Boss (video games)

"Boss level" redirects here. For the film, seeBoss Level.

A boss fight fromGuacamelee!in which the player characters (the two characters inluchadoroutfits) must keep ahead of the giant rampaging creature (boss) on the left while dodging obstacles and other enemies

Invideo games,abossis a significantly powerful non-player character created as an opponent to players.A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as aboss battleorboss fight.Bosses are generally far stronger than other opponents theplayershave faced up to that point in a game. Boss battles are generally seen at climax points of particular sections of games, such as at the end of alevel or stageor guarding a specific objective. Aminibossis a boss weaker or less significant than the main boss in the same area or level, though usually more powerful than the standard opponents and often fought alongside them. Asuperboss(sometimes 'secret', 'hidden' or 'raid' boss) is generally much more powerful than the bosses encountered as part of the main game's plot and is often an optional encounter. Afinal bossis often the mainantagonistof a game's story and the defeat of that character usually provides a positive conclusion to the game. Aboss rushis a stage where players face multiple previous bosses again in succession.

For example, in arun 'n' gunvideo game, all regular enemies might use pistols while the boss uses a tank. A boss enemy is quite often larger in size than other enemies and theplayer character.At times, bosses are very hard to defeat without being adequately prepared and/or knowing the correct fighting approach. Bosses usually take strategy and special knowledge to defeat, such as how to attack weak points or avoid specific attacks.

Bosses are common in many genres of video games, but they are especially common in story-driven titles, and are commonly previously established antagonists in the plot of the video game.Action-adventure games,beat 'em upgames,fighting games,platform games,role-playing video games(RPGs), andshooter gamesare particularly associated with boss battles. They may be less common inpuzzle games,card video games,sports games,andsimulation games.The first video game with a boss fight was the 1975 RPGdnd.

The concept has expanded to new genres, likerhythm games,where there may be a "boss song" that is more difficult. Inmultiplayer online battle arenagames, defeating a map boss usually requires teamwork of 2 or more players, but it brings various benefits to the team, such as buffs or lane push power.Some games, such asCuphead,FuriandWarning Forever,are centered around continual boss fights.

Characteristics

Bosses are usually harder to beat than regular enemies, have higher health points, hence can sustain more damage and are generally found at the end of a level or area.While most games include a mixture of boss opponents and regular opponents, some games have only regular opponents and some games have only bosses (e.g.Shadow of the Colossus).Some bosses are encountered several times through a single game, typically with alternate attacks and a different strategy required to defeat it each time.A boss battle can also be made more challenging if the boss in question becomes progressively stronger and/or less vulnerable as theirhealthdecreases, requiring players to use different strategies to win. Some bosses may contain or be composed of smaller parts that can be destroyed by players in battle, which may or may not grant an advantage.In games such asDoomandCastlevania: Symphony of the Night,an enemy may be introduced via a boss battle, but later appear as a regular enemy, after players have become stronger or had a chance to find more powerful weaponry.

Many games structure boss battles as a progression of distinct phases in which the boss produces different or additional hazards for players. This is often reflected by a change in the appearance of the boss.

The Legend of Zeldaseries and games inspired by it are recognized for having dungeons with bosses that are specifically vulnerable to a special item that is located within that dungeon. Player(s) typically acquire this item while exploring the dungeon and is given opportunity to learn to use it to solve puzzles or defeat weaker enemies before facing the boss character.

Boss battles are typically seen as dramatic events. As such, they are usually characterized bycutscenesbefore and after the boss battle and unique music. Recurring bosses and final bosses may have their own specifictheme musicto distinguish them from other boss battles. This concept extends beyond combat-oriented video games. For example, a number of titles in theDance Dance Revolutionrhythm gameseries contain "boss songs" that are called "bosses" because they are exceptionally difficult to perform on.

In combat-focused games, a boss may summon additional enemies, reinforcements or minions or "adds" to fight players alongside the boss, increasing the boss fight's difficulty. These additional enemies may distract from the boss battle or give time for the boss to regain or regenerate health, but may also give players opportunity to regain health from health boosters and ammo dropped by the boss's minions.

Specific boss types

Miniboss

"Miniboss" redirects here. For the band, seeMinibosses.

Miniboss in the 2015 video gameBroforce,arun-and-gun platformer

A miniboss, also known as a "middle boss", "mid-boss", "half-boss", "sub-boss"or "semi-boss", is a boss weaker or less significant than the main boss in the same area or level. Some minibosses are stronger versions of regular enemies, as in theKirbygames.Others may be a recurring version of a previous boss, who is either weaker than previously encountered or is less of a challenge later in the game due to character or equipment progression. An example isCastlevania: Symphony of the Night's Gaibon and Slogra.Other video game characters who usually take the role of a miniboss are Vile (Mega Man Xseries), Allen O'Neil (Metal Slug) andDark Link(The Legend of Zeldaseries, though he appears as a final boss inZelda II: The Adventure of Link).

Superboss

A superboss is a type of boss most commonly found inrole-playing video games.They are considered optional enemies and do not have to be defeated to complete the game. However, not all optional bosses are superbosses. They are generally much more powerful than the bosses encountered as part of the main game's plot orquest,more difficult even than the final boss and often players are required to meet certain conditions in the game or complete a sidequestor the entire game to fight the superboss. The first such superboss (or secret boss) wasAkumainSuper Street Fighter II Turbo,that required players meet certain conditions before he would appear as the final boss.InFinal Fantasy VII,players may choose to seek out and fight the Ruby and Emerald Weapons. Some superbosses will take the place of the final boss if certain requirements are met.Some superbosses can yield specialitemsor skills that cannot be found any other way that can give players a significant advantage during playthrough of the rest of the game, such as added experience or an extremely powerful weapon. For example, the "raid bosses" fromBorderlands 2give rare loot unavailable anywhere else.Some superbosses inonline gameshave an immense amount of health and must be defeated within a time limit by having a large number of players or parties working together to defeat the boss. Examples of such superbosses can be found in games likePokémon GoandWorld of Warcraft,and are generally referred to as araid.Toby Fox's gamesUndertaleandDeltaruneboth feature superbosses in the form ofSans,Jevil, and Spamton NEO.Some major video game series have recurring superbosses such as the Ultima Weapon and Omega Weapon inFinal Fantasyand the Amon clan inYakuza.The Warden fromMinecraftcould be considered a superboss, as it is vastly more difficult to fight than the final boss, the Ender Dragon. However, Mojang, the developer of Minecraft, has explicitly stated that the Warden was not intended to be fought by players.

Wolfpack boss

A wolfpack boss is a group of enemies who may be considered weak on their own, but in large groups can be considered strong enough to be a boss. They come in many variations, such as the Chargin' Chuck Swarm encountered inMario & Luigi: Paper Jam,the Armos Knights fromThe Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Pastor the Battle of 1000 Heartless fromKingdom Hearts II.A main requirement with most wolfpacks is that the whole group must be defeated in order to win; in order to prolong the fight, many wolfpacks, particularly in games with turn-based combat in lieu of real-time, will summon reinforcements to replenish their lost numbers. An example of this isAstarothinDiablo IV.

Final boss

Mother Brain,the final boss ofMetroidandSuper Metroid

The final boss, last boss or end boss,is typically present at or near the end of a game, with completion of the game's storyline usually following victory in the battle.The final boss is usually the main antagonist of the game; however, there are exceptions, such as inConker's Bad Fur Day,in which the final boss is the antagonist's alien pet. Final bosses are generally larger, more detailed or better animated than lesser enemies, often in order to inspire a feeling of grandeur and special significance from the encounter.

In some games, a hidden boss, referred to as the "true" final boss, is present. These bosses only appear after the completion of specific additional levels, choosing specific dialogue options or after obtaining a particular item or set of items, such as the Chaos Emeralds in theSonic the Hedgehogseries or performing a series of tasks inMetal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.These bosses are generally more difficult to defeat. In games with a "true" final boss, victory leads to either a better ending or a more detailed version of the regular ending. Examples of a "true final boss" include the Radiance inHollow Knightand the Moon Presence inBloodborne.

The term "Foozle" is used to describe aclichéfinal boss that exists only to act as the final problem before players can complete the game.Scorpiastated in 1994 that "about 98% of allrole-playing video gamescan be summed up as follows: 'We go out and bash on critters until we're strong enough to go bash on Foozle.'"

History

A precursor to video game boss fights isBruce Lee'sHong Kong martial arts films,includingThe Big Boss(1971), in which Lee fights a criminal gang before battling the eponymous "big boss", andGame of Death(1972), where Lee fights a different boss on each level of apagoda,which later inspired the boss battles of martial arts action games such as beat 'em ups.Another precursor istabletop role-playing gamesstarting withDungeons & Dragons(1974), in which in a typical dungeon campaign there would be one powerful enemy acting as the boss of the weaker minions that players would face beforehand, in the same sense as a crime boss, which later inspired the boss battles ofrole-playing video games.

The first interactive video game to feature a boss wasdnd,which was released in 1975 for thePLATO system.dndwas one of the earliestdungeon crawlvideo games and implemented many of the core concepts ofDungeons & Dragons.The objective of the game is to retrieve an "Orb" from the bottommost dungeon.The orb is kept in a treasure room guarded by a high-level enemy named the Gold Dragon. Only by defeating the Dragon can players claim the orb, complete the game and be eligible to appear on thehigh scorelist.

In 1980, boss battles appeared in severalarcadeaction games. In March 1980,SegareleasedSamurai,ajidaigeki-themed martial arts action game where playersamuraifight a number of swordspeople before confronting a more powerful boss samurai.SNK'sSasuke vs. Commander,released in October 1980,is aninja-themedshooting gamewhere theplayer characterfights enemyninjasbefore confronting bosses with variousninjutsuattacks and enemy patterns.It was one of the earliest games with multiple boss encounters, and one of SNK's earliest games.Phoenix,released in December 1980,is afixed shooterwhere players's ship must fight a giantmothershipin the fifth and final level.At several points in Namco'svertically scrollingshooterXevious(1982), players must defeat an Andor Genesis mothership to advance.

Inside-scrollingcharacter action games such as beat 'em ups,Irem's 1984 arcade gameKung-Fu Masterestablished the end-of-level boss battle structure used in these games, with players progressing through levels (represented by floors of a temple) and fighting a boss character at the end of each level;in turn, this end-of-level boss battle structure was adapted from the Bruce Lee filmGame of Death,where Lee's character fights a different boss character on each floor as he ascends a pagoda.The game was distinctive for giving both players and each boss ahealth meter,which leads to the game temporarily becoming a one-on-onefighting gameduring boss battles, a concept thatKung-Fu MasterdesignerTakashi Nishiyamalater expanded on when he created the fighting gameStreet Fighter(1987) atCapcom.The term "boss" was used in reference to the game's final boss by Mike Roberts in a review of the game published in the May 1985 issue of British magazineComputer Gamer,while he used the term "super baddies" for the end-of-level bosses.

Sega's arcade gameFantasy Zone(1986) popularized the concept of a boss rush, a stage where players face multiple previous bosses again in succession.

Etymology

Michael Fahey ofKotakunoted in a podcast that usage of the term "boss" byNintendo Powergrew sharply around 1988, and that there was no clear single etymology of the term. In the same podcast, formerKotakueditor-in-chief Stephen Totilo speculated that bosses became known as such because they were "in charge of all the enemies".

See also

• Glossary of video game terms