Degraded Boss: Difference between revisions

** Multi-game example: Dark Link has taken many different roles, including, but not limited to, [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|surprise final boss]] in ''[[Zelda II: The Adventure of Link|Adventure of Link]]'', mini-boss in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'', merely appearing in a cut scene in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'', several easily defeated [[Mooks]] created by a boss in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages|Oracle of Ages]]'', [[The Dragon]] of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures|The Legend of Zelda Four Swords Adventures]]'', and [[Bonus Boss]] in ''Spirit Tracks''.

** Two of the mini-bosses in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks|The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks]]'' actually appear again as regular enemies ''within their own dungeons'' (specifically, they're Snapper, the whip-wielding guy from the Ocean Temple, and Heatoise, the giant tortoise from the Fire Temple). In both cases, the dungeon item you get from the first battle makes the later ones much easier.

* Happens twice in ''Onimusha''. Reynaldo, who is set up as a mini-boss but is quickly revealed to be a really tough (and regenerating/self-duplicating) mook. Then there's Volchiman, who you must first fight as ninja girl Kaede, who is significantly weaker than main character Samonosuke; later on you may encounter two Volchiman at once. However, there's also Marcellus, whose prototype you face first. The real deal is a much, much more difficult opponent - probably more so than final boss Fortinbras.

* Almost every single miniboss in ''[[Killer7]]'' becomes this, since the miniboss battles are meant to introduce a new type of Heaven Smile for the next chapter.

** The Stone Golem and Werewolf have also bounced between Mook and Boss status from game to game.

** ''Portrait of Ruin'' also uses a lot of degraded bosses. Many of the bosses from ''Rondo of Blood'' (Including Minotaur, Wyvern, Dogether, and Camilla's assistant Laura the catgirl) appear as normal enemies, as well as the aforementioned Slogra and Gaibon. However, the Werewolf and The Creature are back to being bosses again - but 2 of The Creature appear in the Nest Of Evil. And you better believe they're not degraded whatsoever despite not being the floor boss(es).

** The Giant Armor in Harmony of Dissonance appears as an enemy later on.

** Many of the early bosses from ''Lords of Shadow'' show up as [[Palette Swap]]ped recurring mooks by Chapter 2. The first boss shows up as a [[Boss in Mook Clothing]] as early as the second level.

* In ''[[Pikmin]] 2'', the Burrowing Snagret—the boss of the third dungeon you visit—appears as a regular enemy later on in the game (and not that much later), and often in pairs. The Emperor Bulblax, which was the [[Final Boss]] of the previous game, appears also as a boss in one dungeon, but later on occur as mere mini-bosses and in pairs.

 

* The ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series does this many times, in many ways.

** The Vampire is a boss early on in ''[[Final Fantasy I]]'', you get attacked by swarms of them later in the game.

* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei II]]'' features an example of this that's notable for the rare case of having obvious justification. The enemy Betelgeuse first appears as a boss... and a giant monster. Later, you encounter him as a normal enemy, but in this form, he's human-sized and humanoid.

** Any ''[[Mega Ten]]'' game with the recruitable demon mechanic will allow you to recruit, fuse, or otherwise obtain many of the bosses you fight after beating them at least once.

* In ''[[Dragon Quest I]]'', you must rescue the princess from the Dragon early on. Later, dragons are all over the place. The Axe Knight also first appears as a boss guarding Erdrick's Armor, then as a recurring enemy in the [[Final Dungeon]].

* In ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' games, on the final stage you'll usually not only have the [[Final Boss]] to deal with, but around two dozen variants on previous original bosses, usually mass-produced models of [[Super Prototype]] mechs the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] used. In some of the more [[Nintendo Hard|challenging]] ones they're just as strong as the originals.

* The Giant Snake, a difficult [[Action Commands]] boss from the first ''[[Dark Cloud]]'', appears as a regular (albeit hard) foe in ''[[Dark Cloud]] 2'''s second area. The level where it first appears in is even named after it.

** Then again, both it and several other minor enemies received a [[Mook Promotion]] as guardians of the Crystals needed to activate Kazarov Stonehenge in Chapter 6.

* The first ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' does this with the Behemoth Heartless; after appearing as the 'boss' of your second visit to Hollow Bastion, you fight more of them in the Hades Cup and the End of the World, only this time they're basically [[Giant Mook]]s. Stealth Sneak also appears as this in the Hades Cup but subverts this by being stronger than the original, and you face [[Dual Boss|two of them at once]]. This trope becomes quite [[Egregious]] in ''358/2 Days'', with most of the targets for missions becoming lesser enemies later on; one of the later missions involves defeating ''six'' mini-bosses.

* The Tyrannosaurus Rex looking Dinosaur from ''[[Dragonball Z]]: The Legacy of Goku'' that were immune to Kamehameha. Originally beating the first one took half of this player's Gameboy battery power, it took so long. After the first one, more Trex look alikes show up in later levels of the game, each time easier to kill as Goku gets stronger until he's too fast and strong for the dinos to even be worth the time.

* The Great Jaggi is your first large Monster Hunt in ''[[Monster Hunter]] Tri''. The first time you encounter one wandering about Moga Woods (usually the very next day) is probably a bit of an [[Oh Crap]] moment. By the time you fight the Royal Ludroth, you're taking them on two at a time, and they're barely worth hunting anymore. Note that at this point, you're ''still'' fighting the weakest monsters in the game.

* ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' makes recurrent use of the trope in their early entries:

** ''[[Breath of Fire II]]'' makes the same reuse of boss sprites, though it doesn't limit itself with minor bosses, as guys like Shupkay, M.C. Tusk (end-of-arc bosses) and ''[[The Rival|Ray]]'' are among the degraded lot.

** ''[[Breath of Fire III]]'' and forward practically avert the trope almost completely. In ''III'', for example, the only example comes from 4 [[Mini Boss]]es from very early.

* Los Gigantes from ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' undergo an interesting form of degrading. When you first encounter one, El Gigante is a ridiculously powerful boss that you only manage to beat because you have lots of room to maneuver and (hopefully) a dog to provide a distraction. The second time, you lack this room, and you're expected to use the terrain to delay it long enough to escape. By the third and final time, you've got enough firepower to handle two Gigantes with relative ease—and since you retain your arsenal when you [[New Game+|start the game over]], from the second round on Los Gigantes are pushovers from the start.

** It kind of helps the 3rd time that you can {{spoiler|activate a lava pit and eliminate one of them quickly. In true RE tradition, [[Convection, Schmonvection]] applies.}}

* The [http://deadspace.wikia.com/wiki/Tripod Tripod] from ''[[Dead Space 2]]'' may be a challenge when you first fight it but it has to attack in increasing numbers to be a threat latter on. One actually runs away from its own boss fight.

 

 

=== [[Turn-Based Strategy]] ===

* ''[[Shining Force]]'' used this often, with several bosses on stages being a Minotaur, a Golem, a Witch creature, a Black Knight, etc., all of whom would appear frequently as simple mooks in later missions, once the team got stronger.

** ''[[Shining in the Darkness]]'' had the Kaiserkrab, the insanely hard-to-beat first boss. When it reappears as a mook, it's just as powerful but easier to beat, since you have two extra teammates by then.

 

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[[Category:Boss Battle]]

[[Category:Video Game Characters]]