Degraded Boss: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

The boss in a video game, or on rare occasion VG series, who, after you defeat him/her/it, returns multiple times - but not as a boss, but as a [[Giant Mook|regular enemy]] (sometimes more than one appearing at once). Sometimes, the boss you fought is the "strongest" of the monsters; sometimes you've attained a new weapon which is [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors|particularly effective against that boss]], or just leveled up enough that you're able to take on [[Dual Boss|several at a time]]. In some games, later enemies will be [[Palette Swap|palette-swapped]] versions of the boss' sprite/model, and may actually be ''stronger'' than the original Boss form. This tends to be puzzling when the first one you face is said to be their ruler. Logic suggests that [[Authority Equals Asskicking|they should be the strongest of the lot]], but when you face their higher-levelled brethren later on, [[Fridge Logic|one wonders]] why ''they'' aren't in charge.

There are two types of degraded bosses.

 

 

{{examples}}

 

* The first ''[[The Legend of Zelda (video game)|The Legend of Zelda]]'' game was rife with this. Dodongo, Manhandla, Gleeock, Digdogger, and Gohma all reappear in later dungeons as normal enemies. Dodongo (as noted above) even appears in threes later, Gleeock grows extra heads (from two in its first appearance up to four eventually, although the latter was for when it was reused as the boss of Level 8), and Digdogger splits into three after playing the Flute anywhere but its debut. That's just the first quest; they show up sooner and more often in the second one. In the case of Dodongo, in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|Ocarina of Time]]'' and ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask|Majora's Mask]]'', Dodongos are run-of-the-mill nuisances. However, ''Ocarina of Time'' has King Dodongo as the boss version, operating much like the original Dodongo.

** ''[[Ocarina of Time]]'' also had pairs of Lizalfos presented as Sub-Bosses in the second dungeon, while you play Link as a child. Adult Link can take them out in two hits with the Biggoron Sword, and by that point in the game young Link has enough equipment and [[Hit Points|hearts]] to turn them into mooks. Stalfos are another example, as they also act as minibosses in their first encounter, but you also encounter them as regular enemies later. Then they are used as minibosses ''again'', with the added challenge of beating them both at once in a short time, lest they rise up again.

** 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.

* One of the various mech bosses in ''[[Shadow Complex]]'' returns as a regular enemy at one point, but strangely still has his boss lifebar if you're near it. In the final boss fight you fight ''all of them''.

* Every enemy is introduced in ''The Haunted Mansion'' with a lot of fanfare, and you are put into a one-on-one match with them. As soon as you beat them, they begin showing up as regular enemies. Fortunately, [[Heroic Mime|Zeke's]] weapon gets powerful enough to accommodate for this.

* The Henchmen in ''[[King's Quest: Mask of Eternity|King's Quest Mask of Eternity]]'' become normal enemies in the last area of the game.

 

** ''[[Devil May Cry]] 4'' combines this trope with [[Cutscene Power to the Max]]. After defeating the frog demon Dagon, you are treated to a cutscene where Dante receives a new Devil Arm. Suddenly, the courtyard is full of Dagon's brothers. Dante then proceeds to use his new weapon to quickly annihilate every giant frog in sight.

* A twist occurs in the first two ''[[Ninja Gaiden]]'' games for the NES: the Malice Four from the first ''Ninja Gaiden'' appears in ''Ninja Gaiden II'' as mooks who are literal clones of the originals created by Ashtar. The clones are the same size as Ryu and are killed with a single strike like other regular mooks.

** The seventh generation ''[[Ninja Gaiden]] II'' The boss you face in the first chapter is Rasetsu, a large, literal [[Demonic Spiders|Demonic spider/Human hybrid]] who stands about 8 feet tall with 4 large bladed appendages protruding from his back. You also encounter another Spider Ninja Fiend in the second chapter, backed up by spider ninja Mooks. In the last chapters you end up slaying a couple dozen of them; sometimes in pairs. They are still as strong as the first encounter, but by then you're a lot stronger.

* The first encounter with the centaurs in ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' is considered a boss fight, due to the fact that they're the first Atlanteans you see in the game and their appearance is a [[Wham! Episode|shock.]] More centaurs are encountered later as regular enemies.

* Another inversion: Fritz the Firing Train in ''Iron Tank'' first appears as a [[Giant Mook]]-type encounter, ie without the ominous boss music, then later as a proper boss encounter.

 

** As does the ''[[Streets of Rage]]'' series with some of their boss characters. Lampshaded in Streets of Rage 2, with the weaker mook version of the boss "R. Bear" being called "[[Overlord, Jr.|Bear Jr.]]"

** Averted by the original ''[[Final Fight]]'' and its SNES sequels: the bosses are unique to each stage and none of them actually reappear once they're defeated.

*** It also happens to Chin Taimei (Jeff's equivalent as the Mission 2 boss) in the NES version. In fact, it happens rather immediately, as the second fight in Mission 3 is against a group of three Chin clones.

*** In ''Super Double Dragon'', Steve and Jackson, the first two bosses, appear throughout the rest of the game as mooks. All of the previous bosses also appear in the final stage.

* In ''[[Bayonetta]]'', after you [[No Kill Like Overkill|completely brutalize]] a Cardinal Virtue ([[My Friends and Zoidberg|or a Golem]]), weaker versions will appear later in the game. Mostly during the [[Boss Rush]]. Clones of Temperentia in particular are fought four times throughout the game.

 

* Krizalid from ''[[King of Fighters]]'' 99 reappears as one of Zero's allies in KOF 2001.

* Typically this will happen in fighting games if the endgame of the previous title in the series caused the main boss to lose their standing and are forced to fight against whoever took over to get it back. For the sequel, they will then become a playable cast member as they are considered a "participant" rather than the "organizer". Examples include ''[[Tekken]]'''s Heihachi Mishima between the first and second games (then again between the fourth and fifth games), Cervantes de Leon after ''[[Soul Series|Soul Blade]]'', and Gaia after the first ''[[Battle Arena Toshinden]]''.

 

* In the second ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' game, a [[King Mook|Mother of]] [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|All Hunters]] is fought as a boss on "If I had a rocket launcher...", then the final stage has at least three of them. On the ''Infinity'' level "You think you're big time?" they get re-promoted to boss status, and have homing projectiles this time. In ''2'', the [[King Mook]] version of the Cyborgs only appears once, while in ''Infinity'' it is a recurring enemy, although still rare.

* The Battlelord in ''[[Duke Nukem 3D]]'', smaller and with less than a quarter of its hit points. Still a huge pain in the ass, however. Especially with those grenades it lobs. And then there's the fact that in one of the later chapters there's one level where you end up facing ''three at once''.

* The climax of ''[[Half Life]] 2: Episode Two'' pits you against a small army of biomechanical tripods known as "Striders", several of which made your life a living hell in a certain battle in the original ''Half-Life 2'', and one of which was the ''actual'' boss of ''Half-Life 2: Episode One''. Oh, and this time they have Hunter support. This battle would be quite a bit harder if you didn't have {{spoiler|a car and a weapon that could [[One-Hit Kill]] them.}} Their machine guns receive a significant downgrade from the near-instakill they were in earlier installments.

** For that matter, the Hunters were introduced with one {{spoiler|nearly killing Alyx}}, and two or three of them was a boss battle early in the Episode. Two or three of them escort ''every Strider''. Fortunately, you have [[Car Fu|a weapon]] that can [[One-Hit Kill]] ''them'', too.

* The Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind boss monsters of the first ''[[Doom]]'' game return in the sequels as regular level monsters (though they're just as tough as they were as bosses), while the final bosses are upgraded to multiple-stories-high monster-spawning buildings. ''Doom 3'' then ''promoted'' the Cyberdemon back to boss status.

** And in the original ''[[Doom]]'', the bosses of the shareware version (the Barons of Hell) become more common in the retail installments. Again, they're just as tough as they were as bosses, though the energy weapons (the plasma gun and the [[BFG]]) that you acquire later on make quick work of them.

* Plated Beetles, adult Sheegoths and Chozo Ghosts in ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' all first appear as mini-bosses, but later become regular enemies. The Sheegoth particularly feels degraded, as it was a quite hard to beat on the first time, but after you get the Plasma Beam, you can ''kill it with one shot without even waiting for it to expose its weak spot!''

** In ''Metroid Zero Mission'', there is a Dessgeega that you encounter early in the game as a mini-boss after acquiring the long beam and discovering the currently locked entrance to the [[Big Bad|Big Bad's]] lair. This miniboss turns out to be a common enemy in a later level.

* In ''[[Halo]] 2'', Tartarus, the Brute Chieftain, is the game's final boss, with a one-hit-kill gravity hammer and an invincible forcefield that can only be brought down by Sgt. Johnson's particle rifle. In ''Halo 3'', Brute Chieftains regularly appear as [[King Mook]] [[Mini Boss|minibosses]]; they're armed with one-hit-kill gravity hammers and one-use invincibility shields that last for a couple dozen seconds.

* After you fight {{spoiler|Jen}} in ''[[Prey]]'', you will face it again as summoned mook when you're fighting the Keeper. And after you fight the Keeper, you will then need to fight agains more Keepers to get out. Fortunately for latter case, the Keepers will not summon mooks and there are leech gun ammo around.

* The first boss of ''[[Descent]] 2'', aka the "Red Fatty", later returns in [[Palette Swap]] [[Giant Mook]] form, armed with Mercury Missiles and Phoenix Cannons. In the first game, Fusion Hulks are a palette swap of the first boss that have Fusion Cannons.

* The Altered from ''[[Wolfenstein (2009 video game)|Wolfenstein]]''. The first time you fight one, you're armed with nothing more than small arms and have to use the environment to kill it. Later in the game you acquire a BFG that can kill one in a single hit.

* ''Amsterdoom'' has this in every stage, with the boss of the area becoming a recurring type of enemy in the next.

** In the second game, the Super Tank and Tank Flyer first appear as [[King Mook]] bosses, then as normal enemies, although they're just as tough as before.

* Inverted with the Uber Soldat in ''[[Return to Castle Wolfenstein]]'', as you first fight a prototype Mook version, then a tougher boss version.

* In the original ''[[Halo]]'', Zealot Elites were [[Boss in Mook Clothing]]-type enemies that were [[Lightning Bruiser|much tougher and more agile]] than normal Elites. In the second game, their shields were downgraded to the level of Major Elites and they only wielded Energy Swords, while their former stats (and then some) were given to the new Ultra Elites. ''Reach'' promoted the Zealots back to their former status and downgraded the Ultras somewhat.

* ''[[Blood]]'''s bosses, excluding the final one, all appear as regular enemies in the episode(s) following their boss fight, though only above normal difficulty. Each one also has a subordinate version of themselves that appears primarily in the episode they're the boss of.

 

* ''[[Diablo]]'':

** The Butcher is an Overlord demon and a challenging boss early on, but later you can dispatch countless Overlords who are even stronger, albeit without the cleaver.

* Gorgons in ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]]''. Medusa serves as the player's introduction to the enemy type as well as providing a demonstration of how to perform a special kill by ripping off the head. Every Gorgon you meet from that point onward (even the ones you face ''a few minutes later'') is much, ''much'' stronger than she is.

 

 

* ''[[Guild Wars]] Nightfall'', a powerful boss early in the game is a construct made of floating stone fragments called the [http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Apocrypha Apocrypha]. In the final third of the game, identical creatures appear in large group as regular encounters, and are called "graven monoliths."

** And in Factions, the first mission on the mainland has you fighting a Shiro'ken boss at the end, while by the second to last mission, the Shiro'ken are essentially elite mooks.

* [[The Butcher]] in ''[[Rusty Hearts]]'' starts out as the boss of the Subterranean Canals B2, but turns into a regular (though slightly more powerful than normal) enemy on the Hard and Very Hard difficulties in Wine Cellar 1F.

 

* The boss of the first level in ''[[The Lion King (Video Game)|The Lion King]]'' video game is a hyena. They are demoted to "mere" borderline-[[Demonic Spiders]] in the Elephant Graveyard and even further to common [[Mooks]] in the later adult Simba levels.

* ''[[Castlevania]]'' games have been doing this since the beginning, when the first level boss, the Giant Bat, reappeared multiple times on the last level.

** 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.

* In ''[[Mega Man X]] 8'', various enemy reploids in the final stage use copy chips to turn into duplicates of Sigma, the heroes' recurring nemesis (and final boss of the first seven games). Fortunately, they only have access to Sigma's original body, not any of the nightmarish battle forms he loves to inflict on the player.

** The ''[[Mega Man Battle Network|Battle Network]]'' and ''[[Mega Man Star Force|Star Force]]'' games have Type B. After defeating a boss, they'll have a ghost version hiding on a specific tile somewhere in the Cyberworld / on the Wave Roads, usually in a dead end or a corner of a wide platform. Step there and a stronger version of the boss will appear to fight you. After you defeat it, an even stronger version becomes a rare random encounter, usually in the same area.

** The recent gameplay videos for ''Rockman Online'' have shown old bosses such as [[Mega Man 5|Stone Man]] as normal enemies.

** One of the Wily Tower bosses in ''[[Mega Man 8]]'' is an addition to the [[That One Boss|infamous]] "Devil" series of robots, the Green Devil. In ''[[Mega Man and Bass]]'', the Green Devil is back, but without its array of attacks.

** After fighting {{spoiler|Botos}} in ''[[Mega Man X Command Mission]]'', he sends decoys after you a bit later in the game, which are notably weaker than {{spoiler|Botos}} himself. When you actually fight the real one, he just beats you up for a little bit and then runs away.

* In ''[[Sonic Adventure 2]]'', some of the stages operated by Eggman contained enemies that were near-duplicates of E-102 Gamma from the previous game. Interestingly, in ''[[Sonic Adventure]],'' Gamma was both a player character ''and'' a boss, ''and'' made occasional appearances as an NPC, so he ends up having had quite a varied career.

* Fire Leo, [[That One Boss]] for many players of ''[[Viewtiful Joe]]'', reappears in the next chapter as a normal enemy called Metal Leo with severely reduced health and no fire attacks, thankfully.

* The regular assassins in ''[[Iji]]'' appear after you fight Asha. Their tactics are less showy and give more time between attacks but also gain an attack that Asha couldn't perform because he only has one arm. In fact, nearly every boss enemy or notable character is just a normal enemy with some backstory and an optional supermove (and more health).

* The Knight in ''[[Wonder Boy in Monster Land]]'', in addition to having several [[Palette Swap|palette swaps]], also appears as a recurring enemy late in the game.

* In ''[[Spyro]]'' this happens on occasion. The best example would be Buzz, the first boss in ''Spyro: Year of the Dragon''. When he first appears you have to knock him in lava six times to kill him, and each time he gets out you have to dodge his roll attack (and the last two times he gets out he has a powerful fire breath). Cue the third boss, Scorch, who spits Buzz out as an egg. After being hatched, Buzz still has to be knocked into lava/acid, but only once to kill him this time, and you don't have to deal with his roll attack or fire breath.

* In ''[[The Caverns of Hammerfest]]'', every single 'boss', with an exception of the Final Boss, are rather introductions to more powerful enemies you will find in the next levels.

* The Daemon mini-bosses in the SNES and Genesis game ''Warlock'' appear as regular enemies two levels after they're introduced. The player hasn't gained anymore power, and they have the same amount of health, these are still pretty much ''[[Demonic Spiders]]''. The only difference is that they are now skippable. The fact that this stage is ''[[That One Level]]'' doesn't help matters.

 

* Moz, the ninja boss in the first ''[[Time Crisis]]'' reappears as a [[Mini Boss]] in Stage 3-3, then as a mook during the [[Final Boss]] battle.

* The fourth archive of ''[[Child of Eden]]'' features the "running man" form of ''[[Rez]]'''s fourth boss as a sub-boss.

 

 

* 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.

** Every single boss in ''[[Final Fantasy]]: Mystic Quest'', with five exceptions: the crystal guardians (and their [[Palette Swap]] counterparts in Doom Castle), and the final boss.

** ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'': The Four Chaoses (Lich, Marilith, Kraken, and Tiamat) show up as regular bosses in specific points throughout Memoria. However, weaker, "Crystal" versions of them appear later in the Crystal World as random encounters.

*** Some bosses from earlier in the game also show up later. If you revisit the Floating Ruins in later chapters, you will occasionally encounter Boris, the boss from the first mission there. He has exactly the same stats as last time, therefore making him much easier to defeat.

*** ''X-2'' also has bosses from ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' return as regular encounters. Because the mechanics of the games are so different, they can't be defined as Type A or B.

** ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' has several enemies that count in this category, such as various Behemoths and Wyverns. Of particular note is the Juggurnaut, a giant mechanical monstrosity that can and will tear your team to shreds should you stumble into it early in the Pulsian underground. However, when they appear later, your party will be strong enough to turn them into scrap metal in about a minute.

* ''[[Vagrant Story]]'' featured bosses that often become normal mooks with varied stat decreases. The Harpy and Lich both appear as mooks a few ''rooms'' following their boss arenas, though, unlike other examples in the same game, has their stats decreased.

* Many, many bosses in the original ''[[Lufia]]''. With the exception of the Sinistrals, you don't fight an actual unique boss until around the halfway point of 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]].

* ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' there are also various lower-level Noise (examples including the lowest form of wolf, shark, and rhino), which when you encounter them for the first time, they're treated as a boss. Later in the game however, they're just another type of Noise to defeat - sorry, ''[[Deadly Euphemism|erase]]''.

* ''[[Super Mario RPG]]'' presents a spin on this: several of the game's earlier bosses reappear in the game's final dungeon, a factory that literally ''churns them out''. They're even ''called'' "Machine Made," no matter what boss they're copies of. Every last one of them is called "Machine Made."

** A lot of bosses from P3 can be found as random encounters in P4. World Balance shows up again, but it's an interesting case; you find it as a random encounter ''way'' before you fight it as a sub-boss. Fighting it then gives you a version that resists physical attacks as well as all elements, but falls instantly to Hama and Mudo and only knows Ziodyne. Later on, you fight a powered-up version in {{spoiler|Nanako's}} dungeon, which still isn't as hard as the nightmare it was in the previous game. Here, the World Balance has a simple pattern (Mind Charge and then a -dyne spell) and has low HP for a boss.

*** The Magical Magus appears in the ''first level of the game'', and in P3, you didn't fight it until you got to the third block of Tartarus.

* In ''[[Fable II]]'', even [[The Dragon]] is not immune to this; after you kill the Commandant very similar looking people who have the same powers and abilities appear. This is at least a justified case, as the Commandant is introduced as a prototype, and similar creations are explicitly being mass-produced during the 10 year interval at the game's halfway point.

** In ''[[Fable III]]'', downgraded versions of Captain Saker and Lieutenant Simmons (deceased) appear once you've defeated them and are a high enough level.

* 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 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.

* ''[[Adventure Quest]]'' does this a lot with war bosses, which in many cases end up in random encounter lists. This gets lampshaded in one quest where you have to fight Drakath the Undead Dragon, who it's likely the player has run up against at least 3 or 4 times before, and their character wonders, "Who keeps reanimating that dragon?"

** On level 8 you will fight a mini boss in a certain room that due to timing and various other factors makes this the hardest fight in the game to get right at the time you get there. And it's just an optional quest mini boss with near zero plot importance. On the final level of the game you fight this exact enemy as a normal encounter with the same minions... and may even encounter it at the same time as another difficult enemy. Post game you will sometimes fight two at once and minions as a normal encounter.

** For that matter, post game you can fight bosses as normal enemies. Even the ones that actually were bosses.

* Wendigo in ''[[Devil Survivor]]''. It's still referred to as a fearsome demon in cut-scenes even when you're strong enough to take on five teams of Wendigos at once. It's actually even [[Invoked Trope|invoked]], as one of your party members will mention how Wendigo appearing as a regular enemy means that you're fighting tougher demons now.

* The first boss you face in the main storyline of ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'' is an ogre, which becomes a normal enemy later in the game (with more powerful versions at times.) Justified in that you're trying to ''re''take an area that's off to one side of the main battle, and the darkspawn would've just sent a strike force consisting of their normal troops to take it in the first place.

** The [[Dynamic Difficulty]] of the game scales all monsters to the [[Player Character]]'s level, with Normal enemies being slighly weaker than the PC; Lieutenants, slighly stronger; and Bosses, about as strong as your entire party combined (don't ask about [[That One Boss|Elite Bosses]]). Said first Ogre you encounter (at level 4-5) is a Boss, yet all subsequent Ogres are Lieutenants, so they are simultaneously stronger that the first one and weaker than yourself during all subsequent encounters.

** Same thing happens in ''[[Dragon Age II]]'': an ogre is the very first boss you fight in the game (twice), and even Flemeth comments on how impressive it is to beat one. The next ones you meet in the end of Act I are considerably less difficult. By Act III, Hawke and Companions will crunch them for breakfast.

* ''[[Crisis Core]]: [[Final Fantasy VII]]'' is full of these. Sometimes they're storyline bosses, sometimes they're mission-ending uniques.

* In ''[[Skies of Arcadia]]'', the executioner you face fairly early in the game appears reskinned as a mook in one of the climactic sequences. The original inspired nightmares, his green-painted cousins are easy meat, probably because you gained about 30 levels and now have access to Fina's wide range of healing powers.

* The Lotus Assassins of ''[[Jade Empire]]'' get this hard. The first one you meet, you can't even fight - an NPC rushes in to defeat the assassin and says you wouldn't have stood a chance. Later, you fight a couple, but each is at the center of a boss fight. A couple of acts later, and you're taking on entire squads of assassins by yourself without breaking a sweat.

* Ascended Sleepers in ''[[Morrowind]]'' are Type B. Various named Dagoths encountered in the latter half of the main quest are modified Ascended Sleepers, but they're actually downgraded from the normal enemy (which only shows up at extremely high levels - it is in fact the highest levelled non-unique monster in the game). So it is quite possible to learn to [[Boss in Mook Clothing|hate]] Ascended Sleepers before knowing what they're actually called.

* ''[[Secret of Evermore]]'' had the Eye of Rimsala; the first is a boss about halfway through the game. The last dungeon area has one guarding most corridors, and the last [[Sequential Boss]] fight includes a segment where you take on three at once.

* ''[[Legend of Legaia]]'' has you fight against two [[Shock and Awe|Viguro]] early in the game. They're second-tier Seru while you're still on first-tier spells. Interesting in that it is still possible to [[Power Copying|absorb them]] in this fight if you're lucky enough, giving you a considerable boost in damage output for as long as you can meet the higher MP requirement.

** In the [[Bonus Dungeon]] of ''[[Star Ocean the Second Story]]'', this happens multiple times. The boss of one floor of the dungeon will often be a random encounter on the next.

* 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.

* Halfway through the first disc of ''[[The Legend of Dragoon]]'' you face a "Sandora Elite", an assassin who fights with kunai, earth-based ninjutsu and two [[Doppleganger Attack|ninja clones]] at his side. They become standard enemies in the [[Disc One Final Dungeon]], minus the dopplegangers.

* At least in the Super Famicom game, ''[[Dragonball Z]]: Legend of the Super Saiyan'', there are random encounter enemies late in the game that are palette swaps of Cui, Dodoria, Zarbon, and the Ginyu Force that are weaker or stronger than you originally fought as bosses.

** The Bell Gargoyles also reappear as non-respawning [[Mini Boss|mini bosses]] in Anor Londo, although they're smaller and [[Breath Weapon|breathe lightning]] instead of fire. They're also encountered individually, which makes them much easier to deal with.

* In [[Mass Effect 2]], an YMIR heavy mech is the first boss. As the game progresses, they show up frequently as [[Elite Mook|elite mooks]], sometimes in pairs. They're never easy, and in the harder battles (especially when they start out near the party, since they can absolutely shred [[We Cannot Go on Without You|Shepard]] at short range), they qualify as [[Boss in Mook Clothing]], and are sometimes harder than actual bosses.

** Also in the third game, the Atlas Mech is counted as an outright boss when encountered during Priority: Sur'Kesh and [[Downloadable Content|Priority: Eden Prime]]. They become more common in later missions though.

 

** Another level boss Gaw appeared in ''Life Force'' at the end of Stage 5. It appeared in ''Gradius II'''s [[Boss Rush]] before becoming a pre-stage enemy for the bio levels in ''Gaiden'' and ''V''.

** The giant worm that was the first boss of ''Gaiden'' appears as an enemy in ''V'''s bio stage.

* The first boss of ''[[Ray Storm]]'' returns as a [[Mini Boss]] in the Judgement and Emotion stages of ''[[Ray Crisis]]''.

* Yuyuko, final boss of ''[[Touhou Project|Perfect Cherry Blossom]]'', {{spoiler|is the Stage 1 boss of ''Ten Desires''. Justified in that she's [[Willfully Weak]]; she just wants to get in some practice with you before you go on the investigation.}}

** Generally speaking, if a characters recurs they'll be showing up a midboss the second time. Though this can be a promotion if they went from a boss of an early stage to an EX midboss.

* In ''[[Raiden]] IV'', the twin [[Spider Tank|spider tanks]] from ''Raiden II'' return in smaller form in Stage 4, but then they are re-promoted to bosses in that same stage. The series' recurring jet boss, Ichneumon, becomes a regular enemy in Stages 5 and 6 of the Xbox 360 version.

 

* The survival horror game ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'' miniboss, the Doorman (or Abstract Daddy) appears as a common monster in a later level, albeit a smaller, weaker version of the original. The reason for this being, based off the most popular theory, that the psychological reasons for the original creature to exist are sort of "echoing" themselves. Or something.

** Similarly, in the third game, the Missionary, which you first fight as a boss after one of them kills Harry, becomes a recurring mook in the cult's church near the end of the game.

** In ''Origins'', Caliban, the boss of the theater, becomes a mook in the outdoor segment almost immediately after you beat the boss version. Along with the giant versions of the dogs, these act as a very, ''very'' unsubtle hint that you should probably just be running from enemies on the streets now instead of wasting ammunition and [[Breakable Weapons]] fighting them.

** 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.

 

* Similarly, in ''[[Gears of War]]'', the minigun-wielding Grinders in the second game are functionally weaker versions of the first game's final boss, General RAAM, with less health and no Kryll Shield. ''Story''-wise they're two entirely different beasts (RAAM being an ascended Theron Guard while Grinders are big dumb Boomers), but gameplay-wise they're very similar.

* In the 2004 ''[[Transformers (2004 video game)|Transformers Armada]]'' game by Atari (Good luck finding it), the boss of Level One is a "Heavy Unit" wielding dual energy blasters, homing missiles, and a mean [[Shockwave Stomp]]. Oh, and you fight him in relatively close quarters (with some terrain for cover), too. He becomes a standard [[Giant Mook]] no later than than '''level two''', when the game reveals its true [[Nintendo Hard]] colors: They can ''survive'' one or two [[Boom! Headshot!|Boom Headshots]] from your [[Sniper Rifle]] (depending on your aim), and are frequently stationed out in wide open areas where they are free to launch their homing missiles at you from ''really'' long range. And that's not counting that nearby reinforcements will wonder what they're shooting at and start searching for you themselves. Fun game though.

* ''[[Max Payne 2]]'' has Kaufman, the much-feared leader of the Squeaky Cleaning Company hitmen, whose baseball cap and jacket set him apart from his jumpsuit-wearing lackeys. In the levels following his death, Cleaners wearing his outfit are only a little less common than the standard models.

 

* ''[[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.

 

* The special zombies in ''[[Dead Island]]'' show up initially as bosses, complete with cut scenes showing shocked protagonist reactions. After couple of areas have been passed, they show up mixed in with regular zombies, as strong as they were before (stronger, in fact, as they level with the players). As they tend to have elements of a [[Puzzle Boss]] about them (disable the arms first, use ranged weapons, only attack from behind etc) it's usually best to mop up the mook before attempting to take them down.

 

* After facing Ranba Ral (Gouf) and the Black Tri-Stars (Dom) in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'', the Mobile Suits used by them are soon adopted as Mass-production units by Zeon Mooks.

*** The Destroy Gundam is most notorious in that when the emotionally-unbalanced Stella piloted the beast, it absolutely devastated Berlin and even when stopped, the machine was still largely intact. When they start mass producing it, they drop like flies. Granted, ZAFT did introduce new prototype suits, but you'd think they'd at least be able to match the original's damage.

* ''[[Naruto]]'' looks like it may have these, since {{spoiler|Orochimaru!Kabuto did the whole "imperfect resurrection" thing on Itachi, Kakuzu, Deidara, Sasori, and Nagato}}.

** {{spoiler|In the end, it was a subversion, since Orochimaru!Kabuto revived many more legendary shinobi, and while we finally how badass the other shinobi from the past were, none of the aforementioned five had had degraded in any way. If anything, at least ''two'' of them were shown to be even ''stronger'' after their resurrection}}.

** Sasori and Deidara do play this trope straight. When they are first introduced they were as powerful as a kage. When they are resurrected they are defeated by Kankuro and Sai.

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Boss Battle]]

[[Category:Video Game Characters]]