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.

 

See [[Recurring Boss]] for examples where they don't get degraded.

{{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.

* 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.

 

* The Hell Vanguard from ''[[Devil May Cry]] 3'' returns in later parts of the game as a lifebar-less mook. However, all recurrences are as strong as the first one. Furthermore, on one occasion (Mission 17's Trial of the Warrior room), the Hell Vanguard "mook" taps into the [[Limit Break|latent "Devil Trigger" power]] and becomes even more powerful than the boss version. On the highest difficulty, all "mook" versions of the Hell Vanguard can potentially use the Devil Trigger power.

** ''[[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.

* 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.

 

* Done a lot in old beat'em-up arcade games. Examples: ''[[Double Dragon]]'', ''Cadillacs and Dinosaurs'', ''Ninja Combat'', and ''Arabian Nights''. Often, the first boss you face will also be the first [[Giant Mook]].

** 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.]]"

* 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 ''[[Dark Forces Saga]]'' is rather fond of this trope. The Dark Troopers of the original game are introduced in this way, as are AT-STs in later installments. In ''Jedi Academy'', in which lightsaber-wielding opponents are so numerous that they are basically [[Elite Mooks]] by the end of the game, an early level features one as a de facto boss.

 

* ''[[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.

 

* 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.

 

* ''[[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 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.

 

* 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.

** 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.

 

* Big Core in the ''[[Gradius]]'' series as a whole; they were the first game's [[Recurring Boss]] and came back for [[Boss Rush|Boss Rushes]] in subsequent games. In ''Gradius V'', they've been reduced to regular enemy status, appearing frequently in Stage 1, 3, and 7 and getting killed pretty quickly.

** 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''.

* 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.

* 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.

 

* ''[[Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones]]'' has the Cyclops, fought as a regular boss previously, appear as a regular enemy in the Endgame and [[Bonus Dungeon|Bonus Dungeons]]. It's as tough as before though; it's your party that's become stronger.

* ''[[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.

** Similarly, in ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'', The Earth Alliance's powerful Mobile Armors such as the Zamzah-Zah and Destroy Gundam appear in greater numbers later in the series (and are usually killed ''much'' easier than the first one they faced).

** 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]]