In some cases, to avert a Breather Boss, game developers make a boss perform an attack that renders them unable to be harmed after getting hit. Usually, this comes about because bosses can only take a few hits in a given game; there are exceptions, however. Note that this has to be an attack the boss performs after getting hit, however; teleporting away or the like doesn't count because they're not actively retaliating.
See also Tactical Suicide Boss and Turns Red. Differs from Counter-Attack in that the former trope refers to an attack that occurs immediately as a result of being attacked, and this refers to a fight pattern of a boss that occurs after they take a hit. Also differs from Combo Breaker and Recovery Attack, which occurs as an attempt to halt any further attempts to inflict damage mid attack. Compare Mercy Invincibility, in which the player is temporarily invulnerable after being attacked, though whether they attack during this time is still up to them, of course.
Examples:
- This used to be rare in the Super Mario Bros. bosses, but became much more frequent in the games released in 2009 and onward:
- In Super Mario World, Ludwing von Koopa goes into his shell and chases Mario or Luigi after being stomped. He and all other Koopalings perform this attack in all games where they've appeared from New Super Mario Bros. Wii onwards, as does Bowser Jr. in Super Mario Maker and Super Mario Maker 2. 2 also contains Super Mario 3D World-style Boom Boom, who also retracts into his shell upon getting hit, though the shell can safely be jumped on, unlike the previous instances. 2 also brings back the aforementioned Koopalings.
- New Super Mario Bros.:
- Each time he's hit, the Monty Mole fought at the end of World 6 enters its Monty Tank and starts driving it back and forth while shooting Bullet Bills. It then makes the Tank taller before resuming the standard tactic, which makes hitting it again more difficult.
- Lakithunder in World 7 retaliates by dropping multiple Spinies after the first hit, and shoots lightning bolts after being hit for the second time.
- Super Mario Galaxy 2:
- King Lakitu showers the arena with lightning after he's hit.
- Glamdozer stands outside of the grates she can be hit on after being attacked and spits out some magma balls to clog some of them up.
- Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World:
- In both games, Boom Boom performs a shell ramming attack once stomped. In 3D World, on his last hit point, the shell turns invisible.
- In 3D Land only, Pom Pom enters shell mode upon being hit and constantly tries to Ground Pound Mario or Luigi.
- Boss Brolder performs an invincible spinning attack that throws out pyroclasts when damaged.
- King Ka-Thunk drops back down onto the arena when hurt, destroying parts of it.
- Super Mario Odyssey:
- All four Broodals retreat into their hats and bounce around their arenas when hit. Unlike most examples, Mario can actually knock all of them out of Retaliation Mode before it ends; attacking the last remaining hat in Topper's Needle in a Stack of Needles attack is guaranteed to expose him once more, stomping on Spewart's attack where he leaves a trail of poison around the arena will expose him again, jumping on Rango before he begins bouncing around will skip the process entirely, and knocking one of Hariet's bombs back at her as she flies around bombing the arena will send her plummeting from the sky, making her vulnerable to another Goomba Stomp.
- Whenever she takes damage, Madame Broode will get angry enough to throw her pet Chain Chomp at you. Said Chain Chomp — the only means of defeating her — will spin, deflecting Cappy and preventing Mario from Capturing it.
- Knucklotec launches a fast punch that deflects Cappy once he's hit.
- Mollusque-Lanceur performs a spinning attack once he's damaged, nullifying any damage done to his head; if you're using a Gushen to damage him instead of a ground-pound, he actually starts using the spinning attack before you can damage him fully.
- Mecha-Wiggler closes all its weak points before performing a charge attack through several portals.
- Many of the bosses or midbosses in the Yoshi's Island series.
- Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
- Roger the Potted Ghost spits blue flames and pushes Yoshi back whenever he tries to push his pot.
- Prince Froggy spawns another Fat Guy in his stomach when he's hit (which only leads to more eggs getting shot at his uvula.)
- Hookbill the Koopa bounces around the arena in his shell when he's flipped over and ground-pounded.
- Raphael the Raven does a ground pound attack that sends two sparks circling around the planetoid the battle takes place on.
- Yoshi's Story: Inviso flies around erratically after being hit.
- Yoshi's Island DS:
- Hector the Reflector throws an object at the mirror on the bottom screen, making it harder for you to see him by breaking it.
- Six-Face Sal uses only the faces immune to damage after being hit, then pulls at least one vulnerable face out for the next cycle.
- Moltz the Very Goonie sends a bunch of Rocket Guys after Yoshi once he's hit.
- Yoshi's New Island:
- Kamek, in all of his boss fights after getting hit: his first one has him tip all the buckets and unleash a rain of bombs on Yoshi, his second fight has him activate all the posts in the arena in succession, his third fight has him drop a bunch of bombs on the arena except for one spot, his fourth fight has him flip over all the platforms of one color, his fifth fight has him cast a magic orb that ricochets all over the arena, and his sixth fight has him make all the overhanging blocks fall down.
- Big Beanie jabs a bunch of thorned vines upwards, while protecting himself with one of said vines after being hit.
- Count Fang spins around the floor of the arena after being hit, much like one of the aforementioned Koopalings.
- King Clawdaddy spins one of his claws around rapidly and charges towards one end of the arena.
- Furious Fred leaps out of the lava and across the arena's platform when damaged.
- Punkey the Pokey Prince spins and launches a bunch of spikes towards the other end of the arena when damaged.
- Baby Bowser breathes several fire shots when damaged.
- Giant Baby Bowser and King Bowser ground pound several times, drastically changing the arena in the process, when hit by one of Yoshi's Eggdozers.
- King Bowser puts an interesting spin on the trope: it's the Retaliation Mode that leads to his downfall, as it involves stomping several times and shooting one big fireball after being hit by a Metal Eggdozer, which causes the floor to break eventually.
- Yoshi's Woolly World:
- Big Montgomery throws a spike ball when hit in his first boss fight, performs a shockwave ground-pound in his second fight, and stands at the top of a snowbank while commanding some regular Monty Moles to roll down and turn into snowballs in his third fight, eventually doing so himself.
- Knot-Wing the Koopa retreats into his shell and ricochets around the arena in his first fight, spins around on the water and breaks all the platforms by making several waves in his second, and launches a salvo of Bullet Bills in his third fight.
- Burt the Bashful calls in several regular Burts to stack himself on top of when hit.
- Bunson the Hot Dog jumps onto a platform in the background and breathes a sweeping stream of fire once damaged.
- Miss Cluck the Insincere attempts to draw Yoshi in with a tornado, along with several spiked balls, after she switches to her next armor.
- Naval Piranha coils his vines around the pipe the battle takes place on, then sweeps them around.
- Snifberg the Unfeeling summons several spiked ice balls and sends them down the stairs in the background of the arena.
- Baby Bowser breathes several fire streams from the background, then enlists Kamek's magic to make a giant lava blob.
- Giant Baby Bowser throws several giant yarn balls onto the arena.
- Yoshi's Crafted World:
- Yarrctopus pulls up the bridges of his ship and shuffles around behind them; he also spits sets of three spiked balls on his last hit point.
- Tin-Can Condor performs a sweeping set of ground pounds across the arena.
- Burt the Ball acts much like the aforementioned Big Montgomery, sending regular Burts to lob waves of beach balls at Yoshi from the background, before being spiked onto the arena himself.
- Spike the Piranha sends a sweeping wave of vines towards Yoshi from the background when hit.
- Gator Train becomes dizzy and rams all of the train cars Yoshi is standing on, forcing him to flutter-jump until the next train arrives.
- Baby Bowser's mecha performs an attack where he spins a bunch of rocket-shaped bottles around the arena.
- Mega Baby Bowser summons several meteors whenever he gets hit.
- Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
- Kirby's Epic Yarn:
- Fangora rushes upwards after diving down in the background when he gets hit.
- Hot Wings changes the platforms of the arena, blasts everything not above the platforms with magma, and rushes out of the magma cloaked in flames when she gets hit.
- Capamari performs a rushing attack out of the pots in the arena of his second phase once he gets hit.
- Dragalia Lost:
- High Brunhilda uses the arena shrinking Grand Muspelheim or X-Muspelheim moves once after her health dips below certain thresholds.
- The Chimera-type Void Bosses enact an attack that renders them invulnerable until their weak point is destroyed or the attack finishes charging; if successful, it shrinks the arena and deals massive damage to anyone in its area of effect.
- Epic Seven has the Juleeve Council, who split into three bosses when under 70% and 40% health. They partially count for this trope because only the "core" Juleeve Council actually progresses the boss fight.
- In the battle with the Phantom Egg in Sonic Mania, Eggman grabs the player with projections from the Phantom Ruby and forces them into a "boss fight" with one of the Hard Boiled Heavies after being damaged four times.
- In Donkey Kong 64, each time Army Dillo is hit by an explosive barrel, he'll start rolling through the battle arena to hurt Donkey Kong. In the second fight, he also performs a Shockwave Stomp or more.
- Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped: Tiny Tiger, the first boss, has to be defeated in 3 hits. Every time he gets hit (except the last), he'll jump to the background and summon a stampede of lions at Crash before jumping into the arena again.
- Mega Man Zero: In the first game, the boss Harpuia always flies, except if you hit him with ice-elemental attack, where he'll fall down. He'll always perform his 3 Sword Beams combo before he starts flying again, making him predictable. Toned down in the second game, where you can do the same thing, but he may have other attacks he could use after he lands, including one where he suddenly dashes towards your position to slash you.
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker's Gohdan performs an energy orb barrage each time you shoot his first eye out; during the last phase of its fight, they also perform the orb barrage multiple times.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom: In the first phase of the fight against SpongeBot SteelPants, he'll temporarily shut down after being hit, and the stance he takes covers all of his weak points. This allows Robo Plankton to bombard SpongeBob with laser beams; he has to hit him with the Cruise Bubble to resume the fight once the boss stops firing.
