History Main / BossBanter

** [[{{Earthbound}} Ness]], [[SayMyName Ness]], [[MadnessMantra Ness]], [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm Ness]], [[MemeticMutation Ness]], [[TragicMonster Ness]], [[NightmareFuel Ness]], [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel Ness]], [[EldritchAbomination Ness]], [[MadeOfEvil Ness]], [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Ness]], [[EldritchLocation Ness]], [[CerebusEnding Ness...]] He says other stuff, too, none of it any less disturbing.

* Dr. Robotnik / [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Eggman]] in the ''SonicTheHedgehog'' is fond of taunting Sonic during their battles (at least, in the ''Adventures'' series and onward). "[[MemeticMutation Get a load of Get a load of Get a load of THIS!]]"

* [[{{Earthbound}} Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness...]]

* ''{{Mother 3}}'' has this during the battle with [[spoiler:Porky]], who taunts you and brags about their invincibility.

** For that matter, the whole ''game'' consists mostly of BossBanter, with [=GLaDOS=] slowly dropping the facade of being anything other than a helpful AI.

** Even though the exact line in question wasn't delivered by the boss, ''Shadow the Hedgehog'' features a rare example where the in-battle banter is highly important to the plot: [[spoiler:The entire game's branching storyline is about determining what really happened to Shadow during his memory gap and whether he is still the original Shadow or a duplicate, and the various alternate endings provide contradictory revelations. During the true final boss battle, the supporting characters periodically give banter that doesn't repeat, usually updates on their current situation, but waiting long enough (longer than it usually takes to win the battle) results in Eggman revealing the truth: one of his robots saved Shadow after the events of ''[[SonicAdventureSeries Sonic Adventure 2]]'', and though he suffered from amnesia, Shadow survived. This is the ''only place'' where the truth is ever revealed.]]

-->"Come on, boy!"

** ''FinalFantasyV'' '''loves''' this, it's by no means just Gilgamesh. It shows up a bit in ''FinalFantasyIV'', too.

** Nu's voice clips change ALOT when she fights Ragna the Bloodedge.

-->"I will crush you tiny bones!"

* Similarly in ''BlazBlue'', characters have altered voice clips when they fight characters deeply involved in their story. These clips vary greatly in nature from each matchup, from the disturbing exchanges between [[Yandere Jin]] and [[AntiHero Ragna]], to the hilarius interactions between the ambigious CovertPervert [[RalphWiggum Taokaka]] [[LesYay and]] [[strike:Litchi]] [[FanNickname Boobie Lady]], not to mention the almost [[TearJerker heartbreakingly tragic]] exchanges when Litchi [[TragicMonster fights]] her fellow ex-scientist and former colleague, [[EldritchAbomination Arakune]], who lost both his [[WasOnceAMan body]] and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation mind]] when he started drawing knowledge from the Boundrary.

* Most bosses in the ''MegaMan'' games with voice acting exhibit this behavior.

* [[MortalKombat Shao Khan]] will restrain from the pummeling just to inform the player that "You will never, ever win".

** In the second game, so does [[spoiler: Hazama]]

* Similarly in ''BlazBlue'', characters have altered voice clips when they fight characters deeply involved in their story. These clips vary greatly in nature from each matchup, from the disturbing exchanges between [[Yandere Jin]] and [[AntiHero Ragna]], to the hilarius interactions between the ambigious CovertPervert [[RalphWiggum Taokaka]] [[LesYay and]] [[strike:Litchi]] [[FanNickname Boobie Lady]], not to mention the almost [[TearJerker heartbreakingly tragic]] exchanges when Litchi [[TragicMonster fights]] her fellow ex-scientist and former colleague, [[EldrichAbomination Arakune]], who lost both his [[WasOnceAMan body]] and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation mind]] when he started drawing knowledge from the Boundrary.

* Most Bosses in ''DiabloII'' say a specific phrase when you first meet them. As do three bosses in Diablo I (the Butcher, the Archbishop, and Diablo himself)
* Jack of Blades in ''{{Fable}}''.

* ''ConkersBadFurDay'' features a musical example of this trope (and other, [[ToiletHumor less savory]] tropes as well) in the form of the Great Mighty Poo.
* Several bosses of ''[[{{Pokemon}} Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum]]'' will taunt you when they send out their final Mon.
* Most bosses in ''WorldOfWarcraft'' nowadays. "Fools! Kill [[TheMedic the one]] [[RobeAndWizardHat in the dress]]!". Especially the dear, old Kael'thas Sunstrider in Tempest Keep. He's like he can't do nothing but talk, talk and talk.
** World of Warcraft has overdone this in some places, in the Wrath of the Lich King dungeons it's sometimes hard to find a boss that will shut up for more than 10 seconds. However this crosses often into [[CallingYourAttacks Calling Your Attacks]] which can be useful, or even [[BondOneLiner Bond One Liner]], which can be pretty awesome.
* ''TalesOfVesperia'' has several bosses in which they have an entire conversation with the hero as the boss fight is going on, where is where we get this gem from:
-->'''[[AxCrazy Zagi:]]''' I'm going to kill you, and carve your name into my blood!
-->'''[[DeadpanSnarker Yuri:]]''' Yeah...that's pretty disgusting.
** ''TalesOfVesperia'' is by far not the only game in the TalesSeries to include these.
*** A particularly awesome example is the [[SequentialBoss first segment]] of the FinalBoss in TalesOfSymphonia, with Lloyd and [[spoiler: Mithos Yggdrasil]] trading [[KirkSummation Kirk Summations]] and [[HannibalLecture Hannibal Lectures]] respectively over the din of the battle.
* Dr. Robotnik / [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Eggman]] in the ''SonicTheHedgehog'' is fond of taunting Sonic during their battles (at least, in the ''Adventures'' series and onward). "[[MemeticMutation Get a load of Get a load of Get a load of THIS!]]"
** Even though the exact line in question wasn't delivered by the boss, ''Shadow the Hedgehog'' features a rare example where the in-battle banter is highly important to the plot: [[spoiler:The entire game's branching storyline is about determining what really happened to Shadow during his memory gap and whether he is still the original Shadow or a duplicate, and the various alternate endings provide contradictory revelations. During the true final boss battle, the supporting characters periodically give banter that doesn't repeat, usually updates on their current situation, but waiting long enough (longer than it usually takes to win the battle) results in Eggman revealing the truth: one of his robots saved Shadow after the events of ''[[SonicAdventureSeries Sonic Adventure 2]]'', and though he suffered from amnesia, Shadow survived. This is the ''only place'' where the truth is ever revealed.]]

* Some of the bosses in the ''PaperMario'' series chat with you during their battles, but the most prominent of these is probably Rawk Hawk--a grandstanding [[ProfessionalWrestling Professional Battler]] who is in it for the ''show.''
** And, in ''MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga,'' Fawful chats at you throughout his ''entire'' fight. This would probably get annoying, if Fawful wasn't made of [[CrowningMomentOfFunny concentrated funny and]] [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom doom mustard.]]
*** Oddly enough, he doesn't say a single word when you fight him in ''Bowser's Inside Story'', though he does engage in some Evil Laughing.
* [=GLaDOS=] in ''{{Portal}}'' spends the entire final confrontation telling that you're a bad person, that things will be much worse if you destroy her, making petty insults and being bitter and resentful.
** For that matter, the whole ''game'' consists mostly of BossBanter, with [=GLaDOS=] slowly dropping the facade of being anything other than a helpful AI.
* Just about every boss in John Woo's ''Stranglehold'' will do this during your battle with them.
* The end bosses in ''BaldursGate'' tends to do this. Not as much as some, and it mostly involves shouting battle-cries, but still...
* ''{{Castlevania}}'' has the little back-and-forth that includes the iconic line: "WHAT IS A MAN? A MISERABLE LITTLE PILE OF SECRETS!"
** Mostly Drac goes for the constant EvilLaugh, but [[spoiler:Barlowe]] mixes it up with PunctuatedPounding:
--> ''How dare you..''
--> ''Even forgetting...''
--> [[spoiler: ''Who raised you...'']]
--> ''You...!''
--> [[spoiler: '''STUPID DISCIPLE!'']]
* The Guy from ''IWannaBeTheGuy'', after he goes OneWingedAngel.
-->"You think you can defeat me!"
-->"I will crush you tiny bones!"
** Not to forget the [[spoiler:LukeIAmYourFather moment: "Yes, I did have sex with your mother!"]]
* Common in ''{{Persona 3}}'' and ''{{Persona 4}}'', though in the former it only appears when fighting Strega, [[spoiler:the last boss]], [[spoiler:[[BonusBoss Elizabeth]], and your teammates]] in ''The Answer''; the other bosses, being Shadows, don't speak human languages. In the latter, every plotline boss does it.
* In ''ResidentEvil 5'', every boss-fight with Wesker involves him taunting you and/or explaining his evil {{Darwinist}} plan in great detail. Towards the end, Chris finally had enough...
-->'''Wesker''': ''The human race requires judgment.''
-->'''Chris''': ''And you're going to judge us? Do you get all your ideas from comic book villains?''
* In ResidentEvil4 the boss battle with Salazar is the ONLY boss battle (besides the final boss) to talk with you. And it can be used very tacticly as he only talks for 3 reasons, besides his introductory You will suffer like Ashley did. 1, whenever you shoot the Verdugo, he mocks you saying things like That tickles, 2 whenever he grabs with you with the tentacle, and the best of all, when he uses his one hit ko move. Which is very useful since you can tell when to dodge.
* Gilgamesh from ''FinalFantasyV'' has a tendency to talk more than what he actually fights... frequently giving excuses for him running away and [[spoiler: giving advice to each of your party members before his Heroic Sacrifice]]
** ''FinalFantasyV'' '''loves''' this, it's by no means just Gilgamesh. It shows up a bit in ''FinalFantasyIV'', too.
** [[FinalFantasyVI "Ouch! Seafood soup!" "Meatheads? I hate 'em!"]]
** ''FinalFantasyX'' has [[spoiler:Seymour]] providing some banter if you choose the trigger actions -- oddly, speaking to him will improve strength, or magic or defense for your characters.
**FFX-2 Ormi: [[MostAnnoyingSound "AhahahahahahahaHAAAA"]] *Throws Grenade*
* Some demons in ''{{Nethack}}''. Examples: "I first mistook thee for a statue, when I regarded thy head of stone." "Go play leapfrog with a herd of unicorns!"
* Quite a few bosses in ''FireEmblem'' will say something along these lines when you first attack them, or when a specific character attacks them.
* In ''PaperMario'', most of the Boss Banter follows a progression, and they tend to only say something when entering a new phase and when you discover a weakness. Although the Koopa Bros. alternate between two units of chatter while they're hidden in a lame Bowser disguise, and later, when they're out of it, say "Woah! We're going over!" when Mario throws them off-balance.
** Although the Final Bosses of the series are the real banterers. Especially the [[spoiler: Shadow Queen]] who when she becomes invincible, will taunt you for 3 turns before [[spoiler: Killing everybody in your audience to replenish her HP.]] IN A MARIO GAME. Wow...
*** Its not three turns, you need to attack each of her parts (2 hands, main body) once, otherwise youre stuck in that fihgt with no way to win.

* Dagoth-Ur in ''TheElderScrolls III: Morrowind'' spends a lot of time during the FinalBattle explaining why you cannot kill him: he is a god. It turns out, you ''really can't'' kill him [[spoiler:until you destroy the source of his divinity]].
** Dagoth-Ur also starts the penultimate battle outside of the [[spoiler:Heart Chamber]] by having a civil Q&A session with the protagonist. And then he lets the player make the first blow.
** All of the Ash Vampires actually have unique dialogue, limited though it is, but you have to Calm them before speaking to them. Dagoth Endus will offer you a drink of Ancient Dagoth Brandy before your fight him and, if you accept, also lets you have the first strike. Dagoth Uthol even has unique dialogue that lets you pass him without contest.
* [[{{Earthbound}} Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness...]]
* And, of course, ''UltimateCrabBattle''. "'''You''' cannot stand between me... and my '''destiny'''!" and so forth.
* Most bosses in ''StarFox64'' talk during the battle. Surprisingly, Andross himself only talks in cutscenes and even contacts you during the final level to taunt you, but during the battle he only laughs. Other games in the series are less keen on this but it still happens. The Star Wolf team is especially prone to do this.
** Pigma in particular has some pretty cruel banter, such as "Too bad Dad?s not here to see ya FAIL!" (referencing how he helped conspire to kill him).
** Andross actually does speak during your battle with him. It's easy to miss because it isn't uttered over the comm channel like all other speech in the game. When Andross is stunned and rubbing his eyes, listen carefully and you can make out the phrase: "Gaa! You fool!" It is in the same voice he laughs/screams with.
* Gruntilda in ''{{Banjo-Kazooie}}'' and ''Tooie''. Particularly in ''Tooie'', where she ''asks you quiz questions'' during the final battle (and goes easier on you if you get them right).
* Various bosses in ''{{Iji}}'' will either laugh or make comments. In one case, Iosa banters towards a character assisting you.
* ''KingdomHearts'' bosses do this a lot. Ursula, for instance, warns you to "Get ready for this!" while Hades invites you to "Feel the heat!"
** [[MemeticMutation "Dance, water, dance!"]]
** The FinalBoss of ''KingdomHearts II'' has some, uh, memorable banter. First, for those of you who haven't played the games: It is, among other things, the story of two boys who are close friends and, before the game started, rivals, who, after making some horrific mistakes and serious sacrifices spend three games and the better part of two in-verse years trying to fix what went wrong, find each other, and go home, their rivalry abandoned because dammit there are more important things than one-upping each other and through it all, never losing trust in each other. And all that is if you don't believe they're romantically inclined towards each other. The final boss's taunts?
-->"Sora--are you sure you can ...trust Riku?"
-->"Riku--aren't you jealous of Sora?"
* ''TheWitcher'' is filled with banter between Geralt and named enemies. The most is with Azar and the Professor because of their history of chase and false finishes, with banter before, after and throughout combats.
--> Azar Javed: Did anyone warn you about pissing upwind?
--> Geralt: You talk too much.
--> Azar Javed: You just pissed in a ''tornado''!
* ''Drakengard'' 2 does this often. Of particular note is Yaha, who's banter consists partially of him HITTING ON the male characters. He's also male himself, so...
* ''{{Metal Gear Solid}}'' loves this trope - from [[MagnificentBastard Ocelot]] comparing Snake (favorable or not depending on how long you take) to [[EvenTheGuysWantHim Big Boss]], while The Fury will scream insults at the player when he gets hit, etc.
* Sasha from ''InFAMOUS'' keeps talking about being in love with you and being angry about you loving another woman while you fight her. [[spoiler:She at one point mistakes you for [[BigBad Kessler]], foreshadowing TheReveal at the end.]]
* ''SuperRobotWars'' in all of its incarnations does this. Oftentimes this only happens when the current boss you're up against has some relation to the person that's attacking them, but the final boss of a game almost ''always'' has a few lines of conversation with any conceivable member of the group.
** And that's just the field dialogue. Banter also accompanies [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMlJUDBFpwU&translated=1 literally every attack delivered, received, dodged, or intercepted]]. (Warning: Video contains spoilers in the above-mentioned variety of Boss Banter.) And even ''that'' is sometimes preceded by unique one-liners when fighting bosses. ''SuperRobotWars'' really loves this trope.
* Every character does this in ''PunchOut Wii'', corresponding to their moves.
* Most of the bosses in ''NoMoreHeroes'' do this.
* Most bosses in the ''MegaMan'' games with voice acting exhibit this behavior.
** Burn! Burn! Burn to the ground! Burn!

* The platformer ''MagicianLord'' is infamous for (among [[NintendoHard other things]]) the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOKRBCQTZDk ridiculous taunts]] made by the BigBad before each fight. "Be dead down here." "C'mon nice guy. But your life is mine very soon." "I'm destined just to die." etc.
* In Destiny of an Emperor, Sima Shi and Sima Zhao keep taunting the heroes as you beat the stuffing out of them.
* ''{{Mother 3}}'' has this during the battle with [[spoiler:Porky]], who taunts you and brags about their invincibility.
* ''TheWorldEndsWithYou'' has most of the major bosses engage in this. Most of EnsembleDarkhorse Sho Minamimoto's more memetastic lines show up in this format.
** [[BonusBoss GRAAAAH! GRAAAAH! DON'T LET LIMITS SLOW YOU! GYAAAH!! HEHEHEHEHEH...]]''[[BonusBoss ENJOY THE MOMENT!]]'' [[GameOver OPEN UP YOUR WORLD!]]
* ''PrinceOfPersia Sands Of Time'' features this with the final boss. During the fight both The Prince and [[spoiler:The Vizier]] talk to each other. The fight ends once the full run of the speech has been said. However, if you stop attacking, the speech stops, so you can't just casually dodge until it's over.

* Every major battle in the ''{{Touhou}}'' series of danmaku shooters, at least in the Windows series, and in the series' two fighters is preceded and concluded by dialogue between the protagonist and the boss. Some levels even feature an exchange with the boss in the middle of the level.
* ''StreetFighter IV'' has "Rival Battles", where you fight with someone who is somehow tied into the story of your currently selected character. As the fight goes on, voice clips of the two taunting each other will play, sometimes with new clips replacing their usual Super or Ultra startup/finisher soundbites.
* Similarily in BlazBlue, characters have altered voice clips when they fight characters deeply involved in their story. These clips vary greatly in nature from each matchup, from the disturbing exchanges between [[Yandere Jin]] and [[AntiHero Ragna]], to the hilarius interactions between the ambigious CovertPervert [[RalphWiggum Taokaka]] [[LesYay and]] [[strike:Litchi]] [[FanNickname Boobie Lady]], not to mention the almost [[TearJerker heartbreakingly tragic]] exchanges when Litchi [[TragicMonster fights]] her fellow ex-scientist and former colleague, [[EldrichAbomination Arakune]], who lost both his [[WasOnceAMan body]] and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation mind]] when he started drawing knowledge from the Boundrary.

* Every single boss, as well as every gang member, in ''RiverCityRansom'' has something snide to say to you as you pummel each other into currency.
* Several boss battles in the ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' games will pause partway through so you can have a brief conversation with the boss. Sometimes, you can convince them to stop fighting you, maybe even join your party, but when you fight Darth Malak, the best possible result is that he admits that he made a mistake going down the dark path before he dies. All the other results just end up with him taunting you, and most of these conversations start out as taunting and VolleyingInsults.

* [[MortalKombat Shao Khan]] will restrain from the pummeling just to inform the player that "You will never, ever win".
*The Silent from {{Lux Pain}}. Something is one the top screen in the beginning, near the middle, and near the end for each Silent (though each one says different things). The first and second thing are similar and are related to evilness, while the last one is about it dying. In addition, the Original silents say a bunch of stuff after you win.
* Common in TheLordOfTheRingsOnline. At one point, Mordirith gives his entire origin story while his minions fight the players.
* In the 2009 version of BionicCommando, the creators play around with this abit. If you fight one boss enough times by losing, the pre battle banter lampshades a {{Mondegreen}}. Then there's the penultimate boss, who rants to you inbetween attacks for awhile. Lose to him enough times, and you get a "skip dialogue" button which manifests as Spencer telling the boss to [[ShutUpHannibal shut the fuck up and fight.]]

<<|BossBattle|>>

-->'''Wesker''': ''Humanity needs to be judged!''
-->'''Chris''': ''Do you get ALL your ideas from comic-book villains?''