A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

. A minigame contains different

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game. The term applies to both video games and Tabletop game, tabletop games. Gameplay is the connection between the player and the game, the player's overcoming of challenges, and t ...

elements and is often smaller or more simplistic than the game in which it is contained. Some video games consist entirely of minigames which tie into an overall theme, such as '' Olympic Decathlon'' (1980). Minigames can also be used to represent a specific experience, such as hacking and lock picking, both of which are found in Bethesda games, or scanning an area, that ties into a larger game.

Minigame compilations

Some games are made up of many minigames strung together into one video game, such as

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

's ''WarioWare'' series (which are called microgames in the series), Universal's '' Video Action'', David Whittaker's '' Lazy Jones'' and the

mobile game A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any Mobile device, portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet computer, table ...

'' Phone Story''. Some similar games specifically developed for

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

are considered party games, such as the '' Itadaki Street'' series by

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...

and Nintendo's ''

Mario Party is a series of party video games created by Hudson Soft and owned by Nintendo. It features List of Mario franchise characters, characters from the Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or Artificial inte ...

'' series. In party games, minigames usually involve performing an activity faster or collecting more of a specified item than other players to win; some may be entirely luck.

Examples

The ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese fantasy Anthology series, anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi which is owned, developed, and published by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fanta ...

'' series includes minigames in every entry, since the first ''

'' (1987), in which a 15 puzzle in the form of an

Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...

can be uncovered by entering a specific sequence of inputs while piloting a ship. It was added into the game by programmer

Nasir Gebelli Nasir Gebelli (, also Nasser Gebelli, born 1957) is an Iranian-American programmer and video game designer usually credited in his games as simply Nasir. He became known in the early 1980s for programming action games for Apple II, such as '' ...

despite it not being part of Squaresoft's original game design. The PocketStation for

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

and VMU for

Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...

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 is a 1999 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation console. It is the eighth main installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Set on an unnamed fantasy world with science fiction elements, the game follo ...

''.FFVIII PocketStation Opens Up Chocobo World
, ''IGN'', July 15, 1999

References

{{Video game gameplay Video game terminology Video game levels

Minigame compilations

Examples

See also

References