History Main / TennisBoss

*** Playing this differently than usual, Link can knock back any [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]], from {{Mook}}s and bosses alike, but he has to use his shield. [[Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible It still qualifies for the trope]] for two reasons: if you don't time it right, said laser beam will destroy your shield[[note]]with two exceptions: the Hylian Shield (a whopping 800 durability) and the Ancient Shield (auto-deflects laser-based attacks)[[/note]] (and possibly kill you when it detonates, depending on the surrounding environment); but if you ''do'' time it right, you can pull it off with a ''pot lid''. [[spoiler:Particularly noteworthy is that this is how Link killed a rogue Guardian in the backstory.]]

* ''VideoGame/Doom3: Resurrection of Evil'''s first boss was one of these. For that matter, you could kill virtually every other (non-boss) enemy in the game with ''one hit'' in this manner.

* In the first ''VideoGame/Splatoon1'', each [[SequentialBoss phase]] of the FinalBoss, DJ Octavio, is finished by reflecting a humongous missile fired by him back and forth until it explodes in someone's face; ideally the boss's. It should be noted that Octavio doesn't have the courtesy to hold on to his [[MacrossMissileMassacre other]] [[DeathRay weaponry]] during this tennis match, so we suggest keeping an eye out for everything else plus the giant missile.

* In ''VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon'', a BonusBoss in the Spooky Swamp tosses bombs and the way to defeat him is to hit them back at him.

** BonusBoss Ice Titan in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' 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. This even includes the Lingering Will's {{BFG}} - it may fire an enormous ball of energy, but Sora's Block or Reflect will bounce it back same as everything else.

*** A variant with one of BonusBoss Dry Bowser's attacks from the same game. He tries to suck in the heroes while spiked balls are rolling toward them (like e Sandmaarghs from the desert area, except all Bros are targeted at once), and the heroes can hammer the spikes offscreen to hit Dry Bowser from behind as a WrapAround.

** Variation in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'': Birdo spits eggs that you have to jump on and throw back.

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'', the final boss [[spoiler:(Ganon again... er, actually, make that '''Yuga''' Ganon)]] does this twice. The first time has the standard type of one ball; the second time, he uses two balls.
** Referenced in ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors''; Link's water-elemental 'weapon' class is the Great Fairy, and one of her combo finishers involves a quick game of Dead Man's Volley.
** ''[[UpdatedRerelease Hyrule Warriors Legends]]'' also includes [[spoiler:Phantom Ganon]], who plays the trope straight; any playable warrior can attack his projectile and send it back to be volleyed. [[TurnsRed After he takes a volley]], [[ArtificialBrilliance he stops playing]].

Nope. [[BatterUp Swing, batta batta, swing]]! That's right, [[AttackReflector smack that ball of destruction right back towards 'im!]] If you're lucky, he won't be ready, and it'll hit him, leaving him open for a few good whacks with your WeaponOfChoice. If you're not, he'll hit it ''back'' and the game is on. For the extra-challenging variety, the ball will speed up each time you do this, so that eventually, you're furiously [[ButtonMashing mashing the button]] to attack again and again and hoping that the boss misses before you do.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'', against the third-to-last boss, it's possible to catch a missile several times your size and throw it at the boss, who throws it back, so you throw it again, etc. The next boss tries to kill you by launching skyscrapers and [[ColonyDrop having a satellite fall from space and crash into you]], but Bayonetta throws ''those'' back as well.

*** In that same game, this also applies to the [[DualBoss boss(es)]] of the Spirit Temple, [[AnIcePerson Kotake]] and [[PlayingWithFire Koume]]. The first half is a variation, where you have to reflect one witch's blast of magic towards the other (Koume attacks with fire, which [[KillItWithFire the icy Kotake is weak to]], and [[KillItWithIce vice-versa]]). Twinrova, their combined form, plays it straight, where you have to absorb three blasts of the same element they fire at you, then turn it back against them, allowing you to strike with your sword. Make sure you avoid absorbing the opposite element, for it cancels out the current element you already absorbed and deals damage to you at the same time.

*** In that same game, this also applies to the [[DualBoss boss(es)]] of the Spirit Temple, [[AnIcePerson Kotake]] and [[PlayingWithFire Koume]]. The first half is a variation, where you have to reflect one witch's blast of magic towards the other (Koume attacks with fire, which [[KillItWithFire the icy Kotake is weak to]], and [[KillItWithIce vice-versa]]). Twinrova, their combined form, plays it straight, where you have to absorb three blasts of the same element they fire at you, then turn it back against them. Make sure you avoid absorbing the opposite element, for it cancels out the current element you already absorbed and deals damage to you at the same time.

* ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand2'' has you gaining the [[EleventhHourSuperpower Rainbow Sword]] and go to the special area to fight [[BigBad Dark Matter]]. You can hit him directly with the sword (Which causes barely any damage), but a safer and quicker strategy is to keep your distance and wait for him to fire a certain attack, then thwack it with the sword back at him.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'', each [[SequentialBoss phase]] of the FinalBoss, DJ Octavio, is finished by reflecting a humongous missile fired by him back and forth until it explodes in someone's face; ideally the boss's. It should be noted that Octavio doesn't have the courtesy to hold on to his [[MacrossMissileMassacre other]] [[DeathRay weaponry]] during this tennis match, so we suggest keeping an eye out for everything else plus the giant missile.

-->-- '''[[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]]''' reviewing ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''

* The final showdown of the first ''Bionicle'' movie is [[spoiler: a particularly mean-spirited one-on-one kohlii match (basically fantasy lacrosse) between Takanuva and Makuta, calling back to early in the film where Takanuva (as Takua) played in the kohlii tournament. The match consists of the two participants using their weapons to throw balls of energised protodermis back and forth trying to hit each other. Takanuva eventually wins by catching Makuta’s shot midair and reversing its momentum with a flip-technique that he attempted but failed back in the tournament.]]

* Even if it's not essential to defeat him and very risky to do, in the first ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'', you can swat back the fireballs that the first RecurringBoss, Phantom, spits at you, and this is also the solution to one of the game's (few) puzzles. Doing this to the FinalBoss in his second form gets you a health power-up.
** You can also do this to the pillars Beowulf throws at you in ''Devil May Cry 3''. It's not essential.
** Also in ''Devil May Cry 3'', you also can reflect the Doppleganger's anti-light energy blasts.
** The Gigapede in the fourth mission throws electric balls of energy at you that you can send right back.
** In ''Devil May Cry 4'', Nero can use his [[RedRightHand Devil Bringer]] to deflect the attacks of one of the bosses, as well as throwing a sword-shaped enemy at whatever's nearest. Additionally, some of the Alto Angelos can summon Bianco Angelos to stand next to them and fire a huge beam of energy at either character. They can promptly deflect it with any attack - including a single thrown rose from Dante - to destroy the entire group and get an instant SSS rank.
** In ''VideoGame/DmCDevilMayCry'', Dante can parry Mundus' meteors and [[spoiler: Vergil's Summoned Swords]]. Just time your attack (Both versions), or make sure that Prop/Shredder's atack frames are active (Does not work on the Definitive Edition).

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/DmCDevilMayCry''. The player can throw their ax head at enemies, and some late game enemies will hit it back if their defenses are up. If the player manages to time it right, they can then stun the enemy by hitting it back, turning this into one of the shortest applications of this trope.

* The PC and GBA versions of ''VideoGame/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' have this during the Mirror of Erised Battle with [[FanNickname Quirrelmort]]. You're stuck in the outer ring of the circular room, surrounded by pillars. You have to hide behind the pillars so that Quirrelmort would cast a spell at it to destroy it. When all the pillars are gone, you then use Flipendo to make the Mirror of Erised spin in place and face a different direction. Then carefully position it and yourself so that you'll use the mirror to reflect Quirrelmort's spell back at him.

* [[BlackoutBasement Dark Grotto]] boss[[note]][[FanNickname Also known as Dark Red.]][[/note]] in ''VideoGame/AnUntitledStory''. He charges up a fireball and you have to reflect it with iceshot, and he ''will'' reflect it. How many times he will do it in a turn increases with [[TurnsRed amount of hit points left]] ''and'' with difficulty level.

** Ness can reflect Samus's blasts with his baseball bat. Of course, this can be a brilliant in-game move as most players expect Ness to absorb the blast to heal damage. Ness's 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, Poké Balls, 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.

* A scene in the Chinese movie ''Film/{{Hero}}'' has two people [[ImplausibleFencingPowers using their swords]] to "play tennis" with a waterdrop.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' forces you to fight [[spoiler:[[HypnotizeThePrincess Puppet Zelda]]]] during the final boss run in this manner. As with ''Ocarina of Time'' and ''Wind Waker'', you can use an empty bottle in place of the sword.

* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}} and the Pirate's Curse'' has the battle against the Ammo Baron. Since his [[TankGoodness tank]] is too tough for Shantae's PrehensileHair to crack, Shantae will need hair-whip his bouncing red cannonballs back at him to deal damage.

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* ''[[VideoGame/{{Doom}} Doom 3: Resurrection Of Evil]]'''s first boss was one of these. For that matter, you could kill virtually every other (non-boss) enemy in the game with ''one hit'' in this manner.

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* In ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'', deflecting their flying sword spell back at them is the only way to harm the Three Wise Men. Unfortunately, they also teleport away if struck by ''anything else'', know a large variety of other spells that inflict StandardStatusEffects on you (meaning said flying swords come out very seldom, and only following barrages of other spells), and is enough of a MookMaker to keep you busy, which makes them ThatOneBoss ''[[NintendoHard even by Odin Sphere standards]]''. Also, during Odin's Boss battles he can occasionally charge up his EpicFlail Balor and toss the sphere at you as it bounces across the screen, and it is possible to hit it hard enough to reverse it and cause it to damage Odin, though it's optional and is much safer to avoid the ball alltogether.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' plays this differently than usual; Link can knock back any [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]], from {{Mook}}s and bosses alike, but he has to use his shield. [[Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible It still qualifies for the trope]] for two reasons: if you don't time it right, said laser beam will destroy your shield[[note]]with two exceptions: the Hylian Shield (a whopping 800 durability) and the Ancient Shield (auto-deflects laser-based attacks)[[/note]] (and possibly kill you when it detonates, depending on the surrounding environment); but if you ''do'' time it right, you can pull it off with a ''pot lid''. [[spoiler:Particularly noteworthy is that this is how Link killed a rogue Guardian in the backstory.]]
** In a boss example, Fireblight Ganon sucks up air to charge an enormous fireball. The idea is, since it looks visually similar to the animation of the Rock Octoroks found about Death Mountain, to hint to you that you have to [[FeedItABomb set down a bomb and let it get sucked up into his vortex]], then detonate it to stun him. The fireball normally [[GenreSavvy explodes when you whack it]], however, with a Perfect Guard, you can reflect it back at him a few times and stun him like you would with the bomb.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'' features a shadow version of Agahnim during the final showdown, complete with tennis-based battle strategy. This time, the Shovel also works. The shadow also has two attacks, one of which cannot be sent back or blocked, and must be dodged.