History OneWingedAngel / SquareEnix

* The ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series was actually ''late'' to this party; while the final bosses are traditionally staggered fights, the original trilogy of games actually had ''no'' real examples of the trope, though now the only two final bosses in the series that ''don't'' follow this trope are Malroth in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'' and Zoma in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII''.

** Killing the Emperor in ''Videogame/FinalFantasyII'' causes his soul to split into TWO of these. The main characters fight one at the end of the main story. Their dead comrades fight the other.

* ''VideoGame/{{Seiken Densetsu 3}}'', all 3 of the final bosses transform into giant monsters before you fight them. One of them has two forms you fight, though to avoid scarring anybody, his two forms collectively about as much HP as the other two bosses.
** Likewise in ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'', only you never fight the human bosses in their normal form; instead they tend to go OneWingedAngel right from the start. Even BigBad [[spoiler:Thanatos]] ends up becoming the [[spoiler:Dark Lich]] for his fight.
*** ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana'' does have human bosses, and they're much harder than the OneWingedAngel bosses due to being smaller and faster.

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' beats Sephiroth out in both religious symbolism and overkill on its FinalBoss forms for its BigBad: He [[spoiler:turns into a giant serpent and then fuses with Joshua, who was doing a CrucifiedHeroShot, after which he turns into a ''five headed'' dragon that takes up the majority of both screens while holding your other two partners in his claws]]. In fact, most of the bosses turn into [[TheHeartless Noise]] during their boss fights. Minamimoto, unlike the others, fights in both his Reaper form and Noise form, alternating each time a new batch of Taboo Noise is erased.
** It's worth noting that the FinalBoss ''is the OneWingedAngel of a OneWingedAngel.''

** In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'', anyone who eats a Fygg -- a wish-granting fruit of the WorldTree -- tends to have this forced on them; four of these seven fruits grant their respective wishes by turning the wish-maker ''into a monster'' with the power to act out his desires -- surprisingly, there's really only one (''maybe'' a second) case of WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity that results. [[spoiler: The Final Boss eats all seven, so ''stand back'', y'all]].

** [[spoiler: Lahabrea and Igeyorhm can [[FusionDance|merge together]] to form a lich-like creature called an Ascian Prime, forced to do so when pushed into a corner by the Warrior of Light's overwhelming power.]]

Creator/SquareEnix probably loves [[OneWingedAngel this trope]] even more than Franchise/{{Disney}} does. It's almost a rule that their games MUST have a giant transforming final boss (if that was not already evident from the fact that it has its own subpage, and even named the trope).

** First of all, some of the Disney villains use their canon One-Winged Angels: Jafar becoming a genie, Ursula becoming a giant, and Maleficent becoming a dragon. Also, Oogie Boogie merges with his manor upon his defeat.

** Lastly, the final battle against Ansem has multiple phases, but he doesn't actually transform until you reach part 4 of the fight. Departing from the usual thing with bossess transforming, people tend to find his form when he first possessed Riku harder, and his final form in End of the World to be a pushover.

*** And in [[VideoGameRemake Re:CoM]], after you beat that form, he essentially manifests all the life force he has left as a giant angelic grim reaper.
** The second game was more generous with original versions of this. In Beast's Castle, once you defeat the Shadow Stalker Heartless, it immediately turns into the much bigger and stronger (and cooler) Dark Thorn.
** In Port Royal, the Grim Reaper Heartless is a mild challenge at first, but then it gains immortality from the cursed Aztec treasure. The rematch has you periodically forcing the Grim Reaper ''out'' of One-Winged Angel mode so that you can actually hurt it.
** In Halloween Town, the Prison Keeper Heartless is a miniature version of this. It keeps Lock, Shock, and Barrel in a cage hanging from its body, and eats one of them to gain power: it can throw giant fireballs if it eats Lock, rain down many mini-fireballs if it eats Shock, and charge and bite if it eats Barrel. Beat it up enough, and it coughs up the brat it ate. When its health gets low enough, it eats all three of them, gaining all three powers for the rest of the fight.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' had the fake president turn into the zombie Gerogero. And Ultimecia, who just gets progressively ''weird'' looking as the battle continues.

** Interestingly, Jecht's is justified by the plot. [[spoiler:The game's summons, Aeons, are acquired by receiving them from a fayth, a precursor of sorts. In order gain the Final Summoning and combat [[EldritchAbomination Sin]], one of the summoner's guardians must become a fayth. Braska chose Jecht, and his one-winged angel form is that of the aeon Braska summoned.]]

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' had Vayne turn into a gigantic clockwork dragon with the help of his rebel Occuria pal. And before that he used the power of [[GreenRocks nethicite]] to HulkOut and become Vayne Novus.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' had Kuja invoke the game's LimitBreak SuperMode Trance, shedding his clothing to become a glowing super-powered being covered in red fur and feathers.

*** Returns again in ''[[UpdatedRerelease Advent Children COMPLETE]]'', this time he grows it just before unleashing a brutal and bloody [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown stab fest]] against Cloud.

** In the ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' games, every character has an "EX Mode", and for many of the villain characters, it's their OneWingedAngel form. [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Kefka]], for instance, gains his 'God of Magic' appearance, and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyII the Emperor]] assumes his 'Emperor of Hell' form. Ironically, as a result of loading issues, Sephiroth doesn't assume his 'Safer Sephiroth' form from [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII his game]], instead taking on his ''KingdomHearts'' single-black-wing look. Similarly, [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyV Exdeath]] doesn't use his Neo form as his EX Mode. Instead, it shows up as an alternate costume in the {{prequel}}. Its default setting is based on artwork - when ''it'' goes EX Mode, its colours change to match the actual game sprite.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[OminousLatinChanting Estuans interius, ira vehementi!\\
Estuans interius, ira vehementi!\\

** The first example of the trope in the series belongs to to ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI''. In spite of persistent rumors about a "pet dragon", the Dracolord of the Japanese version did indeed transform into his more powerful true form.

* Guildenstern in ''VagrantStory'' is a textbook example. He turns black, spouts wings, merges with the game's main religious symbol to turn into a giant cross-shaped... bug... thing, and flies around casting things with names like "Judgment" and "Bloody Sin".

** ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI FFVI]]'' had Kefka, who in the final battle reveals he's become a PhysicalGod and is now a grotesque FallenAngel with light purple angel wings and black demonic wings.

* Ah, ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''. The fight against Ansem has multiple phases, but he doesn't actually transform until you reach part 4 of the fight. Departing from the usual thing with bossess transforming, people tend to find his form when he first possessed Riku in the penultimate level harder, and his final form in End of the World to be a pushover.
** In ''Chain of Memories'', no enemy will do this ''except'' of the last one. Marluxia will first fight you in his human form, and after a short last break, you'll fight him again as a monstrous... monster.
*** And in the [[VideoGameRemake remake]], he fights you again on the back of the monster's remains, but this time he has a giant angelic familiar doing the fighting for him.
** In the second game, Xemnas fights you as himself, as a ''spaceship'', as a suit of armour with a {{BFS}}, as a suit of armor again this time hurling everything he can at you (including the landscape), then himself ''again'' with different powers and a zebra suit.
*** It also features quite a few of Disney's One Winged Angels, notably Dragon Maleficent, Genie Jafar (but not his cobra form) and Giant Ursula.
*** On top of those, some Disney villains get new One Winged Angels. For instance, Oogie Boogie fuses with his manor in Kingdom Hearts, and Scar's ghosts become the Groundshaker Heartless in the second game.

** ''Birth By Sleep'' notably [[AvertedTrope doesn't do this.]] Save for Maleficent who turns into the dragon in Aqua's story, every character's final boss remains human. Vanitas simply takes off his helmet and pulls out a different Keyblade for his 2nd stage; Master Xehanort [[spoiler: migrates into Terra's body, with the player taking control of Lingering Will]] for his 2nd fight; [[spoiler:Terranort]], the TrueFinalBoss, simply summons Xehanort's Guardian familiar from Kingdom Hearts for his last battle; and for Aqua's story, the final bosses are two different characters.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'' plays this straight with [[spoiler: Demon King Orgodemir]] the first time you fight him. The second time, he ''starts out'' in his OneWingedAngel form before [[BishounenLine reverting back to his humanoid form]], before transforming into a hybrid of the two forms and then ''[[BodyHorror melting]]'' in his final form. While this is a ClippedWingAngel in appearance, it is still a OneWingedAngel in function, as it is the most powerful of his forms by far.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'' has an unusual example in that, while the final boss is a four-stage fight, only the second stage is a OneWingedAngel. Third and fourth stages are the final boss ''[[BodyHorror melting]]''.

** Sephiroth (pictured) from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', whose OminousLatinChanting {{Leitmotif}} is the TropeNamer (having one wing instead of an arm, ignoring those other wings on the underside). He began as a human, then transformed into the aptly named Bizarro Sephiroth, a coccoon for what he intended to be his ultimate form, the angelic Safer Sephiroth.

* In ''VideoGame/LiveALive'', the evil daimyo Ode Iou transforms himself into a Frogsnake Demon just before the BossBattle with him begins.

** In the final battle of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChroniclesCrystalBearers'' [[spoiler:the big bad fuses with an airship and transforms the ship into a giant red crystal. At the same time the main character follows this trope more literally when his telekinetic powers manifest themselves as a blue surfboard thing, some sort of face guard and a giant blue wing.]]

** In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'', [[spoiler: Archfiend Mortamor]] has three forms total, passing from {{Evil Old Folk|s}} to a giant red hulk of a demon, to a monstrous, demonic ''face'' with [[RaymanianLimbs a pair of free-floating hands]].

** In Chain of memories, no enemy will do this ''except'' of the last one. Marluxia will first fight you in his human form, and after a short last break, you'll fight him again as a monstrous... monster.

** The FinalBoss of SquareSoft's "introductory" RPG, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyMysticQuest'', mutates through four different forms.

* {{Seiken Densetsu 3}}, all 3 of the final bosses transform into giant monsters before you fight them. One of them has two forms you fight, though to avoid scarring anybody, his two forms collectivily about as much HP as the other two bosses.

** In the second, Xemnas fights you as himself, as a ''spaceship'', as a suit of armour with a {{BFS}}, as a suit of armor again this time hurling everything he can at you (including the landscape), then himself ''again'' with different powers and a zebra suit.