History Main / FightWoosh

* ''VideoGame/{{Valis}} II'' (UsefulNotes/PCEngine CD version): "Warning! A strong warrior, [boss name] is coming here!", accompanied by a klaxon.

* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', pretty well-known for excessive random encounters, has a whoosh sound when you're about to fight coupled with a random special effect, including the screen breaking into pieces or spinning around. Also, on the Dreamcast version, you could hear it load before a fight would take place, at which point you could open the menu, change a weapon and it would prevent the fight... for a while. The Fight Woosh was shortened in the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube remake along with battle loading times, and a reduction in random battles was thrown in for good measure.

* Due to its fully real-time battles, ''Project Franchise/DotHack'' and ''Franchise/DotHack Conglomerate'' games do not feature this. Instead, there's simply a warning sign where battle phase is taking place. In the second series, ''[[VideoGame/DotHackGU GU]]'', while not wooshing, a "wall" encircles the fight area and the characters pull their weapons out. Not the case in the first four games since their weapons are out all the time (and no wall either; running away from enemies is always a valid strategy, except in dungeons).

* In ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', the screen shatters into dozens of triangles before every fight. You can usually hear the UsefulNotes/PlayStation's laser move just before the actual woosh begins.

* ''VideoGame/{{Nightshade}}'': When encountering an enemy, we see the spinning Nightshade insignia.

** Each kind of common battle (Trainers, wild encounters on different terrain) has a whoosh variation based on whether they outlevel your lead Pok&eacutemon.

* In ''VideoGame/Haven2020'', the [[BonusBoss Beruberu]]'s appearance is preceded by [[RedSkyTakeWarning red skies]], tremors with increasing frequency, and screen tearing.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', when you get into a scripted or {{Random Encounter|s}}, the background goes black and your character's sprite transforms into the HeartSymbol that represents your SOUL and is pulled directly into the battle menu. There is one cutscene where this sequence gets interrupted and the expected battle does not ensue. Getting hit in a LaserHallway or by one of Undyne's spears is handled similarly, except that you go straight into and then out of the attack-dodging screen. The {{Random Encounter}}s also have a "!" balloon appear over your character's head with an alert sound, which is also featured as a generic reaction of surprise in many non-battle cutscenes; midway into a [[KillEmAll Genocide Run]], however, this exclamation mark is rather creepily replaced with a smiley face.

** ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope'' has several spinning semicircles over the still image of the party member colliding with the enemy.
** ''[[VideoGame/StarOceanIntegrityAndFaithlessness Integrity and Faithlessness]]'' notably averts it, merely displaying "start battle" or "preemptive attack", as your characters draw their weapons,

* The single most popular use of this trope is making the screen break like glass to reveal the battle scene. It's shown up in ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', among others.
** ''VideoGame/{{Golden Sun}}'' uses this in the fight against the final boss.
** ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} 2'' uses this brilliantly: after beating the BigBad, you're greeted with the usual post-battle results screen, without him changing forms or powering up...[[spoiler:except the characters listed in it aren't likely match and everyone is lv 99...at which point the results screen shatters with the usual battle transition effect and the second part of the fight begins.]]
** ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' (''Covenant'' and ''From the New World'') does that. The original game does a swirly-thing fight whoosh.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles'' uses this sort of woosh for boss battles. Being an action RPG, it doesn't have or need wooshes for random battles.
** ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'' uses this kind of woosh for its final boss.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', you can usually hear the UsefulNotes/PlayStation's laser move just before the actual woosh begins.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', this happens when you face off against the Musketeer trio. After three slashes appear across the screen, no less.
** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' parodies this in a cutscene involving [[ButtMonkey Zeke]]; when Rex tries to explain away Nia's "[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything one-eyed monster]]" statement, Mythra [[CameraAbuse slaps him into the screen]] hard enough to break it, whereupon the fight against Zeke begins in earnest.
----

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' is also famous for this, as anyone who skipped ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' (the first FF to do away with traditional random encounters) was caught off-guard by it.
* ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}''
** In ''VideoGame/EarthboundBeginnings'', all battles are cued with an IrisOut and a simultaneous black circle expanding from the middle.
** In ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'', regular battles are cued with an expanding circular swirl whose color depends on which directions both you and the enemy you make contact with are facing. If both parties are facing each other, or the battle is preceded by some dialogue, the swirl is bluish-gray, and the fight starts normally. If the enemy is facing away from you, the swirl is green, and your party gets a free turn. If you're facing away from your enemy, the swirl is red (with a different, negative jingle to boot), and your enemies get a free turn. Most boss battles are cued with a swirl shaped like a four-pointed star.
** The same mechanics apply in ''VideoGame/Mother3'', but the swirls are replaced with a series of dots (or squares, for boss battles) that fill the screen up outward.
* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' used this as well, with blue for normal, green if you got first hit, and red if the enemies did, although its prequel, ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII'', had no woosh and RandomEncounters took place on the field.
* ''VideoGame/BarkleyShutUpAndJamGaiden'' has this effect too (and chooses randomly between a bunch of different patterns). Green if you have the advantage, gray if neutral, and red if enemy gets you from behind.
* The ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' also has color-coded whooshes of the glass-shatter variety. Blue is a standard battle. Gold-yellow is a boss battle or other unavoidable fight. And as in ''Earthbound'', red is a battle where you've been ambushed, and green is for fights where you have a significant advantage at the start.
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'', the "glass" will receive extra cracks in it depending on the number of mobs you pulled before the fight starts.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'', the first one, only had a traditional spinning woosh. The shattering may have only started with the sixth-generation games (like ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Symphonia]]'').
** A rather quick one happens in ''{{Tales Of Graces}}'' where, due to the DynamicLoading, there's a very fast flash to the battle field followed by a quick wooshing sound.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'' has the screen get "slashed" from the top right and left corners of the screen leaving a large "X" gash over the screen. It's ColourCodedForYourConvenience of course. Yellow (normal battle) , blue (caught enemy from behind) red (ambush) and turquoise (caught enemy from behind while they were unaware).

* The reason for the jump scares over the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' old school woosh? A [=PS1=] game called ''VideoGame/BeyondTheBeyond'' used the zoom in woosh, as well, but the character remained visible, and the zoom never seemed to end (it continued to zoom in and out rapidly until the battle screen was loaded)! This resulted in seeing a rather ugly looking pixalated zoom in of the character at times. The sound was also a suddenly "PEAW!" sound that did decrease in volume, but the second you hear it, you also see a white flash while the screen is zooming in.

* All the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' games, as well as most other ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games. ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' employ an "advantage" system similar to ''Earthbound'' mentioned above, where if you attack the enemy's model on the dungeon map from behind you get a blue flash (after the fight woosh) with the words "Player Advantage" and a bonus round, while if the enemy gets you from behind there's a red flash and "Enemy Advantage." There's no flash after the transition in the case of neither side having an advantage.

* The single most popular use of this trope is making the screen break like glass to reveal the battle scene. It's shown up in ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', among others.
** ''VideoGame/{{Golden Sun}}'' uses this in the fight against the final boss.
** ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} 2'' uses this brilliantly: after beating the BigBad, you're greeted with the usual post-battle results screen, without him changing forms or powering up...[[spoiler:except the characters listed in it aren't likely match and everyone is lv 99...at which point the results screen shatters with the usual battle transition effect and the second part of the fight begins.]]
** ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' (''Covenant'' and ''From the New World'') does that. The original game does a swirly-thing fight whoosh.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles'' uses this sort of woosh for boss battles. Being an action RPG, it doesn't have or need wooshes for random battles.
** ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'' uses this kind of woosh for its final boss.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', you can usually hear the UsefulNotes/PlayStation's laser move just before the actual woosh begins.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', this happens when you face off against the Musketeer trio. After three slashes appear across the screen, no less.
** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' parodies this in a cutscene involving [[ButtMonkey Zeke]]; when Rex tries to explain away Nia's "[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything one-eyed monster]]" statement, Mythra [[CameraAbuse slaps him into the screen]] hard enough to break it, whereupon the fight against Zeke begins in earnest.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'' had a reeeeeally looooong fight woosh, but it wasn't so bad, because random encounters were less frequent than in, say, ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games. You probably know how close you are to a fight by the marker over Dart's head. If it's red when you first enter an area, then you have to collide with enemies on screen to fight. This is always so in places like [[spoiler:Hellena Prision or The Black Castle]]
* ''VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy'' has a very quick fight whoosh, and usually shows the enemy and your familiar teleport into the battle field.
* ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'' changes the colors of the scenery to various shades of gray and an echoing heartbeat plays when you find enemies. In the sequel, only one heartbeat is heard and the color change is instant.
* In ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', after you tap Noise symbols to initiate a battle, your {{Player Character}}s' sprites will warp away (up for Neku and down for his partner in the DS version, or both vanishing in a swirl for the single-screen remakes). The Secret Reports reveal that this, of all tropes, is ''{{justified|Trope}}'' -- battles take place in an alternate plane of existence, dubbed the "Noise dimension".
* ''VideoGame/WildArms4'' and ''[[VideoGame/WildARMs5 5]]'', which take place on a hex "playing field", have the screen break into mini-hexes which then flip themselves around to form the battlefield. There are several different animations depending on what sort of battle it is (normal, surprise attack, boss, special boss).
* Inverted in ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''. Almost every fight takes place in the same area where you first ran into the enemy. There is, however, a fight woosh at the ''end'' of most event battles, especially boss fights, often followed by a cutscene.
** Played straight in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'' and ''Re:Chain of Memories'', as the special fight zones are needed for cards to only be used then and there. Unsurprisngly, the fight woosh features the heart from the logo flashing on screen.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLastRemnant'', there is a pretty energy-like Fight Woosh when you collide with a hostile. Unlike most {{RPG}}s, in this game, you have a button dedicated to starting a battle (complete with awesome pose), and when you enter a battle this way the playing field is even, and the Fight Woosh is a nice blue-white colour. If you allow the enemy to charge at you, your character cowers slightly and the Fight Woosh becomes a red-orange colour, and the enemy gets an advantage. Finally, boss battles begin with the screen dividing into several dozen little cubes that fly toward the screen.
* The ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi RPG'' series transitions to the battles with a polygonal star. It also accompanies them with quips:
--> '''Mario:''' "Let's-a go!"\\

** The quips changed if Mario or Luigi got hit from behind or jumped on a spiked enemy:
--->Mario or Luigi: Oh no!
** And if Luigi was by himself:
--->Mama mia...\\

** In the third game:
---> '''Bowser:''' "Showtime!"
** The fourth game lost the quips, but now there's five pictures used for the transaction: the star for when neither side has the upper hand, a hammer or a shoe for when Mario and Luigi hits an enemy in the overworld using a hammer or a jump, respectively, an exclamation mark for when the enemy manages to get the upper hand, and a picture of an angry starburst for boss fights.
*** And for the last boss fight, there's a sixth; [[spoiler:the iconic silhouette of Bowser's face.]]
* Averted in ''VideoGame/RogueGalaxy'', where the beginning of battle is simply a flashing warning message, and the battle occurs on the field map in realtime. Boss battles tend to be a bit whooshy sometimes, however.
* ''VideoGame/PaperMario:'' ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'' had a star-shaped iris centering and closing in on Mario and the enemy, then the battle screen fades in afterwards, while ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' had a stage curtain drop when a battle started, then raise to reveal the battle on a literal stage. The background elements were themed on the location where the battle was started, and in ''The Thousand-Year Door'', these elements could randomly fall over, hurting Mario and his partner, the enemies, everyone on stage, or nobody, depending on the prop's size. This was the same for every battle, though it had overlay text if you attacked the enemy on the field ("You got the First Strike!", followed by an extra attack on the enemy when battle started) or if an enemy hit you first ("The enemy struck first!"); the two First Strike messages are complimented by a burst of introduction music in the former. ''Super Paper Mario'' didn't have Fight Wooshes, as all the battles (except one) were platformer-style.
* Due to its fully real-time battles, ''Project Franchise/DotHack'' and ''Franchise/DotHack Conglomerate'' games do not feature this. Instead, there's simply a warning sign where battle phase is taking place. In the second series, ''[[VideoGame/DotHackGU GU]]'', while not wooshing, a "wall" encircles the fight area and the characters pull their weapons out. Not the case in the first four games since their weapons are out all the time (and no wall either; running away from enemies is always a valid strategy, except in dungeons).
* In ''VideoGame/OkageShadowKing'', upon entering battle, the screen will blur and swirl, before fading into a battle sequence.
* In ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier'', the music stops abruptly and there's an almost sub-audible "CRASH!" as bits of glass rain down the screen.
** That was just for bosses. Normal battles have a Final Fantasy-style zoom-in accompanied by blue motion lines and a "SHOOP!" sound effect.
* ''VideoGame/ResonanceOfFate'' transitions from the map to random battles with several gunshot effects making bullet holes appear in the screen. This is more obviously a disguised loading screen than some because the number of shots can be different. Dungeon battles don't do this since you move into a new area to start each fight.
* ''The Chosen: Well Of Souls'' transitions from a map to a side view with background (each opponent starts on one side of the screen) in combat.
* ''VideoGame/PanzerDragoon Saga'' uses a fairly simplistic FadeToWhite whenever a battle triggers with some teensy possible changes. Normal random encounters cause the flight in progress to freeze in place when the fade occurs; cutscenes which precede a boss fight continue moving as the fade occurs.
* In ''VideoGame/LegacyOfTheWizard'' for the NES, the screen starts scrolling wildly when entering or exiting a BossBattle.
* ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsTheThirdAge'' had level specific fight wooshes where something would obscure the screen accompanied by a monstrous shriek. For example, the first area, a forest, would have leaves gather up from the ground and cover the screen. They would then fall away and reveal the battle at hand.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission'' did this with screen blurring and a screeching guitar chord.
* In the EdutainmentGame ''VideoGame/SlimeForestAdventure'', a closeup of a slime momentarily blocks the screen.
* ''VideoGame/MSSagaANewDawn'' has the screen break into squares that fall away. They're color-coded for Random Encounter, Pre-Existing Encounter, or Boss Fight.
* ''VideoGame/SailorMoonAnotherStory'' for the SNES has a voice saying "Make Up" (the universal call for a Sailor Soldier to transform), and then for a large crescent moon zoom out as a fade to black effect before entering the battle scene. The make up line is somewhat justified, as sometimes the Sailors are on the field in their civilian form in the game when a battle occurs, so you would think they'd have to transform to be able to fight. Plus, it IS one of the most recognizable phrases in ''Franchise/SailorMoon,'' so it's somewhat of fanservice, too.
* ''VideoGame/AVeryLongRopeToTheTopOfTheSky'': When entering a battle, there is a exploding swirly blackness that fills the screen and then transitions into a swirly distortion of the area map which also has a heat-haze effect.

* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' has a quick transition to a battle screen, with the protagonists and enemy moving to the left and right sides of the screen respectively. All bosses and most minibosses will mostly avert this by still showing the area rather than the battle screen, with the characters already being on the left and right sides, but will still play a sound effect and use the party's animations as they transition into battle.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'', every single fight starts with this: a crude monster face appears and zooms at the player each time. [[spoiler:After the Dark Lord is defeated, the symbol of the Dark Curse will be used instead of the monster face.]]

* In ''VideoGame/Haven2020'', the [[BonusBoss Beruberu]]'s appearance is preceded by [[RedSkyTakeWarning red skies]], tremors with increasing frequency, and screen tearing.
* ''VideoGame/TheOtherRosiesRoadOfLove'': Zoom out a little bit, screen flash white, and then zoom in on contact point between party and enemy, while fading to back before unfading to battle screen.

Graphic effect where you hit a [[RandomEncounters Random Encounter]] and the screen flashes, breaks, or [[IdiosyncraticWipe does another psychedelic transition]] before revealing a generic backdrop (usually themed according to the environment) upon which the actual fighting takes place. At the same time, the area's background music, whether it's the background music of the player's current location or the {{Leitmotif}} of the character the player is battling, abruptly stops while the BattleThemeMusic kicks in. From time to time, the leitmotif of the character the player is fighting will serve as the battle theme music.

Graphic effect where you hit a [[RandomEncounters Random Encounter]] and the screen flashes, breaks, or [[IdiosyncraticWipe does another psychedelic transition]] before revealing a generic backdrop (usually themed according to the environment) upon which the actual fighting takes place. At the same time, the area's background music, whether it's the background music of the player's current location or the {{Leitmotif}} of the character the player is battling, abruptly stops while the BattleThemeMusic kicks in.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' has a particularly cool fight woosh: The character will lock blades (or fists) with the enemy and the screen fades to black while streams of light that match up to specific elements (lights in the background, weapon glints, the metallic bodies of enemies) streak by.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' have different Fight Wooshes for the different legendaries: Reshiram and Zekrom just have the screen pause and fade to black, Kyurem has some energy balls swirl into the center, the Raijin trio has a beam shoot across the screen and an energy swirl expands from the center, and the Musketeer trio have a sword that slashes across the screen a few times before it "shatters" and falls away to reveal the battle screen a la ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', with that particular FightWoosh being the current page image.

Graphic effect where you hit a [[RandomEncounters Random Encounter]] and the screen flashes, breaks, or [[IdiosyncraticWipe does another psychedelic transition]] before revealing a generic backdrop (usually themed according to the environment) upon which the actual fighting takes place. At the same time, the area's background music abruptly stops while the BattleThemeMusic kicks in.

* ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' had an star-shaped iris close in on Mario and the enemy, with the battle screen fading in afterwards, while ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' had a stage curtain drop when a battle started, then raise to reveal the battle on a literal stage. The background elements were themed on the location where the battle was started, and in ''The Thousand-Year Door'', these elements could randomly fall over, hurting Mario and his partner, the enemies, everyone on stage, or nobody, depending on the prop's size. This was the same for every battle, though it had overlay text if you attacked the enemy on the field ("You got the First Strike!", followed by an extra attack on the enemy when battle started) or if an enemy hit you first ("The enemy struck first!"); the two First Strike messages are complimented by a burst of introduction music in the former. ''Super Paper Mario'' didn't have Fight Wooshes, as all the battles (except one) were platformer-style.

* ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}''

** In ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'', regular battles are cued with an expanding circular swirl whose color depends on which directions both you and the enemy you make contact with are facing. If both parties are facing each other, or the battle is preceded by some dialogue, the swirl is bluish-gray, and the fight starts normally. If the enemy is facing away from you, the swirl is green, and your party gets a free turn. If you're facing away from your enemy, the swirl is red (with a different, negative jingle to boot), and your enemies get a free turn. Most boss battles are cued with a swirl shaped like a four-pointed star.

* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' had a stage curtain drop when a battle started, then raise to reveal the battle on a literal stage. The background elements were themed on the location where the battle was started, and in ''The Thousand-Year Door'', these elements could randomly fall over, hurting Mario and his partner, the enemies, everyone on stage, or nobody, depending on the prop's size. This was the same for every battle, though it had overlay text if you attacked the enemy on the field ("You got the First Strike!", followed by an extra attack on the enemy when battle started) or if an enemy hit you first ("The enemy struck first!"); the two First Strike messages are complimented by a burst of introduction music. ''Super Paper Mario'' didn't have Fight Wooshes, as all the battles (except one) were platformer-style.

* Mocked in [[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/0005.html this]] ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}!'' strip.

* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' has a quick transition to a battle screen, with the protagonists and enemy moving to the left and right sides of the screen respectively.

--> '''Mario:''' "Let's-a go!"
--> '''Luigi:''' "Okey-dokey!"

-->Mario or Luigi: Oh no!

-->Mama mia...
-->Luigi!

--> '''Bowser:''' "Showtime!"