Skippable Boss: Difference between revisions

{{quote|"If you must know, I just walked right past him."|[[FoxTrot|Paige Fox]]}}

 

 

 

 

 

Note that a [[Speed Run]], particularly tool-assisted one, can make bosses skippable unintentionally.

 

{{examples}}

** Both mechs can be evaded; one is just much more difficult than the other. The only character who needs to be killed (Howard something?) has the health of a standard NPC. He can be killed by falling on him (something that is quite easy due to his location).

* The final boss in ''[[Fallout]]'' can either be killed normally in a fight, talked into committing suicide if you show him proof that his plan is doomed to failure, or be blown up by a bomb hidden in his lair that can be activated by the player.

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 3'' features a boss that can be sniped when first seen, thus avoiding a later fight with him. Alternatively, one can use one of ''Metal Gear'''s trademark meta-fictional tricks: the boss dies of old age if you set the system clock ahead by a few days at a certain point in the game. Or you could just wait out those real-time days...

** The original ''[[Metal Gear]]'' for the MSX features a boss battle with a tank. While you'll probably take a bit of damage, its possible to just walk around the tank and go to the next area without destroying it.

*** Additionally, there was a glitch in the NES version that allowed you to skip having to blow up the computer by simply turning immediately right when you entered the room (you would glitch into the final boss room). Handy if you never bothered rescuing the scientist (you can only blow up the computer with plastic explosives IF the scientist told you).

** In ''[[Super Mario 3D Land]]'', in one of the Special World airships, a boss battle with Boom Boom can (and must, if you want to get all the star coins) be skipped by taking another route.

** ...And each of ''those'' ways have a couple of different ways of going about it. Indeed, ''not'' fighting the boss gives you a somewhat better ending than if you killed it.

* It is possible to skip some bosses in ''[[Mega Man X|Mega Man X5]]''. Either launch the Enigma laser or shuttle early, or let Eurasia fall to Earth.

** Not just some; you can fire the Enigma and launch the shuttle immediately after finishing the intro stage. They're not likely to succeed at destroying the colony at this point, but whether they do or not, you can still access the final stages without setting foot in a single Maverick level.

** The game's expensive and bulky rocket propelled grenade gives a one-hit kill against many bosses, giving players a way out if they're not up to defeating them ''properly''. Assuming, of course, they can get that one hit in.

** A more straight example is Ramon Salazar's right hand creature, which stalks you in a corridor while you wait for the elevator. If it arrives before you kill him (which is possible, but ''very'' difficult), you can just get on and forget about him.

## fight him straight off (which is not easy),

## cleverly reduce him to roughly half power (which is a relatively easy fight), or

* ''[[Jade Empire]]'' had a whole host of battles that you could avoid by choosing a good or evil course of action.

* Same goes for ''[[Fable]]'' and most other games with a [[Karma Meter]]

*** The same ''Spring Breeze'' level also has an example of instantly defeating a miniboss with invincibility.

** In ''The Great Cave Offensive'', you can instantly kill a miniboss by destroying the bridge it's supposed to land on before it appears. You have to be quick, if you try destroying it after it appears, it will just jump safely onto solid ground.

** Also, the majority of fights could be skipped outright by using the "Sucker Punch" option, which downed the enemy immediately. You got no Indy Points though, and the above-named [[Giant Mook]] [[Punch-Punch-Punch Uh-Oh|just shrugs it off and laughs]].

'''Nizbel:''' Hey! I meant you gotta go through me! Whaddaya think I was standing here looking all vicious for? }}

* Although not technically a boss, there's a seemingly unskippable fight towards the end of ''Custom Robo'' for Gamecube that can actually be skipped if you're incredibly insistent with an apparent [[But Thou Must!]] question.

* The second time Tiger Joe shows up in ''[[God Hand]]'', you can run right past him and exit the stage without so much as one punch.

* In the second ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' expansion, ''Hordes of the Underdark'', if you're incredibly rich you can make a donation to learn the final boss's [[I Know Your True Name|true name]]. With this in hand, you can order him to give up - or even become your subordinate as you take over his plans.

** And in the Githyanki Base in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'', it's possible to bluff Zaxis into believing that he failed his mission, instantly "killing" him. Until later in the game, when you won't get to fight him anyway.

* ''[[Sonic Chronicles]]'' has the party approached by a Swatbot with memory issues. Telling it it's programmed to fight makes it fight you, while telling it it's served it's purpose causes it to self destruct.

** Later on, when you first encounter Shadow the Hedgehog, if you tell him you don't want to fight him, you won't. Shadow will say something, and then it skips straight to the dialogue that happens after the fight.

** In ''Super Metroid'', '''every''' boss can be skipped through some [[Sequence Breaking]].

* Subverted in ''[[Diablo]] 2: Lord of Destruction'': The guardians of [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]] can be bypassed with a [[Plot Coupon]]. The problem? {{spoiler|1=The [[Big Bad]] bribes one of the NPCs into handing him the [[Plot Coupon]], which means he gets the free pass instead.}} Enjoy your boss fight!

* ''[[Fire Emblem]] 7'' has a few of these, usually in timed missions:

** Carjiga in chapter 4 Lyn's route

** Ursula in chapter 26E/28H

** Denning in chapter 29E/31H

* In the arcade game ''Wonder Boy in Monster Land'' the boss Sphynx will let you pass without a fight if you answer correctly his really zany questions (no, the answer is not [[It Was His Sled|"the Man"]]).

* ''[[Star Fox 64]]'' has several bosses that can be skipped:

** If you go the easy route, any Star Wolf Members you didn't defeat on Fortuna show up again on Bolse. In both cases, you can ignore them (although that means you'll have to let the timer run out on Fortuna).

** In ''[[Rondo of Blood]]'', many levels have alternate versions. Going to the alternate versions often means fighting one boss instead of another. However, a couple of routes have no bosses at all, most notably Stage 5'. However, you don't get to play Stage 5' until you've beaten Dracula, presumably because the developers wanted you to go to Stage 5 normal first time round and fight Death. Yes, on replays, Death is skippable. The level itself is so much harder though...

* You can avoid the second Rival battle in ''[[Pokémon]]'' RBY by not exploring Route 22 the first time you pass through Viridian City. In ''Yellow'' this will have an effect on his final line-up.

* In the ''X-Men'' game for Sega Genesis, one of the bosses was Mojo. There was a hidden dead-end cave above his room where you could pick up a little health for the fight with him. However, if playing Nightcrawler, you could teleport right through the dead end to the next room and skip him altogether.

** Also in the first level, if you jumped to the top of the trees right before the mid-boss area and used Iceman to make a bridge across to the other trees, you could skip the fight with Juggernaut. If you were at the third level and jumped on top of the rocks right before the mid-boss area, then called Iceman to make a bridge across to the other rocks, you could skip the fight with Sabretooth. In the fourth level, there was a huge gap where you had to fight a couple of Sentinels to pass, but if you used Nightcrawler's jump kick or Wolverine's jump punch you would be able to dive across the gap without fighting the Sentinels. This made all of these levels considerably easier.

* ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' features a variation in the first game, where (roughly) half of the selectable missions in the game will be skipped if the player {{spoiler|fails the first mission to protect the [[La Résistance]] base}}. This is so that, {{spoiler|in failing the mission}}, the player cannot reap rewards from the Bosses in the missions that were skipped.

* In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]] 3'', there's a glitch where you can skip all of Ice Cap zone with Sonic & Tails right at the first ice block you see. Just have Tails place Sonic on the block and do a spindash.

* All the bosses in the first ''[[Spyro the Dragon]]'' (except the last). This is because bosses make up their own levels and just serve to collect more stuff. All the bosses leave are gems. If you have enough gems/dragons/eggs/etc. to pass to the next hub, you can skip any remaining levels.

* Despite that it is not exactly ''required'' to kill most bosses in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', if you do run dungeons, there exist bosses that will have to be killed in order to unlock another boss encounter, or simply you have to kill that boss because they're in the way. Other bosses are commonly skipped because they are out of the way or are simply notorious for annoying strategies. Almost an entire wiki can be filled with these, but some of the most notorious examples include:

** There is also a dungeon called Dire Maul, where skipping bosses is actually encouraged. Every boss, barring the last, can be ignored, trapped, or distracted so that you never have to face them. When you do defeat the final boss, all the bosses you skipped offer you tribute, which is usually better than what you would have gotten by killing them.

* The final mission of the Faultline arcs in ''[[City of Heroes]]'' has three villains fighting over who gets to take the [[MacGuffin]] from you. You can ignore them, rescue their hostage, and give it to her to destroy.

** There's actually three bosses total you can avoid. The aforementioned one, the side adventure for Ivan's sake, and Treasure Island (which could be argued has many given the nature of the dungeon run it forces you through.)

* During the final leg of ''[[The Elder Scrolls]] III: Morrowind'', you fight a number of Sixth House nobles to weaken Dagoth Ur (statistically, it doesn't work). You don't have to fight most of them and, if you do stumble upon them, it is possible to safely talk your way past a few such as Dagoth Uthol.

* In the arcade version of ''[[Gradius]] III'' and ''Gradius ReBirth'', there are secret levels you can enter that will allow you to skip the current stage's boss.

* Two of the Antlion Guards in ''[[Half-Life]] 2'' can be skipped, as the exits to the arenas in which they are fought are only blocked with physics objects (as oppossed to the impervious "gates" used in most sections of the game).

** In the Awakening [[Expansion Pack]], The Architect will propose an [[Enemy Mine]] with you against The Mother, which you can agree to. Doing so however will anger some companions into attacking you unless you have enough Persuasion to talk them down.

* ''[[Turrican]] II'' has a sort of flying saucer on stage 1-2 which you have to go out of your way to fight. However, if you do, you are rewarded with 4 extra lives when you kill him.

* Unless you're going for the Chaos path, in which case it's good for your alignment, you can get through ''[[Strange Journey]]'' without killing {{spoiler|Ryan}}.

* The page quote comes from a short [[Story Arc]] in ''[[FoxTrot]]'' where gamer Jason struggles with a nigh-impossible boss, leaves to go to the bathroom, and when he returns his sister Paige has gotten past the boss. Jason refuses to believe that she simply ignored the boss, despite their mother suggesting that it was meant to be [[An Aesop]] about discretion being the better part of valor (and of course, it's [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] that Jason, who pranks and harasses Paige despite the fact that he inevitably ends up [[Megaton Punch|eating a knuckle sandwich]], doesn't know the meaning of the word "discretion").

* In the epilogue of ''[[The Witcher]] 2: Assassin of Kings'', you engage {{spoiler|Letho}} in conversation where you get the chance to listen to his side of the story. Afterwards, Geralt can decide whether to have a duel to the death or let him go, upon which he promises to never bother you again.

* In ''[[Half Minute Hero]]'', you can avoid fighting the Beautiful Evil Lord by reuniting him with his kidnapped girlfriend Millennia. You can try to defeat him (and you get a special title if you succeed), but you'll have to do a lot of [[Level Grinding]] to do so, because he's ''very'' powerful [[You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry|when he's angry]].

* ''[[Suikoden III]]'' has quite a bit of boss battles, usually in the form of fighting human characters. Your character has an option to pick what to say, and that will determine your fight (which may actually be a BAD idea as some of them are rather difficult unless you level grind).

* In ''Half-Life: Opposing Force'', skilled platforming allows you to skip one boss. Since this is a linear game it makes no difference story-wise whether or not you actually kill the boss; either way you get to the next level.

* There are three way to deal with most bosses in ''[[Dark Souls]]'': fighting them the hard way (emphasis on [[Yet Another Stupid Death|hard]]), use environmental features to make a quick job of them, or just skip them altogether.

* The T-Rex encounter in the first three ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' games can be ignored entirely (the dinosaur in the 2nd game is optional since it guards a secret), although you will have a much harder time trying to navigate the area as you pick up key items while being attacked. In the first game, Larson on his second encounter can be ignored by just running past him and grabbing the Scion, which triggers the end of the level, so killing Larson is purely optional. In the Anniversary remake, the T-Rex can no longer be ignored.

* A number of the bosses in ''[[Alpha Protocol]]'' are skippable:

** Also during the final mission, there is a sequence in which you have to defeat both Alan Parker and Conrad Marburg before they can destroy the evidence of Alpha Protocol's existence that you want to recover. Depending on your actions earlier in the game, there are multiple ways to eliminate Parker or Marburg or both from the fight: {{spoiler|if you killed Marburg in Rome, you will fight Parker alone; if you found out that Madison was Parker's daughter and Marburg killed her, he will turn on Marburg and be killed, so you will fight Marburg alone; if you collected enough of Marburg's dossier, you can persuade him to quit, and you will fight Parker alone; if you can persuade Parker that his grand plan has failed, but that he can still get away if he helps you pin the blame on someone else, he will do a [[Heel Face Turn]] and you will fight Marburg alone; if you collected enough of both men's dossiers, you can persuade Marburg to kill Parker, and you will fight Marburg alone; finally, if you manage to persuade both men to quit, you will fight neither, and the sequence instead will involve killing a horde of [[Mooks]] within a certain amount of time}}.

** In Moscow, you will only fight Championchik, Surkov's bodyguard, if you {{spoiler|find out that Surkov is Halbech's real connection in Moscow, ''and'' refuse to take the deal he offers you when you confront him}}.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Boss Battle]]