Line #32 Main/ReactorBoss


1	[[quoteright:256:[[VideoGame/AirFortress https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/air_fortress_main_core_2252.png]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:256:...then ''[[LoadBearingBoss get out before it blows!]]'']]
3
4	In some cases, the final battle in a video game will consist of you trying to blow up the enemy base's main reactor, typically guarded by automatic turrets, an endless swarm of {{Mooks}}, and occasionally emissions from the reactor itself.
5
6	This is usually done as an attempt to have a climactic action sequence while avoiding having an obvious FinalBoss battle, either because it wouldn't fit with the tone of the game, or because the design team's philosophy is that "boss battles are stupid."
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8	When done well, it can give an action game a satisfactory final confrontation without having to rely on dropping in a 50-foot tall GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere, or having the enemy General inexplicably turn out to be MadeOfIron and capable of surviving a few dozen rocket launcher shots to the face.
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10	When done badly, it can be an extremely unsatisfying and anticlimactic conclusion to an otherwise exciting and action-packed game of blowing crap up. Can often be considered an AnticlimaxBoss.
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12	See also CoresAndTurretsBoss. Very common in a ShootEmUp. Also a common justification for a LoadBearingBoss.
13	----
14	!!Examples:
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16	[[foldercontrol]]
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18	[[folder:Action-Adventure]]
19	* In ''VideoGame/TombRaiderUnderworld'', instead of a straight-out duel, the "final battle" is basically Lara running around the building-sized LostSuperweapon dismantling it keystone by keystone, while the invincible BigBad [[spoiler: Natla]] flies around tossing fireballs at her.
20	[[/folder]]
21
22	[[folder:First-Person Shooter]]
23	* The final "boss" of the FirstPersonShooter ''VideoGame/Area51'' is the alien spaceship's main reactor. It puts up slightly more of a fight than the ''Half Life 2'' reactor, but not by much.
24	* In ''[[Videogame/BattleZone1998 BattleZone II]]'', the final ISDF mission has you entering the depths of the [[spoiler: artificial planet]], Core, to destroy the Scion's [[spoiler: central control computer]]. [[LoadBearingBoss Destroying it causes the world to begin to break apart]] - with you [[CollapsingLair still in its tunnels]], leaving you precious [[TimedMission little time to get to the extraction point before you're left behind]].
25	* The final battle against Nexus in ''VideoGame/{{Breakdown}}'' is in many ways a Reactor Boss fight, since he's essentially a giant red ball in the center of the room (which you punch to death after breaking out of a hallucinary LSD sequence it tries to send you into).
26	* The first three levels of each planet in ''VideoGame/{{Descent}} II'', and all but two of the levels in ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}'' featured reactor "bosses"; after destroying them you had a limited time to find the exit and escape. However, these battles were hardly anticlimactic: as there was generally a [[FlunkyBoss huge number of guard robots]] in the same room as the reactor, and the reactor itself wasn't defenseless, as it fired powerful energy blasts of its own.
27	** SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/{{Overload}}'' continues the tradition, with most levels having a reactor to destroy as the main objective, and likewise for ''VideoGame/SublevelZero'', which is essentially a RogueLike ''Descent''.
28	* Your final mission objective in ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon F.E.A.R.]]'' is to destroy the Origin Facility's main reactor. However, there's a final "confrontation" with Alma shortly after this.
29	* ''VideoGame/GangGarrison2'' has an original gamemode not in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' (which it is a [[VideoGameDemake demake]] of), where the goal is to destroy the enemy team's generator while defending your own.
30	* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' ends with you blowing up the Citadel's main {{teleport\|ation}}er. It's a TimedMission because you're trying to prevent Breen from teleporting away, and two gunships come in to shoot at you, but the teleporter itself does not move or defend itself.
31	* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
32	** ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'''s final battle consists of you trying to destroy the 4 cooling vents in your starship's engine room, in order to make the ship's reactor melt down and obliterate Halo. Meanwhile, Flood and Sentinels are attacking you the entire time you're running around the engine room trying to do this. In an oblique way, the final battle is against Guilty Spark, since he and his Sentinels are in the engine room trying to stop you, and defeating him is the reason you're trying to nuke Halo in the first place.
33	** Similarly in the penultimate level of ''VideoGame/Halo3'', you have to destroy the reactor of the Flood-infested High Charity, setting off a chain reaction to destroy the massive ship. Could be considered as a fight against the Gravemind itself, as the ship is literally covered wall-to-wall in Flood biomass.
34	* ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}: Fall of Man'' ends with you and a squad of British commandos attempting to destroy the Chimera Master Tower's main reactor. This is actually one of the better Reactor Boss fights out there, as it involves a small war between the British commandos and a small army of Chimera Advanced Hybrids, a couple Titans, and even an Angel or two.
35	* The ''VideoGame/SouthPark'' game for the N64 had one of these for the third level featuring the Visitors. You go to the center of their spaceship and try to destroy the core. The room is zero gravity and the core will shoot out lightning at you.
36	* Level 7-4 of ''VideoGame/{{Ultrakill}}'' features a confrontation with an absolutely ginormous machine, it's so big that it's impossible to do any damage to it from the outside, resulting in you having to scale the giant robot and penetrate its defenses while fighting off hordes of enemies in order to make your way into the insides of the robot to destroy the mechanical brain located within its head, which acts as the actual boss.
37	[[/folder]]
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39	[[folder:MMORPG]]
40	* Inverted in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' where the final mission of one trial requires you to defend the reactor for 30 minutes. Generally considered one of the most boring missions in the game.
41	* The objective of Guild-VS-Guild gameplay in ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'' is to destroy the enemy guild's Empirium Crystal, which is the core of the castle.
42	* In ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'', when you attack the Voth Fortress Ship, there are two Reactor Bosses. First a [[MiniBoss Sub Power Core]] to open the way and then the main reactor for the end. And of course you must make the usual timed escape before it explodes when you kill the big one.
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Platformer]]
46	* The ''VideoGame/{{Batman\|Sunsoft}}'' game for the NES had the Machine Intelligence System and the Dual-Container Alarm as the bosses of the second and fourth stages, respectively.
47	* ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'': "So you think you can destroy the main system? You have no chance!"
48	* ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' and its remake have the Halberd's Reactor as a boss. Defeating it requires getting it to shoot lasers at itself.
49	** And in Milky Way Wishes, there's the Heart of NOVA/Galactic Nova Nucleus, which is "fought" at the end of an UnexpectedShmupLevel. The heart doesn't actually fight back directly, but you're required to fly through and destroy a rotating ring of pylons surrounding it, and accidentally crashing into them as they pass by hurts a ''lot''.
50	** Revisited in ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'' with the Halberd reactor and the Shmup level at the same time.
51	** ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' has one of these [[spoiler: as its TrueFinalBoss, which is actually an on-foot version of the aforementioned Heart of Nova fight]]. You need to lower the shield around the core by destroying the pylons around it, but once that's done, the core itself will come after Kirby and proves to be far more threatening than its outer defenses.
52	* The first boss of ''Prison City'' is Tech Engine: A two reactor cores that shoot at the player.
53	* Even though ''Videogame/RatchetDeadlocked'' has a guy literally called ''Reactor'' that serves as a boss, he is not this trope. There are however [[spoiler: three Dreadzone Station generators that have to be destroyed during subsequent quests before you get to fight a FinalBoss. Each is protected by lasers and huge armies of local DemonicSpiders.]]
54	* The boss of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' level "EternalEngine" is the power generator of the space colony ARK, which you fight as Tails riding his missile-equipped mecha.
55	* ''VideoGame/SuperStarWars'', ''Super Empire Strikes Back'' and ''Super Return of the Jedi'' had the Tractor Beam Generator, Carbonite Freezing Chamber and Endor Shield Generator as bosses.
56	* The first two ''VideoGame/{{Xargon}}'' games literally had a reactor guarded by swarms of {{Mook}}s as the "final boss." The third & final game looked like the reactor was the final boss, [[SubvertedTrope but then you got to keep walking]] and face [[BigBad Xargon]] himself.
57	* ''VideoGame/XMen2CloneWars'' on the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis featured this on the second level (The Sentinel Factory). There was even a [[ChekhovsGun conveniently placed emergency exit]] that you passed halfway through the level.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Rail Shooter]]
61	* ''VideoGame/StarBlade'' has ''two'' of these. ''Galaxian³'', which is basically a six-player ''[=StarBlade=]'', has one as a {{Time\|LimitBoss}}d FinalBoss.
62	* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTrilogyArcade'' has as a final boss the main reactor of the second Death Star.
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Role-Playing Game]]
66	* The Mammon Machine from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', which is an OptionalBoss fought in the [[OminousFloatingCastle Black Omen]]. It's a bit of a pushover, though...
67	* The final Gummi Ship mission in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', "Assault of the Dreadnought", has you flying inside a huge battleship and destroying the core. You don't actually need to destroy the core to finish the stage, but it does gets you bonuses.
68	* The [[spoiler:derelict Reaper]] mission in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' ends this way.
69	** The final mission is initially presented this way, before [[spoiler:the human-Reaper turns out to be able to move around and hit things]].
70	* ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic VI'' plays with this trope. The final quest is to enter the main Kreegan hive, destroy the reactor, and (preferably, though you can skip this step [[NonStandardGameOver and get an alternate game-over video for the trouble]]) perform a ritual that'll keep the resulting explosion from destroying the ''world'' rather than merely the hive. You fight through hordes of Kreegan and their confusing architecture, destroy the Kreegan reactor in a suspiciously easy battle... and are promptly teleported to right in front of the Kreegan Hive Queen, the ''actual'' final boss of the game, backed up by a horde of lesser Kreegan.
71	* The final boss of Chapter 5 of ''VideoGame/Mother3'' is Mr. Genetor, which is Thunder Tower's generator.
72	* In ''VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy'', there's a rather odd variant: the titular hero must stop a rampaging TransformingMecha, but cannot directly confront it. Instead, loyal NonHumanSidekick Gouto must board a rocket along a demon to reach the satellite powering it from space, defeat the automated defenses, and destroy it.
73	* VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV: [[spoiler:Accepting White's proposal results in a fight against the Yamato Perpetual Reactor. It's a ZeroEffortBoss, and attacking it enough times causes all reality to get destroyed by a black hole.]]
74	* The FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' Episode I is a giant reactor fused with a giant gnosis. Defeating it is necessary to shut down the Proto Merkahba and save the planet of Second Miltia from it.
75	* The final battle in ''Videogame/YsVITheArkOfNapishtim'' is against the core of the titular WeatherControlMachine.
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Shoot 'Em Up]]
79	* ''VideoGame/AirFortress'' on the original NES required you to fight one of these for every level. Miniature versions were also scattered throughout.
80	* In the final stage of ''VideoGame/AndroDunos'', you have to blow up the reactor core, which is protected directly with a spinning shield and indirectly with a corridor-spanning laser sweeping back and forth in front of it. Naturally, it turns out to be a LoadBearingBoss.
81	* The sixth boss of ''VideoGame/ChimeraBeast'' has your [[HordeOfAlienLocusts eater]] [[VillainProtagonist character]] attacking humanity, culminating in a fight against a nuclear reactor. From the outside.
82	** And using your "[[PowerCopying eat]]" move on it will [[FridgeBrilliance give you the Cancer ability]].
83	* The FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/FestersQuest'' is the spaceship's core, which is defended by several turrets, as well as the core itself firing homing bullets.
84	* ''VideoGame/GateOfThunder'' had the reactor of the enemy space station as the FinalBoss.
85	* In ''VideoGame/GunstarHeroes'', you destroy one after docking with the spaceship.
86	* The fourth stage of ''VideoGame/{{Ikaruga}}'' takes place [[BattleshipRaid in and around the flying fortress Misago]], and the end boss is the ship's core.
87	* The ''VideoGame/{{Raiden}}'' series has a [[PowerCrystal Crystal-powered]] fortress as the FinalBoss of most of the games.
88	* ''[[VideoGame/RaySeries RayStorm]]'' has the final boss. Beating it causes the colony to explode and [[ColonyDrop drop into]] [[HurlItIntoTheSun the gas giant it orbits]], destroying any threat of the Secilian Empire... and killing loads of innocent lives in the process.
89	* One possible path in ''VideoGame/RType Final'' has you facing off with the source of all the enemies in the game: a stationary generator which can spontaneously create every single type of enemy and object in-game.
90	* ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' had a Reactor Boss late in the game, with the Bolse satellite. (Any remaining members of the Star Wolf team -- all of them, if you didn't take a route through Fichina -- would also appear.) This reactor would eventually start fighting back, as any panels on the core that were blown up would start firing lasers. Arguably, the mothership Saucerer from Katina also might count, since it doesn't directly attack, instead just releasing {{Mook}}s and then revealing its core after you destroyed the four hatches or took too long, at which point you had all of one minute to destroy said core. (Yes, it would eventually reveal the core even if you didn't shoot the hatches, presumably to keep you from running up the score. Which was annoying, since it was tough to hit the medal total before this happened.)
91	** Its predecessor, ''VideoGame/StarFox1'', had two reactor bosses. One in the Space Armada and one in Sector Z, which was twice as hard. Macbeth's boss could also be seen as a reactor boss.
92	** ''VideoGame/StarFox2'' has several of these, taking place at the end of [[BattleshipRaid Battleship Raids]], attacks on planetary bases, and during the final stage.
93	* The FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/TwinFormation'' is a literal nuclear reactor.
94	[[/folder]]
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96	[[folder:Third-Person Shooter]]
97	* Chapters 15 and 16 of ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'' (i.e. the [[spoiler: Aurum]] chapters) feature these. Pit even lampshades the lack of a traditional boss. Chapter 17's counts too, but with a twist: [[spoiler: you're technically fighting the Aurum Brain, but Pyrrhon is controlling it. Or is it controlling him...]]
98	* Many levels of ''VideoGame/PN03'', other than those ending with true boss battles or {{Multi Mook Melee}}s, have you destroy CAMS's energy cores, which are usually guarded by a number of {{sentry gun}}s.
99	[[/folder]]
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101	[[folder:Turn-Based Tactics]]
102	* Most entries in the ''VideoGame/{{XCOM}}'' franchise have endgame missions that play out more or less this way, with the player's forces fighting their way through [[FlunkyBoss a huge number of powerful enemies]] to reach the BigBad of the whole game, at which point the game ends with a CoupDeGraceCutscene. ''VideoGame/XCOMInterceptor'' is notable for having the "reactor" in question being [[StarKilling the star the enemy headquarters is orbiting, using a weapon that causes it to go nova]].
103	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ReactorBoss