History Main / HardLevelsEasyBosses

* ''VideoGame/Shantae2002'': With every death sending you to the start of an area with only three hearts, surprisingly beefy {{Mook}}s, a normal attack with very short reach, a rather small range of vision due to the UsefulNotes/GameboyColor screen, and lots and lots of SpikesOfDoom and {{Bottomless Pit}}s, traversing the overworld and dungeons of this game is going to kill you a lot. On the other hand, most of the bosses are relatively simple affairs where the main challenge is [[PuzzleBoss figuring out how to use the latest transformation dance to beat them]]. The only exception is the FinalBoss, who is absolutely brutal.

* The UsefulNotes/AmstradCPC port of ''[[VideoGame/BadDudes Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja]]'' had levels full of mooks coming from all directions, and bosses with trivial attack patterns and a glaring weakness to being attacked when they land after jumping above you.

** Heide's Tower of Flame can be even more brutal- the area is short, linear and impossible to get lost in, but it's packed with towering, heavily-armoured Old Knights wielding gigantic weapons that are dangerous when fought alone, ''lethal'' when fought in groups, particularly the [[DropTheHammer mace-wielding]] ones. Things are even worse in ''Scholar of the First Sin edition'' if you aggro the [[DemonicSpiders Heide Knights]], most of whom are initially passive but can and will cut you to ribbons if provoked (or if you approach the few that ''aren't'' naturally passive). If you can get past this brutal gauntlet, the area's main boss (the Dragonrider) is an ordinary halberd-wielding enemy barely tougher than the Old Knights you fought to reach him; you can even [[EasyLevelTrick trick him into killing himself with a bit of cunning]]. Just to add insult to injury, after you kill the Dragonrider all the formerly-passive Heide Knights in the area become permanently hostile, making return trips through the area even worse. Of course, once again there's the alternate route, leading to the Hellkite Dragon miniboss[[note]]''Scholar'' version only[[/note]] and the Old Dragonslayer in the Cathedral of Blue (which, while not quite ThatOneBoss, will certainly give you more of a workout).

Reasons for this can vary. Perhaps the developer thought easier bosses would balance out the game's difficulty. Depending on the genre, maybe they wanted to be realistic and avert RankScalesWithAsskicking. Perhaps it's a PuzzleBoss which might take some work to decode, but becomes ridiculously easy as soon as you figure it out. Maybe they're easy precisely ''because'' they're a boss: a single powerful enemy fought in an area meant solely for that purpose can be a lot easier to work with than a cluster of GoddamnedBats that have to be fought while you're trying to progress in a level, and while you wouldn't dare waste any of your TooAwesomeToUse abilities on the average {{Mook}}, a boss fight is the exact scenario you were stockpiling your best items for. This can also occur because the developers prioritized making the boss encounters climactic, cinematic experiences over making them actually challenging, leading to very impressive-looking foes that are defeated through a few {{Action Command}}s and pose little threat in comparison to the less-organized and more organic encounters with normal enemies. And sometimes the boss is easy because it just so happens to be a normal enemy given [[DamageSpongeBoss a hugely inflated health pool]], meaning killing them isn't much harder than taking down a lone threat; just longer.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', regrettably, often works out like this - singular powerful monsters can often be a trivial challenge, simply because everybody gets their one set of actions a round. So the boss gets to move and attack... and then four to six party members get to do the same thing. Boss monsters tend to get buried in a pile of player character actions, plus many spells, even at low levels, that can win such fights with a single dice roll, and at high levels with ''no'' dice roll. Fourth Edition attempts to avert this with Solo monsters, which get a lot more HP than normal enemies, and may also receive multiple actions to make them a challenge for a full party. And, since the boss is usually at the end of a day, in 4th edition players may decide to use their daily powers against them (since you lose your chance after an extended rest), speeding things up a bit. A Balor? No sweat. [[http://1d4chan.org/index.php?title=Tucker%27s_Kobolds&oldid=83432 Tucker's kobolds]]? [[LethalJokeCharacter Run]].
** Part of this is in the design of the game, with bosses coming after the party had presumably fought their way through an entire dungeon, using up many of their resources as they went, so the [=PCs=] usually arrived at the boss without their full arsenal. This caused a couple of problems: 1. Published modules and/or a lot of homebrew sometimes ignored this attrition and tried to set up boss fights against the party without a lot of encounters whittling the [=PCs=] down, which results in the [=PCs=] going full stop against the boss and curbstomping them. 2. [=PCs=] picked up the general strategy built into the modules that ''did'' use attrition and deliberately tried to play conservatively and save most of their good spells/abilities for the boss by using Cantrips, taking frequent rests, etc. This results in very dull and prolonged combat against most of the minions, and then the obvious anti-climatic CurbStomp against the Big Bad.

* The bosses in ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''(NES) are relatively easy compared to the DemonicSpiders-infested levels leading up to them.

* In the ''VideoGame/LegoAdaptationGame'' series, while most of the bosses are some form of PuzzleBoss to provide a challenge, the fact DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist and you RespawnOnTheSpot means they're a total ForegoneVictory. But that respawn mechanic doesn't help much when dealing with RespawningEnemy hordes or getting stumped by obtuse puzzles, meaning getting through the levels leading up to those bosses can be quite difficult even with unlocked cheats. The "Darth Vader" level for ''VideoGame/LegoStarWars: The Video Game'' exemplifies this especially well, as each area is a TimedMission that brings you back to the start after a failure, while the DuelingPlayerCharacters battle between Anakin and Obi-wan is easily cheesed with either repeated Force slams or activating player two and having the main player wail on the other.

* The ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage'' series [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zags with this trope]]. In the first game, the challenge comes from fending off several waves of mooks that gang up on you while you try not to lose too many lives just reaching the boss of the level. The bosses themselves follow a fairly predictable pattern and are easy to beat once you know how to avoid their attacks. The final boss will always have mooks with him. The second game has mooks appear for several bosses, averting the trope. The third game follows what the first game did; waves of mooks in the levels and bosses appearing by themselves. The only exception to the rule is [[ThatOneBoss the boss of Stage 6,]] where he always has mooks with him, unless you have a lot of patience... [[labelnote: Note]] The other Jets stop appearing after you kill 10 of them. [[/labelnote]]

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' is the same as the third game (save for Bowser, which does require a lot more skill to defeat this time). Even hacks have trouble adding challenge to the bosses, other than adding extra obstacles in the rooms.

* ''VideoGame/WarioLand 1-3'', being based off the Mario series, fell into this, bar the one boss in the first game that actually posed a challenge.

* ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'' might as well be the level-focused poster-boy. The bosses are rather easy, but several of the stages are almost up there with ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'' in difficulty - even the creator of IWBTG thought Battletoads was impossible. Part of the gap is due to most levels being on a checkpoint system, while boss fights never are, which means you don't have to start over when you lose a life fighting a boss.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon''. The dungeons themselves will see you using up the majority of your wiles and resources, while most bosses can be made utterly harmless with a single [[StatusEffects status seed]]. Bosses with minions are exceptions, though, depending on your items and moves. This also happens with the third installment, to the extent where the final level doesn't even ''have'' a boss; the challenge is negotiating a dungeon without any allies.

* ''VideoGame/MegamanBattleNetwork'' features difficult random encounters and much more relaxed bosses against other [=NetNavis=]. While there are numerous [[ThatOneBoss difficult Navi battles]], the real danger in most games is presented through the [[DemonicSpiders/MegaManBattleNetwork random virus encounters]], especially deep into the Internet as the games throw some absolutely heinous combinations at you where the strategy is simply "Delete the viruses within seconds or be deleted". The Navis, on the other hand, give you far less to worry about and can strategically be picked apart.

* In the Fuchsia City Gym of ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', the trainers are fairly nasty for that point in the game, as the majority of them are Jugglers, who use Drowzee, Hypno, and Kadabra--all of which are very nasty to face off against, since they're Psychic-type (giving them essentially no weakness) and have great movesets. The two non-Jugglers use Sandslash, which can dish out a lot of damage with its always-critting Slash move. And then there's Koga himself, who is one of the easiest Gym leaders in the game: his team is entirely Poison-type, which in the running for the worst type in the first generation, and they're not good Poison-types, either, with little to no coverage outside of Normal and Poison moves and an emphasis on accuracy-dropping that really just serves to make him annoying. His only strong offensive move is Weezing's Selfdestruct, and if he's using that and you have more than one surviving team member, [[TakingYouWithMe you've kind of already beaten him]].

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' and (especially) ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels Lost Levels]]'' both have lots of precision platforming in the levels before each Bowser fight. So what do you do with the famed Koopa King? Avoid a few fireballs, wait for a break in the thrown hammers (if it's the last few worlds), and then run underneath when he jumps to get to the bridge switch. And that's if you don't make it to the end as Fire Mario, and can just lob fireballs from across the screen.

* Generally in the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' series, the bosses in the series are significantly easier than the levels, with the exception of a few {{Wake Up Call Boss}}es.

* As is to be expected of a fangame, ''VideoGame/SonicRoboBlast2'' is also a large offender, with bosses that are very basic compared to the stage, at least until (of course) you reach a [[ShoutOut familiar]] [[ThatOneBoss mechanical behemoth]]. Of course, this could be attributed to the [[DevelopmentHell ten years spent designing the game]].

** ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' boss levels are often much more difficult than the robot masters at the end of them, especially when utility items or Rush aren't available. Part of this can be pinned on the predictable patterns some bosses had. Guts Man's stage has the notorious platforms, Heat Man has the thrice-damned disappearing block segments over instant-death lava or bottomless pits, Toad Man has wind and water pushing Mega Man around into more bottomless pits, and so on. Don't be surprised to spend more lives on the levels than the bosses in more than a few instances.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' hits you with a constant stream of nightmarish tank mooks falling from the sky and has trivially easy boss fights.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'' has an odd case of this on Hard Mode. One of the changes made on that version is that every enemy has boosted stats, which this game expresses by essentially giving enemies a bunch of invisible level-ups in their respective classes. Two of the game's bosses, the FinalBoss and TrueFinalBoss, have their own special classes (King and Demon Dragon). Because those classes occur nowhere else in the game, they lack growths outside of a default 10% HP growth, meaning the only difference for them on Hard is... one extra hit point.
*** The TrueFinalBoss, [[spoiler: Idunn]], plays this straight across all difficulties, being ''far'' easier than the preceding chapters, most notably because they are weak to Roy's ultimate weapon, the titular Binding Blade, to the point where it is not at all uncommon for Roy to be capable of defeating them in one round of combat. And because [[spoiler:Idunn]] cannot counterattack at 2 range, it is also not uncommon for this to happen without Roy losing any HP.

*** The TrueFinalBoss, [[spoiler: Idunn]], plays this straight across all difficulties, being ''far'' easier than the preceding level, most notably because she's weak to Roy's ultimate weapon, the titular Binding Blade, to the point where it is not at all uncommon for Roy to be capable of defeating her in one round of combat. And because [[spoiler:Idunn]] cannot counterattack at 2 range, it is also not uncommon for this to happen without Roy losing any HP.

Reasons for this can vary. Perhaps the developer thought easier bosses would balance out the game's difficulty. Depending on the genre, maybe they wanted to be realistic and avert AuthorityEqualsAsskicking. Perhaps it's a PuzzleBoss which might take some work to decode, but becomes ridiculously easy as soon as you figure it out. Maybe they're easy precisely ''because'' they're a boss: a single powerful enemy fought in an area meant solely for that purpose can be a lot easier to work with than a cluster of GoddamnedBats that have to be fought while you're trying to progress in a level, and while you wouldn't dare waste any of your TooAwesomeToUse abilities on the average {{Mook}}, a boss fight is the exact scenario you were stockpiling your best items for. This can also occur because the developers prioritized making the boss encounters climactic, cinematic experiences over making them actually challenging, leading to very impressive-looking foes that are defeated through a few {{Action Command}}s and pose little threat in comparison to the less-organized and more organic encounters with normal enemies. And sometimes the boss is easy because it just so happens to be a normal enemy given [[DamageSpongeBoss a hugely inflated health pool]], meaning killing them isn't much harder than taking down a lone threat; just longer.

** Richter Mode in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' is a fairly extreme example. Even the easiest mooks can kill you if you aren't careful, and some of the more challenging mooks can kill you in one or two hits. On the other hand, bosses can usually be kept at a distance and killed without too much difficulty (and if you use [[GameBreaker Hydro Storm]] on them, most die as fast as your average mook). The only real exception is BonusBoss Galamoth--using the Hydro Storm on him will simply result in him shrugging off the damage and then killing Richter while he's stuck in the attack animation.

* ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'' falls into this. Dungeons are long and filled with tough enemies, as well as [[BossInMookClothing F.O.Es]]; enemies so strong you're meant to avoid fighting them. The actual bosses of the dungeons are much easier by comparison, generally being [[DamageSpongeBoss Damage Sponge Bosses]] at best and vulnerable to crippling status effects like Poison and Strength/Magic Bind. [[BonusBoss Going back to fight the dungeon's F.O.Es when you're strong enough]] is the ''real'' challenge. Its [[VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth sequel]], on the other hand, is [[EasyLevelsHardBosses the exact opposite.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and the other games on its engine have fairly unimpressive boss battles, with the Barons of Hell, Cyberdemon, Spider Mastermind, and Icon of Sin all being relatively easy fights. This is especially pronounced on higher difficulties, which up the number of enemies substantially, meaning chewing your way through an entire army is now a much bigger feat. Like ''Wolfenstein'', a lot of this is down to the fact that common enemies make much more judicious use of {{Hitscan}}--particularly ''VideoGame/DoomII'', which introduces the hilariously deadly Chaingunner enemy. The Spider Mastermind is the only one of the above to use hitscan, but it also has lower health than you'd think and is easy to stunlock. Quite tellingly, a lot of fanmade hacks convert the Barons and the Cyberdemon into EliteMooks and still end up fairly beatable (less so the Spider Mastermind, due to it being much harder to work with).

* ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' has the [[{{Retraux}} Super Adventure Box]] special dungeon. The levels are essentially lengthy jumping puzzles with enemies added to disrupt progress. Bosses meanwhile are little more than damage sponges; the standard Lord Vanquish cages can be defeated simply by running in a circle around them while spamming the attack while King Toad and Storm Wizard have simple patterns. This trope became more exaggerated with the addition of [[SequelDifficultySpike World 2]] and even worse in [[NintendoHard Tribulation Mode]].

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' and ([[SequelDifficultySpike especially]]) ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels Lost Levels]]'' both have lots of precision platforming in the levels before each Bowser fight. So what do you do with the famed Koopa King? Avoid a few fireballs, wait for a break in the thrown hammers (if it's the last few worlds), and then run underneath when he jumps to get to the bridge switch. And that's if you don't make it to the end as Fire Mario, and can just lob fireballs from across the screen.

* VideoGame/DoubleDragonII: Stage 8 on the NES version throws every [[DemonicSpiders Demonic Spider]] in the game one after another, but the boss of the level (which is actually the final boss of the arcade version) has been [[{Nerf}} significantly watered down.]] On this version, he's a GoddamnedBoss at worst, but he's nothing compared to the rest of the level.

* VideoGame/DoubleDragonII: Stage 8 on the NES version throws every [[DemonicSpiders Demonic Spider]] in the game one after another, but the boss of the level (which is actually the final boss of the arcade version) has been [[{Nerf} significantly watered down.]] On this version, he's a GoddamnedBoss at worst, but he's nothing compared to the rest of the level.

* ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim'' falls under this category occasionally, with the third level [[ThatOneLevel "Down The Tubes"]] being a prime offender. The entire second part of the level is a race against a brutal clock inside a glass submarine with as much endurance as wet tissue through a maze full of tight corners and jagged rocks. The boss is...a goldfish. [[AntiClimaxBoss You win by knocking his bowl off the stand]].

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' is worse. Every boss in the game, even the final boss, can be killed in one hit with the rocket launcher. There's even more fun to be had if you have the infinite rocket launch. At least ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' fixes this by making it so the rocket launcher is just a one time item.

* In the ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'' games, compared to the original ''Shovel of Hope'' campaign, ''Specter of Torment'' has harder levels and easier bosses owing to the titular character's DifficultButAwesome movement. As he relies heavily on {{Wall Crawl}}ing, {{Wall Jump}}ing, and [[VideoGameDashing Dashing]], it is ''very'' easy to undershoot a jump, overestimate how far you can run up a wall, be bonked off a ledge by an ill-placed enemy, or simply lose control and hurtle to your death. Bosses on the other hand can be taken down rather swiftly with these same attacks and abilities: even if all you're relying on is simple ButtonMashing you'll be able to easily dodge attacks and just hammer them relentlessly until they go down.

* ''Super [[VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins Ghouls & Ghosts]]'', which lives on almost every [[NintendoHard top-10 hardest SNES games of all times list]], has some of the easiest bosses ever. Not just easy for SG&G, or easier than the levels aaround them. Drop dead simple. The Hydra is a particular cakewalk (and his level is one of the hardest. There's dissonance right there); you stand there and shoot him with your weapon, while dodging rock attacks that he telegraphs a mile away and only throws out every 3-5 seconds anyway. The final boss is pathetically wimpy.