History Main / DegradedBoss

* In ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'', Tartarus, the Brute Chieftain, is the game's final boss, with a one-hit-kill gravity hammer and an invincible forcefield that can only be brought down by Sgt. Johnson's particle rifle. In ''Halo 3'', Brute Chieftains regularly appear as KingMook {{miniboss}}es; they're armed with one-hit-kill gravity hammers and one-use invincibility shields that last for a couple dozen seconds.

See RecurringBoss for examples where they don't get degraded.

* Menos Grande in {{Bleach}}. First time one appeared it seemed like an EldritchAbomination with power of mass destruction. Turns out it was just a {{Mook}}.

* ''NintendoLand'' goes nuts with this in its [[VideoGame/{{Pikmin}} Pikmin Adventure]] and [[Franchise/TheLegendofZelda The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest]] attractions. Had trouble against the Greater Bladed Baub? Let's see how you fare against ''three in a row!''[[hottip:*:The third one doesn't even bother waiting until the second is down.]] You know it's bad when ''[[spoiler:Ganon]]'' gets this treatment.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Streets of Rage}}'' series will often bring bosses back as mini-bosses in later levels.\

* VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac takes this UpToEleven. By the time you get to [[spoiler: Sheol]], all of the pre-Wrath of the Lamb non-final bosses except for Gurdy can show up as mini-bosses in any room and the Seven Deadly Sins can show up in any room. In [[spoiler: The Cathedral]], Wrath of the Lamb bosses are degraded, as well. [[spoiler: The Chest, TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, contains rooms with either chests or Degraded Bosses, and bosses that were never degraded before, like the aforementioned Gurdy, are now degraded. barring the TrueFinalBoss. And these are the only possible rooms.]]

** There are a couple of slight inversions as well, normal mooks becoming EliteMooks later. In general, the games have the same enemies in each game, only their status as Mook, GoddamnedBat, DemonicSpider, KingMook, EliteMook, UndergroundMonkey, BossInMookClothing, DegradedBoss and actual boss varies from game to game.
* In ''MagicSword'', the first dragon boss is reused as a PalleteSwap GiantMook midway through the game.

* In ''VideoGame/FableII'', even TheDragon is not immune to this; after you kill the Commandant very similar looking people who have the same powers and abilities appear. This is at least a justified case, as the Commandant is introduced as a prototype, and similar creations are explicitly being mass-produced during the 10 year interval at the game's halfway point (although part of the reason the Commandant seems tough is because you're stuck fighting him with weapons that are probably worse than the ones you had before that part of the game started, and don't have access to the healing items you'd probably picked up before then too).

* In ''VideoGame/FableII'', even TheDragon is not immune to this; after you kill the Commandant very similar looking people who have the same powers and abilities appear. This is at least a justified case, as the Commandant is introduced as a prototype, and similar creations are explicitly being mass-produced during the 10 year interval at the game's halfway point.

* The first boss of ''RayStorm'', Pendragon returns as a MiniBoss in the Judgement and Emotion stages of ''RayCrisis''. In the same game, Sem-Slut/Strut, the boss of the Memory stage, appears in mook form in the Emotion and Consciousness stages.

* The first boss of ''RayStorm'' returns as a MiniBoss in the Judgement and Emotion stages of ''RayCrisis''.

*** In a meta sense, the Mothulas went from being a boss in ''A Link to the Past'' and ''Oracle of Seasons'' to a miniboss and later mook in ''The Wind Waker''. Arrghus also went from an ''A Link to the Past'' boss to a miniboss in ''Majora's Mask'' (called "Wart" outside of Japan). Gyorg was both played straight and subverted - In ''Majora's Mask'' it was a boss, in ''The Wind Waker'' a common mook, and in ''The Minish Cap'' went back to being a boss, then went back to mook status in ''Phantom Hourglass'' and ''Spirit Tracks''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Darius}} Twin'''s final stage is this trope ''incarnate''. There are no normal mooks to be had...every last thing you run into is either a mid-boss or stage boss you've encountered prior. And they will swarm the screen to ''no'' end.

** In''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', the boss on Therum is a Krogan Battlemaster. You fight them later in the game, but they are much easier.

* The Knight in ''VideoGame/WonderBoyInMonsterLand'', in addition to having several {{palette swap}}s, also appears as a recurring enemy late in the game.

** Cross-game ''{{inver|tedTrope}}sion'': Vire, a regular enemy from the ''original'' and ''Link's Awakening'', shows up as an extremely annoying (both in gameplay and in taunting Link) sub-boss in both ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'', in their respective sixth dungeons. Another cross-game example played straight: Facade, the boss of ''Link's Awakening'''s sixth dungeon, reappears as a miniboss of two dungeons in ''Oracle of Seasons''.
** An inversion in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'', where Chus are common enemies, but one appears as a boss in one dungeon when you are the size of the Minish. But then played straight again three dungeons later, when you encounter another giant Chu as a miniboss. This one is stronger in that it can electrify itself, but your sword has been upgraded to match.

** The fangame ''Concealed the Conclusion'' is full of those: Flandre and Mokou ({{Bonus Boss}}es in original games) are stage 1 {{miniboss}}es, Kaguya and Mima (originally {{Final Boss}}es) are stage 1 bosses, powerhouses like Remilia, Eirin, Shikieiki and Yuuka are on stages 2-3, etc.

* Subversion/inversion: The Big Eye GiantMook from ''VideoGame/MegaMan1'' was made into a WarmUpBoss in the ''[[MegaManPoweredUp Powered Up]]'' remake.

The boss in a video game, or on rare occasion VG series, who, after you defeat him/her/it, returns multiple times - but not as a boss, but as a [[GiantMook regular enemy]] (sometimes more than one appearing at once). Sometimes, the boss you fought is the "strongest" of the monsters; sometimes you've attained a new weapon which is [[ElementalRockPaperScissors particularly effective against that boss]], or just leveled up enough that you're able to take on [[DualBoss several at a time]]. In some games, later enemies will be [[PaletteSwap palette-swapped]] versions of the boss' sprite/model, and may actually be ''stronger'' than the original Boss form. This tends to be puzzling when the first one you face is said to be their ruler. Logic suggests that [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking they should be the strongest of the lot]], but when you face their higher-levelled brethren later on, [[FridgeLogic one wonders]] why ''they'' aren't in charge.

*** In a meta sense, the Mothulas went from being a boss in ''A Link to the Past'' and ''Oracle of Seasons'' to a miniboss and later mook in ''The Wind Waker''. Arrghus also went from an ''ALttP'' boss to a miniboss in ''Majora's Mask'' (called "Wart" outside of Japan). Gyorg was both played straight and subverted - In ''Majora's Mask'' it was a boss, in ''The Wind Waker'' a common mook, and in ''The Minish Cap'' went back to being a boss, then went back to mook status in ''Phantom Hourglass'' and ''Spirit Tracks''.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' series, some xenomorphs are victims of this trope. A warrior is the main villain of the first movie, while in the film ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', the warriors are demoted to EliteMooks. Justified in this case by the first movie having one xenomorph against a small crew of unarmed civilians (the jury-rig a flamethrower or two but thats about it), the second film had a squad of highly trained armed-for-bear SpaceMarines facing off against dozens (if not hundreds) of the aliens.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' series, some xenomorphs are victims of this trope. A warrior is the main villain of the first movie, while in the film ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', the warriors are demoted to EliteMooks.

* In ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', the Taurus Demon, the Capra Demon, Pinwheel and the Moonlight Butterfly can all be encountered as normal, respawning enemies later in the game.\

* In ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', the Taurus Demon, the Capra Demon, Pinwheel and the Moonlight Butterfly can all be encountered as normal, respawning enemies later in the game.

* In ''{{Bayonetta}}'', after you [[NoKillLikeOverkill 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 ''{{StreetsOfRage}}'' series will often bring bosses back as mini-bosses in later levels.