History Main / AfterBossRecovery

* Right after you defeat the helicopter in ''HalfLife 2'', there's a little bit of uncontested walking followed by a lightly defended room full of more ammo than you can even carry and lots of medical supplies too. . . despite the fact that you fought the helicopter with your airboat's machinegun, which does not require any ammo. On top of that, the next chapter involves absolutely no combat (and few items). [[NightmareFuelUnleaded The chapter after that]], on the other hand...

* In Pokemon Black and White, N heals your Pokemon immediately after you capture your game's legendary [[OlympusMons legendary Pokemon]] [[spoiler: and before you fight Ghetsis.]]

* In ''CaveStory'', the very first boss , Balrog, drops weapon powerups after you defeat him. And then defeating the normal FinalBoss (the Doctor) automatically refills your health.

* ''FinalFantasyI'' for NES. While you aren't healed, per se, after fighting a Fiend, a few more steps teleports you completely out of the dungeon back to the world, where the party can rest via tent (provided one is in inventory), or in the case of the third Fiend, appear right back in town, and the Inn is right there.
* ''FinalFantasyIII'' instantly heals your party and restores dead party members when you defeat a boss, which is real nice, considering there are no Tents, Phoenix Downs are a rare commodity, and towns may or may not have the stuff to revive party members.

* ''FinalFantasyIV'' does this with Rubicante, who heals you right after a boss battle. Since you have to fight him right away, it's only fair.

* Many of the tougher gangs in ''Scarface: The World Is Yours'' have a mini-boss; usually someone armed with explosives. Zapping him restores much health.

** The bosses of the very first Game/{{Castlevania}} dropped red orbs which refilled HP. (Even the FinalBoss did this, which perplexed the TheAngryVideoGameNerd.)

* In Pokemon Black and White, N heals your Pokemon immediately after you capture your game's OlympusMon [[spoiler and before you fight Ghetsis.]]

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* Happens twice in ''SaGaFrontier'' [[spoiler: Before and After the Fight with Metal Black 3, however after the battle is interesting because when Metal Black 3 explodes, your characters are instantaneously rejuvenated by the mist that scatters from the explosion]]

* In ''CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'', any boss you defeat leaves behind a special powerup that restores all your HP and MP.
** Nearly every boss in ''SymphonyOfTheNight'' drops a Life Max Up which restores you to full HP. In fact most of the [=SotN=] style Castlevanias find some way to restore health after a boss fight.
** The bosses of the very first Game/{{Castlevania}} dropped red orbs which refilled HP. (As the AngryVideoGameNerd pointed out, even the FinalBoss did this.) A red orb is also the most usual form of AfterBossRecovery in the ''{{Castlevania}}'' series. If there's no orb, a Save Room will be close by.

* Almost a Trope in ''FinalFantasyI'' for NES. While you aren't healed, per se, after fighting a Fiend, a few more steps teleports you completely out of the dungeon back to the world, where the party can rest via tent (provided one is in inventory), or in the case of the third Fiend, appear right back in town, and the Inn is right there.

** And the ''MarioAndLuigi'' series fully heals the Bros after any boss.

** Likewise, ''SuperMarioRPG'' revives and fully heals all party members after a major boss battle.

* ''Fallout 3'' does this with Super Mutant Behemoths, while killing one usually uses more resources than it replenishes, they'll almost always have ammo and stimpacks on their corpses.

* In ''{{Castlevania}}: Aria of Sorrow'', any boss you defeat leaves behind a special powerup that restores all your HP and MP.
** Nearly every boss in ''Symphony of the Night'' drops a Life Max Up which restores you to full HP. In fact most of the [=SotN=] style Castlevanias find some way to restore health after a boss fight.
** The bosses of the very first Castlevania dropped red orbs which refilled HP. (As the AngryVideoGameNerd pointed out, even the FinalBoss did this.) A red orb is also the most usual form of AfterBossRecovery in the ''Castlevania'' series. If there's no orb, a Save Room will be close by.
** ''Lament of Innocence'' does this too; every major boss leaves a different-colored orb behind when defeated, which restores all your HP. The same thing happens with optional bosses, which is a little weird considering that they drop weapons, not orbs.
** Bosses in ''Curse of Darkness'' leave behind glowing circles on the floor. Stand in them and your health and Hearts are fully restored, after which the circle fades.
** Subverted in ''Circle of the Moon'' - unlike other Castlevania games, you don't get a thing to help you get back to the save point intact. Pain and death tends to follow, and with some bosses actually killing the thing is only half the battle - the save point is a good distance and a gauntlet away, and recovery items are incredibly rare in the first place. Ow.
** ''Rondo of Blood'' bosses leave either a red or blue orb behind; the color determines what stage you go to next.

* The battle with the Thug Leader on Endako in ''RatchetAndClank: Going Commando''. There's plenty of ammo crates around for resupply if Ratchet dies in the attempt, since there's no weapons vendor around.

* The ''PaperMario'' series restored Mario's HP and FP at the end of a chapter, usually.

** The bosses of the very first Castlevania dropped red orbs which refilled HP. A red orb is also the most usual form of AfterBossRecovery in the ''Castlevania'' series. If there's no orb, a Save Room will be close by.

** {{Scurge}} applies a similar mechanic, with the life forces of minor foes providing a bit of healing and experience, while bosses full-heal you and purge you of disease.

* In ''MetalGear Solid'' every time you beat a boss, Snake smokes a cigarette and recovers his health. Unusual, considering that in actual gameplay, smoking slowly drains your heath instead.

** And the ''MarioAndLuigi'' series fully heals and revives the Bros after any boss.

** Right after fighting the Omega Pirate in MetroidPrime you can find an Energy Tank, which not only restores you to full health, but increases your maximum amount of HP.

**Subverted in Prime 1 with [[ThatOneBoss Thardus]] (only on Normal or harder mode though). The damage you take versus the damage you recover is significant. If you aren't careful in the next area, you can easily have to have a rematch with the bastard.

*** Though fairies only recover like... 7 hearts. So if you beat the boss with a single heart left and you've got all 14 max hearts(as is the case in the Gameboy versions, where consoles have 20, but still apply the same limitations), they're not quite as fulfilling as they once were. Still always a welcome sight, though.
** Quest 64 does almost exactly the same thing. After you beat a boss, you gain 20 more HP, and are healed fully. Your MP doesn't recover, though.
** TwilightPrincess somewhat parodies this after the boss fight in the Yetis' mansion. When the yeti couple reunite, they emit TONS of recovery hearts that you can pick up...but is moot since a HeartContainer is right there.
***[[MostWonderfulSound The noise as you run through them is quite satisfying, however.]]

** The bosses of the very first Castlevania dropped red orbs which refilled HP. A red orb is also the most usual form of AfterBossRecovery in the Castlevania series. If there's no orb, a Save Room will be close by.

** Given the cost of Tents/Cabins/Houses in the original Final Fantasy, I'd call its use the {{Nintendo Hard}} version of this trope.
* FinalFantasyIII (The one on the DS, not [[FinalFantasyVI the SNES one]]) instantly heals your party and restores dead party members when you defeat a boss.
** Which is real nice, considering there are no Tents, Phoenix Downs are a rare commodity, and towns may or may not have the stuff to revive party members.
** But then there's that duplication cheat/glitch you can use to give yourself up to 99 of those things. No more running around without a revival method.
** Still no Ethers though.
* FinalFantasy: [[FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles Crystal Chronicles]]: Ring of Fates(: [[ColonCancer Return of the Evil Colons]]) also uses this. Doesn't matter how close to dead you are, those white flashes and strange choking noises the DS throws at you when you kill the big bosses heal you right up to 100%. Epilepsy the wonder-cure. Who knew?
* FinalFantasyIV does this in reverse with Rubicante, who heals you ''before'' you fight him. (Not a case of SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity, since he makes his intent to fight you perfectly clear.)
** Technically, it's done in the usual way at the same time. Rubicante appears for the cutscene just after you've had a boss fight.

**Is that what he's doing? Given the limitations of the PSX, it looks like all he's doing is making a fist and moving it in front of his face. And in the remake for the Gamecube, there's no "life meter increase" trick: Snake is at max health for the whole game.
***Snake is actually eating a ration of sorts
* Right after you defeat the helicopter in HalfLife 2, there's a little bit of uncontested walking followed by a lightly defended room full of more ammo than you can even carry and lots of medical supplies too. . . despite the fact that you fought the helicopter with your airboat's machinegun, which does not require any ammo. On top of that, the next chapter involves absolutely no combat (and few items). [[NightmareFuelUnleaded The chapter after that]], on the other hand...

* Happens twice in SaGaFrontier [[spoiler: Before and After the Fight with Metal Black 3, however after the battle is interesting because when Metal Black 3 explodes, your characters are instantaneously rejuvenated by the mist that scatters from the explosion]]

** WorldOfWarcraft on the other hand doesn't have anything like that, but some actions available out of combat help speeding up recovery; eating and drinking aswell as casting resurrection spells on teammates. Careful though, some debuffs from the boss may still affect people, such as the "Mortal Wound" debuff which damages over time until the affected target is fully healed simply because the healer made that very mistake. Another boss summons a large number of weak enemies when he dies, which may catch people by surprise.

**It's sequel IllusionOfGaia also does this, with your HP magically filling back up to maximum; it even adds in any powerup "jewels" that you failed to gain in the course of the level (each level contains about 6-10 jewels, some HP, some +attack, some +defence). However you get no AfterBossRecovery when you play all the bosses again in the final BossRush.
***Averted in Soulblazer's second sequel, [[Terranigma]] when you do not get any recovery at all. It is entirely possible to beat a boss with [[OneHitPointWonder 1HP left]], then continue through the next town to the next level and immediately die.
* Taken so far in the Xbox360 RPG TheLastRemnant that you are completely restored and revived after every single battle, not just ones with bosses. Of course, given how difficult the game can get and how big some of the dungeons are this is probably necessary.
* The battle with the Thug Leader on Endako in RatchetAndClank: Going Commando. There's plenty of ammo crates around for resupply if Ratchet dies in the attempt, since there's no weapons vendor around.
* In ''ShinMegamiTensei 2'', after you've defeated three of Millenium's elders [[spoiler: who were archangels in disguise]] the fourth one will run in and announce that there is one more foe to fight. He'll then heal the entire party before you fight the final boss... [[spoiler: GOD.]] And this isn't even halfway through the game.
** Only {{Atlus}} would be so impertinent as to make [[spoiler: {{God}}]] a ClimaxBoss

* Averted in ''{{Blood}} II'', where your health and ammo remain as they were when you defeated the boss. So, if you just beat the Chapter 1 boss with, say, 2 hit points left, [[{{Mook}} those Cultists]] are suddenly [[CriticalExistenceFailure a lot more dangerous.]]
* ''TheLegendOfDragoon'' averts this. There are very few automatic healing moments in the game; you usually have to plunk down some money for an Inn or use items after big boss battles, and sometimes (such as after the [[ThatOneBoss extremely difficult Divine Dragon]]) you'll have to walk out of the dungeon on your own.
* ''The Spirit Engine'' 1 and 2 have After ''Combat'' Recovery. Given that EVERYBODY you fight in those games is either a regular NintendoHard boss or a BossInMookClothing, this is very much neccessary.
* All the bosses in EVOSearchForEden turn into meat that's worth a lot of health recovery and evo points when killed (even the ones where you'll lose all those evo points right afterwards).

** Justified in game, as Kratos is a slightly weakened god during the opening sequences and is reduced to a mortal afterwards.
* This happens after ''every battle'' in FinalFantasyXIII. Considering the completely obscene difficulty of some of the bosses (''and'' regular monsters), you ''really'' need it.

* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] oh-so-hard when you fight the Elite Four and the Champion in the various incarnations of {{Pokemon}}. Seriously, let's see any of these guys fight four of ''me'' in a row (or pawn off their internal organs for max potions and revives).
* Used fairly often in KingdomHearts. Noticable in the first game, when fighting a Behemoth in The End of the World, after it dies, it leaves a ''mountain'' of HP orbs, MP bubbles, and usually some ''really'' rare items.

* In the freeware {{Metroidvania}} game ''An Untitled Story'', all bosses but the final one drop hearts that fully heal you after you kill them, along with a bunch of the game's currency. This is evened out by the fact that killing bosses, along with finding Save Points, is the only way to fully heal yourself in the game.