History Main / BossDissonance

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' [[ZigzaggedTrope zig-zags between the two extremes]] during the first half. On the one hand, you have the easy Skyview Temple followed by [[ThatOneBoss That One]] WakeUpCallBoss Ghirahim, and on the other, the much more difficult Earth Temple and Lanayru Mining Facility having very easy bosses. There's also, of course, the fairly difficult first battle against The Imprisoned ''outside'' a dungeon. A DownplayedTrope in later dungeons, however: Notwithstanding Tentalus, the other bosses are generally on par with their levels of residence difficulty-wise. In fact, it's after the first half of the game when overworld bosses battles appear, further blurring the difficulty curve.

* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence'' varies depending on the character you use. With Leon Belmont's defensive abilities and special weapons, levels can be quite challenging, especially when you have to engage in any platforming due to CameraScrew, but the bosses are easy once you learn their pattern (yes, even [[ThatOneBoss Death]]). With bonus character Joachim Armster, it's the opposite -- his attacks blaze through regular enemies, most of the platforming challenges are removed (since he has no whip swing), but because he can't block or use healing items, the bosses are ''insanely hard''. The worst is [[{{Superboss}} the Forgotten One]], who is hard enough for Leon to beat, and nigh impossible for Joachim to beat. While the Orb it drops acts as Leon's InfinityPlusOneSword, for Joachim the Orb does nothing at all.

* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence'' varies depending on the character you use. With Leon Belmont's defensive abilities and special weapons, levels can be quite challenging, especially when you have to engage in any platforming due to CameraScrew, but the bosses are easy once you learn their pattern (yes, even [[ThatOneBoss Death]]). With bonus character Joachim Armster, it's the opposite -- his attacks blaze through regular enemies, most of the platforming challenges are removed (since he has no whip swing), but because he can't block or use healing items, the bosses are ''insanely hard''. The worst is [[BonusBoss the Forgotten One]], who is hard enough for Leon to beat, and nigh impossible for Joachim to beat. While the Orb it drops acts as Leon's InfinityPlusOneSword, for Joachim the Orb does nothing at all.

%%** Those goddamn disappearing blocks... and SpikesOfDoom... and BulletHell...%%And ZCEs...

* ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'': With the exception of Flint's slightly diverse team the Elite Four are actually very predictable and easy to beat so long as ElementalRockPaperScissors is taken into account, but the Champion the player faces after defeating them has a team of the strongest Pokemon in the region with diverse movesets, one of which is both so strong it is banned from competitive play and literally the strongest that a Pokemon of its species could possibly be.

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'': The levels are all rather easy with very basic enemies, with occasional issues with mass gunfire. The boss battles were the obvious focus, where all the work was put in, although it varies from boss to boss.

* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' manages to have both types simultaneously. It just depends on how you actually approach the fight. All of the bosses are trivial if you know which weapons they are vulnerable to. For example, the first boss can easily be eliminated by [[spoiler:throwing the barrels of poison gas lying around or spamming him with the Stun Gun]]. The [[spoiler:Typhoon augmentation]] also pretty much serves as a GameBreaker for three of the fights. However, this is potentially a very stealth heavy game, some of the most effective weapons against them are not the most obvious choices, for example, the [[spoiler:Combat Rifle]] is pretty awful compared to most other weapons for the boss. It's entirely possible to walk into the third boss with little ammo, ineffective weapons, and if you make a certain story decision [[spoiler:being unable to use any augments and having an InterfaceScrew on top of that]]. So, if you go into the bosses prepared properly, they are trivially easy, but if you are not properly prepared (which might be likely due to WrongGenreSavvy and assuming very effective anti-boss weapons are useless since they would be in most games) then they are far more difficult than the rest of the game.

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* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence'' varies depending on the character you use. With Leon Belmont's defensive abilities and special weapons, levels can be quite challenging, especially when you have to engage in any platforming due to CameraScrew, but the bosses are easy once you learn their pattern (yes, even [[ThatOneBoss Death]]). With bonus character Joachim Armster, it's the opposite - his attacks blaze through regular enemies, most of the platforming challenges are removed (since he has no whip swing), but because he can't block or use healing items, the bosses are ''insanely hard''. The worst is [[BonusBoss the Forgotten One]], who is hard enough for Leon to beat, and nigh impossible for Joachim to beat. While the Orb it drops acts as Leon's InfinityPlusOneSword, for Joachim the Orb does nothing at all.

* The first ''VideoGame/{{Splatterhouse}}'' game has only two examples:

* The bosses in ''VideoGame/GodHand'' actually aren't that hard (Exception to Azel), all of them having easily abused patterns. Now the regular levels, on the other hand...
* The levels of the the ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' series are all rather easy with very basic enemies, with occasional issues with mass gunfire. The boss battles were the obvious focus, where all the work was put in, although it varies from boss to boss.

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* ''{{VideoGame/Diablo}} 2'' does both kinds. Act 1 and 2 have bosses that can chew you up in the matter of seconds if you blink. Especially [[ThatOneBoss Duriel]], who's not only super tough and super fast, but you must also [[BossRoom fight him in a small chamber that doesn't even leave any room for strategy]], so if you're playing a ranged character, you can kiss him goodbye. In Acts 3, 4, and 5, the EliteMooks and their [[BossInMooksClothing leaders]] that you need to fight before facing the boss are MUCH harder than their infernal masters. Mainly because when facing the boss, all you really need to do is dodge. In hell difficulty, act bosses and superuniques without minions are usually much easier than normal uniques and their minions since act bosses don't get extra boss modifiers and immunities.

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* ''VideoGame/AtlanticaOnline's'' many dungeons have an odd version of both types. In order to complete a dungeon, each level must be cleared of enemies, including mooks and a boss, and usually a couple of minibosses.

** Oh and the Nation dungeons also throw EscortMission aspects into the mix.

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* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyroTheEternalNight'' has some killer boss battles and regularly throws regular-and-above-regular enemies at you right in the MIDDLE of difficult fights. One example of this being the final stage of the battle against Skabb the pirate, seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjNIIRJ51As&feature=related here]].

** Doc Robot from ''VideoGame/MegaMan3'' not only has souped up and harder versions of certain Robot Master's stages, but you have to fight him 8 times (2 per level) and he takes the powers of the Robot Masters from ''2''. Spark Man's stage is easy, but fighting a faster, larger version of Quick Man (already ThatOneBoss in the previous game) is not!
** Burst Man's stage is a leisurely swim, followed by a boss that will slam you straight into the instant-kill ceiling of his room.
** The ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series is focused on difficult bosses, generally. Stages are SLIGHTLY easier than the boss you have to face off against.

** Successfully maneuvering the stages in ''VideoGame/MegaManX6'' is a considerably more challenging task than winning the boss fights.

** ''VideoGame/MegaManZX Advent'' has the Floating Ruins which are relatively easy if you have Queenbee and Vulturon, but then you have to fight [[BlowYouAway Aeolus]] and his [[ShockAndAwe stupid lightning spinners]].
* ''VideoGame/LegendOfKay'' has boss battles that are a relief compared to the evil stage difficulty. You will often find yourself overrun with mooks, all with different weaknesses which makes the situation a clusterfuck. The exception is the second form of the final boss who is an example of unfair difficulty, as the only way to dodge his combo is to use the Breakable Jongs on the outside of the arena to keep away. Each jong can only be destroyed by one weapon type and the types aren't in a logical order E.G. Sword, Claws, Hammer. So you can't just press the cycle button once per jong; you often end up whacking futilely against one with the wrong weapon and falling into the lava.
* In ''VideoGame/MickeyMousecapade'', the shortest level in the game, the Pirate Ship, houses ThatOneBoss, Peg Leg Pete (Captain Hook in the Japanese version).
* VideoGame/{{KidKool}} has levels that have [[FakeDifficulty blind jumps, water-hopping, fans that blow you around, cheap deaths, and awful controls]]. The bosses are much too easy.
* The Game Gear/Master System version of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' has two opposite examples:

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* ''VideoGame/Persona3'' swings like a weathervane in a tornado. On the one hand, Tartarus is [[StealthPun Hell]] to go through, stuffed to the gills with DemonicSpiders, and if you can handle Tartarus, you will not have any trouble whatever with the Full Moon bosses. On the other hand, the Tartarus bosses? They're nearly all ThatOneBoss, designed as [[BeefGate Beef Gates]] par excellence, and only get harder as you climb the tower - and LevelGrinding won't help you. And then just when you think that's the rule, there's the FinalBoss... who is a Full Moon boss, fought in Tartarus. And it is ThatOneBoss to end all [[ThatOneBoss Those One Bosses]] (unless you have [[GameBreaker Armageddon]]). [[NintendoHard It's a Megaten game.]]

[[AC: Shooter]]
* The WebGame [[http://www.miniclip.com/games/zombo-buster-rising/en/ Zombo Buster Rising]] has rather easy levels as long as you grind for money and upgrade your characters. The boss on the other hand is ThatOneBoss who is simultaneously a DamageSpongeBoss, a FlunkyBoss, and a TimeLimitBoss (with a form of BossArenaUrgency) who will ''destroy'' you if his [[LuckBasedMission random AI]] spawns waves too often or moves forwards often, even if you have upgraded everything.

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* Almost any ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' level where the boss doesn't move.

** ''Thracia 776'' comes to mind, considering how anticlimactic Beldo is once you get to him. The game is easily the hardest in the series in many fans' eyes.

*** In the first game, if players chose [[Characters/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Ryusei Date]] as the protagonist, they'll have to fight [[spoiler:[[Characters/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Ingram Prisken and the R-Gun Rivale]]]], which comes with [[GradualRegeneration HP/EN regeneration]], [[DeflectorShield a "Warp Field" barrier that reduces damage by half]] and minimal areas on the map allowing HP/EN regeneration for allied units. The next scenario features a FlunkyBoss, with the map containing an HP/EN recovery field. Sure, the boss is standing on it with its own "Warp Field" ability, but clearing the area of the flunkies and surrounding the boss while standing on the field eases up difficulty. If allied characters have the "[[MinmaxersDelight SP Regeneration]]" pilot skill by that point in the game, the battle is rendered much easier.

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* ''VideoGame/RockBand'' has some songs that don't fit where it sorts them when sorting by difficulty.
** On the first one, "Don't Fear The Reaper" appears towards the middle of the songlist for Drummers (there's TWO sections that will kill untrained and trained ones alike, even if the drummers in question can clear [[HarderThanHard Impossible]] charts). DLC, however, is where this problem is especially evident, as "I.V." (part of the 20 Free songs for ''VideoGame/RockBand 2'' owners) is slotted as a 4/7 (3 dots) [[FakeDifficulty despite numerous]] ''[[FakeDifficulty charted]]'' [[FakeDifficulty double-kicks on the drum chart.]]
** Even more infamous are some of the guitar parts. "Constant Motion" in particular is a 6/7, which looks fairly accurate until you hit the guitar solo, which is widely considered to be one of the most difficult (if not ''the'' most difficult) one in the entire game, including the 1000+ DLC songs.
** It seems Harmonix ranks songs based on their overall difficulty, rather than their peak. This leads to songs such as [[Music/AvengedSevenfold Afterlife]] being rated a measly 5/7 on guitar, in spite of sections [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=AkU2yfFnsxQ#t=237s like this.]]

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* ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'': With the exception of Flint's slightly diverse team the Elite Four are actually very predictable and easy to beat so long as ElementalRockPaperScissors is taken into account, but the Champion the player faces after defeating them has a team of the strongest Pokemon in the region with diverse movesets, one of which is both so strong it is banned from competitive play and literally the strongest that a Pokemon of its species could possibly be.
* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' gives up entirely on random encounters halfway through and only offers boss battles (although the overworld and previous areas are still accessible should you want to level up). This is due to budget cuts that left the game incomplete.
* ''VideoGame/SagaFrontier'' is a rare case that can play this one both ways, due to the way the "Battle Rank" system works. Which monsters you run into in a fight are scaled up or down based on how many battles you've done, as well as where you train- Depending on the location, the enemies you fight may be much stronger or weaker than what is "level appropriate". Bosses are set at +2 BR and scale up at different points, so it's entirely possible to go rush headlong into a boss fight you're unprepared for, even though you're capable of slaughtering everything else in the region.
* ''VideoGame/Persona3'' swings like a weathervane in a tornado. On the one hand, Tartarus is [[StealthPun Hell]] to go through, stuffed to the gills with DemonicSpiders, and if you can handle Tartarus, you will not have any trouble whatever with the Full Moon bosses. On the other hand, the Tartarus bosses? They're nearly all ThatOneBoss, designed as [[BeefGate Beef Gates]] par excellence, and only get harder as you climb the tower - and LevelGrinding won't help you. And then just when you think that's the rule, there's the FinalBoss... who is a Full Moon boss, fought in Tartarus. And it is ThatOneBoss to end all [[ThatOneBoss Those One Bosses]] (unless you have [[GameBreaker Armageddon]]). [[NintendoHard It's a Megaten game.]]
* ''VideoGame/TwoWorlds'' featured this due to its item combining mechanic. Duplicate weapons could be squashed together into one weapon with better stats, so those mid-level swords you find dozens of are really all pieces of the InfinityPlusOneSword. If you've done any side quests at all on your way to the boss (and it's pretty hard to avoid detouring through the gorgeous countryside), you'll probably kill the final boss in two hits. TheDragon right before the boss? Not so much.

[[AC: Shooter]]
* The WebGame [[http://www.miniclip.com/games/zombo-buster-rising/en/ Zombo Buster Rising]] has rather easy levels as long as you grind for money and upgrade your characters. The boss on the other hand is ThatOneBoss who is simultaneously a DamageSpongeBoss, a FlunkyBoss, and a TimeLimitBoss (with a form of BossArenaUrgency) who will ''destroy'' you if his [[LuckBasedMission random AI]] spawns waves too often or moves forwards often, even if you have upgraded everything.

In most games, fighting enemies comes down to two phases. A) Fighting through waves of normal mooks and baddies and making your way through levels, and B) fighting boss villains. Of course, a boss is supposed to be a tougher challenge than a normal mook, but they are also a singular enemy (or at least a small amount), and bosses usually test the player's current ability instead of becoming a tyrannical wave of destruction (at least not [[ThatOneBoss most of the time]]).

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro: The Eternal Night'' has some killer boss battles and regularly throws regular-and-above-regular enemies at you right in the MIDDLE of difficult fights. One example of this being the final stage of the battle against Skabb the pirate, seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjNIIRJ51As&feature=related here]].
* The ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' series varies widely:
** Those goddamn disappearing blocks...and SpikesOfDoom...and BulletHell...
** [[MemeticMutation You can't beat]] [[MemeticBadass Air Man.]]
** In ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'' the fandom is split between which is the pushover and which is the utter meatgrinder: [[ThatOneBoss Quick Man]][[note]]veterans, who tend to relish in self-imposed challenges like no-damage runs, are nailed to the wall trying to decipher his AI pattern; newcomers inevitably tackle Quick Man last and just bull rush him whilst loaded up with Flash Stopper and E Tanks[[/note]], [[ThatOneLevel or his stage]][[note]]newcomers are helplessly shredded by his barrage of instant death lasers, while veterans pretty much know the stage by heart[[/note]].

** The Scrambled Egg Zone is [[ThatOneLevel quite hard]] but Silver Sonic (the game's penultimate boss, or the final boss if you haven't collected all the emeralds) is probably the second easiest boss in the game next to the Aqua Lake boss.

* ''DragonQuestIX'''s [[BonusDungeon grotto system]] can go both ways, since the grottoes (twisted labyrinths filled with monsters and one out of twelve possible bosses) are randomly generated depending on various parameters like the main character's current level, the grotto previously beaten, etc. However, which boss is present is determined separately, so it's entirely possible to go through a dozen hellish floors containing the worst DemonicSpiders ever created by the mind of developpers, and the boss a relaxing exercise in CherryTapping without fear of retribution. And vice versa.

* ''VideoGame//RockBand'' has some songs that don't fit where it sorts them when sorting by difficulty.
** On the first one, "Don't Fear The Reaper" appears towards the middle of the songlist for Drummers (there's TWO sections that will kill untrained and trained ones alike, even if the drummers in question can clear [[HarderThanHard Impossible]] charts). DLC, however, is where this problem is especially evident, as "I.V." (part of the 20 Free songs for ''RockBand 2'' owners) is slotted as a 4/7 (3 dots) [[FakeDifficulty despite numerous]] ''[[FakeDifficulty charted]]'' [[FakeDifficulty double-kicks on the drum chart.]]

* ''{{Persona 3}}'' swings like a weathervane in a tornado. On the one hand, Tartarus is [[StealthPun Hell]] to go through, stuffed to the gills with DemonicSpiders, and if you can handle Tartarus, you will not have any trouble whatever with the Full Moon bosses. On the other hand, the Tartarus bosses? They're nearly all ThatOneBoss, designed as [[BeefGate Beef Gates]] par excellence, and only get harder as you climb the tower - and LevelGrinding won't help you. And then just when you think that's the rule, there's the FinalBoss... who is a Full Moon boss, fought in Tartarus. And it is ThatOneBoss to end all [[ThatOneBoss Those One Bosses]] (unless you have [[GameBreaker Armageddon]]). [[NintendoHard It's a Megaten game.]]

*** In ''Original Generation Gaiden'', the FinalBoss [[spoiler:[[Characters/CompatiHeroSeries Dark Brain]]]] has hundreds of thousands of HP, [[OneWingedAngel an additional form]], can regenerate a third of its HP each turn and can deal a OneHitKill on allied units, even if they're properly upgraded. It is considered [[ThatOneBos the hardest boss]] in [=SRW=] history, yet the TrueFinalBoss [[spoiler:[[Characters/MasouKishin Shu Shirakawa with the Neo Granzon]]]] is a cakewalk, as it has fewer HP, weaker attacks and less HP regeneration compared to the former.

* Almost any ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' level where the boss doesn't move.

* Almost any ''FireEmblem'' level where the boss doesn't move. Most of the time, the boss is effectively a regular enemy at a high level with better weapons, and it's fairly easy to surround them and wear them down. It's even easier when they have no ranged attacks, allowing you to pick them off at no risk. On the other hand, the regular enemies in the game tend to be cannon fodder, while the boss is usually stronger than all the regular enemies in a level combined. Bosses that can actually move are extremely dangerous.

* ''RockBand'' has some songs that don't fit where it sorts them when sorting by difficulty. On the first one, "Don't Fear The Reaper" appears towards the middle of the songlist for Drummers (there's TWO sections that will kill untrained and trained ones alike, even if the drummers in question can clear [[HarderThanHard Impossible]] charts). DLC, however, is where this problem is especially evident, as "I.V." (part of the 20 Free songs for ''RockBand 2'' owners) is slotted as a 4/7 (3 dots) [[FakeDifficulty despite numerous]] ''[[FakeDifficulty charted]]'' [[FakeDifficulty double-kicks on the drum chart.]]

** Pretty well justified, though - Full Moon bosses usually have decently long cutscenes between the last save point and the actual battle, while Tartarus bosses don't.

* The hyped but forgettable XBOX 360 game ''VideoGame/TwoWorlds'' featured this due to its item combining mechanic. Duplicate weapons could be squashed together into one weapon with better stats, so those mid-level swords you find dozens of are really all pieces of the InfinityPlusOneSword. If you've done any side quests at all on your way to the boss (and it's pretty hard to avoid detouring through the gorgeous countryside), you'll probably kill the final boss in two hits. TheDragon right before the boss? Not so much.

* The bosses in ''VideoGame/{{God Hand}}'' actually aren't that hard (Exception to Azel), all of them having easily abused patterns. Now the regular levels, on the other hand...
* The levels of the the {{No More Heroes}} series are all rather easy with very basic enemies, with occasional issues with mass gunfire. The boss battles were the obvious focus, where all the work was put in, although it varies from boss to boss.