Boss trick
A boss tease is a common mechanic in gaming where the player is tricked into thinking they've defeated the boss, only to have a bigger badder boss show up to fight.
Personally, I much prefer a boss tease where you have to actually fight the fake boss before the real boss shows up. Whether you have to defeat the fake boss or simply survive long enough doesn't matter as much to me, but the bait-and-switch style of immediate replacement is not nearly as exciting.
Definition
There is a subjective distinction between a boss tease and a boss that is simply fought in multiple stages. A boss tease works under the principle that the player is tricked into thinking they have won, while a multi-staged boss occurs without any attempt at trickery.
There are generally three ways to handle a boss tease:
- The player must fight and defeat the fake boss before the real boss arrives.
- The player is interrupted by the real boss while fighting the fake boss.
- The player never even gets a chance to fight the fake boss before it is immediately replaced by the real boss.
Examples
This is a list of games that are important to me which feature a boss tease. For all games, see the category.
| Title | Released | Replaced | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bionic Commando | 1988-07-20 | Before !! The story in the NES port has treats Generalissimo Killt like he's the primary boss, but he's taken out by the real boss before you get to fight him. | |
| Mega Man II | 1988-12-24 | After | After you defeat a multi-staged Dr. Wily, there is a twist. |
| Contra | 1987-02-20 | After | Upon reaching the alien's lair, a giant alien head appears, but it turns out to only be a miniboss. |
| Super Contra | 1988-01-08 | After | Stage 6 ends with a multi-faced alien boss, but, when you kill it, you discover it was only the babies! |
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