History Main / AfterBossRecovery

But wait, what's this? There's a ton of health [[PowerUp power-ups]] lying around where the boss used to be! Sweet! There's even ammo! This is the AfterBossRecovery. When you beat a boss, the enemy either leaves behind a ton of health/ammo refills for you to recover after the fight, leaves behind a new item or ability that also restores you, or you get treated to a recovery in the next room or next cut scene. Or you just suddenly have full HP/MP after the fight. The recoveries may be a full restore or recover just enough to keep playing without worrying about dying.

** ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'' continues to use AfterBossRecovery even though half of the major bosses have Chozo statues in the rooms behind them that provide armor upgrades with full energy/ammo recharge, but this is mostly for players going for [[SelfImposedChallenge no-item runs]].

* In the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series, a red orb is also the most usual form of AfterBossRecovery. If there's no orb, a Save Room will be close by.

** Its sequel ''VideoGame/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.

** ''VideoGame/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.

* Beating [[spoiler:Shadow Man [[RecurringBoss for the final time]]]] in ''VideoGame/Rockman4MinusInfinity'' nets you a [[VideoGame/MegaMan1 Yashichi]], which restores all your health and weapon energy. The orbs the Robot Masters drop when you fight them again in Wily Stage 3 also refilly our health.

* Happens in ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'', though sometimes it only happens after refighting a boss, with a Maxim Tomato replacing the PlotCoupon it drops.

Compare when the game gives you helpful items [[SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity before the fight]], or when it gives you helpful items [[BossArenaRecovery during the fight]]. If there's a SavePoint after the boss, then this can overlap with HealingCheckpoint. When this happens after ''every'' fight, see AfterCombatRecovery.

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''

* ''VideoGame/{{Legacy of Kain}}: Soul Reaver'' is another example. In this case, it actually makes sense in the context of the game; Raziel regains health by devouring the souls of his enemies, and the more powerful an enemy is, the more "filling" its soul is.

* ''VideoGame/WarCraft''

* In ''Videogame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', N heals your Pokémon immediately after you capture your game's [[OlympusMons legendary Pokémon]] [[spoiler: and before you fight [[FinalBoss Ghetsis]].]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'', the fights with the Eye of Cthulhu, Eater of Worlds, Skeletron, King Slime and the [[{{AdvancingBossOfDoom}} Wall of Flesh]] give you enough hearts to restore 200 or so HP, along with healing potions and their respective drops. Oddly, the mechanical bosses of Hardmode don't drop any hearts. During Frost/Pumpkin Moon events, these hearts can be life savers.

** In ''Videogame/DarkSouls'' and its [[Videogame/DarkSoulsII sequel]] you can usually find a bonfire almost immediately after particularly harrowing boss fights (which is to say most of them). A particularly nasty subversion occurs in the second game with one of these bonfires being guarded by [[spoiler:Vengarl's headless body.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'': Each time you beat one of the game's bosses, Zagreus is given access to an antechamber before ascending to the next level of Hades. Said chamber contains a healing fountain that restores 25% of Zagreus' max HP, one of Charon's stores, and the chest of keepsakes allowing you to switch to a different keepsake if the current one isn't working out.

But wait, what's this? There's a ton of health [[PowerUp power ups]] lying around where the boss used to be! Sweet! There's even ammo! This is the AfterBossRecovery. When you beat a boss, the enemy either leaves behind a ton of health/ammo refills for you to recover after the fight, leaves behind a new item or ability that also restores you, or you get treated to a recovery in the next room or next cut scene. Or you just suddenly have full HP/MP after the fight. The recoveries may be a full restore or recover just enough to keep playing without worrying about dying.

* ''VideoGame/{{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 ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound}}'', every time you defeat a Sanctuary Guardian and approach one of your sanctuaries, your party will automatically be healed of any damage and fallen comrades will be fully revived. Fortunately, you can come back to it at any time later in the game to get healed again.

* Several of the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' games do this when you beat a boss or mini boss. Though this is done a bit more realistically: enemies drop energy and ammo, stronger enemies drop more energy and ammo, bosses drop lots of energy and ammo while not necessarily fully healing. Rather, it's more of a way to help you not die on your way back to the save point. ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'' continues to use AfterBossRecovery even though half of the major bosses have Chozo statues in the rooms behind them that provide armor upgrades with full energy/ammo recharge, but this is mostly for players going for [[SelfImposedChallenge no-item runs]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Quest 64}}'' after you beat a boss, you gain 20 more HP, and are healed fully. Your MP doesn't recover, though.

* ''VideoGame/NinjaShadowOfDarkness'': The bosses at the end of most levels (except the flying T-Rex, because you're not supposed to kill it), upon their demise, will collapse and explode... into piles and piles of gems, coins, and loot. You can then collect as much loot as possible and use them in the next area, a provision shop which sells you power-ups, health, weapons and the like before moving on the next level.

* ''Franchise/WarCraft''

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' 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.]]

* In ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution MAX'' and a few of the games after it, the Oni\Challenge mode gives the player four HP, taking one away for every step with less than "Great" timing. After most songs, 1 HP would be given back, but after certain tough songs, multiple HP would be awarded, or the HP bar would even be maxed back to four.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'', the fights with the Eye of Cthulhu, Eater of Worlds, Skeletron, King Slime and the [[{{AdvancingBossOfDoom}} Wall of Flesh]] give you enough hearts to restore 200 or so HP, along with healing potions and their respective drops. Oddly, the mechanical bosses of Hardmode don't drop any hearts.

** The next save point is usually very close to the Boss room too, which can be used to fully heal Samus anyway. This happens after the Mother Brain fight and subsequent escape sequence. Defeating the Ruins Test automatically heals you too, though the save point is close by.

** The next save point is usually very close to the Boss room too, which can be used to fully heal Samus anyway.

* Almost all of the ''Zelda'' games let you not only fully recover from a major boss fight, but also permanently increase your health meter, by obtaining {{Heart Container}}s.

** The bosses of the very first VideoGame/{{Castlevania|I}} dropped red orbs which refilled HP. (Even the FinalBoss did this, which perplexed the WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd.)
** Nearly every boss in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' drops a Life Max Up which restores you to full HP.
** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'', any boss you defeat leaves behind a special powerup that restores all your HP and MP.
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence'' 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 ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness'' leave behind glowing circles on the floor. Stand in them and your health and Hearts are fully restored, after which the circle fades.
** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCircleOfTheMoon'', 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.
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood'' bosses leave either a red or blue orb behind; the color determines what stage you go to next.
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'' includes the orbs, and the developers must have noticed how players would try and catch them in every pose possible in the previous games, because if you catch an orb by jumping and attacking, or dive-kicking into it, a little message like "Good!" or "Great!" will appear. The fangame ''CastlevaniaFighter'' expands on this by giving you HP, MP and attack power bonuses if you catch the orbs by jumping, jumping and attacking, or doing a special move.

* ''VideoGame/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.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII DS'' 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 if you're playing the NES version, the only way to recover magic points in the final dungeon is with an elixir.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChroniclesRingOfFates'' 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?
* ''VideoGame/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.

** ''ScurgeHive'' 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.

* ''VideoGame/WarCraftIII: The Frozen Throne'' introduced Runes pretty much for that reason, pick up items that restored mana or health or a variety of other beneficial effects (although they were scattered around the maps with no bases aswell, to speed up the action rather than forcing the player to return to a mana/health fountain after a hard fight.

** In Soulblazer's second sequel, ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'', 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.

* In ''Videogame/DarkSouls'' and its [[Videogame/DarkSoulsII sequel]] you can usually find a bonfire almost immediately after particularly harrowing boss fights (which is to say most of them). A particularly nasty subversion occurs in the second game with one of these bonfires being guarded by [[spoiler:Vengarl's headless body.]]

* A staple in arcade ''BeatEmUp'' games. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by RuleOfFun - dying to the first mook's lucky jab after a two-minute intensive boss battle is frustrating and not likely for the player to pop in another quarter and continue.

* Beating [[spoiler:[[ThatOneBoss Shadow Man]] [[RecurringBoss for the final time]]]] in ''VideoGame/Rockman4MinusInfinity'' nets you a [[VideoGame/MegaMan1 Yashichi]], which restores all your health and weapon energy. The orbs the Robot Masters drop when you fight them again in Wily Stage 3 also refilly our health.

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

* Used fairly often in ''KingdomHearts''. Noticeable 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.

* Several of the ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' games do this when you beat a boss or mini boss. Though this is done a bit more realistically: enemies drop energy and ammo, stronger enemies drop more energy and ammo, bosses drop lots of energy and ammo while not necessarily fully healing. Rather, it's more of a way to help you not die on your way back to the save point. ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'' continues to use AfterBossRecovery even though half of the major bosses have Chozo statues in the rooms behind them that provide armor upgrades with full energy/ammo recharge, but this is mostly for players going for [[SelfImposedChallenge no-item runs]].

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

* ''VideoGame/Shadowofthecolossus has you teleport to

* ''VideoGame/Shadowofthecolossus has Wander get teleported back to the Shrine of Worship, with his health meter restored right after beating a Colossus. It also increases each time you defeat a Colossus.

* Several of the ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' games do this when you beat a boss or mini boss. Though this is done a bit more realistically: enemies drop energy and ammo, stronger enemies drop more energy and ammo, bosses drop lots of energy and ammo while not necessarily fully healing. Rather, it's more of a way to help you not die on your way back to the save point. ''[[VideoGameRemake Metroid: Zero Mission]]'' continues to use AfterBossRecovery even though half of the major bosses have Chozo statues in the rooms behind them that provide armor upgrades with full energy/ammo recharge, but this is mostly for players going for [[SelfImposedChallenge no-item runs]].