History OneWingedAngel / SquareEnix

** The evil daimyo Ode Iou transforms himself into a Frogsnake Demon just before the BossBattle with him begins.
** Demon King Odio [[spoiler:aka FallenHero Oersted, who was originally human before he rejected his humanity and claimed the power of the Demon King]] appears to the heroes as an ominous cloaked figure in the final chapter. When the final battle begins, he opens up the cloak and ''becomes'' the entire battlefield. A battlefield that seems to be made up of corpses. Your opponents in the first phase of the battle are grotesque creatures that vaguely resemble the parts of a human face. After destroying all but one part of the "face" (which can't be destroyed in the first phase), it "blossoms", revealing a winged vaguely humanoid ''thing'' sitting on a flower called "Pure Odio".

*** Version 5: Jagonuba, [[BiggerBad the true villain of the game]], as well as [[spoiler: the summoner of the Dark Hands that Nelgel, Madesagora, and Nadraga use to transform into their respective final forms]], starts off as a hulking red demon, ala Mortamor, before absorbing lots of light to transform into a eight armed monster with a lean ghost-like body.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' features this as ''a plot element''. One of the main prizes sought by the villains is the mysterious "[[EvolutionPowerUp Secret of Evolution]]" originally discovered by Estark, King of Hell, which allowed him to become the UltimateLifeForm. Everyone who obtains the [=SoE=] is transformed into a large, fearsome creature: Estark took the form of a monstrous insectoid wielding a pair of {{Sinister Scimitar}}s, the Marquis de Léon became a [[MegaNeko giant lion monster]] with an extra four arms, Balzack became an obese, inadequately-winged demon wielding a club[[note]]in the NES original, he simply became a vaguely more monstrous humanoid; incidentally, Balzack's newer form is also a lesser version of Pruslas, a monster encountered later in the story[[/note]], [[spoiler:and Psaro the Manslayer became Necrosaro, or Death Psaro, a massive creature that can be best described as a hideous mutation of the form Estark took]]. [[spoiler:This mutated-Estark form is later imitated ''again'' by Aamon in the DS Remake.]]

*** Inverted with the Hero, who starts the game with angelic powers and wings, only to wake up wingless and powerless after the title sequence. [[spoiler:To defeat the BigBad, he must eat a Fygg and become ''completely'' mortal, which continues the inversion in narrative terms, but in actual gameplay, he retains all of the fighting power and skill he's achieved until then.]]

** 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 (if only due to [[SpellMyNameWithAnS mistranslation]]) Bizarro Sephiroth, a cocoon for what he intended to be his ultimate form, the angelic [[NonIndicativeName Safer Sephiroth]].

* ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'' has [[spoiler:Airy with three monstrously powerful forms, a grotesque larva, an equally grotesque pupa, and a butterfly form that has nearly TWO TIMES the HP of her first form with nasty spell combos]].

** Staying true to the series tradition of "angelic" final bosses, the Endwalker expansion gives us [[spoiler:the Endsinger]]. After spending most of the game as a [[NonActionBigBad Non-Action Big Bad]], when finally cornered [[spoiler: [[BigBad Meteion]]]] fuses with [[spoiler:the other Meteia]] to become [[spoiler:a giant airborne monster heavily remniscient of a Seraph]].

** Staying true to the series tradition of "angelic" final bosses, the Endwalker expansion gives us [[spoiler:the Endsinger]]. After spending most of the game as a [[NonActionBigBad Non-Action Big Bad]], when finally cornered the main antagonist fuses with [[spoiler:the other Meteia]] to become [[spoiler:a giant airborne monster heavily remniscient of a Seraph]].

** ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' is quite possibly the '''hugest''' example of this trope. Two of the four main male characters become '''' one winged angels — one of which is black-winged and the other is white-winged. Then when you fight them, they in turn transform into monsters, still retaining the wings.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' had the fake president turn into the zombie Gerogero. And Ultimecia, who you fight as a "normal" witch, after which she summons Griever, then ''junctions'' herself onto Griever, then finally morphs into an [[EldritchAbomination eldritch horror]] that ''has her human form as legs'' and wears the ''galaxy'' as a ''skirt'' as her [[TimeCrash time compression]] reaches completion. Yeah.

* High-ranking Reapers in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' have the ability to transform into a [[TheHeartless Noise]] form for combat. Higashizawa becomes a giant ram, Minamimoto a lion (though unlike the others, he alternates between his Noise and Reaper forms during the battle), Konishi a tigress, and Kitaniji a [[ScaledUp snake]]. [[spoiler:The latter truly takes the cake, though, as he then pulls a OneWingedAngel ''of his OneWingedAngel form'', fusing with Joshua — [[RuleOfSymbolism who was doing a]] CruficiedHeroShot — to become a five-headed dragon that takes up the majority of both screens.]]

** [[spoiler:Yotsuyu pulls a Ysayle and summons Tsukuyomi into her body, though unlike Shiva, Tsukuyomi more resembles a transformed Yotsuyu with her skin being half jet black and pure white, grows in size and has a pair of bunny ears along with a crescent moon formed behind her. Slightly turns into ClippedWingedAngel territory as the transformation seems to be temporary regardless of the Warrior's intervention and is bleeding out her own life force, literally feeding on her misery and sorrow to sustain it.]]

** [[spoiler:Vauthry]] in ''Shadowbringers'' turns into a literal angel...Well, at least as angelic as a [[LightIsNotGood Sin Eater]] can be. [[spoiler:His fat, ugly body turns into a beautiful, golden haired archangel-like Light Warden with wings made out of swords, stylized heavily after the biblical Archangel Michael.]]

*** [[spoiler: After merging with Gaia (now revealed to be the reincarnated Loghrif), they become an Ascian Prime, but rather than fight the Warrior of Darkness in that form, they used the aether accumalated from the Primal fights to transform into a more literal interpretation of the mythological Eden.]]

** ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' is quite possibly the '''hugest''' example of this trope. Two of the four main male characters become ''literal'' one winged angels — one of which is black-winged and the other is white-winged. Then when you fight them, they in turn transform into monsters, still retaining the wings.

** In ''Dirge of Cerberus'', Azul, one member of the {{Super Soldier}} {{Quirky Miniboss Squad}}, is on his own a pretty large [[MightyGlacier bruiser]] who hefts an assault cannon, but on top of that, he can turn into a literal Behemoth for extra headaches. And unlike traditional Boss Encounters, he can switch between them at will.

** In the final battle of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChroniclesTheCrystalBearers'', [[spoiler:the BigBad 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/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 FinalBoss eats all seven, so ''stand back'', y'all.]]
** Inverted with the PC, who starts the game with angelic powers and wings, only to wake up wingless and powerless after the title sequence. [[spoiler:To defeat the BigBad, he must eat a Fygg and become ''completely'' mortal, which continues the inversion in narrative terms, but in actual gameplay, he retains all of the fighting power and skill he's achieved until then.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'' has two examples: Manah, when the [[GodIsEvil gods]] give her a VillainOverride, and [[spoiler:Furiae]], after being placed inside a Seed of Resurrection.

** 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 (if only due to [[SpellMyNameWithAnS mistranslation]]) Bizarro Sephiroth, a cocoon for what he intended to be his ultimate form, the angelic Safer Sephiroth.

* This is brought to an extreme in ''VideoGame/SaGaFrontier'', which offers 7 characters and '''7 final bosses'''. Unfortunately, Emelia's BigBad is ultimately a rather unimpressive human, so they [[AssPull give us a boss from nowhere]] who is giant and can transform. In a fun twist, [[WordOfGod the creators of the game]] decided to [[{{Jossed}} crush fan theories]] by telling us that, no, [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere that boss really has no connection to anything up to that point]] No, not even the [[MacGuffin hanging-plot-thread]] that the nice evil man told you to give to his lover as his dying wish.

*** [[spoiler: After merging with Gaia (now revealed to be the reincarnated Loghrif), they become an Ascian Prime, but rather than fight the Warrior of Darkness in that form, they used the aether accumalated from the Primal fights to transform into a more literal interpretation of the mythological Eden

* ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' is quite possibly the '''hugest''' example of this trope. Two of the four main male characters become ''literal'' one winged angels — one of which is black-winged and the other is white-winged. Then when you fight them, they in turn transform into monsters, still retaining the wings.
** There are even several varieties of mooks and monsters who have been infused with genes from those two and thus have a single wing sprouting from their back. The second half of the game feels like the monsters from the first half decided to reappear after having visited a grand Unpaired Attachable Wings clearance sale. It reaches a point where you expect ''everything'' that isn't a robot to have a bizarre feathery wing graft. Ironically, the only character who you would expect to sprout a wing doesn't in this game — Sephiroth.
* The FinalBoss of Creator/SquareSoft's "introductory" RPG, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyMysticQuest'', mutates through four different forms.
* 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 ''Franchise/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.
** And then, since Chaos is now his own character and not just Garland's transformation, he too gets his own One-Winged Angel form. In fact, he gets two — during "[[LimitBreak Utter Chaos]]", he changes color and goes to huge proportions, then in ''Dissidia 012'', an AlternateUniverse version of Chaos goes berserk and insane to become Feral Chaos.
** Shinryu himself has ''three'' forms in '''Dissidia NT''', first as the Planesgorger golden serpent that's mainly encountered in cutscenes and then fought during the CGI cutscene near the end by both the heroes and villains and their deities. It's only when they destroy that form that Shinryu reveals a second more traditional form with crystal wings. Even when that form is defeated, Shinryu pops up ''again'' with an even bigger and more sinsiter jet black and gray/silver form with multiple tentacles.

** The original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'''s ''entire villainous cast'' did this, with a Zodiac theme, giving at ''least'' ''six'' OneWingedAngel forms. The final boss does this as well, in typical Square fashion.

** In the final battle of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChroniclesTheCrystalBearers'' [[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.]]
* Sheex, Fahna and Thanatos all do this in ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana''. Geshtar might also qualify since his boss form, though clearly humanoid, is classified by the game guide as being robotic.
* This is brought to an extreme in ''VideoGame/SaGaFrontier'', which offers 7 characters and '''7 final bosses'''. Unfortunately, Emelia's BigBad is ultimately a rather unimpressive human, so they [[AssPull give us a boss from nowhere]] who is giant and can transform. In a fun twist, [[WordOfGod the creators of the game]] decided to [[{{Jossed}} crush fan theories]] by telling us that, no, [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere that boss really has no connection to anything up to that point.]] No, not even the [[MacGuffin hanging-plot-thread]] that the nice evil man told you to give to his lover as his dying wish.

*** And in ''[[VideoGameRemake Re:CoM]]'', after you beat that form, he manifests all the life force he has left as a giant angelic grim reaper. Less HP, but more devastating attacks.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' 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.

** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' brings us a One Winged Angel form for [[spoiler:Xion]]. It's...rather difficult to describe...It's sort of like an armored monstrous Nobody form of none other than ''Sora''. Interestingly, this is the form the boss assumes for [[SequentialBoss all four phases of the fight]] [[spoiler:(which correspond to five Limits Sora learned in ''[=KHI=]'': a combination of Ragnarok/Strike Raid, Sonic Blade, Ars Arcanaum, and Trinity Limit)]], with each phase bringing new weapons rather than new transformations and the final phase bringing [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever a bit of a growth spurt]] too.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' notably {{avert|edTrope}}s this. Aside from Maleficent, who takes her dragon form 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 I'' for his last battle; and for Aqua's story, the final bosses are two different characters.

** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', Master Xehanort [[spoiler:mostly averts this. The start of his fight is against his replica vessels, which are just armored humans, then he absorbs them and gains a creepy goat armor, but doesn't change the fact you're still facing an armored human. Finally, you face... good old Master Xehanort in his regular outfit, but wielding the χ-Blade this time.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' (co-developed by Squaresoft), FinalBoss Smithy gains several forms after fighting with it once. The first looks like an evil bearded robot with a hammer. The second is [[spoiler: the same robot, except with a giant skull for a head which can be switched to four alternate forms.]]

* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' contains at least two instances of this, in various forms: Masa and Mune combine to form a hulking beast, while [[spoiler: Queen Zeal]] becomes a giant, crowned mask and gloves with increased magical power.
** The 'Dragon of Fire' fight in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''. While the first time you fight him he's fairly small and humanoid, partway through the second fight he will change into an even larger (and cooler) dragon in the style of muscle growth.
** Happens again in Cross to [[spoiler: Dark Serge/Lynx]], who transforms into a bizarre-looking giant purple humanoid embedded into the floor.

** The protagonist accomplishes this as well in the first game, with her ultimate attack (of the two pure attacks in the game) 'Liberation', the form being angelic, but in a biological manner. [[spoiler:And the 'secret boss' from the first one manages the -same- form. Only she remains in it throughout the fight.]]

* High-ranking Reapers in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' have the ability to transform into a [[TheHeartless Noise]] form for combat. Higashizawa becomes a giant ram, Minamimoto a lion (though unlike the others he alternates between his Noise and Reaper forms during the battle), Konishi a tigress, and Kitaniji a [[ScaledUp snake]]. [[spoiler:The latter truly takes the cake, though, as he then pulls a OneWingedAngel ''of his OneWingedAngel form'', fusing with Joshua -- [[RuleOfSymbolism who was doing a]] CruficiedHeroShot -- to become a five-headed dragon that takes up the majority of both screens.]]

** Malroth in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'', Zoma in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'', and [[spoiler:Calasmos]] in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'' are the only bosses in the series who don't transform into more powerful forms.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' features this as ''a plot element''. One of the main prizes sought by the villains is the mysterious "[[EvolutionPowerUp Secret of Evolution]]" originally discovered by Estark, King of Hell, which allowed him to become the UltimateLifeForm. Everyone who obtains the [=SoE=] is transformed into a large, fearsome creature: Estark took the form of a monstrous insectoid wielding a pair of {{Sinister Scimitar}}s, the Marquis de Léon became a [[MegaNeko giant lion monster]] with an extra four arms, Balzack became an obese, inadequately-winged demon wielding a club[[note]]In the NES original he simply became a vaguely more monstrous humanoid; incidentally, Balzack's newer form is also a lesser version of Pruslas, a monster encountered later in the story[[/note]], [[spoiler: and Psaro the Manslayer became Necrosaro, or Death Psaro, a massive creature that can be best described as a hideous mutation of the form Estark took]]. [[spoiler: This mutated-Estark form is later imitated ''again'' by Aamon in the DS Remake]].
*** An extra note on the Final Boss instance of this in the game, which actually lends to an impressive sense of the passage of time: [[spoiler: the final fight against Psaro actually has ''seven'' phases -- the first three consist of Psaro -- having achieved Estark's insectoid form -- losing his limbs as you do battle with him, but in the fourth phase, he loses his ''head''... only for the [=SoE=] to take effect and force him to a ''new'' form, called Death Psaro, with a face growing out of what used to be his abdomen. Each phase after that consists of him growing new limbs and a second head, which in narrative terms implies that you're not causing real damage as this mutation is taking effect. However, once the mutation is complete, Psaro can be killed]]. So ferocious is this last stage that it gets its own new battle music. [[spoiler: Again, Aamon imitates this progression as the True Final Boss]].
** In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'', [[spoiler: Grandmaster Nimzo]] uses the [[ContinuityNod Secret of Evolution]] himself, but only has two forms and fight phases, total.
** 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 [[FloatingLimbs a pair of free-floating hands]].
** ''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]], then transforming into a hybrid of the two forms and finally ''[[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.
** Special mention must also go to Dhoulmagus of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'', who is a [[spoiler: mid-boss]] who does this, by imbibing the power of the scepter he stole from Trodain Castle. [[spoiler: The staff has a mutating effect on several of its subsequent owners, including Jessica and Sir Leopold, a fearsome dog owned by the Magician Dominico. Lord Rhapthorne, the demon who resides ''within'' the scepter, also has this -- he first appears as a firefly-like spirit, but later grows to his titanic and obese second form]].
** 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]].
** Inverted with the PC, who starts the game with angelic powers and wings, only to wake up wingless and powerless after the title sequence. [[spoiler: To defeat the Big Bad, he must eat a Fygg and become ''completely'' mortal, which continues the inversion in narrative terms, but in actual gameplay, he retains all of the fighting power and skill he's achieved until then]].

** Loki goes into One Winged Angel mode before he fights Lucian, and then again during the [[GuideDangIt A ending]] events, you never get to fight his original form though.

* ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'' has [[spoiler:Airy with three monstrously powerful forms, a grotesque larva, an equally grotesque pupa, and a butterfly form that has nearly TWO TIMES the HP of her first form with nasty spell combos.]]

*** Returns yet again in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', in which he can sprout his one wing to power his attacks, and Safer Sephiroth is his Final Smash.

** Killing Emperor Mateus 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/FinalFantasyIV'' had Zemus the Lunarian wizard transform into the demonic insectoid Zeromus, which transforms into a more boney form when the heroes shine the light of the MineralMacGuffin on him. Various bosses also do this - Scarmiglione transforms into an undead monster, Baigan turns his arm to snakes, the Dark Elf transforms into a dragon, and several monsters show up on the map as hooded, cloaked figures, although if that is actual transformation or just a limitation of map sprites is unclear.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' had the fake president turn into the zombie Gerogero. And Ultimecia, who you fight as a "normal" witch, after which she summons Griever, then ''junctions'' herself onto griever, then finally morphs into an [[EldritchAbomination eldritch horror]] that ''has her human form as legs'' and wears the ''galaxy'' as a ''skirt'' as her [[TimeCrash time compression]] reaches completion. Yeah.

*** 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/FinalFantasyX2 Final Fantasy X-2]]'' inverts the trope. Each of your party members finds a unique Dressphere which allows her to become [[GameBreaker a huge multi-target monstrosity - essentially a Boss - for a limited time]].

*** The third expansion features three bosses back to back in the final battle, though the final one, [[spoiler: Alexander]], takes over the fight himself after you deal enough damage to [[spoiler:the Prince who is piloting his current body]]. This is played a bit more straight in the first expansion, Rise of the Zilart when [[spoiler: Eald'narche is knocked off his floating platform and his eyepatch comes off, revealing a glowing eye and he starts flying for the rest of the fight]]. Lady Lilith [[spoiler: plays this traditionally straight, going from her normal attire to [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101209085514/ffxi/images/1/1b/Lilith_Ascendant.png Lilith Ascendant]] for Round 2.]]

*** After a lengthy battle with his 2nd form - he transforms into his one-winged angel form. [[spoiler:The scene plays out which Vayne absorbs a portion of the Dreadnaught Bahamut fortress onto his body...Thus becoming a hideous monster/dragon himself.]]
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' features [[spoiler: Galenth Dysley, who masqueraded as a frail old man and the leader of the Sanctum. His true form is]] the giant-robotic-rape-face fal'Cie Barthandalus.

*** Additionally, mid-game boss [[spoiler: Cid Raines]] goes One Winged Angel by transforming into a [[spoiler: Cie'th hybrid, complete with patches of crystal-looking skin and hair, and an enormous claw. Halfway through the fight, he mutates further and sprouts a pair of wings]].
*** And in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'', [[spoiler: Caius has two One Winged Angel forms; the first being Chaos Bahamut, a PaletteSwap of Fang's Eidolon. The second, which serves as the final boss, is a gigantic purple dragon known as Jet Bahamut...and then Caius summons Amber Bahamut and Garnet Bahamut.]]
*** The third game in the trilogy, ''VideoGame/{{Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII}}'' features its own One Winged Angels- [[spoiler: Much like Raines, Snow Villiers transforms into a hybrid Cie'th during his boss fight, gaining a claw-like growth on his arm similar to the one Raines had and black markings covering parts of his skin. The game's final boss, Bhunivelze, also goes through multiple different forms.]]
** Interestingly enough, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' significantly downplays this. The penultimate battle against [[spoiler: Ifrit]] simply has him stop holding back when he realizes lazing about and tossing out the occasional attack isn't working. The FinalBoss, [[spoiler: Ardyn Izunia]], has no form change at all. The closest he gets is [[spoiler: summoning Armiger]].

** [[spoiler: Returning from Legacy, Nael van Darnus appears during the Second Coil of Bahamut raid, her enthrallment from Bahamut in its most advanced stage as she shatters her armor and transforms into a dragon-like humanoid with large wings to fight the party.]]

** Speaking of Hraesvelgr, he reveals that [[spoiler: the supposed heretical blood magic that the heretics use to transform into dragons is tied directly to their own lineage as every living Ishgardian, high and lowborn, are all descended from King Thordan I and his knights twelve, who all devoured Ratatoskr's flesh and eyes to gain power and longevity. Only a mere sip can trigger the transformation, meaning the entire population is one drip away from turning into the creatures they fear the most.]]
** Happens to [[spoiler: Estenien at the end of the initial Heavensward story where he's possessed by Nidhogg's blood magic from still wearing his blood soaked armor and holding both of his eyes, allowing Nidhogg to revive himself through his body and take on his original complete form. He can also shift between this form and Estenien's though the armor is now corrupted with his eyes fused to his mail. In his final battle, he displays not only an inbetween humanoid dragon form wielding a spear, but also a version of his real form with his wings and spikes glowing hot red, which he previously used to overpower his own brother.]]
** [[spoiler: Of course, the current King Thordan and his knights, the Heavens' Ward are no exception to this as each of them can take on a primal-like form, together becoming the Knights of the Round from Final Fantasy VII with Thordan himself becoming his original predecessor (now calling himself a god king) after absorbing both Haldrath's corpse and Nidhogg's lost eye which kept the body preserved.]]
** [[spoiler: Lahabrea and Igeyorhm can [[FusionDance fuse]] 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.]]
** [[spoiler: Zenos himself merges with Shinryu itself by using his Resonant power, effectively becoming the Primal itself]]
** [[spoiler: Yotsuyu pulls a Ysayle and summons Tsukuyomi into her body, though unlike Shiva, Tsukuyomi more resembles a transformed Yotsuyu with her skin being half jet black and pure white, grows in size and has a pair of bunny ears along with a crescent moon formed behind her. Slightly turns into ClippedWingedAngel territory as the transformation seems to be temporary regardless of the Warrior's intervention and is bleeding out her own life force, literally feeding on her misery and sorrow to sustain it.]]

*** [[spoiler: Soroban after having Genbu's soul take refuge in his body is able to shift between his and Genbu's forms at will, though it's only temporary until Genbu finishes his training.]]
** [[spoiler: Vauthry]] in ''Shadowbringers'' turns into a literal angel...Well, at least as angelic as a [[LightIsNotGood Sin Eater]] can be. [[spoiler: his fat, ugly body turns into a beautiful, golden haired archangel-like Light Warden with wings made out of swords, stylized heavily after the biblical Archangel Michael.]]
** [[spoiler: Emet-Selch]] does this twice. [[spoiler: First, he reveals his true name and shows his real, Ascian form, looking like a gigantic sorcerer with a huge mantle. In the second half of the fight, he summons all the souls of the dead Ancients and fuses it to himself, becoming a huge, torso-less ''thing'', with 'wings' formed entirely out of Ascian masks.]]
* ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' is quite possibly the '''hugest''' example of this trope. Two of the four main male characters become ''literal'' one winged angels -- one of which is black-winged and the other is white-winged. Then when you fight them they in turn transform into monsters, still retaining the wings.
** There are even several varieties of mooks and monsters who have been infused with genes from those two and thus have a single wing sprouting from their back. The second half of the game feels like the monsters from the first half decided to reappear after having visited a grand Unpaired Attachable Wings clearance sale. It reaches a point where you expect ''everything'' that isn't a robot to have a bizarre feathery wing graft. Ironically, the only character who you would expect to sprout a wing doesn't in this game -- Sephiroth.

* 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 ''Franchise/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.
** And then, since Chaos is now his own character and not just Garland's transformation, he too gets his own One-Winged Angel form. In fact, he gets two -- during "[[LimitBreak Utter Chaos]]" he changes color and goes to huge proportions, then in ''Dissidia 012'' an AlternateUniverse version of Chaos goes berserk and insane to become Feral Chaos.

** In ''Dirge of Cerberus'' Azul, one member of the {{Super Soldier}} {{Quirky Miniboss Squad}} is on his own a pretty large [[MightyGlacier bruiser]] who hefts an assault cannon, but on top of that he can turn into a literal Behemoth for extra headaches. And unlike traditional Boss Encounters, he can switch between them at will.
** The original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'''s ''entire villainous cast'' did this, with a Zodiac theme, giving at ''least'' ''six'' OneWingedAngel forms The final boss does this as well, in typical Square fashion.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' we have Queen Remedi, who turns into the Li-Grim, the spirit of the book and responsible of changing the world.

** In the final battle of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChroniclesTheCrystalBearers'' [[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.]]

** The protagonist accomplishes this as well in the first game, with her ultimate attack(of the two pure attacks in the game)'Liberation', the form being angelic, but in a biological manner. [[spoiler:And the 'secret boss' from the first one manages the -same- form. Only she remains in it throughout the fight.]]

*** There are even several varieties of mooks and monsters who have been infused with genes from those two and thus have a single wing sprouting from their back. The second half of the game feels like the monsters from the first half decided to reappear after having visited a grand Unpaired Attachable Wings clearance sale. It reaches a point where you expect ''everything'' that isn't a robot to have a bizarre feathery wing graft. Ironically, the only character who you would expect to sprout a wing doesn't in this game -- Sephiroth.

** [[spoiler: Lahabrea and Igeyorhm can [[FusionDance]] 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.]]

** [[spoiler: Yotsuyu pulls a Ysayle and summons Tsukuyomi into her body, though unlike Shiva, Tsukuyomi more resembles a transformed Yotsuyu with her skin being half jet black and pure white, grows in size and has a pair of bunny ears along with a crescent moon formed behind her. Slightly turns into [[ClippedWingedAngel]] territory as the transformation seems to be temporary regardless of the Warrior's intervention and is bleeding out her own life force, literally feeding on her misery and sorrow to sustain it.]]

* 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 three final bosses in the series that ''don't'' follow this trope are Malroth in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'', Zoma in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'', and [[spoiler:Calasmos]] in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI''.
** 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. Even the US translation of ''Dragon Warrior'' flat out states that he "revealed his true self" when you defeat his first form.

*** Inverted with the PC, who starts the game with angelic powers and wings, only to wake up wingless and powerless after the title sequence. [[spoiler: To defeat the Big Bad, he must eat a Fygg and become ''completely'' mortal, which continues the inversion in narrative terms, but in actual gameplay, he retains all of the fighting power and skill he's achieved until then]].

** ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyV FFV]]'' had Exdeath ''twice'', first into his true form of a sentient evil tree, and then into a hodgepodge of various monsters out of the Void when he learns that EvilIsNotAToy and becomes Neo Exdeath.

** ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI FFVI]]'' had Kefka, who began the game as a skinny human in jester garb. In the final battle, he became a muscular, towering [[PhysicalGod God of Magic]] with purple skin, four angel wings, and two demon wings. His angelic form and golden backdrop evoke [[SatanicArchetype Lucifer]] as an [[FallenAngel angel of light]].

* Final Fantasy XIV is rife with these. Ironically though, these were largely absent in ''Legacy'' and for the most part, ''A Realm Reborn'' but become increasingly common as the story progresses in its expansions.

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

** ''VideoGame/{{Romancing SaGa}}'': [[spoiler:Saruin has two forms, his second being his upper half of his body sticking out of a sphere while he grows extra appendages on his torso and back]] (in the remake anyway).
** ''VideoGame/{{Romancing SaGa 2}}'': [[spoiler:The 7 Heroes gradually join the amalgamated form every 6,000 HP dealt.]]
** ''VideoGame/{{Romancing SaGa 3}}'': [[spoiler:Destroyer changes to a more crazed, shinier form with more wings that can also change into four other forms representing the four Devil Lords, but only if the form chosen was that of a Devil Lord not defeated.]] The protagonists can transform too.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' has a ton of these. Let's start with [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts the first one]].

** In ''Chain of Memories'', the final boss Marluxia will first fight you in his human form, and after a short break to give you time to heal and save, you'll fight him again when he's merged with a living machine armed with sickles for hands.
*** And in [[VideoGameRemake Re:CoM]], after you beat that form, he manifests all the life force he has left as a giant angelic grim reaper. Less HP, but more devastating attacks.
** ''Kingdom Hearts II'' 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.

** ''358/2 Days'' brings us a One Winged Angel form for [[spoiler:Xion]]. It's...rather difficult to describe...It's sort of like an armored monstrous Nobody form of none other than ''Sora''. Interestingly, this is the form the boss assumes for [[SequentialBoss all four phases of the fight]] [[spoiler:(which correspond to five Limits Sora learned in ''KH1:'' a combination of Ragnarok/Strike Raid, Sonic Blade, Ars Arcanaum, and Trinity Limit)]], with each phase bringing new weapons rather than new transformations and the final phase bringing [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever a bit of a growth spurt]] too.
** ''Birth By Sleep'' notably [[AvertedTrope averts this.]] Aside from Maleficent, who takes her dragon form 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.
** Inverted in ''coded'', the final boss first appears as a giant Darkside, then as a humanoid, then [[ThisWasHisTrueForm a simple Shadow Heartless]].
** In ''Dream Drop Distance'', Ansem transforms his Guardian into a new form and shifts the battlefield for the second phase of his fight. However, of the four final bosses, he's the only one to do this in another aversion.
** In ''Kingdom Hearts III'', Master Xehanort [[spoiler:mostly averts this. The start of his fight is against his replica vessels, which are just armored humans, then he absorbs them and gains a creepy goat armor, but doesn't change the fact you're still facing an armored human. Finally, you face... good old Master Xehanort in his regular outfit, but wielding the χ-Blade this time.]]

** [[spoiler: Vauthry]] in ''Shadowbringers'' turns into a literal angel...Well, at least as angelic as a [[LightIsNotGood Sin Eater]] can be, turning into a beautiful, golden haired archangels with wings made out of swords, stylized heavily after the biblical Archagnel Michael.

** [[spoiler: Emet-Selch]] does this twice. [[spoiller: First, he reveals his true name and shows his real, Ascian form, looking like a gigantic sorcerer with a huge mantle. In the second half of the fight, he summons all the souls of the dead Ancients and fuses it to himself, becoming a huge, torso-less ''thing'', with 'wings' formed entirely out of Ascian masks.]]

** ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' is quite possibly the '''hugest''' example of this trope. Two of the four main male characters become ''literal'' one winged angels -- one of which is black-winged and the other is white-winged. Then when you fight them they in turn transform into monsters, still retaining the wings.

** The FinalBoss of Creator/SquareSoft's "introductory" RPG, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyMysticQuest'', mutates through four different forms.
** 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 ''Franchise/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.
*** And then, since Chaos is now his own character and not just Garland's transformation, he too gets his own One-Winged Angel form. In fact, he gets two -- during "[[LimitBreak Utter Chaos]]" he changes color and goes to huge proportions, then in ''Dissidia 012'' an AlternateUniverse version of Chaos goes berserk and insane to become Feral Chaos.
*** Shinryu himself has ''three'' forms in '''Dissidia NT''', first as the Planesgorger golden serpent that's mainly encountered in cutscenes and then fought during the CGI cutscene near the end by both the heroes and villains and their deities. It's only when they destroy that form that Shinryu reveals a second more traditional form with crystal wings. Even when that form is defeated, Shinryu pops up ''again'' with an even bigger and more sinsiter jet black and gray/silver form with multiple tentacles.

* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' contains at least four instances of this, in various forms: Masa and Mune combine to form a hulking beast, [[spoiler: Queen Zeal]] becomes a giant, crowned mask and gloves with increased magical power, and Lavos [[spoiler: does it twice]].