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.

* '''Type B:'''The ones who appear after killing the first one, aren't weaker at all. [[Underground Monkey|Sometimes even stronger]]. Although by then you're usually more powerful and well-equipped to deal with them more easily. A common version of this is for the first Boss of the game to reappear as a [[Giant Mook]] throughout the rest of the game.

 

 

{{examples}}

== Game Examples ==

=== [[Action Adventure]] ===

** 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 final stage in ''[[Zone of the Enders]]: the 2nd Runner'' throws endless copies of Nephtis, the game's second boss at you, which you can cut down by the dozen with near impunity. Playing through the [[New Game+]] with the [[Eleventh-Hour Superpower]] you get at the beginning of that stage will confirm that they haven't been made weaker than the original.

 

* The MMORPG ''[[City of Heroes]]'' and its Villain counterpart do this as well in a few cases. Some specific missions have Boss or Elite Boss versions of enemies that are normally only minion or lieutenants normally, while in other cases Bosses are eventually downgraded to lower status. Villains can run into this as early as level 5 and the Lt. Blechley enemy, an Elite Boss version of the normally lieutenant-powered Council Vampyri. Heroes encounter this as well, although the most notable case doesn't come into play until level 45, where the dangerous Malta Gunslingers begin to regularly apply as lieutenants instead of their previous Boss counterparts. Justified as heroes don't even start to encounter the Vampyri until level 20, while villains encounter Lt. Blechley before level 10. At that stage in the game, he would be tough for a hero as well.

* Happens a lot in ''[[Dungeon Fighter Online]]'', with nearly every single boss you fight at the start of the game. Type B.

** 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 ''[[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.

 

=== [[Rail Shooter]] ===

* 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 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]]''.

* 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.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Boss Battle]]

[[Category:Video Game Characters]]