History Main / SecretFinalCampaign

** In order to unlock the final story of ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'', not only do you need to complete all four of the team stories, but you also need to collect all seven Chaos Emeralds (who you collect them with doesn't matter). Doing so will unlock the final story in which the four teams unite to battle the true BigBad, [[OneWingedAngel Metal Overlord]].
** ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'': There's only one story, but it branches into Hero, Dark, and Neutral paths, depending on whose objectives you complete in each level. There's a total of ''ten'' different endings, and you have to see them all in order to unlock the final campaign and the True Ending.

** ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' takes this UpToEleven: there's only one story, but it branches into Hero, Dark, and Neutral paths, depending on whose objectives you complete in each level. There's a total of ''ten'' different endings, and you have to see them all in order to unlock the final campaign and the True Ending.

** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' starts off with two stories: the Hero story, where you play as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles; and the Dark story, where you play as Shadow, Eggman, and Rouge. Beat both stories, and you unlock the final story where you play one long level as all the characters (except Shadow), fight a powerful boss using Shadow, and then the TrueFinalBoss as Super Sonic and Super Shadow.

* In ''[[VideoGame/Ys Ys Origin]]'', beating the game with both Yunica and Hugo unlocks a third route starring The Claw / Toal Fact. The route has a TrueFinalBoss and completing it leads to the true ending of the game.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' features three characters by the names of Terra, Ventus, and Aqua. Each of them has their own story to go through. Clearing all three stories and getting all entries to Xehanort's Report will unlock one more campaign focused on Aqua. The Final Mix version takes it a step further by having an additional campaign after that one, which has requirements dependent on difficulty.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'' features a one of these called "Reverse Rebirth" in which the player is put into Riku's shoes and he has to navigate his own plot. While it is unlocked by ''default'' (thus it is not a "Secret mode" as originally suspected), the player must beat Sora's campaign before they can play Reverse Rebirth.

* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'' combines this with BrutalBonusLevel and TrueFinalBoss, which acts as a definitive conclusion to the game's {{Metaplot}}. In order to unlock the game's true final chapter, you must complete all eight of the Traveler's individual storylines.
* In ''[[VideoGame/YsYs Origin]]'', beating the game with both Yunica and Hugo unlocks a third route starring The Claw / Toal Fact. The route has a TrueFinalBoss and completing it leads to the true ending of the game.

* In ''[[VideoGame/PuyoPuyo Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary]]'', clearing all 24 of the individual characters' stories will unlock the Final Story, which pulls everyone together for one final showdown against the final bosses.

* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Ys}} Ys Origin]]'', beating the game with both Yunica and Hugo unlocks a third route starring The Claw / Toal Fact. The route has a TrueFinalBoss and completing it leads to the true ending of the game.

If you took your time to do so, you will no doubt be given one more campaign to clear. This campaign has the protagonists of the other campaigns brought together for one true final showdown. You could be using all of the characters you have played as back to back, or you could be using just one of them. In any case, you haven't beaten the game just yet.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' features three characters by the names of Terra, Ventus, and Aqua. Each of them has their own story to go through. Clearing all three stories and getting all entries to Xehanort's Report will unlock one more campaign focused on Aqua. The final mix version takes it a step further by having an additional campaign after that one, which has requirements dependent on difficulty.

** To start off, ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' features six different characters with their own stories. While the characters interact during certain segments, it takes beating each story to see the true ending, in which you play as Super Sonic.

* In ''[[Franchise/{{Ys}} Ys Origin]]'', beating the game with both Yunica and Hugo unlocks a third route starring The Claw / Toal Fact. The route has a TrueFinalBoss and completing it leads to the true ending of the game.

* ''Videogame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'' features a campaign for each of the two factions, detailing both sides of the Third Tiberium War. Then, midway through the campaign, an AlienInvasion occurs [[spoiler: lured there by the detonation of a [[FantasticNuke Liquid Tiberium Bomb]]]], and after fighting off the aliens and concluding the war for both factions, you are then returned to the menu screen.. which promptly assumes control, selects 'campaign', and reveals the ''third'' campaign, detailing the third side to the Third Tiberium War: That of the ''AlienInvasion itself''

* In ''[[Franchise/{{Ys}} Ys Origin]]'', beating the game with both Yunica and Hugo unlocks a third route staring [[spoiler:The Claw / Toal Fact]]. The route has a TrueFinalBoss and completing it leads to the true ending of the game.

* A good number of games in the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series have their stories set up this way. Most of their final campaigns involve playing as Super Sonic and an additional character.

* The Jin campaign was this in the initial releases of VideoGame/DynastyWarriors 7, with the player having to complete the stories of the main Three Kingdoms in order to play their story. This was due to Jin’s story being the final one chronologically, as they were the ones who won historically. The Australian release, and later re-releases worldwide changed this, and had Jin available from the start, though when selected before the other stories are complete, it tells the player that the story is meant to be played last, and asks them to confirm the choice.

[[folder:Eastern RPG]]
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' features three characters by the names of Terra, Ventus, and Aqua. Each of them has their own story to go through. Clearing all three stories and getting all entries to Xehanort's Report will unlock one more campaign focused on Aqua. The final mix version takes it a step further by having an additional campaign after that one, which has requirements dependent on difficulty.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'' features a one of these called "Reverse Rebirth" in which the player is put into Riku's shoes and he has to navigate his own plot. While it is unlocked by ''default'' (thus it is not a "Secret mode" as originally suspected), the player must beat Sora's campaign before they can play Reverse Rebirth.
* ''VideoGame/LiveALive'': After completing the stories of the seven available characters, an eighth story is unlocked that focuses on a knight named Oersted. Playing through his story will reveal him to actually be the big bad while also giving you one last campaign. In an interesting variant, you can actually choose who to have as the protagonist for the final campaign. There is even a GoldenEnding which involves some exploration. If you choose to have [[VillainProtagonist Oersted as the protagonist]] on the other hand, [[DownerEnding don't expect a happy ending]].
* ''VideoGame/ManaKhemia2FallOfAlchemy'', after beating both Raze's and Ulrika's story modes, you then can proceed to the third campaign, where the playable casts of both team unite to go fight the TrueFinalBoss.
* ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' has you start with Route A, which is the basic campaign as the main character, 2B. After completing A, the game unlocks Route B, which is a PerspectiveFlip where you play as 2B's partner, 9S. This story is followed by Route C, which acts as a sequel to the first two routes and alternates characters along the path to the GoldenEnding.
* In ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'', after you beat all five of the character campaigns, you unlock the sixth campaign. It's a BossRush consisting of five bosses, and you need to choose which character fights which boss. Choosing the correct combination will result in the GoldenEnding of the entire story, while getting every possible bad ending unlocks the GoldenEnding's epilogue.
* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'' combines this with BrutalBonusLevel and TrueFinalBoss, which acts as a definitive conclusion to the game's {{Metaplot}}. In order to unlock the game's true final chapter, you must complete all eight of the Traveler's individual storylines.
[[/folder]]

* In ''[[VideoGame/PuyoPuyo Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary]]'', clearing all 24 of the individual characters' stories will unlock the Extra Route, which pulls everyone together for one final showdown against the final boss.

* In ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'', after you beat all five of the character campaigns, you unlock the sixth campaign. It's a BossRush consisting of five bosses, and you need to choose which character fights which boss. Choosing the correct combination will result in the GoldenEnding of the entire story.

Sometimes, this final campaign can have MultipleEndings. Which ending you get depened on what you choose to do in the final campaign.

This will often result in the TrueFinalBoss coming into play. Compare OmegaEnding which involves unlocking a game's true ending by getting all other endings, but not involving multiple campaigns. Related to UnlockableDifficultyLevels, where you can play the same campaign in a harder level after beating it once for the first time. Not to be confused with PostEndGameContent, which would come after clearing the final campaign in this scenario.

!! Examples

* A good amount of games in the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series have their stories set up this way. Most of their final campaigns involve playing as Super Sonic and an additional character.
** To start of, ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' features six different characters with their own story. While the characters interact during certain segments, it take beating each story to see the true ending, in which you play as Super Sonic.
** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' starts off with two stories. The Hero story where you play as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, and the Dark story where you play as Shadow, Eggman, and Rouge. Beat both stories, and you unlock the final story where you play one long level as all the characters (except Shadow), fight a powerful boss using Shadow, and then the TrueFinalBoss as Super Sonic and Super Shadow.
** In order to unlock the final story of ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'', not only do you need to complete all four of the team stories, but you also need to collect all seven chaos emerald (who you collect them with doesn't matter). Doing so will unlock the final story which opens with Metal Sonic [[OneWingedAngel becoming Metal Overlord]] and serving as the final boss for the game as a whole.
** ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'': has a campaign focused on Sonic, Silver, and Shadow. Beating all three campaigns will unlock one last story which has Mephiles successfully fuse with Iblis and become Solaris by killing Sonic. All the other playable characters (except Blaze) gather the chaos emeralds to revive Sonic, and the three hedgehogs take off for one final battle.
** ''VideoGame/SonicRush'' starts off with just Sonic's story. Upon completing the first zone though, Blaze's story becomes available. Beating both stories (and collecting all the chaos emeralds in Sonic's story) will unlock one last campaign which Super Sonic and Burning Blaze face off against a powered up mech piloted by Eggman and Eggman Nega.

* ''VideoGame/TraumaTeam'' After finishing the missions for all six characters, a seventh campaign unlocks at the end to take on the super disease of the game.

[[folder:Simulation]]
* ''VideoGame/TraumaTeam'' After finishing the missions for all six characters, a seventh campaign unlocks at the end to take on the super disease of the game.