History Main / VictoryFakeout

* ''Videogame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'' had a seemingly easy final boss fight with Bowletta. After enough HP is drained, she yells "NO! Cursed Mario Bros.! Not again..." while the Bros. do their victory dance. Then a Bob-Omb comes up while she holds her defeat pose, reveals she was faking it, and inhales them. Cue the true final boss fight with [[HPToOne only 1 HP left]].

** One fight in the Delicious Last Course takes this a step further. After defeating the anteater in the Moonshine Mob level, you're presented with a banner that reads "KNOCKOUT!" -- made of flypaper -- but a few moments later, the snail pops out from under the anteater's hat and starts shooting projectiles at you. It's only after beating the snail and getting "''A'' KNOCKOUT!" that the battle is over.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'', upon beating his second phase, Goopy le Grande looks defeated and gets an InstantGravestone... which is his third and final phase, and attacks by sliding over to you and falling on top of you. More than one new player has died to Goopy after letting their guard down. Players who have previously defeated The Root Pack may see this coming though, as the game makes clear that a fight genuinely ends when "A KNOCKOUT!" is shown, and that doesn't display during Goopy's fake death animation.

* In ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'', after beating Yin-Yarn, Kirby and Prince Fluff do their usual victory dance, but then the large needles he left behind come to life to knit a larger, mechanical version of Yin-Yarn. Cue epic HumongousMecha battle.
* Likewise, a similar thing happens in ''Videogame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', after the DiscOneFinalBoss Landia is defeated. Magolor seizes the dragon's [[MacGuffin Master Crown]] and reveals that he had been plotting a BatmanGambit to rule the universe all along, with Kirby and co. as the {{Unwitting Pawn}}s.

* Used before the final boss of ''[[VideoGame/{{Skylanders}} Skylanders: SuperChargers]]'', where after Kaos activates the Dark Rift Engine and The Darkness is seemingly defeated, Flynn flies away from the explosion as an AwardBaitSong plays, only for a rift to open and begin sucking the credits in before The Darkness reemerges for another round.

* ''VideoGame/BattleGaregga''[='=]s FinalBoss, Glow Squid, appears to be defeated, complete with the background music fading out..but in the midst of its ChainReactionDestruction, the cockpit detaches itself from the fuselage and starts to chaotically bounce all over the screen while spewing projectiles everyone in a last-ditch attempt to stop you, while the music starts back up. It repeats this same feat when fought as a BonusBoss in ''VideoGame/ArmedPoliceBatrider''.

* ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice'': After you perform a Deathblow on the Guardian Ape, Wolf chops off the Ape's head with the giant sword lodged in his neck, he falls down and you get the "Shinobi Execution" prompt... cue the Ape suddenly getting back up and swinging the aforementioned sword on one hand while holding his own severed head in the other.

Subtrope of HopeSpot and SequentialBoss. If the enemy feigns surrender in the process, this trope overlaps with ISurrenderSuckers. Compare YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle and TrickBoss. If the player character dies during an actual victory scene, it's a KaizoTrap. Contrast FissionMailed.

[[folder: Shoot Em Ups]]

[[folder: Others]]
* Sega version of ''VideoGame/LordMonarch'': After defeating BigBad and saving the kingdom from his spell of destruction, the whole Alfred's adventure [[GainaxEnding was a challenge, set up by a king and his companions]]. The credit rolls, only ripped by [[TheRival Gessyu]]. Finding out about the set up, he kidnaps Rubia and flees to his kingdom. Now it's up to Alfred to take princess back.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' exploits this when the player satisfies the conditions necessary to fight [[spoiler: Giga Bowser]] at the end of Adventure Mode in ''Melee''. Bowser does his typical "dying" animation where he falls offstage, and the player character [[VictoryDance celebrates as always...]] but then [[spoiler: Bowser's statue rises back up and flakes off from Giga Bowser's body underneath]], revealing the ''true'' final opponent. One of the conditions for additional boss challenges in Classic or Adventure Mode [[HardModePerks is playing on Normal difficulty or higher,]] adding an extra layer of surprise.

* {{Downplayed|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1'', where the fake [[XtremeKoolLetterz kredits]] during the final battle is blatantly obvious, such as enemy names in place of developer names, and the fact that the final battle theme continues to play regardless.

* Likewise, a similar thing happens in ''Videogame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', after [[spoiler: the DiscOneFinalBoss Landia is defeated. Magolor seizes the dragon's [[MacGuffin Master Crown]] and reveals that he had been plotting a BatmanGambit to rule the universe all along, with Kirby and co. as the {{Unwitting Pawn}}s.]]
** For an example with the victory music playing and dying down when the boss arises, there's [[spoiler: the battle against yet ''another'' DiscOneFinalBoss, the Grand Doomer. The boss stage is just a room with the final piece of Magolor's broken ship, until you attempt to get it, and the piece transforms into the boss. [[SchmuckBait Why, did you think you were going to get that mast without even having to fight?]]]]

** And again in ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU'' and ''VideoGame/NewSuperLuigiU'', [[spoiler:but what makes it different is that unlike the [[{{VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii}} last two]] [[{{VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros2}} games]] where you had to avoid him when he was [[MakeMyMonsterGrow supersized]], this time you actually fight him ''while'' he's supersized]].

* ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'' did this twice: After the first battle against Bowser, Mario runs up to Peach's chamber to find a cardboard cutout of the Princess, and then sees Bowser carrying the captive Peach, who then mocks him and jumps off the tower. This also happens again during the ''real'' final battle, where Mario knocks Bowser into a lava pit (after he [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/DonkeyKong throws barrels at Mario]]]])... ...and then Bowser jumps back up and starts chasing him.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'' has Bowser [[PaintingTheMedium pull away the "level clear" screen]], [[spoiler:take all the fairies, and leap away to the ''real'' final world. (Like there haven't been enough Mario games that we knew an eighth world was coming.)]]

* TrueFinalBoss [[spoiler: Irisu]] from ''VideoGame/RabiRibi'' pulls this. Once she's on her last sliver of health, she goes into a VillainousBreakdown, simply jumping around the arena and flailing ineffectually with her net, making her seem easy to finish off. [[spoiler: Then she heals herself back to full, renders herself invulnerable to all damage and begins her final phase.]]

* ''VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission'' actually has one in the form of the fourth boss, Dr. Psyche. After depleting his health (and probably wasting precious Reboots, Backups, and various curing items in the process) he collapses similarly to when you would defeat one of the other bosses, only to get back up and pop his head off, attaching it to his true form, Mad Nautilus. Thankfully [[spoiler:you only have to fight Mad Nautilus during the rematch at Far East HQ in the final chapter]].

* PlayedWith in ''VideoGame/DotHackGU'''s second volume. After defeating Tri-Edge and an ending cutscene, the end credits roll to the same theme as the first volume. Immediately afterward the player is given back control for one last event [[spoiler:revealing Ovan's not dead]], and the actual credits with the new end theme for Volume 2 plays. There is, however, no more combat between defeating Tri-Edge and the end of the game.

** Pictured above is the boss battle in Sector X, you succeed in defeating the boss and taking its health down, complete with Slippy saying, "Yippee! You did it!" as usual, but then... Fox says, "Huh? What?!" just as the boss suddenly comes back to life and says "The view is clear" while giving a FingerWag to Fox. [[spoiler:The boss theme becomes more remixed as the boss tries its hardest to kill you, but should you take too long during the second phase of the battle, Slippy will end up pulling a LeeroyJenkins moment that will send him to Titania, forcing you to fly to that planet the minute you defeat the boss.]]

* In ''VideoGame/FatalFury'', the player character is actually taken to the victory ceremony for the King of Fighters tournament after beating Billy Kane. At which point Geese Howard's thugs arrive, kidnap the player character, and haul him up to Geese's office for the final battle.

->'''Epilogue Narration:''' ''You defeated your arch rival the sinister Warlock. Peaceful days will now return to Vampires and Monsters.''

-> ''(...five seconds later...)''

->'''Warlock:''' ''Ha! Ha! Ha! ... I have returned!''\\
'''Vampire:''' ''...Warlock!...''\\
'''Warlock:''' ''You thought you defeated me. I'm much stronger than you expected. Now I will destroy you!!''\\
'''Vampire:''' ''...What!!?...''

* Used ''three times in a row'' in a minor battle in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash'' after you squeeze the Washing Machine on Vortex Island. The nearby Shy Guy fights you, and after beating him, the victory jingle starts up... and then gets cut off by a Shy Guy 5-Stack coming through the door. After you beat them, the victory jingle starts up again... and then gets cut off again when a Koopa Troopa shows up. After you beat him, the victory jingle starts up again... and then gets cut off when a Shady Sledge Bro barges in. Only after you defeat him does the battle finally end.

** The serene-looking Nightmare starts going down in a massive explosion once its health is depleted. [[MoodWhiplash Then a giant set of teeth appears and bites down on it]], causing it to gain an appearance more fitting of its name and starting the second phase of the fight.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Monolith}}'', Armor Tac, Nightmare, and (on hard mode) Reactor all seem to go down in a chain reaction of explosions once their life meter is depleted (with Armor Tac even dropping off the screen), but it then refills for a second phase with new attacks.

* ''VideoGame/CrimzonClover''[='=]s FinalBoss, Crimson Heart, appears to go down after you've depleted its lifebar, going down in a chain reaction of explosions as the music stops...but if you haven't used any continues yet, it then restores itself, reveals another lifebar, starts up the second phase of its boss theme, and continues its assault.

* ''VideoGame/CrimzonClover''[='=]s FinalBoss, Crimson Heart, appears to go down after you've depleted its lifebar...but if you haven't used any continues yet, it then restores itself and reveals another lifebar and continues its assault.

'''Vampire:''' ''...What!!...''

* In ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'', upon beating his second phase, Goopy le Grande looks defeated and gets an InstantGravestone... which is his third and final phase, and attacks by sliding over to you and falling on top of you. More than one new player has died to Goopy after letting their guard down.