10 Video Games Where The Bad Ending Is Canon
4. Dragon Quest
Near the end of Dragon Quest, after fighting your way to the villainous Dragonlord, he'll ask if you want to side with him or fight him.
Obviously you're supposed to raise fisticuffs and take the Dragonlord on in a final boss battle, but if you opt to join him, you'll suddenly fall asleep and reawaken, with this grim ending having apparently been a nightmare.
Though Dragon Quest II and the rest of the mainline series treats the good ending as canon, the 2016 spin-off Dragon Quest Builders offers up a fascinating alt-universe, taking place in a reality where you did indeed side with the Dragonlord and were given half the world to rule.
However, the game also reveals that the Dragonlord's offer was a mere ruse, with Dragon Quest I's original hero ultimately being defeated and the world of Alefgard becoming overrun by monsters.
Even accepting that things didn't turn out well for the series' O.G. protagonist, it's pretty damn wild that the original bad ending was quasi-canonised 30 years later.