History Main / ProactiveBoss

* VideoGame/BloodstainedCurseOfTheMoon: The final stage of the sequel's Episode 1, the DiskOneFinalBoss Abaddon will chase you in several rooms cloaked in a swarm of highly damaging locusts and destroys some of the terrain in his path of destruction. If the immense contact damage with the swarm doesn't do you in, falling into a BottomlessPit caused by his rampage surely will.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'': In the Buzz Lightyear UsefulNotes/SuperNES game depicted in the movie, Emperor Zurg tries to kill Buzz with a [[SmashingHallwayTrapsOfDoom smashing hallway trap]] before Buzz reaches him.

* ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'': There are three bosses in the game (Terry, Chilli Billi and Chilly Willy) that attack Banjo and Kazooie when they reach the areas leading to their whereabouts, in an attempt to kill them or at least drive them away. Terry shoots mucus balls, Chilly Billi shoots {{fireball}}s and Chilly Willy shoots chunks of ice. Terry attacking the protagonists is justified to some extent, because he thinks mistakenly that they stole his eggs; however, the latter two bosses just do it because they're assholes.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': Traditionally, Bowser spits {{fireball}}s at you from afar in the levels you encounter him in before the actual fight.

Proactive Bosses will use every dirty trick they know to slow down, harass, or even outright kill the player off well before the real battle officially starts; they will personally [[BrokenBridge break bridges]] or set off traps until they're left with no choice but to fight.

[[folder:Platformers]]
* ''Franchise/MegaMan'':
** ''VideoGame/MegaMan11'': Three pile driver robots called the "Impact Brothers" charge you throughout Impact Man's stage. Once you reach the end of the stage, the Impact Brothers combine into Impact Man. This is the first time a Robot Master doesn't even wait until the BossRoom to screw with the Blue Bomber.
** ''VideoGame/MegaManX'':
*** ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'': Jet Stingray attacks you halfway through his stage.
*** ''VideoGAme/MegaManX6'' has Illumina, who attacks you throughout Infinity Mijinion's stage.
*** ''VideoGame/MegaManX8'': Gigavolt Man-o-war's level is a big chase against him, with you on your Ride Chaser and him flying around the city area, occasionally leaving bomb traps or exploiting tight turns to slow you down. Shoot him enough with your Ride Chaser and he'll go down to a platform, initiating the proper boss battle.
* ''VideoGame/MightyNo9'': Most of the enemy Mighty Numbers will mess with Beck through the entirety of their stages in some way or another, though Beck is unable to actually attack them until he corners them at the end. Of particular notes are Countershade, a ColdSniper who takes shots at Beck every several seconds in his stage; and Aviator, who watches Beck like a TV news reporter and interferes with him whenever things look too safe for Beck.
* ''VideoGame/Rayman1'': Mr. Sax, Mr. Stone, and Mr. Dark all attack you early into their respective areas.
* ''VideoGame/SonicForces'': Infinite just shows up whenever he feels like it, regardless of if it's time for a boss battle or not. Capital City, the 16th stage in the game, sees a lot of him popping up to warp spacetime, then disappearing again to cause trouble later.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': Traditionally, Bowser spits {{fireball}}s at you from afar in the levels you encounter him in before the actual fight.

!! Examples:

[[AC:Film (Animated)]]
* In the Buzz Lightyear UsefulNotes/SuperNES game depicted in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', Emperor Zurg tries to kill Buzz with a [[SmashingHallwayTrapsOfDoom Smashing Hallway Trap]] before Buzz reaches him.

[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Count Strahd von Zarovich from the classic ''I6 TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' module was one of the first (if not ''the'' first) such bosses in ''D&D'', showing up in different corners of his eponymous castle to manipulate the heroes (if not to try killing them outright). The module was highly praised at the time for its intelligent and proactive villain, as most ''D&D'' modules until then (1983) had been little more than straightforward {{Dungeon Crawl|ing}}s where all encounters were either nailed to their rooms or completely random.
* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' adventure ''[[UsefulNotes/RasputinTheMadMonk Rasputin]] Must Die'', the titular mad monk uses AstralProjection magic to harass the heroes as they attempt to gain access to his extraplanar sanctum.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* Before fighting Gary in ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'', Jimmy Hopkins is forced to give chase up to the roof of Bullworth Academy. All the while, Gary throws bricks at him when crossing thin scaffolding, and tries to tip carts filled with cinderblocks on top of him when he climbs up ladders.
* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'':
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', the Duke's Dear Freja will appear in NewGamePlus at the cliff just outside the cave leading to the church containing the Prowling Magus. Unlike the Pursuer, she'll abandon the fight and flee after a short time, and you'll get to face her again in her proper boss arena.
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII''[='=]s second DLC, ''The Ringed City'', Darkeater Midir will impede your progress during your trek through the mountainside after the swamp section, flying above you and spewing large trails of fire. Once you approach the Church of Filianore, he'll set himself up at a nearby cliff and keep spewing fire to block you; you can either pass by him or make him fall off the cliff with enough damage and a riposte. The latter option is required to unlock his proper Bonus Boss fight, which takes place in a hidden area.
* ''VieoGame/DawnOfWarII'': The second level of Retribution's campaign sees a Baneblade superheavy tank chasing your forces, blasting through cover and obstacles until you escape to the next area. It's finally defeated as a CutsceneBoss after you kill all the targeting cogitators (in the heaviest-defended area) controlling nearby turrets, causing them to fire on the tank ad taking it out.

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'': A rare case in that it's not done to the player: Agatio and Karst trigger a trap that causes the previous game's [=PCs=] Garet and Mia to fall down a hole, leaving only Isaac and Ivan to fight. They're defeated by the time you reach them ([[HopelessBossFight no matter how high you leveled them up previously]]), and the true boss fight begins.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'': On entering the Phantasmal Bog, the first thing you'll notice is the giant purple-aura'ed salamander glaring at you from the water. The second is when it tries to drown you by crushing the part of the stepping stone you're standing on. The entire point of the dungeon is to get to a different area in the same room where there's enough space to fight it on land.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'':
** ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'': Jet Stingray attacks you halfway through his stage.
** ''VideoGAme/MegaManX6'' has Illumina, who attacks you throughout Infinity Mijinion's stage.
** ''VideoGame/MegaManX8'': Gigavolt Man-o-war's level is a big chase against him, with you on your Ride Chaser and him flying around the city area, occasionally leaving bomb traps or exploiting tight turns to slow you down. Shoot him enough with your Ride Chaser and he'll go down to a platform, initiating the proper boss battle.
* In ''VideoGame/MegaMan11'', three pile driver robots called the "Impact Brothers" charge you throughout Impact Man's stage. Once you reach the end of the stage, the Impact Brothers combine into Impact Man. This is the first time a Robot Master doesn't even wait until the BossRoom to screw with the Blue Bomber.
* In ''VideoGame/MightyNo9'', most of the enemy Mighty Numbers will mess with Beck through the entirety of their stages in some way or another, though Beck is unable to actually attack them until he corners them at the end. Of particular notes are Countershade, a ColdSniper who takes shots at Beck every several seconds in his stage; and Aviator, who watches Beck like a TV news reporter and interferes with him whenever things look too safe for Beck.
* ''VideoGame/Pikmin2'': The main gimmick of the cave Submerged Castle is that, in every floor, the Waterwraith will continue harassing the Captains and the Pikmin, and during the first four floors it's invincible because the only type of Pikmin that can weaken it (Purple) doesn't appear until the fifth floor, where the monster can finally be challenged in a boss battle.
* In ''VideoGame/Rayman1'', Mr. Sax, Mr. Stone, and Mr. Dark all attack you early into their respective areas.
* PlayedWith by the GiantSpider Mactans in ''VideoGame/KingdomRush Origins''. Throughout the penultimate and final stages, she harasses you by webbing your towers and spawning spider minions and covering the path in webbing. At the end of the final stage, she's [[spoiler:[[TheUnfought never directly fought as herself]] since she and Malicia fuse together to become the [[SpiderPeople Spider Goddess]]]].
* In ''VideoGame/SonicForces'', Infinite just shows up whenever he feels like it, regardless of if it's time for a boss battle or not. Capital City, the 16th stage in the game, sees a lot of him popping up to warp spacetime, then disappearing again to cause trouble later.
* Traditionally, Bowser from the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series spits {{fireball}}s at you from afar in the levels you encounter him in before the actual fight.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'':
** The City in the Sky is guarded by a giant wyvern Argorok, who at one point smashes through a stone bridge leading further inside (fortunately, there are alternate methods of crossing involving hookshots and helicopter plants). The actual battle takes place on the highest rooftop of the city.
** While the Skull Kid periodically sends puppet fighters after you, he also inverts the trope by opening up other sections of the dungeon when he goes through them.

** Subverted with Mettaton, who appears to try to kill you during his shows while you're travelling through Hotland, [[spoiler:only for his failed attempts to turn out to be staged as a way for Alphys to "save" you from him both to make her feel good and as a way to convince you to stay underground. His boss fight is him deciding he's had enough of playing along]].