Line #188 Main/BattleshipRaid


1	[[quoteright:220:[[VideoGame/KirbySuperStar https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/halberd.gif]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:220:Five bucks says the ship crashes.[[note]]It does. Come collect your five bucks.[[/note]]]]
3
4	->''"WARNING! A huge battleship, ''[ship name]'', is approaching fast."''
5	-->-- ''VideoGame/{{Darius}}''
6
7	This happens when a [[BossFight boss]] isn't just big, but forms the focus of an entire section of the level, playing the part of both scenery, boss, and sometimes also MiniBoss. It can be considered largely as a thematic way of tying a sequence of opponents and obstacles together using a common theme.
8
9	This type of Boss is usually a DamageSpongeBoss and a MarathonBoss, and shares several features with a CoresAndTurretsBoss; defeating it is rarely easy.
10
11	In scrolling shooters, the path will usually loop around the boss, past various gun turrets, [[MookMaker fighter hangars]], [[WeaponizedExhaust deadly thruster flares]] and other dangers, before leading to the core, command centre or similar. The boss might at first be [[BackgroundBoss seen in the background]], before flying on-screen.
12
13	If the game has a common [[BattleThemeMusic Boss Battle Theme]], it may play throughout the whole level, or come in near the end, cuing the player that it's time to take the whole thing down.
14
15	Compare ColossusClimb, LevelInBossClothing and StationaryBoss. For a related cinematic trope, see StandardEstablishingSpaceshipShot.
16	----
17	!!Examples
18
19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Action-Adventure]]
22	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyroDawnOfTheDragon'': The Destroyer is a RockMonster so big that its boss battle takes place entirely on, around and within its body. While it has a health bar, it isn't fought conventionally -- it doesn't even move -- but is treated as a level, with damage caused only by passive environmental hazards as Spyro and Cynder fly and climb around its mountain-sized bulk to track down and smash all the dark crystals keeping it alive, before flying down its throat to find and destroy its heart.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Flight Sims]]
26	* From the beginning of the series, ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' has numerous large aircraft and/or airships bristling with weaponry to take down whom are the focus of their respective boss levels.
27	** ''VideoGame/AirCombat'' had its flying fortress.
28	** ''VideoGame/AceCombat2'' had the XB-10 ''Big Bad Mama'', a large bomber similar to the XB-0 ''Hresvelgr''.
29	** ''VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere'' has the UI-4053 ''Sphyrna'' blimp.
30	** ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'' has the low orbital aircraft, the ''Arkbird'', as well as the ''Scinfaxi'' and ''Hrimfaxi'' submarines; each is also an aircraft carrier with separately targetable anti-aircraft weapons, and [[ThatOneLevel burst missiles that will kill you unless your altitude is at 5,000 feet or higher]]. It also has the SOLG, a KillSat capable of launching nukes from above.
31	** ''VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar'' has the prototype [[AirborneAircraftCarrier Heavy Command Cruiser]] XB-0 ''Hresvelgr''.
32	** ''VideoGame/AceCombatXSkiesOfDeception'' has the aerial warship ''Gleipnir''.
33	** ''Ace Combat Xi: Skies of Incursion'' has the ''Gleipnir'''s prototype, the ''Gandr''.
34	** ''VideoGame/AceCombatJointAssault'' has ''seven'' of them; four against the ''Orgoi'' (first, you fight one, then, in a later mission, you fight another, followed by [[DualBoss two more]]), and three against the ''Spiridus''.
35	** ''VideoGame/AceCombat6FiresOfLiberation'' has the ''Aigaion'', a massive AirborneAircraftCarrier that not only houses the enemy AcePilot squad, Strigon team, but is also armed with powerful long range Nimbus cruise missiles and is aided by two ''Gyges'' and two ''Kottos''; the former provide air-to-air defense and the latter provide electronic jamming.
36	** ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'' has the Arsenal Birds ''Liberty'' and ''Justice'', which are ''kilometer-wide'' AttackDrones that [[AirborneAircraftCarrier carry 80 smaller drones]] as well as the ''Alicorn'', which is a successor to the ''Scinfaxi''.
37	* Any mission in which you had to attack an enemy zeppelin in ''VideoGame/CrimsonSkies'' counts.
38	* ''VideoGame/DiscoveryFreelancer'' can now have the player be on the receiving end of one of these.
39	* ''VideoGame/{{Freespace}}'' is famous for having truly enormous warships that utterly dwarf the player's fighter. The crowning example here is the six kilometer long ''Sathanas''-class juggernaut, so huge that humanity's own ''Fenris''-class cruisers can fit in its fighterbay! Generally, unless you're flying a bomber armed with antimatter torpedoes (and even then it can take a while), these warships are near-impossible to take down on your own, and your job is to disable their turrets and {{Wave Motion Gun}}s so your own warships can tackle them.
40	* ''VideoGame/IL2Sturmovik'' has both literal (in ''Pacific Fighters'') and figurative examples (attacking large bomber squadrons, etc.).
41	* ''VideoGame/RogueSquadron II'' opens with an attack on the Death Star, consisting of fighting gun turrets, fighters, and then a final trench run. It ends with taking out the second Death Star's reactor.
42	** And then there's the two missions where you must destroy Star Destroyers, one of which has you destroying ''two'' of them.
43	** ''Rogue Squadron III'' has you killing Super Star Destroyers, including the Executor, the only Super Star Destroyer to appear in the movies.
44	* ''VideoGame/VectorThrust'' boasts a collection of flying superweapons covered in CIWS and air-to-air missile launchers to take down, including the EOS-01 Ziz, a traditional flying wing design and the more radical Pesanta [[DeadlyGas chemical warfare platform]].
45	* ''[[Literature/XWingSeries X-Wing Alliance]]'''s final missions have you take the ''Millennium Falcon'' into battle against the second Death Star, and the very last mission, you get to go inside, just like the movie.
46	** ''[[Literature/XWingSeries X-Wing vs TIE Fighter]]'', and its expansion, ''Balance of Power'' had scenarios built around this premise: Turkey Shoots. Pretty much ''every'' class of capital ship would hyperspace in one at a time starting with Corvettes, with the idea being to slaughter each ship before tackling the next, bigger ship. ''Balance of Power's'' Turkey Shoot culminated with you and your squadron, fatigued from everything that had come before, attempting to take down a Super Star Destroyer.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:First-Person Shooter]]
50	* ''VideoGame/Battlefield2142'''s Titan dropships are {{Airborne Aircraft Carrier}}s that can be [[AttackItsWeakPoint sabotaged]] for instant victory.
51	** ''{{VideoGame/Battlefield4}}'' does this with aircraft carriers.
52	** ''VideoGame/Battlefield1'''s "Nothing Is Written" campaign climaxes with a fight against a heavily-armoured Ottoman train.
53	* ''VideoGame/{{Breed}}'''s final level has you force your way into the Breed's mothership. By this point your weapons are fully upgraded with maximum firepower, and you easily mow down waves and waves of Breed soldiers, OneManArmy-style.
54	* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty1'' has a literal battleship raid, in which your character and Captain Price needed to infiltrate the ''Tirpitz'' to sabotage it.
55	** Ditto ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'''s first mission, "Crew Expendable".
56	* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
57	** In ''VideoGame/HaloReach'''s "Long Night of Solace", you raid and destroy both a Covenant corvette and supercarrier.
58	** ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' has Master Chief raid a Covenant battlecruiser twice, first to rescue Captain Keyes, and again to retrieve his neural implants.
59	* ''VideoGame/{{Haze}}'s'' entire final level consists of an attack on a giant tracked [[MilitaryMashupMachine Land Carrier]], first outside, then inside and finally onto the deck and into the bridge tower.
60	* The final level of ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorRisingSun'' has Griffin, the PlayerCharacter, Tanaka, and Bromley, infiltrate, raid, and sabotage a Japanese aircraft carrier.
61	* ''VideoGame/Titanfall2'''s mission "The Ark" takes place entirely in the sky over a swath of jungles and mountains, with a Militia ship detachment chasing down an IMC transport vessel before it can reach its destination. You must move between smaller and larger ships in the air, moving up and disabling turrets on the escorting ships so the fleet can catch up to the transport without being shot down. It even ends with a boss fight against a flying Titan while standing on the outer deck of an IMC cruiser.
62	* ''VideoGame/{{Ultrakill}}'' has the [[ClimaxBoss 1000-THR "Earthmover"]], a [[OurCentaursAreDifferent Centaur-like]] HumongousMecha that serves as the boss of Violence. To kill the Earthmover, V1 must [[ColossusClimb scale its massive body]] and invade its internal structure to destroy its brain while dealing with [[LevelInBossClothing platforming and a series of gauntlets]].
63	* ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament2004'' has AS-Mothership, where attackers have to board the Skaarj Mothership and destroy its reactor core. %%There is also an Assault level which invokes this trope and plays it right.%%How?%%
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Light Gun Games]]
67	* ''VideoGame/{{Teraburst}}'' ends with one of these, where you locate the alien mothership's entrance and infiltrate via helicopter, battling your way through drones and alien soldiers everywhere to reach the core where the alien leader FinalBoss is prepping a bio-particle cannon to wipe out all humans.
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Role Playing Games]]
71	* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' '''opens''' with an escape from an airship. An airship run by mind flayers, that is presently flying over [[{{Hell}} Avernus]] while besieged by Githyankis and their red dragons.
72	* In the ''Franchise/DotHack'' games, Cubia usually ends up like this. In the [[VideoGame/DotHackR1Games R1 games]], he starts out as just "giant monster" sized, but by the fourth and final game he's become so huge he's basically a level in and of himself. In ''VideoGame/DotHackGU'' the entire final dungeon is within Cubia's body, with the FinalBoss being his core essence.
73	* The entirety of ''VideoGame/Fallout3'''s [[DownloadableContent Mothership Zeta]] consists of trashing a starship, killing most of its crew, and then using its WaveMotionGun to fry another mothership. Mostly [[OneManArmy by yourself.]]
74	* This trope is a staple of the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games:
75	** The evil giant airship Dreadnaught in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII''.
76	** The Giant of Bab-il from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV''.
77	** The defense turrets of the Ronkan Ruins in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' have the party fight the individual turrets before challenging the big one, the Soul Cannon. And that's only counting the ''outside'' of the ruins.
78	** And who can forget the Phantom Train from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''? The entire area you fight through is pretty much the boss itself. And you get to suplex it at the end.
79	** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', the airship Fahrenheit goes one-on-one with the colossal abomination Sin. But first, the airship has to fly dangerously close to the beast, [[HighAltitudeBattle so the player party can weaken specific spots on its limbs and body]] and allow the Fahrenheit to target them.
80	** This is done to '''Bahamut''' in the final part of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII''. For those confused: In this game, unlike most other games in the series, Bahamut is not a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon]], but rather a [[RuleOfCool giant floating fortress]].
81	** Chapter 9 of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' is one long raid on the AirborneAircraftCarrier ''Palamecia.''
82	** Alexander in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' is the primal of the Goblin Illuminati and is so large that an 8-man party has to take it apart piece by piece in three separate 4-piece raids.
83	** Late in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', Noctis gets to take on several Imperial airships, warpstriking to them and destroying them from within.
84	* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
85	** The final boss of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' merges with an absolutely enormous [[TheHeartless Heartless]] for his final form, and the player has to take it apart piece-by-piece before they can finish him.
86	** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' does this in two of the Gummi Ship levels and, again, the FinalBoss. The first Gummi Ship version centers around a flying Heartless pirate-ship... blasting off its huge arsenal of different cannons and such takes up a lot of time, and towards the end, you have a chance at destroying it entirely -- you don't HAVE to, but it's worth a buttload of points. Then there's ''Assault of the Dreadnaught'', where you take on an even bigger Nobody ship, even flying inside it and blasting at the core.
87	* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel IV'', the heroes need to raid a battleship [[spoiler:from TheEmpire and destroy the generator emitting a barrier to open the way for the shrine to have the Divine Knight showdown.]]
88	* In ''VideoGame/MapleStory'', one of the bosses, Krexel, is a giant tree that makes up the whole map. You fight it by standing on its roots.
89	* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline2'' has two boss battles involving battleships.
90	** One is against the Tunnels boss, Big Vardha: a gargantuan land-based battleship armed with missiles, beam cannons, and the top half of a giant robot.
91	** Another is Phantom Warship ''Yamato'', fought only in the Emergency Quest "Unleashed Prestige". The first half of the battle involves fighting across a frozen sea towards the battleship in order to disable its guns. Once the ship takes flight, the rest of the battle is fought using [[MiniMecha ARKS Interception Silhouettes]].
92	* In ''VideoGame/RogueGalaxy'', the FinalBoss is this: [[spoiler:Valkog, his lackeys, and his battleship are all horribly fused together into a monstrous Demon Battleship]]. All eight of the player characters have to split up to take out its individual parts.
93	* ''VideoGame/ShadowMaster'' have the level, "Dreadnaught", with you raiding the titular villain's SpaceBase and battling your way across hordes and hordes of enemies to reach his inner headquarters.
94	* This happens several times in ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', and fittingly so since the game's about SkyPirates.
95	* Though you don't actually fight it, and play no direct role in its destruction, Herakles from ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' counts.
96	* The final area of ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' takes place within Deus after it has grown to roughly the size of a mountain.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Shoot 'Em Ups]]
100	* The ''VideoGame/NineteenFortyTwo'' series had several battleship raids, generally against actual battleships, with the occasional aircraft carrier.
101	* In ''VideoGame/{{Abadox}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Sidewinder}} 2'' this trope is extended to the entire ''game'' being one gigantic boss.
102	* The ''VideoGame/AeroFighters'' series features this too, perhaps the most notable being a battleship-helicopter carrier that appears in a quite dramatic way ramming and destroying a smaller vessel.
103	* ''VideoGame/Area88'':
104	** ''UN Squadron'' features two such levels, one an actual battleship, the other a [[MilitaryMashupMachine land carrier]].
105	** The final stage of the [[AdaptationDisplacement obscure]] arcade original (and the SNES version) pits you against a multiple-screen battleship.
106	** The SpiritualSuccessor, ''Carrier Air Wing'', featured a battle against several warships that conclude with fighting a large battleship, a drydocked carrier, and a battle against a fortress, with the final stage being to take down a massive rocket, a space shuttle attached to the rocket carrying a KillSat, and finally the Satellite itself. There was also a level where you blew up a regular fortress, but it played the same way.
107	* In ''Avenger'' for the Platform/PCEngine, Mission 1 includes a short section where you fly over a battleship and take out its turrets. This pretty much ends when the HumongousMecha boss detaches itself from the ship.
108	* ''VideoGame/BioHazardBattle'' had the sixth stage, a space shuttle... Or so it seemed, as its [[EvilIsVisceral organic interior]] started getting exposed as its weaponry took damage.
109	* Played straight with the six boss of the game ''VideoGame/BlazingStar'', a '''huge''' space battleship.
110	* The Platform/SegaMasterSystem game ''Bomber Raid'' did this for all its bosses.
111	* Several bosses (especially Phase 2) in ''VideoGame/ChaosField'', which is also a BossGame.
112	* The second stage of ''VideoGame/CloudCutter'' ends with a lengthy raid on an enemy aircraft carrier, where you pilot your eponymous jet to shoot down enemy aircraft, destroy the carrier's turrets and defenses, before blowing up the whole thing.
113	* In the ''VideoGame/{{Darius}}'' series, we have ''Darius Gaiden'' 's aptly-named Titanic Lance, who is six screens long, and ''G-Darius'' 's Queen Fossil, who is so huge that you destroy her section by section. [[BossSubtitles "Huge Battleships"]] indeed. The latter is unusual in that in ''G-Darius'', you normally decide a sub-route partway through the level; in Queen Fossil's stage, you decide it ''at the start of her boss battle'', and that determines what side you dismantle her from.
114	** Don't forget her twin counterpart battleship, [[spoiler:Fire Fossil]].
115	* ''[[ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman The Death And Return of Superman]]'' used this to play out a scene in the comic storyline where Superboy had to stop a missile flying towards Metropolis.
116	* The second stage of ''VideoGame/EarthDefenseForce'' subverts this. Halfway through, the music briefly stops as if a boss is going to show up, then a giant AirborneAircraftCarrier appears, but the music changes back to normal, [[MusicalSpoiler indicating that this is not the boss]]. When you reach the front end of the carrier, it launches the real boss.
117	* ''VideoGame/{{Gorf}}'', from MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames, is the TropeMaker, with the final level before the game levels up and resets involves a confrontation with the enemy flagship.
118	** Likewise, ''VideoGame/{{Zaxxon}}'', from the same era, consists entirely of attacking surface installations on a giant enemy vessel.
119	* ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Series'':
120	** Stage 4 of ''Salamander 2'' pits the player(s) against a fleet of invincible battleships before taking on the stage boss, a [[RecurringBoss Tetran]] variant named Tenny Rop.
121	** The second stage of ''Gradius V'' has the [[CoolStarship Vic Viper T-301]] going against a Bacterian battleship from the inside. [[spoiler:You actually run through a mirror version of said battleship in the final stage of the game, minus the boss rush after destroying Venom's eyes, since the game ends immediately on that.]]
122	** ''Nemesis III'' has a small one with the boss fight against Queensryche, where after destroying its head, the player must carefully fly into its cavity from the rear and destroy the turrets inside said cavity before reaching and [[AttackItsWeakpoint destroying the final core]], which opens into a section with a final boss fight with Gofer once and for all.
123	* The (literal) Battleship boss in ''VideoGame/HeavyWeapon'' is a miniature variant, it has destructible gun turrets, but the main weak spot is the control tower.
124	* ''VideoGame/{{Ikaruga}}'s'' fourth stage consists entirely of the approach and engagement of the gigantic flying fortess Misago.
125	* The FinalBoss battle of the Creator/{{Sega}} LightGunGame ''LA Machineguns''.
126	* ''Lightning Fighters'' has this for the fourth boss fight.
127	* Obscure ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' shoot-em-up, ''Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie'', features an entire stage fighting against a single enormous battleship. The stage boss, though, is a different aircraft.
128	* ''VideoGame/MetalSlug 4'' features a battle against the multi-screen gondola of a giant airship.
129	** The second half of the final mission in ''Metal Slug 3'' is effectively one of these, [[spoiler:taking you through the Rugname, the Martians' mothership. Once you escape with whichever character was taken captive, Rootmars, the FinalBoss, attempts revenge by latching on to your Metal Slug and mind-storming you to death.]]
130	* In ''VideoGame/MushihimeSama'', the third stage is spent destroying an entire (insectoid) battleship piece by piece.
131	* ''[[VideoGame/OperationWolf Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission]]'''s FinalBoss involves you going after [[BigBad General Viper's]] personal plane, which involves you trying to take it out piece by piece, such as the propellers and the engine. It's also guarded by a squadron of fighter jets and attack helicopters.
132	* Usually every iteration of the ''VideoGame/PanzerDragoon'' series has a stage or two comprised of nothing but huge airships which were usually the boss or sub-boss of a previous stage. They've been [[VillainDecay debuffed for your convenience, however]].
133	%%* You do this in the 5th mission of ''VideoGame/{{Phalanx}}''.
134	* ''VideoGame/RaidenFighters'' has one each (excluding ''Jet''). Either Stage 3 or 6 gives you one, and one of them is also a TraintopBattle.
135	* ''VideoGame/RaidenV'''s fifth stage is a raid on a giant version of the recurring battleship boss from previous games. Then there's the giant space station boss of Stage 7.
136	* The vast majority of Stage 3 in ''VideoGame/RefleX'' is spent fighting ZODIAC Sagittarius, an absolutely gigantic battleship, as well as what amounts to an entire battle fleet.
137	* In ''Robo VideoGame/{{Aleste}}'', Stage 3 spends quite a while hovering over a long train plowing its way through a snowy landscape. The airship in Stage 5 is another example.
138	* Stage 3 of most games in the ''VideoGame/RType'' series is taken up by a fight with a giant battleship, or several in some cases. In fact, the third stage of ''R-Type Final'' just happens to be ''called'' "Battleship Raid".
139	** And parodied in the Konami shooter ''VideoGame/{{Parodius}}'' -- half an entire level based around a battleship with giant Moai heads wearing sunglasses (and named, in the English language versions anyway, "Captain Kebab").
140	** ''X Multiply'', another shooter by IREM similar to ''R-Type'' but set [[FantasticVoyagePlot into a human body]], features in stage 2 a fight against not a battleship, but, given the organic nature of the enemies, some kind of huge monstrosity with a detachable almost-human head that becomes the true boss of the stage.
141	* The first Stage 6 midboss of VideoGame/SinAndPunishment2 is a massive submarine that rises from the [[LethalLavaLand lava]]. Before you fight it, you slowly fly around it while picking off the various enemies and turrets that line the outside, before finally fighting the sub afterwards. Later, the final stage has you attacking the Nebulox's battleship.
142	* Stage 4 of ''Sol-Feace'' is based around an enemy battleship "approaching fast!"
143	* Stage 2 of ''[[VideoGame/SuperAleste Space Megaforce]]''.
144	* ''VideoGame/SpiderManTheMovie'' had a level where you fight an automated HumongousMecha inside an [=OsCorp=] research facility. It's the size of a small oceangoing warship.
145	* ''Franchise/StarFox'':
146	** ''VideoGame/StarFox1'': The Space Armada level has several Battleship Raid sequences, with the last pretty much a reference to ''[[Franchise/StarWars Return of the Jedi]]''. Sector Z has a tougher version of this boss, and another based around the Great Fox; only that this time, [[InvertedTrope you don't attack]], [[EscortMission you defend]].
147	** ''VideoGame/StarFox2'' gives you the ability to fly into Andross' battleships that he deploys, destroying the core on the inside.
148	** ''VideoGame/StarFox64'': The battle on Katina is focused entirely on defeating a vast flying saucer with four {{Mook Maker}}s and a central core. It's one-upped by Bolse, a defence station so huge the entire level is set on ''one side'' of it. Also the boss on Macbeth; that level was titled "The Forever Train" for a reason.
149	** ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'': While riding a [=CloudRunner=], Krystal has to disable the offensive power of the soaring galleon piloted by General Scales, as well as the propeller in the back, in order to ambush it safely. Notably, [[OpeningBossBattle this is how the game begins]].
150	* ''VideoGame/SteelEmpire'' (''Empire of Steel'' in Europe) features two levels over half of which are taken up by four giant bosses: in Sky District Zektor, it's the Empire's Floating Fortress and one of their Aero Gunships, while in Damd City it's ''two'' Gunships. [[BossRush In a row]].
151	* The first two games in the ''VideoGame/{{Strikers 1945}}'' series both feature giant airships attacked from tail to nose, with both unfolding to deploy gun batteries and other weapon systems. The first game also has an actual waterborne (as opposed to [[BlindIdiotTranslation "fling"]]) battleship boss, while the second has an aircraft carrier.
152	* ''[[VideoGame/FantasticNightDreamsCotton Superlative Night Dreams: Cotton Rock 'n' Roll]]'' has the Blue Sky stage, which has Cotton (or whoever you're playing as) going up against a massive airship/flying castle hybrid. Most of the stage consists of flying near the ship, destroying the turrets and enemies that it deploys, and defeating the boss at the end (which is apparently a pair of giant, flying centipedes) will lead to the ship's engine being destroyed, causing it to fall in flames.
153	* ''VideoGame/TerminalVelocity1995'' has the Moon Dagger level. It's not so much a giant space battleship, as an extremely giant ''planet-killing cruise missile'' with self-defense capability and an escort fleet. You kill it on its way to Earth.
154	* In ''VideoGame/ThunderBlade'', the final part of every stage but the last has your helicopter doing a slow bombing run on a large enemy craft: at sea in the first stage, on land in the second stage, and in the air in the third stage. The final level of ''Super Thunder Blade'' has you take out a non-mobile enemy base in the same manner.
155	* Great Battleship (Stage IV) in ''VideoGame/ThunderCross''.
156	* ''VideoGame/ThunderForce III''. After clear all five planets, the sixth stage pits the player against the [[MeaningfulName Cerberus]] battleship. Another Cerberus appears in ''IV'' and once more in ''VI''.
157	** In ''Thunder Force VI'' there's a whole stage of battleships.
158	* The final stage of the third chapter of ''VideoGame/{{Tyrian}}'' pits the player against an entire warfleet. Most of the capital ships are immune to fire, and serve as scenery. You have to weave between them, avoiding or destroying turrets and fighter escorts while you head for the flagship.
159	** Likewise, the last stage of ''VideoGame/{{Axelay}}'' includes several large enemy ships with turrets and bridges that can be destroyed, and you fly between them, all the while taking out smaller fighters buzzing around them. Then you enter the [[EternalEngine mothership]]...
160	* More or less the entire point of ''VideoGame/{{Uridium}}''.
161	* The arcade game [[http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=us-aaf-mustang&page=detail&id=3035 USAAF Mustang]] played this trope twice: first with a Japanese submarine that launched missiles while submerged (something that in RealLife did not exist, at least in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and in the Imperial Japanese Navy) and later with the also Japanese [[CoolShip battleship Yamato]].
162	* ''Z-Out's'' final level was a giant living alien battleship.
163	[[/folder]]
164
165	[[folder:Third-Person Shooter]]
166	* ''[[VideoGame/AnotherCenturysEpisode Another Century's Episode 2]]'': One mission pit player against a large submarine, with several parts like [[{{BFG}} main cannons]] and [[MookMaker launching catapult]] can be destroyed (after you get those barrier generator, of cause!).
167	* ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore: For Answer'': Arms Fort ''Spirit of Motherwill''.
168	** Most Arms Forts count, especially ''Answerer'' and ''Great Wall''. ''Cabracan's'' more a straight-up MookMaker, though.
169	** An early mission in ''[[VideoGame/ArmoredCoreVIFiresOfRubicon Fires of Rubicon]]'' pits you against the ''Strider'', a mountain-sized mining vehicle. As the game progresses, you get to fight battleships as well. [[spoiler:Later in the game, a city floating on the ocean is revealed to actually be an interstellar [[TheArk ark]], making those fights in said city an example of this trope. Furthermore, one of the final missions has you riding on said ark while fighting ''multiple'' battleships, with your position in the atmosphere being optimal for using the game's AppliedPhlebotinum to fly indefinitely between them!]]
170	* The final mission of ''VideoGame/TheBureauXCOMDeclassified'' takes place aboard the Outsider battleship/space station.
171	* ''VideoGame/ChromeHounds'': [[AwesomeBosses/VideoGames Unidentified Weapon Appears]].
172	* All of the gameplay in the Platform/{{Intellivision}} game ''The Dreadnaught Factor'' is this trope. You fly a small fighter, making several passes over a huge dreadnaught, taking out turrets, exhaust ports, etc, until you blow it up, or it reaches Earth.
173	* ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront 2'' has missions set in space where the ultimate goal is to disable the enemy's capital ship. This can be done either by hopping into a bomber and destroying key systems from the outside or by landing in the hanger bay and taking them out from the inside.
174	* The Platform/PlayStation2 game ''VideoGame/Transformers2004'' has part of a level set on an aircraft carrier. [[spoiler:Once the control room has been found, the [[ThatsNoMoon whole carrier transforms into Tidal Wave]], a Deception. Well, this ''is'' Franchise/{{Transformers}}, after all.]] If you've seen the show you know what's coming, but if you haven't it'll give you quite a start.
175	** That may also be considered a ColossusClimb.
176	* ''VideoGame/TransformersWarForCybertron'' has two such bosses, one an Autobot and one a Decepticon, who each serve as the FinalBoss and stretch over the final two missions of the opposing faction's Campaign Mode.
177	** In the penultimate mission of the Decepticon campaign, Soundwave reports that he has detected a massive Autobot warship closing on the Decepticon's position. Immediately upon the ship's arrival, Megatron realizes that the ship is actually the alt-mode of Omega Supreme. Megatron, Soundwave, and Breakdown then spend the remainder of that mission trying to avoid getting killed by it, and finally return the favor in the next one.
178	** In the Autobot campaign, the penultimate mission begins with the three Aerialbots, Silverbolt, Air Raid, and Jetfire, leading an aerial assault against the Decepticon space station. After getting inside the station and fighting their way through dozens upon dozens of Decepticon {{Mooks}} on their way to the control room, they realize that their entire mission has been a ColossusClimb as the station itself is the alt-mode of Trypticon. The remainder of that mission has the three Aerialbots causing Trypticon to crash-land on the surface of Cybertron, where Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Ironhide spend the entirety of the final mission battling him.
179	* ''VideoGame/{{Vanquish}}'''s third act focuses on destroying the [[HumongousMecha giant walking]] [[MilitaryMashupMachine battle platform]] [[NamesToRunAwayfromReallyFast Kreon]].
180	* ''VideoGame/ZoneOfTheEnders: the 2nd Runner'' features two versions, a pursuit of a massive train, and a mission where you take down an entire ''fleet'' of battleships.
181	[[/folder]]
182
183	[[folder:Turn-Based Strategy]]
184	* ''VideoGame/AdvanceWarsDaysOfRuin'' has an entire mission dedicated to this, [[spoiler:in which your ''army'' fights the opponent's ''army'' on the '''wing''' of the gargantuan ''Great Owl.'' [[RuleOfCool While it's in flight.]]]]
185	* An entire chapter of ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'' is dedicated to your group infiltrating the Battleship Gargantua.
186	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'': The final boss.
187	* The final battle of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' takes place on the [[BigBad Fell Dragon Grima's]] ''back''. The part you actually damage is a combination of his head and [[spoiler:his future self possessing an alternate version of the PlayerCharacter. It's complicated.]]
188	* Inverted in ''VideoGame/SakuraWarsSoLongMyLove''. The [[TheBattlestar battleship/carrier]] in question occupies the entire battlefield, and is large enough to divide it into four areas (port, starboard, deck, and hanger). It's a rather intimidating sight, pouring AA fire just outside the actual mission area in the opening cinematic, with an elite escort covering the close-in weakpoints that its own guns can't reach. The only catch is that the ship is the Ahab, the Star Division's mothership, it's already lost two of its four engines by the time the mission starts (and the remaining two are [[IncendiaryExponent on fire]]), and you're the elite escort charged with [[HoldTheLine protecting it from an endless stream of mooks until you can gain enough altitude to outrun them]]. [[ThatOneLevel Good luck.]]
189	* ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' had the Marmotah, which was literally a gigantic battleship on threads, with a WaveMotionGun picked up along the way. The last two stages require you to have your troops try and board the ship, which serves as the entire level to fight the FinalBoss.
190	-->'''Largo:''' Up on the Marmota's deck, eh? Nice spot for a showdown.
191	* ''Videogame/ValkyriaChroniclesII'' has the Dandarius, the [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized Rebel]]'s battleship provided by the Atlantic Federation. The final story missions involved preventing Baldren Gassenarl from escaping into Federation sea by destroying the heat sink to disable the ship itself. Since it takes place in a battleship, it has cannons that can target an entire segment of the map, which can obliterate your '''entire''' units unless they hide under certain zones like a building. Like the first game, it serves as a battlefield for the FinalBoss.
192	* In ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'', battleships are the largest [=UFOs=] your interceptor pilots can engage, and when it's time to send in a strike team to secure them, they take up the entire map. The ''Slingshot'' DLC pack includes a special mission chain that culminates in your soldiers hijacking a battleship mid-flight, disrupting its power systems to bring it down intact for a DiscOneNuke. And the final mission is an assault on the aliens' [[TheMothership Temple Ship]] to defeat its LoadBearingBoss.
193	[[/folder]]
194
195	[[folder:Real-Time Strategy]]
196	* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'' gives us [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100526125551/cnc/images/thumb/8/85/FloatingFortress_RA3_Cine1.jpg/568px-FloatingFortress_RA3_Cine1.jpg this]] little buddy and two campaign missions happening on it. It is notable that the floating fortress itself is indestructible to everything the factions at war can mobilize -- '''not even the ColonyDrop of a space station''' can even scratch it, hence why they board and sabotage it instead. Unfortunately for the Japanese, they left a critical flaw in the fortress' defenses: the [[ShoutOut Wave-Force]] [[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato Cannons]] defending it can use auxiliary targeting data to fire beyond visual range -- which is why the Allies knocked out the radar boats supplying said data first, blinding the cannons long enough to take over the fortress as the gunners didn't have enough time to switch back to normal targeting.
197	* The USS ''Reagan Seabase'' level in ''VideoGame/EndWar'' has the defending faction starting out on the flight deck of a moored aircraft carrier. There are only three bridges to access the deck with and it's significantly higher than the surrounding area, making artillery barrages aimed at the low ground extremely devastating with no danger of return fire due to the high ground concealing them from sight. The attacking faction practically has no choice but to AttackAttackAttack
198	* ''VideoGame/HeartOfTheSwarm''
199	** There is a Prison Ship Raid, using more or less endless swarms of Zerg to rescue Jim Raynor.
200	** There is also a twist on the mission type earlier in the game, where Kerrigan implants a Zergling into a Protoss being warped back onto a Protoss ship. After [[ChestBurster hatching]] from her hapless victim, Kerrigan has to [[StealthBasedMission stealthily]] guide the Zergling through the ship to grow and evolve until it is able to spawn a swarm large enough to bring the ship down.
201	* ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'''s fourth zerg mission has Kerrigan boarding a Terran science vessel to steal information; [[UnitsNotToScale it's amazingly huge, considering the unit's actual scale in the game]]. As with all installation maps, it's a heavily scripted no-base mission with limited units.
202	[[/folder]]
203
204	[[folder:Other Action Games]]
205	* ''VideoGame/AdventuresOfTomSawyer'': The boss fight of the LevelInTheClouds is an UnexpectedShmupLevel against a [[CoolAirship zeppelin]].
206	* ''VideoGame/AlienSoldier'' has a short but visually impressive example of this in Stage 9, where a huge blimp flies overhead the train the player is perched on.
207	* ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'' has chapter 8, which has Asura tearing apart Kalrow's ''entire fleet'' while they're all in-flight, ending with a ZeroEffortBoss against Kalrow himself.
208	* Two thirds of the ''[[VideoGame/{{Battletoads}} Battletoads]] and Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team'' crossover involve infiltrating, raiding and eventually shooting down the Colossus Ratship. Also, getting on the '''missile it shoots''' afterwards.
209	* In ''VideoGame/BionicCommando Rearmed'', the [[CoolAirship Albatross]], which was just a ColossusClimb boss fight in the original NES game, is now a full-length stage where you venture inside the airship.
210	* ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'':
211	** {{Exaggerated\|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/HardCorpsUprising'' thanks to Creator/DaisukeIshiwatari. To explain it in detail would spoil the game because it's the final level, but for the sake of awesomeness, look below at your own risk. [[spoiler:You start out riding on motorcycles, dodging the ship's lasers. Once all enemies are beaten, you fly off a ramp '''and manage to somehow land back on the ship itself''' (emphasis on somehow). Even then, you must now make it through enemies while dodging more lasers that destroy the areas it touches (a la [[VideoGame/SonicHeroes Final Fortress]]). THEN, sections of the ship start coming down to crush you, and while doing so you must dodge more lasers while hopping on rockets to reach the ship's engine. After destroying the engine, you take an elevator all the way up to the front of the ship, where you fight Tiberius. After beating him once, he transforms into a huge monster that, when beaten, crushes a hole inside of the ship, causing you to go careening to your doom, until your helicopter saves you. While this is happening, the destruction you caused earlier has caused the ship to collapse, and then you find out that the fight is not over, as Tiberius suddenly grows wings and knocks you off of your helicopter. You must now fight Tiberius one last time on the '''FALLING DEBRIS OF THE SHIP YOU JUST DESTROYED'''.]]
212	** ''VideoGame/ContraShatteredSoldier'': In the first half of Stage 2, you fight [[MilitaryMashupMachine a giant amphibious aircraft]], similar to the motorcycle section of Stage 4 in ''VideoGame/ContraIIITheAlienWars'', in the second, you raid a [[CoolTrain battle train]]. Also, the Crawler Tank boss at the end of Stage 3.
213	** ''VideoGame/NeoContra'': Stage 4 is essentially this. After the the first part when the Battleship Ro was destroyed, the players jump down from Mr. Heli-Robo, which is also about to explode, onto the Helicarrier. The players must destroy all enemy targets while evading the missiles whom is attacking the players. After destroying the last target on the Helicarrier, the two players, after facing the [[TalkingAnimal Animal Contra]], jump down onto the missiles, and fight the TIM Gunboat on the sea.
214	* ''VideoGame/DoubleDragonNeon'' has the [[MilitaryMashupMachine Giant Tank]] battle in Stage 6, which is also a {{callback}} to the machine in ''VideoGame/DoubleDragonII'''s fifth stage.
215	* ''VideoGame/GoddessOfVictoryNikke'': The lowest level Interception boss is a Rapture-controlled train absolutely ''loaded'' with weapons. You're heavily encouraged to destroy all turrets and missile launchers on the target first, as these both deal more damage than just shooting the hull and remove its ability to use some very powerful attacks that will destroy your cover fast. The final portion of the fight has you facing its detached and still active engine, which will try to ''ram you'' if you fail to hit its weak point in time.
216	* ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit'''s Twin Mega Battleships.
217	* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'':
218	** ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'': "Revenge of Meta Knight" is basically an entire subgame based on bringing down the Halberd, a huge battleship. "Milky Way Wishes" has a ShootEmUp section for the penultimate boss, which is even bigger than the Halberd.
219	** ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheRainbowCurse'' has two levels that involve bringing down the Bastron, a pastel-colored battleship, from the inside.
220	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyroDawnOfTheDragon'': The protagonists join forces with every ally they could round up to take on a mountain-sized golem. After flooding a canyon to halt its movement (the thing's so big its stride lets it circle the globe in twenty-four hours), you fly all around this beast attacking targets of opportunity while your NPC allies rain hell on it from the background, culminating in flying right down its throat to destroy its heart. After all that, it turns out to be a HeadsIWinTailsYouLose scenario, setting up the showdown with the BigBad.
221	* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
222	** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', the main storyline dungeons take the form of the Divine Beasts: [[LostTechnology ancient]] [[HumongousMecha war machines]] originally created to combat Ganon.
223	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'': The Wind Temple, also called the Stormwind Ark, is a huge airborne ship that is the source of an unending blizzard over the Hebra region. Not only is the ship swarming with monsters, there are also cannons that will shoot at you if glide past the sides of it.
224	* The final mission (unless you qualify for the [[TournamentArc Bloodright Trials]]) in ''VideoGame/MechWarrior 2: Ghost Bear's Legacy'' has you fighting an entire orbital platform, blowing a hole in it, jump jetting inside and fighting the mechs inside it to retrieve the final container of [[MacGuffin genetic material of Clan Ghost Bear's founders.]]
225	* In VideoGame/MegamanLegends after opening the Main Gate, The Flutter is ambushed by the Bonnes on their Gesselshaft, after which you not only have to shoot down their Drache squadron but then you have to face the Gesselshaft itself, and even ''after'' you take it down there's another boss right afterwards, the Focke-Wulf. All this is done while riding on the top of The Flutter.
226	* After its jump to the Playstation, the ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series overdosed on these.
227	** The majority of the Ocean stage in X5 is a series of long fights against a giant submarine mech.
228	** The entirety of the Weapons Center stage in X6 is spent dodging the shots of a giant mech in the background while cutting the cables that power it.
229	** The Radio Tower stage in X7 is spent climbing up while avoiding the attacks of a giant bug mech, then fighting it.
230	** The Central Valley stage in X8 is spent running away form a giant mech, fighting it, chasing it, then fighting it again.
231	* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'':
232	** The series has Jhen Mohran in ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter3Tri'' (as well as its Hallowed subspecies in the UpdatedRerelease ''3 Ultimate'') and Dah'ren Mohran in ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter4'', which are both fought in this fashion. In both cases, the first phase starts on a [[SandIsWater Sand Ship]], firing cannons and ballistae to weaken it. The second phase is more straightforward except you have the Dragonator set up as an attack option.
233	** In ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'' the second half of Zorah Magdaros fights play out like this. He reaches a barrier where you focus on using artillery to injure him and potentially leap back onto his body during an attack to attack a weak spot.
234	* ''VideoGame/NavalOps: Warship Gunner'' and its later sequel ''Naval Ops: Commander'', this trope happened every other level, with a boss in the form of a colossal 'supership' of some kind. They came in a variety of flavors, from giant submarines to colossal landing ships to to a supership armed with a WaveMotionGun. Humorously, this can be inverted by the player who with a well designed (battle)ship of their own can effectively destroy entire enemy fleets (including bosses) single-handed. In the last game, this can be done with a Frigate by giving it a high enough speed and shields against lasers.
235	%%* ''VideoGame/OmegaFighter'' consists entirely of this.
236	* In ''Videogame/PathOfExile'', the last third of Act 4 involves breaching the body of the mountain-sized Beast and fighting through its interior to slay its heart. You have to revisit the Beast's corpse in Act 9, where it has begun to rot and the blood and viscera leaking from its corpse has rendered much of the region uninhabitable.
237	* In ''VideoGame/Rockman7EP'', Wily Stage 2: Dreadnought is a SHMUP level based on destroying Wily's battleship from the inside. Gamerizer is the boss.
238	* ''VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} III'' has the final level involving you infiltrating the final boss's armed floating platform amidst a moonlit night sky and into its mechanical depths, leading up to the final showdown with the boss himself. It's really [[BestLevelEver pretty damn awesome]]. You have to play it to believe it.
239	* Various levels in the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series, but the Wing Fortress stage in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' is probably the most well-known.
240	** Marve-shupopolous-gou is a long freight train found in Sunset Park in ''VideoGame/SonicTripleTrouble'', combining this trope with the LocomotiveLevel. Act 3 consists of Sonic getting on board near the caboose and has him running on the traintops to reach the engine to disable it.
241	** This was also done in ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic & Knuckles]]'', via the Flying Battery Zone. In homage to ''Sonic 2'', it also had a near direct copy of the Wing Fortress' boss segment as a pre-boss.
242	** As well as the Sky Chase parts of Sonic and Tails' stories in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', where you fly around, over, under and finally onto the titanic Egg Carrier.
243	** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'''s Sky Deck stage for Sonic is a more traditional example, with players fighting their way through the turret-laden exterior of the ship, contending with strong winds and the ship tilting and twisting before busting into the ship's interior.
244	** ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' has its final two stages, Egg Fleet and Final Fortress. The former is a Battleship Raid consisting of ''several'' flying battleships, while the latter is a singular raid on Eggman's gargantuan flagship.
245	* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' and its 16-bit remake, the Koopalings were inside big, wooden, flying battleships. Then in World 8, there were sea-bound battleships and large tanks.
246	** Seeing as how they are destroyed at the end, the fortress levels all count as well, and also Megaleg in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''.
247	* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioFusionRevival'':
248	** World 1-SHIP (Doomship Assault) The final obstacle between you and Bowser's Keep is this Doomship level. Larry Koopa awaits you at the end as a boss. [[{{Foreshadowing}} Why are the other Doomships being mobilized so quickly?]]
249	** In World 3-SHIP (Subterranean Hell): Wendy O. Koopa's fleet of submarines and u-boats have been sucked into the Ocean of Oblivion! Once you get through the gauntlet of cannons and Torpedo Ted launchers, the player has to face Wendy herself in her flagship Doomsub! She brings back her deadly red rings of death for this battle!
250	** World 6-2 (Security Grid) [[Franchise/{{Halo}} The Covenant]] have breached the security wing of the [[Franchise/StarFox Great Fox]]. They have activated the defense systems in that wing. Mario and crew must fight off the Covenant and disengage the defense systems in order to restore control of the Great Fox to the Star Fox team.
251	* In ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1989'', the Turtles must perform this to enter the Technodrome, taking out the mobile base's turrets, [[MookMaker Foot Soldier dispensers]], electric prongs, and Eye Spy radar.
252	* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': One stage of the final raid against Deathwing involves fighting him while on his back in midair.
253	** The third boss fight in Icecrown Citadel has the raid take part in a firefight the Horde and Alliance gunships which have been patrolling the region for the entire expansion. Several players man the cannons while the rest of the raid uses rocket backpacks to jump back and forth between the ships fighting the enemy faction's forces.
254	[[/folder]]

Context Main / BattleshipRaid