Hopeless Boss Fight: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ideally, the game should make it somewhat obvious to the casual gamer the fight is probably intended to be hopeless, lest you waste your serious healing items and abilities. This is another reason why these tend to appear at the beginning of the game, as you haven't even ''acquired'' any serious healing items or abilities yet.

Often, [[Genre Savvy]] players may confuse [[That One Boss|a hopelessly difficult boss]] with this and [[Sheathe Your Sword|give up fighting]] on the assumption that the battle is intended to be hopeless ... [[Wrong Genre Savvy|only to discover it isn't]]. [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|More fiendishly]], some games can silently observe the player's efforts to determine whether they [[Controllable Helplessness|put up a decent struggle before going down]], with a ''genuine'' [[Game Over]] issued if they died too quickly, or make the objective to survive for a fixed amount of time, with any deaths resulting in game over.

 

 

Sometimes, the apparently invincible boss ''can'' technically be defeated, if you have [[Guide Dang It|a precisely tuned tactical setup]], access to a [[Disc One Nuke]], the advantage of a [[New Game+]] or endless hours of [[Level Grinding]] behind you. In this special case, defeating the boss may net you a cool reward of [[Experience Points]] or rare items.

 

* The boss will simply reveal that he is [[I Am Not Left-Handed|Not Left Handed]] and summon his [[Cutscene Power to the Max]] to knock your party senseless, if your party members didn't already [[Cutscene Incompetence|collapse from their own exhaustion]].

* Someone or something else pulls a [[Diabolus Ex Machina]] and finishes you off.

* You win this fight, but the boss will be back for a rematch and the plot won't advance until you lose to it.

* A [[Multiple Endings|nonstandard ending]] because defeating this boss drives the plot completely [[Off the Rails]].

 

A specific subtrope of [[Fission Mailed]], and related to [[Controllable Helplessness]] in that you're directly taking part in a situation that will only end one way. If the boss ''must'' be defeated in battle to avoid a [[Game Over]], but invokes a [[Story Overwrite]] ''after'' the battle to defeat you, it's [[Heads I Win, Tails You Lose]].

 

 

 

 

* In ''[[Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia]]'', at the final battle with Dracula, once you've whittled his HP down to 0, if you're not fast enough to quickly equip the {{spoiler|Dominus Union}} he unleashes an unbeatable move that's supposed to instantly kill you (it does 9946 damage, though if you use the Volaticus Glyph, you can fly in the corner of the screen to dodge it, though the frame of Dracula and the explosion stays unmoving and never ends).

** In ''[[Portrait of Ruin]]'', you can't kill the Behemoth during the initial chase, you can only run, even if you are on [[New Game+]] and could beat the actual boss fight in under half a minute by [[Game Breaker|Dart spam]].

** ''Rondo of Blood'' had the exact same set piece years earlier. The Behemoth in Rondo could be defeated, though.

* ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]'' has an unusual take on this: {{spoiler|At the end of the game ''you'' turn into the final boss, you're effectively invincible and can attack the armed group that just tried to kill you. This is hopeless, though. They'll seal you away no matter what you do.}}

* Oddjob from ''James Bond 007'' for the Gameboy could not be beat without a special item, ensuring Bond gets dumped in the desert where he can't possibly survive.

* ''[[Brave Fencer Musashi]]'' has the fight with the super-vambees in the church. They can't be killed by damage, and if they grab you it's [[One-Hit Kill|instant death]]. Fortunately, if you hold out long enough, [[Weakened by the Light|the sunlight kills them]]. There's also a few instances where there's some invincible thing chasing you and all you can do is run - the stone head in the prologue chapter comes to mind, as does one of the forms of the [[Final Boss]].

* In ''[[Pokemon Rumble Blast]]'', {{spoiler|at the end of World 2, you get a Team Battle with one of these. Lampshaded with a Help Sign stating that "things might not always go your way, but sometimes is a good thing." Hurts your pride if you don't read the sign, but is considered a Critical Hit after winning the Charge Battle to reach this zone.}}

 

* ''Blood Omen: [[Legacy of Kain]]'' includes an early battle with Malek. He cannot be killed, forcing Kain to leave and seek help, first from the oracle (Moebius) and then Vorador, who defeats Malek himself.

** In fact, the very first battle is against respawning bandits. If you kill them all, more will come along, and eventually kill you in order to progress the story.

* The [[Newgrounds]] flash game ''Mobile Weapon'' contains an example of this. At some point in the game, you fight Fleet Commander Ariel Highwater in her mecha, Serra Superion. The mecha has ridiculous health and power and will maim your party within a few hits. However, you don't lose the game: you merely need to repair your own mechas after the battle. You'll never hear from her again.

* This happens twice in ''Breakdown'', both with [[The Dragon]], Solus. The first time isn't much of a fight, since he slams you against a wall before you can really do much. The second time is more of a fight, but the second he gets more strength, the fight's basically over. {{spoiler|However, you get to fight him again after some [[Time Travel]], and after he remarks that you were supposed to die quick, you beat him because you're now as powerful as he is.}}

* If you play the Zeon campaign in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]: [[Gundam vs. Series|Federation vs. Zeon]]'', nearly every encounter with Amuro and his Gundam is this. You're not even able to consistently damage him until the final mission, where you drop into his own final battle with Char.

 

 

* ''[[Grim Fandango]]'' loves this Trope. Both fights against Domino Hurley and Hector LeMans will go on forever until you [[Take a Third Option]].

* ''[[Escape from Monkey Island]]'' ends with a Boss Battle that could go on indefinitely, as the players regenerate their hitpoints faster than the other can take them away. Naturally, there's a trick to winning this one.

 

 

* In the DS ''[[Dinosaur King]]'' game, one of these is fought against Seth-he counters every move you can make regardless of what you do. A variation occurs in that it occurs ''after'' a normal boss fight with him.

* Somewhat unusually for a ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' game, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories'' has one of these, the first time you encounter Heishin. If you do manage to beat him, he simply challenges you again. (And again, and again, and again, if need be...)

 

 

* In the arcade version of the [[Fighting Game]] ''[[Rival Schools]]'', you start off fighting students from other schools, attempting to uncover the mystery behind a rash of student disappearances. But in the third round, Raizo, the principal of Justice High School, shows up with a brainwashed person (his partner for the 2-man special attacks) to fight you. True to the trope, Raizo is very powerful and extremely resistant to damage at this point, but with enough skill, you can manage to chip off enough damage from him and fend him off until time runs out. If you lose as the plot demands, you continue to fight other students and unravel more of the story. If you are playing as the two Justice High teachers and lose, you still continue to fight students... ''as a brainwashed agent for Raizo'', complete with color-changed outfits, until the plot has your adversaries fight you to snap you out of it. On the other hand, if you do beat Raizo here, you skip directly to the end of the game, with another fight against him (depowered to beatable levels, of course). {{spoiler|Either way, once you defeat him you then fight [[The Man Behind the Man]], an [[Ax Crazy]], sword-wielding Justice High student named Hyo.}}

** Slightly different with the Gedo High in which Akira fights with her teammates instead (probably vice versa if the player is controlling Edge or Gan...I don't remember). However, the said opposing teammates still take less damage than usual. They are quite beatable though if you actually take the time and are careful enough not to get hit too much.

* In several wrestling based games, there are matches where, even though they are hard, you can easily win. However, due to the storyline calling you to not have "come out on top" or not possess a certain title, a cutscene will play that takes the title/glory away from you. Several examples in Smackdown vs Raw 06 include: HHH losing in a steel cage, but Eric Bischoff taking away your title, defeating Eddie Guerro but the Undertaker interrupting the match, winning the tag team title, but having to give it to the injured wrestler you previously replaced.

** The original ''SmackDown vs. Raw'' has a big example itself. At one point, you are given the option to join Vince McMahon, who will referee a WWE Championship match you're in. If you take his offer, it is impossible to lose as he will not recognize submissions or count past two when you're pinned. The inverse, however, is that if you turn him down the same goes for your opponent, meaning it's only a matter of when you lose.

** You CAN win the fights, if you're extremely good at dodging, and very patient. But the cut scenes take place like it never happened, since the cut scenes are right out of the anime.

* ''[[Dragonball Z]]: Budokai Tenkaichi 2'' plays with this. Certain fights are normally impossible to win, and losing them advances the plot. However, level up your characters enough and you'll be able to alter the story's progression by winning. This opens up alternate story paths that shift around events and characters, the results of which are often hilarious.

 

 

* ''[[Deus Ex]]'' has a well-executed instance of this, where you are confronted by a small army who demand your surrender, led by Gunther Hermann (a main character). You ''have'' the option of resisting (even if this is obviously foolish), but Gunther is invincible in this fight, so there's no way to avoid getting captured even if you manage to outfight everyone else (which is pretty hard to do, so you will likely not even notice Gunther's invincibility). You get to fight Gunther later, when he's quite mortal.

** It is quite possible to be starkly confronted with Gunther's invincible nature by taking advantage of his ridiculously stupid AI; lure Gunther into the train station and make an escape through the tunnels. Destroy the small army of UNATCO troops and bots awaiting you, and then find out (to many tropers' eternal frustration) that even though you can hear the evac chopper waiting for you, you can't get to it; you're forced to battle Hermann.

* In ''[[Battlefield 3]]'' during the second and final mission as {{spoiler|Miller, you have to hold out for an evac helicopter to come save you and comrades from your disabled tank with it's 50. cal machinegun for 15 minutes. Its impossible.}}

* In ''[[Far Cry]] 2'', you start the game trying to flee a town while a civil war is going on all around you. You can't successfully escape the town, because even if you avoid getting killed by gunfire, you collapse from malaria before you can get far. Once you're out of commission, one of the factions picks up your semi-conscious body and drags you to safety to get you to work for them. Which makes very little sense, considering that you may have just shot a lot of them... and then either lost, or collapsed from your {{spoiler|terminally}} serious case of malaria.

 

* Anubis from ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'' is unbeatable, a rare example of the final boss being such. While you can just wait for the end of the game to happen, if you are fast with the controls you can avoid any damage from him whatsoever, at least on easy. The only damage taken is that in a cutscene about halfway through the battle. He returns in the sequel and is unbeatable ''again'' the first time you fight him. It isn't until the very end of the game that you actually can win, and it is ''satisfying''.

 

 

* ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' has Absolute Virtue. When it was first released, it was supposedly killable ([[Blatant Lies|"the Development Team killed it with 18 people"]]), but anytime players have managed to kill it Square has nerfed the method that they used within weeks. Worse yet, their released information on ''how'' they killed it required violating their own TOS. For a long time, it remained this; however, Absolute Virtue is now defeated on a regular basis by many linkshells.

** Another megaboss, Pandemonium Warden, also fit this category; in fact a story of a linkshell fighting it for several hours and finally submitting to fatigue and [[Bladder of Steel|other personal needs]] became newsworthy when the boss was first unleashed.

* {{spoiler|Don Crimbo in the 2009 Crimbo Quest}} of ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]''.

* ''[[Mabinogi Fantasy Life]]'': In G13 (Hamlet), you are instructed to fight the Grim Reaper, who is trying to kill Shakespeare. However, this is impossible due to the Grim Reaper's high immunity.

 

 

* The first boss in the ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' series is (supposedly) undefeatable until X's ethereal form appears, gives you a new Z-Saber, and disappears. This is actually untrue. He takes one point of damage with each Buster hit ([[Lampshade Hanging|even though Ciel says, "You can't damage this thing (the Golem) with a buster..."]]), so you could beat him with the Buster. It would just take forever because he gets mercy invincibility after every hit. The saber is programmed to do a [[One Hit KO]].

** There's also the first fight with Vile and his ride armor in ''[[Mega Man X]]'', where he beats the player senseless. Then [[Badass|Zero]] comes and blasts its arm off with a single charged shot.

* In ''[[Tomb Raider]]: Legend'', the [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|"unknown entity"]] is invincible when first encountered in a flashback, and if it touches you, it's [[Game Over]]. Easy to accidentally run the wrong way, too.

* ''[[Metroid]]'' series:

* The skeleton on the bridge in ''[[Prince of Persia]] 2''. Eventually the bridge collapses, taking the skeleton with it, and you have to grab onto the ledge to survive, but you lose your sword, and have to make do with a broken sword for several levels.

** Later in the game, an invincible flaming sword attacks you. The only winning move is not to play.

** In the ''Meta Knightmare Ultra'' mode of the remake, ''Kirby Super Star Ultra'' for the DS, you actually do have to beat the boss, both here and at the later point in the game where you'd face him for real as Kirby.

* ''[[Drawn to Life]]: The Next Chapter'''s {{spoiler|final battle with Wilfre must be initially lost to continue.}}

* ''[[You Have to Burn The Rope]]'' more or less subverts this trope. Your normal attacks can't harm the Grinning Colossus enough to even remotely get his healthbar down, but on the other hand {{spoiler|once you burn the rope, you give that Colossus a one-hit kill.}}

 

* The fist fight with the Great Devil in ''[[Adventures of Lolo]] 3'', 3/4 of the way through the game, is unwinnable. There's nothing really to indicate that you can't beat him, the only hint being that the manual says there are 3 sections of the game, while this fight takes place in the 2nd section. Not so bad, since there are no items for you to waste, but has the potential to be a nasty surprise if you thought it was the final boss, only to discover that there are still 25 more levels before that. Not to mention that his only attack is firing very easy-to-dodge projectiles, which means you could keep up the fight a long time without realizing it was useless.

 

 

* The second Bavakh Brother in ''Immortal Defense'', who ends up {{spoiler|destroying all life on your homeworld}}. It turns out it ''is'' possible to beat him, if you're crazy good and crazy lucky, but even if you do the game continues as though you hadn't.

* ''[[Warcraft]] III'' involves enemy heroes with Divine armor, which can only be destroyed by units with Chaos damage. Because no ordinary units in those scenarios have Chaos damage, the bosses are invincible. Examples include Mal'Ganis, Cenarius and Tichondrius. The player must seek a power-up to gain the Chaos damage required to kill the boss and win the scenario.

** Similarly, one of the early missions in the Human campaign has you having to defend a small town against endless waves of undead. Given the small amount of resources, upgrades and units that you can use to set up a decent defense, you can never actually destroy the two undead bases that keep sending their spawns at you. By the end of the mission, not even a perfectly positioned series of towers and soldiers can stop the undead from overwhelming you. [[It Gets Worse]], because there's a side-quest in which you have to prevent a THIRD undead army from being spawned.

* In ''[[Pikmin]] 2'', the Water Wraith combines this with ''[[Nightmare Fuel]]''. The game's ''[[Ninja Butterfly]]'' even tells you "Run Away! Run Away very Fast!" Any attacks against it result on the Pikmin being killed until the last sublevel of the dungeon when you recruit the purple Pikmin and can make him tangible.

** Happens later on while trying to sneak past a massive army of level 50-100 orc units. You're supposed to go around them. Sneaky players can lure them off one at a time and defeat them using the paladins you have with you to heal. The dark elves which try to nuke you with meteor spells are, however, invulnerable, and your only recourse is to dash past them. This leads to the incredibly frustrating situation where you've beaten around five units of ridiculously high level orcs and swarms upon swarms of weaker enemies if you went to wipe out every last enemy on the map, only to get blown into oblivion by some [[Stripperiffic]] [[Fantastic Slurs|"vellie"]] mages. [[Gosh Dang It to Heck]]! Again, you get [[Game Breaker|gamebreaking]] amounts of experience and gold for this. Just as well, as [[That One Boss|the hardest battle in the game]] is just around the corner.

** Similarly, in Ellen's campaign there's a mission in which you're supposed to just run past several armies of ecclesian knights and paladins. While you can attempt to take them on one by one, you're constantly being chased and spammed by the spells of the paladins, so fighting is not quite a viable option.

** That is still a victory, because survival is the objective. In the ''Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty'' mission "In Utter Darkness" {{spoiler|the ultimate fate of the Protoss (and Zerg) is to be annihilated. Your mission objective is to hold out as long as you can until the ''inevitable'' end, where you must be wiped out in order to 'complete' the mission.}}

* Two levels in ''[[Homeworld]] 2'' have you facing off against Progenitor Keepers, incredibly advanced drone warships left behind by a Precursor race millions of years ago and who've taken a disliking towards you for having stolen one of their ancient artifacts. The player's most powerful weapons will barely dent a Keeper, and once worn down by attrition they simply hyperspace out and reappear again with full health. It is then up to the player to stay alive against this onslaught until the game script eventually bails him out of the situation.

 

 

* The First time you fight Purge the Great in ''[[Space Channel 5]] Part 2'', Ulala is only able to dodge deadly lightning attacks. After giving you some truly [[Nintendo Hard]] commands, {{spoiler|Purge goes and kills Ulala.}}

* ''[[Gitaroo Man]]'' contains two examples. On the way to Planet Gitaroo, your ship is ambushed by a giant robot shark, and all you can do is dodge until you unlock a [[Humongous Mecha]] to fight back with. Then, the [[Big Bad]] kidnaps your dog (who helps you transform) and the player has to dodge attacks from the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Sanbone Trio]] until they accidentally free him for you.

 

 

* The ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'' series has a few:

*** If you manage to beat Bowser in Paper Mario for N64 (by way of [[Game Shark]]), {{spoiler|[[Unwinnable by Design|the game crashes itself]].}}

** Also in the first game, Tubba Blubba. He's [[Implacable Man|completely immune to your attacks]] until you expose his secret.

** Finally, in Chapter 4 of the second game, you have multiple encounters with a ghost who has stolen your identity (don't ask). Until you discover his name, he can't hurt you and you can't hurt him.

*** His name is the same every time, but interestingly enough the same place you find his name is the same place you find the missing letter in the name-entering screen.

* In ''[[Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'' Bowser's first fight is with Midbus in which you learn how to fight. Then Bowser starts feeling weak because of the Vacuum Mushroom and loses. However, if you beat Midbus with an Action Replay, you get no experience or coins, and the following cutscene just acts like he defeated you. In that case, it makes the bossfight a [[Heads I Win, Tails You Lose]] boss fight, just like the previous example.

* Saturos and Menardi at the beginning of ''[[Golden Sun]]''. Its sequel, ''Golden Sun: The Lost Age'' had a battle against Agaito and Karst where the plot would progress if you lost, but the battle was not actually hopeless, and winning scored you a nice rare item.

* Luca Blight on early battlefields of ''[[Suikoden II]]''.

** In the first game, Pan stays behind to hold off General Teo long enough for the rest of the cast to retreat. Teo takes him on one-on-one, and the game has a special battle system for one on one fights. Teo is ridiculously stronger than Pan and will probably win in less than five turns, prompting a cutscene where Pan is executed... [[Guide Dang It|unless you know how to prepare.]] It's possible, with less grinding than is usually the case for these situations, for Pan to win the fight. The player has to be very aware of the cues Teo gives so the correct actions can be chosen, as well. If the fight is won, Teo will withdraw, Pan will collapse, having come out on top by the skin of his teeth, and theorize that Teo let him win. Winning this is necessary for [[One Hundred Percent Completion]], but there's no real indication that it's winnable other than the fact that the cast themselves are the collection sidequest, and thus, losing Pan means losing one of the 108 Stars.

*** Also, early in the game, if the player tries to move too far into the sea without completing a certain task, he will encounter the Dragon Nepto, whose sole purpose is to [[Beef Gate|block the player's path]]. However, the game ends normally after the party dies and it's impossible to run from him either, forcing the player to reload the game. It ''is'', however, possible to beat him with massive overleveling, but once you do so, you will be moved a few inches back and the boss will still be there, blocking your path.

** Golbez (and Kain) at various times in ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]''.

*** With sufficient [[Level Grinding]] (or by [[Game Shark|cheating]]) it is possible to win the majority of the hopeless boss fights in ''Final Fantasy IV''. If you defeat Kain the first time you fight him, the game [[Heads I Win, Tails You Lose|pretends you lost]]. If you defeat the Dark Elf without the Twin Harp, it sets the game back to before the battle. The only fights that are unwinnable under any circumstances are those in which a) the player does not have control of the characters, or b) the fight ends [[Scripted Event|regardless of how you're doing]].

*** The [[Final Fantasy IV: The After Years|sequel]] has the Mysterious Girl fill this position ''several times'' throughout the game. Also, the fights against {{spoiler|Dark Cecil}} and {{spoiler|the Mysterious Girl and Bahamut}} are Hopeless Boss Fights that result in game overs if the player doesn't have the correct party members. Of course, the game [[Guide Dang It|doesn't tell you this]].

** ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'' has an [[Inverted Trope|inversion]] in the first battle with Exdeath, it is [[Foregone Victory|hopeless for him, not for you.]]

*** There's also another [[Border Patrol]] in the same town- the Heavy Armor. You actually can beat this one, as it's just a standard mook from slightly later in the game when you have more characters, but only if you are over-leveled. There is no real reward for doing this, though - the only purpose this enemy placement has is to force you to solve a puzzle segment.

*** Another example occurs in the second half of the game, when {{spoiler|you find Terra in the ruined town of Mobliz.}} While you're suppose to lose the first time the boss attacks, it's possible to kill the boss by exploiting a glitch with the [[Useless Useful Spell]]. The end result doesn't change either way, though.

** Early on in ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' the party is attacked by Ba'Gamnan and his crew. If you've been leveling normally, it is extremely difficult to win this fight, and the game makes it clear that you're supposed to run away from them (all the way back out of the dungeon you've been going through.) {{spoiler|You fight them again later as a mark}}. Interestingly, if you've done enough level grinding (or gotten everyone a Quickening), you can beat them here, but you still have to leave the dungeon manually - and the game still shows your guest party member running on ahead of you at each zone transition as though you were running away.

** ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' has a rare case of this and [[Heads I Win, Tails You Lose]] in the same fight. Snow fights a bunch of soldiers alone, and although it's quite manageable (and probably easier than the boss battle directly afterwards), you don't get a game over for losing, nor do you get anything of value for winning. Either way, the following cutscene is the same.

** ''[[Crisis Core]]'' ends with one of these: {{spoiler|As Zack, the player is forced to fight his way through an unlimited amount of Shinra infantrymen (they will not stop coming, the battle is scripted to end first), who then leave Zack bloody, bruised and barely able to lift his sword at the end. Then three more Soldier infantrymen show up and pump him full of lead, similar to the ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]] II'' example below (except that he doesn't get better).}}

** ''[[Dirge of Cerberus]]'' has a fight with Weiss the Immaculate, who initially moves so fast he's nearly impossible to hit. He also takes a VERY small amount of damage, but it may be theoretically possible to beat him. After Vincent is defeated, he {{spoiler|gains enough control over his [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] to be able to keep up.}} The following battle is on more even footing.

** ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy|Dissidia 012]]''. If, at the beginning, you answer that you're a "Dissidia expert," it will make you fight the superboss version of Feral Chaos with your singular preset level 1 character. Overlaps with [[Trolling Creator]], because you're likely trying to avoid unnecessary tutorials because you've played the original, and this doesn't actually ''prove'' that you lack knowledge, just the levels and equipment to make winning probable.

*** This is a real pain if you don't know it's coming (wasting healing items). This is also true in the [[Difficulty by Region|Japanese version]]; you always use a Phoenix Down when you get killed, and this boss is no exception. Thankfully, they fixed that (along with, well, [[Regional Bonus|pretty much]] [[Your Mileage May Vary|everything else]])

* ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]'' gives one either the option of immediately attacking the King of the Vampires, Brahms; or listening to what he has to say. Plot-wise for the [[Multiple Endings|Best Ending]] you should listen to him. Fighting usually results in him kicking your butt and scolding you which results in a decrease in the [[Karma Meter]]. However, if you actually beat him, the game just ignores that the battle ever happened (although you do get the karma bonus).

** And if you get the "C" ending, Freya comes down and kicks your ass.

** In the Kingdom of Zeal, the plot requires you to be captured. To this end, a Golem is sent to attack the party. While the standard fare would be to lose to the monster, you can actually defeat it (in fact it can be pathetically easy if you know how). Doing so results in the summoner using the "[[Go Look At the Distraction|look behind you]]" trick then shooting you in the back. All winning does is net some decent EXP. What's worse is that, later on, the same guy will summon two of these things that you are expected to defeat, so unless you figured out how the first time around, good luck.

** In the sequel, ''[[Chrono Cross]]'', the main antagonist switches bodies with the player character in the middle of a fight. The resulting battle cannot be won: either the player character is beaten down by his former allies or (if he manages to beat them), one of the stricken characters drags herself up and stabs him before collapsing again.

** Also, the Red Gigas is completely invincible when you fight him, forcing you to just survive until a scripted event. The Green Gigas does have a limited life bar, but such a ridiculously high HP count that the game expects you to immobilize him instead. However, neither fight actually requires that you lose, making these a borderline case.

*** The Red Gigas does in fact take damage; it's just that he has such ludicrously high HP that after multiple Harpoon Cannons and combination attacks using torpedoes, subcannons, AND main cannons, he's taken just enough damage to his health that the difference is actually visible. Similarly, there is an odd glitch when facing the Green Gigas the first time, which prevented the immobilization from taking place, and as such had to knock his HP to zero to kill him. The immobilization cutscene occurred anyway.

** In ''[[Tales of Destiny]]'', Leon is nearly impossible to beat the first time you face him, which is quite early in the game. If you do manage to win, you get a [[Nonstandard Game Over|special ending]] right then without playing through most of the game.

** The first fight against {{spoiler|Shizel}} in ''[[Tales of Eternia]]''. She'll give you the illusion that you're actually fighting her, and after a little while, she opens up a can of god-power that knocks everyone down to 1 HP before effectively flicking everyone to death. (Bonus points if, instead, the [[AI Roulette]] decides to finish you off with something powerful like Prism Flasher.) If you manage to pull yourself back from the brink of defeat, the game cuts away from the battle abruptly and pretends you lost anyway when she's reduced to half HP.

*** You can actually avoid losing the first fight against Yggdrasil (though that isn't likely because if you lose the scripted fight prior to that you will start the fight off with 1 HP), but it is virtually impossible to beat him because the fight will automatically end after a certain amount of time. However, using certain [[New Game+]] upgrades, you can win the fight and force him to flee. He then pulls out [[Cutscene Power to the Max]], giving you a glimpse of his nifty [[Sword of Plot Advancement]] in the process, which justifies both the trope and the rescue cutscene immediately afterward.

*** The first battle with Vidarr has a feeling of this trope included as well. Although you still have to win, no matter how well you do, your team will get a cutscene with them about to be killed, only to be saved by Kratos. You can Action Replay this, hit him once down to near death, but this scene will trigger regardless.

*** It's pretty entertaining {{spoiler|to hear Asch whine and cry about how worthless he is because he just lost to his replica.}}

*** Not really related, unlike other scripted fights in the series, the scripted boss enemy is actually weaker the bad guys he's supposed to equal in rank, but it evens out since you fight him with only one character.

** In ''[[Baldur's Gate]] 2'', you're not even given the option to fight; many boss characters will simply automatic kill you if you advance the plot wrongly. Those that can hit obviously have infinite life points. You can kill them by using an exploit but that would often times prevents you from advancing the plot.

*** They did not have infinite hit points. Rather, they all wore a secret belt that simply prevents their hp from falling lower than 1. You can see this belt right at the start of the game, when Imoen is wearing it. As Imoen is essential to the plot later on, she cannot be killed; if she were to fall below one hit point, a script causes her to panic and run away. The exploit that allowed you to kill essential characters was that if you somehow managed to reduce your constitution or intelligence stats to 0, you would die regardless of the hitpoints you had. The ability to reduce constitution only shows up in a few traps and is inaccessible to players, while the ability to reduce intelligence shows up in the game for only a short time; The mindflayers you encounter in the underdark automatically do this on a successful strike (hint: they're eating your brains). There was one item near the endgame that allowed you to summon/transform into a mindflayer for a short time, thus allowing you to reduce intelligence.

* Vile, the first boss of ''[[Mega Man X]]'', is unbeatable, and in order to advance in the game, you ''have'' to let him beat the crap out of you. A similar situation happens later on in the 1st section of the final level, but Zero sacrifices himself so that you can fight Vile without having to deal with his indestructible giant mech.

** When you are down to low amounts of health, Vile will try to jump away and shoot a paralyzer beam. If you're skilled enough, you can dodge the beam, run into Vile, and take enough damage to die. [[Take That]] Capcom!

** Similarly, in ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]] and Bass'', the first real fight with King is unwinnable, requiring Protoman to perform a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], enabling you to actually hurt King. Like Zero, {{spoiler|Protoman doesn't die for real. Even though he was cut in half in the opening minutes. Yeah. An axe, in a game full of shooting things. Incredible, isn't it?}}

** Your first fight with High Max in ''X6'' is unbeatable; you just have to wait out his attacks until a cut scene triggers.

* In ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]] 3'', Bass is completely unbeatable the first time you fight him. He has a shield up that prevents the main character from ever doing any damage. It can even block a chip that's sole purpose is to blow away those kind of shields. It was found that, through an attack combo, one could damage him through this shield, but it does no good. He won't be defeated even if his health drops to 0. Naturally, this shield has become his usual 100-HP aura in time for the ''real'' fight (with no plot explanation given).

** There's a bit of an explanation for the shield turning to usual, actually. {{spoiler|Bass had just absorbed part of Alpha's program, which actually weakened him and probably caused his aura to become not-invincible.}}

** In ''MMBN6'', [[No Export for You|(or rather, Rockman.exe 6, since it was completely ripped out of the North America version)]] you can't touch [[Bonus Boss]] [[Boktai|Count of Groundsoaking Blood]] until you go on a sidequest related to his game.

** ''MMBN1'' presented an unbeatable ElecMan, who recovers completely from all major damage and also won't be defeated even if a player is quick enough to drop him to 0 HP. Rather than dying, however, you only need to watch ElecMan heal himself a few times before the heroes learn they need to disable his power and begin the ''real'' fight.

** Next in the third game, you first have to go up against J Corvus, after 4 rounds the battle ends and Joker shows up and datafies Luna. Then later on you have to go up Acid Ace who has been corrupted by Joker (who else?) and after a 4 round battle (what else?) the battle ends and he un transforms and collapses on the floor of the concert stage at the TV studio.

* ''[[Boktai]]'' itself contains one example. The first battle of [[No Export for You|the third game]] pits you against [[Cosmic Horror|Vanargand]]. Guess who comes out on top?

* ''[[Romancing SaGa]]'' had this with the Diamond Fatestone, it is possible to win, but very hard considering your levels at the time you talk to Schiele the final time, especially on [[New Game+]] where even after talking to her once after clearing the event in prior playthroughs, the event will trigger.

* ''[[Breath of Fire III]]'' has two bosses, Balio and Sunder, who are fought twice before you can actually beat them. It ''is'' possible to temporarily hold them off in the second fight, but the first is completely unwinnable. It was years, though, until this was completely proven. A [[Urban Legend of Zelda|rumor]], fueled by a strategy guide misprint, insisted that there was a prize for winning the fight even though this is impossible.

*** You can beat him by using a cheat device but I guess that doesn't really count. The game freezes anyways.

*** Right before you fight the final boss, you have a scripted fight with him where he will eventually defeat with an instant death move.

*** This sequence of events differs very slightly in the Dreamcast version of the game; Using a cheating device to increase Ryudo's health, speed, and damage potential means the battle can be won by reducing Millenia's HP to 0 - though this is incredibly time-consuming and if she is able to use the lightning spell mentioned, the fight will end immediately. Your counter move also functions as expected if you can land it at the right time. You don't gain any rewards for winning this way, and the game continues as if you'd lost to the lightning spell anyway.

* In ''[[Jade Cocoon]]: Story of Tamamayu'', when the main character fights the Dream Man and his dragon-like minion in his dream, he cannot be defeated. Even if you win (through cheating or pure luck), only the dialogue changes during the scene after the battle, with the main character still lying on the ground as if defeated.

** You can win by regular methods as well. He's difficult, yeah, and definitely this trope. But precision tactics can defeat him.

* In ''Jade Cocoon 2'', towards the end of the training forest, the main character {{spoiler|touches Nico's cocoon and is cursed}}. The subsequent battle cannot be won without cheating, since the Kalma the main character must fight is too powerful for your two newly hatched Divine Beasts to handle. After your inevitable defeat, {{spoiler|the main character is "possessed" by the Kalma}}. However, you take him on a second time much later in the game, and while he is definitely a challenging opponent, he's far from unbeatable.

** In addition, a character with high enough stats will have no problem slicing through his 255 defense.

** In ''[[SaGa Frontier 2]]'', Wil Knight's team has to run away from a human transformed into a giant beast; this battle is unwinnable regardless of how much level grinding you do. (You can, however, challenge it again if you so choose.)

*** In an earlier chapter, Wil's team fights against two dragons which will kill you under normal conditions, then one of your allies will get back up and commit a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], killing the two dragons and healing the party. If you don't have that specific ally in your party, you lose the fight for good.

* The old game ''[[Might and Magic]] II'' had a monster called the MegaDragon in a location reached by [[Time Travel]]. It was undefeatable because it served a plot purpose; however, it could in fact be defeated with high level characters and non-elemental spells like Mass Distortion and Implosion. The monster showed up in weaker forms in later games in the series.

** In ''[[Might and Magic]] V'', there is another unbeatable boss, the [[Big Bad]]. Notably, it's not even a fight... if you enter the Big Bad's room without the [[Big Good]] in your party, BB [[Deader Than Dead|eradicates]] your entire party with a wave of his hand and then you get a game over. If you do, the game goes straight to the ending cutscene of the two of them fighting it out while your party waits outside.

* In ''[[Eternal Sonata]]'' Frederic Chopin and Polka come up against a mysterious young man wielding a katana (Fugue). A well-leveled player with [[Action Commands|good timing]] ''might'' be able to survive ''one'' of his combos... barely. If you somehow manage to last two rounds against him, he starts using an [[One-Hit Kill|unblockable, infinite-range attack that deals about 125% your current HP]] called "Deus Ex Machina."

** A similar situation occurs in ''[[Phantasy Star II]]''. If you kill the security robots coming to arrest you by cheating, [[Script Breaking]] happens and you can't progress through the plot.

** The original ''[[Phantasy Star]]'' has what initially seems to be a Hopeless Boss Fight with the "Saccubus", a monster that appears once you fall asleep in the Governer's Mansion and quickly decimates your party at normal levels. Fortunately, it was [[All Just a Dream]]. With a bit of [[Level Grinding]], however, it's entirely possible to take down the Saccubus - earning the reward of one single meseta.

** The true Hopeless Boss Fight of ''[[Phantasy Star]] 4'' is actually against Zio the Black Magician, who cannot be defeated due to his [[Plot Armor|Magic Barrier]], although further into the game you collect an item that will disable the barrier.

** Also in ''[[Phantasy Star IV]]'' are the carnivorous trees on Dezolis, which are used to block progress until you have the Eclipse Torch. They are unbeatable in that they will continually respawn forever. When they are approached with the Eclipse Torch in your inventory, though, they are instantly destroyed, without a fight.

*** You can actually paralyze the robot and beat the crap out of it and it won't die. Eventually, {{spoiler|[[Big Damn Heroes|the Runaway Five come and one turns it off.]]}} Making the player look like an idiot.

** Also in ''Earthbound'' is {{spoiler|the second encounter with Master Belch (now Puke).}} When all hope seems lost, {{spoiler|[[Big Damn Heroes|Poo returns and defeats him with his new move, PSI Starstorm.]]}}

** Sometime in the second disc, you'll face another of the Ten Wise Men, Marsilio, who is, like Berle, invincible. This fight is like the second encounter with Shin, where you must let him kill you entire team to proceed.

** Finally, in the optional Cave of Trials, you'll encounter a monster called the Weirdbeast on the fifth level. This monster is a Hopeless Boss Fight at first, unable to be killed by your team. To proceed with the dungeon, you must run from the fight, and explore the rest of the floor until you find a weapon called the Weird Slayer. True to it's name, the Weird Slayer will destroy the Weirdbeast in a single blow (as well as any other creature with the word Weird in it's name). The first Weird Beast fight is ''technically'' not hopeless, but the Weird Beast only every takes 1 damage from an attack and has over 800,000 HP. You can kill it with the "Medusa Shield" and "Bubbly Potion" and such are all legitimate since they were used the way they were meant to be used. Either way, they are still fairly difficult to pull off.

* The first ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' features a fight with Leon early on in Traverse Town where you're supposed to get knocked out. It's in theory possible to defeat him, but only through extensive [[Level Grinding]]. In Expert mode, the challenge of the fight is just landing a good solid hit on him once before he knocks you out.

** Leon isn't actually too terribly hard to fight, even if the player hasn't level grinded. This editor beat Leon the first time ever playing the game. The trick is to time attacks properly and run away the rest of the time. True to form, however, Sora gets incredibly exhausted from the fight and passes out, while Leon seems none the worse for wear (despite his defeat quote of "No way...I can't lose!"). This really isn't worth it, however, as the only reward is some extra XP that can be easily gained later, and an Elixir from Leon later. Still, the satisfaction of Leon admitting that a ''kid'' with ''no battle experience'' beat him is hilarious.

** Also, in ''Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys'', Keith Fact is possessed and turned against you, and the only way to proceed is to be beaten.

* {{spoiler|Rentar-Ihrno}} in Spiderweb Software's ''[[Avernum]] 3'' cannot be defeated in the final boss battle. This is not so much a hopeless battle, however, as the objective is to disable their doomsday machine.

* In ''[[Persona 4]]'', the fight with Shadow Rise mixes this with [[Bait and Switch Boss]]. Halfway through the fight, Shadow Rise begins to "scan" your party, becoming immune to all your attacks in the process. {{spoiler|Teddie unleashes a [[Desperation Attack]] to save you}}, leading to Rise acquiring her Persona. It then becomes apparent that the actual boss in this dungeon is really {{spoiler|Shadow Teddie}}.

** If you DO manage to drop her HP to zero before her turn comes up, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-nu6TPGAPE&feature=related she'll be REALLY bitter.]

{{quote|Rise: "Ngh... how...? DIE YOU BASTARDS, DIE!"}}

** The final boss of ''[[Persona 4]]'' pulls this ''twice''. Ironically, your [[Eleventh-Hour Superpower]] then turns you into one for them. A harsher example is the final boss of ''[[Persona 3]]'': {{spoiler|even though you become immune to the [[One-Hit Kill]], the only way to stop Nyx is to sacrifice yourself. To be fair, you technically win...}}

* The very first battle against Roger Bacon in ''[[Shadow Hearts]]''. It is possible for Yuri to deal damage to him, but after three turns, Bacon stops holding back and casts a spell that [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|does more than enough damage to kill Yuri several times over]].

** And very soon thereafter, you have the first encounter with [[The Grim Reaper|Fox Face]]. And all subsequent encounters, really: Fox Face is unstoppable, and you have to run away from him. {{spoiler|Even when you do finally manage to defeat Fox Face, he's replaced with the four masks of malice, who are likewise unstoppable until a certain point.}}

** While the first 'unbeatable' bosses are impossible to defeat, the rest of them can be beaten as long as you're not a one-man party, have a lot of revive items, and most of all, the ability to unleash finest arts (equipping a punching glove on a character with the Sword medium equipped, thus activating finest arts whenever he uses 'Sonic Vision'). Luck helps, too. Furthermore, you do gain a lot of experience points from the victory. Some examples of these fights are the first Golem the human characters fight or the first battle with the Ice Queen. However, the following cutscenes remain unchanged.

* A variation occurs in ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' on the first two occasions where you fight Selvaria. In the first case she's utterly indestructible, but if you just ignore her (and take loads of cover from her gatling laser) you can still complete the objective, and in the second she appears a long way from the main objective but spends her time casually blowing up your tanks and causing instant mission failure.

* Interestingly enough, ''[[Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny]]'', a game that's otherwise a [[Cliché Storm]], has a twist on this, in that [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Chaos]], the game's [[Recurring Boss]], presents you with a hopeless encounter the ''second'' time you face him. The first time, he essentially [[I Let You Win|let you win]], and the third time's for keeps.

** ''Azoth of Destiny'' also has the first encounter with the Dragon King, Ardgevald. To say that Ardgevald annihilates you is a massive understatement: he unloads three immensely powerful attacks before you even get to think about moving, the third one doing overkill damage just in case the first two didn't beat you all the way to death yet, and the battle ends right there and then with your party flattened on the ground. You later on get to fight him for real after getting stronger, and while the battle is winnable, he still does enormous damage and can very easily curbstomp you again, showing that his earlier stomping of your carcass wasn't all plot power, but him being legitimately tough.

* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV]]: [[Oblivion]]'', it's not technically a boss fight but one of the optional daedra prince quests requires you to {{spoiler|anger a widower and let him attack you with a special blade. The only way to win the quest is to die.}}

* ''[[Adventure Quest]]'' has a few, such as {{spoiler|The'Galin}} and the Nightmare Queen.

** Also in ''[[Video Game]]/Dragonfable'', it ''is'' possible to beat the Elemental Lords as Nythera {{spoiler|rather than as Warlic}}. You get quite a chunk of experience, but the battle is retconned and you have to do it over. Strangely, the battle is ''a lot easier'' as Nythera.

** In the ''[[Dragon Fable]]'' minigame ''Archknight'', there's a boss you meet at level six or seven who has more than thrice your HP. Naturally, it's this trope and critical to the plot.

* Though your party faces Nene several times over the course of ''[[Blue Dragon]]'', the only time you can actually engage him in a winnable battle is the very last time you meet him, with all your other confrontations falling into this category.

* One of the most annoying examples is the Playstation 1 game ''[[Legend of Dragoon]]''. In the arena scene you have to fight Lloyd, a major enemy of the game. He is undefeatable in the fact that he will simply dodge every attack you throw at him, and then, to add insult to non-injury, he mocks you with such phrases as "Ha! Not even close!" or "Don't waste your time!" or "Too Slow!"

** One of the ''.hack'' novels also features The One Sin, an event boss that many players of the game thought was Hopeless. It turned out to be a particularly intricate [[Puzzle Boss]], and the two players who defeated it (Orca and Balmung) gained [[Ultimate Gamer 386|extreme notoriety.]]

*** Additionally, the 4th game features the final battle with Cubia. Once you win, it uses a move called Sephira Returner to restore itself to full health. Kite and Black Rose immediately conclude that the battle is hopeless. What they arguably lack in genre savvyness, they make up for in innovation, as obviously the game didn't end there. In case you were wondering {{spoiler|Cubia is connected to Kite's bracelet, once Kite destroys it, Cubia vanishes with it.}}

** In the Amaterasu server, trying to force your way into Amaterasu City gets you into an unwinnable fight against Knightmon. To add insult to injury, it's virtually impossible to run away from the fight.

* The Super Famicom game ''[[Dragonball Z]]: Legend of the Super Saiyan'', Goku has to fight Ginyu. Like the DBZ story, Ginyu has to switch bodies with Goku in order to continue or you can just let Goku be defeated. The rest of the party has to defeat Ginyu.

** For the record, if you survive, the {{spoiler|Reaper artifact}} "Object Rho" reaches full power and concusses Shepard into unconsciousness, whereupon s/he is sedated. (It doesn't stick.)

** ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' has the first Kai Leng battle at {{spoiler|the end of Priority: Thessia}}, which is similar to the Shadow Broker example above.

* In ''[[Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica]]: Melody of Metafalica'', there is a boss fight with a guardian {{spoiler|for the goddess}}, which also serves as the tutorial for Replakia. Despite using it at maximum power for as long as Cloche and Luca could possibly manage, one-shotting her guards and dealing millions of damage, she just won't lose that last hit point. In exchange, the boss will pull out a move that is nearly impossible to guard without seeing the attack at least once. Perfect Guards and your best healing magic can last for a while, but that attack ''will'' eventually hit hard enough to take everyone out.

** This is actually used earlier in the game when you face three members of the Grand Bell {{spoiler|one of them being Leglius, and all this happening after Cocona goes IPD}}. While you could possibly level grind high enough to beat these three, the fact is that you play as Croix and only Croix, have no backup or Revyteils meaning he cannot guard or be aided by song magic, cannot harmonize to use better skills, and will die quickly if not right away due to the level you should be at at this point.

* Happens in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|Fullmetal Alchemist]] 2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir'' when you have to fight Scar. Whether you win or lose, he blasts right through Alphonse and destroys Ed's right arm [[The Battle Didn't Count|and the plot continues on]].

* In the ''[[Costume Quest]]'' DLC ''Grubbins on Ice'', the game opens with you fighting three characters of a significantly higher level than you without a healer in your party. However, given some skill in hitting the button prompts and luck and the enemy's choice in targets, you can win. That said, the game assumes you lost anyway.

* In [[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]] the default solution to the werewolf level is to simply outrun the thing until the timer runs down. But technically you can defeat it {{spoiler|by getting it to crush itself in the observatory doors, but this approach is difficult to pull off even if you've been consulting walkthroughs.}}

* ''[[Demon's Souls]]'' partially-averts this with a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gssC68oS6kg seemingly] [[Curb Stomp Battle|unbeatable]] ''tutorial'' level boss, followed by a much later boss that kills you instantly.

* In [[Hyperdimension Neptunia]], the first boss fight with White Heart, Black Heart, and Green Heart cannot be beaten for two reasons. Not only are you fighting 3 very high level opponents who blast you each once with their best specials, but Purple Heart is controlled by the AI in this fight, guaranteeing you lose.

* In ''Winged Warrior III'', the player is not supposed to be able to defeat the Nova Knight during the first encounter. It's possible to beat him after a lot of grinding at the training center, in which case the game will act up.

* [[Radiant Historia]] has one very early one. Forced to head northward, Stocke, Marco and Raynie face an impossible battle. Raynie and Marco die, and Stocke is badly hurt. {{spoiler|This is what activates the White Chronicle, though, and introduces the main gameplay mechanic.}}

* [[Lunar Dragon Song]] has one about halfway through the game. On the one hand, it is theoretically possible to reach this point and still be level 1. On the other hand, all enemies scale in difficulty to the characters' level, so this is still a floor mopping.

 

* ''[[Ikaruga]]'', the [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Radiant Silvergun]]'', has a hopeless boss fight with the Stone-Like at the end, just like it's predecessor, where you can't shoot and have to dodge many patterns of bullets for a certain amount of time. At the end, the Ikaruga releases a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] self-destruct attack. A [[Bittersweet Ending]], but our hero is allowed to [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence]], and [[The End of the World as We Know It]] is averted, unlike in ''RS'' (a [[Downer Ending]]).

* Rare [[Shoot'Em Up]] example in ''Chronos Twins DX''. In the very first mission of the game, while you can be 'hurt' by regular enemies, nothing will kill you until you reach the boss, who [[Timey-Wimey Ball|exists across two timezones at once]]. He kills you dead by attacking from the past. The story then shifts forward several years to your character's younger brother trying again, this time with a modified time machine that lets him simultaneously be in the past and the present.

 

 

* From ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]] III'':

** Similarly, forgetting to use a certain technology could also lead to a constant stream of respawning wingmen.

** Finally, if you fail a critical mission and end up in the losing path, the final mission involves a confrontation with a unique Kilrathi capital ship which is almost impossible to kill without [[Death of a Thousand Cuts|whittling it down with many minutes of firing]]. The expectation appeared to be for the player character to die trying so that the Bad Ending could roll. As you were not meant to destroy it, the game has no idea what to do when you beat it so just leaves you hanging in space.

 

 

 

 

* ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'' and ''[[Silent Hill 4]]'' both feature unbeatable bosses. ''Silent Hill 2'' has the ever-popular Pyramid Head, and after running away from him down a long, narrow, winding hall, blindly shooting at him, you run into an elevator to escape. Not everyone does though, and he manages to {{spoiler|kill Maria. But only sort of. Eh}}. ''In Silent Hill 4'', Walter Sullivan chases you for the entire second half of the game. He cannot be killed, but he can be slowed. He and PH do, however, eventually become beatable.

** The two actual "fights" against Pyramid Head (in the apartment building and near the end of the game) definitely qualify. The only way to end these fights is to either die or wait until he decides to end it after a certain amount of time ( {{spoiler|the first time by leaving the room, the second time by both Pyramid Heads impaling themselves on their own spears}}). However, while you can't actually "win" the fights, shooting him ''does'' shorten the amount of time it takes Pyramid Head to end the fight.

* The T. Rex in the ''[[Dino Crisis]]'' series is an unbeatable boss, and if he catches up with Regina, he will [[One-Hit Kill|swallow her whole]]. Although he cannot be killed, he can be slowed down with gunfire.

* The first few encounters with the White Witch from ''[[The Dark Meadow]]'' will be this. You simply don't have the proper equipment or experience levels to deal with her, forcing you to investigate more of the game's story and kill more monsters first. {{spoiler|And don't even think about winning against The Trickster's second and third forms on your first try.}}

** You're really supposed to turn around and shoot him to slow him down (the explosive arrows are best for this). You can get away without a scratch. However, it is NOT possible to defeat him.

* In ''[[Fatal Frame]] 2'', you have the Kusabi. An extremely powerful ghost, any time he appears before the end-game fight against him, he's immune to the effects of the Camera Obscura (rendering him invincible) and getting touched by him is instant death, whether you have a Stone Mirror or not. Your only option is to run.

** The same game also features a sequence where the player must run from Sae Kurosawa, another extremely powerful one-hit kill ghost. In this case, though, she's invincible because the player has lost the Camera, and with it their only means of defending themselves against ghosts. Curiously, when she's encountered as the [[True Final Boss]], she's no longer able to one-hit kill you.

** The Fatal Frame series makes a tradition out of this: Kirie Himuro from the first game is also invincible and a one-hit kill until the final boss fight. The third game has Reika Kuze, who does not have one-hit kill powers, but is invincible until (you guessed it) the final boss fight.

 

* ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]'' has two of these, both of them involving Llednar. He's invincible and strong. You have to stall for several turns before the plot takes over. He does become beatable towards the game's end.

** The challenge of the missions is lessened considerably if one equips the Damage to MP skill, since the one-on-one format means your character will always have MP to take the attack. It is likely the primary reason the skill was changed in the sequel to allow overflow damage to hit HP.

** Just to give an idea of how unbeatable Llednar is: Most battles have objectives like "Win battle!", "Defeat the Boss!", or the suchlike. During the fight that's just Marche versus Llednar? "Survive!".

* [[Nippon Ichi]] games, such as both ''[[Disgaea]]'' games, ''[[Phantom Brave]]'', and ''[[Makai Kingdom]]'' had bosses too hard to defeat without massive [[Level Grinding]]. The writers cater to [[Nintendo Hard]] fans, and have divergent game areas just for them. Careful, though, because ''winning'' some of them causes a [[Nonstandard Game Over]] leading to a [[Multiple Endings|Bad Ending]].

** The Nippon Ichi game ''[[La Pucelle Tactics]]'' also had two such bosses, in chapters 4 and 8; defeating them earns a "special ending" for the chapter which grants a powerful piece of equipment.

** ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'' has the titular World Eaters, and without the aid of the resident [[Omnicidal Maniac]], you can't hope to defeat them.

** ''[[Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure]]'' loves to use this trope. Several boss fights (primarily with Marjoly's minions in early goings of the game) are impossible to win, simply because you can't damage them - all attacks will miss). Others later you have to at least survive for a few rounds before the game ends the fight. Still, the most amusing one is during the contest when you fight Etoile. {{spoiler|You vs Rocket Launchers and Machine guns. Good luck!}}

** [[Makai Kingdom]] actually inverts this at the beginning, placing you against a series of opponents whom you could not possibly lose to.

** Should you actually win the first fight against the Inspectors (the Quirky Miniboss Trio), you get an awful lot of very good items, ridiculous amounts of gold and exp, and a rather amusing [[No Fourth Wall]] moment.

** In Original Generation 1, there is the early and optional fight against Shu Shirakawa's horrendously broken Granzon. You are encouraged to run, although battling it is an option and a viable one at that, provided you have put a lot of money and level-grinding into Irmgult and the Grungust. Even then, the Granzon still takes a beating and only your top-tier units at the time should be used against it.

** ''[[Devil Survivor 2]]'', Day 7: {{spoiler|Benetnasch, first encounter. It possesses a passive skill called Pacify Human, which naturally cancels out ''any'' attack from a human character... [[It Got Worse|and then]] it pulls out the ability to ''forcibly unsummon your demons'', leaving you no way to harm it and thus no choice but to run away until you can figure out a way to counter it.}}

* ''[[Sengoku Rance]]'': If you fail to stop {{spoiler|Miki from becoming the Demon King}}, you will enter the Demon King pseudo-route, and a Hanny will appear to your castle and tell Rance that there's absolutely no way to win. The enemy army will become incredibly tough by enabling all 4 buffs for every unit, greatly increasing troops sizes and fielding {{spoiler|Kentarou and Xavier}} units with 8000 troops each against you. It's still possible to actually conquer all the enemy territories by using battle permits, but it will lead to {{spoiler|Kentarou}} accusing the player of cheating and a standard Game Over anyway.

* In the ''Descent to Darkness'' campaign in [[Battle for Wesnoth]], the final mission is essentially a hopeless series of boss fights. [[Villain Protagonist|Mal Keshar]] is attacked by a hero and his/her army - it isn't hard to defeat them, but the mission will just repeat itself with new heroes until Mal Keshar is slain.

 

 

* At the end of ''[[Transformers]] G1 Awakening'', the player is made to think that [[Climax Boss|Shockwave]] must be defeated by Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. However, both Autobots are significantly weaker, even working together, and there are no power plants on this level that would allow them to level up. However, after Prime goes down, [[The Cavalry]] shows up in the form of [[Hulk Speak|Grimlock]], who proceeds to [[Curb Stomp Battle]] Shockwave.

* In ''[[Bahamut Lagoon]]'' you have to fight against {{spoiler|Sauzer/Zauzer in Chapter 5}}, but don't waste any items or energy, this guy has infinite HP, so you can't kill him.

 

* ''[[Shenmue]]'' has a character named Chai who is supposed to beat you; when you lose you're unconscious for several days, but the game isn't over. Beating him is nearly impossible, but can be done.

** ''[[Shenmue 2]]'' has one hopeless boss fight where Ryo fights Dou Niu and his henchmen in a plaza until the screen blacks out and shows a cutscene of Dou Niu beating Ryo.

* ''[[Grand Theft Auto]] [[Grand Theft Auto II|2]]'' featured a mission that required you to "die" while attempting to break into an enemy gang's stronghold. Your employer then picks you up at the hospital and sends you back to the fort with a better plan and better equipment.

** The original [[Grand Theft Auto]] featured a mission where you're asked to board a train as part of a plot to prove that your boss is the one true god. It's then revealed that the train is rigged with explosives. If you stay on it, after you die your boss apologises, saying that he was high on smack and is impressed you made it... Assuming that wasn't your last life. Worth getting off the train and failing just for the quote: "Only the righteous shall be saved! You! You are a shithead and bound for hell!"

 

 

 

* ''[[Homestuck]]'': There are a number of these, almost always going against the heroes:

** Dave's first sword battle with his Bro was a doomed endeavour from the start, with Bro flash-stepping fast enough to use a PUPPET to fight Dave, and win easily.

*** A surprising aversion occurs when Vriska goes off to fight him in the doomed timeline. Everything before that point implied that she would lose just as badly as everyone to face Jack before her, but due to her god-tier power of incredible control over luck, she rolls 8 8s on her dice, gaining a huge power boost, before actually putting up a decent fight against Jack. Whilst the outcome of the battle is uncertain (and wouldn't matter anyway due to it being in a doomed timeline), it's implied that Vriska might just have won.

 

* One of the ways the Aztecs conducted [[Human Sacrifice|sacrifices]] to [[Aztec Mythology|the god Tezcatlipoca]] involved taking a captured enemy warrior, tying him in place, giving him a fake weapon (a stick covered in feathers, usually, since the typical weapon was a stick edged with obsidian blades), and forcing him to fight several fully-armed [[Badass Army|Jaguar Warriors]].

 

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[[Category:Boss Battle]]