History ThatOneBoss / Atlus

** What makes Baal Avatar a real pain in the ass is because her moveset forces the demi-fiend into a [[{{HeadsIWinTailsYouLose}} lose-lose situation]]. [[{{Suspicious Video Game Generosity}} You have a magatama that prevents you from succumbing to the fly status]], [[{{I Knew It}} at the cost of being weak to Hama magic]]. [[{{YouShouldKnowThisAlready}} For those familiar with the series by now]], Hama magic is a [[{{OneHitKill}} One Hit Kill]] and Baal Avatar is none too shy about casting it during the fight. Likewise, you can prevent the holy magic by digesting another magatama that makes you weak to curse, or in particular, Bael's Bane. Essentially, (especially since not many players keep the null status/elements on their demi fiends), you're pretty much telling her how she is going to beat your ass unless you are [[{{CrazyPrepared}} crazy prepared]]. It's worse on Hard Mode [[{{TheComputerIsACheatingBastard}} considering enemy accuracy increases tremendously]].

** What makes Baal Avatar a real pain in the ass is because her moveset forces the demi-fiend into a [[{{HeadsIWinTailsYouLose}} lose-lose situation]]. You have a magatama that prevents you from succumbing to the fly status, at the cost of being weak to Hama magic. [[{{YouShouldKnowThisAlready}} For those familiar with the series by now]], Hama magic is a [[{{OneHitKill}} One Hit Kill]] and Baal Avatar is none too shy about casting it during the fight. Likewise, you can prevent the holy magic by digesting another magatama that makes you weak to curse, or in particular, Bael's Bane. Essentially, (especially since not many players keep the null status/elements on their demi fiends), you're pretty much telling her how she is going to beat your ass unless you are [[{{CrazyPrepared}} crazy prepared]]. It's worse on Hard Mode [[{{TheComputerIsACheatingBastard}} considering enemy accuracy increases tremendously]].

*** Not to mention, sometimes he turns out to be lying through his bony little teeth. (Three out of four times, he attacked the Demi-Fiend instead of the weakest demon on the field. Perhaps it was a case of ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem.)

*** Not to mention, sometimes he turns out to be lying through his skeletal teeth. (Just fought him and he used the Evil Melody to wipe out my Demi Fiend even though there was a demon with fewer HP on the field.)

** Extra turn spells my foot. ZOTZILAHA BANE. Can't be defended against, and turns you into a bat, which has hideously low stats and a large Force weakness. Take a wild guess what all of Camazotz's damage-dealing attacks' element is? First two don't count.

[[folder: {{Shin Megami Tensei}}]]

[[folder: {{Digital Devil Saga}}]]

* Vritra is often cited as also ThatOneBoss of DDS2. Especially if you go into battle expecting him to be weak against [[spoiler: ice attacks]]. Many a gamer has burst a blood vessel to see the attack absorbed text appear on the screen and watch their ''whole battle plan'' fall apart at their feet as the vary same magic from their precious strategy is flung back at them. Twice as hard.
* Camazotz from the first game, mainly because of extra-turn spells.

[[folder: {{Persona}}]]

[[folder: {{Snowboard Kids}}]]
* While only an action game in the loosest definition of the word (I.E., a game focused mainly on action-y things rather than slow, measured things), the racing game ''Snowboard Kids 2'' has only three bosses... and ''every single one of them is a That One Boss.'' It's not enough that you have to beat them to the ends of their respective race courses--hard enough, given that they're [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard much faster than you could ever be.]] It's not enough that they constantly drop debris and other things to slow you down. It's that you ''also'' have to drop their HP to zero, with an array of non-homing, hard-to-come-by projectiles. And they're often so far ahead of you, getting a straight shot in is hard.

[[folder: {{Etrian Odyssey}}]]

[[folder: {{Robopon}}]]
* Prince Tail in the original game. Those dragon robots just...wouldn't...DIE!

** Kamat's army. While not exactly a boss, I was stuck on that Jumper minigame until I found Robopon fast enough to pass it.

[[folder: {{SummonNight}}]]
* The first game shows up a good example: Inferno Kirin who is '''exactly''' the same as before but with a VERY large HP that is sure to break one or two weapons your if you don't have Weapon Shield on. Also it deals extremely high damage with ANY attack even if you have high def values.

[[folder: {{Other}}]]

* Horza, the Area 9 boss from {{XEXYZ}}. He is quite possibly the closest thing to a {{Bullet Hell}} boss that the NES can actually produce. He also has much more health than previous bosses would indicate he SHOULD have, and kills the player in 4 hits. Very few players have killed him without emulator tricks. Owning him on a console is practically a {{Bragging Rights Reward}} in its own right.

[[folder: {{DemonsSouls}}]]
* While several of the bosses can be ThatOneBoss in DemonsSouls, the general consensus on the toughest is between three different ones; Flame Lurker, Maneater and the False King (if they are not beaten using GoodBadBugs and [[ArtificialStupidity AI exploits]]).
** Flame Lurker is highly agile, highly aggressive, leaves few openings where it is truly safe to attack, and is a melee boss with various attacks that cover a wide range. To make matters worse, when it loses between half to three-quarters of its health it [[TurnsRed goes berserk]] and has pretty much all its attacks do radius damage. Flame resistance helps a lot, but even then it can cut down all but the toughest tanks (who can at least rely on high stamina along with a good shield) in a couple of direct hits, and gives few opportunities to heal.
** Maneater is also very aggressive and fast, and in particular it has an [[ThatOneAttack incredibly annoying pounce attack]] that does heavy damage and can easily knock you off the thin ledge the majority of the arena is made up of (thankfully the centre of the arena is mostly safe from this problem, except you have to move past it to get there). Oh yeah, and [[DualBoss there are two]] who are both equally dangerous, although it is possible to wipe out the first one before the second becomes an issue. As a bonus, its understated introduction of demonic eyes approaching from the darkness is HighOctaneNightmareFuel.
** False King is another LightningBruiser type boss (notice a pattern?), who can unleash many quick combos and easily break the guard of all but the toughest fighters. He also has an instant kill attack that covers at least a third of the arena (although you can knock him out of it pretty easily), and is the only (computer controlled) enemy in the game with an attack that can LevelDrain you.

[[/folder]]

*** Part of the reason [[spoiler: Shadow Knaji]] is so hard is that he comes at a time when you don't have access to top notch Personae (unlike most of the harder late-game battles), but he still has abilities that are devastating in their own right: Unlike [[spoiler: Shadow Yukiko]], who's merely a harder than average WakeUpCallBoss, and fairly manageable for a seasoned player,[[spoiler: Shadow Knaji]] is powerful enough to quite easily beat any team with a lucky critical, or at least make it an extremely close battle.

* The Matador from ShinMegamiTenseiNocturne, shown in the picture above, defines the trope. Not only does he come basically out of nowhere, he is also much more powerful than the enemies you previously fought would suggest. His ability Red Capote will buff his evasion to the maximum, he has several powerful attacks that hit your whole party and he likes to remove buffs you cast on yourself. Your best bet to beat him is leveling to at least level 18 and filling your party with demons immune to the force element, as well as buffing your accuracy/evasion and debuffing his in every turn.
** Basically this boss is there to teach you that buffs are actually useful in this game.
** He's also there to be a sort of "pop quiz" regarding the Press Turn system. If you haven't yet figured out how to take advantage of it, Matador ''will'' kill you. Quickly.
** Actually, if you're REALLY patient, this battle can teach you that most bosses have finite MP, just like you. Fill your party with as many force-immune demons with healing spells as you can, then just pass every turn, healing as necessary. Eventually he'll run out of MP for his Red Capote, force magic, or really any magic at all. Then just debuff him, buff yourself, and pound him to dust. But alas, while this strategy can make him not feel like That One Boss anymore, [[MarathonBoss it can make him a pain in a different way.]]

** For the love of all that is sacred, ''Noah''. He only has ONE element that can ''affect'' him (not a weakness) at a time, which he changes ''every turn''. He can drain over 200 hp and mp from one of your party members, no questions asked. And while he only uses single-character spells for the first half, he hits the whole party for the second half. Argh.
*** Noah's actually not that bad once you figure out that the pattern of his elemental vulnerabilities never changes. Bring in a demon that can use multiple elemental spells (Atropos works really well here), and he goes down fairly quickly.

** While nowhere ''near'' as unforgiving as the previous examples, Daisojou deserves a mention here. His main attack drains both health and mana from its target, he can cast several instant death spells that hit the entire party, and he has access to the infamous Dragon Heart ability, which grants him extra press turns. Oh, and did I mention that when he gets low on health, he ''loves'' spamming those last two like no tomorrow?

** [[spoiler:Captain Jack]]. He shouldn't be that hard, theoretically, since he only has two attacks. Except those two attacks are: 1) an incredibly powerful gun-type attack that randomly hits your party members (thus it has a chance that it'll hit your MC ''four times''), and 2) a spell that heals him for ''1000 HP'' and removes all debuffs from him. He's not immune to getting charmed, but good luck making that stick to him. He also has two Pisaca demons with him, which can inflict the Bomb status on your characters. It basically means that if you get hit, you die.
*** And probably take the rest of the party with you.

* Camazotz from the first game, he comes back in the second game, but that rage skill of his means he gets almost six attaks per turn compared to your three. Add to the fact that he's fast and strong and he is a real pain to fight.
* Digital Devil Saga 1: The fucking Demi-Fiend. Starting off, he doesn't seem ''so'' bad, at least by BonusBoss standards: heavy damage, powerful allies, able to nullify any pesky buffing or debuffing you do. Of course, just as you start thinking you're doing well (read: killed two of his allies), he'll unleash Gaea Rage, a one-hit kill that deals 4+ digits of damage when your HP caps at 999. It takes a ridiculously specific strategy to counter this...and to add salt to the gaping bloody hole in your body, even with that strategy, you could STILL die, depending on your relationship with the random number god. If you didn't believe in luck before, you will.
** In fact, he's now considered the hardest JRPG boss ever.

* While he IS a FinalBoss, Great Father [[spoiler: Nyarlathotep]] in {{Persona 2}}: Innocent Sin is VISCIOUS. He gets ''five'' attacks on his turn, and can easily bring a prepared party to their knees. Unless you are at incredibly high levels, you are going to get destroyed. The only breather he gives is that sometimes he will switch over from attacking your hp to your sp. Use that time to deal as much damage as you can, because once he targets your hp again, ''every single effing turn will be spent healing''.

** The One Boss that no one's mentioned from P3 is the combo of Strength and Fortune, the October full moon bosses. Fortune can hit you hard with its attacks - which are random - and you can't even touch it until Strength's dead. Most of the other full moon bosses aren't that bad, but this is definitely That One Full Moon Boss.
*** The thing about the Strength and Fortune is that, as long as you are good at timing with the roulette wheel, you can constantly inflict damage and status effects on the boss. Hint: You can make the boss cast Fear on itself. The skill Ghastly Wail will instantly kill any Feared opponent without exception. Put two and two together...

*** They also gave us the World Balance from Tartarus. I swear to God that thing was adapting and strategizing on me. Beating it took me forever. And let's not forget the Nyx Avatar either. I just fought that for the first time and made it to the 13th of 14 forms before I got killed.

*** Of course, there is a certain combination of Personas and abilities early on that helps immensely. [[GuideDangIt No one tells you that, of course...]]
** If you thought [[spoiler: Shadow Yukiko]] was bad, [[spoiler: Shadow Mitsuo]] will make you cry. He takes way too long, is resistant against Physical skills, and constantly gives himself a buffer of 1400 additional hit points every few turns. To add insult to injury, while MissionControl suggests destroying it before it forms, it's pretty much impossible to destroy it before it reforms unless you are overleveled or really pile on the damage, which is not wise considering the lack of SP-restoring items.
*** The barrier takes three turns to build, [[spoiler:Shadow Mitsuo]] gets two attacks per turn. He'll spend one turn with Prayer (starts the barrier) and then generally use a strong attack. It's an AIRoulette if he'll spend his next turn finishing it (thus extending the battle into exhaustion rounds). Even if you get him to 0 HP, if he succeeds in making that barrier he won't die until it's down again. The barrier can be taken down while he's making it, but only if you pour on the damage, which will drain your MP (if it isn't already gone by then). Of course, every time you take the barrier down (even if it's fully constructed), he's knocked down as well. Free damage round!
**** He also has a hideous combo of attacks. He will attempt to put the Fear condition on the whole party, and then he will use a whole-party attack (so they won't take a hit for you) which kills Afraid foes. Sometimes, he will precede Fear with Stagnant Air, which raises the susceptibility of status ailments through the roof. Even worse, he becomes resistant to a certain element for a bit, and then ''gains an attack of that type, making him EVEN HARDER TO KILL!'' We're all agreed; we ''[[FinalFantasyVI hatehatehate]]'' [[spoiler:Shadow Mitsuo]]!
*** In addition to the above, [[spoiler:Shadow Mitsuo]] will consistently attack with a randomly-chosen, multi-target elemental spell while its barrier is down; if at least one character is weak to the element and is knocked down, it will immediately follow up with the party-wide Megidola that will almost certainly kill at least the weakened character, if not more. And in barrier mode, aside from a massively powerful physical attack, it can also use the party-wide Gigadyne and a "Bomb" attack that delivers medium damage AND inflicts Exhaustion status ([=SP=] drops with every action, like Poison does for [=HP=]) with 100% success rate if the attack hits. It's almost a relief when he uses the barrier form's ordinary physical attack (hits between 170-240 [=HP=] when you're likely in the mid-300s.)
** [[spoiler: Shadow Kanji?]] This boss has been known spawned some... rather [[ClusterFBomb colorful]] [[{{Angrish}} rants]] against certain things like his hugely powerful area attack, large amount of health, and, of course, that one son of a bitch strong man who constantly gives him buffers and health restorers.
** World Balance and the Sleeping Table also make a return to the horror and controller snapping frustration of gamers everywhere.

** [[spoiler:Kunino-sagiri, one of the ''three'' final bosses]] is a pain in the ass. He has a ridiculous amount of HP and can ''control your party members'' so they try to kill ''you'' if you're unlucky. The hard part is when he uses Quad Convergence, which powers up the strength of one element and makes the other ones do close to nothing if you attack him with it. He also ALWAYS uses Ma-Dyne spells, which hit the entire group. [[spoiler: Though that last one can, if you're willing to use up four Magic Mirrors and you get lucky, actually be turned in your favor and shorten the fight considerably. That supercharged Ma-dyne spell will bounce off your team and hit him ''four times'', depleting roughly a third of his life bar in one turn. He won't always do this, but it's ''so'' sweet when he does.]]

* From Last Bible, we have Mintaur (Effectively the THIRD boss in the game...), the Zodia/Mephist BossRush, and the fight with Vaerial before you get to Terra.

** And Belzeboul; oh god Beelzeboul. It says something when asked for advice another fan answered "dont try wait till the second play through" on gamespot, not to mention the damn fly status effects. Also he Drains physical attacks and has no weaknesses. Although he could be a WakeUpCallBoss due to how easy it was to beat him [[spoiler: during the larger battle with Babel.]]
** Right after Belzeboul comes Belberith, who is able to attack anyone on the field and regularly heals himself roughly 450 HP after each turn. On his own, he would be only somewhat obnoxious, but to even get close enough to attack him you have to activate two switches to lower a pair of platforms that reach the stage he is sitting on. All the while demons are being summoned from [=COMPs=] that were left on the ground, and the demons are capable of using Phantasma to warp around the field, blocking your way when you need to press the switches and cross the platforms to reach the boss. If you run out of MP and are unable to heal, the battle becomes unwinnable and you have no choice but to reset the game.

** And if you manage to brave Belial and go on to [[spoiler:Amane or Gin's]] route, the next day opens up with you taking on Jezebel, with your only solace being a free battle spot to grind on before battling her. Unlike Beldr, who only attacks once per turn (barring Extra Turns) and has some pretty weak attacks, or the vulnerable-to-ice Belial, Jezebel has ''no weaknesses''--in fact, ice, which you most likely used against Belial, is one of the elements she's resistant to. On top of that, the battlefield in front of her is covered in lava that inflicts fire damage to a character's team upon the end of a turn. And like Belial, Jezebel gets three attacks, and one of her spells is Judgment, which takes away 50% of all targets' HP, often cast on her first turn to make her follow-up attacks worse. Hooray for {{Rage Quit}}ting two bosses in a row!

* Maybe I just fail at ActionRPG, but the two ninjas Kuuya and Kohina gave me a real hard time. I really shouldn't use axes against them, they're freakin' fast. OTL I had to rely on my Guardian Beast (Loki) to finish them off for me...
** Thought it was hard? Just try breaking their weapons, it'll make you cry river of tears and pain.

**** He also has a hideous combo of attacks. He will attempt to put the Fear condition on the whole party, and then he will use a whole-party attack (so they won't take a hit for you) which does extra damage to Afraid foes. Sometimes, he will precede Fear with Stagnant Air, which raises the susceptibility of status ailments through the roof. Even worse, he becomes resistant to a certain element for a bit, and then ''gains an attack of that type, making him EVEN HARDER TO KILL!'' We're all agreed; we ''[[FinalFantasyVI hatehatehate]]'' [[spoiler:Shadow Mitsuo]]!

** For the love of all that is sacred, ''Noah''. He only has ONE element that can ''effect'' him (not a weakness) at a time, which he changes ''every turn''. He can drain over 200 hp and mp from one of your party members, no questions asked. And while he only uses single-character spells for the first half, he hits the whole party for the second half. Argh.

** In ''{{Persona 3}}: FES'', Atlus apparently decided to go back to its roots; like in ''Nocturne'', pretty much ''every'' boss is difficult to kill. The real offender, however, is the final boss in the sixth level dungeon of The Answer: The Conceited Maya and the Jotuns of Blood. The Maya has a large number of hit points and will absorb damage from physical attacks, meaning your party is restricted to its ElementalPowers. However, about three turns into the battle, it summons ''Jotuns of Blood,'' which are nearly as difficult to kill and are invulnerable to elemental attacks. Furthermore, they possess all of the high-level attacks (both single and multi-target) for the four main elements and will absolutely shred your party's weaknesses.

*Digital Devil Saga 1: Hito-Fucking-Shura. And to add salt to the gaping bloody hole in your body, even with the best planned strategy you could STILL die. If you didn't believe in luck before, believe me, you will after fighting Hitoshura.

*** It says something about how painful his elemental attacks are when his last phase consists of him just spamming an easy-to-recover-from Almighty attack.

*Really? REALLY??? No one? Alright, seven (technically) words for everyone: Digital Devil Saga 1, Hito-Fucking-Shura.
**And to add salt to the gaping bloody hole in your body, even with the best planned strategy you could STILL die. If you didn't believe in luck before, believe me, you will after fighting Hitoshura.