History Main / TennisBoss

* ''TheLegendOfZelda'' is considerably fond of this. Fans of the games often refer to this trope as "Ganonball" Phantom Hourglass gave it an official name, Dead Man's Volley. [[supersecretspoiler: But not [[GannonBanned Gannonball]].]]

* In {{Bayonetta}}, you do this with a ''[[BeyondTheImpossible satellite.]]''

**** Ness' bat (and Mario's cape, and the other reflectors) can knock back any projectile -- this can get excellent against items that are "owned" by the thrower, meaning they can't get damaged by them, like banana peels, Pokeballs, and ROB's odd top weapon. If they don't notice you reflected them before they fell, they'll think they're immune to them, and assume they're still not a threat. Hilarity ensues.

* In ''PokemonAdventures'', a manga also known as Pokemon Special, Guile can reflect a Pokemon's attack back at its user using his sword.

* ''TheLegendOfZelda'' is considerably fond of this. Fans of the games often refer to this trope as "Ganonball" [[supersecretspoiler: But not [[GannonBanned Gannonball]].]] Phantom Hourglass gave it an official name, Dead Man's Volley

* ''TheLegendOfZelda'' is considerably fond of this. Fans of the games often refer to this trope as "Ganonball". [[supersecretspoiler: But not [[GannonBanned Gannonball]].]]

**** It doesn't swing faster, it just has a longer holding time. When you use the sword, it's a quick slash, and timing is crucial, but if you use the bottle, Link will hold it there longer, and timing isn't as important. This troper finds that it is more effective to use the sword, as it takes longer for Ganondorf to miss if you use the bottle, and the timing isn't as precise as in Twilight Princess (where the bottle is a much more effective alternative).

[[BrawlInTheFamily http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PlayingTennisWithBoss2_7558.png]]

[[caption-width:223:[[TheLegendOfZelda Something like that, yeah]].]]

See this [[http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/comic097.html literal webcomic reference]]

**** Especially fun when you don't realize you're supposed to use the sword and you try the bottle first.

** ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'' features this during the return to the Forsaken Fortress, as a fight against Phantom Ganon.

*** It should be noted that the empty bottle is also an option in this game.

**** On the plus side, once you get the Light Arrows in ''Wind Waker'' you can wait for the Phantom to do a volley, and then just vaporize him with the [[GameBreaker obscenely powerful]] weapon. Sweet, sweet vengeance!

** ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass Phantom Hourglass]]'' has you fight the Cubus Sisters this way. They even make a game out of it they call "Dead Man's Volley".

*** And just a bit later, the first half of the boss battle against the Twin Dragon Gleeok works this way, although with an unique twist, using the rope from the Grappling Hook like a big slingshot.

* Several ''FinalFantasy'' bosses, usually at least once per game since the Reflect spell was introduced, will cast Reflect on themselves and/or the party, and bounce damaging spell off itself onto you and curative spells off you onto it. The solution is of course to follow suit. The best example of this is Bahamut and Dark Bahamut in ''FinalFantasyIV''. Bahamut spends five turns charging up Mega Flare, the only real way to survive is to Reflect it back at him. His cousin Dark Bahamut casts Reflect on himself and bounces normal Flares off himself, and if you summon say, [[MirrorMatch Bahamut]] to pierce Reflect, he counters with Mega Flare, which you need to Reflect to survive...yeah.

** The worst part? The Wise Men are actually [[KingMook King Mooks]], and the normal wizards require the exact same strategy. And you are not told you can do this trick until you encounter the first boss wizard... several chapters after their introduction. Oh, and the first boss wizard's [[FlunkyBoss minions]]? Two minibosses at once.

* The Earth Trolls in ''{{Fable}}'' will rip up chunks of the ground and hurl them at you with alarming regularity. They cannot be blocked, but it is possible to dodge them or knock them back at the troll. Of course, the latter requires twitch-reflex timing and more than a little luck.

** Or the [[BulletTime time-slowing spell]]. Whichever works.

** Except for the Korriban valley level. There's a dark Jedi standing on the top of some pillars in the middle who seems to have been placed there specifically for this purpose, as he's unreachable and doesn't attack in any way. Rocket tennis can be played with him indefinitely from several locations on the map, as he's far enough that the force regenerates before the missle comes flying back.

** You can also play Judgement Link against other NPCs, making it much closer to the trope.

**** On the plus side, once you get the Light Arrows in ''Wind Waker'' you can wait for the Phantom to do a volley, and then just vaporize him with the [[GameBreaker obscenely powerful]] weapon. Sweet, sweet vengeance!

** In the Zelda-based parody ''Legend of Princess'', you have to fight one of the minibosses like this, but it degenerates to button mashing when it gets too fast.

** ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'' featured a shadow version of Agahnim, complete with tennis-based battle strategy.

* Using the Mirror power to send back projectiles is the only way you can defeat [[BigBad Dr. Wily]] at the end of the ''MegaMan'' game for the original Game Boy.

* In ''[[MegaManX Mega Man X6]]'', Gate is completely immune to your attacks. The only way to hit him is to attack the colored spheres he throws at you; they then split into pieces, which damage Gate if they hit him. Oh, and did I mention that this battle happens in a room with a bunch of tiny platforms above a BottomlessPit? Good thing your characters can [[WallJump climb the walls]].
** The first form of the final boss in ''[[MegaMan Mega Man 9]]'' spits out explosive dinosaur eggs (!). The eggs have to be shot back so they bounce into the boss's mouth.

** In ''UnrealChampionship2'', you can reflect any weapons fire with your melee weapon, assuming you get the timing right. Rockets are fairly easy, unless you're too close, but sniper rounds are...difficult. If you get a kill by reflected shot, the announcer will say "Rejected", to make sure you know how badass you are.

* While very difficult, it is actually possible to reflect incoming fire such as rockets using ''[[{{Unreal}} Unreal Tournament's]]'' impact hammer.
** In ''[[{{Unreal}} Unreal Championship 2]]'', you can reflect any weapons fire with your melee weapon, assuming you get the timing right. Rockets are fairly easy, unless you're too close, but sniper rounds are...difficult. If you get a kill by reflected shot, the announcer will say "Rejected", to make sure you know how badass you are.

* BonusBoss Ice Titan in ''KingdomHearts'' requires you to hit his icicles back at him, as anything else you can hit him does absolutely nothing until you stun him with the aforementioned icicles.
** In fact, you can do this in all sorts of places. Most projectile attacks in the game can be reflected back at an opponent, often giving a nice xp bonus and stunning the enemy.
** The last part of the final battle of ''[[KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts II]]''.
*** This requires a great deal of button mashing, since it's not one powerful attack - it is a goddamn torrent of energy blasts. On the other hand, if you manage to hit most of them back, you'll have blasted off a good deal of his health bar.
**** Then again, he only uses that move once a considerable portion of his health is gone already, and the following bit of [[CutscenePowerToTheMax Cutscene Power]] reduces him to 1HP and stuns him.
**** Really, it's more [[PressXToNotDie Press X and Triangle simultaneously not to die]]
** About half of the enemies in ''358/2 Days'' can be defeated in this matter.

** In fact, you can do this in all sorts of places. Most projectile attacks in the game can be reflected back at an opponent, often [[strike: with devastating results]] giving a nice xp bonus and stunning the enemy.

*** This requires a great deal of button mashing, since it's not one powerful attack - it is a godsdamn torrent of energy blasts. On the other hand, if you manage to hit most of them back, you'll have blasted off a good deal of his health bar.

** About half of the enemies in ''352/2 Days'' can be defeated in this matter.

* The FinalBoss battle of obscure N64 game ''SinAndPunishment'' features your HumongousMecha fighting a gigantic evil Earth firing lasers and asteroids at regular Earth in this manner, deflecting its attacks back at it using your own swords and lasers. SoYeah...

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