History Superboss / RolePlayingGames

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' (pre-DLC) has Dark Inferno, a dual-wielding Heartless with fast & brutal attacks and high speed. Good luck on Critical. There's also the bonus boss in the Gummi Ship sections, the [[VideoGame/{{Einhander}} Schwartzgeist]], a battle of attrition with one-hit kills. With ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIIIReMind'', we get a golden version of Dark Inferno, a more powerful Armored Xehanort with 13 Dark Keyblades, data copies of the Real Organization XIII, and the SequelHook superboss Yozora.

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' has two bosses that are not only optional but clearly meant to be harder than the FinalBoss[[note]]The final boss is in the Elden Throne area, while Mohg is in Mohgwyn Palace and Malenia at the Haligtree Roots.[[/note]] :

** ''[[VideoGameRemake HeartGold and SoulSilver]]'' have a boss Trainer that can only be fought by having a Celebi: [[spoiler:Giovanni]]. This Trainer isn't very difficult, however, and mainly serves to tie up some loose story ends. They also add more Legendaries; once you've earned the National Dex, you'll be able to find Latios (SS) or Latias (HG) after visiting the Fan Club in Vermilion City[[labelnote:*]]If you have the event-only Enigma Stone, you can fight the other Eon Pokémon in Pewter City[[/labelnote]]; once you've beaten all sixteen Gyms, you can challenge the four Kanto Legendaries; and once you've beaten Red, you'll have completed the hardest prerequisite to battle Groudon for SS and Kyogre for HG, and Rayquaza if you have both in the same game.

* ''[[VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon Ultra Sun and Moon]]'' expands on this. First, the Looker sidequests are replaced with Episode RR, which features Team Rainbow Rocket, a team built up from the villain teams of the first six generations, meaning that all their leaders can be fought, with them using the Legendaries that were central to their plans in their original games. The matches where the player defends their Champion title are also altered, with two trainers being replaced, while the two rival characters have much stronger teams this time. The player can also revisit the first trial, but with the Totem Pokémon at a much higher level. The player also gets a chance to catch a new Ultra Beast during the post-game, with the original Ultra Beasts being found in their own dimensions. The dimensional travel also lets the player battle all the Legendaries of previous generation, similar to ORAS.

** In the first Generation II games and their remakes, the legendary that's not your version mascot counts as a Bonus Boss; in ''Crystal'', both Ho-Oh and Lugia also count, with Lugia being available only by talking to a man in Pewter City and Ho-Oh only being available by catching the legendary beasts.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' and their remakes (and ''Emerald'') have the legendary titans Regirock, Regice and Registeel. After defeating the Champion, one of the Eon Pokémon (Latios for ''Ruby'', Latias for ''Sapphire'') and Rayquaza can be caught. Through event-exclusive items, Lugia, Ho-oh, the other Eon Pokémon, and Deoxys can be fought. Mew can also be found this way in ''Emerald''.
* In ''Emerald'', Rayquaza can be captured ''before'' you take on the Elite Four (and Groudon and Kyogre take its place as Bonus Bosses). You can also choose which Eon Pokémon you encounter after entering the Hall of Fame. A traditional example appears in the form of Steven, who turns from FinalBoss in ''Ruby/Sapphire'' to Bonus Boss in ''Emerald'', having stepped down from his position as Champion. After entering the Hall of Fame, you'll find him in a secluded cave in Meteor Falls with a team identical to the one he has in ''Ruby/Sapphire'', except ''twenty levels higher''. The seven Frontier Brains at the Battle Frontier also count, as they are only available after you beat the Champion. Additionally, in ''[[VideoGameRemake Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire]]'', you can battle ''all of the other Legendaries from Generations II, IV, and V,'' along with the previously [[SecretCharacter Mythical]] Deoxys.

** Baldur's Gate 3 has two: Raphael and Ansur.

** Mohg, Lord of Blood, is about as out of the way as the above: you can only find him via either Varre's sidequest or stumbling upon a particular teleporter after killing one of his minions in a very late game zone (itself completely optional). You then have to go through possibly the most punishing arena in the game, specced for an endgame player and loaded with EliteMooks and environmental hazards. Your reward for this will be a duel with Mohg, who has a truckload of hit points (only Dragonlord Placidusax, Fire Giant, and the above have more), deals a ton of damage (enough to kill even a high Vigor character in two or three hits), and inflicts AOE damage and the Bleed status effect in nearly all of his arcane attacks. His second phase kicks things up a notch when he gains the ability to fly and starts zipping around the arena like a roadrunner while spamming flames on the ground. He'll open this phase by hitting the player with a completely unavoidable (unless you equip one specific item obtained from defeating one of his minions ''way'' earlier in the game) LifeDrain which will severely damage (if not outright kill) the player while returning him back to near full health. His only real weakness is that he's merely "pretty fast" instead of blindingly quick as a lot of other end-game bosses are.

** On a second playthrough, [[spoiler:Demi-Fiend]], one of the hardest bosses in the history of {{JRPG}}s, if not ''the'' hardest boss. Not only will he instantly kill you in the first turn with Gaea Rage if you have a "forbidden" move set (read: any passive or castable move intended to null, absorb or repel enemy attacks)[[note]]However, Null Sleep and Null Critical are exemptions since they won't cause Demifiend to nuke your party with Gaea Rage.[[/note]], but the strategy required to defeat him requires a very specific use of one usually worthless skill that you would ''never'' use in the main game (to wit, the Null Sleep skill, which nulls all damage one would receive while asleep). How anyone could figure this out without the use of a strategy guide is a mystery for the ages. Beating him unlocks an useful accessory that you can find midgame through the sequel that boosts all stats by 10. And even then, if you do manage to get him down to half health, his (Uber) Pixie will fully heal him unless you trick them into wasting all their MP. If you kill all of his demon companions, he'll insta-kill you. If you go in with any protective moves, he'll insta-kill you. Hell, even with the correct strategy, if you take too long to kill him, he'll just get bored and insta-kill you anyway. One particular [=YouTube=] comment compared this battle to a game of poker where you die if you don't do card-reading, but you also die if you get caught doing so anyways. To add insult to injury, his battle music is the ''regular Nocturne battle music'', so he may be an uber hard bonus fight to you, but you're nothing more than ''a random encounter'' to him.

*** Velvet Room attendant Elizabeth, who can only be fought on the second playthrough by accepting her 55th request and going to the top of Monad, seems to be nothing more than a thin blonde girl dressed like a bellhop, but she is the most powerful foe in the game, can only be fought one-on-one (she'll kill any other party members right away), gets to attack twice every turn (where you can only attack once), knows several ways of inflicting pain by casting damaging skills that ''hurt like hell'', and heals herself completely if her health is halved. Even worse, if any of her attacks are nullified, reflected, or absorbed (which they invariably will be, considering her attack rate and huge range of attacks), she'll gleefully spam Masakado's OneHitKill Megidolaon. Amusingly enough, the UpdatedRerelease version of the game features an upgraded version of your starter Persona which seems to be tailor-made to fight her, as it resists every type of attack, giving you a good overall defense against anything she tosses out and avoiding casting Masakado's Megidolaon. While she does typically need to be fought at max level to have a reasonable chance, this isn't just a straightforward encounter: Her attacks follow a regular pattern such that you can avoid breaking the fight's rules while simultaneously minimizing damage by using attack resistance and ''not'' nullification. To finish the fight you need to finish her off with Armageddon once her health is down to less than half again, but beware: If you use it too soon, she'll respond in kind and immediately end the fight. Wait too long and she might heal herself to full.
*** Elizabeth's ''[[VideoGame/Persona3Reload Reload]]'' incarnation is way more dangerous, since while Masakado's Megidolaon is no longer a OneHitKill, she can now throw severe-tier skills on you, frequently spam (de)buff support skills, her Die for Me! can ''bypass'' the Homunculus' auto-activation effect, and Counter skills are now included in the boss fight's stipulations. And the worst part is, once her health is down to half, she'll attempt to finish you off with Pixie's OneHitKill Megidolaon (and she'll ''always'' cast that skill and nothing else if you shave off half of her health again), so you must have your Theurgy gauge full and at least one Endure skill ready by then. Bringing a fully customized Orpheus Telos is ''also'' not enough this time, so it is ''highly'' advised to have the following equipment before fighting her: Sid's Jacket (has built-in Endure, purchased from TV Tanaka), Shoes of Bane (blocks Mudo skills and not Dark as a whole, also purchased from TV Tanaka), Hallowed Plate (has built-in Enduring Soul, forged from Maiyodo Antiques), Incense Box (Has built-in Insta-Heal, reward from completing Elizabeth's Request #97), and Amiritite Necklace (blocks ''all'' Ailments, purchased from Club Escapade's gemstone shop). The ''Royal'' Set 1 DLC Personas are also a great alternative choice (if properly customized), since [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman all of them can only resist and NOT immune to a specific element]], turning this insanely grueling boss fight into a still very challenging but managable one.

*** ''Persona 3 Portable'' allows you to fight Velvet Room attendant (and Elizabeth's brother) Theodore if you make the proper choice early on in the game (it's not dependent on gender). However, it cranks things up to 11 with the Vision Quest, which not only contains more difficult versions of the Arcana Shadows, but also allows you to fight [[spoiler:Margaret! Yes, the one in the next example. You can still use your full party, but she's even harder than her siblings due to the more complex AI and being a straight fight rather than a PuzzleBoss.]]

*** Royal's DLC also added two new fights against [[PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo the previous two Wild Cards.]] As you can expect, they're high leveled and dangerous.

[[folder:Fromsoft]]

* ''VideoGame/LostOdyssey'' has seven: Persona, King Kelolon, the Cave Worm, the Blue Dragon, the Holy Beast, Legendary Spirit Sorcerer Fu, and The Immortal One in the Backyard. Players with access to UsefulNotes/{{XBox Live|Arcade}} can get a new downloadable dungeon with an extra boss [[spoiler:Professor K, aka The Killalon]].

* Ragu o Ragula in all of the ''VideoGame/WildArms'' games for UsefulNotes/PlayStation, [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 PS2]], and [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]]. Angolmois also appears in some of them. In fact, the Wild [=ARMs=] games have many bonus bosses, often found [[SealedEvilinaCan sealed in crystals]] found throughout the game. Ragu o Ragula is neatly incorporated into all of these titles as the sleeping demon who is fated to destroy Filgaia, centuries after the conflict-of-the-day is finished off. Big extra credit for overachieving heroes. The other bonus bosses can range from CallBack characters, characters who are no longer a part of the main plot and have been more-or-less forgotten by the main cast, and [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext nudie mags]]

*** Elizabeth's ''Reload'' incarnation is even more dangerous, since while Masakado's Megidolaon is no longer a OneHitKill, she can now throw severe-tier skills on you, frequently spam (de)buff support skills, her Die for Me! can ''bypass'' the Homunculus' auto-activation effect, and Counter skills are now included in the boss fight's stipulations. And the worst part is, once her health is down to half, she'll attempt to finish you off with Pixie's OneHitKill Megidolaon (and she'll ''always'' cast that skill and nothing else if you shave off half of her health again), so you must have your Theurgy gauge full and at least one Endure skill ready by then. Bringing a fully customized Orpheus Telos is ''also'' not enough this time, so it is ''highly'' advised to have the following equipment before fighting her: Sid's Jacket (has built-in Endure, purchased from TV Tanaka), Shoes of Bane (blocks Mudo skills and not Dark as a whole, also purchased from TV Tanaka), Hallowed Plate (has built-in Enduring Soul, forged from Maiyodo Antiques), Incense Box (Has built-in Insta-Heal, reward from completing Elizabeth's Request #97), and Amiritite Necklace (blocks ''all'' Ailments, purchased from Club Escapade's gemstone shop). The ''Royal'' Set 1 DLC Personas are also a great alternative choice (if properly customized), since [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman all of them can only resist and NOT immune to a specific element]], turning this insanely grueling boss fight into a still very challenging but managable one.

** The fights against Uriel, Raphael, Gabriel and Micheal are unlocked midway through the game after getting Gale to successfully interrogate a scientist at the EGG Facility. The Archangels are the only superbosses that aren't fought in the final dungeon. The first three, Uriel, Raphael and Gabriel can be located at the EGG Facility, Internment Factory and the Karma Society Building's Heliport and must be taken down before they can be rematched at the ground area of the Occupied Sector in a BossBonanza that ends with Micheal. Defeating all 4 archangels in sequence unlocks the Dragon Slayer mantra.
** Jack Frost is a milder example than most. After successfully answering all 100 of his questions, he can be fought in a secret room in the 3rd layer of The Sun. His main plan of attack is using Breath to freeze a party member solid (and it always works) before using Psycho Rage to bolster his turn count so he can bean them to death with his other attacks. If you have any Ice Shield or Null Ice, he'll cast Megidolaon instead though it's nothing a strong round of flames from your party can't deal with.
** In The Sun, Shiva and Vishnu fights can be found in two separate rooms in the final area of The Sun's 5th Layer before the final boss. Each boss requires you to find a special item that has a chance of being dropped by defeating Parvati (Shiva) or Narashimia (Vishnu). Defeating Shiva unlocks the Aksara mantra and a Turn Ring. Defeating Vishnu unlocks the God of Light mantra, the Pandemonium rounds and the Aura Ring.
** After defeating Shiva and Vishnu, you can backtrack to the 3rd Layer of The Sun. The previously unlocked pathway has a floor that inflicts continous damage to the player and leads to Seth. On Normal difficulty, Seth is the hardest boss in the game and requires an unorthodox strategy due to [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman his weakness to Gun attacks.]] When defeated, you obtain the Root of Evil mantra and the Avoid Ring. However on Hard Mode, he blocks the way to the game's ultimate boss...

*** Velvet Room attendant Elizabeth, who can only be fought on the second playthrough by accepting her 55th request and going to the top of Monad, seems to be nothing more than a thin blonde girl dressed like a bellhop, but she is the most powerful foe in the game, can only be fought one-on-one (she'll kill any other party members right away), gets to attack twice every turn (where you can only attack once), knows several ways of inflicting pain by casting damaging skills that ''hurt like hell'', and heals herself completely if her health is halved. Even worse, if any of her attacks are nullified, reflected, or absorbed (which they invariably will be, considering her attack rate and huge range of attacks), she'll gleefully spam Masakado's OneHitKill Megidolaon. Amusingly enough, the UpdatedRerelease version of the game features an upgraded version of your starter Persona which seems to be tailor-made to fight her, as it resists every type of attack, giving you a good overall defense against anything she tosses out and avoiding casting Masakado's Megidolaon. While she does typically need to be fought at max level to have a reasonable chance, this isn't just a straightforward encounter: Her attacks follow a regular pattern such that you can avoid breaking the fight's rules while simultaneously minimizing damage by using attack resistance and ''not'' nullification. To finish the fight you need to use Armageddon yourself to inflict 9999 damage, but beware: If you use it too soon, she'll respond in kind and immediately end the fight. Wait too long and she might heal herself to full.
*** Elizabeth's ''Reload'' incarnation is even more dangerous, since while Masakado's Megidolaon is no longer a OneHitKill, she can now throw severe-tier skills on you, frequently spam (de)buff support skills, her Die for Me! can ''bypass'' the Homunculus' auto-activation effect, and Counter skills are now included in the boss fight's stipulations. And the worst part is, once her health is down to half, she'll attempt to finish you off with Pixie's OneHitKill Megidolaon (and she'll ''always'' cast that skill and nothing else if you shave off half of her health again), so you must have your Theurgy gauge full and at least one Endure skill ready by then. Bringing a fully customized Orpheus Telos is ''also'' not enough this time, so it is ''highly'' advised to have the following equipment before fighting her: Sid's Jacket (has built-in Endure, purchased from TV Tanaka), Shoes of Bane (blocks Mudo skills and not Dark as a whole, also purchased from TV Tanaka), Hallowed Plate (has built-in Enduring Soul, forged from Maiyodo Antiques), Incense Box (Has built-in Insta-Heal, reward from completing Elizabeth's Request #97), and Amiritite Necklace (blocks ''all'' Ailments, purchased from Club Escapade's gemstone shop). The Royal Set 1 DLC Personas are also a great alternative choice (if properly customized), since all of them can only resist (and not immune to) a specific element, turning this insanely grueling boss fight into a still very challenging but managable one.

** The game ups the ante with the Nameless King, who is considered one of the toughest direct fights in the entire series. First you fight him on his Storm Drake, the King of Storms, who is so large that locking onto him makes it near impossible to see the Nameless King's attacks from above, combined with a particularly difficult to avoid fire attack from above you can only evade if you start running the ''instant'' the Drake starts flying overhead. Once the Nameless King is on-foot, however, it only gets harder; put the moveset of Ornstein with a super adrenaline boost on a [[PhysicalGod God of War]] that is hyper-aggressive, extremely mobile, and can kill even the sturdiest of builds in a handful of blows, and pair this with fighting on a moving cloud background that hinders depth perception. It's not uncommon to see 85% of the fight, at minimum, being spent ''rolling for dear life.''

** Then there’s the Demon of Hatred. A three phase monstrosity with ludicrous HP, absurdly high fire damage attacks that can’t be deflected, and a Posture meter that is the exact same as his vitality, meaning that you’re going to be in for a long fight. His attacks all have to be dodged, ran around or jumped over instead of deflected, in a game that beats the parry system into you. He’s basically an already hard Bloodborne boss put into Sekiro, a game where the player character doesn’t have the tools they do in Bloodborne to take down a boss like this (such as immunity frames or the rally system). There’s a good reason he’s optional.

*** The Reaper is back with a vengeance, and it would usually show up once the party stays in a Mementos floor (from Path of Aiyatsubus onwards) for more than two minutes. It's still just as tough as in the previous games except this time, it's much sturdier despite being at same Level and HP as its ''Persona 4'' incarnation to the the point where players wonder if it has a variant of Firm Stance. It also has two turns like in [[UpdatedReRelease the updated versions of the previous two games]], but only have one turn instead if you let it ambush the party. However, there's one method where you can kill the Reaper without doing anything: since it's not a proper boss here (though Hama and Mudo skills are still useless against it), it's now vulnerable to [[OneHitKill Despair]] if you enter Mementos during [[WorfHadTheFlu flu seasons]], though being inflicted by that ailment happens by chance, so don't forget to have Toryo (guaranteed Escape, which is unlocked after reaching Rank 9 in Togo's Confidant) with you beforehand. This does NOT apply in ''Royal'', however, since the Reaper is now a proper boss, meaning that being inflicted with Despair by flu seasons won't work this time. Thankfully though, if you collect all of Jose's Stamps, the party should be able to able to fight it on equal footing (once they're Level 85 or higher) by then.

** ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'' adds a new boss fight in the Third Trimester against [[spoiler: the Twins' combined true form, Lavenza]]. Unlike the Twins, this is just a single boss, but in exchange, they utilize advanced tactics such as using buffs and debuffs and have resistances that constantly shift throughout the fight. [[spoiler: And they can still perform an All-Out Attack by splitting back into the Twins if given the chance.]]