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{{trope}}
[[File:Mega_Man_4_boss_1256.gif|link=Mega Man 4 (Video Game)|frame|Can you ''please'' stop trying to punch holes in the flooring?]]
 
 
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Note that many bosses will become progressively tougher and switch to stronger attacks as the battle wears on; while [[Boss Arena Urgency]] may overlap, this isn't always the case. For example, if this progression only occurs after inflicting specific amounts of damage, then this is simply because the boss [[Turns Red]]; [[Boss Arena Urgency]] occurs if this progression takes place ''independently'' of the player's actions.
 
Compare [[Time Limit Boss]], [[Stalked Byby the Bell]]. Contrast [[Boss Arena Idiocy]] and its close cousin [[Hoist Byby His Own Petard]].
 
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* The ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (Franchise)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series has several.
** [[Sonic the Hedgehog (Videovideo Gamegame)|Spring Yard Zone's]] boss has a spike on its base, and one by one removes the bricks that comprise the floor of the arena; this continues until you defeat the boss, or lose all your footing and fall down the [[Bottomless Pit]] below.
*** Or defeat the boss, and then [[Kaizo Trap|carelessly tumble to your death as you go to exit the stage]]. [[Yet Another Stupid Death|Yep.]]
** ''[[Sonic CD]]'''s semifinal boss fight has Sonic and Metal Sonic race. If you're too slow, you get hit by the only instant-death laser in the entire Genesis era, and if Metal Sonic wins the race, you're doomed.
** ''[[Sonic Adventure (Video Game)|Sonic Adventure]]'''s Egg Viper will, near the end of the fight, start destroying the flooring. This happens when it's taken five hits, before then you can take as long as you want. After that, though, you'd better have at least two platforms left when you beat it, as it'll make a suicide dive for where you're standing that will destroy at least one of them.
** ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Sonic 2006]]'''s Egg Wyvern tries to emulate this, but it tends to only destroy parts of the arena after reaching certain damage thresholds, [[Subverted Trope|making it]] more of a case of [[Turns Red]] instead.
*** There's also the final fight with Iblis, at the end of Silver's section. Thanks to the game's hideously broken AI, it's entirely possible for that fight to be made Unwinnable, requiring a reload.
** The [[True Final Boss]] of ''[[Sonic 3 and Knuckles (Video Game)|Sonic and Knuckles]]'', and some of the 3D games (including the aforementioned ''Sonic Adventure'',) is like this. You don't have an actual timer, but you start the fight as [[Super Mode|Super Sonic]]. If you run out of rings, you turn back to normal, and in the boss fight, this causes you to die. This makes sense in S&K, as the fight takes place in space, but makes less sense in Sonic Adventure, where <s>you can die from standing on the road</s> you'll be safe on the road, but won't be able to do a bloody thing to the boss, so you might as well just restart. (Although you're more likely to fall into the water and drown).
** Another ''Sonic'' example: the Egg Golem from ''[[Sonic Adventure 2 (Video Game)|Sonic Adventure 2]]''.
** In ''Sonic 3'', the mid-boss for Carnival Night Zone destroys the blocks you're on, Arkanoid-style.
** Not exactly a proper example, but in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (Video Game)|Sonic the Hedgehog 4]]'', once the [[Final Boss]] has 1 hp left, it will try a [[Last Ditch Move]] to crush the floor and make Sonic fall into a [[Bottomless Pit]]. You better get that last hit in before it's too late!
* Mike Tyson destroys your platform in ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]''.
** So does [[The Grim Reaper]] in ''[[I Wanna Be the Fangame]]''.
* The final boss of ''[[Snow Bros (Video Game)|Snow Bros]]'' arcade is a very interesting example. There are two giant stone heads on each side of the screen, a small platform surrounded by flames in the middle and a descending ceiling full of spikes right above that. The heads continuously blow bubbles which can have enemies or power-ups inside, and these pop if they touch the spikes. The player has very little space to move, and the more the ceiling goes down, the faster the enemies can get him... of course, this also means that he can throw many more snowballed enemies against the heads, but he is forced to think and act much more frantically.
* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' game ''[[Star Wars: Dark Forces Saga (Video Game)|Jedi Knight]]'' uses this in the final duel. Jerec must be defeated before the two statues at the edge of the valley reach the center, or he becomes too powerful.
* Reznor bosses of ''[[Super Mario World (Videovideo Gamegame)|Super Mario World]]'' are fought on a bridge which, after two hits, rapidly collapses from the middle. To survive, it's imperative to jump on the boss' rotating platform.
** Unless you're ''really'' fast, in which case the end trigger in which Mario doesn't fall anymore goes off before the end of the bridge (which you'll probably be on) can collapse.
* Midway through the second fight against Dogadon in ''[[Donkey Kong 64]],'' he throws a tissyfit and stamps repeatedly on the platform you're fighting on. In response, it starts to sink into the lava. If you're too slow to finish the battle, you're toast. Literally.
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* The [[Final Boss]] of ''[[Popful Mail]]'' also shot orbs that turned the floor into spikes. At least you do have an item that allows you to walk on spikes... but it lowered your jump height, leaving you vulnerable to his [[Rocket Punch]] grab move.
* ''[[Alien Soldier]]'' had "Back Stringer". You fought this [[Giant Spider]] on the wings and body of its dinner, a [http://www.bogleech.com/aliensoldier/as-spiderbattle.gif decapitated giant fly]. Small destructible [[Demonic Spiders|spiders]] would come up from the bottom of the screen and pull the fly down the big spider web (each additional one making it sink faster). If the fly platform disappears off the bottom of the screen, expect to [[Game Over|die]]- you'll keep falling into a [[Non Lethal Bottomless Pits|health-draining bottomless pit]] [[Cycle of Hurting|OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!!]]
* In her second-to-last form, the [[Big Bad|GoldenDiva]] of ''[[Wario Land (Video Game)|Wario Land]] 4'' starts smashing the floors of her arena. Miss too many chances to damage her, and you'll have nothing to stand on but spikes. Which are painful.
** Wario Land 1 has the big giant head that shoots rock boogers out of his nose and licks rocks. ... erm ... It's this trope.
* Bowser in ''[[Super Mario Bros 3 (Video Game)|Super Mario Bros 3]]'', for both you and himself, although there are solid platforms too. Eventually he'll fall through the floor himself, or you can [[Kill It Withwith Fire]].
** In the final battle with him in ''[[Super Mario 64 (Video Game)|Super Mario 64]]'', after you score two hits on him, he smashes the platform, turning it into a smaller star-shaped one. Before this point, flinging him off the platform but missing the bombs around the edge will result in Bowser simply leaping back up, which can knock off one of the pieces that would otherwise fall after the two hits.
* In ''[[Ecco the Dolphin (Video Gameseries)|Ecco the Dolphin]]: Defender of the Future'', the final boss is the alien queen's [[Womb Level|heart]]. During the fight, blood rises from the bottom. if you don't defeat it quickly, Ecco will drown in the blood. [[Justified Trope|Which makes sense]] because blood doesn't have air in it, and dolphins [[Truth in Television|being mammals cannot breathe in any liquid whatsoever]].
* In ''[[Ys (Video Game)|Ys]] I'', everytime you hit Dark Fact, a piece of the platform drops out. If you're standing on said piece, you die instantly. If you aren't leveled up enough (in the [[Turbo Grafx 16]] version, that is; in others you'll already be at the [[Cap]]), you'll end up with too many holes and become trapped and killed.
* [[Yoshis Island (Video Game)|Yoshis Island]]: The [[Background Boss|final boss]] will start off by occasionally dropping boulders near where Yoshi stands, leaving sizable gaps. When he's about to die, he bum-rushes the arena to destroy all platforms and knock Baby Mario out of the saddle while Yoshi plummets. Pretty much screwed either way.
* In ''[[Purple (Video Game)|Purple]]'', the final boss will occasionally send down bolts of lightning that destroy the floor.
* Subverted in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''. The [[Final Boss]] periodically destroys some of the platforms which make up the battle area. However, it never destroys the platform you start out on, completely eradicating any sense of urgency.
* In ''[[Mega Man 4 (Video Game)|Mega Man 4]]'', one of the attacks from Dr. Cossack's first boss robot is to punch holes in the floor using its spike. Though it won't destroy the entire flooring, the added threat of [[Bottomless Pits]] certainly will not make the battle any easier.
* In ''[[Mega Man X (Video Game)|Mega Man X]] 2'', when Wheel Gator [[Turns Red]] and starts executing his drill attack, whatever sections of the wall he hits are ground down into damaging spikes, which gradually prevents you from climbing the walls to evade his other attacks.
** In ''X4'', there's the mid boss of Split Mushrooms Stage, Tentoroid. Thankfully it only takes a few charge shots to destroy, but if your going for a no charge shot run like a certain [[Roahm Mythril|dragon]] does, it's pretty tough to get enough shots in on time before [[Spikes of Doom|spikey]] doom.
* In ''[[Return to Zork]]'', a board-game makes up one of the puzzles. There's two characters: the wizard, who can only move as a knight does (two vertical and one horizontal, or two horizontal and one vertical) and the space that it moves from vanishes. The other character (Cannook) can move to any spot on the board, and attempts to prevent the wizard from moving. If the wizard can't move and there's still more than two spaces (on which the characters are standing), then Cannook wins (as the wizard cannot move). If the Wizard has made all but two of the spaces disappear, the wizard wins (as Cannook cannot move). The first time you play the game, you play as Cannook, and it's startlingly easy to win. The second time you play, you're playing as the wizard, and the difficulty spikes ''very hard''.
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