History Main / OpenEndedBossBattle

* In ''[[VideoGame/DigimonWorldDawnDusk Digimon World Dawn and Dusk]]'', both games start with a tournament held by the game's two main factions, ending in a battle against your rival from the other faction (Sayo in ''Dawn'', Koh in ''Dusk'') on roughly even footing. There's no difference between winning or losing the match beyond a change in the following cutscene. The tournament is also ATasteOfPower before your non-mascot Digimon get reverted to Rookie level the next day.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''

* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' in the Kingdom of Zeal, the plot requires you to be captured. To this end, a Golem is sent to attack the party. While the standard fare would be to lose to the monster, you can actually defeat it (in fact it can be pathetically easy if you know how). Doing so results in the summoner using the "LookBehindYou" trick then shooting you InTheBack. All winning does is net some decent EXP.

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' has the battle against [[spoiler: Alpha Weltall]], which is nearly impossible to win unless you've gone all out preparing for it and get a little lucky. The game proceeds exactly the same either way; however, if you do win you get the Slayer Robe, which is the best on-foot armor in the game (and that only appears if you have the Trader Card equipped, which makes rare drops more frequent and is difficult to get ahold of in the first place).
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' has a famous three-boss sequence at a spoilerrific important scene that goes regular boss -> this trope -> HopelessBossFight. If you lose, the boss can't bring himself to finish you off [[spoiler:because he's the main character's father]]. If you win, he can't finish you off because, well, he lost. Either way, this is where the HopelessBossFight steps in to finish the job.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun''

** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'': When Sora first arrives in Traverse Town, Leon fights you in the town square. There's no penalty for losing, and it is very difficult to win (unless you're aware of [[ArtificialStupidity a certain flaw]] in your opponent). If you do win, Sora will delight in his win (and major EXP gain) and then promptly pass out. The next scene will have Leon praising Sora, instead of the usual "''This'' is supposed to be the Keyblade master?!". You can also get an Elixir from Yuffie afterward, who mentions it's a gift from Leon for impressing him. Other boss fights where the story continues whether you win or lose are the first battles against Darkside in the prologue, Sabor in Deep Jungle, and Cloud in Olympus Coliseum. All of these examples (Leon included) are cases of HeadsIWinTailsYouLose.

* In ''[[VideoGame/PaperMario64 Paper Mario]]'', the Dojo fights are optional, and if you lose, you'll be fine with 1 HP and can rematch the person who beat you whenever. In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', the Glitz Pit works this way. In fact, every battle in Chapter 3 is one of these (though you will have to rematch if you lose, except for the grudge matches), with two exceptions. The first fight against the Armored Harriers is a HopelessBossFight since the partner who can bypass their defenses hasn't yet joined the party (he'll be waiting for Mario in the dressing room after the fight ends). The chapter boss, [[spoiler:Macho Grubba]], is naturally the other example: [[spoiler:Grubba plans on draining Mario's energy to prevent his scheme from becoming public]].

* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'' the fight against [[spoiler:Ratatosk]] is this. Interesting in that even though it's [[spoiler:the final boss fight]] whether you win or lose absolutely nothing changes.

* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'', the first fight against [[spoiler:Agria]] in Jude's story and the first fight against [[spoiler: Gaius]] can be won or lost, the only difference being that you'll miss out on rewards.

* Certain boss fights in the ''Videogame/TrailsSeries'' either expect the player to lose or take losses but will reward the player if they either win or do a sufficient level of damage before they immediately wipe you out. This will change the upcoming cutscene where the enemy will acknowledge your efforts and reward you with bonus points towards your overall ranking.

* ''VideoGame/CrossCode'': The [[MirrorBoss Spheromancer duels]] with Apollo [[spoiler: and Shizuka]] will progress the story whether you win the duels or not, which is fortunate since their encounters can be pretty difficult for players to win against, [[ThatOneBoss even relative to other bosses.]] For Apollo, this is since he's only testing your merits as a player. [[spoiler: For Shizuka, she's attempting to impede your progress but is forced to let you go by an Evotar version of Satoshi.]]
* The final fight against the Oracle in ''VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}}'' can be won or lost. In the former case, Lucas gets to fight the Cyborg later, while in the latter, you take control of Carla in an attempt to save Lucas -- which you can also fail, giving you one of the three endings. The other two are received for either beating or losing to the Cyborg.
* ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' is basically all about this. Just about every fight can be won or lost, which can even result in the death of main characters... and the story will just keep going. Of course, this affects the outcome of the game and who makes it to the final stage.
* The first fight with Genichiro in ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'' is a HopelessBossFight, and the new player is expected to lose very quickly. Of course, if you're persistent enough, once you deplete Genichiro's health, one of his mooks distracts you in a cutscene, making the Wolf lose his arm as usual.
* ''VideoGame/SteambotChronicles'' has the duel against the leader of the Killer Elephants early in the game. Win, and the Boss will recall his forces occupying a nearby town. Lose, and he'll capture you, but release you shortly thereafter as a show of respect for you having the courage to take him on, and recall his forces occupying a nearby town.
* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'':
** The battle against Papyrus has an interesting take. You can kill him like anyone else or spare him when you are given the chance and the plot goes on as normal. Losing to Papyrus is impossible because he will never deal a killing blow against you, even if the last hit was fatal. He stops the battle to capture you and toss you into a CardboardPrison that you can just walk out from. Escaping means you have to fight him again, but losing to him three times will have him forego the capturing and lets you proceed anyway.
** The FinalBattle against [[spoiler: Asriel Dreemurr]] is impossible to lose. You can die, but your soul refuses to shatter and the fight simply resets with you fully revived.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'': Ridley on Ceres Station. If you lose, he'll fly off with the baby Metroid. If you win, he'll drop the baby Metroid...and then immediately pick it back up again and fly off.

[[folder:Fighting Game]]
* During story mode, in ''VideoGame/RivalSchools'':
** Your team will encounter Raizo as the third battle. You're meant to lose the match, after which a [[DesignatedVictim designated member of your team]] is taken hostage while the other two [[BrainwashedAndCrazy are brainwashed and made to do Raizo's bidding]] for the next two battles. Depending on the team and their story, the effects of Raizo's mind control either wear off, or [[DefeatEqualsFriendship you're restored to your senses]], after the second battle following the Raizo encounter.
** On the off-chance that you manage to defeat Raizo, the game skips the mind control phase of the story and cuts directly to the battle with Justice High. You still lose a member of your team, however, as the story demands this happen. They're either kidnapped by Raizo, after the battle, or they proceed to Justice High [[LetsSplitUpGang on their own]] to speed up the team's investigation. By the time you arrive, you learn your missing teammate was caught snooping and is now a hostage.
* ''VideoGame/{{Trapt}}'': If you decide to fight the final boss, you get some interesting results, depending on the outcome. If you lose, Princess Allura/Alicea will get possessed by the demon without anyone the wiser. If you win, the Princess will vanquish the demon, and go back to the castle with her faithful knight.

[[folder:Massively Multiplayer Online Games]]
* In original ''VideoGame/GuildWars'', the bonus objective of the Dragon's Lair mission involves killing a major character. If you lose, your character is simply resurrected and completes the mission anyway. If you win, the character's death has no effect on the story, and they still communicate with you at some later points.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Temtem}}'', the story continues whether you win or lose the first few battles with [[TheRival Max]], as well as the (almost) HopelessBossFight against [[spoiler:General X]].

[[folder:Platformer]]
* In the ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series, if the player loses a life out on a mission, they may be given the option to "give up", where the mission is a failure but the story continues without the mission's rewards.
* The penultimate boss in ''VideoGame/AxiomVerge'' is open-ended, as there's nothing stopping you from simply walking past it to where the FinalBoss resides. The ending doesn't change regardless, but you actually get an achievement for '''not''' defeating it before beating the game.
* In ''VideoGame/SilhouetteMirage'', in the third fight with Zohar, you can defeat him before the time limit runs out or run out of time and the game will continue regardless. Whether you win or run out of time determines if you fight him for the final time [[spoiler:[[OneWingedAngel in his true Guardian Angel form]]]] or Serah as the next boss, and which final bosses you can fight and endings you can get.

[[folder:Shooters]]
* In ''Dragon Spirit: The New Legend'', the game's WarmUpBoss determined whether the player progressed in "Easy" or "Hard" mode, with "Easy" mode giving the player a stronger dragon [[spoiler:before revealing it as AllJustADream]], and "Hard" mode featuring two additional levels and the game's TrueFinalBoss.
* In an old arcade game called ''VideoGame/TheOceanHunter'', you, at one point, encounter a shark, tougher than the rest, tearing at a scuba diver. If you manage to kill the shark before the diver dies, you get an extra life and an OptionalBoss-- but nothing happens if you don't manage to save him.
* In ''VideoGame/ActionDoom2UrbanBrawl'', after riding the subway, you come up against [[DualBoss two gang leaders]]; depending on whether you beat them or lose to them, you go down a different path and eventually get a different ending. Interestingly, it is ''losing'' to them that will lead to the best ending you can get at that point[[note]]if you had chosen to go in the subway, you've already locked yourself out of the best ending[[/note]].
* In ''VideoGame/ChimeraBeast'', you can either beat the final boss for one ending, or lose all your lives against it and choose not to continue for another. Due to your character [[spoiler: being a VillainProtagonist from a HordeOfAlienLocusts, winning gives you the ''bad'' ending, while losing gives you the ''good'' ending.]]

[[folder:Western [=RPGs=]]]
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', during a certain rescue mission, the player is confronted by the powerful Ser Cauthien. If the player manages to defeat her, the mission is complete and they may return to their QuestGiver immediately. If the player is defeated, they are thrown into prison and must find a way to escape (and will fight her later).
* In every single ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' game, many bosses (And most of the major final bosses) you can avoid the battle entirely with charisma or sneaking alone. Don't feel like killing the Master in an epic boss battle? If your skills are high enough, convince him to commit suicide. Don't want to do the final test at the beginning of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}''? Talk the guy out of it. In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', you could kill the Overseer and take his keys, or blackmail him to give you the keys, or rob him blind when he's not looking, or avoid him entirely and raid his office. This counts for the trope, because in the ''Fallout'' series, most of the time the boss battle isn't the "Fight itself" you have to win, but just getting past the scenario in general.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Non Video Game Examples]]
* In ''WebVideo/SonicTheHedgehog2SpecialEdition'' [[note]]a satirical LetsPlay of a non-existent remake of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2''[[/note]], Aquatic Ruin Zone, Act 1, ends with a boss fight against Knuckles. If you win, you proceed as normal. If you lose, as Docfuture demonstrates, then you switch to playing as Knuckles for at least the next Act.
[[/folder]]

* In the first ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' game, ''VideoGame/{{Koudelka}}'', whether or not the player could defeat the game's FinalBoss determined whether they earned the game's [[MultipleEndings Good or Bad Ending]], with the [[CuttingOffTheBranches latter being considered canon]]. What makes this unique is ''losing'' is [[EarnYourBadEnding what gives the good ending]].

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'', when Sora first arrives in Traverse Town, Leon fights you in the town square. There's no penalty for losing, and it is very difficult to win (unless you're aware of [[ArtificialStupidity a certain flaw]] in your opponent). If you do win, Sora will delight in his win (and major EXP gain) and then promptly pass out. The next scene will have Leon praising Sora, instead of the usual "''This'' is supposed to be the Keyblade master?!". You can also get an Elixir from Yuffie afterward, who mentions it's a gift from Leon for impressing him. Other boss fights where the story continues whether you win or lose are the first battles against Darkside in the prologue, Sabor in Deep Jungle, and Cloud in Olympus Coliseum. All of these examples (Leon included) are cases of HeadsIWinTailsYouLose.

* In an old arcade game called ''VideoGame/TheOceanHunter'', you, at one point, encountered a shark, tougher than the rest, tearing at a scuba diver. If you managed to kill the shark before the diver died, you got an extra life and a BonusBoss-- but nothing happened if you didn't manage to save him.

* ''VideoGame/SacredEarthAlternative'': The FinalBoss fight [[spoiler:with True Konoe]] can be won or lost, but the cutscene afterwards is exactly the same, [[spoiler:with True Konoe killing the replica and absorbing her.]]