A minigame is a short video game often contained within another video game. A minigame is always smaller or more simplistic than the game in which it is contained. Minigames are sometimes also offered separately for free to promote the main game. For instance, the Pokémon Stadium

Pokémon Stadium

Pokémon Stadium, known as in Japan, is a strategy game developed by Nintendo EAD with the assistance of Creatures and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It was released on April 30, 1999 in Japan, February 29, 2000 in North America, and April 7, 2000...

minigames involves merely pressing a few buttons at specific intervals, with little complexity.

Features

Minigames occur variously as gameplay

Gameplay

Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...

 features, or as time fillers while levels are loading, or as Easter eggs

Easter egg (media)

Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...

. In the latter case, they are often called "secret games". In the former case, the successful completion of such minigames may or may not be required to finish the encompassing game.

The Shenmue franchise

Shenmue (series)

Shenmue is an interactive cinema open-world adventure video game series created, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki, and developed and published by Sega. Shenmue was listed in the 2006 Guinness Book of World Records as the most expensive video game produced for its time, with a production budget of...

 is interspersed with many mini-games, including full versions of Sega arcade games Space Harrier

Space Harrier

is a third-person rail shooter game, released by Sega in 1985. It was produced by Yu Suzuki, responsible for many popular Sega games. It spawned several sequels: Space Harrier 3-D , Space Harrier II , and the spin-off Planet Harriers ....

and Hang-On

Hang-On

Hang-On is an arcade game released by Sega in 1985. It is the world's first full-body-experience video game. In the game, the player controls a motorcycle against time and other computer-controlled bikes. It was one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit graphics and Sega's "Super Scaler"...

(both originally programmed by Shenmue creator and director, Yu Suzuki

Yu Suzuki

is a Japanese game designer and producer who has spent his entire career with Sega Enterprises. Often referred to as Sega's answer to Shigeru Miyamoto, he has been responsible for the creation of many of Sega's most important arcade games such as Hang-On, Out Run, After Burner II, Virtua Fighter,...

).

Notable examples

The Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy

is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...

series is notable for featuring minigames in every entry of the series, ever since the first Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy (video game)

is a fantasy role-playing video game created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, developed and first published in Japan by Square in 1987. It is the first game in Square's Final Fantasy series...

(1987), in which a sliding puzzle

Sliding puzzle

A sliding puzzle, sliding block puzzle, or sliding tile puzzle is a puzzle that challenges a player to slide usually flat pieces along certain routes to establish a certain end-configuration....

 in the form of an Easter egg can be unlocked while boarding the ship. In Final Fantasy II

Final Fantasy II

is a fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1988 for the Family Computer as the second installment of the Final Fantasy series. The game has received numerous enhanced remakes for the WonderSwan Color, the Sony PlayStation, Japanese mobile phones, the Game Boy...

(1988), a matching game

Rummy

Rummy is a group of card games notable for gameplay based on the matching of similar playing cards. The Mexican game of Conquian is considered by David Parlett to be ancestral to all rummy games, which itself is derived from a Chinese game called Khanhoo and, going even further back,...

 can be unlocked while boarding the ice sled and meeting a certain requirement. Later in the series, Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII

is a role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was originally released in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation and was re-released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers and in 2009...

(1997) was the first video game to include within it at least thirty minigames, which remains the largest number of minigames for a role-playing game

Role-playing video game

Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...

. The computer game Chronomaster

Chronomaster

Chronomaster is a computer DOS-based adventure game developed by DreamForge Intertainment and published by IntraCorp on 20 December 1995. Its main plot was written by novelist Roger Zelazny and was his last known work, as he died during the development of the game.Chronomaster narrates the story of...

 featured similar puzzle minigames which were crucial to the plot.

The minigames in the game boy advance version of Tron 2.0

Tron 2.0

Tron 2.0 is a first person shooter computer game developed by Monolith Productions. According to Tron creator Steven Lisberger, Tron 2.0 was the official sequel to the 1982 film Tron, but was later declared non-canon by Tron: Legacy director Joesph Kosinski. The PC version of the game was released...

are the arcade games Tron

Tron (arcade game)

Tron is a coin-operated arcade video game manufactured and distributed by Bally Midway in 1982. It is based on the Walt Disney Productions motion picture Tron released in the same year. The game consists of four subgames inspired by the events of the science fiction film. It features some...

and Discs of Tron

Discs of Tron

Discs of Tron is the second arcade game based on 1982 Disney film Tron.-Description:While the first Tron arcade game had several mini-games , Discs of Tron is inspired by the Jai alai sequence in the original 1982 film in which Kevin Flynn is forced to play against Crom, leading to Crom being...

Some minigames become so popular that they are eventually published as individual titles by themselves. Notable examples are Geometry Wars

Geometry Wars

Geometry Wars is a minigame created by Bizarre Creations as part of Project Gotham Racing 2 for the Xbox, accessible through the in-game garage. An updated version of the game, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, is available for download on the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade. It can also be played in...

, which was originally a minigame in Project Gotham Racing 2

Project Gotham Racing 2

Project Gotham Racing 2 is a racing game for the Xbox, developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Microsoft. PGR2 is the sequel to the highly successful Project Gotham Racing. It is the second title in the Project Gotham Racing series.As in PGR, the route to advancement in PGR2 differs from...

, and Arcomage

Arcomage

Arcomage is a computerized card game produced by The 3DO Company. It originated as a minigame in Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor and Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer, in which it was used to gamble for in-game money or to complete a quest to win games in every tavern. 3DO later...

, a relatively complex minigame, reminiscent of Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...

, first introduced in Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor

Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor

Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor is a role playing game published in 1999 by 3DO and developed by New World Computing, and is the predecessor of Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer...

.

The PocketStation

PocketStation

The is a peripheral by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation home video game console. Categorized by Sony as a miniature personal digital assistant, the device features a monochrome liquid crystal display , infrared communication capability, a real-time clock, built-in flash memory, and...

 (for Sony PlayStation) and VMU

VMU

The VMU, or Visual Memory Unit is a memory card peripheral for the Dreamcast. Its official name was changed by Sega for each of the three key regions:-* Japan = Visual Memory System * North America = Visual Memory Unit...

 (for Dreamcast) accessories allowed the user to download minigames from the main console onto the pocket device, and often then sync progress in the minigame back on to the console. Two examples of this include the Chocobo World minigame inside Final Fantasy VIII

Final Fantasy VIII

is a role-playing video game released for the PlayStation in 1999 and for Windows-based personal computers in 2000. It was developed and published by Square as the Final Fantasy series' eighth title, removing magic point-based spell-casting and the first title to consistently use realistically...

(which is also playable on PC), and 'Chao Adventure', a minigame in Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure

is a 1999 platform video game developed by Sonic Team and released on December 23, 1998, in Japan by Sega for the Dreamcast. One of its development titles was Sonic RPG...

.

The entirely non-electronic tabletop game Mansions of Madness also features minigames in the form of simple puzzles.

Minigame compilations

Some games, such as the WarioWare series (which are called microgames in the game), UPL

UPL

, also known as UPL Co. Ltd and formally known as , was a video game production company headquartered in Oyama, Tochigi, Japan. It was founded as a subsidiary of Universal Entertainment. Even none of the staff remember when exactly it was founded. In 1984, it was renamed as "UPL Co. Ltd"...

's Video Action, some Cinemaware

Cinemaware

Cinemaware was a computer game developer and publisher that released several popular titles in the 1980s based on various movie themes. The company was resurrected in 2000, before being acquired by eGames in 2005.-Cinemaware Corp...

 titles like Defender of the Crown

Defender of the Crown

Defender of the Crown is a strategy computer game designed by Kellyn Beck. It was Cinemaware's first game, and was originally released for the Commodore Amiga in 1986, setting a new standard for graphic quality in home computer games....

, or David Whittaker's Lazy Jones

Lazy Jones

Lazy Jones is a computer game for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MSX and Tatung Einstein. It was written by David Whittaker and released by Terminal Software in 1984. The Spectrum version was ported by Simon Cobb....

, are made up of many minigames strung together into one video game. Some similar games, such as the Mario Party series, are considered party game

Party game

Party games are games that some people play as forms of entertainment at social gatherings. Party games usually involve more than one player. There are a large number and styles of party games available and the one selected will depend on the atmosphere that is sought to be generated...

s, specifically developed for multiplayer. In party games, minigames usually involve performing an activity faster or collecting more of a specified item than other players to win.

See also

• Casual game
  Casual game
  A casual game is a video game targeted at or used by a mass audience of casual gamers. Casual games can have any type of gameplay, and fit in any genre. They are typically distinguished by their simple rules and lack of commitment required in contrast to more complex hardcore games...
  
  
• Invade-a-Load
  Invade-a-Load
  Invade-a-Load was a loader routine used in software for Commodore 64 computer. It was used in commercial games that were stored on cassette tape and loaded using the Datassette...
  
  
• Minigames of Final Fantasy
• Party game
  Party game
  Party games are games that some people play as forms of entertainment at social gatherings. Party games usually involve more than one player. There are a large number and styles of party games available and the one selected will depend on the atmosphere that is sought to be generated...