Jump to content

Boss (video games)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 200.191.136.77 (talk) at 03:12, 27 November 2004 (put an atari game boss). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
File:Gorfmission5.png
Flag Ship from the video game Gorf

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.

File:Rtypedoppelganger.png
Dobkeratops (or Doppelganger), the boss from the first level of R-Type.

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.


In complex games (particularly role-playing games), bosses are so noted for effective attacks and a large number of hit points. They also have "special" attacks, such as stunning/freezing the player, teleportation, inflicting curses 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 games such as Street Fighter II, 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.


File:TMNT Turtles in Time screenshot.png
Baxter Stockman, the boss of the first level of Turtles in Time. Note that he is flashing red, indicating that he is close to defeat.

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.

List of famous or noteworthy bosses

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boss_(video_games)&oldid=7888751"