History Main / HeWasRightThereAllAlong

* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'':
** The game contains a particularly unique example in Goht, who is in plain sight the moment Link walks into the Boss Room, but is frozen solid and must be hit with a fire arrow to be awakened— at which point he promptly tramples you [[GetBackHereBoss and runs off.]]

* In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap Minish Cap]]'', the boss of the Temple of Droplets is an ordinary Octorok which has been frozen, as has the element of water. You can see it sticking out of the wall soon after entering the dungeon, but you cannot face it until you unfreeze it, along with the element, much later on.
* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'':
** If mini-bosses count, then the Deku Toad is the straightest example. You surface in the boss arena, and in true ''Zelda'' GhostButler form, the hole seals itself behind you. He will not drop down and start the fight until you go into eye-camera mode (c button on Wii) and scan the ceiling for him.

** Taluses and the Moldugas stay buried in the ground until you walk by their resting points, although the Taluses at least stick out of the ground a bit.
** This also applies to Waterblight Ganon. Unlike the other major bosses, he has a designated chamber for his boss battle that can be entered from the get-go as soon as you enter the dungeon. However, he will only appear after you activate the five terminals and return to the podium in the boss room, wherein he reveals that he was possessing the podium all along. It's quite a surprise if you fight him as your first boss.

* Played straight in ''VideoGame/Doom3''. You walk through a doorway into a seemingly empty arena, before finding out you just walked under the Cyberdemon's legs. Either it just likes to stand over doorways and freak people out or the door spontaneously changed its destination. (Hell is weird like that.)

** The Darkhammer, the mini-boss of Snowpeak Ruins, initially appears as just one of two suits of armor in a narrow hallway that Link passes through. Once Link passes him and is just past the second armor, it triggers the cutscene where he comes alive and destroys the other armor with his EpicFlail while Link dodges out of the way.

* In the third level of ''VideoGame/SyphonFilterTheOmegaStrain'', Masson, the ALA terrorist leader, can be heard shooting and will kill the SWAT officers if you don't get them to safety, but he doesn't physically appear until you complete all the objectives.

** ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'' has the Quaggled Mireclops, which at first appears to be merely an oddly-shaped hill poking out of the mud, with something organic-looking buried inside of a crystalline substance. Try to break it, [[ThatsNoMoon and the 'hill' underneath you will begin to rise...]]

* ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' The cute doggy following you through Chapter Nine turns out to be under Dehuai's control. Yuri just ''has'' to insult him, causing Dehuai to transform it into the aptly-named Beast Dog.

** ''VideoGame/Pikmin2'': The CreepingCchrysanthemum looks like a lot of the normal flowers that are all over the game except it has narrow blinking eyes staring at you which are hard to notice. If you approach it, it pops out of the ground & reveals the giant fat root that is its torso. It uses its stem arms to scoot around on its "butt" & tries to eat your Pikmin with its red flower mouth. If you or your Pikmin are too close to it when it initially pops out of the ground, you'll get knocked over making it extra hard to avoid losing Pikmin.

** In ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', the Torizo boss is a Chozo statue which won't attack until you take its item and try to leave the room. One of the X-Parasites in ''Metroid Fusion'' tries the same trick, but you can see it coming a mile away because it's the only Chozo statue in a Federation-built science lab. Or, if you didn't already catch that one, you can shoot at it (in an attempt to reveal the power-up, like in the other games with Chozo Statues, which is probably what they wanted you to do).
** Also in ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'', the first time you leave Sector 5, you see a large shadow dashing through the background, accompanied by a loud noise and screen-shaking. Much later in the game, you are sent back only to find out what's really been there all along is a giant, grotesque boss, aptly named "[[ThatOneBoss the Nightmare]]."
** The Ridley battles from ''Super''. "Oh, there's the Metroid hatchling... I guess there was nothing to worry about afte--[[OhCrap OH HOLY CRAP]]"

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'': High-Floor Bosses tend to favour this, particularly The Skull Reaper, which drops from the ceiling and insta-kills two members of the clearing team.

[[folder:Third Person Shooters]]

* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'''s B scenario, you come to a security room, turn on the monitor, to find that Trenchcoat Tyrant is right behind you, and he promptly smashes the camera.

[[YouCantThwartStageOne No, you may not kill the boss by grenading the whole room before waking it up.]][[note]]Even if you technically can, you're usually not supposed to, and it's either a bug or takes large amounts of blatant mechanics abuse.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' Untold II has you wandering around Ginnungagap when all of a sudden the FOE alert sounds, notifying you one of the floor's wandering superpowered enemies has noticed you. You may be tempted to turn around and see where it's coming from, only to find nothing at all as you look... [[spoiler:and then the instant you take your eyes off the ''wall'' in front of you, the damn thing will reveal it's hiding ''inside the wall, and using part of the brickwork as a cover''.]]

** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Dawn of Sorrow]]'' had the appropriately named boss, Paranoia, who won't appear until Soma walks in front of a mirror in the middle of the room.

* This is how bosses appear in ''VideoGame/Splatoon1''[='=]s Octo Valley and ''VideoGame/Splatoon2''[='=]s Octo Canyon. Once the player approaches the [[LevelGoal Zapfish]] at the center of the arena, an Octarian tentacle will reach out from the boss beneath it and pull it in, before the boss itself springs to life. ''Splatoon 2'' goes a step further, as the Zapfish is now suspended over an unassuming puddle of Octarian ink, from which the tentacle and the boss will emerge. Averted when the bosses are fought again in ''Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion'', as the bosses now emerge from the ink as soon as Agent 8 enters the arena.
** This also occurs during ''Splatoon''[='=]s FinalBoss, where the Great Zapfish is directly in front of the level's entrance. As soon as you approach it, the Zapfish is sucked into the Octobot King, a HumongousMecha piloted by [[BigBad DJ Octavio]]. Cap'n Cuttlefish attempts to warn the player that it's a trap beforehand, but, as [[MissionControl Agent 2]] points out, [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption you don't have much of a choice]].
** ''Splatoon 2''[='=]s FinalBoss also appears this way. At the center of the arena is a concert stage surrounded by Octarian ink, with none other than [[spoiler:Callie]] atop the stage. Once you approach, a brief cutscene plays, and the stage itself raises up out of the ink, revealing the rest of the Octobot King II underneath.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has Gi Nattak, who is nothing but a frightening mural on the wall when you enter the room that he is in, but after a short conversation, the mural suddenly comes to life.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' has Basarios, a relatively small boss monster with a layer of rocks over its body. It has a big clump of rocks on its back, and when it hides underground this part sticks out, looking like any other cluster of rocks you'll see on the volcanic belt.
** ''Tri'' brings us the Gobul, who hides in the riverbeds of the Flooded Forest with its whiskers (which resemble the local aquatic plants) above the surface [[SchmuckBait to lure in fish, Epioth, and hunters alike]].
** Similar to Gobul above, the ridges on Nibelsnarf's back resemble the mounds of sand that only appear in the desert in missions that involve it.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' likes to do this now and again with [[GiantSpider Giant Frostbite Spiders]] [[CeilingCling hiding in the ceiling]], and despite how unimpressive they are in combat, being ambushed by one from above will still [[JumpScare make you crap yourself every time]]. Ironically, it's scarier when ''you're'' also sneaking, because if you're just running around openly, it will probably notice you and drop in front of you as soon as you enter the room. If you're sneaking, it probably won't notice you until you're directly underneath it -- and ''neither will you''.

* ''VideoGame/LordOfGun'' have the Tree Demon boss, who appears at the end of the swamp level as a seemingly-ordinary tree, albeit one [[TheTreesHaveFaces with a suspiciously human-like face]]. But after the area is cleared of enemies, the "tree" then turns around to look at you... cue the boss fight.

* ''VideoGame/LordOfGun'' have the Tree Demon boss, who appears at the end of the swamp level as a seemingly-ordinary tree, albeit one [[TheTreesHaveFaces with a suspiciously human-like face]]. But after the area is cleared of enemies, the "tree" then turns around to look at you... cue the boss fight.

* On the November 11, 2005 ''Wrestling/{{WWESmackDown}}'', there was a scene with Wrestling/{{Edge}} and Wrestling/{{Lita}} backstage with Edge talking about how ''[=SmackDown!=]'' [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure General Manager]] Wrestling/TeddyLong putting him in a Street Fight against Wrestling/{{Batista}} can't happen and that he was going to talk some sense into Batista and that he was going to put some security on the door so nobody could come into the room. Edge walked out and the room got briefly dark before lighting up again and [[Wrestling/{{Boogeyman}} THE BOOGEYMAN]] popped up from behind the couch! He told the scared Lita, "Close your eyes! [[CatchPhrase I'm the Boogeyman, and I'm coming to get you!"]], sending Lita screaming from the room.