Line #49 Main/PostFinalBoss


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3	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
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6	->''Let me see if I get the grand scheme here, Benjamin Button. The jerries thought that if I purged all my souls, I wouldn't have my [=#LifeHack=], and at least one of you could kill me. So when the very fine people of the Nazi military, those KKK-looking sons-of-bitches, and Alexander '''Motherfucking''' Anderson couldn't do the job, you thought you -- ''you'' -- were the guy?''
7	-->-- '''Alucard''', speaking to '''Walter''', ''WebVideo/HellsingUltimateAbridged''
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9	The Post-Final Boss is a boss fight that cleans up the plot after you fight the real FinalBoss. They're more common in [=RPGs=] than other types of games, mainly because [=RPGs=] focus more on plot, but they can be found in any game that has a story. Handled well, it can be very cathartic, especially if the final boss was particularly difficult.
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11	Note that this is distinct from AntiClimaxBoss. An Anti-Climax Boss is a lot of build-up for no payoff; a boss that's meant to be challenging in theory, but misses the mark in practice. A Post-Final Boss is meant to be a brief spike in the action before all conflicts are properly resolved, and everything is summed up. For that reason, a Post-Final Boss will be comparatively easy to defeat. If handled poorly though, a Post-Final Boss can also be an Anti-Climax Boss, particularly if they are given an unnecessary amount of build-up.
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13	Sometimes, the Post-Final Boss fight occurs after the EvilPlan has been foiled, but TheVillainMustBePunished. Sometimes, the Post-Final Boss is actually ''much'' stronger than the final boss storywise, which prevents them from being defeated by conventional means and thus requiring a story-related intervention to defeat (which ends up making the battle much easier than the battle with the final boss gameplay-wise).
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15	See also PostFinalLevel, which is this concept applied to levels.
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17	As this is an EndingTrope, '''there are spoilers.''' You have been warned.
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19	Compare PostClimaxConfrontation, ClippedWingAngel, RivalFinalBoss, DragonTheirFeet. Contrast TrueFinalBoss, PreFinalBoss.
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21	!!Examples:
22	[[foldercontrol]]
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24	[[folder:Video Games]]
25	* At the end of the Alien campaign in ''VideoGame/AliensVsPredator2'', after a difficult battle against 2 Predators, the game ends with you fighting [[NonActionBigBad Dr. Eisenberg]], a human with a shotgun who goes down after one hit. [[{{Anticlimax}} Hilariously, you can lose this fight if you're not careful]], as shotguns hit hard and [[YouCanBarelyStand you likely will be at low health after fighting the Predators]].
26	* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': After the final fight against [[BigBad C]]'s [[DraconicAbomination Nidhogg]] form atop The Consortium's facility, [[spoiler:Ann is told to go through a procedure that will permanently sever her connection with [[EldritchLocation Hinterland]], followed by one last battle against [[EldritchAbomination Amok]] to seal her away]].
27	* After you defeat the final boss in ''VideoGame/ArmoredWarriors'', it utters its last words and explodes, leaving only its now-defenseless head behind. Then you can land the final blow.
28	* [[spoiler:Geldoblame]] in ''VideoGame/BatenKaitosEternalWingsAndTheLostOcean''. Despite its mountain of hit points, it barely hits at all, has no defensive capacities, and gets one-shotted by a [[LimitBreak Spirit Attack]]. That being said, it has a kickass battle theme that's only heard here.
29	* ''Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries'':
30	** ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamCity'' has ''Harley Quinn's Revenge'', a DLC set some time after the ending of the main game which deals with Harley's VillainousBreakdown after the game and [[spoiler:her attempt at revenge for the death of The Joker]]. Since this is [[VillainousHarlequin Harley Quinn]] we're talking about, she's not exactly that big of a threat and the DLC is more to wrap up loose ends.
31	** After defeating Bane in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'', you fight some groups of mooks until you get to the Joker, who goes down rather easily.
32	* ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'':
33	** In the first game, after destroying the [[spoiler:Jubileus, the creator]], the credits roll. [[spoiler:Unless you were expecting NoEnding, it's clear that there's more; it turns out these are fake credits, and Jeanne will show up at the end to remind Bayonetta that the statue used to summon Jubileus can't be allowed to crash back down to Earth, so you and her team up to tear it apart as one last action.]] Then during the credits [[spoiler:(the real ones)]], you'll also replay the original fight against Jeanne. You'll only have 30 seconds to do it, though, so her health and blocking/dodging abilities are incredibly stunted here.
34	** ''VideoGame/Bayonetta2'': After defeating the final boss [[spoiler:Loptr as Aesir]], Loki depowers him in a cutscene, and you get to wail on Loptr with near impunity before [[Franchise/KamenRider Rider Kicking]] him into oblivion with [[spoiler:Omne]].
35	* Possibly the [[UrExample earliest known example]]: In the original NES ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' and its remake, after killing Hitler/Master D/The Leader, you must escape the base (or in the remake, the Albatross airship). As you climb out of the soon to explode base, you face one last enemy standing in the way of your escape: the cyborg soldier who was a boss in earlier levels. Interestingly enough, there's nothing stopping you from just ignoring him and continuing your climb.
36	* In ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'', if you choose to fight Gehrman instead of allowing him to MercyKill you and free you from the Hunter's Dream, he gives you a suitably challenging fight for a final boss. After defeating him, [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination the Moon Presence]] descends and eats you, forcing you to take Gehrman's place as the new host of the Dream. However, if you have consumed three Thirds of Umbilical Cord, you've ascended to the level of a Great One yourself, [[NoSell and can resist its attempts]], so it's forced to actually fight you. Since it's a RealityWarper that [[UnskilledButStrong isn't built to fight its opponents physically]], it goes down without a hitch. It does have a dangerous, hard to avoid and damaging attack, but it just reduces your health to one hitpoint and cannot instantly kill you.]]
37	* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'':
38	** At the end of the final ''VideoGame/Borderlands1'' [=DLC=] (which is also the end of the ''Borderlands'' story proper), you fight a humongous Claptrap robot-fortress. After you blow that up, the 3-foot-tall Claptrap robot himself jumps out to fight you. He's pretty nimble and has a fairly damaging close-range hadoken move, but otherwise has relatively low health and damage output and is a pretty easy fight compared to the usual major boss battles in the game.
39	** ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' has two examples:
40	*** The final fight against Piston in the DLC Torgue's Campaign of Carnage is him riding the humongous tank: The Badassasaurus Rex. As soon as it goes down, Piston comes out to face you head on, but he's an absolute pushover in comparison to his tank.
41	*** After defeating Jackenstein, you're poised to fight Professor Nakayama, and [[AntiClimaxBoss then he defeats himself.]]
42	* ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'' has one. After stopping [[AIIsACrapshoot Arianna]]’s plan and successfully banishing [[MechanicalAbomination STORM]], Catie collapses and has to endure one last [[NightmareSequence nightmare battle]] with the Goddesses. Unlike the first two, though, this one isn’t [[HopelessBossFight hopeless]] – Catie has learned a new trick (Cast Handheart) that lets her flip the script and make the fight hopeless for ''them'' instead. However, this is subverted in that it is actually NOT the last battle- there is an entire Epilogue chapter ending in the TrueFinalBoss, [[GreaterScopeVillain Leigon]].
43	* ''[[VideoGame/ChroniclesOfInotiaChildrenOfCarnia The Chronicles of Inotia]] 4: Assasin of Berkel'': After successfully killing [[BigBadWannabe Alexander]] and having an epic BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind with [[EldritchAbomination Chaos Strider Moar]], you end up on a snowfield, fighting your way through polar bears till you reach your destination where the big reveal waits... then the game just ends on a cliffhanger until Elinia takes you to the post-game dungeon.
44	* The fight against the Lunar Dragon (somewhat inexplicably renamed the Time Devourer in the English localization) from ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' is an epic FinalBoss fight, spanning several locales and stages, and packing a lot of hard-hitting attacks and Elements. Afterwards, there's the fight against the ''real'' Time Devourer (the [[spoiler:Lavos]] one), who doesn't hit nearly as hard, and who is defeated by [[PuzzleBoss playing a song]].
45	* As part of ''VideoGame/{{Contact}}''[='=]s GainaxEnding, it's [[spoiler:Terry, the PlayerCharacter, who has finally gotten sick of you controlling him]]. You knock him out with little effort; in fact, [[ZeroEffortBoss he has no way to harm you at all]].
46	* ''Operation C'', the ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'' game for the original UsefulNotes/GameBoy, has you fight a giant robot guardian before confronting the alien leader. The alien leader itself is just a giant BrainInAJar with no form of defense whatsoever.
47	* ''VideoGame/Crysis3'': After the fight with [[spoiler:the Alpha Ceph]], which is very much a genuine challenge, [[spoiler:the True Ceph warship]], for all its buildup in-story, turns out to be this. [[spoiler:You hack into Archangel, line it up, and fire]]. There is so much time to aim that you have to deliberately refuse to fire to lose.
48	* In the NES version ''VideoGame/{{Crystalis}}'', after destroying Emperor Draygon, you have to destroy the Tower's central computer DYNA, which is much easier than Draygon. The Game Boy Color version reverses this as Draygon is fought after DYNA.
49	* In ''VideoGame/DarkForces'', you beat the final level's boss: the main general who's been the game's BigBad, though of course Darth Vader outranks him. He's got a suit that can do everything his Dark Trooper robots can, ''plus can shoot heat seeking missiles, up to ten at a time.'' How dead will he make you? ''Very.'' But once you get past him, you must get to a ship and escape. Guarding it? A single Imperial Officer. The weakest of the human enemies, with your standard blaster he goes down in one shot (Officers take one, Stormtroopers take two, Commandos take three.) He is the actual last enemy you will "fight." Of course, if you ''barely'' survived the BigBad on your [[VideoGameLives last life]], get taken out by ''this'' chump, and must [[ContinuingIsPainful retake the level from the beginning]], you will cry like a baby.
50	* In ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}'', [[BigBad Kage Mishima]] appears as a strong DuelBoss. In the portable version, he has two forms and can do a lot of damage to Hiro. [[spoiler:After the fight, Mikiko betrays Hiro and can be defeated in a couple of seconds on both versions.]]
51	* The last boss of ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' is Fallen King Allant below the Nexus. When you reach him, he's a pathetic [[BodyHorror swollen mess]] that can barely move or attack you with his undersized sword. It's just meant to showcase what Allant's corruption did to him and a warning to the player against choosing the evil ending. The powerful body double he uses beforehand is considered by many the actual FinalBoss.
52	%%* For ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', the ''Scholar of the First Sin'' edition puts Aldia as a boss fight right after the original final boss, Nashandra, if you did some specific actions beforehand. Downplayed in that he's no pushover.
53	* In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', the FinalBoss of ''The Ringed City'' expansion, which is intended to be played after the main game, is Slave Knight Gael, a LightningBruiser with mountains of HP and a devastating moveset who more than earns his title as the final enemy of the entire ''Dark Souls'' trilogy. However, after Gael is defeated, if you explore his enormous boss arena, you can find a ruined church where you can duel Shira, Knight of Filianore, a friendly NPC from earlier in the expansion who attacks you for breaking the spell of stasis on the city and thus dooming it to ruin. While she's quite tough as far as NPC duels go, she's still nothing compared to the apocalyptic battle with Gael, and the fight is meant more as a tragic denouement to your journey than a climactic battle.
54	* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsAdventuresRedguard'' gives us Nafaalilargus, a dragon. After defeating him, you move on to the final boss, who is a fat old man.
55	* ''VideoGame/EasternExorcist'' have Lu Yun-chuan's main campaign, which revolves around his quest to hunt down the Mandrill King, lord of demonkind and his story's BigBad. He does eventually face the Mandrill King in a difficult boss fight, but after it ends it turns out Lu's EvilFormerFriend, Zhang Huai-zhou, is the ''real'' traitor who sell him out in the prologue. And is the game's ''actual'' last boss.
56	* The [=PS3=] version of ''VideoGame/EternalSonata'' turns [[spoiler:Frederic]] into this by upgrading the previous battle from a rather easy battle against something close to a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere in the Xbox 360 version to a much harder fight to the death with the EvilOverlord. If you managed to beat him, the Post-Final Boss should be a walk in the park for you.
57	* [[spoiler:Lucien]] in ''VideoGame/FableII'', with [[spoiler:the Giant Shard]] serving as the actual final boss. [[spoiler:Lucien, despite being the main villain of the game, does nothing but talk.]]
58	* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':
59	** In the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' DLC ''Operation Anchorage'', you deal with Sibley and his band of Brotherhood Outcasts after defeating the [[MadeOfIron ultra-tough]] General Jingwei in the simulation. Since Sibley and his squad are each only about as powerful as a low- to mid-tier Enclave soldier, and you just looted a vault full of [[InfinityPlusOneSword T-51 Power Armor and Gauss Rifles,]] they don't put up much of a fight.
60	** In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', if the players take the House or Independent ending, they'll have to deal with General Oliver after dealing with Legate Lanius. Oliver himself is relatively weak, but is accompanied by [[EliteMooks NCR Veteran Rangers]] wielding Brush Guns (one of the best rifles of the game). Like Lanius, however, the player can choose to talk him into simply leaving. If not, you'll at least have your own Elite MechaMooks to back you up, and chances are you'll be tough enough to take them down yourself.
61	* Seen in the [=PC=] version of ''VideoGame/FarCry1''. In the final level, you fight (in order) the [[OneWingedAngel mutated, superpowered]] BigBad, then go through ThatOneLevel fighting several [[GiantMook Giant Mooks]] with rocket launchers and DemonicSpider snipers, then have to fight through a final gauntlet of EliteMooks, before you finally come to the final villain; a weak scientist armed with a submachine gun who goes down in one bullet.
62	* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder''
63	** The Orleans singularity climaxes with an amazingly grueling battle against [[AwesomeBosses/VideoGames Jeanne d'Arc Alter (Ruler)]], who has A) a class type that resists most attacks, B) incredible attack stats, C) excellent buffing skills, and D) two Evil Wyvern minions that she can empower along with herself using her skills... The Grail itself has to be won from her sidekick, [[ZeroEffortBoss Gilles de Rais (Caster)]], who has A) a class type with exactly one advantage, B) poor stats all around, C) only weak debuffing skills, and D) no minions at all.
64	** The Septem singularity follows your very first encounter with [[spoiler:a Demon Pillar]], an enemy with completely unknown class advantages/disadvantages due to its non-standard class type, with a battle against a fairly normal Saber, Altera.
65	** A lesser example comes at the very end of the first story arc in the form of [[spoiler:Human King Goetia]]. His health bar isn't as intimidating as it actually looks with bond-based damage bonuses for the chapter, his class is Caster [[spoiler:instead of Beast]], and if you've beaten the previous boss without any troubles he'll go down without much fuss.
66	** The Shimousa Pseudo-Singularity ends in a DuelBoss fight between your chapter ally Miyamoto Musashi versus the "Nameless Saber" [[spoiler:Sasaki Kojirou]] after the main duo of villains Caster of Limbo and [[spoiler:Avenger Amakusa]] have been defeated and their plans for timeline-destroying mayhem foiled. To drive it home, [[spoiler:Kojirou]] has health and stats closer to a boss fought from the Okeanos/London period of the game complete with only a single health bar and standard skills rather the multiple health bars and gimmick abilities of the previous major bosses of the sub-singularity.
67	** The final foe of the [[spoiler:Olympus]] Lostbelt is [[spoiler:Caenis]], and while they're nothing to sneeze at considering they're packing multiple health bars and various gimmicks, after the titanic battles with both [[spoiler:Lostbelt King Zeus]] and [[spoiler:Kirschtaria Wodime]], the latter of which can easily cause a TotalPartyKill, not to mention the other gimmick fights of the Lostbelt combined with increased difficulty she comes across as a fairly straightforward final battle. In-story, they're basically only fighting to wrap up the final bits of plot revelations as a final test of the heroes' resolve to soldier on [[spoiler:and as a tribute to Kirschtaria's memory]].
68	** [[spoiler:Tezcatlipoca]] is fought as the final boss of the Nahui Mictlan Lostbelt, which is mainly to wind things down for the player after [[spoiler:the intensely long multiphase battle against ORT]]. The main thing at stake isn't the world or the lives of everyone in a world, it's just the proof the protagonist can persevere and [[spoiler:earn their right to become a Master worthy of wielding Command Spells again.]]
69	* The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series has this in spades:
70	** The Meteor Parasite in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles''. Before you can deliver the final blow, you get whisked away to the FinalBoss. After beating the last boss, you get transported back to the parasite, who is still in critical condition, being at 1 HP and unable to fight back at all. All it takes is a single attack to finish it off.
71	** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', after defeating the trope-naming OneWingedAngel form of Sephiroth, Cloud's mind is invaded by Sephiroth's consciousness in a last-ditch effort on the villain's part. During the fight's intro, Cloud's LimitBreak meter fills up, and the game unlocks Omnislash for you even if you don't have it normally. If the player stands there and does nothing, Sephiroth hits Cloud with a [[PercentDamageAttack gravity-based move]], which Cloud counters, [[DevelopersForesight making the player win the fight anyways.]] What's more, Sephiroth has [[OneHitPointWonder only 1 HP]] at this point -- his FinalBoss form has 80,000 -- so he'll go down if you so much as breathe on him.
72	** After you fight [[spoiler:Braska's Final Aeon]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', you meet [[spoiler:Yu Yevon]] in a fight that is impossible to lose. While ''[=FF7=]'' stacked the deck by making your opponent weak, this game does the opposite and bestows infinite lives on your party. The only way to GameOver is if you deliberately inflict "Petrify" on all of your own characters.
73	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has several examples:
74	*** Lahabrea serves as this for the 2.0 ''A Realm Reborn'' storyline. You've just [[spoiler:defeated Gaius and the Ultima Weapon, a fight that, when it was new, was relatively difficult]], when Lahabrea shows up expecting to finish the job with you weakened. When you engage him, Hydaelyn blesses you with the power of the crystals, giving you constantly regenerating HP and increased damage, as well as Lahabrea having almost no mechanics aside from one [=AoE=] nuke and not doing enough damage otherwise to be a threat. For all you're told to beware him, he turns out to be tragically easy, coming out to maybe fifteen seconds of mindlessly dumping damage into a single enemy. Subverted as of patch 6.1 as part of the dungeon reworks for ''A Realm Reborn'', where Lahabrea was reworked into his own solo instance and is now a genuinely challenging boss fight where he manages to temporarily kill the Warrior of Light before being revived by Hydaelyn.
75	*** Rosalinde is an example specific to the Rogue/Ninja class quests for ''Heavensward''. She's the BigBad for those quests, but acts as more of a {{non action\|BigBad}} sort until the end of that storyline, with her [[TheDragon Dragon]] Redway being a much bigger threat to you. Rosalinde finally stands up to you on her own in the level 60 quest, after you've done enough damage to Redway that he [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere tries to escape]], which she reacts to by [[YouHaveFailedMe killing him on the spot]] - and then you're treated to a fight that is nearly identical to every other Marauder NPC you've fought across the game before then, with less health than Redway and no unique skills other than the use of the Holmgang skill to pin you in place for a few seconds. The fight against her ends up feeling less like a natural progression of the final fight and more like the writers throwing their hands up and tossing her into the fight for no real reason other than to tie up the loose ends the questline would leave if she survived.
76	*** ''Stormblood''[='=]s post-game has [[spoiler:Tsukuyomi]] serve this role, in comparison to Nidhogg at the end of ''Heavensward''. Whereas King Thordan was a ClimaxBoss but Nidhogg served as the proper FinalBoss, the fight against [[spoiler:Zenos as Shinryu]] definitively concludes ''Stormblood''[='=]s main story, with the next three patches' worth of story spent tying up loose ends. To some degree the same can be said of [[spoiler:Elidibus]] in ''Shadowbringers'', though ''Stormblood'' suffers from this more - Nidhogg was a threat all throughout ''Heavensward'' and [[spoiler:Elidibus]] at least has some setup as the next primary villain after [[spoiler:Emet Selch/Hades]] is dealt with, while in comparison [[spoiler:Tsukuyomi [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere comes out of absolutely nowhere]] as the amnesiac Yotsuyu very suddenly regains her memories and immediately goes off the deep end by channeling a Primal]].
77	*** In ''Endwalker'', [[spoiler:after defeating the Endsinger and saving Etheirys and the rest of the universe from oblivion, your old enemy Zenos challenges you to one final duel. While he has some difficult to dodge attacks, it's a relatively easy battle to win, as you are given multiple chances to freely revive; the fight is basically there to wrap up Zenos' character arc]].
78	* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
79	** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'' has Idunn, who is fought to activate the game's GoldenEnding. Though her stats are actually higher than those of the true BigBad, Zephiel, she is also weak to anti-dragon weapons, including the legendary weapons the player needs to have access to if they want to fight her to begin with. This means she can usually be brought down very quickly. Much of the level before you meet her is essentially telling you her story, portraying her as a TragicMonster who deserves to be free and had little to no role in being used for evil by Zephiel.
80	** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'': In the thirteenth and final chapter of Book IV, the ArcVillain, Freyja, is fought and defeated in the fourth part of the chapter. The fifth and final part is a battle against recurring antagonist Loki.
81	* The climax of ''VideoGame/{{Franken}}'' has the player defeat Eclypson, the God of the Moon that's been responsible for all of the recent destruction in your province out of envy at being unable to create life. Once he's defeated, however, it turns out he ''has'' created his first life using HumanResources, which is then fought in a less-dramatic fashion before the game ends.
82	* The effective FinalBoss of most ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}'' games is either a CoresAndTurretsBoss or an indestructible giant walker of some sort, as in the vast majority of games the Bacterian emperor (or whatever serves as a stand-in for it, such as Gofer from ''Gradius II'' or Original Visions of Ultimate Monster from ''Gradius Gaiden'') puts up little or no effort to guard itself. Doom from ''Salamander 2'' is a major exception.
83	* ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'':
84	** In the finale of Living World Season 1, the final boss is Scarlet Briar's Prime Hologram fought on the deck of the Breachmaker. Its defeat badly wounds Scarlet who flees into the ship itself. Chasing after her, a short fight ensues with Scarlet throwing grenades while lying prone on the ground, too injured to move.
85	** The climax of The Icebrood Saga is Dragonstorm, in which you battle the twin Elder Dragons, Jormag and Primordus, and their champions Ryland and Braham, in a gambit to lure the dragons into a MutualKill. It's followed by one last chapter, Champion's End, containing a relatively simple fight against Ryland, who refuses to stand down even after Jormag's destruction.
86	* In ''Heart of Ice'', the FisticuffsBoss fight with [[spoiler:The Watcher during a DyingDream]]. If you got at least 5 of the 6 artifacts, though, the TrueFinalBoss comes immediately afterwards.
87	* The Grand Prix races in ''VideoGame/JakXCombatRacing'' serve as the equivalent of bosses. After completing the Yellow Cup Grand Prix and earning the antidote you've been seeking the entire game, Mizo steals the antidote and drives off. You need to pursue and kill him to get the antidote back. Although Mizo's vehicle has more health than normal, this section is still easier than the preceding Grand Prix as Mizo's weapons do less damage than normal and there are no other competitors to worry about.
88	* After defeating Greg Nightmare in ''VideoGame/Killer7'', the following opponents are ZeroEffortBoss[=es=] that you simply point at and shoot, particularly the [[spoiler:Last Shot Smile, who is built up as the final Heaven Smile, but]] who is defeated by simply chasing him down a linear corridor until he's cornered and then firing away.
89	* ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'':
90	** ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters97'': If [[FinalBoss Orochi]] is defeated with [[TheHero Kyo Kusanagi]] while playing as Team Japan (Kyo, Benimaru and Daimon), then [[TheRival Iori Yagami]] will show up for a one-on-one duel with Kyo to tie up loose ends. Losing against Iori also doesn't count as a strike against the player.
91	** ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters99'': After defeating Krizalid with a standard team[[note]]Example: K', Maxima, Benimaru and Shingo[[/note]], the player will face either Kyo Kusanagi or Iori Yagami depending on the score the player achieves.
92	* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
93	** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'', the "real" FinalBoss is Xion, with her fight and subsequent destruction at the hands of Roxas fueling the emotional climax of the narrative. The fight with Riku afterwards is significantly easier and shorter since he has one form compared to Xion's four and is much less aggressive with his attack patterns. The confrontation is there mainly to tie the ending into the prologue of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''.
94	** The Armored Ventus Nightmare in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' has far less HP than Young Xehanort and is a bit easier to deal with. It only exists to resolve leftover damage caused by Xehanort's plans after they've been thwarted.
95	* This is seen in the post-credits sequence in ''VideoGame/LandsOfLore III''. After defeating Jakel and saving the Lands from destruction, your character has one last fight with EvilChancellor Lord Geron after you catch him trying to flee with the crown jewels. This is pretty well justified and a decent way to end the series, given that long-time fans have been waiting 3 games for the chance to shank that condescending, ObviouslyEvil DevilInPlainSight asshat.
96	* ''[[VideoGame/TrailsSeries The Legend of Heroes - Trails]]'':
97	** After two phases of the FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'', Cassius Bright ''finally'' shows up to deliver a BigDamnHeroes moment and weaken it. You then fight a third phase, where the boss has vastly lower HP and Defense, doesn't even attempt to fight back, and you start with all your [[LimitBreak S-Crafts]] fully charged. It's less of a fight and more of a playable CoupDeGraceCutscene.
98	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel:''
99	*** ''Cold Steel'' has a proper final boss fight against Loa Erebonius, which puts everything you've learned to the test. Subsequently, however, the story continues going and eventually pits the player against a string of three more bosses that largely serve to introduce the concept of [[UnexpectedGameplayChange Divine Knight combat]], as an early sample before its larger role in later titles. While not as difficult as Loa Erebonius, they're actually fairly challenging bosses for this trope, and the last is a HeadsIWinTailsYouLose that ends the story on a cliffhanger to set up the sequel.
100	*** ''Cold Steel II'' one-ups this by having two post-final ''chapters''. The "Finale" is the real conclusion of the main plotline and features a massive, ''five''-phase final boss battle, but it's not the end of the game. You then have the Divertissement, which is a brief AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent sequence, and the Epilogue, which features a repeatable PostFinalLevel and a reskinned version of Loa Erebonius as the endboss, which mostly serves as a free-play mode to use all the game's characters freely one final time.
101	* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
102	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': Calamity Ganon is more or less the actual final boss, the Dark Beast Ganon fight that follows is the denouement, since you're given an EleventhHourSuperpower that kills the boss in eight hits and he only has one attack, a WaveMotionGun BreathWeapon that can OneHitKill you, but isn't particularly difficult to avoid.
103	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' more or less follows in its predecessor's footprints, with the Demon Dragon fight being more of a cinematic spectacle the player happens to get to control rather than an actual fight. His weak spots are incredibly obvious and unguarded, his attacks are slow and easily dodged, and if the player hasn't grabbed the Master Sword in the main quest before this point, they will be given it at the start of this battle. It is ''somewhat'' more difficult than Dark Beast Ganon as the Demon Dragon's body is covered in health-draining Gloom, but for all intents and purposes, when the player defeats Demon King Ganondorf they have effectively beaten the game.
104	* The Negativatron of ''[[VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet LittleBigPlanet 2]]''. After destroying its final phase, you're dropped into the belly of the beast... where you only need to land on top of its heart to finish the fight.
105	* ''VideoGame/LiveALive'':
106	** In the Wild West Chapter, after defeating O. Dio with Sundown Kid, Mad Dog challenges him for an actual duel as he's promised earlier. [[spoiler: You can choose to flee instead of killing him; if you do so, he'll meet Sundown again after the credits and the two have a proper battle again which also isn't hard. After this, [[HereWeGoAgain Sundown shoots at O. Dio causing it to run away.]]]]
107	** At the end of the Final Chapter, after a long and difficult battle against the [[BigBad Odio, the Lord of Dark]], you either fight Odio's "true form" [[spoiler:(Oersted, the protagonist of the Middle Ages chapter, who gets no benefit from HealthDamageAsymmetry and goes down in a few hits)]], or spare Odio and end up fighting all the game's previous major bosses from the previous chapters (who have ''[[VillainForgotToLevelGrind not]]'' [[VillainForgotToLevelGrind leveled up in the interim]] and thus pose only a very minor threat). The remake changes this in the latter, where after the BossRush you move onto a TrueFinalBoss that serves as a bigger climax than the ones before it.
108	* ''VideoGame/{{Lunar}}'':
109	** The final battle against Zophar in ''VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue'' is a long, grueling, 3-phase fight that can take up to half an hour depending on your party's strength. After this fight, you must fight one more, extremely easy form, which has very low HP and a single attack that causes low damage.
110	** In ''[[VideoGame/LunarTheSilverStar Lunar: Silver Star Story]]'', after finally defeating Ghaleon for the last time, you still have to deal with an AxCrazy Althena. Just walking up the stairs to pick a fight with her gets you one-shot killed, and you have to play your ocarina to remind her who you are.
111	* In ''VideoGame/{{Manhunt}}'', after a tense cat-and-mouse battle against the monstrous, completely insane Piggsy, the Director himself is an overweight schmuck who takes a few potshots at you with a pistol as you chase him around and finally eviscerate him with a chainsaw.
112	* ''VideoGame/{{Majyuo}}'' have the player assuming the role of Abel, a HunterOfMonsters out to save his family from a powerful Demon King, by allowing himself to be transformed into various demonic forms and battling numerous enemies until the last stage. Abel has defeated the Demon King, the BigBad of the picture, but he still need to face one last boss - his daughter, Iria, who's been converted from human to a [[SuccubiAndIncubi succubi]].
113	* After beating the [[TheManBehindTheMan Elder Princess Shroob]] in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'', successfully repelling the Shroob invasion, and returning to the present, Elder Princess Shroob's remains merge with Bowser in a last-ditch attempt to kill the Mario Bros. and their younger counterparts. Interestingly, the player is given no turns to actually attack (or heal), and instead must damage the boss entirely with counter-attacks and DeadlyDodging; despite the gimmick (or perhaps because of it), this battle is still much easier than what preceded it.
114	* The last marauder you face ''VideoGame/MassEffect3''. After the long, difficult wave-based encounter where the game throws everything it has at you (including three of the one-hit-kill [[DemonicSpiders Banshees]] at once) that serves as the game's final boss, there's a story-based sequence where an injured Shepard, armed only with a pistol, has to fight through a few more enemies, who have greatly reduced health. The only way to lose is to just stand there and not fight back. Of course, this is followed by a [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath dialog boss fight]] against the game's main antagonist, so it's only post-final-boss if you're talking in terms of combat.
115	* ''Franchise/MegaMan'':
116	** ''VideoGame/MegaManZero3'': After you beat Omega, the Guardians paralyze him to make him use up the rest of his power. Then you can land the final blow with the Z-Saber.
117	** In the third ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'' game, after defeating Crimson Dragon for the first time, you're thrown into battle with it a second time. The catch is that you're permanently [[SuperMode Finalized]], cannot have your HP reduced below 1, and your [[LimitBreak Noise Force Big Bang]] is buffed to be a OneHitKill against it (with the caveat that nothing else can kill Crimson Dragon in that state: You HAVE to finish it with Red Gaia Eraser/Black End Galaxy).
118	* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' features a showdown after the final boss. Ocelot jumps on board the escape plane and challenges Snake to a duel with two revolvers, one with one bullet and one totally empty. No matter what, Snake and Ocelot are unhurt (either the bullet is a blank or [[DevelopersForesight you can miss on purpose]]), and the ending proper starts immediately afterwards.
119	* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' likes this trope:
120	** ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'': After a proper final battle against the SA-X, the expected EscapeSequence occurs and the player is given three minutes to navigate to Samus's gunship before [[ColonyDrop the space colony crashes into SR-388]]. Upon arriving at the docking bay, however, Samus is ambushed by an Omega Metroid that had gotten loose earlier and is nearly killed. After receiving an EleventhHourSuperpower by absorbing the SA-X, the player battles the Omega Metroid, which only has one attack and goes down quickly.
121	** ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'': The [[spoiler:Metroid Queen]] is the main final boss in terms of gameplay challenge, the subsequent confrontation with [[spoiler:Madeline Bergman]] is just a first-person sequence that ends the moment you [[spoiler:actually target her]], which causes a cutscene to play and lead into the ending. If the player doesn't know what they're actually supposed to do, the four unique EliteMooks (Desbrachian supersoldiers) acting as bodyguards may pose a challenge, but even they can still be knocked out of the way easily once you figure out the proper trick to them. However, there is a PlayableEpilogue afterwards with its own TrueFinalBoss, [[spoiler:Phantoon]].
122	** ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'': {{Downplayed\|Trope}}. The escape sequence after beating Mecha Ridley ends with you having to fight two [[EliteMooks Gray]] [[DemonicSpiders Space Pirates]] in order to unlock the door to the Ship Bay so you can escape. Said Space Pirates can actually easily kill you and force you to fight Mecha Ridley again.
123	* After you defeat [[spoiler:Porky Minch]] in ''VideoGame/Mother3'', he taunts you by telling you that his "son", the Masked Man [[spoiler:and Lucas' twin brother]] will finish the job for him. The battle itself isn't particularly difficult, requiring Lucas to heal himself several times, but it's easily the most emotional part of what's already an emotional game.
124	* ''VideoGame/NarutoShippudenUltimateNinjaStorm3'' has Naruto fighting the seven remaining Tailed Beasts -- {{Kaiju}}, in other words -- then Tobi, the man controlling them. Naruto is powered up for the Tailed Beasts, with fast movement and huge attack power. He retains that same overpowered state fighting Tobi, who is meant for normal head-to-head play. Even with the AI turned way up, Naruto can combo on Tobi for such ridiculous damage meant for the Tailed Beasts that the fight is pathetically short and easy by comparison.
125	* At the end of ''VideoGame/ObsCure Final Exam'', after defeating the FinalBoss, you face [[spoiler:Principal Friedman]]. He's just an ordinary human being and, other than having a lot of health and a decent dodge roll, [[ZeroEffortBoss fights more or less like a basic enemy.]] The fight is just a chance to beat him up for causing the whole mess.
126	* In ''VideoGame/{{OFF}}'', the Queen when you eventually fight her serves as the proper final boss and last challenge of the game. [[spoiler:After you kill her, you go on to kill Hugo, [[WouldHurtAChild a defenseless child]]. Then, you are given the choice between siding with either the [[VillainProtagonist Batter]] or the [[HeroAntagonist Judge]]. They are both significantly easier than the Queen.]]
127	* ''VideoGame/PeretEmHeruForThePrisoners'': If you allowed [[AnyoneCanDie one or more people to die]], then you will have to face their zombified form after finishing off the FinalBoss. All of them are individually weaker, with most of the danger lying in the fact that if you messed up one too many times, you will end up having to fight ''seven'' of them all in a row.
128	* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'':
129	** In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', after [[spoiler:the party defeats [[FinalBoss Nyx Avatar]]]], the protagonist ultimately faces the true form of [[spoiler:Nyx]] alone. It deals 4-digit damage every turn (in a game where the heroes can only have 3-digit HP), but ThePowerOfFriendship [[spoiler:grants the hero the Universe Arcana]], allowing the hero to continue fighting and eventually becoming outright immune to attack. All the player has to do is wait a few turns until they can use their only ability, [[spoiler:Great Seal]], which instantly ends the battle when used, [[spoiler:but at the expense of the hero having to sacrifice himself to do it]].
130	** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' ends the same way [[spoiler:in the True Ending]], wherein ThePowerOfFriendship allows [[spoiler:the protagonist's initial Persona, Izanagi, to transform into Izanagi-no-Okami (Great God Izanagi)]]. After a few turns of eating 999 damage spells that would instantly KO him in regular gameplay, the hero unleashes one final attack, [[spoiler:Myriad Truths, to wipe away all of the lies and deceit in humanity]], instantly ending the battle.
131	** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' operates similarly with its True Ending. [[spoiler:After the party defeats Yaldabaoth, it simply gets up again and floors the party with a powerful attack. Joker draws on ThePowerOfFriendship to stand back up and unleash his Persona, which evolves into the much larger and more powerful Satanael. Not only does it match Yaldabaoth in size, it completely nullifies Yaldaboath's retaliation. The final combat action in this game is to deliver the killing blow with Sinful Shell, which is the only action you can take.]]
132	** ''Persona 5 Royal'' has a Post-Final Boss at the end of its third trimester. [[spoiler:After defeating Maruki twice, he fuses with his Persona Adam Kadmon and attacks the party one more time. However, Adam Kadmon can't reduce anyone's HP below one, and Adam Kadmon's defense is so high that attacks will only do ScratchDamage to it. The player just needs to hold on for a few turns before the boss is automatically defeated. Right after that, there's one more battle between Joker and Maruki without their Personas, resulting in a CombatBreakdown to just punching each other as Maruki has a VillainousBreakdown.]]
133	** ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' uses a variant of the Post-Climax Boss seen in ''Persona 4''. If you drop the BigBad [[spoiler:Enlil's]] HP low enough, she will prevent you from battling and proceed to remove every direct combat member in your party, leaving the support Persona users and Hikari in the scene. Hikari will then [[spoiler:step in and confront Enlil alone, requiring you to use three support skills one by one from her to persuade Enlil with words, which seemingly have no effect. While after the first one Enlil just chastises her, for the next two she does absolutely nothing.]] Finally, the [[spoiler:[[BadassCrew Persona 3 male and female protagonists, Persona 4 protagonist and Joker]] reappear to answer Hikari's call and finish Enlil off with a single unison attack.]]
134	* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''
135	** In ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', after defeating the Champion, the player is thrown a parade to celebrate. However, at said parade, AZ, whom the player had encountered several times during their journey, requests a battle. This battle is significantly easier than the prior battle and the story will proceed regardless of the outcome. [[spoiler:After the battle, he finally lets go of the anger in his heart about what happened 3000 years ago. Suddenly, from the sky floats down a Floette — and AZ collapses to his knees and cries with happiness, having finally been reunited with his friend after so long.]]
136	** In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire]]'', TheRival May/Brendan serves this role, challenging you to a battle after the credits and being around 10 levels lower than the Champion. They ''do'' use a Mega Evolution, but it's likely to be so underleveled it's hardly a threat. Also, like the above AZ fight, you don't even gain exp for this battle and the story will proceed regardless of the outcome. The fight mostly exists to wrap-up the rival's character arc.
137	** After defeating the FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', [[OlympusMons Tapu Koko]] recognizes you as a WorthyOpponent and appears as your final encounter before the credits roll. You can catch it if you're so inclined, but the game will proceed regardless of the outcome (including simply running away). If not already caught, it will reappear right where it is any time after the credits roll.
138	** ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'':
139	*** After defeating the FinalBoss of the main story, the player has a [[CutsceneBoss Cutscene]] [[DuelBoss Duel]] MirrorBoss between the boxart legendary you have been traveling with and an aggressive member of its species that had been bullying it before the events of the game sent out by the last line of defense for a TimeMachine known as the Paradise Protection Protocol, which is scripted to be [[ForegoneVictory impossible to lose]]. The boss will always first use Taunt, followed up by a Giga Impact/Hyperbeam three turns later, with the player's legendary surviving the hit with one HP and getting a stat boost thanks to ThePowerOfFriendship (or the move Endure if you use it in the former case) before the player is encouraged (and eventually forced if eight turns have passed) to use a [[SuperMode Terastilized]] Dragon-type Tera Blast to end the battle.
140	*** In the DLC episode ''The Teal Mask'', after two very tough fights against [[spoiler:Kieran and Ogerpon]], the chronological final battle is a rematch with Carmine. Her team is noticably weaker than that of the previous human boss, with one less party member, lower levels, and (if done after beating the main story) no held items, and you're also required to use [[spoiler:the Ogerpon you just caught]], turning her into more of a punching bag than a legitimate challenge. [[DownplayedTrope Unlike prior examples in the series, however, the player's battle with her is both unscripted and required to win]].
141	*** In the Mochi Mayhem epilogue, [[spoiler:Pecharunt's battle is far easier and manageable than all the opponents you faced so far in the Indigo Disk, including the battle with the possessed Nemona]].
142	*** In terms of individual plotlines, Clavell is commonly seen as the true final boss of the Starfall Street plot. The subsequent boss, [[spoiler:Penny]], is much easier and works more as symbolic fight. It's GameplayAndStoryIntegration, since [[spoiler:Penny]] themselves admits that they stand no chance against the player.
143	* The final showdown with [[spoiler:Gates]] in ''VisualNovel/{{Policenauts}}'' simply has you firing a single shot at him, after the brutal fight with [[spoiler:[[TheDragon Redwood]]]] moments ago. [[spoiler:It's also a HopelessBossFight, as the recoil from the shot only ends up propelling Jonathan backwards due to the lack of gravity and Gates immediate retaliates by shooting Jonathan in the shoulders and arms.]]
144	* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheTwoThrones''. The Vizier is a very challenging final boss. The Dark Prince, on the other hand, is more of a moral challenge that the Prince defeats simply by walking away from the fight.
145	* In ''VideoGame/QuakeIV'', after the defeat of the Makron, your final opponent is the HiveMind's brain, whose only defenses are its [[MookMaker enemy spawns]], and whom can be taken out with a few BFG blasts.
146	* [[spoiler:The Biobliterator]] of ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal''. [[spoiler:You're given a Hovership to fight the thing, and even if it's destroyed, there's an extra Hovership you can get!]]
147	* ''VideoGame/Rayman3HoodlumHavoc'': Defeating final boss Reflux leaves BigBad Andre completely vulnerable. He ''flees'' from you. To defeat him, all you need to do is ''make a funny face'' at him.
148	* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' has a variant. After the final member of Dutch's gang is killed, the game makes a TimeSkip and the player can hunt down a corrupt former "ally". This mission is a side-mission, but the credits won't roll before it's completed, making it more of a PlayableEpilogue.
149	** This is repeated in [[VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2 the second]]; after the climactic battle and [[spoiler:Arthur’s]] death, there’s a TimeSkip and [[spoiler:you [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent switch to playing as John]]]], with the credits not rolling until you confront and kill TheMole.
150	* At the end of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'''s B scenario, after you destroy the [[TrueFinalBoss Tyrant T-103]] and escape the exploding lab via train, the ending cutscene is interrupted when G's [[BlobMonster final, most grotesque form]] slithers onboard. Fortunately, it's a [[ClippedWingAngel pushover]].
151	* After the final boss fight against the Pig Star's core in ''VideoGame/RocketKnightAdventures'', you evacuate the space station before it explodes. However, the last piece of the core isn't done with you. The final challenge is to dodge its last desperate attacks, waiting for it to burn up in atmospheric re-entry.
152	* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'': The worst ending, bordering on NoFinalBossForYou, does this. After a trip to [[spoiler:alternate dimensions where you deal with Pluto, a poisonous machine sent by God, and Kenji, an human-turned Energy Being who ruled over one of the alternate Tokyos]], the White appear again and make an offer while revealing their true intentions: [[spoiler:Use Pluto and Kenji, as well as their victims, to make Flynn pass the DespairEventHorizon and destroy the multiverse. If you accept, you beat up on a defenseless Magical Particle Accelerator until it breaks, causing a massive apocalypse. The proper final battle is Kenji, but the powerless Control Device is the last opponent of the route]].
153	* ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'': [[spoiler:The HopelessBossFight against the three knights]] after you've beaten the final Colossus. The kicker? [[spoiler:YOU are the Colossus]].
154	* This is seen in ''VideoGame/SilentHillDownpour''. [[spoiler:After defeating the giant "Wheelman" monster as the final boss, the game ends with Anne appearing and trying to murder you. She's a puny human armed with a pistol, while you're suddenly playing as The Bogeyman (who's at the same level of toughness as Pyramid Head was). Surprisingly, Anne still manages to put up a half-decent fight, although she has zero chance of actually killing you. So much so that intentionally letting her kill you earns you the secret Full Circle Reversal ending.]]
155	* All of the final targets in the ''VideoGame/SilentScope'' games, which you have to take down with [[OneBulletLeft your last bullet]].
156	* ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'':
157	** Most characters' Story Mode arcs culminate in a battle with Bloody Marie, the Skullgirl, in her three forms. After this fight in Squigly's story, though, one of Marie's Dragons named Double reveals that [[spoiler:she was responsible for the death of Squigly and her family]], and you fight her in the final match [[spoiler:alongside Filia]]. Double's AI is very strong, though, so the battle is not a pushover.
158	** Eliza's story mode goes one beyond this: after defeating Marie, Double appears again and reveals this time that [[spoiler:Eliza ''killed the Divine Trinity'', Double's masters, thousands of years before the game took place]] and you fight Double in a new area called [[WombLevel Gehenna]]. Then, after that, [[spoiler:Squigly and Filia]] mount a BigDamnHeroes attack on Eliza in her home, which you then fight as well. Then Eliza's ending plays, in which [[spoiler:TheBadGuyWins]].
159	* ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles''. Sonic and Tails' version of the game has multiple bosses back-to-back in the final level: the Death Ball, then Robotnik's Egg Mecha ([[SequentialBoss which has two stages]]), and finally Robotnik's glorified escape pod. The escape pod is by far the easiest of the bunch -- it doesn't attack at all, so the only challenge is timing your attacks so the rebound doesn't knock you off the crumbling platforms. Of course, if you're playing as Sonic and you have all the Chaos (or Super) Emeralds, then you face the TrueFinalBoss immediately afterwards, and it's no pushover.
160	* ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole'': The first phase of the final boss is [[spoiler:the New Kid's past self in their King Douchebag persona from the previous game, ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth'', accompanied by Clyde, Craig and Kyle (and, during the last phase, Butters), which is often considered the hardest boss in the game. The real final boss, present Cartman and Kyle using the former's Mitch Conner persona]], is more of a Post-Final Boss in comparison.
161	* In ''VideoGame/SpaceInvadersInfinityGene'', the sole enemy of the very final stage, "Back Mutation", is fought in the same reproduction of the original ''Space Invaders'' game played [[BookEnds at the very beginning]]. True to the series' roots, it's moving so fast that failing to LeadTheTarget will inevitably cause it to reach the bottom row and kill the player. Whether or not the player succeeds, the ending scene will roll.
162	* ''[[VideoGame/{{Spectrobes}} Spectrobes: Beyond The Portals]]'' has a simple, easy [[DuelBoss one-on-one sword fight]] with [[spoiler:Krux]] to wrap up the story.
163	* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' has this in ''A Shadow Falls''. Ryu fights Ken as the final opponent in ''A Shadow Falls'' after [[spoiler:Ryu kills M. Bison, and the credits roll. After Ken is defeated, Ryu's headband falls onto the ground, and Ken says that he feels like Ryu does not need it anymore, but Ryu grabs the headband back, saying that he still might need it, and Ryu and Ken fist-bump.]]
164	* In the NES version of ''VideoGame/{{Strider}}'', after defeating BigBad Matic, the final task is to destroy Yggdrasil, the main ZAIN computer, which is only slightly more difficult than the previous ZAIN machines.
165	* Done occasionally in the ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'' series:
166	** In the good and bad endings of ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'', you face [[spoiler:Jowy after defeating the True Beast Rune, which is the final boss in the normal ending.]] In the former ending, he's a PuzzleBoss. In the latter, he's a fairly easy DuelBoss.
167	** In ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'', if you recruit all of the Stars of Destiny, you unlock a new campaign after beating the game, which culiminates in a relatively easy DuelBoss against [[spoiler:Sasarai]].
168	** In ''VideoGame/SuikodenIV'', after defeating [[spoiler:the Giant Tree, you fight a duel with Troy during your escape from the final dungeon.]]
169	* ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}} 4: The Captain's Return'': The last enemy you face before the credits roll is the Widow, a nanomachine-enhanced Ryder piloted by [[spoiler:a psychotic clone of the main character's dead ex-girlfriend]]. It's not a pushover by any means, as it possesses powerful attacks and needs to be killed three times before it will stay dead, but it's easier than the four-stage battle against Admiral Kuushana's fleet that came right before it.
170	* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'':
171	** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Gaiden'': [[spoiler:Neo Granzon, much easier than Dark Brain, which had around a Million HP and 30% HP Regen]].
172	** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ Jigoku-hen'': [[spoiler:Shikuu, the pilot of the Shiseiten, appears after beating up [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann The Anti-Spiral King in the Grand Zamboa]], who is the FinalBoss of the game. Shikuu's fight isn't even a fight; you just need to survive four turns and the game is done (till ''Tengoku-hen'' at least).]]
173	* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'': Master Core's final phase is a plain orb. That just sits there waiting for you to attack it until it has built up enough knock back to hit a blast line. Just don't idle or it unleashes a decently hard-to-dodge desperation attack that causes a sudden OneHitKill. After which, it blows itself up.
174	* ''[[VideoGame/TalesSeries Tales of]]'':
175	** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'', [[spoiler:after defeating Richter, you fight a HopelessBossFight against Lloyd and Marta, followed by a DuelBoss against Ratatosk, which you don't even have to win.]] If you win that HopelessBossFight, you get the game's absolute ''[[EarnYourBadEnding worst]]'' ending for your trouble.
176	** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' has an interesting variation on it. The final boss has two phases that work traditionally, but if you have both Luke and Tear in your party, there is a third phase that works like this, in which you're immortal and free to just pummel the boss, before Luke instantly kills the boss with his [[LimitBreak Mystic Arte]] when Tear finishes her song.
177	* Hwoarang and Violet's (Lee Chaolan) final stages in ''VideoGame/Tekken4'' aren't against Heihachi Mishima. In Hwoarang's case, he fights Jin in the underground parking lot following Heihachi and in Violet's case, he reveals himself as Lee and beats Heihachi at the arena before Combot goes haywire and Lee fights it as his final boss. Kazuya also has a fight against Jin following Heihachi but this is more down to plot than tying up loose ends (as the fights at Hon-Maru are the canonical conclusion of ''Tekken 4'', albeit where Jin wins all of them).
178	* You face the ''real'' final boss of ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI'', the Giant Atlantean who is a legitimately difficult fight, at the beginning of the final stage and spend the rest of the level fleeing the pyramid before it collapses. About halfway through, you [[spoiler:run into Natla, who has since [[OneWingedAngel sprouted devil wings and is carrying a bomb launcher]], but even with the starting pistols, you'll take her down before she even manages an attack. If you happen to miss her sound bite, you'll probably assume she's just a regular enemy]].
179	* ''VideoGame/UrbanReign'': Once you get through with the last of the gangster bosses (a formidable swordmaster called Shinkai), it's time to confront the corrupt politician who's behind the current chaos. Although he uses a gun that can kill your character in one or two hits, it's easily dodged, and he'll go down with one hit. The whole mission only takes five seconds, so even if you fail, it's hardly a major effort to try again.
180	* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': The effective final boss of the No Mercy path is [[spoiler:Sans the skeleton]], as the two bosses following this one, [[spoiler:Asgore and Flowey, are [[CutsceneBoss killed automatically]]]].
181	* In the endings of ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' where you gun for him, [=LaCroix=] turns out to be an example of this after you've disposed of [[TheDragon The Sheriff]] as the FinalBoss. Whatever way it goes down, he's defeated [[CutsceneBoss with some dialogue and a cutscene]].
182	* ''VideoGame/WildArms2'' has [[spoiler:Lord Blazer]], fought after annihilating the main threat, the [[spoiler:Kuiper Belt]]. While [[spoiler:Lord Blazer]] himself is arguably a very large threat plot-wise, he is weak in battle, and the fight is scripted in that all you have to do to beat him is use a certain command multiple times.
183	* In ''VideoGame/WinBack: Covert Operations'', after you defeat your [[TheMole traitorous CO]], [[TheStarscream Cecile]] bursts into the room, but he can be [[CurbstompBattle curbstomped]] with the mounted machine guns once you get past the laser fences.
184	* In ''[[VideoGame/WingCommanderTheKilrathiSaga Wing Commander III]]'', after completing the final mission, which is basically a homage to the Trench Run in ''Film/ANewHope'', you come face to face with a quartet of heavy fighters before you can jump home and complete the game. Under normal circumstances, these might be a legit threat, but at this point, they spawn with no missiles and you are flying a ship that is pretty close to a game-breaker.
185	* ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'': The proper final boss in all endings is Eredin. In the bad ending, there is an additional boss fight against the Crone Weavess after.
186	* ''VideoGame/{{Wizard 101}}'':
187	** The game has a double version of this trope for the world of Avalon. In the second-to-last dungeon, the player fights the insanely powerful [[spoiler:Young Morganthe]], and the fight is then followed by the much easier fight with Sir Malory. The final dungeon is also easy compared to the second-to-last (although Pendragon is tough without any healing spells) and there is even a fairly easy DualBoss after him.
188	** A more extreme version can be found at the end of Empyrea part 2. [[spoiler:After defeating the insanely powerful Storm Titan (or rather just his weapon, which upon begin destroyed, severely weakens him [[WorfHadTheFlu further than he already was due to the Titanic Lullaby being sung by the primordial trees]]), who is practically impossible to defeat without a good team, strategy and setup, he ends up absorbing the Aethyr, the massive light and shadow magic-fueled storm surrounding Empyrea and transforms to become the even more powerful Aethyr Titan, who effortlessly defeats his parents, [[PhysicalGod primordials Grandfather Spider and Grandmother Raven.]] And yet, by absorbing the Paradox Essence produced by the fusion of Mellori's light essence and the Bat's shadow essence, you become the Divine Paradox, an even more powerful entity that is essentially invincible against it. Even when pushed to low health, the game system forces you to heal back to full health. What's more, your spells can be fired off instantly, don't need to be charged up, and you can't be stunned. [[AntiClimaxBoss Though some people find the final confrontation disappointing due to the fight supposedly needing to be at least somewhat difficult.]]]]
189	* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'': Urobolus, the post-final boss, is fought shorty after the party defeats Deus, who Fei confronts to rescue Elly and prove humanity's value to Krelian after his NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech.
190	* In ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} II'', [[spoiler:after a difficult two-round fight against the Patriarch, Jr. fights Albedo in a battle he can't lose]].
191	* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'':
192	** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' ends with a three-part battle against [[spoiler:Zanza]]. However, the third form is identical to the second, and is vastly easier due to Shulk acquiring the True Monado between the second and third forms. It is technically possible to lose this fight, but it's ''very'' hard to do so.
193	** The prequel DLC to ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'', ''Torna: The Golden Country'', [[spoiler:follows the regular final boss Malos with an unloseable fight against Gort, in which you only have Lora and her Blades, Jin and Haze, in the party.]]
194	* After a very lengthy MarathonBoss that was the final boss in all but name, ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'' ends with [[spoiler:Masato Arakawa, Ichiban's former master and adoptive brother figure]]. In contrast to the previous battle, this battle is a [[DuelBoss one-on-one]] [[FisticuffsBoss fistfight]] reminiscent of final battles from the previous games and is effectively just a victory lap against an enemy that you basically have to try to lose to.
195	* ''VideoGame/ZeiramZone'' ends with Iria finally confronting the powerful alien creature and intergalactic criminal known as Zeiram she had spent the entire game pursuing. After a lengthy boss battle, Iria finally defeats Zeiram, and it seems like the game's story could be wrapped... only for another quick level with Iria fighting a [[MirrorMatch digital doppelganger of herself]] in the next level. And then the game ends.
196	[[/folder]]
197
198	[[folder:Non-Video Game Examples]]
199	* ''Film/AquamanAndTheLostKingdom'': After the climactic fight with Black Manta and Evil Orm, [[spoiler:King Kordax breaks free from his icy prison. All Kordax gets to do afterwards is catch his trident before Aquaman one-shots him.]]
200	* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': Eren and the Source of Organic Matter plays this to themselves in the FinalBattle at Fort Salta, with Eren transforming into a [[KingMook modified Colossal Titan]] and the anomaly growing at a large size — all of which is a last-ditch effort for them to combine once again and continue the Rumbling. It only lasts for the penultimate chapter and the struggle took far less effort compared to 3 chapters dedicated to the Paradis/Marley alliance taking on Eren's earlier Founding Titan form with his army of Nine Titans. All of this is succeeded with Secretary Muller being ''the last'' figure to be antagonistic to the heroes, to which all it took for Armin to persuade him as the hero who took down Eren Yeager.
201	* ''Manga/BusoRenkin'': The last battle of the series takes place after the BigBad has been defeated, [[spoiler:and Kazuki cured of his Victorization, is Kazuki's rematch with Papillon]] to finally resolve their rivalry from the end of the first arc.
202	* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': The second campaign ends with one of these: after defeating the Nonagon, a world-threatening villain who has hijacked a century-old sentinent city, the Mighty Nein get attacked by Caleb's former teacher, the evil wizard Trent Ikithon. After the hard battle against the Nonagon, them soundly defeating Trent and clearing up the loose ends is quite cathartic.
203	* The final battle of ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' takes place after Batman defeats the Joker and has him facing his former ally Harvey Dent, who has gone mad with vengeance as the new villain Two-Face and wants to punish Gordon for failing to stop Rachel's death at the Joker's hands by [[RevengeByProxy going after his family]]. When Batman can't talk Harvey down, he's forced to tackle him off a ledge to stop him from killing Gordon's son, leading to the BittersweetEnding of the film.
204	* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': [[Characters/DragonBallFutureTrunks Future Trunks]] ends up searching for his timeline's [[Characters/DragonBallCell Cell]]. He's only there just to show Trunks doing clean-up and is absolutely not a threat to the much more experienced Trunks.
205	* The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure path ''Age of Worms'' ends with a battle against the worm-god Kyuss, an extremely difficult battle. Once the players have defeated him, the prince of the city of Alhaster challenges them to a duel for dominion of the city. However, he's four levels lower than the party should be at this point, and gives up rather quickly — he's basically just doing this so he can say that he didn't hand over the city without a fight, and sees himself as indebted to the party anyway.
206	* ''Fanfic/HalfLifeFullLifeConsequences'': The Freeman brothers defeat the explicitly-called-such Final Boss together, only for Gordon to be killed by the "next boss" in a SequelHook. In the Iction machinima, the two are represented as Wallace Breen, the BigBad of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' and the G-Man, respectively.
207	* The climax of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'' is the title characters versus the final Omnidroid. Afterwards is a short confrontation with Syndrome where Jack-Jack awakens his powers and Mr. Incredible throws a car at Syndrome, knocking Syndrome into his plane's turbine and blowing up both of them.
208	* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
209	** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'': Scolippi, who Mista encounters, debuts in a flashback that's shown after Giorno defeated Diavolo.
210	** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'': [[spoiler:Alternate Diego Brando]] is the last opponent Johnny must face to prevent him from using the Corpse to finish Valentine's work.
211	** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureJoJolion JoJolion]]'': The Radio Gaga is the final threat of the story, but its apperance takes place before the events of the series, which is shown after [[spoiler:Toru]] was killed.
212	* In ''Series/KamenRiderRevice'', BigBad Giff is defeated in episode 46, with four episodes to wrap up the plot around Ikki losing his memories. After Vice figures out that Ikki's memories will return if their contract is nullified and he dies, he intentionally pulls to get Ikki to defeat him, leading to bittersweet final battle between Ikki and Vice which neither is actually taking seriously and that's just a way for them to have fun one last time and say their goodbyes each other before the latter passes.
213	* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' after Kaguya and Black Zetsu are sealed away, Madara dies of his wound and Obito undergoes RedemptionEqualsDeath, Naruto has one final battle against Sasuke.
214	* In the third season of ''Anime/SailorMoon'', the BigBad is defeated two episodes before the season ends. The final episode has one more daimon for the Sailor Guardians (and Tuxedo Mask) to fight, but compared to the real villain, it is hardly a threat at all.
215	* Played with in ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'', as Negascott is fought by Scott before [[BigBad Gideon]] in the comics. In this film however, Negascott confronts regular Scott after Gideon's defeat and they prepare to duke it out... [[spoiler:And subverted when no actual battle occurs. Negascott and regular Scott are seen making plans for later on in the week and regular Scott mentions that Negascott's actually a pretty nice guy]].
216	* ''Film/WayOfTheDragon'' featured the iconic fight between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris. ''After'' Tang and Colt's climactic duel, Tang faces off very briefly against the Mafia boss in a short gun vs throwing dart bout before the boss is arrested and taken in.
217	* The majority of ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' animes include a duel between the protagonist and another good guy at the end, after the BigBad has been defeated, in order to tie up any loose ends the adventure left unsolved. What these duels share in common that they're friendly matches between good friends that are done to resolve the few issues left that weren't solved by defeating the BigBad and GreaterScopeVillain, with said issues depending on the anime/series.
218	* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
219	** [[Literature/AftermathEmpiresEnd Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax]] is the last threat the Empire had to offer, who organized what remaining forces he has on Jakku in a final battle against the Rebellion, now known as the New Republic. He was dangerous, but compared to the fearsome Sith like Vader and Palpatine, he was nothing.
220	** In the Original Trilogy the last named villain to die is the competent but unexceptional Admiral Firmus Piett, killed by an A-Wing crashing into his bridge shortly after the Dark Lords of the Sith had already fallen.
221	* In ''Film/AirForceOne'', after killing [[BigBad Korshunov]] and the remaining terrorists and the F-15s fending off enemy fighters, Marshall and the others attempt to escape the doomed plane, only for Gibbs to reveal himself as TheMole at the last minute, leading to a short fight where Marshall has to subdue Gibbs before finally escaping.
222	* ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'' has Mysterio as the very last antagonist in the entire ''Infinity Saga'', but compared to Thanos — the stakes are far less since its just one human being with convincing special effects that Spider-Man has to defeat, compared to a genocidal titan that took multiples armies and superpowered beings for him to finally go down.
223	* In the final episode ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', "[[Recap/TheOwlHouseS3E3WatchingAndDreaming Watching and Dreaming]]", features BigBad Emperor Belos defeated by Luz when she gains the remaining power of the Titan. Belos ends up suffering a VillainousBreakdown, both mentally and physically, when he realizes he's lost. His body starts melting in the boiling rain of the Demon Realm, [[VillainsWantMercy begging Luz to spare his life]]. At this point, Luz sees that Belos is beyond saving -- again, both [[BeyondRedemption mentally]] and [[PowerIncontinence physically]]. What's left of Belos is stomped on by Eda, King, and Raine before the plot moves into its DistantFinale. Even if they hadn't, it's clear that Belos was done for; his death scene was simply to tie up a loose end and ensure that the audience knows that he's been KilledOffForReal.
224	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' has a unique example. The unnamed monster that the Titans face is the last antagonist of the final season after the actual BigBad The Brain and his LegionOfDoom are defeated. However, the monster is different from the norm of your usual Post-Final Boss in that he's considerably more difficult to defeat and the episode ends on a cliffhanger with Beast Boy joining the fight against it with no actual resolution. Meanwhile, the Slade-bot is the personal last foe that Beast Boy faces.
225	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'': For the sixth season, ''Fast Forward'', Sh'Okanabo is the climactic BigBad the Turtles have to fight and defeat in the second-to-last episode of the season. After that, for the final actual episode of the season, Torbin Zixx, a less powerful foe than Sh'Okanabo, is the final Fast Forward rogue they confront. Ultimately, Zixx's story is wrapped up without the Turtles even having to fight him in a spectacular battle but instead, tricking him and getting him into serious trouble with an alien crime boss to completely wrap up the sixth season.
226	[[/folder]]

Context Main / PostFinalBoss