10 Video Game True Endings That Change EVERYTHING
4. Save Richter, Kill Dracula - Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night (1997)
For the uninquisitive gamer, a playthrough of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night may only be half the length it should. Your goal is to make it to the top of Dracula's castle, and if you make it your mission to get there as soon as possible and do away with the evil Richter Belmont, you'll probably be shocked to see the game ending on quite an anticlimactic note.
Only when you reload your last save can you discover that you've literally only experienced half of the game. Encountering Maria Renard below the clock tower will reward you with the Holy Glasses, and taking them into the boss fight with Richter is a game-changer in every conceivable sense.
The glasses will reveal that Richter has been controlled by Dracula's servant, Shaft, the whole time. Once you spare him, a portal at the end of the room will take you to an inverted version of the entire castle. You'll have to fight your way through all over again...upside-down.
And, as you might be expecting, Dracula himself lies in wait for you, in the very place you met with Maria in the original castle.
The ending plays as soon as Alucard puts to rest his dear old dad once again, and, bidding farewell to Richter and Maria, takes his leave for the good of the world.