Worst Rewards for 100% Video Games

10 Worst Rewards for 100% in Video Games

Welcome to MojoPlays and today we’re regretting all our hard work as these rewards were not worth the effort.

A 20 Second Cutscene

“Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time” (2020)

The Crash Bandicoot series, particularly its PS1 entries, are notorious for their difficulty curves, especially those going for the coveted 101% completion. And with Crash’s 4th mainline entry, developer Toys For Bob kept that tradition alive. Of course, the game wouldn’t be on this list if the reward wasn’t downright insulting. Not only do players need to achieve 106% completion, in order to do this, they need to find every gem in every level. Some of which are VERY well hidden, such as destroying every single box, and this isn’t just in the base game but also during an inverted playthrough as well. And what do you receive for all of this stress and obsessive completionism? A 20 second cutscene for sequel bait that might never come, showing Uka Uka is alive and laughing at Cortex. Good times.

A Rose Nebula

“We Love Katamari” (2005)

Considering the game’s title as well as its loyal fanbase that has been with the series since the days of the PS2, you’d think the series would love its fans back. Although on the surface, the Katamari series is simply about the cute Prince rolling his ball around to gather enough materials to rebuild the Cosmos, We Love Katamari hides one extra secret for only the most dedicated, and we MEAN dedicated players. After completing the game, the King offers the Prince one final challenge, collecting one million roses. Sounds simple enough right? Well the current world record for completing this challenge is 19 hours, 25, minutes, and 51 seconds. And what do you receive for dedicating almost a whole day to this task? A nebula shaped like a bouquet of roses. Death to the King, off with his head.

An Achievement

“Rock Band 2” (2008)

Simply getting through a setlist in Rock Band is challenging enough but attempting to go for 100% completion is downright insane. Rock Band 2 features 58 songs in the base game alone but if you’re crazy enough to go for the Steel Bladder achievement and its paltry 25 Gamerscore, you’d better get comfortable. To unlock this achievement, you must complete 84 songs, in a row, with no pausing, and no returning to the home screen all without getting booed off stage. Which means you’re going to have to be extra careful with those epic shred moments. The achievement’s name comes from the fact that this can take you upwards of six hours to complete, and since there’s no pausing, you’d better have an empty bladder or a roadie ready to back you up. All this for an icon in your Gamerscore most people will never even see.

A Diploma

“Pokémon Red and Blue” (1998)

To be the very best, you gotta catch ‘em all, but after exploring the entire region of Kanto, defeating all the gym leaders and becoming the champion of the Indigo League, you would expect some kind of special reward, right? Not only can it be difficult even catching all the Pokemon in the base game, some are specific to each version of Red and Blue so players will also need to trade with other trainers to complete their Pokedex. And what do you receive for completing this seemingly impossible task laid out by Game Freak? An in-game diploma congratulating them for completing their Pokedex. Although you could technically print out this one-of-a-kind reward using the Gameboy Printer, if you even had one, hanging this diploma on your wall is about as useless as that Theater Arts Degree next to it.

Yoshi

“Super Mario 64” (1996)

First introduced in Super Mario 64, stars have seen various iterations throughout the 3D Mario entries, but the reward for 120 stars in Super Mario 64 is just insulting. With some stars requiring true platforming skills and patience, the prospect of what awaits the player after finding and collecting all the stars in the game is tantalizing. Upon reaching the milestone, a cannon appears in the courtyard of Peach’s Castle and blasts Mario to the roof to find Yoshi waiting for him! However, instead of getting to replay the game with your trusty Dino companion, Yoshi instead gifts Mario 100 lives and comments on how much time has passed since their last adventure. Nintendo didn’t learn their lesson about rewards in the sequel Super Mario Sunshine either, as the reward for 120 Shines is a Postcard telling the player to have a “relaxing vacation”. Return this one to sender where the sun doesn’t shine.

Touch Grass

“The Lost World: Jurassic Park” (1997)

Can video game rewards really get any worse than a postcard? You bet Jur-ass-it-can! Switching between playing as Julianne Moore’s character Sarah, a random hunter as well as various dinos, players need to track down and collect DNA bonuses. Finding and acquiring all these DNA strands will unlock a special video message from Jeff Goldblum who oddly doesn't appear anywhere else in the game despite being a main character in the movie. Jeff congratulates the player on their diligence and then promptly tells them to turn off the game and basically go outside and touch grass while also implying the player is a virgin. Admittedly this could also fall under “best” rewards simply for Jeff Goldblum’s charm but back in the 90s, any kid who played this game to full completion was in for quite a shock.

Hestu's Gift

“The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” (2017)

A lot of the collectibles required for 100% completion on our list tend to include markers or some kind of indicator of where to find them. Much like the rest of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild however, Nintendo set players loose in Hyrule and basically told them “Good luck!”. Hiding quite literally everywhere within the world, those on the hunt for all 900 Koroks for Hestu are going to be checking under every rock, up every tree and around every corner to find them all. And what does Hestu give you for all your hard work? Something that honestly looks like poop. Hestu’s gift is by far one of the most downright insulting rewards for players' time in recent years and despite its gold color, isn’t even worth a damn rupee. Nintendo even had the nerve to repeat this same reward in Tears of the Kingdom which now required players to find 1000 Koroks.

Fruit Trees

“Shadow of the Colossus” (2005)

The Colossi aren’t the only thing Wander will need to hunt if he wants to achieve true 100% completion in Japan Studio’s masterpiece Shadow of the Colossus. At the top of the Shrine is a Secret Garden that players can reach, assuming they meet the requirements for such a climb. Replaying the game a staggering four times, the player will need to hunt down and kill lizards hidden throughout the vast plains of the game to permanently increase Wander’s stamina allowing him to traverse the dangerous climb. However, upon reaching the top, there’s no real secret to be found. No 17th Colossi, no hidden cutscene, just a grove of fruit trees. Normally this would be its own reward as fruit within the game increases Wander’s health, but consuming these fruit will lower it instead. And for those wanting to earn the Platinum trophy, they’re going to need to consume every piece of fruit in the garden.

101%

“Donkey Kong 64” (1999)

Many platformers are guilty of quickly becoming collectathons, but few have achieved the notoriety of Donkey Kong 64. The game is absolutely massive for Nintendo 64 standards and players will need to play as all 5 members of the Kong family, and collect 949 banana coins across 8 worlds, many of which can only be accessed by one of said Kong members, leading to a lot of character switching. What makes this even more grueling is that players really only need around 160 to unlock everything for each Kong. And what did Rare decide to reward players with for all their hard work and dedication? 1%. A single extra percentage on the game’s completion screen. It’s enough to make anyone go ape. There’s a reason this game’s collectibles are so despised.

The Stud Fountain

“Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga” (2022)

The Lego games are notorious for their sheer number of unlockables and collectibles, but most of these lead to some kind of rewarding payoff. Present in all of the Lego Star Wars video games is the stud fountain and the only way to even pull the lever is to achieve 100% completion of the entire game. This means players need to achieve 100% in all missions, complete every challenge, and find every single collectible in the game in addition to purchasing or unlocking every single character of which there is a whopping 380. Finally pulling the lever will unleash a fireworks show and an infinite supply of studs will rain from the sky. The main problem is these studs are all but worthless as you’ve already unlocked everything you could possibly use the studs for. The force was definitely not with this reward.

What was the most insulting reward you received for 100%ing a game? Share your disappointments down in the comments.