History Main / RecurringBoss

** In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'', almost all of the playable characters you turn against are this. The absolute king of this trope, however, is Takumi in ''Conquest'' -- you have to put the son of a bitch down on ''five separate occasions'', to the point where during the final fight with him [[spoiler:and the final battle in ''Conquest'' overall]], even [[spoiler:his own sane spirit]] just wants him to give up and die already. Xander is also technically fought five times in ''Birthright'', but is nowhere near as prominent of a threat as Takumi is for various reasons.[[note]]Xander is a CutsceneBoss in the Prologue and a WarmupBoss in Chapter 1. In Chapter 6, you temporarily get Ryoma to deal with him, in Chapter 12 he's a SkippableBoss on an escape map, and in Chapter 26 [[spoiler:he has crossed the DespairEventHorizon]] and has extremely poor stats for a boss that late in the game. While Takumi is theoretically skippable in Chapters 6 and 10, doing so in the former is impractical since you can only leave one survivor and he's one of the first enemies to reach you, while in the latter taking him out stops him from sabotaging your defensive line with a Dragon Vein.[[/note]] CoDragons Iago and Hans are also fought twice each in ''Birthright'', and DarkChick [[spoiler:Arete]] is fought three times in ''Revelation''.

* ''[[VideoGame/ExtrapowerGiantFist EXTRAPOWER Giant Fist]]'': Depending on the player character, in the form of their rival fight. Zophy, Wolf, Blackberry and Coma all have the potential to be fought multiple times, going all out for their final fights.

* Montross from ''VideoGame/StarWarsBountyHunter''.

* In the first ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' game for the UsefulNotes/GameGear, [[TheDragon Goldar]]'s role in the game is closer to his role in the actual show than in the SNES or Genesis versions, appearing as a [[MiniBoss Mid-Level Boss]] in the King Sphinx, Evil Green Ranger, and Polluticorn levels (also growing alongside the former two bosses in those levels), retreating once the player has gotten his health down to a certain amount. In the final level, he appears at the end of a BossRush against all the monsters fought in the game, where the Rangers must bring his health down to zero this time before Rita orders him to get into [[HumongousMecha Cyclopsis]] and finish them off once and for all.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', Master Belch returns to fight Ness and his friends once again under the new name of Master Barf. This is {{Lampshaded}} better in the Japanese original, where his new name translates as "Return of Belch."

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'''s Darth Sion is fought once as a HopelessBossFight before you have to defeat him numerous times before he finally dies.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'': every game after ''2'' had Bass as a penultimate boss or as a secret final boss. In ''2'', you would have to fight him before you fight Gospel, and later, you fight his real version in the secret area, which you cannot "jack out of" until you get back to the point where you entered it. In ''3'', you fight him before Alpha, as well as in yet another secret area where you actually help fund his recovery in a bug frag trade machine. In ''4'' he appears in Undernet 5 after beating the game about 3 times and disturbing his "statue". In ''5'', he is in yet another secret area called the Nebula Area after completing a Liberation Mission in area 6 and getting a time between 25-40 seconds busting the Navis in that area. In ''6'', he appears in the Undernet (where he is in a stone monument) and then a harder form in the Graveyard area, then a supercharged version in the Underground area, in which he sports a Gregar or Falzar attack depending on your version. Also, in every single game, you also end up having to fight some, if not all of the storyline bosses again later in the game.

* One of the bosses on Ellen's path in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}: Eternal Punishment'' is a recurring vision of her "stalker". He attacks several times, becoming more and more damaged and bandaged up each time.
* Jin and Takaya, of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', after the fight against them before fighting the Hanged Man, proceed to jump off a bridge. They come back.

* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'', Daleth is fought four times. He is first fought as the first huge plot boss of the game in which [[spoiler:he kills Beth]], but his later appearances are simple miniboss fights. After a fifth attempt at trying to ruin Aleph's life, he ends up dropping out of the plot. There's also another example -- one fought less, but more plot important: Zayin, at least on Neutral or Chaos. The first, required fight with him is as the boss of the Factory Prison. His second fight, exclusive to Neutral and Chaos, is against [[spoiler:his One Winged Angel form Satan, this game's leader of the Law faction who is fought as the penultimate boss of the game before YHVH]].
* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'', the Spectre comes back over and over, convinced you want to steal his Magatsuhi when you're just trying to pass through the Amala Network. Even at the end, when he invokes MakeMyMonsterGrow by absorbing several other Spectres, he would still have gotten away had his paranoia not gotten the best of him.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPGLegendOfTheSevenStars'':

* Klungo in ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'' is fought a total of three times: immediately after leaving the "training" level and entering the hub, a second time roughly halfway through the game, and a third right as the player enters the lair of the BigBad. As is par for the course in this game, the recurrence is Lampshaded by Banjo and Kazooie.
* ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'': The swarm of Wankas (wasps) that persistently steal the Queen Bee's hive are fought twice during the game. It's only necessary to escape from them with the hive in the first case, while dodging the stings from the angry trio that leads the colony. The second time, however, Conker has to exterminate almost all of them before even trying to take the hive back to the Queen Bee (which in turn requires dodging the three leaders' attacks during the escape phase).

* ''VideoGame/BloodySpell'' have it's first boss, the Bloodthirster (a gigantic reptilian demon with horns and a powerful tail) who needs to be fought at least ''seven'' times. It gets an upgrade from the fourth encounter onwards with you fighting [[LawOfChromaticSuperiority a stronger red version of the regular version]].

* In the first ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' game for the UsefulNotes/GameGear, [[TheDragon Goldar]]'s role in the game is closer to his role in the actual show than in the SNES or Genesis versions, appearing as a [[MiniBoss Mid-Level Boss]] in the King Sphinx, Evil Green Ranger, and Polluticorn levels (also growing alongside the former two bosses in those levels), retreating once the player has gotten his health down to a certain amount. In the final level, he appears at the end of a BossRush against all the monsters fought in the game, where the Rangers must bring his health down to zero this time before Rita orders him to get into [[HumongousMecha Cyclopsis]] and finish them off once and for all.

*** Ivy and Hortensia, the princesses of the kingdom of Elusia, are fought twice each during Chapters 7-10, along with their retainers. [[spoiler:Ivy's party pulls a HeelFaceTurn in Chapter 11, and Hortensia is fought once more in Chapter 14 (having been turned BrainwashedAndCrazy) before she has her own HeelFaceTurn, with Rosado and Goldmary following suit at the start of Chapter 18 after she convinces them that you're no longer enemies.]]

* Bradley in ''VideoGame/{{Dubloon}}''. The first time you see him, he's a HopelessBossFight, but on subsequent encounters, he escapes before you can kill him, and then [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking he moves up a rank]]. [[VillainForgotToLevelGrind Or at least he's supposed to]].

*** Hubert takes the cake here, as on Azure Moon you can fight him a whopping '''7 TIMES'''. Yes you saw that right. Oh, and whenever you fight him after the timeskip, prepare for VillainExitStageLeft when beating him on amy encounter except his last.

*** Every playable character other then [[TheHero Byleth]], Marianne, Alois, Shamir, [[DownloadableContent Anna, and the Ashen Wolves]] is fought in at least one battle in Part I, and then fought in a legitimate fight to the death in Part II if you didn't poach them on at least one route. Edelgard and Hubert deserve special mention, as one of them is tied with the Death Knight for most appearances as an enemy in one game depending on whether or not you count paralogues.

* ''VideoGame/TearsToTiara2'': The AxCrazy Izebel and her subordinate Laelius. Izebel is impossible to kill in a straight up fight on the first encounter on the hardest difficulty, being 7 to 10 levels higher than the player's party on top with her super high stats. Although you can kill her through a trick of the map. They both get gradually easier. [[TheBattleDidntCount But no matter how many times you beat them the story always pretend you just ran away until you face them the final time]].

** Multiple examples in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'':

** In the series overall, the Mercury Djinni Serac and the {{Bonus Boss}}es Star Magician and Dullahan can be fought once each in ''The Lost Age'' and ''Dark Dawn''.

Any version can turn out to be the FinalBoss in their most powerful form, depending on how the boss relates to the surrounding plot; alternately, the decisive final battle against this boss may be held back as a BonusBoss.

* ''VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead'': The Magician, the FinalBoss of the first game, is brought back as a second-to-final boss in the second one, and then as a BonusBoss in the fourth one.

** Flint Vorselon in ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureACrackInTime A Crack in Time]]'' can be fought three times, but only two are mandatory to beat the game. The final battle with him is as a BonusBoss after defeating the final boss.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', there's both [[QuirkyMinibossSquad The Tu*rks]], who you are forced to fight twice, but there are three optional boss fights with them. The Ultima Weapon is also fought several times, but is a BonusBoss.

*** This is also how many times you fight Bowser, which is strange when you consider that he's one of the playable characters. One of those times is as a BonusBoss, however, and said Bonus Boss [[spoiler:is a clone of Bowser, not the real deal]].

** Piastol, a BonusBoss exclusive to the ''Legends'' re-release, can be fought four times throughout the game.

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny2'' has you fight Barbatos Goetia three times in the story, and two more times as a BonusBoss.

** Rutger is fought three times over the course of the story. [[spoiler:A version of him from another timeline can also be fought as a BonusBoss in the expert arena]].
** Darius is fought twice over the course of the story, and can be fought once more in a final showdown as a BonusBoss.

* Several bosses in ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' come back with different bullet patterns, either in the same game or in later games, but the prize for most recurring boss goes to Rin Kaenbyou, who shows up in ''Subterranean Animism'' as the stage 4 midboss (twice!), stage 5 midboss, stage 5 boss, and stage 6 midboss. Another recurring boss is Nue Houjuu, who is the [[spoiler:Stage 4 midboss, Stage 6 midboss, and]] BonusBoss of ''Unidentified Fantastical Object'', [[spoiler:and the Extra Stage midboss in ''Ten Desires''.]]

** Several [[CoDragons high-ranking enemies,]] such as Riev and Lyon, appear in a handful of chapters of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones,'' [[EnemySummoner calling monsters]] and leading armies from the rear, while a particularly strong monster or general leads individual troops. They will defend themselves if attacked, and if defeated, will [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose decide that they don't feel like dying early in the plot and leave,]] most of the time only giving [[BonusBoss heaps of experience.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' has Jeanne, whom you'll fight plenty of times. [[spoiler:And in the MonsterArena, you'll fight her even MORE often.]]

* Almost every boss in ''VideoGame/HeavyWeapon''. After beating through the first 9 levels, you are treated with a [[YouPrincessIsInAnotherCastle! plot twist cutscene]] in the middle.

** Certain boss vehicles also return quite regularly. The [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 Emerald Hill Zone boss]] turns up in the final boss of ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Advance|Trilogy}}'', and the [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 Metropolis Zone boss]] turns up in Sonic & Knuckles, and gets a varient in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4''. Similarly ''Sonic 4'' also brings back the [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 Casino Night Zone boss]], and the [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog Labyrinth Zone boss]] and [[Videogame/SonicTheHedgehog Green1 Hill Zone boss]] who also turns up in [[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sky Sanctuary Zone]] and [[VideoGame/SonicAdvanceTrilogy X Zone]]. Similarly, Generations also brings back [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure Perfect Chaos]] (whose fight is almost identical), [[VideoGame/SonicUnleashed the Egg Dragoon]] and the [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 Death Egg Robot]] who also reappears at the end of Sonic&Knuckles as part of the TrueFinalBoss, and at the end of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4'' as the FinalBoss, except in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' it's merely [[DegradedBoss the first boss]].

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfInnocence'' started the trend of making a TalkativeLoon [[PsychoForHire assassin-like character with little motivation other than seeing things burn]] the RecurringBoss. Hasta and his inane ramblings have to be dealt with three times: once in the Garam volcano (which is an [[DifficultySpike exhausting dungeon]]), then in the Northern Battlefield, and finally on the way to the final boss. In case you weren't already sick of him, Innocence R added at least one extra fight against him before recruiting Hermana. And in the he wishes to be reborn just to fight some more.

** In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'', Karst and Agatio are fought twice: once at the top of Jupiter Lighthouse, and [[spoiler:once in the bowels of Mars Lighthouse after [[BalefulPolymorph being involuntarily transformed into Fire Dragons]]]].

* Dash Kobayashi from ''VideoGame/JitsuSquad'' is fought thrice in the game. Firstly in the second level, a BattleAmongstTheFlames in Hero's ruined hometown after being destroyed by Dash. Later in Infernia, as the heroes attempts escaping via LavaSurfing, Dash suddenly appears for a rematch, which is a lot harder because the battle runs automatically, and despite the heros dropping Dash into lava, the villain appears a ''third'' time... to kill one of his underlings, Shade, in a YouHaveFailedMe moment before challenging the heroes. The third fight have Dash's boss, the demon Origami, appearing as well, and both Dash and Origami will form a DualBoss against the heroes.

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/{{Splatoon}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/splatoon_dj_octavio_recurring_boss.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:DJ Octavio [[VideoGame/Splatoon1 just]] [[VideoGame/Splatoon2 doesn't]] [[VideoGame/Splatoon3 quit]].]]