Home > Boss (video games)

In video games, a boss is a particularly large or difficult computer-controlled character that must be defeated at the end of a segment of a game, whether it be for a level, an episode, or the very end of the game itself. Bosses appear in many video games, particularly story or level-based first and third-person shooters, platform games, CRPGs, and most shoot 'em ups.

Many single-player games feature a level/episode structure, the game becoming progressively harder as the player advances. Bosses are a consequence of this structure, appearing at the end of a level or episode and being the hardest enemies to defeat. Other games have a storyline instead of a level-based structure, but they still feature boss-like enemies at various points in the story or at the end of the storyline.

The boss battle generally marks the climax of a dramatic buildup resulting from the player's anticipation and anxiousness. Game designers often add design elements, such as suspenseful music, that enhance this effect. A common method is to make the boss much larger than the player's on-screen representation, as opposed to normal enemies, who are more commonly smaller than the player, or at most roughly equal in size.

The first boss in the history of video games was the Golden Dragon, created by Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood in 1974 for dnd, a game styled around Dungeons and Dragons for the PLATO system. Breaking away from the infinitely repeating nature of games such as Pong or Asteroids, the boss represented an attempt to legitimize the video game as a type of story, with a difficult opponent ending the game as a denouement or climax.

framed Baxter StockmanBaxter Stockman is a scientist who has appeared in several versions of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show and comic. In each version, he is depicted as the creator of the Mousers, machines meant to seek out rats (not mice). However, there are several d, the boss of the first level of Turtles in Time. Note that he is flashing red, indicating that he is close to defeat.

In complex games (particularly role-playing games), bosses are so noted for effective attacks and a large number of hit pointIn many wargames, role-playing games, and combat-oriented video games, hit points are an abstraction for the amount of damage an object or player in the game can take before becoming ineffective. When an attack succeeds, instead of calculating detailed das. They also have "special" attacks, such as stunning/freezing the player, teleportationTeleportation or teletransportation is the process of moving objects (or more likely with present techniques, fundamental particles) from one place to another by encoding information about the object, transmitting the information to another place, such as, inflicting curseA curse is a prayer asking that a god or similar spirit brings misfortune to someone; an imprecation or execration, the opposite of a blessing. A curse can be said to be the effective implementation of the god's wrath against the victim of the curse.s on the characters that decrease their abilities, and so forth. Bosses are often immune to certain abilities that the player possesses, and often can only be defeated by specific attacks and strategies, or by using the environment or their own attacks against them.

In versus fighting gameKung-Fu the first real fighting game Fighting games are video games in which players fight each other or computer enemies with martial arts. Along with fixed shooters, they are traditionally at home in the arcades, and are considered separate from Sportss such as Street Fighter IIStreet Fighter II: The World Warrior ( 1991) was a highly popular and immensely successful arcade game created by the Japan-based company Capcom. It centers around two characters, Ryu and Ken (the two main characters from the original Street Fighter , fac, the final few characters the player faces in matches are usually referred to as bosses, as they are placed at the end of the game and have noticeably greater difficulty than previous opponents. Bosses in these games are often not available as playable characters at leisure.

In scrolling fighting games and other arcade games, a boss's health level is often determined by a health bar comparatively longer than the player's. When not determined in this manner, however, the character flashes red as he takes hits. This not only determines the boss's health, but also permits internal programming to discreetly adjust it as players enter and leave the game during the boss battle.

A weaker version of a boss that appears earlier in the level is called a miniboss.