You play a game and explore every nook and cranny, beat every hidden level, and complete every optional objective eagerly watching as the completion percentage climbs closer and closer to 100 percent. But for some games, even that isn't enough. Throughout the history of the medium, there have been numerous games with completion percentages that go above 100.
While this might not make sense mathematically, there are in fact several reasons why this might occur. Sometimes it is due to a bug or oversight that results in more content than the designers anticipated; other times, it is used deliberately to hide content from the player. Another possibility is that while the game was originally created with 100 percent in mind, but additional content was added later such as through DLC.
Completion percentage can also go above 100 percent through a new game plus run, and sometimes the game developers allow this for seemingly no real reason. This list will go over some of the more notable instances where this occurred.
8 Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Metroidvania entries in the Castlevania series are no stranger to having a completion percentage over 100%. For example, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has a normal map percentage of 200.6 percent and up to 240 percent if glitches are exploited.
However, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin brought this to a new level with a completion percentage of 1000%. This is due to the fact that Portrait of Ruin features a total of 10 maps to explore: the main castle and nine sub-areas, each of which can add up to 100 percent to the map completion total.
7 Donkey Kong Country
The mid to late 90s saw Rareware revitalize the Donkey Kong series with a series of highly successful games. Something that became a tradition in almost all of these games was completion percentage that goes over 100%. The first game to do this was the original Donkey Kong Country which had a completion percentage of 101 percent.
Later games would follow this example; Donkey Kong Country 2 went up to 102%, Donkey Kong Country 3 had up to 105%, Donkey Kong Land 3 for Gameboy had 103%, and finally, Donkey Kong 64 had 101 percent completion.
6 DOOM 2: Hell on Earth
The sequel to one of the most influential video games of all time, DOOM II was largely more of the same as the original but with larger levels, a new weapon, and several new enemies. One of which, the Archvile, was capable of resurrecting fallen enemies. This is important because whenever a level is completed, the game normally tabulates completion for a given level based on how many secrets the player has uncovered, how many items they have collected, and how many enemies they have killed.
Usually, the kill percentage can only go up to 100%, but because this is based on the initial number of enemies in a level and because an enemy revived by an Archvile is considered an entirely new opponent, it is entirely possible to have kill percentages of over 100%. This is especially true in the final level, Icon of Sin. Due to the fact that new enemies are continually being spawned, it is not uncommon to have a kill completion percentage in the thousands.
5 Spyro the Dragon
As stated above, sometimes games will utilize more than 100% completion as a means of keeping certain secrets hidden; a good example of this is the original Spyro the Dragon.
After finishing every level with every collectible and gaining 100% completion, an extra secret level is unlocked called Gnasty's Loot. This level is overflowing with treasure and serves as a reward for those who went above and beyond when playing the game. After gaining all the collectibles of this final level completion percentage is increased up to 120%.
4 Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
Another series that sometimes saw games that allowed players to go above 100% is Crash Bandicoot. The first one to implement this was Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped which has a completion counter that went up to 105%. The party game Crash Bash then had a completion percentage of 200%.
When Toys for Bob revived the series, they also brought this tradition into the newest Crash game: Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. In this game, it is possible to get up to 106% completion, a feat that requires the player to collect every gem, flashback tape, and platinum relic.
3 Cuphead
The 1930s animation-inspired run-and-gun Cuphead could often be brutally hard, regularly requiring players to make dozens of attempts on each boss fight. It is, therefore, likely that many players breathed a sigh of relief when they finally completed everything that the game had to offer, and the completion percentage increased to 100%.
However, at that point, an even harder expert mode is unlocked. Completing this mode can increase completion up to 200%, a brutal challenge that few can claim to have accomplished.
2 Batman: Arkham Knight
A game having over 100% completion can be due to a variety of factors; for example, additional content is added through DLC, or the game counts a new game plus run toward overall completion. One game that features both of these things is Batman: Arkham Knight.
The base game goes up to 200% after the player completes the new game plus mode. On top of that, there was also the added Season of Infamy DLC, which adds an additional 20% to the completion counter for each playthrough, boosting the overall total to 240%.
1 The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth
There are also a few instances of a game having completion of over 100% as a joke on the part of the developers. Take, for example, The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth. This game doesn't ordinarily track completion percentage, but if the player collects and completes everything in the game, a completion percentage of 1001% is displayed on their save file. In Afterbirth Plus, this was changed to 1,000,000%.