Who among us gamers can say that they have beaten a horrifically challenging game only to get a two-frame ending? I know I've been there. If you need examples of poor endings just go to www.vgmuseum.com and browse their collection of game endings.

Ever played Virtual Bart? Actually, most of the Simpsons licensed games are very difficult.How about Battletoads in Battlemaniacs? The two examples above were two of the hardest video games available for the Super Nintendo. Their endings hardly substantiate the effort required to view them.

This has been an increasingly annoying trend among the years. Game developers will spend a multitude of hours making the game fun and challenging, and forget about the ending.

Granted, some games don't necessarily warrant an ending. If the game is lacking in plot, then there probably aren't any lose ends to tie up after the game is done. The Street Fighter series is a good example. Do we really care what happens to Ryu when he wins the tournament?

The games that we expect good endings from, like role-playing games, spend much more time on the ending. In games such as Chrono Trigger and Star Ocean there are many different endings. This is what all games should use as a model.

I played through Super Mario Sunshine and beat it fairly easily. Then I went back and gathered all of the extra hidden items like the shine sprites and the blue coins. This was no easy task and took lots of searching, so I expected to be rewarded gratuitously. Unfortunately, when I beat Bowser in the end with all of the items found I was met with one extra frame in the ending: a different picture of Mario and his pals. Sorry for the spoiler but I'm saving you hours and hours of gameplay that could be used on the next game with a worthless ending. Why did I waste my time? I guess I've come to believe from games like Donkey Kong Country that the full ending is available when all items are collected.

Jak and Daxter pulled this on me as well. I collected all of the items in the game and I got another movie that explained nothing and left me wondering what the hell I just wasted so much time for. Was it a look into a possible sequel? I don't know. All I know is I unlocked a door I can't go in!!

I know that collecting items is secondary to the gameplay, but it should be something more than just honing scavenger skills in 3D environments. Conker's Bad Fur Day had very few extra items to pick up that had little, if any, effect on the ending. The ending was actually quite depressing. Conker goes through hell to save his girl and, well I won't spoil it. Just have some tissues on hand for the poor little guy.

I guess this is sort of a plea for game developers to have some sort of reward for something they know may take players a while to accomplish.

I wonder if other gamers will back me up . . .What are your thoughts?