History Main / PivotalBoss

* One level of a ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' Xbox game did this with the final boss of the segment. You were running around on catwalks throwing ExplodingBarrels at it as it swiped at you with its arms.

* The first boss in BrutalLegend is an example, it's a giant worm that sits in the center of the boss arena and tries to eat you as you race around in your car.

* The first two bosses in ''TheLegendOfZelda: [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]''
** Gleerok in ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap The Minish Cap]]''.
** Stallord in ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'', but only in the first half of the fight.
** Phytops, Cragma, and Skeldritch in ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]''.
* The MCP fight in ''[[KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts II]]'' is odd about this: There are two bosses, [[{{Tron}} Sark and the MCP]], and the one that you can kill permanently is pivotal.

* The first two bosses in ''TheLegendOfZelda: [[TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]''

* In ''{{Portal 2}}'', [[spoiler: Wheatley]] does this while throwing bombs at the player.

* The Factory boss in ''BeyondGoodAndEvil.'' The way to win is to actually get yourself and your partner on opposite sides of it, and attack it that way.

* Sepulcher in ''SilentHill Homecoming'' works this way.

* The great guardian in Eternal Darkness. All three.

* Yiazmat is the biggest enemy in ''FinalFantasyXII'', [[BeyondTheImpossible which is really saying something]], and yet, unlike the other giant-wyrm bosses(ie. Fafnir, Behemoth King, Hellwyrm) is in an arena barely bigger than him. Playing this trope dead-straight, if you run around to the back of him, he can turn to face you faster than should be physically possible.

* The [[spoiler:[[GiantMecha Precursor Robot]]]] is an inversion - you run around on a relatively small platform and ''it'' moves around ''you''.

* Bouldergeist, King Kaliente, Tarantox and Undergrunt Gunner in ''SuperMarioGalaxy'' some you face multiple times.
** In ''SuperMarioGalaxy2'', Megahammer and Squizzard in the main game and King Kaliente and Bouldergeist in the BossRush. The Boomsday Machine is a subversion; it starts out like this, but becomes mobile when it TurnsRed.

* Bowser in ''SuperMarioSunshine''. Not so much his other games.

** Gleerok in ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap The Minish Cap]]''.
*** In fact, just about ''every'' incarnation of Gleerok.
** Most of the bosses in ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]''.

*** In fact, just about ''every'' incarnation of Gleeok.

** In Galaxy 2, Megahammer, the first stage of the Boomsday Machine (it then moves when it TurnsRed), Squizzard and King Kaliente and Bouldergeist in the BossRush.