to bottom. It is eventually revealed that the dungeon was created because the location was populated over the eons by multiple different civilisations for different purposes, but due to the machinations of the BigBad residing at the bottom floor, ''all'' of these civilisations failed, fell into ruin, and were lost to history, buried by the passage of time, with a new civilisation eventually establishing itself directly over the ruins of the previous civilisation, before ultimately suffering the same fate. The eponymous town is the latest civilisation to be built on the location, and known for being the largest cache of Ember; at the time of the player's arrival, it too was beginning to suffer the ills that befell the past civilisations previously built there.

* ''Delve'' takes place entirely in the emponymous area, a sprawling, 99 (plus an unspecified ammount of pocket dimensions)-levelled mega-dungeon. There are monsters who have set up entire countries, such as hostile lizardmen, an ApocalypseCult dedicated to the Devourer of Worlds, and a ProudWarriorRace of ([[OneGenderRace all-female]]) minotaurs who are friendly under the right circumstances.

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* ''Videogame/{{Torchlight}}'' shows its inspiration from ''Diablo'' by making the whole game just one continuous passage, as the layers overlap and one civilization's ruins breach into the other's, all starting with Ember mines that accidentally breached into the Necropolis below.

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** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]'' has the Tower of Spirits, a very tall dungeon (and the tallest one in the ''Zelda'' franchise with 30 floors, surpassing the 13 of its predecessor's equivalent) whose magic is connected to that of the rails the trains travel across (the rails also have the function of sealing the Demon King Malladus). As Link and Zelda venture through the temples of Hyrule to restore the rails, they also manage to rebuild the Tower and explore the higher floors, as doing so allows them to explore new parts of the land to access new temples and repeat the cycle. Unfortunately for them, by the time they fully restore the magical seal, Malladus is already freed by Chancellor Cole, so the purpose of the last round of the cycle (which consists of the last remaining temple and the Tower's highest floors) consists of finding the weapon that can kill Malladus and then gain access to his new location (the Dark Realm).

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'': Generally, games in this series are based around a single massive dungeon located within the fabled [[WorldTree Yggdrasil]], with a [[DungeonBasedEconomy town at its base]], from which adventurers go forth to map the environment and uncover its secrets. Typically, the labyrinth consists of 30 floors distributed in six strata (dungeon labyrinths), each with a specific theme and gimmick. In the third game, it has only 25 floors, with the first five strata having four each and the fifth having five (the game makes up for this by having a playable overworld map, which is set in an ocean). The fourth and sixth games only have their respective final strata (Forgotten Capital in the former, Yggdrasil Labyrinth in the latter) set within the tree proper, thus averting this trope (in both games. the main strata are located in the overworld, though they're still magically linked to the tree).

* ''Webcomic/{{TowerOfGod}}'': The Tower seems to comprise everything, to the point that for most people the sky is a myth. Most people live on the bottom levels, while climbing to the top is a highly dangerous task that only the chosen few or those of great power can even attempt.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'': Generally, games in this series are based around a single massive dungeon located within the fabled [[WorldTree Yggdrasil]], with a [[DungeonBasedEconomy town at its base]], from which adventurers go forth to map the environment and uncover its secrets. Typically, the labyrinth consists of 30 floors distributed in six strata (dungeon labyrinths), each with a specific theme and gimmick. In the third game, it has only 25 floors, with the first five strata having four each and the fifth having five. The fourth and sixth games only have their respective final strata (Forgotten Capital in the former, Yggradil Labyrinth in the latter) set within the tree proper, thus averting this trope (the main strata are located in the overworld, though they're still magically linked to the tree).

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'' revolves around one. Pretty much the entire game consists of finding items in dungeons in order to progress further into the Temple of the Ocean King, obtaining what is necessary in order to go and clear more dungeons. The Temple of the Ocean King is arguably a significant portion of the entire game.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'': Generally, games in this series are based around a single massive dungeon, with a [[DungeonBasedEconomy town at its base]], from which adventurers go forth to map the environment and uncover its secrets.

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* The ''Literature/{{Gearworld}}'' is an incomprehensible labyrinth of concrete and rusted gears, most of its structures having no apparent purpose, and the place as a whole creates the impression of being some sort of organic growth more than the result of some civilization's intentional efforts. It has entrances on opposite sides of the world, but it's unknown whether it's just that big or if its AlienGeometries allow it to be in several places at once.