History WakeUpCallBoss / ShinMegamiTensei

** Minotaur and Medusa also collectively serve to wake the player up to a bigger concept - demons are disposable. The two bosses have very different offenseive and defensive weaknesses, so a party that can handle Minotaur almost certainly won't stand a chance against Medusa. This isn't ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', you don't owe your demons anything. As soon as one isn't useful, fuse it into something that is, or you're going to have a bad time.

* The bosses in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'' are generally NintendoHard, but Matador is the first boss that really gives you an idea as to what kind of lengths you'll need to go to in order to beat most of the bosses in this game. Not only do you need to recruit and fuse a team that is specifically resistant to one element, but one of them needs to have learned a certain move to counter Matador's main ability, Red Capote. And God help you if you don't have a whole-party-heal spell yet. More importantly, Matador teaches you how useful and dangerous buffs and debuffs are in this game - and the rest of the series - which are normally considered {{Useless Useful Spell}}s in [=RPGs=], but here are vital for your survival.

** And if the first JOKER didn't do the trick, the next will. [[spoiler:JOKER Ulala]] comes right after the first one, and for this fight you're back to three party members. This JOKER, other than the previously mentioned ''Old Maid'', also has Gigantic Fist, which deals Large damage to one enemy (a.k.a. more than you can take at that point), can inflict ailments that will almost always work - once again screwing your Fusion Spells - and a powerful Magic attack that will reduce your entire party's HP by a huge margin. On top of that, this boss has the exact opposite weakness than what you'd expect [[spoiler:from her initial Persona]]. In addition, you can't leave the dungeon before the fight to resupply, which limits your options for dealing with the ailments. Add it all together and it becomes a long and arduous fight of endurance and you'll be grateful when it's over.

** Shadow Kaneshiro is fairly straightforward in the original game and doesn't pack any tricks you haven't already seen, but in ''Royal'' after defeating his Piggytron (which comes first this time), you face a buffed on-foot phase in which he has two bodyguards which resist every element while Kaneshiro himself resists physical attacks, and one of them will shield him from all damage. All of them, however, are susceptible to most status ailments including sleep, which both disable them and cause them to take high amounts of Technical damage, causing the fight to serve as a drill on the buffed Technical damage mechanic; fail to learn from it, and assuming you get past the fight at all then things like [[DemonicSpiders Abaddon, Fafnir]], and especially [[spoiler:[[TrueFinalBoss Maruki]]]] will punish you later.

*** The UpdatedRerelease ''Royal'' adds a phase to the fight where he makes clones of himself which attack using their own elements and are weak to the opposite element, but repel their own. It serves as a test of how well you've mastered the Baton Pass mechanic and exploiting weaknesses; exploit it well and the fight becomes pathetically easy, but try to brute-force it and you're in for a miserable slog.

* The bosses in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'' are generally NintendoHard, but Matador is the first boss that really gives you an idea as to what kind of lengths you'll need to go to in order to beat most of the bosses in this game. Not only do you need to recruit and fuse a team that is specifically resistant to one element, but one of them needs to have learned a certain move to counter Matador's main ability, Red Capote. And God help you if you don't have a whole-party-heal spell yet.

** Minotaur and Medusa also collectively serve to wake the player up to a bigger concept - demons are disposable. The two bosses have very different offenseive and defensive weaknesses, so a party that can handle Minotaur almost certainly won't stand a chance against Medusa. This isn't Franchise/{{Pokemon}}, you don't owe your demons anything. As soon as one isn't useful, fuse it into something that is, or you're going to have a bad time.

** The closest thing to this trope that ''Innocent Sin'' has is the boss fight of Ixquic and Belphegor. It is the very first time that the player has to fight two opponents at once - as opposed to just one - and both of them are at a fairly higher level than your party. Belphegor has a ton of HP, multiple resistances with no weaknesses, and he has Poison Breath which affects the entire party and does exactly what its name says. Ixquic on the other hand, is weak to Light and Sword attacks, which means that either you set Tatsuya against her or spam the Light Smasher Fusion Spell. In any case, as long as she's there you can't do any meaningful damage to Belphegor. To top it all off, both of them deal very high damage for your level to the whole party, which means that you must have a devoted healer, thus putting a damper to your much-needed Fusion Spells.

** The Change Relic around 20% into the game. Up until now, any enemy that isn't easily pummeled to death by exploiting ElementalRockPaperScissors is handled with little trouble by exploiting the party heal of the Cadenza spell. Change Relic has no elemental weakness, and its wind magic can hit every party member for a good chunk of HP, or just hit one target for a potential OneHitKill. Then there's Poison Mist, which poisons your entire party, putting you on a very fast clock if it hits early. This is the point at which savvy players realize that sometimes, there's no substitute for good old-fashioned LevelGrinding.

** And then there's Hierophant. It has a multi-target attack that put your party members in Fear status. Fear causes them to skip turns, makes all physical attacks against them criticals, and makes them vulnerable to a OneHitKill from Ghostly Wail. He also attacks with Lightning magic, which the RequiredPartyMember is weak against. Me Patra Gems help with the Fear effect, but it's still very possible to die simply because the RandomNumberGod decided to be a dick.
** Rampage Drive is among the first Tartarus bosses in the game, but it seems specifically designed to counter your party if you fight it as soon as possible. It's immune to all physical attacks and resists fire, and Junpei (who has both) is stronger physically. It also has Mazio, a multi-target electric spell... and [[TheMedic Yukari]] happens to be weak to electricity, in a game where exploiting elemental weaknesses messes with the characters's turns on the attacking side's favor. To make matters worse, it has both Assault Dive and Tarukaja[[labelnote:*]](an attack buffing spell)[[/labelnote]], and Assault Dive alone can wipe out a party member from near full health (and if the main character dies, [[WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou well...]]). It's not a OneHitKill, at this point it's just ''that strong''. To survive it, Rakukaja[[labelnote:*]](the defense buffing spell)[[/labelnote]] and a Persona with good Endurance is almost a necessity, and the compendium isn't available yet if you face it early, effectively forcing you to be smarter with your fusions. It's the first boss where you use the main character's ability to change Personas to its fullest potential[[labelnote:*]]interestingly, battling only with the main character is more manageable, but takes much longer[[/labelnote]] and at the same time it shows how important for your party the Tactics command really is; if you don't balance attacking with healing and support skills, [[GameOverMan get used to Igor's remarks]].

** The first boss, Shadow Kamoshida, both serves as a warning that boss fights will be more dynamic than even bosses from the previous games, and as a test of whether the player is ready to take on the rest of the game. First, partway through the fight he heals himself to full health, forcing the player to focus on hitting a different target in order to stop the healing. Second, he can buff his attacks, which will make his attacks hit for very high numbers at that point in the game, teaching the importance of buffs. Third, the player has to recognize the cues that the boss is preparing for a powerful attack, and that they need to prepare to guard. Finally, the fight introduces special operations, which forces the player to learn how to keep up the offensive with a reduced party.

** ''Eternal Punishment'' has the first JOKER boss, Tatsuya Sudou. Up til that point, the bosses were EarlyBirdCameo mooks that you could easily defeat with only three party members. For this fight however, you get '''five''' party members, with the [[HeroOfAnotherStory fifth one]] being ''[[CrutchCharacter at least level 50]]''. Sudou starts the fight by summoning four mooks that you won't be seeing for another ten levels, which deal huge damage for your HP at the time as well as Freeze and Shock Ailments. And then there is Sudou himself; other thatn dealing very high damage for your HP, he also has ''[[ThatOneAttack Old Maid]]'', which forces DemonicPossession to a random character during your own turn and forces said character to use the non-elemental spell ''Joker'' on every other party member based on their own stats. In this fight the Crutch Character becomes a ''hindrance'', because if ''Old Maid'' hits him he can wipe out the rest of the party. The only way to counter this move is to have everyone defend, but this leaves you helpless against the mooks and halts your progress. Overall, it's not rare to end this fight with nothing ''but'' the level 50 guy.
** And if the first JOKER didn't do the trick, the next will. [[spoiler:JOKER Ulala]] comes right after the first one, and for this fight you're back to three party members. This JOKER, other than the previously mentioned ''Old Maid'', also has Gigantic Fist, which deals Large damage to one enemy (a.k.a. more than you can take at that point), can inflict ailments that will almost always work - once again screwing your Fusion Spells - and a powerful Magic attack that will reduce your entire party's HP by a huge margin. On top of that, like Vitra in the DDS section, this boss has the exact opposite weakness than what you'd expect. In addition, you can't leave the dungeon before the fight to resupply, which limits your options for dealing with the ailments. Add it all together and it becomes a long and arduous fight of endurance and you'll be grateful when it's over.

** And if the first JOKER didn't do the trick, the next will. [[spoiler:She]] comes right after the first one, and for this fight you're back to three party members. This JOKER, other than the previously mentioned ''Old Maid'', also has Gigantic Fist, which deals Large damage to one enemy (a.k.a. more than you can take at that point), can inflict ailments that will almost always work - once again screwing your Fusion Spells - and a powerful Magic attack that will reduce your entire party's HP by a huge margin. On top of that, like Vitra in the DDS section, this boss has the exact opposite weakness than what you'd expect. In addition, you can't leave the dungeon before the fight to resupply, which limits your options for dealing with the ailments. Add it all together and it becomes a long and arduous fight of endurance and you'll be grateful when it's over.

* ''Eternal Punishment'' has its wake up call with [[spoiler:Joker Ulala]]. Up to that point you could generally bluff your way through the game without a huge amount of difficulty, but if you hadn't learned how the system truly works and how to strategize as you went along, you were gonna die horribly, no ands, ifs, or buts about it, and that's even if you figured out the trick to Old Maid from the previous boss, which you might not have bothered doing thanks to the {{Crutch Character}} who joined you for the fight.

* [[OneWingedAngel Super Kamoshidaman]] in ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' really hammers-in how much bosses have been buffed since the previous game. After giving you a false sense of security with a ZeroEffortBoss first form, Super Kamodshidaman attacks with two carrot [[{{BFG}} BFGs]], one which does massive damage to a single target while the other hits a whole row for moderate damage. They both get to attack each turn, and have different weaknesses. A team without multi-target healing and sufficient levels will simply not be able to keep up with his damage output, and destroying the guns doesn't make him any easier: he starts taking multiple turns, covering his weakness with Fire Screen and dealing heavy damage with Kamoshida Kick. Like many above examples, you'll need debuffs to survive this one.

** The closest thing to this trope that ''Innocent Sin'' has is the boss fight of Ixquic and Belphegor. It is the very first time that the player has to fight two opponents at once - as opposed to just one - and both of them are at a fairly higher level than your party. Belphegor has a ton of HP, multiple resistances and he has Poison Breath which affects the entire party. Ixquic on the other hand, while she is weak to Light, the only Light spell you can have at the time is Hama or a variant, which doesn't work on bosses. She is also weak to Sword attacks, but that means the player cannot devote time to Belphegor. To top it all off, both of them deal very high damage for your level to the whole party, which means that you must have a devoted healer, thus putting a damper to your much-needed Fusion Spells.

** In the first two days, the player might occasionally find some stray human enemies who don't pose much of a challenge. By the third day, Ronaldo Kuriki gets introduced, and he's certainly no pushover. With a well-rounded team that has very few weaknesses to exploit and the first instance of the Drain skill, he can take down a lot of your units once he begins actively engaging your teams.
** Botis also appears on the 3rd Day, and he's a mixture of this trope and EarlyBirdBoss -- a level 37 enemy with Ziodyne when the player's teams are roughly level 20 means you're severely outmatched. It's possible, but very tedious, to defeat him despite the odds; he serves as a reminder that sometimes the mission's main objective ''doesn't'' mandate fighting everything in sight.

** King Frost, the boss of the Fairy Forest. King Frost has the "Smile Charge" ability which gives himself the Smirk status, and he will use this ability very often. This boss fight teaches players the importance of canceling enemy Smirks, because King Frost is going to utterly wreck you if you don't.

** Botis also appears on the 3rd Day, and he's a mixture of this trope and EarlyBirdBoss -- being level 37 with a deadly Ziodyne skill when the player's teams are roughly level 20 means you're severely outmatched. It's possible, but very tedious, to defeat him despite the odds; he serves as a reminder that sometimes the mission's main objective ''doesn't'' mandate fighting everything in sight.

** Shadow Yukiko is a cakewalk compared to Shadow Kanji, the next boss. Shadow Kanji is flanked by two mooks, one that will buff the other mook with Heat Riser, a buff that bestows Tarukaja (attack up), Rakukaja (defense up), and Sukukaja (hit and evasion up) at the same time to a single target and other mook will hit you like a truck, likely damaging or outright killing a party member. And at this point, you're still scraping for items or don't have access to the revive-spell Recarm yet. Shadow Kanji himself will also use buffs on himself before hitting you or poisoning you. And ''none'' of them have any weaknesses, so your only means of getting a Once More is by landing a critical hit. This battle will show you that [[StausBuffDispel Dekaja]] can be a life-saver [[note]]Though it doesn't work on things like Power Charge which only work on the next move, and guess what Shadow Kanji has?[[/note]] and you need to use debuffs yourself. Just like Shadow Yukiko, Shadow Kanji got {{Nerf}}ed in Golden by giving weaknesses to the minions.

** Shadow Yukiko is a cakewalk compared to Shadow Kanji, the next boss. Shadow Kanji is flanked by two mooks, one that will buff the other mook with Heat Riser, a buff that bestows Tarukaja (attack up), Rakukaja (defense up), and Sukukaja (hit and evasion up) at the same time to a single target and other mook will hit you like a truck, likely damaging or outright killing a party member. And at this point, you're still scraping for items or don't have access to the revive-spell Recarm yet. Shadow Kanji himself will also use buffs on himself before hitting you or poisoning you. And ''none'' of them have any weaknesses, so your only means of getting a Once More is by landing a critical hit. This battle will show you that Dekaja can be a life-saver [[note]]Regular Buffs can be removed with Dekaja, though one-time buffs like Power Charge, which Shadow Kanji will use to greatly strengthen his next physical attack, will ''not'' be removed[[/note]] and you need to use debuffs yourself. Just like Shadow Yukiko, Shadow Kanji got {{Nerf}}ed in Golden by giving weaknesses to the minions.

** Shadow Yukiko, the boss of the first dungeon. The game makes it hard enough to keep up with her damage output, especially her multi-target fire attack (to which one of your characters is guaranteed to be weak) on her own. You can make her [[FlunkyBoss minion]] skip half of its turns if you have a good understanding of the battle system, but if you don't, between its damage, buffs, healing, and status ailments... good luck. She got {{Nerf}}ed in Golden, where it's ''she'' who becomes weak to Ice instead of her assistant.

** The closest thing to this trope that ''Innocent Sin'' has is the boss fight of Ixquic and Belphegor. It is the very first time that the player has to fight two opponents at once - as opposed to just one - and both of them are higher level than your party. Belphegor has a ton of HP, multiple resistances and he has Poison Breath which affects the entire party. Ixquic on the other hand, while she is weak to Light, the only Light spell you can have at the time is Hama or a variant, which doesn't work on bosses. She is also weak to Sword attacks, but that means the player cannot devote time to Belphegor. To top it all off, both of them deal very high damage for your level to the whole party, which means that you must have a devoted healer, thus putting a damper to your much-needed Fusion Spells.

** The closest thing to this trope that ''Innocent Sin'' has is the boss fight of Ixquic and Belphegor. It is the very first time that the player has to fight to opponents at once - as opposed to just one - and both of them are higher level than your party. Belphegor has a ton of HP, multiple resistances and he has Poison Breath which affects the entire party. Ixquic on the other hand, while she is weak to Light, the only Light spell you can have at the time is Hama or a variant, which doesn't work on bosses. She is also weak to Sword attacks, but that means the player cannot devote time to Belphegor. To top it all off, both of them deal very high damage for your level to the whole party, which means that you must have a devoted healer, thus putting a damper to your much-needed Fusion Spells.

** Bishamon, one of the Four Devas, can also count. Not only is his fight the second with Rangda enemies (which Repel Physical, making Atsuro and Izuna completely useless), his Hassohappa (which can deal 1000+ damage to the entire party) makes it almost impossible to approach him unless you at least Null Phys. And he has (respawning) allies that can heal his massive HP stores (making Hassohappa hit worse). While most battles so far were almost all affairs where you mostly attack and exploit weaknesses, this one puts emphasis on defense using passive abilities.

** And then there's Hierophant. It has a multi-target attack that put your party members in Fear status. Fear causes them to skip turns, makes all physical attacks against them criticals, and makes them vulnerable to a OneHitKill from Ghostly Wail. He also attacks with Lightning magic, which one party member is weak against. Me Patra Gems help with the Fear effect, but it's still very possible to die simply because the RandomNumberGod decided to be a dick.

** The second boss, Shadow Madarame, is a test of whether the player can keep up with multiple enemies as well as cover their own weaknesses. The boss is split into four parts that each get their own turn and have their own resistances and attacks, and the boss will target weaknesses as well as use buffs and debuffs to make his attacks hit harder. Later, the boss starts using a special status effect that makes your party member weak to every attack, which the boss will definitely exploit if you let him, as well as revive any dead parts if you don't take all of them down at once.