History Main / TurnsRed

Sometimes, when you bring a videogame boss down to its last few hit points, it gets mad and begins adding more powerful attacks to its arsenal or becomes much faster and harder to dodge. The boss may also get an ExtraTurn, or become extremely difficult to hit. Simply put, the boss has decided to [[LetsGetDangerous get serious]] and the fight's not gonna be so easy from here on out.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', it's possible to knock the helmet off a Goliath's head. This reveals their hideously mutated heads and angers them so much they drop their guns, regenerate all their health, and attack the first thing they see, friend or foe. They also literally turn the color red. If they kill other enemies in this state, they get bigger, stronger, and tougher, and give more XP when killed.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'':

** ''Kirby: Squeak Squad'' allows you to [[DemonicPossession possess]] Scarfies, and by pressing B, they transform. The real kicker is that the minute you make the possessed Scarfy transform, they gain an ''intense'' speed boost compared to their originally calm pace, raging hastily through the area as you move it. If an enemy is unlucky enough to get in it's way, the impact can half the enemy's health, or ''kill it outright''.
** There's another enemy in ''Kirby's Dream Land 2'' and ''3'' that would remain dormant unless Kirby was riding on one of his friends, in which after getting too close would put up the [[NightmareFuel scariest face ever]] and chase after Kirby. Oh, and in the former game, it's a OneHitKill to the animal friend.
%%** In ''Kirby & The Amazing Mirror'' there's an enemy called the Snooter that literally turns red with anger if you don't kill it in one hit.

* All enemies in ''VideoGame/MendelPalace'' do this if [[StalkedByTheBell you take too long to complete a level]].

** Some monsters also have additional levels of redness beyond the universal Rage state. The Magala monsters can enter a "Frenzy" when pushed hard enough, for instance. Another example is [[CanisMajor Zinogre]] can charge itself with Thunderbugs until it reaches a full charged state, [[ShockAndAwe electrifying its attacks]]; it also never tires out of its Charged state, but unlike Rage, it loses its charge when it's been staggered enough times.

** Fatalis is capable of entering a Hellfire Mode on top of becoming enraged, in which its chest starts to glow from the sheer heat of its flames, and all of its fire breath attacks become a OneHitKill. Breaking its horn turns the flames down to a manageable (but still lethal) level, breaking its [[EyeScream eye]] disables it entirely.

** In the original Mr. Do! game, the red creeps can get fed up with trying and failing to reach you by going through existing tunnels, and turn ''blue'', going into a mode where they dig their own tunnels. Of course, when doing this, they can consume the cherries that need to be eaten for you to beat the level, or even dig under a golden apple and [[ArtificialStupidity accidentally crush themselves]].
** In Mr. Do's Castle, the enemy unicorns could get stronger if hit too many times, turning from red to green to blue.
** Do! Run Run has enemies that transform into blue aggressive forms if you take too long to complete a level.
* The Berserker enemies in ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Black'' were white, skeletal knights carrying a BFS around like it was nothing, and were generally DemonicSpiders normally. When pissed off, they turn black, and ramp up their ridiculousness even further. Definitely a BossInMookClothing.

** A number of the Tyrants from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'', most notably the T-103 Type from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', have an R-Form: a violent mutation where they become much more powerful and sprout claws, tentacles, etc, at the cost of [[ClippedWingAngel losing control and developing exposed weak points]]. They are fitted with [[PowerLimiter Limiter Coats]] which prevent such mutations (no points for guessing how many times these coats get burned off somehow).

* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games:
** In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'' and ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'', some enemies have a type of move that effectively gives them two to four free actions. Random encounter enemies will often use it when they are the last one remaining, and bosses use it at certain points to power up and kick your ass. That being said, not all enemies have the courtesy to wait before turning red before using that kind of move. While most enemies of this kind are generally courteous enough to avoid using it more than once per attack phase, at least one boss, [[spoiler:Mot]], is infamous for being fully capable of spamming this move as his turns dwindle, increasing his magical power, and using a high-damage move that cannot be resisted. [[RocksFallEveryoneDies You can predict what happens because of this.]]

* ''VideoGame/SuperCrateBox'' strives to be the best example of this trope by making any enemy that reaches the bottom of the screen drop from the top with a new (red colored) sprite. You can see it in action in [[http://www.supercratebox.com/ this video]]

** In Boktai 3, he does this a solid ''five times'' during the fight. Each time you deplete a fifth of his health, his attack pattern changes completely and he gets more powerful.

* In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'', [[spoiler:about halfway into the battle with Julius Belmont, he unleashes his Grand Cross attack, which causes towers to collapse in the background and tries to suck you into it for massive damage, and from there, he uses subweapons -- though he's quite difficult already even without them, such is his badassery.]] Before that battle, you face Balore, who midway through, uncovers his right eye and starts firing LASER VISION AT YOU, constantly!

* Several [[ThatOneBoss Those Ones Bosses ]] from ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' do this:

** In the battle with Lud and Zallen, the King's Pets, Lud will fight you while Zallen watches from the top of the wall. Once Lud loses some health (actual amount depends on how many summoned phantoms you have with you), Zallen will join the skirmish. Also, [[KillOneOthersGetStronger killing either one of them]] will make other one [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge enraged]] and temporarily buff himself up (including RegeneratingHealth).

* All of the bosses from the PlatformGame ''VideoGame/PrinnyCanIReallyBeTheHero'' do this when you whittle them down to 25% HP. Regular enemies do this as you damage them, but their tactics don't change.

* This is Kracko's schtick in the ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'' franchise. You'll fight him as a weird eye thing, eventually empty his life meter... and then (mid-fight TakingYouWithMe fake-out optional) face a whole 'nother life meter's worth of battle against him, now with his trademark cloud and lightning attacks.

** The final boss of ''VideoGame/{{Romancing Saga 3}}'' creates an eclipse in the background, gains wings, and draws power from one of the four Devil Lords. If you didn't kill at least one of the four Devil Lords before this fight, you're guaranteed to lose at this point -- unless the party has nearly maxed-out WP and JP and you use the GameBreaker ([[spoiler:Zo with Dragon God Descent]]).

** ''VideoGame/XMen'', too.

** In ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 6'', all characters will enter Rage mode at low health, but the boss will actually begin to ''glow'' cherry red when he's losing, and can [[OneHitKill kill you with one hit]] you at that point.

* Starting with the 6th installment of the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' series, most bosses will use one or more Spell Cards, usually when their current health bar is down to less than a half. (Starting with the 7th game, Perfect Cherry Blossom, the portion of the health bar where the boss will activate a Spell Card is in red.) When a boss uses a Spell Card, the background changes, and the boss's portrait is flashed on the screen. Spell Card attacks tend to be harder than regular attacks and usually make the boss's health bar drain much slower. However, defeating a Spell Card attack by draining the red portion of the boss's health bar before time runs out (or simply surviving the countdown, for Spell Cards that make the boss temporarily invincible) without getting hit by a single bullet or using a bomb awards the player a considerable score bonus.

* In ''Videogame/{{Voidigo}}'', every boss has two stages: a normal stage, and a void-corrupted stage where [[BigBad the Void]] supercharges them as a last-ditch effort to kill you. The corrupted bosses are very aggressive, mobile, and have new attack properties, but also have less health and seem to be less accurate.

* The Big Boo boss from ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland''. Hit him and he [[BalloonBelly inflates]], making him more dangerous; hit him enough and he [[PopGoesTheHuman pops]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}''

* Every boss in ''VideoGame/BigBangMini''.

* The Pork Tank in VideoGame/{{Mother 3}} is an inversion. After sustaining enough damage, it will break down and spend almost all of its time doing nothing, plus its one attack is far weaker then the ones it possessed while functional.

** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'': Strangely enough, the Wiggler mini-boss in the same game inverts this; by default, it's red and vicious, but jumping on all the segments of its body will turn them, and its head, yellow and sickly, at which point the head can be attacked for damage.

* Most of the [[TheFederation GUN]] bosses from the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' franchise tend to get weaker when they get damaged. There are exceptions to this though.

* ''VideoGame/FatalFrame'' allows bosses ''and'' certain regular ghosts to do this in the various games. In ''Fatal Frame II'', it's called Dark Return and the ghost glows with a purple aura, recovers half of their health and becomes much faster and stronger. ''Fatal Frame IV'' has them 'bloom', causing their faces to become distorted, which makes them stronger and more difficult for the filament at the top to spot them immediately.

* Sundowner from ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'': after the last of his shields are cut off, he lets out a monstrous bellow before equipping his Bloodlust machetes and ramping up the aggression.

** The BB Corps members in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' are formidable in their suits, but when the suit is broken their only attack is to hobble around slowly, [[JigglePhysics bouncing]], [[FanDisservice making creepy ambient noise]] and [[DysfunctionJunction preying on Snake's epic-level intimacy issues]]. And also exploding if they grabbed you.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'': Once Galeem gets down to less than half-health, his core [[PowerGlows erupts with light]] like it's a star about to go supernova, [[spoiler:and once Dharkon gets down to less than half-health, his eye [[RedEyesTakeWarning changes color, turning the sclera from a bright blue to a deep red, his iris from yellow to a bluish-lavender, and his pupil changing to the color of his sclera]] as if it's bloodshot.]]

** In ''Kirby & The Amazing Mirror'' there's an enemy called the Snooter that literally turns red with anger if you don't kill it in one hit.

* The Wigglers in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' turn red when you stomp on them once. Their face turns from happy to angry, their walking speed increases, and they chase the player.

** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1'': Queen B does this, zigzagging around the screen faster after every hit.
** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'': Kruncha. The boss adjusts attack patterns and gets progressively harder after ''each'' hit.

** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'': Most bosses in the game. The fifth boss, Bashmaster, has an interesting justification. His boss arena is set in a pool of juice, so every time the Kongs hit him, they knock him into the pool, dyeing his fur darker each time.

* In ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'', [[spoiler:when Pit goes up against Medusa, she assumes her more humanoid form at first. Once she takes enough damage, she reverts to her true {{Cyclops}}-esque NightmareFace form]].

** Every boss in ''VideoGame/Klonoa2LunateasVeil'' goes into this mode, picking up a few new stunts. Then, when you kill the boss, [[MadeOfExplodium it blows up. Several times.]] But ''before'' it explodes, it turns red. And the health meters turn to a garish hot pink when it ''turns red''.

* ''[[https://youtu.be/ReUH5rbrJ60 Kung Fu Chivalry]]'' plays this for laughs with it's second boss, a {{Bishonen}} in full plate armor. After a few hits, he [[DidntNeedThoseAnyway ditches the armor]] and continues fighting in his undies a la Arthur from ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins'', greatly increasing in speed.

* The Conqueror, the BigBad of ''VideoGame/TheLastRemnant'', literally [[BattleAura turns red]] after you get his HP halfway down.

*** Strangely enough, the Wiggler mini-boss in the same game inverts this; by default, it's red and vicious, but jumping on all the segments of its body will turn them, and its head, yellow and sickly, at which point the head can be attacked for damage.

* In the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series:
** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros64'': While Master Hand himself doesn't change in appearance as his HP lowers, [[AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield his stage does]]. The background starts as a night sky filled with shooting stars. When Master Hand's HP falls to 200, the shooting stars stop and poisonous-looking purple clouds fill the area. When it falls to 100, the background turns into a blue vortex. Each background change is marked by a slight power boost, the most obvious being that his FingerGun attack will fire three projectiles in quick succession instead of one during the vortex phase.[[note]]Incidentally, this unique trait makes Final Destination a nightmare to try to play normal matches on in ''64,'' even with a VideoGame/GameShark, much to the dismay of those into TournamentPlay; without a boss to connect the background to, it causes the game to crash unless even further hacks are applied. One workaround if not using a full-fledged GameMod is to combine codes to 1. skip to the final match of Classic Mode, 2. make the Player 2 character in Classic Mode human-controlled, 3. forcibly change Player 2's character ID, 4. change Player 2's stock count, 5. change the time allotted for Classic Mode battles, and 6. change the stage's music, as by default it will only play the ominous-sounding intro rather than the music track the stage is known for.[[/note]]
** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'': Once Galeem gets down to less than half-health, his core [[PowerGlows erupts with light]] like it's a star about to go supernova, [[spoiler:and once Dharkon gets down to less than half-health, his eye [[RedEyesTakeWarning changes color, turning the sclera from a bright blue to a deep red, his iris from yellow to a bluish-lavender, and his pupil changing to the color of his sclera]] as if it's bloodshot.]]

* Parodied in ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}''. After fighting a HumongousMecha, and getting him down to a single hit, he launches a special attack. This attack is easy to dodge, and barely hurts at all if you are hit. After launching it (and dying), the robot says "that last attack was not very impressive."

* In ''VideoGame/TreasureOfTheRudra'', all bosses gain shades of red/dark red/purple to show how much life they have left. The darker the shade, the closer they are to death.

* Every boss in ''VideoGame/AnUntitledStory'' is like this. The [=StoneCastle=] face boss literally turns red as well.

** The earliest one encountered is probably Herod; he is otherwise a straightforward tank and spank with occasional "avoid the whirlwind", but things get interesting once he is brought down to 50% hit points.

** A rare case of a boss becoming ''weaker'' later on is Magmadar in the Molten Core. Throughout the fight, he repeatedly goes into a "killing frenzy", but after a certain period of time has passed, the game states "Magmadar becomes exhausted!" and his attack speed is reduced.

** Shannox is the most recent example of this. Kill one of his dogs and he enrages, gaining attack power. Kill his second dog and he does it ''again''. Get his to 30% health and his dogs go berserk and OneHitKO the whole raid (on normal mode, on heroic mode they somehow lose the ability to care).

** All three of the [[WolfpackBoss Iron Maidens]] will turn red as soon as any one of them is damaged beyond a certain threshold. The usual strategy is to keep their healths equal to ensure minimum time in the enrage phase.

** Zava does this in the remake of ''VideoGame/YsIIAncientYsVanishedTheFinalChapter'' after you destroy the bat-like things.

* Bosses in ''VideoGame/{{Zanac}}'' turn red [[StalkedByTheBell if the fight drags on too long]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Tomba}} 2'', after you throw a evil pig into the pig bag at least two times, they lose their staff and do a different attack.

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' when fighting Arthas when he gets down to about 5% health he kills the entire raid in one move. Except that then everyone is resurrected and gets to wail on Arthas while he's held defenseless.

* From the Onion: [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/update-giant-bin-laden-destroys-new-york-washingto,20536/ UPDATE: Giant Bin Laden Destroys New York, Washington]].

* In the ''Franchise/UltraSeries'', the Ultra's chest timer blinking red is a surefire warning that their energy is almost spent and they have a minute (or less) remaining until they're unable to battle.
* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'' Dark Master Zorc does this near the end of the Monster World arc after Yugi separates Bakura from the Spirit of the Ring.
* Real life example: Many stars often tend to literally expand and turn red near the end of their lives.

-->'''Shido:''' It seems you still don't understand what happens when you defy me. I will destroy you with my own two hands.

** Also in the DLC, the Living Failures at half health start raining down attacks from the sky, the Orphan of Kos sprouts wings and switches his mother's [[ItMakesSenseInContext placenta]] to both hands, Ludwig remembers he's carrying a [[BigFancySword giant]] [[SwordBeam magic]] [[CoolSword sword]], and Laurence at about 90% health expands his moveset with a number of attacks with vastly increased range.

** The DLC's OptionalBoss Laurence, the First Vicar, starts out on fire and moves on to his legs melting off, spewing lava all over the room.
** The DLC also has an ''inverted'' example (Turns Blue?) in [[spoiler:Ludwig the Accursed/Ludwig, The Holy Blade. He starts the fight as a mindlessly aggressive monster, but when he gets to about half health, he'll scrape together what remains of his sanity to fight you like a swordsman.]]
** The game does this with nearly all of its bosses, though the most notable example is probably Rom, who summons some minions [[YouBastard after you attack her unprovoked]] and then spends the first half of the fight ineffectually backing away from you. It's not until you deal a significant amount of damage to her that [[ReluctantWarrior she starts really trying to defend herself]].

** In fact, almost all of the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'' bosses change their attack pattern or add to it after a certain amount of health is lost, usually 1/3, 1/2, and 2/3 of the life bar. Nevan's attack power is directly linked to her health, she summons more bats and lightning bolts in the same move if her health is lower. She also gets the normal pattern changes, including one that introduces a potential insta-kill life draining attack. Cerberus gets bonus points for literally turning red. Vergil also activates his [[SuperMode Devil Trigger]] form if his health is brought down specific thresholds .In final fight against Vergil, this is indicated by him saying "You're going down. AAARRGGHHHH!" Cue utter decimation of the player.

* ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'': Assassin Asha's rematch will have him start [[InterfaceScrew leaving afterimages]] when low on HP, in addition to increasing the amount of electromines he leaves for Iji.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'', the FinalBoss won't use his [[OneHitKill Phantom Hammer]] if his health is under a specific threshold (depending on difficulty) and uses an alternate difficult-to-avoid attack.

* Every boss in the video game adaptation of ''VideoGame/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'' start flashing gold once their health has been depleted past a certain point — mimicking the players' own Hyper Mode. They then get much faster and start spamming their strongest attacks.

* ''VideoGame/{{Ultrakill}}'': If you take too long to defeat a [[AngelicAbomination Virtue]], it will become enraged and start spamming its PillarOfLight attack with better tracking on your position.

** Most of the bosses in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' are examples of this, and do so again when playing on the hardest mode, "Dante Must Die". For example, Echidna the She-Viper; After hacking her lifebar down past the half-way point, not only does her attack pattern change, but the scenery turns noticeably stormier and Echidna herself starts glowing menacingly. [[spoiler:Sanctus]] also visibly changes halfway through the first major battle with him when he includes the involvement of the incomplete Savior.

** Parrying the attacks of the Malicious Face or Swordsmachine will deal massive damage but also temporarily enrage them, making their attacks hit harder and come out faster.

** Continued in the ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Rush|Series}}'' games, where this is known as Allegro in the music changes. The Ghost Titan from ''Sonic Rush Adventure'' will start the event mode against him in Allegro mode. It's [[ThatOneBoss not fun]].

** The Crimson Heads in the ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' remake result when a NotQuiteDead zombie gets back up. They become much faster, stronger, and... red. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Hence the name.]] Can be averted by blowing their heads off or by immolating them. The [[ParanoiaFuel terror factor]] of the Crimson Heads will lead to an obsessive compulsion to ensure all zombies either die from headshots or are immolated afterwards.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** The "Pinch" mode of the more recent handheld games, where the boss music changes, the attacks get harder, and, in ''[[VideoGame/SonicAdvanceSeries Advance 2]]'', rings stop appearing.

** The Large Body heartless go berserk at low HP and start bellysliding after you at an astonishing speed, but can be stopped by blocking and/or using a reaction command on them, unlike the previous example.

** Brayko takes cocaine once you get his health down to 50% (and after that as a regular part of his attack pattern), which temporarily turns him into a knife-swinging, immune-to-stun-and-knockdown madman (well, moreso than usual) who runs supernaturally fast and will hunt you down and shank you. Just like in real life. If you have Steven Heck on your contact list, he will spike Brayko's drug stash which means Brayko doesn't get the speed bonuses and damages himself slightly every time he does it.

** Raime the Fume Knight starts dual-wielding his signature Fume swords, normal sword in right hand and [[{{BFS}} gargantuan Ultra Greatsword]] [[OneHandedZweihander in left hand]]. He's very agressive, but his attacks are easy dodgeable. However, at some yet undetermined point in the battle he'll ditch the smaller sword, take the BFS in two hands and ''light it on black fire''. From now on, not only his attacks become terrifyingly fast and and sword starts dealing Physical, Fire and Dark damage at the same time, but he gains the ablity to swipe half of the arena with extremely damaging attacks, either a circular motion of an extended FlamingSword of a bunch of fireballs spiraling out from him. As a cherry on the top, enter the arena wearing specific armor ([[spoiler:namely, Raime's friend turned enemy Velstadt's helmet]]) and he will TurnRed ''immediately at the start''.

* Disproportionately common in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', where plenty of enemies get weaker as the battle progresses, as if the game already didn't have enough of a reputation for being easy. This inclues common enemies like Mesmerize losing its horn or bosses like Red Giant losing its sword. More unique cases include Granaldo being only capable of ScratchDamage once you kill off the Raldos it uses as projectiles or Fujin's first encounter losing her Wind spells after drawing Pandemona and switching to a weak physical attack. Even the final boss's third form [[spoiler:[[FusionDance Ultimecia-Griever]]]], loses half her body after a while and is no longer able to perform her Great Attractor attack.

* When [[BigBad Nihilanth]] from ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' is fully powered and healthy, it can either send a homing teleporter orb that summons some mooks into the battle and will teleport you into the SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere if it cathes you, or unleash a devastating bunch of ball-lightnings which can obliterate you and are hard to dodge, even though the player character can strafe at a speed approximately three times faster than a normal human's sprint. But, when you drain its energy and health, it opens its head, starts to moan and now can only fire a single pathetic ball-lightning at time, making it easier to get to its brain.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'''s Neutral route, when Undyne is reduced to 0 hp, she turns red for a couple turns, but then loses the ability to effectively fight, despite her insistence that she's still ruthlessly challenging the player.

* In ''VideoGame/PacMan'', Blinky is already red, and already slightly faster than the other [[http://www.webpacman.com/ghosts.html monsters.]] When you get close to clearing a level, he gets faster and pursues you even when the scatter timer is on. He does this in sequels, too, at least up through Pac-Mania (1988).