Boss

Encountering the final boss of Kung-Fu Master.

In video games, a boss is major opponent who is confronted during a climactic moment in a video game, typically at the end of the game or the end of a major section of a game. Encountering a boss usually halts further progress in a game until the boss is defeated. The concept of a "boss" comes from earlier forms of fiction where the primary villain is confronted near the end of the story. In video game parlance, however, a "boss" refers to pretty much any enemy who is stronger and more complicated to fight than the game's other enemies, so a game may have many "bosses," but there are additional terms to help distinguish the various forms bosses may take.

History

One of the first games to feature a boss is DND for the PLATO system where the upgraded version released in 1976 has a powerful dragon as the final monster. However, this game was never published commercially. The oldest commercial game I could find which has a boss enemy is Astro Fighter released in the arcade in 1979. Probably the first game to include a powerful monster named a "boss" is Sasuke vs Commander released in the arcade in October 1980 where the most powerful enemy is called 親分忍者 [oyabun ninja] "boss ninja."

The term "boss" used to refer to the final bad guy probably comes from earlier kung fu films like The Big Boss in 1971, and Game of Death in 1978. By the mid-1980s, "boss" had become a pretty popular term for the powerful final enemy in a game.

Variations

The section lists the variations on how bosses can affect the progression of the game regardless of what they mean to the story or how they fight.

Type	Notes
Final boss	The final boss in the game. Typically, defeating it starts the end game sequence. Also called last boss, end boss, etc. In the earliest games, the final boss was just called the "boss" because the entire game only had one boss. For story-based games, the primary villain is usually also the final boss.
Section boss	The boss of a discrete section of a game. The term is typically adjusted to match the terminology used by the game for its sections, e.g.: level boss, stage boss, world boss, etc. In games with linear progression, defeating this boss typically ends the section, while in open world games, defeating this boss often yields a lock-and-key style item which allows the player entrance into new areas of the game world. Once games began implementing bosses for each section rather than just one for the end of the game, it became necessary to distinguish them from the final boss. Section bosses were originally referred to as "mini bosses," but then game designers began putting even less-significant bosses in the middle of sections as well, so there became a need to distinguish between it ans a section boss.
Mini boss	An enemy which functions like a boss, in that they're usually stronger than their surrounding enemies and often prevents progression until they're defeated, but, unlike other bosses, defeating a mini boss doesn't trigger the end of a section or a key item. The term "mini boss" is often used interchangeably with "section boss" for reasons described above.
Optional boss	A boss that you don't actually have to fight in order to finish the game.
Super boss	A boss that is so exceptionally powerful it usually takes many players working cooperatively to defeat. Common in MMOs.

Battle Examples

In addition to being larger, more powerful, and taking more hits, bosses often have complicated battle sequences. Here are examples of some of the more common combat styles used in boss battles.

Type	Notes
Multiple forms	Defeating a boss in its initial form causes it to transform into something else, which is usually more difficult.
Weak point	Bosses which are impervious to attacks on most of their body typically have weak point that is often flashing, colorful, or in come other way conspicuous.
Projectiles	Bosses often fire a large number of projectiles at the player. Far more than regular enemies.
Core and turret	Bosses in shooters often combine projectiles with a weapon point with this form. Defeating the boss requires the player to damage the core, but this is difficult because there are a lot of turrets shooting projectiles. The expected strategy is to targeting the turrets first so it won't be as difficult to attack the core. However, many bosses of this style have the turrets respawn after a brief length of time.
Temporary immunity	The boss is usually immune from attacks, either because they are well-defended or they are inaccessible (in the air, under water, in the background, etc.). However, they occasionally do something to drop their immunity, like opening their armor or drawing near to attack. Sometimes the player has to do something which forces them to come out of their immune state, giving them only a moment before they return to their immune state.
Hazardous environment	The area in which you fight the boss often contains spikes, acid, etc. which will hurt the player if they touch it, and bosses are often designed to push the player into these.
Chasing	Colliding with a boss typically incurs damage, so bosses are frequently designed to chance and hit the player. This has led to a common style where the player is constantly running away from the boss along a scrolling background in a hazardous environment.
Multiple objects	A boss that is made up of multiple objects that move independently from each other, and the player must defeat all of them, or just specific ones. In such battles, it's often best to focus on a single object and destroy it first. Although, designers sometimes prevent this tactic by respawning the objects if you don't defeat the others within a set time.
Clones	A subset of multiple objects, the boss will split themselves into clones, and damaging the clone won't hurt the boss.
Sweeping weapon	Many bosses feature a powerful weapon which slowly sweeps across the room. The player is often expected to predict when it happens and seek cover.
Barrier change	A boss which is only weak to a specific type of attack, and that type is frequently changing.
Broken armor	The boss is covered in armor that must be broken off before you can reach its weak point.
Bullfight	When a boss frequently charges at the player in an effort to hit them. Such bosses often become weak when they miss the player, either because their back is exposed, of smacking into a wall makes them vulnerable for a short time.
Cat and mouse	A boss battle which alternates between it trying to hit you, and you trying to hit it. There is usually a trigger which flips who can hit who.
Flunkies	A form of multiple objects, where the boss has many weaker enemies that fight with it. You can't hurt the boss by defeating the flunkies, but often the bodies of the flunkies work as a weapon to injure the boss.
Mirror fight	The boss looks like the player's character and has all of the same abilities.
Tennis projectile	The boss is injured by knocking its projectiles back at it.

Meta Mechanics

These are common game design mechanics built around the concept of bosses.

Type	Notes
Boss bonanza	When you encounter several new bosses in a short period of time.
Boss dialogue	Bosses often talk to the player during the battle. What they say is usually designed to taunt the player.
Boss room	The arena in which the boss battle takes place, often a single room.
Boss rush	Having to re-fight several earlier bosses in a row.
Boss tease	When the game shows you glimpses of the boss you're going to have to fight later in the game. This helps create a feeling of dread.
Boss trick	Being tricked into thinking you've defeated a boss, only to have it replaced by something worse.
Boss turned character	When, after defeating a boss, they join your party as a playable character.
Boss warning	Something in the game that makes it obvious you're about to have a boss battle. A differently colored door, a large empty room, etc.
Degraded boss	A boss which reappears later in the game as a regular enemy. By the time you see it again, it's quite weak.
Dissonance	When the difficulty of a boss doesn't match the difficulty of rest of the game. This is an example of failing to properly balance the game.
Duel	When a single character from a party must fight a boss alone. Sometimes the game let's to choose the character, other times it's scripted and based on the relationship between the boss and the character. This can lead to interesting results because the player won't have access to the abilities they're used to having from their full party.
Flicker	When a boss begins to flash, change color, or offers so other form of visual cue to know how close it is to being defeated. Many games use this because it adds tension to the fight.
Foozle	A "foozle" is a derogatory term for a generic final boss that exists simply to be defeated. The term was coined by Scorpia in the October 1991 issue of Computer Gaming Monthly who lamented how formulaic RPGs had become.
Friend battle	A boss which is your friend from earlier in the story and was secretly a villain, or is controlled to act as a villain. In either cast, it's can be a nice twist.
Level as a boss	When a particularly difficult level is used instead of a boss. Often employed by designers when a game is falling behind schedule and they don't have time to create a proper boss.
Optional	A boss that doesn't have to be defeated and the narrative will still continue.
Post-recovery	After defeating a boss, games typically heal characters or replenish them in some way. However, if there is a boss rush or boss bonanza, this may be skipped.
Pre-recovery	Before encountering a boss, many games provide a place to heal, replenish items, a save point, and the like. However, if the boss is at the end of a section, this may be skipped so that all the normal battles in the section act to drain the player's resources.
Scripted failure / victory	When the player will always lose to a boss because they're scripted to fail. This is a common trope as it helps demonstrate just how powerful a foe is so they player will be intimidated when they face them again later. In much less common instances there may be a scripted victory where the player is guaranteed to win regardless of how poorly they perform.
Super boss	A boss, often optional, which is extremely powerful, usually even more powerful than the game's final boss. Super bosses are a nice way reward players who did too much grinding and are now overpowered.
Upgrade / Downgrade	A boss which you've already defeated, but has been remade to be more powerful. The less-common downgrade is similar, only the boss is weaker the next time around. This is a great time saver for developers because much of the boss's appearance and combat style remains the same, they usually just have minor variations to distinguish them.
Wolfpack boss	A boss that consists simply of several normal enemies. When fought one at a time, they aren't very difficult, but they are much harder when there are dozens at once. This is another time-saver for developers as it doesn't require much effort on their part.

Media

History of the term "boss."

Links