By no means does the boss have to be a water creature, but that is usually the case.
Compare Shaky P.O.V. Cam and Mouth Cam.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Action Adventure
- Enslaved: Odyssey to the West features a sequence or two where Trip and Monkey have to flee from a dog (a 15-foot-long, four-legged killing machine). In the Pigsy's Perfect 10 DLC, Pigsy has to do this as well, but from the dog's perspective, complete with robo-vision.
- Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb has this in a level where Indy is chased by a Drill Tank.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time shows this with Morpha, the boss of the Water Temple. Played with a bit, since the boss actually is the water.
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: As soon as Link falls onto the Boss Room of the Great Bay Temple, Gyorg detects his presence, and we see from its eyes that it begins approaching the area where Link is, and then makes a big leap to jump over the solid center where the young hero is. Cue Boss Subtitles and the start of the battle.
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass: Crayk, the boss of the Temple of Courage, makes this a mechanic. Crayk is invisible, so you have to utilize its viewpoint on the top screen (provided by Celia) to determine its location and hit it in the eye with an arrow.
- Monster Hunter:
- The first time you fight the sea wyvern Plesioth in any of the games, you see it stalk your character in this way. Furthermore, when you beat it in the original game, you unlock a cinematic of Plesioth stalking and eating an herbivore in the all-too-familiar Jaws style.
- In Monster Hunter: World, Great Jagras, Paolumu, and Odogaron are introduced this way.
- Prince of Persia (2008): During the final boss battle, you never see Ahriman directly, only a deep darkness. Once the Prince and Elika start hopping around on the walls, the view comes from Ahriman's eyes, complete with monochromatic color scheme, visual effects, and Ahriman's giant hand smashing the walls. The only time during the battle you can actually see the Boss is when you jump into his mouth and explode him with healing from inside.
- Prince of Persia 3D: A sewer monster is introduced this way, although since the game was shipped unfinished, at first one might assume the camera is freaking out.
- Psychonauts:
- One underwater sequence is played from the perspective of the sea monster. You still control Raz, but from Linda's vantage point — giving the strange sensation of being both hunter and hunted.
- Used as a gameplay mechanic with the Clairvoyance power, especially in the fight with the Den Mother; half way through the fight, she puts out the lights because 'I can see in the dark'. You have to use Clairvoyance to see through her eyes in order to carry on fighting. If that's too confusing, her eyes glow, so if you've got a good monitor, you can follow the red specks instead, at which point the boss fight doesn't follow the trope anymore.
- The seventh Colossus in Shadow of the Colossus.
- Shadowman: Your first introduction to Baba Yaga in the second game has the game switching to her red tinted POV before giving you back control. Because she stalks you throughout the level, it happens before you know what to expect.
Beat'Em Up
- The first boss in Battle Toads operates the same way. The toads cringe in horror at the sight of the boss. The perspective then switches to the boss' view of the fight — you never actually see what it looks like outside of a leg or two.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time: The first fight against Shredder in the home versions. You can win only by throwing random Mooks at the screen, a move which didn't seem to have much of a point in the original arcade game.
Driving game
- One mission in Driver: San Francisco is notable because the player’s car is seen from the perspective of another car tailing yours.
Platformer
- Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal has a boss fight with a giant Tyhrranoid monster, which has a cannon strapped to its back, and before the fight begins and between the two phases of the battle, you see the battle from the viewpoint of the monster's aim.
- In Rayman 2: The Great Escape: In one scene, you control Rayman as he slides down an icy path, just ahead of a monster (the Guardian of the Cave of Bad Dreams) trying to capture and chew on him alive. The camera viewpoint is from within the Guardian's mouth, complete with saliva-dripping teeth.
- Super Mario Galaxy: Kingfin, a giant shark-like Fishbone, provides the page image, though that perspective only lasts a few seconds as the boss fight begins.
- Viewtiful Joe: Gran Bruce is presented as a dim-witted Australian Jaws, right down to his theme music and his name (the same as the nickname of the shark prop from Jaws).
- On a bonus note, during the credits, you see "movie posters" of each episode. The one for Gran Bruce's stage looks like the Jaws 2 poster, with Sylvia water skiing and Gran Bruce coming out of the water.
Role Playing Game
- Final Fantasy X: Occurs near the beginning. We catch a view of Tidus swimming in a small pool before he's attacked by a trio of Sahagins, a battle which is interrupted by the Geosgaeno boss. It's unclear whether it was the perspective of the Sahagins or Geosgaeno, but the trope is still there in full force.
- Final Fantasy XII: This is done at Jahara with Larsa, of all people.
- The cannibals at the inn in the forest near that town you crash in in Jade Empire.
- Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep: The secret episode has the player fight a giant Heartless that switches to its perspective as it sneaks up on Aqua.
- Pokémon Sun and Moon uses this during Sophocles's trial to show the Totem Pokémon approaching.
- Xenogears has you chasing such a boss through the sewers. Notably the boss's POV is tinted green when the party is chasing it, but earlier when it was attacking the victims that lead to the party looking for it in the first place it was tinted red because that was actually a different character.
Stealth Game
- The sniper battle with The End in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater switches the view to The End's scope occasionally just before he shoots you, presumably to give you a chance to dodge his shots once in a while.
- Earlier, during the boss fight with Psycho Mantis, one of the many pieces of Interface Screwing he does means that if you go into First Person View, you actually go into Mantis's. This helps you find him, considering he's invisible.
- In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots there is also the Crying Wolf fight. The game switches to her perspective to tell you that she's running towards you to let you prepare yourself.
Survival Horror
- A few bosses in Dino Crisis 2.
- Neptune (the zombified shark) does this on its first appearance in Resident Evil.
- And your first encounter with a Hunter.
- For one of the most unnerving examples of this, go to the kitchen downstairs and then try to leave. Que blurry, distorted first-person perspective of someone slowly limping down the stairs and opening the door that you just tried to leave through. Then it cuts back to game play and a zombie enters the room.
- Resident Evil 4: Del Lago is introduced in this fashion, being a gigantic salamander who lives in a murky lake close to the village where Leaon arrived prior. Also the case with Verdugo, and the Novistadors when one captures Ashley while camouflaged Predator style.
- This is the tell-tale sign that Nightmare Chica is going to attack in Ultimate Custom Night.
Third-Person Shooter
- Metroid: Other M plays with this trope, with a young Metroid that you don't get to fight. Played straight later with the Metroid Queen.
Non-Video Game Examples
- In Exalted Lunar Exalted can invoke this on their prey with the charm "Predator is Prey Mirror". It's extremely disorienting and terrifying.
- Happens to a park ranger in the parody of B-Movie horror films The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. In the sequel The Lost Skeleton Returns Again another character played by the same actor is attacked in exactly the same manner. He survives unharmed and delivers An Aesop to the audience warning them not to wander off like he did.
- King Cobra (1999): After it escapes from its prison, the king cobra's perspective is later seen through a POV shot as it's slithering through the woods looking for something to eat. It becomes apparent just how big it is when it does the cobra "stand up" pose to tower over a young boy.
- Deep Rising opens by showing the POV of the sea monster traveling through an underwater graveyard with dozens of human ships and whale skeletons that it had previously preyed on.
