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In , a boss is a significantly powerful non-player character and computer-controlled enemy created as an opponent to players.Burt, Andy (2008–4). "No More Heroes: The Killer Boss Guide". GamePro. vol. 235. p. 66. A fight with a boss character is referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. Bosses are generally far stronger than other opponents the players have faced up to that point in a game. Boss battles are generally seen at climax points of particular sections of games, such as at the end of a level or stage or guarding a specific objective. A miniboss is a boss weaker or less significant than the main boss in the same area or level, though usually more powerful than the standard opponents and often fought alongside them. A superboss (sometimes 'secret', 'hidden' or 'raid' boss) is generally much more powerful than the bosses encountered as part of the main game's plot and is often an optional encounter. A final boss is often the main antagonist of a game's story and the defeat of that character usually provides a conclusion to the game. A boss rush is a stage where players face multiple previous bosses again in succession.
For example, in a run 'n' gun video game, all regular enemies might use pistols while the boss uses a tank. A boss enemy is quite often larger in size than other enemies and the player character. At times, bosses are very hard to defeat without being adequately prepared and/or knowing the correct fighting approach. Bosses usually take strategy and special knowledge to defeat, such as how to attack weak points or avoid specific attacks.
Bosses are common in many genres of video games, but they are especially common in story-driven titles, and are commonly previously established characters in the video game's narrative (usually antagonists, but these fights are also used to introduce plot-twists). Action-adventure games, beat 'em ups, , , role-playing video games (RPGs), and are particularly associated with boss battles. They may be less common in puzzle games, card video games, , and simulation games. The first video game with a boss fight was the 1975 RPG dnd.
The concept has expanded to other genres, like , where there may be a "boss song" that is more difficult, or a high-difficulty, computer-controlled opponent in sports games. In multiplayer online battle arena games, defeating a map boss usually requires teamwork of two or more players, but it brings various benefits to the team, such as buffs or lane push power. Some games, such as Cuphead, Furi and Warning Forever, are centered around continual boss fights.
Many games structure boss battles as a progression of distinct phases in which the boss produces different or additional hazards for players. This is often reflected by a change in the appearance of the boss, or by a boss displaying increased frustration.
The Legend of Zelda series and games inspired by it are recognized for having dungeons with bosses that are specifically vulnerable to a special item that is located within that dungeon. Player(s) will typically acquire this item while exploring the dungeon and will be given opportunities to learn to use it to solve puzzles or defeat weaker enemies before facing the dungeon's final boss.
Boss battles are typically seen as dramatic events. As such, they are usually characterized by sometimes quite theatrical before and after the boss battle and unique music. Recurring bosses and final bosses may have their own specific theme music to distinguish them from other boss battles. This concept extends beyond combat-oriented video games. For example, a number of titles in the Dance Dance Revolution rhythm game series contain "boss songs" that are called "bosses" because they are exceptionally difficult to perform on.
In combat-focused games, a boss may summon additional enemies, reinforcements, or minions ("adds") to fight players alongside the boss, increasing the boss fight's difficulty. These additional enemies may distract from the boss battle or give time for the boss to regain or regenerate health, but may also give players opportunity to regain health from health boosters and ammo dropped by the boss's defeated minions.
In some games, a hidden boss, referred to as the "true" final boss, is present. These bosses only appear after the completion of specific additional levels, choosing specific dialogue options or after obtaining a particular item or set of items, such as the Chaos Emeralds in the Sonic the Hedgehog series or performing a series of tasks in . These bosses are generally more difficult to defeat. In games with a "true" final boss, victory leads to either a better ending or a more detailed version of the regular ending. Examples of a "true final boss" include the Radiance in Hollow Knight and the Moon Presence in Bloodborne.
The term "Foozle" is used to describe a cliché final boss that exists only to act as the final problem before players can complete the game. Scorpia stated in 1994 that "about 98% of all role-playing video games can be summed up as follows: 'We go out and bash on critters until we're strong enough to go bash on Foozle.
The first interactive video game to feature a boss was dnd, which was released in 1975 for the PLATO system. dnd was one of the earliest dungeon crawl video games and implemented many of the core concepts of Dungeons & Dragons. The objective of the game is to retrieve an "Orb" from the bottommost dungeon. The orb is kept in a treasure room guarded by a high-level enemy named the Gold Dragon. Only by defeating the Dragon can players claim the orb, complete the game and be eligible to appear on the high score list.
In 1980, boss battles appeared in several Arcade game action games. In March 1980, Sega released Samurai, a jidaigeki-themed martial arts action game where player samurai fight a number of swordspeople before confronting a more powerful boss samurai. SNK's Sasuke vs. Commander, released in October 1980, is a ninja-themed shooter game where the player character fights enemy before confronting bosses with various ninjutsu attacks and enemy patterns. It was one of the earliest games with multiple boss encounters, and one of SNK's earliest games. Phoenix, released in December 1980, is a fixed shooter where players's ship must fight a giant mother ship in the fifth and final level. At several points in Namco's vertically scrolling shooter Xevious (1982), players must defeat an Andor Genesis mothership to advance.
In side-scrolling character action games such as beat 'em ups, Irem's 1984 arcade game Kung-Fu Master established the end-of-level boss battle structure used in these games, with players progressing through levels (represented by floors of a temple) and fighting a boss character at the end of each level; in turn, this end-of-level boss battle structure was adapted from the Bruce Lee film Game of Death, where Lee's character fights a different boss character on each floor as he ascends a pagoda. The game was distinctive for giving both players and each boss a health meter, which leads to the game temporarily becoming a one-on-one fighting game during boss battles, a concept that Kung-Fu Master designer Takashi Nishiyama later expanded on when he created the fighting game Street Fighter (1987) at Capcom. The term "boss" was used in reference to the game's final boss by Mike Roberts in a review of the game published in the May 1985 issue of British magazine Computer Gamer, while he used the term "super baddies" for the end-of-level bosses.
Sega's arcade game Fantasy Zone (1986) popularized the concept of a boss rush, a stage where players face multiple previous bosses again in succession.
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