History HopelessBossFight / RoleplayingGames

** In ''VideoGame/MegadimensionNeptuniaVictoryII'', Gold Third will crash the [=CPUs'=] upcoming fight to test out their new Gold Forms. They're completely invulnerable, and will one-shot each [=CPU=].

** At one point you are unexpectedly pitted against Lavos, the final boss. If you've leveled up normally, you will probably lose instantly. He will surely attack first, and will use a TotalPartyKill attack that, assuming you leveled up normally, is instant death. Just to make sure you lose, he's actually even stronger than the normal Lavos at the end of the game. It is actually possible to beat him, but you'll need to be either in NewGamePlus or have [[LevelGrinding level grinded]] '''a lot''' for there to be any realistic chance of that happening. Disappointingly, even if you win, you don't get to see Queen Zeal's reaction to the "invincible" Lavos being defeated right in front of her. It leads to a secret ending, one of the most difficult in the game to earn.

** Pokemon: Ash Gray, an adaptation of season 1 of the anime, has multiple of these.

** ''[=MMBN1=]'' presented an unbeatable [=ElecMan=], who recovers completely from all major damage and also won't be defeated even if a player is quick enough to drop him to 0 HP. Rather than dying, however, you only need to watch [=ElecMan=] heal himself a few times before the heroes learn they need to disable his power and begin the ''real'' fight.
** In ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork 3'', Bass is unbeatable the first time you fight him. He has a shield that prevents the main character from inflicting damage and can't be removed by any means. Late in the game, this shield is replaced with a 100-HP aura as a result of [[spoiler:Bass being tricked into absorbing part of Alpha's program, which weakens him.]]
** You can't do anything to [=ShadeMan=] in ''[=MMBN4=]'' until the second go-round, in which Dark Chips become available and can be used to pierce his dark aura.
** In ''[=MMBN6=]'', [[NoExportForYou (or rather, Rockman.exe 6, since it was completely ripped out of the North America version)]] you can't touch BonusBoss [[VideoGame/{{Boktai}} Count of Groundsoaking Blood]] until you go on a sidequest related to his game.

** After you beat [[MusicalAssassin Harp]] [[BreatherBoss Note]] in the first game, Geo is tricked by [[ClassRepresentative Luna Platz]] into coming back to school by having him look at the play set (which is about the battle against [[BullfightBoss Taurus Fire]]). A Jammer drops a light on Geo but misses, after which you have to chase after him. When you finally catch up with him, the Jammer turns giant and ambushes you. You battle him, but none of your attacks hurt him, then after four turns, the battle ends and he squeezes Mega Man, causing him to pass out and un-transform.

** At one point the game requires one character to stay in a certain town until they fight a certain character. In this case, the Hopeless Boss Fight Guardian attacks the party if he tries to leave, activating what it calls "Guard Mode". No attacks can damage it, and it counters with a powerful blow -- the only option is to run. In the final dungeon, the Guardian attacks again, but this time it activates "Attack Mode" and actively battles the party. By now, most players will gleefully accept the opportunity to destroy it. The Guardian also appears in Vector if you go there when you aren't supposed to. Basically, the Guardian is the BorderPatrol subtrope played straight.
** There's also a BorderPatrol in South Figaro during Locke's solo segment: the Heavy Armor. You actually can beat this one, as it's just a standard mook from slightly later in the game. But you've only got one character, and there's no way in Locke's segment to have him gain any experience, so you're expected to solve the puzzles to pass instead. Beating the Heavy Armors does [[CuttingTheKnot remove them to let you pass]], though.

*** Fairly early on in ''Cold Steel II'', you're tossed into a boss battle with [[spoiler:two members of Fie's former jaeger corps, Zephyr.]] Both have around 90,000 HP and it's said before the battle that the party has about a "20% chance" of victory. You're allowed to whittle around a quarter of that before both use their S-Crafts. The battle ends automatically a few turns later and it's revealed that they were holding back.

* Quite a few of these show up in ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'', and they'll end if everyone gets KO'd, a certain amount of time passes, or if you cause enough damage to the boss. In the latter two situations, the boss will simply send everyone flying with a special attack to end the fight. Their HP also simply stops decreasing once it reaches the "You lose" threshold, so you can't win even on a NewGamePlus, where you could realistically OHKO some of them otherwise.

** The Mad Dummy can't be attacked by the Player and mercilessly mocks them for that as well. Even their description notes how attacks are useless. Ironically, the Dummy attacks with magic missles and ''those'' [[SelfDisposingVillain can damage them]]. In the end, Mad Dummy gets chased away by Napstablook's magic tears. Apart from getting the Dummy's own attacks to hit them, [[HoldTheLine all you can do is survive]] until Napsablook shows up.

** The second game: Poseidon subverts this. He has an invincible forcefield, meaning no damage can be done at all to him (though he can still do damage to you). This would seem like a HopelessBossFight, but what one actually needs to do is [[spoiler:retrieve the three prongs of the Trident of Ankohl and bring them to [[WretchedHive Champa]] to be reforged. [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement The trident can then be used to destroy Poseidon's forcefield]], although you still have to defeat him (in a fairly difficult fight). Finding and reforging the Trident can be a bit of GuideDangIt, though.]]

** ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaReBirth1'' is a remake of the first game, unlike the first game, the example above is replaced by a cut-scene of the same battle, however that doesn't mean that the game is devoid of {{Hopeless Boss Fight}}s, examples include Arfoire (identified as question marks for the first time. She accidentally Nerfs herself by copying Compa's power instead of Neptune's), Arfoire again (impersonating Green Heart, However Vert regains the HDD ability shortly after, placing Arfoire on even ground), The CPU Breaker (Which was only weakened by a BigDamnHeroes Moment from an unexpected character), and the aptly named CPU Killer (which precedes a [[WhamEpisode a turning point]] and cannot be fought in a weakened state unlike the others). With a lot of LevelGrinding these bosses can be beaten, but they give no experience, no credits and don't even appear in the game's bestiary, and the events still play out as if they won the fights.

** The game toys with the fourth wall to provide an inversion in one path. [[spoiler: YOU are the {{hopeless boss fight}} - as in [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall you, the player.]] The final boss of the Genocide route, Sans, is entirely aware of your ability to reload the game, should you lose, so he knows he has no real chance of beating you outright. The only thing he ''can'' do is [[GoddamnedBoss making the fight so difficult]], [[RageQuit you give up]] and stop playing the game. [[CurbStompBattle And]] [[SNKBoss boy]] [[InterfaceScrew does]] [[CombatPragmatist he]] [[ThatOneBoss try]].]]

* ''VideoGame/SuikodenTheWovenWebOfACentury'':

** After you beat [[MusicalAssassin Harp]] [[BreatherBoss Note]] in the first game Geo is tricked by [[ClassRepresentative Luna Platz]] to coming back to school by having him look at the play set (which is about the battle against [[BullfightBoss Taurus Fire]]) a jammer drops a light on you but misses, after which you have to chase after it. When you finally catch up with it, the jammer ambushes you, you battle and then after 4 turns the battle ends and he strangles you causing your character (Mega Man Geo-Omega) to pass out and un transform.
** Then in the second game you go to the shopping center area (where you battled Dark Phantom and later on battled a eyeball monster), while here you are forced by [[TheDragon Hollow]] to save people from multi colored knight monsters. After you beat them you are forced into a 4 round battle against [[ThatOneBoss Solo-Rogue]] after which Sonia shows up and saves you.
** Next in the third game, you first have to go up against J Corvus, after 4 rounds the battle ends and Joker shows up and datafies Luna. Then later on you have to go up Acid Ace who has been corrupted by Joker (who else?) and after a 4 round battle (what else?) the battle ends and he un transforms and collapses on the floor of the concert stage at the TV studio.

*** In Chapter 4, you have multiple encounters with a ghost who has stolen your identity (don't ask). Until you discover his name, you can't hurt him, fortunately, unlike most examples in the series, he can't hurt you either. His name is the same every time, but interestingly enough the same place you find his name is the same place you find the missing letter in the name-entering screen. This is done on purpose, because he asks you to guess his name earlier in the game, but people who have already played (or read a guide) know his name when Mario shouldn't. So they removed a letter from the name-entering screen so whether you know his name or not, you can't enter it until you find out his name in-game. Trying to cheat by replacing the missing letter with its uppercase counterpart is the same as not entering the right name, too - you ''have'' to go on with the game like normal.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'': Lloyd in the arena. He is undefeatable in the fact that he will simply dodge every attack you throw at him, and then, to add insult to non-injury, he mocks you with such phrases as "Ha! Not even close!" or "Don't waste your time!" or "Too Slow!"

** In ''Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys'', Keith Fact is possessed and turned against you, and the only way to proceed is to be beaten.

*** Though the final {{DLC}}, ''Arrival'', doesn't feature any bosses ''per se'', at one point, it pits Shepard (alone!) against five consecutive waves of [[ArtificialBrilliance frighteningly smart]], increasingly powerful enemies in a room that has little suitable cover and no ammo refills except the ones you pick up from the enemies. You thought the Thresher Maw on Tuchanka was hard? Good luck getting the "LastStand" Achievement. It soon proves that regardless of whether you are beaten to unconsciousness by the enemies or taken down in the cutscene following your "victory", you are taken prisoner and the villain's plan proceeds. For the record, if you survive, the [[spoiler: Reaper artifact]] "Object Rho" reaches full power and concusses Shepard into unconsciousness, whereupon s/he is sedated. (It doesn't stick.)

** The first encounter with Marquis de Leon (Keeleon in the American NES version) in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' also counts, since after defeating [[TrickBoss Balzack]], he's powerful enough to easily OneHitKill Meena (Nara) and Maya (Mara) before they can even put a dent in him. The battle will end if both of the sisters are knocked out, regardless of how much health Oojam (Orin) has.

** The game also has two types of these: Fights that are just ''really, really'' hard to win, and fights that you can't win at all (because the boss' HP won't go down). This can become downright ridiculous, like the first fight against [[spoiler:Commander Brute]]. Cue a long string of "Impressive !" as he flinches constantly under your attacks... without losing any HP. During the second encounter, he doesn't get any stat buff but loses that plot invincibility. CurbStompBattle [[RealityEnsues ensues]].

** Arianrhod in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesZeroNoKiseki Trails to Azure]]''. Like Loewe above, it is possible to beat her. Once her health reaches half though, she will pull out her full force and unleashes heavy damaging attacks. She'll congratulate the party on their strength if they win the battle.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'': Llednar Twem, is protected by a [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules 'Fortune' law]] which causes reality to warp around him, granting him invulnerability to all attacks. His boss fights, rather than a [[DuelBoss one-on-one duel]] are instead endurance matches while he chases you around for several rounds until he gets bored and attempts to use an [[MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours illegal attack,]] jailing him and leaving you the victor by default. Subsequent battles follow the same pattern, as he flees at the first sign of a judge rather than risk getting jailed again.

* In ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy 4'', the player is ambushed at separate points by Godcat's Creator and Destroyer forms. Each one dodges or {{No Sell}}s all your attacks while dishing out {{One Hit Kill}}s, but after a set number of turns they'll vanish and be replaced by more reasonable enemies that you ''can'' defeat. Someone on Website/YouTube [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I44AdM9wiUU used hacks]] to discover what happens if you beat Godcat during these fights: the game crashes.
** In ''Epic Battle Fantasy 5'', shortly after the party arrive in No Man's Land, they're ambushed by Lance in his tank... if by "ambushed", you mean [[TotalPartyKill run over by his]] [[CarFu Neo Valkyrie tank]], which allows him to abduct Natalie and bail before Matt and [=NoLegs=] regain consciousness. [[spoiler:When you fight Lance and his tank later in that area, the tank will not have the room to build up its roadkill-inducing speed, thus stripping it of that particular attack.]]

** Arianrhod in ''[[VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki Trails to Azure]]''. Like Loewe above, it is possible to beat her. Once her health reaches half though, she will pull out her full force and unleashes heavy damaging attacks. She'll congratulate the party on their strength if they win the battle.

** After this, Trillion is technically killable in all further engagements. Your first, second, and probably third and fourth Overlord choices are doomed anyway. Trillion is just that powerful, and killing it is not a one-person job. Your Overlords can only face it alone, and only retreat so many times. [[FinalDeath The inevitable happens]], and the survivors have to keep trying.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', and ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' have variants of this. The battle is hopeless for the ''boss''; fainting it, it fainting all your mons, or running out of balls would just delay the capture of the mascot legendary. ''VideoGame/PokemonOmegaRubyAndAlphaSapphire'' have a similar variant, but rather than the usual mascot legendary, it's done with Rayquaza instead.