Mirror Boss: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[Kirby|Swallowing enemies whole]]. [[Rocket Knight Adventures|Flying around with a jetpack]]. [[Super Mario Bros.|Or just jumping high]]. Video game heroes can have a wide variety of powers; they're fun to play around with, and they'll let you conquer just about any boss battle. You just need to dodge around its attacks and [[Attack Its Weak Point]] for massive damage.

 

But what if those same powers were used against you?

 

 

'''Compare:'''

* [[Evil Knockoff]], an evil copy of a hero.

* [[Shadow Archetype]] and its many subtropes, which frequently overlap with this trope.

 

'''Contrast:'''

* [[Mirror Match]], which is when two players (or the AI) of a multiplayer game select the same character.

 

* The ''[[Kirby]]'' series's King Dedede can swallow and spit out enemies, as well as float/fly, just like Kirby can. But not copy abilities, though.

** While Meta Knight can't do what Kirby usually does, he fights just like a better version of Kirby with the sword... [[Duel Boss|And often makes Kirby use a sword against him.]] {{spoiler|In some games, this is optional.}}

*** It's worth pointing out that Dedede actually learned how to do those things by observing Kirby ''just'' so that he could use them against him.

* The Blaze palette swapped enemies on the boat level in the first ''[[Streets of Rage]]'' game. The robotic version of Axel in ''Streets of Rage 3''. Shiva from ''Streets of Rage 2'' and ''3'', as he possesses similar directional attacks, including a 360 degree defensive maneuver akin to the player's special move button, and a dashing attack.

* The ''[[Castlevania]]'' series has a recurring enemy, Doppelganger, who is a duplicate of whoever the hero of the game is. It first appeared in ''Castlevania III'', where it would switch forms whenever you switched characters. The easiest way to beat him was to switch characters when right next to'em, hit'em once and repeat until he's dead: he'd be too busy changing forms to actually attack you. The ''Symphony'' version is interesting in it that it's the only boss that's susceptible to [[Standard Status Effects|status effects]] and can thus be made harmless via using several normally useless swords that curse the enemy they hit.

** Also see ''[[Sonic Adventure 2]]''. The whole game was replete with mirror bosses, having each of the characters fight their alternates on the other team. You basically have to fight each mirror boss twice since they are the exact same regardless of which team you are playing on and both teams have to be completed in order to get the ''[[Golden Ending]]''

** Knuckles in [[Sonic 3 and Knuckles|Sonic 3 & Knuckles]] if you're not playing as him. He's [[Curb Stomp Battle|ridiculously easy to beat]] but Hidden Palace Zone is a [[Breather Level]] anyway. He is pretty much the same Knuckles you can play as, only with some HP instead of rings, a punch attack and the ability to block by ducking. He even takes collision damage, though trying to walk into him will just get you punched. But you can stand infront of him and get Tails to walk into him from behind if playing as Sonic and Tails. Tails takes damage too, but he's invincible (in 2P mode). If Knuckles drops from a glide on your head, only he'll take collision damage.

** Half of the bosses in both [[Sonic Rivals]] games are battles with another playable character. Doubly so as every character plays exactly alike.

** Also, in ''[[Sonic Generations]]'', Shadow has all the moves available to him Modern Sonic has...including Boost.

** The [[Buffy-Speak|mirroriness]] gets cranked [[Up to Eleven]] in the sequel, ''[[Ōkamiden|Okamiden]]''. The final boss is [[Evil Knockoff|an evil version of Chibiterasu]], and literally comes out of a mirror. He has his own brush, like Ninetails, but the brush vs brush mechanics have been fine-tuned to the point where there is no difference in your abilities bar no matter how many secret brush techniques you picked up. Drawing a technique? He can cancel out with a line. He's drawing a technique? Cancel it with your own line! He even has an evil version of Sunrise that covers the arena in pitch-black darkness.

* Azel from ''[[God Hand]]'', who possesses the other God Hand and uses the same attacks and [[Limit Break|Roulette moves]] that Gene does. Also, {{spoiler|the 51st battle in the fighting ring is Double God Hand Gene.}}

** In ''Mother 3'', the Masked Man fights in a similar style to Lucas and his party. He hits hard with his weapon, has the ability to destroy your shields like you can with the Shield Snatcher, uses a lightning attack that is similar to PK Thunder, and also possesses PK Love Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Omega, which is the same powerful technique Lucas uses. {{spoiler|The reason the Masked Man can use the powerful PK Love attack is due to him being Claus, brother of Lucas.}}

* In ''[[Touhou Project]]'' 9.5, ''Shoot the Bullet'', this is Shikieiki's last spellcard, "Cleansed Crystal Judgment": a magic mirror that produces a clone of the protagonist that uses her attacks.

* Anubis in ''[[Zone of the Enders]]: The 2nd Runner''. It was built as part of the same project as Jehuty, and not only are they the only two Orbital Frames in existence that can use Zero Shift {{spoiler|and control Aumaan}}, but their normal beam attacks are parallel as well.

** In the original ''Zone of the Enders'', Viola and her frame Neith are a Mirror Boss, mainly because all the other bosses are absolutely humongous even by [[Humongous Mecha]] standards.

** Red's quest has a [[Recurring Boss]] named Metal Black, a robot warrior who remodels himself after every defeat. His final form is modeled after Red's superhero identity, Alkaiser; he even has a copy of Red's finishing move, Dark Phoenix.

* {{spoiler|The Guy}} from ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]'' looks mainly like a larger version of The Kid, right down to the blue jumpsuit and red cape. And the gun.

** {{spoiler|[[Justified Trope|It helps that he's the kids father]].}}

* One mission in ''[[Naruto Clash of Ninja|Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3]]'''s story mode has Guy fighting himself. The CPU-controlled character copies the exact same moves you do. However, it's chakra gauge fills up slightly slower than yours. So not only can you pull off your own special sooner than the computer, but you can even have the computer waste its own.

* In Bungie's ''[[Oni]]'', after Konoko learns her true identity, she has a trippy dream sequence that culmulates in her fighting a hostile dream version of herself. The dream Konoko is faster than most enemies and has the same move set as the player, but doesn't use the most powerful specials, so she's not as tough to beat as she could be.

* ''[[Alien Hominid]]'' has the final boss, a beefed-up, macho version of the titular character. He uses larger-scaled versions of all of Alien Hominid's attacks. Oh, and he can [[Made of Iron|take more than fifty times the damage]] that [[One-Hit-Point Wonder|Alien Hominid]] can take...

* ''[[Legacy of Kain]]: Defiance'' closes its third act with a [[Duel Boss]] fight, pitting the two player characters against one another, first with Kain against Raziel, and then vice versa.

* Interestingly subverted in ''Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast'', where you face a <s>Demonknight</s> Death Knight and have the option of activating its Mirror of Reflection (which, it is initially implied, might be used against you). {{spoiler|Instead of conjuring a Mirror Boss, it instead conjures up weird distortions that attack everyone, as it's broken.}}

** Also subverted near the end of ''Baldur's Gate II'', where a random encounter has initially friendly NPCs turning into doubles of your party and attacking if you say the wrong thing - but gives them none of your party's powers, instead making them into a moderately challenging fight at best.

* In the third ''[[Mario & Luigi]]'' game, the Mario Brothers infiltrate Bowser's brain, where his memories can become tangible. His memories of Mario and Luigi attack the real ones using moves from older ''[[Super Mario]]'' games, including other ones from the ''Mario And Luigi'' series. Bowser gets to fight his own mirror boss at the end of the game, and since Bowser is already a [[Villain Protagonist]], it's [[Evil Versus Evil]].

* Kojack, the Access Hangar boss in ''[[MadWorld]]'', looks a lot like Jack and fights identically to him on a motorcycle. The commentators, of course, have a field day with this - "Jack must feel like he's kicking his own ass!" [[Breather Boss|He's hardly a threat, though.]]

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'':

** Terra's final boss in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]]'' exclusively uses Terra's own moves against him. His best moves, like Quake and Meteor, Chaos Blade, and the like, and his two best Shotlocks: Dark Salvo and [[BFG|Ultima Cannon]]. He can even go into Command Styles that Terra is able to use; specifically Dark Impulse. He even can do things that normally only the player characters can do, like dash and block and counterattack, and ''heal himself with Cure spells'' (he even chuckles when he whips that one out). This is all handily explained by the fact that {{spoiler|Terra's final boss is ''Terra himself''. Specifically, it's Master Xehanort after having [[Grand Theft Me|taken over Terra's body]]. You play as Terra's cast-off armor, which has [[Animated Armor|risen up to fight]] under the influence of Terra's memories.}}

* Implemented with in-universe [[Justified Trope|justification]] in ''[[.hack GU]]'': The Doppelgangers are designed to be a copy of the player if they hang around too long in a field-type area. The thing is that they are always 8 levels higher than you are (but not above the level cap of the game; 50 in the first game, 100 in second, and 150 in third), always has +50% speed, constant HP/MP regen, damage reduction, healing spell, has weapon effects that mirror yours if your weapon is fully customized, and can change weapons at will (mirroring what ''you'' use). The difficulty spike reaches to [[Nintendo Hard]] levels for unprepared players in Volume 3, although the rewards (provided the player played the two volumes before it) are phenomenal (even this is a [[Your Mileage May Vary]], the Doppel weapons dropped in volume 2 are outclassed in volume 3, even if the armor and accessory is useful to an extent).

* ''[[Quest for Glory]] III'' has a literal (and particularly unpleasant) Mirror Boss fight near the end of the game. The hero and four of his friends arrive in a room with five mirrors, each character walks up to a mirror, and then the reflections mutate into demonic versions of themselves and attack. Hitting your own reflection causes you to take damage, on top of the damage he's already doing to you. There's no way to win on your own...you just have to try not to die until another buddy shows up and stabs your reflection in the back.

* In ''[[The World Ends With You]]'', certain varieties of Fox Noise can pull this trick on you. When they have enough tails, they can transform into masked copies of Neku and attack with versions of your own Psychs. One of them is an optional boss, the other is a non-boss enemy.

* The unreleased [[Shoot'Em Up]] ''[[Chimera Beast]]'' has the [[Final Boss]], essentially an oversized and more evolved version of the player's [[Horde of Alien Locusts|eater]].

* {{spoiler|The final boss}} in ''[[Ratchet and Clank Future A Crack In Time]]'' is another {{spoiler|Lombax}}, complete with the agility and absurd arsenal that Ratchet has.

** There is also one quest where you fight against your inner turmoil which is a basically a clone of yourself, though the character only uses melee attacks despite the fact you may be a magic user character, and lacks any of your abilities and strength making it a easy fight.

** Not quite a mirror match, but much more formidable than the above examples, is the Faction Champions encounter in the Trial of the Crusader raid, which pits you against a group of bosses that mimic the abilities of player characters (in a simulation of a [[PvP]] Arena match). While they lack the benefit of human intellect and are fewer in number than your raid group, they are statistically far superior to a PC of the same class and spec and have a habit of dogpiling one member of your team.

** And [http://www.wowhead.com/npc=24239 Hex Lord Malacrass], a Zul'Aman boss that steals some of your (most annoying) abilities.

* On and above the hard mode of ''[[Ninja Gaiden]] Black'', certain battles are replaced with a 'Fiend Ryu' This being [[Ninja Gaiden]], Fiend Ryu is you, only [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|a lot better]] [[You Suck|than you.]]

* Issue 17 of ''[[City of Heroes]]'' introduced Doppelgangers, enemies who copy the player's look and powers. However, they are not exact duplicates - most notably, they only copy the powerset, but not the particular powers a player has picked. Every story arc introduced in Issue 17 contains, in some way, one of those.. One mission gives you the option to fight ''eight copies of yourself at once''. The badge for achieving that feat is particularly amusing.

* {{spoiler|The Elites}} in ''[[Hero Core]]''. Significant in that it isn't just a random [[Evil Knockoff]]; {{spoiler|they foreshadow that Flip Hero is also an Elite that once served in Tetron's army}}.

* The final boss in the NES version of ''[[Double Dragon]]'' is none other than Billy's twin brother Jimmy, who has all the same moves as the player and more health. This is actually a carryover from the arcade version, in which both players were forced to fight each other at the end (Jimmy was originally Player 2 in the arcade version, but became the final boss in the NES version due to the omission of the 2-Player mode).

** Jeff, the Mission 2 boss in the arcade version, also fits this trope, being a Lee brother [[Head Swap]] with all the same moves.

** In the arcade version of ''Double Dragon II: The Revenge'', the final boss is a Lee brother clone who has all the same moves, plus an energy beam attack and the ability to possess the player's body and drain his health. If both Lee brothers are present, then there will be a second clone as well. The clones appear in the NES version as well, where they are the last enemies before the new final boss.

* In ''[[Ys]]: The Oath in Felghana'', a game full of battles with monsters, Chester is the only other [[The Corruption|complete]] human and the only non-[[Mook]] swordsman you will fight... and [[That One Boss|he knows what he's doing.]]

* The final stage of ''[http://www.kongregate.com/games/mirosurabu/depict1/ Depict1]'' pits you against your [[Enemy Without]]. [[Blatant Lies|He copies all your moves flawlessly and can't be killed unless you throw yourself into the deadly gems, killing him as well.]] {{spoiler|Actually, no. There's ''one'' thing you can do that he can't. If you managed to clear the cliff using only one spike, you can jump over the gems and fire the other one to freeze yourself in midair for a moment, allowing you to land safely while he falls to his doom. DECEPTION->POETICEND.}}

* ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'' has the boss of World 4, Mr. L. He jumps and moves around like the player, and he can even use items to heal himself.

* The second-to-last boss in ''[[BIOMETAL]]'' uses all three [[Mutually Exclusive Powerups]] that the player could use, except upgraded.

** It was also used in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' in the final boss fight.

* At the end of ''Extermination'', after defeating its giant monster form, the Alien Lifeform transforms into a copy of your character; basically a soldier with an assault rifle.

* Happens near the end of ''[[Drakensang]] 2''. The clones sports the same weapon you're using, so if you disarm your character right before the cutscene where the clones are created, the clones are unarmed and helpless.

* The third boss in ''[[Crash Bandicoot|Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced]]'' is Fake Crash, who mimics the player's movements. Like the ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' example, the only way to beat him is to move him so he stands where you shouldn't. If you collide into him you'll die and he'll produce a cheering animation.

* Mecha-Turtle in ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (video game)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]''(NES).

* ''[[Cannon Dancer]]'' brings forth [[Evil Knockoff|Fake]], a dark-skinned clone of main character Kirin who can do everything he can except create [[Doppelganger Attack|energy clones of itself]].

* Letho in [[The Witcher]] 2. As a Witcher himself, he can use Signs as well as use traps and bombs like Geralt does.

** The final boss of the DLC {{spoiler|uses quick time events, even with similar on-screen inputs}}.

* In ''[[Super Robot Wars Z 2]]'', [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-A96vSQKvA Anti-Spiral pilots] a [[Palette Swap]] of the Gurren Lagann with Anti-Spiral Nia instead of the Grand Zamboa because Tengen Toppa wasn't in the game. He also pilots Chouginga Anti-Gurren Lagann.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Boss Battle]]