History Main / TrickBoss

** In the "Revenge of Meta Knight" subgame, one level's boss appears to be [[WhenTreesAttack Whispy Woods]], the classic WarmUpBoss who was already fought in "Spring Breeze". Once you trounce him again, the floor gives away to bring Kirby to the real boss: Twin Woods, a fight with [[DualBoss two Whispys]] that drop more dangerous projectiles.

*** The game first pulls the same trick as ''Super Star''; the boss of Falluna Moon is made out to be an autumnal recolor of Whispy Woods (who is the first boss of this game as well), but after beating him, the camera pans away to lead Kirby to Yggy Woods, an UpgradedBoss version of Whispy with stronger attacks.

** ''VideoGame/SuperKirbyClash'': Similar to Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, defeating Parallel Nightmare ends in a sequence where he summons [[spoiler:King D-Mind]], who immediately smacks him away and takes his place in the fight. [[spoiler:Parallel Nightmare also appears to be defeated in The Final Battle, but he gets up and summons a dimensional rift. The being he summoned, revealed to be the Aeon Hero (who you may better know as Galacta Knight) cuts down Parallel Nightmare, seemingly killing him. Aeon Hero then replaces Parallel Nightmare's Revenge for the remainder of the battle.]]

* Balzack in the fourth chapter of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV''. He uses powerful magic, but is easily neutralized with the Sphere of Silence. In the UsefulNotes/PlayStation and UsefulNotes/NintendoDS remakes of the game, [[MusicalSpoiler he doesn't get the standard "boss music" treatment]]... [[spoiler:his boss, Marquis de Leon]], ''does'', and [[HopelessBossFight your party has no shot of beating him at their current level]].

* In ''VideoGame/XKaliber2097'', the battle with the fourth boss, Dr. Blast, starts with you against a very slow, old scientist who fires slow, short-range, bouncing pellets that do the lowest amount of damage in the game. After you get two or three hits in, Dr. Blast pauses, drinks a potion, and his health refills and he turns into a man-sized, flying scorpion, which you fight as the actual boss.
* In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', if you go to the Throne of Want when you're supposed to, which is ''after'' obtaining the Giant's Kinship, then after defeating DualBoss Throne Defender and Throne Watcher, the FinalBoss will enter the arena through the fog wall and start the battle with you immediately. For this reason, many players opt to take care of Defender and Watcher first, to avoid two boss fights in a row. [[spoiler:Of course, if ''Scholar of the First Sin'' is installed and the right conditions are met, the TrueFinalBoss pulls this after the FinalBoss regardless, leading to a possible ''three'' boss fights in a row.]] Mind you, this is possibly a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] as the Watcher and Defender are arguably much harder than [[AnticlimaxBoss what follows]].

** In the "Revenge of Meta Knight" subgame in ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'', one level's boss appears to be [[WhenTreesAttack Whispy Woods]], the classic WarmUpBoss who was already fought in "Spring Breeze". Once you trounce him again, the floor gives away to bring Kirby to the real boss: Twin Woods, a fight with [[DualBoss two Whispys]] that drop more dangerous projectiles.
** In ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand3'', the final boss is Dark Matter, who only has one form this time around. [[spoiler: Upon defeating Dark Matter, Kirby is attacked by Zero, Dark Matter's ''[[ManBehindTheMan boss]]'', who has very... [[BloodyMurder interesting]] attacks.]]
** In ''Kirby Super Star Ultra'' (the DS remake of ''Super Star''), one of the new BossRush modes, "Helper to Hero", ends with a fight against Wham Bam Rock, the FinalBoss of "The Great Cave Offensive". Once it's beaten, [[spoiler:Wham Bam Jewel, the actual Final Boss of the mode, appears]].
** In ''VideoGame/TeamKirbyClashDeluxe'', [[spoiler:the final boss appears to be Dark Taranza. After he's defeated in only one phase, he summons the Black Mirror, which summons King D-Mind. Afterwards, King D-Mind immediately turns against Dark Taranza and kills him, replacing him for the rest of the battle.]]

** In ''VideoGame/SuperKirbyClash'', Similar to Team Kirby Clash Deluxe, defeating Parallel Nightmare ends in a sequence where he summons [[spoiler:King D-Mind]], who immediately smacks him away and takes his place in the fight. [[spoiler:Parallel Nightmare also appears to be defeated in The Final Battle, but he gets up and summons a dimensional rift. The being he summoned, revealed to be the Aeon Hero (who you may better know as Galacta Knight) cuts down Parallel Nightmare, seemingly killing him. Aeon Hero then replaces Parallel Nightmare's Revenge for the remainder of the battle.]]
* In ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndThePiratesCurse'', you may think you've defeated the {{Cyclops}} [[ManEatingPlant Plant]] when it [[DefeatEqualsExplosion explodes]], but that was [[TurnsRed just the first phase]]. Then the eyeball [[HyperDestructiveBouncingBall bounces wildly around the room]], only stopping to fire its EyeBeam.
* In ''VideoGame/NoituLove 2: Devolution'', the boss of Level 3 starts as a DuelingPlayerCharacters situation, where you fight Rilo Doppelori if you're playing as Xoda Rap or Almond, and you instead fight Xoda if you're playing as Rilo. The battle only lasts until the boss character's health bar is half-empty, at which point the Sea Serpent robot (a mini-boss from earlier in the level that fled after its protective mask broke) interrupts the fight by launching the fighters onto a water wheel spinning down a river; it proceeds to blast away the character you were fighting, leaving the Sea Serpent as the real stage boss. Notably, the rival fight is much more difficult than the Sea Serpent rematch, so the half-health interruption works to balance it out.
* ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic VI'': The final quest is to destroy the reactor in the Kreegan hive. It ''can'' defend itself using ranged attacks and it does take quite a few hits, but it is entirely possible to snipe it and avoid retaliation in realtime battle mode by remaining behind the entrance, leaving the impression the real boss was the hordes of Kreegan you killed to get to the reactor. They you destroy the reactor and instantly get teleported to the middle of the large, open room the reactor was in, with walls sliding up to reveal the ''real'' final boss, the Kreegan Queen, and a veritable horde of lesser Kreegan...
* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'''s Soul Master goes through a spectacular death throes sequence and leaves behind an upgrade pickup, only to return in full TurnsRed mode.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', the battle against Junya Bael Kaneshiro starts by having him fight on foot and the mid-boss theme "Keeper of Lust" plays. He is also quite weak in this form. Then, after you beat him, he unleashes a giant piggy bank robot called "Piggytron" and the real boss music "Blooming Villain" plays.

** In ''[[VideoGame/ContraShatteredSoldier'', [[spoiler:after you destroy the Relic of Moirai at S rank, it will explode and an escape scene will play, in which it will become into a CompositeCharacter of its human, frog and jellyfish forms, making it the true final boss and resume attacking until it too is killed.]]

* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Contra}} Super Contra]]'''s last stage (Stage 6 in the NES version), you fight an apparent FinalBoss accompanied by epic music and victory fanfare. But that was just the warmup for the real battle with Urania Devil Gaba/Jagger Froid, who is much tougher.
** The NES version does not have the victory fanfare music after you defeat the fake boss.
* In stage 3 of ''[[VideoGame/{{Contra}} Contra 3: The Alien Wars]]'', you fight a pair of robots at the end of the stage. After you beat them, the game becomes [[OhCrap suspiciously silent]] then the true boss, Big Fuzz rips open the wall and the boss music begins to play.
** If the player defeats the final boss Brain Organism Searle in hard mode, it will reassemble into Six Man Feromedos and reassume its attack until it is killed as well.
* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Contra}} Contra: Shattered Soldier]]'', [[spoiler:after you destroy the Relic of Moirai at S rank, it will explode and an escape scene will play, in which it will become into a CompositeCharacter of its human, frog and jellyfish forms, making it the true final boss and resume attacking until it too is killed.]]
** ''[[VideoGame/{{Contra}} Neo Contra]]'''s final boss acts in a similar manner; [[spoiler:If you get S Rank on stage 6 and defeat Project G, his remains will appear when you are descending to earth and attack you, and technically this is where the true fight against it starts, as the Project G of stage 6 simply requires you to cut all of his life support within 30 seconds.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{WarioWare}} Twisted'' has an epic version of this for Kat & Ana's boss. You are a spaceship shooting fingers to pick (and destroy) noses (picking noses is a staple for the series). The boss appears to be a giant nose with a set of eyes above it. Destroy this nose and the pupils will fly out of the "eyes" and the "eyes" will move down, revealing that they were just nostrils for an even bigger nose.

* In ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac: Afterbirth'', the battle with the DLC's BonusBoss, [[spoiler:Hush]], is set up like this. You first have to fight a boss that acts and fights in every way like [[spoiler:the Blue Baby from the Chest]]. But upon taking this boss apart, the gigantic true boss emerges and "Morituros" starts up, setting the stage for one of the most BulletHell-tastic battles of the entire game.
** The GameMod ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaacAntibirth'' does a similar thing with [[spoiler:Mom]] in the Alternate Route [[spoiler:once you collect the three knife pieces]]. When you defeat the boss [[spoiler:and use the completed knife to open the fleshy door that appears, you have to fight a buffed version of Mom's Heart, but this time it has attacks that are even more of a BulletHell]]. Let's hope you didn't lose too much health on the first boss...

* Despite its incredibly bare plot, ''[=NeuroVoider=]'' still manages to have this in its final battle. Once you defeat the Master Neurovoider, [[SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity there are several items to pick up]], like in every other boss fight. [[spoiler:FAT.32, [[TreacherousAdvisor the game's tutor]], proceeds to steal its main body and attack you.]]

** ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'': After you've destroyed 33 Metroids, you'll need to traverse a looping tunnel and fight a Metroid in the middle in order to clear the lava blocking off progress. The Metroid in question is just a simple Alpha Metroid. After destroying it, the usual earthquake occurs, but upon returning to the main tunnel, you'll discover that instead of sinking, the lava has actually risen, trapping you in the looping tunnel. Backtracking to where you fought the Alpha Metroid, you end up having to battle the first Omega Metroid in the game before you can progress for real. This also happens in the remake ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'', only the Alpha Metroid is replaced by a Zeta Metroid and the lava is replaced by a toxic purple fluid.

** In ''VideoGame/SuperKirbyClash'', [[spoiler:Parallel Nightmare appears to be defeated in The Final Battle, but he gets up and summons a dimensional rift. As he laughs maniacally, the being he summoned, revealed to be the Aeon Hero (who you may better know as Galacta Knight), cuts down Parallel Nightmare, seemingly killing him. Aeon Hero then replaces Parallel Nightmare's Revenge for the remainder of the battle.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}} and the Pirate's Curse'', you may think you've defeated the {{Cyclops}} [[ManEatingPlant Plant]] when it [[DefeatEqualsExplosion explodes]], but that was [[TurnsRed just the first phase]]. Then the eyeball [[HyperDestructiveBouncingBall bounces wildly around the room]], only stopping to fire its EyeBeam.

** In ''VideoGame/SuperKirbyClash'', [[spoiler:Parallel Nightmare appears to be defeated in The Final Battle, but he gets up and summons a dimensional rift. As he laughs maniacally, the being he summoned, revealed to be the Aeon Hero, cuts down Parallel Nightmare, seemingly killing him. Aeon Hero then replaces Parallel Nightmare's Revenge for the remainder of the battle.]]

** Queen Larsa from the sequel is [[UpToEleven much worse]], having three full life bars and a final attack that makes the first game's TFB look like child's play.

[[caption-width-right:265:[[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Not pictured:]] [[http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/185-ametroidadventure/ Real Fake Kraid.]]]]