boss (video games)

A boss is a particularly challenging computer-controlled character in video games. They are typically found at the end of a segment of a game, with the last enemy in the game itself called the final boss. A fight with a boss character is usually referred to as a "boss battle," which often has its own special music. Bosses appear in many video games, particularly story or level-based first and third-person shooters, platform games, RPGs, and most shoot 'em ups. These games often feature multiple bosses of generally increasing difficulty.

History

Early video games followed pinball machines. Since a player can never "win" a pinball machine game, video games initially were thought of as simply "video" pinball machines. Game developers therefore included no mechanism to "win" the game. Video games were viewed simply as contest against the machine, where the only goal was to accumulate points until the machine inevitably won.

For example, early Nintendo and Atari video games such as PONG repeated the same challenge, although the speed of the object (or objects) of the game would increase. Eventually, the objects moved so fast that no player could win.

The Atari 2600 game Adventure, released in 1980, had three different dragons with differing abilities. However, it was not necessary to defeat any of them to win, and there was no level advancement in the game except by manual variation selection using the Game Select switch. In the first game variation, only the 2 slower dragons appeared. In the 2nd and 3rd variations, the 3rd and fastest dragon could be encountered. However, a player might not even encounter all of the dragons during the course of a 3rd variation game due to their random initial placement.

The first arcade video game with a boss-like attacker was the 1979 game Galaxian. In Galaxian, waves of ships would attack the player. Each wave included a few "flagships". Destroying the flagships resulted in significant bonuses. The flagships appeared at the top of the screen, implying that they were directing the attack. The flagships were thus referred to as "bosses" in the games. Although the flagships were usually defeated before advancing to the next level, it was not a requirement.

The first arcade video game with a true boss was Phoenix introduced in 1980 by Centuri. In Phoenix, a player was first attacked with several different smaller types of enemies. After disposing of the small ships, the player is then attacked by birds. After the birds are destroyed, the player faced a large mothership. Only by defeating the large mothership could the player advance to the next level.

The first console games with a boss were Vanguard and Phoenix for the Atari 2600. Both games were ported from arcade video games.

The first known game to explicitly list an end-level, stronger opponent as "Boss" is the arcade game Renegade (which was ported to several other platforms) in 1986.

Bosses in game structure

Many single-player games have a level structure, becoming progressively more difficult as the player advances. Bosses are a consequence of this structure, appearing at the end of a level and often requiring a complex sequence of actions in order to beat them. Other games have a storyline instead of a level-based structure, but still feature bosses at various points in the story. Most games with bosses often have one as the last obstacle in the way of victory. This final boss is often the most difficult enemy in the game.

File:Bowser (smb1).png

Bowser, the repeated boss in the Super Mario Bros. series as seen in the original Super Mario Bros.

Some games include a special mode called a boss rush with a large number of bosses one after the other. Famous series which often have this feature include Mega Man series and the Castlevania series. A rare few games are almost entirely focused on what would be considered boss battles in other games; for instance, Shadow of the Colossus consists of nothing but sixteen giant monsters, each with their own long battle.

Sometimes, bosses may not be used as choke-points but be hidden away and optional. Sometimes these bosses are irrelevant to the plot, though not always. These secret bosses, which must be actively hunted out, often protect powerful items, unlock new abilities, or allow access to other helpful abilities. Secret bosses near the end of the game may be even stronger than the final boss and exist to offer an extra bit of challenge to players who've defeated the final boss, such as various creatures in the Final Fantasy series.

Bosses are not always at the end of a "level" (in games with well-defined levels); sometimes they appear at the beginning or even halfway through. Bosses of this type who are noticeably weaker than a "real" boss are sometimes called sub-bosses, mid-bosses, or minibosses.

Bosses by type

Many types of bosses exist. A common trend in action games is to give bosses weak points the player must recognize- attacks that do not hit the boss's weak point are either ineffective or do vastly less damage. The Legend of Zelda series would be one example of this type.

In games with more of an adventure game flavor, it is not uncommon to have to solve a puzzle in order to trigger a series of events that will damage the boss. It is common for bosses to have several different stages, changing or adding to their tactics as they progress. A multi-tiered format is very popular for bosses in RPGs, such as Lavos in Chrono Trigger.

In fighting and adventure games it is common to encounter a sub-boss. A sub-boss is a weaker trial version of the final boss who appear before a final boss. Sub-bosses are common to unlock in a game where as bosses are not. In a story arc, sub-bosses can be narratively tied into the role of the boss who has not undergone a transformation or for being a sub-boss who is mistakened for being a boss. Some examples of sub-bosses are Blackheart in Capcom's Marvel Superheroes or Sonic Adventure 2's Shadow the hedgehog. Sub-bosses are usually not found in role playing games and map based games.

Some boss fights are not required to be "won" in games, a trope often seen in console role-playing games. They may often be "plot fights" to show off the power of a villain, or exhibition matches against allies where neither side wants to truly kill the other. Sometimes, these fights are outright unwinnable; otherwise, it is merely optional to win (perhaps via over leveling characters), with the game continuing even if defeated. Less commonly, the objective of the fight is merely to survive a certain length of time, with the enemy undamagable or endless hordes of attackers that never expire.

Criticism

Template:unreferencedsection Template:original research Poorly engineered bosses may simply be an enemy which absorbs or deals an exasperating amount of damage without providing especially engaging gameplay, existing purely to slow the player's progress. Particularly boss-heavy games may lack coherent segments between the bosses; this is frequently an issue in 2D shooters.

Some gamers have complained that bosses can break the suspension of disbelief by disrupting the level of realism. In games which attempt for a "realistic" atmosphere where the player character and the enemies can survive about as much damage as a "real" human, even one wearing body armor, can, it can be jarring to suddenly encounter an enemy who can survive superhuman amounts of damage, especially when this enemy is apparently human. Developers have tried to justify these occurrences by various means, like providing the player's opponent with extremely advanced body armor or undergoing some sort of transformation. An interesting justification for a human character's extreme resistance to damage (or, more likely, the pain it causes) is found in Hitman: Codename 47, where a "boss" character snorts a preposterous amount of cocaine before engaging the player in a gunfight.

Games may instead have various scenarios which serve as boss "replacements," however, such as requiring the player to defeat a larger-than-normal number of (often strong) enemies in a limited period of time or a confined space with little cover. This kind of 'boss room' is especially common in first person shooting games, with its origins in the Doom series. A common version is to force the player to remain in one location while waves of enemies attack them; the player being forced to fight them all to progress either because they are locked in, a frequent occurrence in Black, where such a situation occurs at least once on most levels and the Serious Sam games which consist of little else, or because there is something in the area they must protect for a fixed period of time. Possibly the most well-known example of the latter is the infamous sequence in GoldenEye 007 where the player must guard Natalya.

See also

• player character

External links

• General-purpose Boss Fighting Guide
• Who's the Boss? from Wired News
• Boss battles – article discussing good boss design
• Ban The Boss – article criticising the boss concept

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