Breather Boss examples in the Super Mario Bros. franchise.
- The boss of World 6 of Super Mario Bros. 2 is Tryclyde, previously fought in World 2. The strategy to defeat it is exactly the same (by throwing mushroom blocks at it), and once again it goes down after three hits. The preceding boss (Clawgrip) is harder due to its rock throwing attack (and it has to be hit five times), and the following one is the difficult Final Boss (Wart). In Doki Doki Panic, the boss of World 5 is a souped-up rematch against Mouser, which still makes Tryclyde an example. In the Super Mario Advance remake, due to boss rearrangement, World 6 is guarded by Mouser instead (specifically the World 3 rematch from the original game, and there the boss is now the equally easy Robirdo); by this late point the second Mouser battle feels almost like a letdown.
- Iggy Koopa in Super Mario Bros. 3 comes after That One Boss Wendy, but uses the same tactics as Larry and Morton, the first two bosses, so he's much easier. Lemmy also falls under this, as while he uses a similar attack to Wendy, his bouncy balls can be safely jumped on, making them far less deadly than Wendy's rings.
- Super Mario 64 has the Big Bully and Chill Bully, which even look more like minibosses due to their lack of boss music or pre-battle dialogue. All Mario has to do is push them into lava and cold water respectively.
- Super Mario Galaxy has Topmaniac, who is already easy in the Battlerock Galaxy, then still just as easy in the Dreadnought Galaxy.
- Morton Koopa Jr. in New Super Mario Bros. Wii is an especially egregious example in that his second fight is this after his first one, which was a strong contender for That One Boss.
- In New Super Mario Bros. 2, Morton Koopa Jr. not only takes a long, long time to generate spike balls you can easily jump over, but you can just hit him the minute he appears/reappears from the pipe to not let him get to fire a single shot.
- Super Mario 3D World
- For being a boss in world 5, King Ka-thunk is, for a lack of a better word, a complete joke. His attacks have an obvious danger area making them painfully easy to dodge, and his arena shrinking did him no favors either as his movements are very limited as it is.
- Both Pom Pom battles in this game are way too easy as her shurikens are easy to dodge and her shadow clone is very obvious to tell apart, ironic since she was That One Boss in that game's predecessor.
- Super Mario Odyssey:
- Torkdrift is like this, with its first fight in the Wooded Kingdom being incredibly simple due to its slow attacks and minimal changes in attack pattern as the fight progresses. It does get a bit harder in the rematch though, thanks to the Pulse Beams placed in the arena along with it.
- The Broodals aren't difficult boss fights at all, especially not in their first battles early in the adventure. Their attacks are slow and easy to dodge, every move can be countered with a hat throw if timed correctly and once they're vulnerable they're very easy to hit. The same goes for their leader Madame Brood, whose refight in the Moon cavern area isn't really any harder than the first one back at Fossil Falls. RoboBrood, on the other hand...
- Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island has Salvo the Slime who, despite being the main boss of World 1, can't actually harm Yoshi directly, so he's easier than that world's miniboss. The World 1 Boss in the sequel, Gilbert the Gooey, follows in his footsteps. You can not only kill him in one hit with good aim, but it's actually harder to die against him than it is to win, due to the room design.
- The "Cloud 'N' Candy"
boss of Yoshi's Story is especially notable for being the most unintentionally pathetic boss ever, even by the standards of a game that, while not a pushover, is pretty easy outside of Self Imposed Challenges. Cloud 'N' Candy is rather large and hops around the level. Every time you lick it, anywhere at all, it shrinks and speeds up a bit, until it's gone. It's pretty easy to avoid, but don't worry if it gets a couple of hits in, because every lick heals Yoshi. - Mario & Luigi: Dream Team: The Fly Guys R you fight at the Blimport. They may be thieves you've had to chase across the island for the MacGuffin... but they're not really boss strength despite the fancy intro and Boss Battle Tune. No, they're just as strong as their equivalent mooks you've been slaughtering by the dozen when looking for the other pieces, and go down in about two minutes at most.
- Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga also has Popple in Chucklehuck Woods (the second time). Not Popple and someone else, just Popple on his own. And unlike in the other battles in which he comes with at least one strong team mate and can use combo attacks, in this fight he has to take on the two Mario Bros with all their items, special attacks and powers by himself. With fairly low health overall. He very quickly loses.
- Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam has the battle with Morton, Iggy and Lemmy, fought at the end of the Boss Rush with the other Koopalings. Compared to the dual battles against Roy & Wendy and Ludwig & Larry, these three have only one attack each, and successfully countering it renders the trio dazed, leaving them open for your most powerful attacks without retaliation. Of course, getting hit by any of these attacks results in instant death, but they aren't overly difficult to properly counter, and they also take a huge chunk of their Hit Points, making the overall battle more like a minigame.
