History Main / DegradedBoss

** All three of the Light World place bosses in ''Link to the Past'' later reappear as common enemies in the very last dungeon. Since Link's sword now does 4 times the damage it did before they're not much trouble, though Moldorm can still push you off the ledge to the floor below and [[Main/GoddamnedBoss force you to start all over again]].

** Done both in-game and in-story in ''VideoGame/NinjaGaidenIITheDarkSwordOfChaos''. Many of the basic {{Mooks}} you fight are clones of the Malice Four, the main bosses of the [[VideoGame/NinjaGaidenNES first game]]. The clones are the same size as Ryu and are mostly killed with a single strike like other regular mooks, except for clones of Bloody Malth, who take a few hits to kill (and they attack with some kind of throwing disc a la ''VideoGame/{{Rygar}}'' instead of the real Malth's lightning blasts). As an aversion, [[spoiler:Kelberos and Jaquio]] both return as full bosses.

** The Dullahan enemy moves up from {{Mook|s}} to WakeUpCallBoss in ''Portrait of Ruin'', only to go back to Mook just one game later in ''Order of Ecclesia''. Though the mook version is often called Durhan. Series wise, the boss version is a KingMook variation. Before and after, it's a mook, that one time it's a boss. However, they appear as mooks again in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDespair'', exactly the same as in ''Portrait of Ruin'' (giant, hard to get around with projectiles that curse, and you have to hit a floating head).

* The boss of the first level in ''VideoGame/TheLionKing'' is a hyena. They are demoted to "mere" DemonicSpiders in the Elephant Graveyard and even further to common {{Mooks}} in the later adult Simba levels. Through all of those encounters though in this case their stamina and attack pattern remains the same, its only as an adult lion who can fight back directly with his paws that any difference becomes apparent.

* ''VideoGame/BugFables'': The first encounter with a Wasp Trooper early in Chapter 2 is treated as a miniboss fight, with the party only facing one of them and it still having much higher stats than any regular enemy in the game up until that point[[note]]Story-wise, there were two Troopers in the scene, but a different Exporer team takes care of one of them[[/note]]. In following chapters, Wasp Troopers appear in scripted battles with other enemies by their sides, until they are treated like regular {{mook}}s by the time the gang reaches the Wasp Kingdom Hive and Rubber Prison. By the time those areas are unlocked, more powerful Wasp enemies show up to highlight that the Troopers were just their weakest fodder.

** The second game does this as well, with Vetala and Hecatoncheires, the first two bosses of the game, later showing up as random encounters in the Power Plant and the [[spoiler:corrupt EGG Installation]] respectively. Somewhat justified, as the soldiers that transform into them initially are nameless {{Mooks}} anyway.

** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'': The first time a Neoshadow is encountered in Mission 29, it is treated as a miniboss. During the last mission of the game, Mission 93, a large number show up as normal {{Mooks}} that die with 1-2 hits.

* Priel from ''VideoGame/LuminousArc'' gets smacked with this. In the first game, she's TheDragon, and a royal pain every time you fight her. In [[VideoGame/LuminousArc2 the sequel]], her sprite is reused as a generic ranged {{Mook|s}} you'll see in the first five chapters.

* The Dark and Silver robots from ''Animation/{{Zentrix}}'' were the villains of one, two, or three-part episodes, but by the end of the show they started being produced en mass, with these mass-produced versions going down about as easily as run-of-the-mill {{Mooks}}.

* It seems that ''Series/GameOfThrones'' will be setting this up with the White Walkers. The first White Walker was a great threat and was terrorizing Samwell Tarly since the end of Season 2 and was notable for being the first White Walker we clearly saw onscreen. Samwell is considered TheHero after miraculously killing him. The second White Walker who seemed to be one of the Night King's lieutenants was a very difficult challenger for Jon Snow. But it seems that at the end, there will be a big battle against White Walkers with all of them as {{Mooks}} and the Night's King as their leader.

* ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'': In ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', during the chase scene with Obi-Wan and Jango in the asteroid field, Jango launches a missile at Obi-Wan's ship, which is treated like a terrifying, nearly inescapable weapon. Obi-Wan is chased for a good minute before he gets lucky and manages to destroy it by tricking it to fly between two huge asteroids. But in this film, Anakin and Obi-Wan are flying in a space battle and FOUR of those same missiles come after them, and they act like they are no big deal and destroy them in about fifteen seconds just by [[SpectacularSpinning SPINNING]].

* In ''Star Wars Episode II: Film/AttackOfTheClones'', during the chase scene with Obi-Wan and Jango in the asteroid field, Jango launches a missile at Obi-Wan's ship, which is treated like a terrifying, nearly inescapable weapon. Obi-Wan is chased for a good minute before he gets lucky and manages to destroy it by tricking it to fly between two huge asteroids. In ''Revenge of the Sith'', Anakin and Obi-Wan are flying in a space battle and FOUR of those same missiles come after them, and they act like they are no big deal and destroy them in about fifteen seconds just by [[SpectacularSpinning SPINNING]].

** In ''VideoGame/Blood1997'', excluding the final boss Tchernobog, all the boss enemies appear as regular enemies in the episode(s) following their boss fight. Each one also has a subordinate version of themselves that first appears in the episode they're the boss of -- regular gargoyles appear from the beginning to foreshadow the stone gargoyle Cheogh, smaller spiders start appearing in the second episode for Shial, and hellhounds make their debut in the third episode to pave the way for Cerberus.

** The Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind boss monsters of the first game return in the sequels as regular level monsters (though they're just as tough as they were as bosses), while the final bosses are upgraded to multiple-stories-high monster-spawning buildings that take up the side of an entire wall. Both have since been re-promoted to bosses -- the Cyberdemon did so for ''VideoGame/Doom3'' and ''VideoGame/Doom2016'', while the Spider Mastermind, interestingly, did so not only for the 2016 reboot but also Episode 4 of ''The Ultimate Doom'', which was released ''after VideoGame/DoomII'' made it a more common enemy. ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'' degrades the Cyberdemon into a standard enemy once again, but in a more meta sense; the Tyrants aren't the same species as the Cyberdemon encountered in ''2016'', but they have a very similar moveset.

*** After serving as the FinalBoss of the base game, the Icon of Sin reappears at the end of Map 15 in ''Master Levels''; however, it's smaller due to the wall's size and much easier (as you're now positioned from a more convenient spot to hit its weak point directly). Also, it's no longer the FinalBoss, as that level isn't the last in the collection.

* The Altered from ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein2009''. The first time you fight one, you're armed with nothing more than small arms and have to use the environment to kill it. Later in the game, you acquire a BFG that can kill one in a single hit. The Heavy Trooper and Despoiled are also treated as bosses the first times you encounter them before later encounters have no fanfare and eventually start throwing more than one at you.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2SixGoldenCoins'': Tatanga, who is the FinalBoss of the previous game (''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand''), returns in the sequel as a regular boss working for Wario.

** ''{{VideoGame/Diablo}}'':

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearRising'':

* In the indie title ''VideoGame/{{ARES}}'', the Mini-Bosses from Stage 1 and 2 also show up as regular mooks by Stage 3. Thanks to upgraded weapons, they hardly even count as EliteMooks anymore.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'', as a rule of thumb, will often have you fight a boss, then later meet a common monster counterpart. Specific examples include:

* Two variants occurs in ''{{VideoGame/Contra}} [=ReBirth=]''. The giant alien worm faced as the first boss of the game becomes "ammunition" for the penultimate boss (or FinalBoss if playing on Easy), Uranian Devil Gaba / Jagger Froid, serving a similar purpose to the RecurringBoss's appendages in the other games. On the same boss stage, another RecurringBoss that served as the FinalBoss of ''Super C'' is reduced to mini versions on a [[ZergRush stampede]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'', after you [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill completely brutalize]] a Cardinal Virtue ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg or a Golem]]), weaker versions will appear later in the game. Mostly during the BossRush. Clones of Temperentia in particular are fought four times throughout the game. The clones have significant, though subtle, variations in character design, that denote their lower status, as well as "plain English" versions of their Latin names. As an example, Iustitia appears as a sphere covered in fifteen faces; its degraded version is called Justice and only has three faces on the side facing you (with the rest of it being simply a sphere of light).

** There is also the Ankho enemies fought later on, who are basically reskinned versions of Laambo, and the Vaaiki, who was fought as a boss in Operation 007 before fighting it's larger byproducts in the final level as mooks.

** The Dullahan enemy moves up from {{Mook|s}} to WakeUpCallBoss in ''Portrait of Ruin'', only to go back to Mook just one game later in ''Order of Ecclesia''. Though the mook version is often called Durhan. Series wise, the boss version is a KingMook variation. Before and after, it's a mook, that one time it's a boss. However, they appear as mooks again in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDespair'', exactly the same as in Portrait of Ruin (giant, hard to get around with projectiles that curse, and you have to hit a floating head).

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'': In the kingdom of Samanao, the Hero fights a vicious giant Troll who is plagues the realm by pretending to be the king. Later, giant Trolls show up in Alefgard as regular enemies.