| |
HISTORY
The first interactive game to feature a boss was dnd, a 1975 computer role-playing game for the PLATO system. One of the earliest dungeon crawls, dnd implemented many of the core concepts behind Dungeons & Dragons. The objective of the game is to retrieve an "Orb" from the bottommost dungeon. The orb is kept in a treasure room guarded by a high-level enemy named the Gold Dragon. Only by defeating the Dragon can the player claim the orb, complete the game, and be eligible to appear on the high score list.
The first arcade game to feature a boss was Phoenix, a fixed shooter developed by Taito in 1980. Phoenix includes five levels ("Rounds") which pit the player against swarms of alien birds. During the first two Rounds, the player is assaulted by the pigeon-like "Scouts", whereas the more formidable "Soldiers" are introduced in Rounds 3 and 4. On disposing these enemies, a giant mothership appears in the fifth and final Round.
CHARACTERS
Bosses are "super-powered" in comparison with regular enemies, and are usually found at the end of a level or area. Most games also include a "final" boss, which is usually the main antagonist in the story, at the very end of the game. Some of the most well known final bosses are Bowser (Mario) Robotnik (Sonic) and Ganon (Legend of Zelda).[original research?] While most games include a mixture of boss opponents and regular opponents, some only have one or the other for example, Shadow of the Colossus for the PlayStation 2 has no enemies other than bosses.
The boss characters in 1 vs 1 fighting games generally exceed the capabilities of the "regular" characters (sometimes having moves that have excessive priority or deals excessive damage, infinite power gauge or regenerating lifebar); depending on the game, the boss character can be selectable or not. In some fighting games the boss character is selectable from the beginning; in other ones it's a secret or unlockable character. Sometimes a fighting game boss is a powered-up version of an existing selectable character (for example, Street Fighter Alpha 3's M. Bison).
Some video games will also have what are known as a "Sub-Boss" or "Mini-Boss", which are enemies that are stronger than typical enemies but weaker than the main bosses in the game. Examples are side-scrolling shooting or platforming games such as the Mega Man series. These characters typically appear roughly halfway through a level and must be defeated in order to proceed.
Also from Wikipedia.com
| |
|
