History Main / AttackItsWeakPoint

* The ''VideoGame/StarFox'' series is fond of this, often in the obviously-glowing-red variation. Of particular note is one boss in ''Star Fox Command'' whose weak point is essentially a giant glowing ''butt''. The enemy forces are mainly apes and monkeys, you see, and this boss is a HumongousMecha baboon.
** Peppy basically makes this trope. "Aim for his back!" "Aim for the open spot!" "Maybe it's an arm! Aim for the arm!" "Shoot the tentacles to open the core!"

* ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' :
** The first boss from can be attacked, but you can't truly ''harm'' him not matter how much you whack his tail with a stick. In fact, he's so tough, he can only be hurt from within. Do enough damage so he gets annoyed and eats you, so you can attack it from inside.
** There's a normal, area-specific enemy that can only be hurt on a spot on its back. Circle-strafe all you want; it'll keep up. You have to [[spoiler:hit it with a Ground Quake]] to make it turn around so you can hit it on its back.

** The Ruin Graders in Dragonspine also have two weak points: there's its eye, which is vulnerable when it fires its {{Eye Beam|s}}, and its legs, which open up when it charges at you and if hit enough will leave it immobilized, but it will still fire the beam at you if its eye is intact.

** In general, the series uses this trope liberally. Just about the only boss that ''isn't'' hit for massive damage is [[ThatOneBoss Ridley]], with whom the only strategy is "make him dead before he makes you dead". And even then it only applies sometimes -- Meta-Ridley always has at least one form that can't be damaged unless you aim for his torso. Omega Pirate from ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' inverts this: He has no specific weak spots, but before you can harm him you have to first blast away his armour (so in essence you attack his strong points).

* Tank crews in the World War II MMOFPS ''Battleground Europe'' (a.k.a. ''VideoGame/WorldWarIIOnline'') pretty much have to know the weaknesses of every tank type they might possibly come up against, because the game tries to realistically model armor penetration. Trying to pound away at the front armor of a Panzer MIGHT work, but it's far less dangerous to aim for exhaust vents, the cupola, or anything else with thin armor. If you are driving a vehicle (or pushing an anti-tank gun) with small caliber shells, this might be the only way you will ever damage them at all. Then, of course, your gunner could very well get shot in the neck by an infantryman because you forgot to close the hatch. The same occurs in ''VideoGame/WorldOfTanks''.

** All mechs (including your own) have much weaker armor in the rear than they do in front; this doesn't really matter much when you're in an assault mech picking off light ones, since they pretty much die like flies either way. However, when ''you'' are in a small/medium mech, or a big one that's taken a lot of damage, and the radar cheerfully bleeps and tells you an enemy 100-ton behemoth is heading your way, the rear weak spot suddenly becomes a lot more important, because targeting it is the only way (barring sheer luck with critical strikes or a particularly incompetent enemy) to survive the encounter. Since they usually always face you, the leg are also always weak points on a mech, destroying them also permit to salvage the mech, very useful to capture the heavy armed 100-ton battlemech. Putting together enough precision weapons like lasers, autocannons, Gauss guns, or missiles with targeting computers to quickly destroy their leg is a damn good tactic.
** The "weaker rear armor" bit is taken straight from the [[TabletopGame/BattleTech board game]]; the torso locations can each only have so much armor altogether and attacks coming in through will strike the front, so that's the side that gets the lion's share of the armor and the rear is left comparatively vulnerable to a determined attacker who can get there. Beyond that, actual aimed shots tend to be fairly rare because even with an advanced targeting computer success at hitting the chosen spot isn't guaranteed ''and'' the overall chance to hit in the first place goes down, and without try are pretty much limited to immobile targets and/or the occasional melee attack.

*** All forms of Chaos (except 6 which requires that you get him into a specific state... of matter) require that you attack his brain. This is fairly easy the first two times with Chaos 0, and then he starts jumping around on lampposts and punching at you, and you have to wait until he comes down, at which point he's easy again. 2 makes you wait until he misses a punch and freezes in place a couple of seconds, while 4 has to surface and float in place before you can attack him there. Perfect pretty much makes you have a minimum speed so that when you get to him, you spiral up the inside and hit his brain. If you're not going fast enough, you're just ejected and have to find him again. Actually, you could almost make a case for 6's weak spot being Froggy, at least in Big's version: once Big lands him, he wins.

** In the first game, Phantom can only be hurt by strikes to the face (high damage, but that's where he shoots fireballs from), and back (less damage, but less risk). Nightmare has a weakpoint that you have to expose by first solidifying it, then smashing the glowy circle.
** Beowulf from ''3'' can be struck in his eye for greater damage than attacking the rest of his body. If Dante or Vergil lowers his health to the points where he TurnsRed by hitting the eye, Beowulf will stumble and give a few more vital seconds for dealing damage. Cerberus from the same takes more damage from getting hit on either of his three heads. The Leviathan Heartcore, also from the same, needs to have its two accompanying "organs" destroyed before it opens up and makes itself vulnerable.

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' this is justified: the back of the [[HumongousMecha Walking Behemoth]] Shagohod falls off [[spoiler: when you attempt to destroy it by blowing up a bridge from underneath it]] and the only part left unarmored is the back of the cockpit, which was never to be exposed. Shooting the threads with the RPG-7 also helps considerably.
* Beating Vamp is made a lot easier in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' if you shoot for the [[GroinAttack crotch]].

* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', [[spoiler: Wheatley]] tries to protect himself with shields. Too bad you have a portal gun.

* ''VideoGame/LostPlanet'' takes this to the extreme. ''Every single'' Akrid--from the weakest cannon fodder all the way up to the BonusBoss--has orange weak points. It's worth noting that although Akrid make up a significant portion of the enemies in the single-player game, they're not the only ones; humans ([[BoomHeadshot the head]]) and [[AMechByAnyOtherName Vital Suits]] ([[InTheBack the engine]] or the kneecaps) also have them.

*** Interesting to note that Model H can use the lower screen to display the enemy's/boss' weak point and LifeMeter (the latter is pretty much useless against bosses who show it anyway though). You can figure out the bosses' weak points even without Model H, as they make a special and different sound when you hit them.
** In the pre-predecessor ''VideoGame/MegaManX'', expect the GiantEnemyCrab and all variants to have its head be the weakness. That also applies to the nearly omnipresent BigBad Sigma, who most often has his head or the gem on his forehead being the weakness.
*** It's however averted with X8's FinalBoss [[spoiler: Lumine]], who despite having an obvious crystal sticking out his ''chest'', is vulnerable to hits on his actual body whenever his shield isn't up.
*** There's another example in ''VideoGame/MegaManMaverickHunterX'', particularly in [[spoiler:Day of ∑]] when a mechaniloid went berserk. Its generator is its weak point. Accordingly...

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' this is justified: the back of the [[HumongousMecha Walking Behemoth]] Shagohod falls off [[spoiler: when you attempt to destroy it by blowing up a bridge from underneath it]] and the only part left unarmored is the back of the cockpit, which was never to be exposed. Shooting the threads with the RPG-7 also helps considerably.

** Subverted [[spoiler: in that the first orb is actually her [[MoralityChip morality core]]. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment It was installed to stop her from filling the room with a deadly neurotoxin, after which she began flooding the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin. After telling you about the deadly neurotoxins, which the]] [[MoralityChip Morality Core]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment was installed to prevent her from filling the room up with, it is time to cue...]] [[ExactTimeToFailure The blinking timer!]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment (Which is an indication of how much time is left before she fills the room with a deadly neurotoxin.)]]]]
** In the sequel, [[spoiler: Wheatley]] tries to protect himself with shields. Too bad you have a portal gun.

** Hint: Shoot the part that has a green glowing thing (such as a visor) on it. There's a very high chance that's the weak point.

* King Hippo in ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' has two weak points: his belly-button and the back of his throat. And you can't get to either right away.
** In ''VideoGame/PunchOut Wii'''s Title Defense mode, he covers up said belly button with a manhole. [[spoiler:This turns out to be a DoubleSubversion of this trope, as the way to beat him is to knock off said manhole and expose his weak point.]]

* It's hard to notice, but this is actually subverted in the PC version of ''VideoGame/FarCry1''. The large, glowing green orbs in the chests of the rocket launcher-wielding [[GiantMook Giant Mooks]] are actually ''part of their armor'', and they actually take ''less'' damage when shot there. Their real weak point is, common-sensibly enough, their head.

* Beowulf from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 3'' can be struck in his eye for greater damage than attacking the rest of his body. If Dante or Vergil lowers his health to the points where he TurnsRed by hitting the eye, Beowulf will stumble and give a few more vital seconds for dealing damage. Cerberus from the same takes more damage from getting hit on either of his three heads. The Leviathan Heartcore, also from the same, needs to have its two accompanying "organs" destroyed before it opens up and makes itself vulnerable.
** In the original, Phantom could only be hurt by strikes to the face (high damage, but that's where he shoots fireballs from), and back (less damage, but less risk). Nightmare had a weakpoint that you had to expose by first solidifying it, then smashing the glowy circle.

** It ''is'' possible to [[ChasingYourTail slide around behind him]] if you get in close, but it's still very tough and only nets you a split-second chance at hitting the weak spot. Afterburners can help with this too.

** The battlewalkers in ''VideoGame/Battlefield2142'' can shrug off most everything short of a [[RammingAlwaysWorks suicidal transport pilot]]. However, there is a flimsy vent underneath that potentially allows someone with a pistol to inflict massive damage. The Titan supercarriers present a similar situation: they can only be damaged from outside by BLOC-3 missiles, but can be infiltrated to get to its creamy nuclear core.
* Almost every enemy you encounter in ''Franchise/DeadSpace'', although how you are supposed to hit them is a bit different. Headshots are a joke in this game, instead you must shoot their limbs (hands, legs, tails, tentacles). The big ones even have their joints explicitly shown to the players. Exploders even have ''two'' weak points: their explosive pustule and its joint with the shoulder. Bosses and mini-bosses have big yellowish pustules that you should obviously know what to do with them. The "almost" part in this case are the Swarmers, which die in one hit no matter where you hit them, and Dividers, which do not have a weak point.
** New enemies in ''VideoGame/DeadSpaceExtraction'' still follow this trend. Some of them are untransformed humans, and they too have a weak spot: [[BoomHeadshot the head]], obviously.
* Justified in ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles''. The AppliedPhlebotinum powered tanks generate huge amounts of waste heat, and need radiators to avert a catastrophic heat explosion. Aim for the radiators, and anti-tank Lances will likely take them down in a single blow -- two if it's a heavy tank. Even otherwise useless anti-infantry firearms will deal ScratchDamage to the radiator. Only two tanks in the entire game are capable of hiding their radiators -- one of which only needs to expose them after firing the main cannon, one of which needs constant supporting repairs from nearby allied bases.
** It's also possible to headshot infantry units for greater damage at the cost of lower accuracy versus hitting center mass. While both of these apply toward both ally and enemy forces, enemies will never intentionally target the head (while they'll constantly attempt to exploit the tank radiator for all it's worth).

* Tank crews in the World War II MMOFPS ''Battleground Europe'' (a.k.a. ''VideoGame/WorldWarIIOnline'') pretty much have to know the weaknesses of every tank type they might possibly come up against, because the game tries to realistically model armor penetration. Trying to pound away at the front armor of a Panzer MIGHT work, but it's far less dangerous to aim for exhaust vents, the cupola, or anything else with thin armor. If you are driving a vehicle (or pushing an anti-tank gun) with small caliber shells, this might be the only way you will ever damage them at all. Then, of course, your gunner could very well get shot in the neck by an infantryman because you forgot to close the hatch.
** The same occurs in ''VideoGame/WorldOfTanks''.
** In ''VideoGame/WarThunder'' Ground Forces, aiming for specific parts of the tanks is essential. This includes the view slits for the crew, ammo or fuel storage for a quick kill, but also the engine, transmission (getting stuck in reverse) tracks, or the turret to keep the enemy tank from firing or escaping.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': If ever a game appears in which not a ''single'' boss uses this, it will be proof that the developers have been kidnapped and are being held hostage somewhere. Ever since the first boss of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI the first game]] (which was only vulnerable on its horn), its been making use of this. It especially likes the GoForTheEye variant, and [[PuzzleBoss making you figure out how to expose said weak point.]]

** The Moldorm's tail in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening''.
** ''A Link to the Past'' also has Helmasaur King, the Boss of the Dark Palace. Link has to aim for the green crystal on its forehead, which it protects with a mask.
** Trinexx, the Boss of Turtle Rock in ''A Link to the Past''. In the second phase of the battle, Link has to attack its glowing midsection.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' was chock full of this. Gohma had her eye, Barinade had his soft skin under his jellyfish armor, Morpha had its nucleus, Bongo Bongo had its eye (which was exposed once you attacked both of its other weak points), and Ganon had his bright blue tail.
** Played with in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' when fighting Gohma. It has a ''massive'' fluorescent green and magenta eye, but if you throw your grappling hook at it the beast just [[FakeWeakness casually closes his eye and deflects it]]. You actually have to aim for Valoo's unassuming and nondescript tail to drop the ceiling on it a few times to break its shell. Once the shell is gone, ''then'' you can target the eye with your grappling hook to stun Gohma. If you don't figure this out for yourself (the game gives only vague {{Foreshadowing}}), eventually The King of Red Lions will tell you to look around the room for something else to target.
** There's a particularly fun (if easy) variant in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'' involving whacking a seesaw with the hammer in order to reach the giant golem Eox's weak point.
** The eyes of Diababa, Morpheel and Armogohma, the jewel on Fyrus's head, the Twilight Sword in Stallord's head, and the open point in Argorok's armor (on its back), the third battle with Zant has his shoes, and Beast Ganon had his underbelly, all from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess''.
*** Beast Ganon's weakness is caused by a wound on his stomach which extends to his humanoid form.
** Various bosses and enemies use this in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', often with the added twist of only being vulnerable from a certain angle, requiring the player to time and angle their attack ''just'' right in order to actually hit it.

** In ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', enemy officers have attacks that will leave them vulnerable, indicated by a Weak Point Gauge over their heads. Attack them while the gauge is up to deplete it, and when it's empty the player character will perform a unique attack for a lot of damage.

* The first boss from ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' can be attacked, but you can't truly ''harm'' him not matter how much you whack his tail with a stick. In fact, he's so tough, he can only be hurt from within. [[FeedItABomb Feed him explosives?]] No! Do enough damage so he gets annoyed and tries to eat you, silly!

* The ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' games have this all over the place. All mechs (including your own) have much weaker armor in the rear than they do in front; this doesn't really matter much when you're in an assault mech picking off light ones, since they pretty much die like flies either way. However, when ''you'' are in a small/medium mech, or a big one that's taken a lot of damage, and the radar cheerfully bleeps and tells you an enemy 100-ton behemoth is heading your way, the rear weak spot suddenly becomes a lot more important, because targeting it is the only way (barring sheer luck with critical strikes or a particularly incompetent enemy) to survive the encounter.
** Since they usually always face you, the leg are also always weak points on a mech, destroying them also permit to salvage the mech, very useful to capture the heavy armed 100-ton battlemech. Putting together enough precision weapons like lasers, autocannons, Gauss guns, or missiles with targeting computers to quickly destroy their leg is a damn good tactic.

** The weakest part of any 'Mech is the head (aka the cockpit), which has such low armor that one good hit will probably destroy it instantly. The issue here is that the head is ''really'' small and damned near impossible to deliberately hit on a moving 'Mech, so headshots tend to be the result of pure luck or an ''extremely'' stupid pilot sitting completely still and giving you the chance to line up such a shot.
*** Striking the cockpit is also an excellent way to get relatively-intact mechs for salvage, as any hit there that gets through is liable to reduce the pilot to little more than LudicrousGibs given the firepower of most battlemech weaponry. Even if they survive (either by luck, or due to a weak weapon like an [[MoreDakka MG Array]]) they might panic and eject; and if they don't, injuries will still reduce pilot performance/mech effectiveness.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' features a quest in which you must defeat undead that are unkillable unless you destroy the crystals that keep them moving. These crystals become vulnerable only when the undead in question has taken enough damage that it would otherwise be defeated. (If you ''don't'' destroy the crystal then the undead, merely stunned instead of defeated, snaps out of it and resumes attacking even though it has 0 health.
** This resulted in some hilarious griefing potential early in the game's run where the designers forgot to put a "leash" on the crystal-bound undead like most enemies have, forcing them to return to their normal area when lured too far away. Since they didn't have this, some players would pull the invincible undead all the way to a town or a major city, where they would slowly but inexorably murder any opponent, no matter how statistically outclassed they should have been. And the only way to stop it would either be a server reset or luring the undead all the way back to their crystal.

* ''VideoGame/LostKingdoms II'' has [[spoiler:The God of Harmony]]. It's easily ThatOneBoss unless you know what cards can cripple and/or kill it outright:

* ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'' has Cackletta as the final boss, in smokey ghostly spirit form. You have to take down her hands and her head for her to expose her heart, which is her weak point.
** Earlier against Queen Bean you have to attack her arms to deflate them (She's HUGELY muscular) and to make her lose her crown on her head, cause you know, spikes hurt when jumping on it.
** Even more drawn out in the final battle of [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime Partners in Time]], the second in the series. You have to attack her tentacle legs, which enables you to attack the crown which enables you to attack the boss herself. Oh, and the crown regenerates after a while, rendering any attack to her useless. And if that wasn't enough, the legs also regenerate, sometimes forcing you to do the whole thing again.
** The final boss of the third game, [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Bowser's Inside Story]], is even MORE complicated. You begin the fight as Bowser. After you've dealt a certain amount of damage the boss fully heals and grows big. Then you must punch his stomach to make him spit out [[spoiler: the Dark Star core]]. Then you must suck it into Bowser's stomach where Mario and Luigi take over. Now you have to fight [[spoiler: an EldritchAbomination version of Fawful]]. His weak points are his legs and glasses, if you don't destroy the glasses first he will retract some of his legs while you are attacking. After killing his legs he will fall to the ground, revealing [[spoiler: the Dark Star core]], the boss' REAL weak point. You have approximately two turns to damage it before it escapes, and you have to REPEAT THE ENTIRE PROCESS untill he FINALLY dies. Phew.
** The Final battle in [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam Dream Team]] is again of this variety. The FinalBoss is a 12 foot tall monster with the full power of the Dreamstone. Its weak point is the crystal shard in its forehead, which it'll guard with its [[CognizantLimbs right arm]] if it's not taken out first.

* Enemies in ''VideoGame/ResonanceOfFate'' tend to have CognizantLimbs that absorb damage from a certain angle. Strong enemies and bosses can have heavily-armored parts covering most angles, but one or two lightly-armored angles that leave the main body open to attack.
** And if you jump, your bullets hit random body parts. Shoot enough times with a submachine gun, and you will eventually almost completely fill up with scratch damage. Then, all you have to do is jump and attack with a direct damage weapon. No need to worry about pesky body parts after all.

* A couple of bosses in VideoGame/YoshisIsland. Naval Piranha's only weak spot is a bandaged lump on its stem (presumably the "navel", although it looks more like an adam's apple). Eggs thrown at Sluggy the Unshaven just deform its outer shell without hurting it, but once its clearly-visible heart is exposed, it can be destroyed with a single strike. In both cases, [[TheDragon Kamek]] draws your attention to this, in the first case by, bizarrely, calling Yoshi a "cutie without a navel", and in the second case by announcing "[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial This slug has no weak points!]]"
** Hookbill the Koopa is defeated by knocking him down then ground pounding his stomach.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}'' has the usual weak spots -- groin shots and headshots -- but some fully mutated enemies have several glowing sacs of... um... stuff on their body. Shoot any of the sacs and the whole body will go up in a blast of orange bodily liquids. Also, the [[spoiler:plant boss]] has several weak spots to hit before it recharges its hitpoints.

* %% ''VideoGame/WarioMasterOfDisguise'': {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by [[ExpositionFairy Goodstyle]].

* This is pretty much how you defeat your enemies in ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn''. Your various arrows and tools will mostly just plink off the massive machines populating the world, but shooting the assorted weak points in their chassis will do much more damage. Depending on what you hit, you can also rupture an especially volatile component on the machine which could set it on fire, freeze it, overload it with electricity, or trigger an explosion. This trope applies to human enemies to a lesser degree; [[AnnoyingArrows arrows by and large don't do much damage]] unless they hit them in the head.

** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' the Curse-Rotted Greatwood can only be effectively damaged by attacking the pallid white pustules sprouting from various points of its bulbous body, or the long white arm it sprouts in the later stage of the battle. High Lord Wolnir is also almost completely immune your attacks, but by attacking and shattering the magical bracelets he wears on his arms you can send him careening into the depths of the Abyss. You ''can'' theoretically defeat him with pure damage, but it's not recommended. Finally, as with Sinh from the previous game, [[BonusBoss Darkeater Midir]] takes additional damage when struck on the head rather than going for the more accessible limbs.

** A common tactic against tanks from the very beginning is to try to blow one of the tracks off or otherwise jam the drive. This was especially effective against tanks in urban warfare or dense jungles and forests, where infantry could sneak up or wait for a tank to drive past, then rush out and toss grenades and satchel charges at the tracks, or prepare a hidden bomb in the road. An immobile tank is pretty much useless, and even worse when it blocks a road and holds up everybody behind it.

* Pretty much every warship since the introduction of gunpowder has had one spectacular weak spot: the magazine, where the powder and ammunition is stored. Usually located deep within the ship for maximum protection, if anything ''does'' penetrate to the magazine, there is a very solid chance that it will take the whole ship with it, as happened to HMS ''Hood'' in the Battle of the Denmark Strait and USS ''Arizona'' at Pearl Harbor. Other vulnerable spots include propulsion systems (the masts and rigging on a sailing ship, or the boilers and screws/paddles on a steamship). In addition to being unable to maneuver, a ship that takes a hit to the engines will also likely be unable to produce power to work the guns or water pumps, [[DisasterDominoes making it impossible to fight fires or stop flooding during battle.]]

* The TropeNamer is a demonstration of ''VideoGame/{{Genji}}: Days of the Blade'' at E3 2006, in which Bill Rich demonstrates one of the games's boss battles -- namely, the battle against the "GiantEnemyCrab" boss. After he "flips over this crab on its back," he narrates, "And you '''attack its weak point''' for '''massive damage'''."
* The ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'' series likes the red, glowing orb variety, at least in earlier games.

* Dark Maker HumongousMecha in ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'' have multiple weakspots on their limbs, each of which can take a moderate amount of damage, then becomes invulnerable. If you don't notice the targeting reticules around the hips and knees, you can spend half an hour shooting them in the head.

* Every boss in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles: Ring of Fates'' has a glowing red crystal that does more damage than hitting the rest of the boss.

* If ever a ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' game appears in which not a ''single'' boss uses this, it will be proof that the developers have been kidnapped and are being held hostage somewhere. Ever since the first boss of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI the first game]] (which was only vulnerable on its horn), its been making use of this. It especially likes the GoForTheEye variant, and [[PuzzleBoss making you figure out how to expose said weak point.]]

* ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'':
** All forms of Chaos (except 6 which requires that you get him into a specific state... of matter) require that you attack his brain. This is fairly easy the first two times with Chaos 0, and then he starts jumping around on lampposts and punching at you, and you have to wait until he comes down, at which point he's easy again. 2 makes you wait until he misses a punch and freezes in place a couple of seconds, while 4 has to surface and float in place before you can attack him there. Perfect pretty much makes you have a minimum speed so that when you get to him, you spiral up the inside and hit his brain. If you're not going fast enough, you're just ejected and have to find him again. Actually, you could almost make a case for 6's weak spot being Froggy, at least in Big's version: once Big lands him, he wins.
** The Egg vehicles have the cockpit as the weak point. The Hornet stays at bay and shoots small missiles at you, then tries to drill you into the ground. If he misses, there's your chance. The Walker makes you play Simon Says (sort of) with its ankle joints; one, two, or three of the feet stomp, sending out a shockwave which you want to avoid, but also making that joint vulnerable to brief malfunction if you jump near it. If all the glowing joints malfunction, that brings the cockpit down for semi-easy pickings. (You can hit its underside this time.) The Viper, the first three times, from time to time shows its belly, trying to lure Sonic in with a path to the cockpit while it's charging its (other) laser, which it will fire if you don't hit the cockpit in time. Then you have to wait until it yo-yos spinning spiked discs at you so you can jump on one and use it to reach Eggman.
** Zero, whom Amy is fleeing throughout her stages, is only vulnerable once Amy knocks him into the electric fencing surrounding the boss stage. This causes him to flip his top, exposing a button which you then attack.
* ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'':
** Boss GUN vehicles, much like Egg vehicles, are only vulnerable in the cockpit. How easy they are to get to varies.
** The Biolizard has a tank on its back which you have to attack. To reach it, however, you have to wait until it's tired from chomping at you and shooting balls of dark energy at you. Then you can grind up the rail that begins at its mouth, and then you can attack.
** The Finalhazard. "Aim for the red swelling area to damage him!"
* ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' has a notable Egg boss where it's weak point ''ISN'T'' the cockpit (it has none) -- the Egg Emperor. It's weak point is the glowing orb in the middle of it's body with the slightly-hard-to-see-during-gameplay picture of Eggman on it. However, it's smart enough to protect itself with a giant shield. You have to either destroy the shield with a Power character, or temporarily paralyze the shield-arm with Thunder Shoot in order to do any damage.
** Eggman's love for this trope ends up getting [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in a FourthWallMailSlot event on the official Sonic twitter. According to him, [[https://mobile.twitter.com/sonic_hedgehog/status/926570920382046208/video/1 it's a backup plan for if a robot ever goes rogue on him.]]

* ''Anime/IlSolePenetraLeIllusioni'': The daemonia can only be killed by destroying their tarot card, located in a sphere in their body.

* ''WesternAnimation/Beowulf2007''. Beowulf's men attempt to hack Grendel's head off or stab him in the balls, but Grendel has a [[NoSell very hard head and no testicles]]. But when Beowulf realises that loud noises hurt Grendel's exposed ear drum, he starts [[ScreamingWarrior bellowing as loudly as he can]] and then stabs the ear drum, causing Grendel to flee in agony.

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

* In most ''Franchise/XMen'' adaptations, the only true weakness of the villain the Characters/{{Juggernaut}} is his helmet; while physically the Juggernaut is powerful enough to go up against the Hulk in a straight fight, his mind is still vulnerable to psychic attacks, but his helmet is made of a rare material that deflects such assaults, so most fights against him focus on trying to get the helmet off so the available psychic can stop him.

Compare TacticalSuicideBoss; Contrast FakeWeakness. See also FantasticFragility and UntouchableUntilTagged. Compare and contrast SituationalDamageAttack; while any attack will become stronger if they hit weak point, SDA's damage is variable by itself. See also MonstersFavoritePettingSpot. Often overlaps with AttackTheInjury.

* The start of most [[BossBattle Boss Battles]] of ''[[VideoGame/{{Shantae}} Shantae: Half-Genie Hero]]''. "Stop that Tinkerslug!"

** The battlewalkers in ''VideoGame/Battlefield2142'' can shrug off most everything short of a suicidal transport pilot. However, there is a flimsy vent underneath that potentially allows someone with a pistol to inflict massive damage. The Titan supercarriers present a similar situation: they can only be damaged from outside by BLOC-3 missiles, but can be infiltrated to get to its creamy nuclear core.

* In the final volume of ''Manga/{{Parasyte}},'' Shinichi, who is alone and armed with only his wits and whatever he can find around him now that [[spoiler: Migi has seperated from his body, which also means that he [[AnArmAndALeg only has one hand]]]] executes a total hail mary by [[spoiler: stabbing Gotou in what he hopes to be his one tiny weak point with a metal rod he pulls out of a pile of garbage. It is indeed the weak point, and Gotou crumples. It might not have done much by itself, but that rod just so happened to be covered with a poisonous pollutant from the trash pile that rips Gotou's body apart from the inside, defeating him.]]

* In the final volume of ''Manga/Parasyte,'' Shinichi, who is alone and armed with only his wits and whatever he can find around him now that [[spoiler: Migi has seperated from his body]] executes a total hail mary by [[spoiler: stabbing Gotou in what he hopes to be his one tiny weak point with a metal rod he pulls out of a pile of garbage. It is indeed the weak point, and Gotou crumples. It might not have done much by itself, but that rod just so happened to be covered with a poisonous pollutant from the trash pile that rips Gotou's body apart from the inside, defeating him.]]

** In ''Film/ANewHope'', the Rebels learn the Empire's Death Star can be destroyed by attacking a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port. The exhaust port leads right to the main reactor. ''Film/RogueOne'' would later explain it as a deliberate weakness built by a rebel-sympathetic scientist in an attempt to sabotage it.
** The Empire learns from the first Death Star when building the second. Instead of having one exhaust port big enough to shoot through, it has lots of tiny ones across its surface, all too small to be targeted. Unfortunately for them, the Battle of Endor takes place before the outer shell is finished, allowing the Rebels to fly starfighters straight into the reactor as soon as the planetside shield generator fails. [[{{Irony}} (Really, they should have known better from Hoth than to depend on those things....)]]

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'': The griffin dragon has a ridiculously small weak point (due to the weapon used, the characters don't have a better alternative) that [[spoiler:Yue]] [[http://mangafox.me/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v23/c213/9.html hits with a little knife]].