One-Winged Angel/Video Games: Difference between revisions

* Naturally parodied in ''[[Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden]]''. The first form is already one-winged. So what happens when it's time for its true form? {{spoiler|A dinosaur with Barkley's face on it. And not just any dinosaur, but the body of Diablo from [[Primal Rage]]!}}

* [[Dracula]] fills this role to the letter in almost every ''[[Castlevania]]'' game. In this series, he's more of an ultimate evil rather than just some vampire. See the quote at the top of the page.

*** The Symphony of the Night version is actually Dracula in his throne still, but the throne itself transforms. Lazy bastard.

*** Also, upon closer observation, the HoD incarnation seems to be a giant amalgamation of Dracula's relics. The beating heart and the single eye that tracks you, and so on - all 6 relics are in there somewhere.

** Also, Flemeth turns into a dragon for her boss battle.

** In the finale of ''[[Dragon Age II]]'', {{spoiler|no matter if you side with him or not, First Enchanter Orsino uses [[Blood Magic]] to transform himself into the Harvester from the Golem of Amgarrak DLC of Origins.}}

* Virtually ''every'' human or humanoid boss in ''[[Breath of Fire III]]'' did this. [[The Mafia|Mikba]], [[Recurring Boss|Balio and Sunder]], [[Mad Scientist|the Professor]], {{spoiler|[[Tragic Monster|Teepo]]}}, [[Petting Zoo People|Rei]] - even the main character, Ryu. Just to hit the nail in further, when Balio and Sunder combined to form Stallion ''and'' when Mikba assumed his true form, they each said, "No one has seen us/me in this form and lived!" But considering this game's great love of [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|random bosses]], its not surprising that every boss trope in the book was visited a few times. The rest of the the BoF games are just as full of transforming bosses.

* Taken to an extreme in ''[[Wild Arms 3 (Video Game)|Wild Arms 3]]'', in which the final boss has a whopping '''''ten''''' forms.

* In ''[[Ninja Gaiden]]'' for the Xbox and its [[Updated Rerelease|Updated Rereleases]], humanoid Fiend Alma turns into a scorpion-like thing once her power gets Awakened. After Doku sheds his corporeal shell, he loses his legs to float and gains a nodachi worthy of the One Winged Angel himself. The Vigoorian Emperor goes from a vaguely angelic statue to a bony creature made of skulls. Admittedly, the first two don't occur immediately after they get defeated the first time, but still...

** Somewhat subverted because most everyone thinks that Alma's first form is harder.

** In '[[The Legend of Zelda (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda]]'[[Majoras Mask]]'', the final boss of the same name progresses from a mask with hair/tentacles (Majora's Mask) to a mask with arms and legs (Majora's Incarnation) to a giant, psychedelic, whips-for-arms demon (Majora's Wrath). It was also notable for allowing Link a supreme transformation into the Fierce Diety, only usable against bosses but still nigh impossible to lose with.

** Subverted in ''[[The Legend of Zelda Oracle Games (Video Game)|Oracle Of Ages]]'' by game [[Big Bad]] Veran: Her true form is human, but she immediately transforms into something that looks like a "mutant fairy"...And her final "combat form" (which were actually three in one) is so ridiculous that she feels humiliated by having to resort to it.

** General Onox of ''Oracle Of Seasons'', on the other hand, plays it straight by revealing his true form to be a giant skeletal dragon.

** This also applies to Vaati in ''[[The Legend of Zelda the Minish Cap (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda the Minish Cap]]''. At the beginning of the battle, he morphs from his human form into a taller, more powerful-looking version of himself, and after ''that'''s beaten, he changes completely into a giant, spherical beast with one huge eye and giant claws.

** Bellum from ''[[The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass]]'', however, is harder to classify. He starts out as a big, squid-like monster covered in eyeballs, then progresses to a ''possessed battleship''. Once that's out of the way, though, he actually assumes a much smaller, humanoid form, via {{spoiler|possessing Link's buddy Linebeck}}.

** A few other bosses go through consecutive transformations throughout the fight. Thus, [[Eldritch Abomination]] C'thun starts out as a giant eye, before turning into a huge bloated body with a lot of teeth and eyes. Even more proeminent with Yogg'saron, whose first form is humanoid, and second form is... well... his title is "The Beast of a Thousand Maws" and it fits him to a T.

** [[Monty Python and The Holy Grail|The Black Knight]] is a regular NPC you fight in a mounted duel after a short (but annoying) quest chain. Being an agent of the Lich King, he comes back zombified as the final boss of the Trials of the Champion instance, resurrecting the announcer who he force choked earlier as a ghoul. You kill him, but you can't loot him. Because he's back AGAIN, only this time, he's a skeleton. And then he summons about 10 ghouls. And then you kill him. And THEN he comes back as a ghost, even more powerful than the ten ghouls of the previous phase. Which you kill. He finally stays dead - until tomorrow, when you do the instance again!

*** Putricide is very much a parody of this trope. During his two transformations (it's a three-phase fight) he stuns the raid with "Tear Gas," runs to his lab bench, grabs a potion and declares "Hmm... I don't feel a thing. Whaaa?? Where'd ''those'' come from?" first, and "Tastes like... Cherry! Oh my! Excuse me!" the second time.

*** Also during the fight one of the raiders has to do this and become a Mutated Abomination and eat the ooze around the room that the Professor throws around and forms puddles.

* The final boss of ''Super [[Adventure Island]]'' transforms into a freaky {{spoiler|pig-elephant-gargoyle creature}} after becoming a normal angel as you kill its normal form.

** The final boss of ''[[Adventure Island]] II'' is a larva that forms into a giant fly once destroyed. [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|Yes.]]

* Mem Aleph, the [[Multiple Endings|Normal and Law path]] final boss of [[Strange Journey]], turns into a fetal being in a technicolor force field after you defeat her normal-looking form. This trick has been pulled in other games, notably ''[[Okami]]'', but Mem Aleph's "empty" form makes up for it by being one of the hardest RPG bosses in existence.

** It's not just her, either. The first four bosses come back in bigger, more powerful shapes in Fornax (their power is fully unhindered there); [[Blood Knight|Morax]] evolves into Moloch, [[Mad Scientist|Mitra]] evolves into Mithras, [[Big Eater|Horkos]] evolves into Orcus, and [[Social Darwinist|Asura]] evolves into Asherah. Jimenez and Zelenin also enter their respective [[One-Winged Angel]] shapes as Awake and Soil Forms for Jimenez and Judge and Pillar Forms for Zelenin.

** Inverted in the case of the Beast: he spends most of the game as a rampaging lava-skinned monster, laying waste to cities and showing no desire to communicate... up until the climax, when he transforms into a relatively ordinary-looking human to explain a few things to Cole.

* In the Wii shooter [[Conduit 2]], John Adams (yes, THAT John Adams) infiltrates Atlantis, bringing several of his Trust soldiers in to fight you while he tries to snipe you from far away. After you damage him enough, you knock him back through a portal and end up in Agartha, the center of the Earth. There, Adams is no longer a chubby old man, but a giant, armored and horned alien. He laughs and comments on how it had been a while since he had been in his "true" form.

* [[Big Bad|Tanzra]] in ''[[Actraiser]]'' starts out as a teleporting devil head, then turns into a much tougher skeleton demon.

* Ursula does this as the [[Final Boss]] of the ''[[The Little Mermaid (Video Game)|Little Mermaid]]'' game, like she does in the movie.