Route Boss

Some games feature missions and story paths that can only be taken if the player makes certain choices leading up to them. So, logically, it makes sense that some bosses too can only be encountered or fought if the player takes those optional paths.

Oftentimes, the occurrence of these bosses depends on the player character's moral alignment — e.g. playing the "heroic" path will only let you fight villainous characters, and vice-versa. In other cases, they simply result from different paths sending the player to different areas — e.g. choosing to explore one area will you get one boss, while choosing a different area gets you a different boss.

Note that this trope is not just fighting bosses out of order. If you can go back and fight a boss that you passed up previously on the same playthrough, it's not this trope.

True Final Boss is a subtrope, wherein the required route is unlocked after completing all other story content that the game has to offer.

Compare and contrast with Skippable Boss: In both cases, the boss is one that may or may not be fought, based on player actions. However, with a Route Boss, being on the relevant route will result in the boss fight, while in Skippable Boss, it may well be possible to turn away from the boss two steps from its arena. Also compare Boss-Altering Consequence, which doesn't change the boss entirely, but may change some members of a boss battle if it was fought as a pair, group or a sequence, depending on the player's choices.

Due to the different routes sometimes resulting in different outcomes, beware of Unmarked Spoilers ahead.

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Examples:

Action

• Contra: Hard Corps on the Sega Genesis does this extensively, being a Boss Game. After fighting the first stage boss, you're presented with a choice to either pursue them or ignore them to provide backup to a research station being attacked, both of which have their own boss fight. Later on, in the fourth stage, your player gets caught in an ambush, and you can choose to either surrender peacefully or fight back. What makes this stand out is that both choices end up influencing the final stage route, alongside what Final Boss and ending you get. Spoilers ahead:
  • Save Research Station + Fight Back: The team takes an overseas route to Colonel Bahamut's base, and his defeat in battle causes him to launch a missile containing the Alien Cell he stole. This prompts the team to destroy the missile before it can detonate. The Final Boss is a mutated Alien Cell.
  • Save Research Station + Surrender: The team is detained aboard one of Bahamut's trains, but Deadeye Joe (the boss from Stage 1) busts you out, wanting a proper fight. The team infiltrates the base, prompting Bahamut to inject himself with the Alien Cell as the final boss (and it doesn't end well for him).
  • Pursue Deadeye Joe + Fight Back: The Alien Cell goes out of control and engulfs Bahamut's base, prompting a small Enemy Mine between them as they move to kill the Alien Cell. Bahamut manages to escape in the commotion.
  • Pursue Deadeye Joe + Surrender: Bahamut uses the Alien Cell to create Big Magnum, a powerful superweapon positioned high above the Earth. The team destroys the weapon, which also takes their lives when the weapon detonates. The team is awarded post-humous medals of bravery for their deeds.
• Hyper Princess Pitch: The mini-bosses are positioned so each of the possible third rooms of each stage has a different one.

Action-Adventure

• The final target in the main story of Grand Theft Auto IV is determined by the decision made for an earlier mission on whether or not to work with Dimitri. If the deal is chosen, Dimitri has Roman killed, and he betrays and kills Pegorino, leaving him as Niko's final target. If Niko chooses to just kill him and not take the deal, Pegorino kills Kate, making him the last big guy Niko guns down.
• Infamous 2: The "Hero" path ends with a fight against The Beast and Kuo, while the "Infamous" path has you fight Nix and Zeke instead.
• In Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny:
  • The player character Jubei is assisted by four supporting characters (Oyu, Magoichi, Ekei, and Kotaru), and if your Relationship Values with the supporting characters are high enough, there will be a segment where you play as those characters, in a side quest or sequence that isn't otherwise available, facing different mini-bosses and challenges along the way that you wouldn't encounter without a high relationship with those characters.
  • If Magoichi is your best friend of the four supporting characters, he'll allow you to skip the last of the boss fights with Ginghamphatts, who you otherwise have to fight on all story routes. Shortly after the boss fight begins and you've done a little damage to Ginghamphatts, Magoichi will show up, casually blow Ginghamphatts away, and let you proceed on your way to face Nobunaga.
  • If your relationship with Ekei is low enough, he'll decide to take a job working for Nobunaga, and fight you as a duel mini-boss just before the game's final sequence.
• In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, choosing to obey Owl leads to Wolf facing off against, in sequence, Emma and Isshin Ashina. They cannot be fought in any other route, and notably, serve as final bosses for the Shura ending.
• Depending on which path you take in the third level of Spud's Adventure, you can either fight two bean pods or an angry olive.

Beat 'em Up

• Crisis Beat, depending on the set of players selected (no, they cannot be mixed up), will have the players fighting a different first boss. Players who picked Eiji and Julia will explore the top deck after the terrorist takeover and fight Daugh, a Master Swordsman, as their first boss, while players who picked Keneth and Yan will instead check out the bowels of the ship and battle the mercenary Gauss.
• Oriental Legend have plenty of alternate bosses depending on the routes you chose. In the first stage where you infiltrate the Horn Demons' caves, you can fight either Silver Horn or Silver Horn's father (the latter taking up the whole screen, and is actually an easier target). The level in the Cave of the Silken Web can have you facing either the Spider Queen, or her minion, the Thousand-Eyes Demon.

Fighting Game

• The King of Fighters XI: If you get certain special wins, you can fight Gai Tendo, Silber, Sho Hayate, or Gyazu. If you can't do some of the requirements for some of them, you'll have to fight Adelheid (Rugal's son and Final Boss of KOF 2003) as an obligatory sub-boss.
• NeoGeo Battle Coliseum has four different final bosses to fight against, depending on how many special wins you made during the game or how fast you can get there. Depending on your actions, you can fight Mizuchi (Orochi's clone from KOF '97), Neo Dio, Shin Shishioh, or Goodman (the Big Bad of the game).

First-Person Shooter

• In the Dark Forces Saga:
  • In Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, the fifth boss is fought just two levels after the alignment lock and changes depending on your alignment. If you're Light-sided, you fight Sariss, while if you're Dark-sided, you have a rematch with Yun.
  • In Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, in the Light Side ending, you fight the Force ghost of the ancient Sith Lord Marka Ragnos, while in the Dark Side ending, you fight your own Jedi master (and the protagonist of the previous games) Kyle Katarn instead.
• The Flash Rail Shooter Zero has three final bosses. Which one you fight depends on how many points you rack up beforehand.

Gamebook

• In Deathtrap Dungeon, in order to pass the Dwarf Trialmaster's test, you must enter an arena and, depending on the choices you make, fight either a giant scorpion or a minotaur, as one of two optional bosses, before completing the challenge.

Metroidvania

• Cave Story has several bosses you only encounter if you're en route to getting the Golden Ending. One prerequisite is completing the optional side quest to restore Curly Brace's memories, which leads to a fight with Ma Pignon. You then have to go through an alternate version of Last Cave, which involves a fight with the Red Ogre. Finally, you must brave the Sacred Grounds, ending with a fight against the Heavy Press, then the True Final Boss, Ballos.
• Two bosses added to Blasphemous in the 'Wounds of Eventide' update, Sierpes and Isidora, Voice of the Dead aren't necessary to beat the game, which is a good thing since they're brutally tough compared to most of the base game bosses. However, if you want to see the new Golden Ending the patch added to the game, you need the items each of them is holding, forcing you to go through them the hard way.
• In Infernax, the Morality System dictates which Final Boss you face, if you manage to get the Guide Dang It! requirements and not fall for the fake out one.
• Loopmancer has two possible final boss encounters, whether you end up fighting Song Boyong and his creation, Tianwu, or your former nemesis Hiroyuki returns, kills Boyong before he can activate Tianwu, and challenge you to a rematch.

MMORPG

• Variant Dungeons in Final Fantasy XIV differ from regular dungeon, which are linear and have exactly 3 bosses each, by having multiple different paths and bosses. Even if in some routes the bosses are the same, choices made during the dungeon may alter the boss's abilities slightly. As the dungeons are easily repeatable, the players are encouraged to do all routes.
  • The first Variant Dungeon, the Sil'Dihn Subterrenae, has five unique bosses and 12 routes:
    • Geryon the Steer, a bomb-loving Gigas, is fought as the first boss in all routes. While his fundamental abilities remain the same, choices done in some routes can add some unique gimmick to the boss, like fans that draw the players in, poisonous sludge on the floor, or grates that shoot up water and damage players standing in them.
    • Silkie, an hamster-like magical familiar, is fought at the end of Route 1 to 4. Depending on the routes, it may have additional mechanics like summoning elementally charged poms or giant, magical water jugs.
    • The Sil'dihn Gladiator, a construct in the shape of an ancient warrior, is fought at the end of Route 5 to 8.
    • Shadowcaster Zeless Gah, an undead Amal'jaa hero, is found inside a sealed tomb at the end of Route 9-11.
    • The Thorne Knight is fought in the difficult to find Route 12; unlike the other bosses, it has no other variations.

Platformer

• Freedom Planet has several bosses that can be encountered only on specific character stories:
  • Hunter Snake, the first boss of the game, can be fought only in Lilac and Carol's stories. When playing as Milla, the first boss of the game is an anglerfish called Chomper, which is then followed by its upgraded counterpart, the Chomper Snake.
  • In Relic Maze, Lilac and Carol face a mechanical claw as a mid-boss in the middle of the stage. However, the fight with it is skipped in Milla's story, replaced with a minecart sequence instead.
  • At Fortune Night, Serpentine is fought as a mid-boss only in Lilac's story. In Carol and Milla's stories, a cycloptic mechanical samurai-like robot called S.A.M.U. is fought as a mid-boss. The same robot is fought as a Mini-Boss in the second half of the stage in every story, but only Carol and Milla can face it earlier as a mid-boss.
  • At Sky Battalion, Spade's fight in Lilac's story is replaced with a fight against a Shuigang helicopter in Carol and Milla's stories. Instead, Spade is fought much later as a boss in Trap Hideout.
  • Milla's mutated form can be fought only in Lilac and Carol's stories. In Milla's story, considering that she can't be mutated due to being a player character, the fight is skipped entirely.
  • In Milla's story, the final boss fight against Brevon omits the final phase of the fight where Brevon fights by himself, since the fight would've been nearly impossible with Milla's playstyle. Instead, the fight ends at the second phase against Brevon's mecha suit and is followed by a special cutscene.
• A Hat in Time: The boss of chapter 2 Battle of the Birds is determined by who Hat Kid helps win the movie contest, with the winner serving as the boss. Downplayed as both the Conductor and DJ Grooves are mechanically the same.
• Mega Man:
  • The Pumpkin Mini-Boss in Shade Man's level in Mega Man 7 can be defeated in two different ways, with each method causing the Pumpkin to blow up and reveal a path. On one of those two paths is Proto Man. If you have passed some obscure requirements in earlier levels, he will fight you as another Mini-Boss.
  • In Mega Man X2, the player has the option whether or not to face the X-Hunters in the Maverick stages. If the player doesn't face all of them by the time they reach the fortress stages, in the final level, X has to fight a resurrected Zero before facing Sigma.
  • In Mega Man X3, the Doppler stage bosses are different depending on how X deals with Bit, Byte, and Vile. If X kills both Bit and Byte by using their weaknesses against them before reaching the Doppler stages, then X will face Press Disposer instead of their Fusion Dance Godkarmachine O Inary. If X kills Vile with his weakness before Doppler, then he will face a Mosquitus Mini-Boss, and in the same level, Volt Kuragiel will be fought instead of Vile.
  • Mega Man X4: On X's story mode, X must fight Colonel twice, first after defeating four Mavericks and then again after all eight are defeated, then X must fight Double in the final stage. On Zero's route, the first battle with Colonel happens in a cutscene, and then Zero must fight Iris instead of Double.
  • Mega Man X5: If the Eurasia Space Colony crashes into Earth, Zero will become infected by the Sigma Virus, and X will be forced to fight him. If the colony did not crash, X and Zero will still fight, but the player can choose to play as either X or Zero.
  • Taking the Brutal Bonus Level Nightmare Areas in Mega Man X6 would lead to a boss different from the eight main Bosses. Finishing once, the boss would be Nightmare Zero (which unlocks Zero as a playable character), beating a Nightmare Area a second time would lead to High Max (unlocks the final levels), and on third and subsequent revisits, it would be Dynamo (a Piñata Enemy due to how many Souls he yields on each defeat).
• Both RosenkreuzStilette games have one boss exclusive to the second protagonist's route:
  • Grollschwert, the first game's Grolla route, has Spirita herself replace Grolla as the boss of her stage.
  • Weißsilber, the second game's Pamela route, has Kahl Palsech replace her as the boss of her stage.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Super Mecha Sonic is only ever fought by Knuckles. It's the final boss of his campaign and is fought after reaching the Sky Sanctuary.
  • Sonic Adventure:
    • Chaos 0 is only ever fought in Sonic's campaign, right at the very start after Sonic notices the Station Square police rush towards City Hall.
    • Chaos 2 is only fought in Knuckles's campaign, after Knuckles confronts Eggman in the Station Square Hotel Restaurant, believing him to hold a piece of the Master Emerald.
    • The Egg Viper is the final boss of Sonic's campaign, waiting for Sonic at the end of the Final Egg base.
    • The Egg Walker is the final boss of Tails's campaign, fought after Tails prevents Eggman from destroying Station Square with a missile.
    • ZERO is only ever fought by Amy. It's the final boss of her campaign, as well as her only boss fight, since her campaign centers around running away from ZERO.
    • The five^note E-101 Beta is fought twice E-Series robots are only ever fought by Gamma, three of them waiting at the end of Gamma's later stages, the other two being separate boss fights.
  • Sonic Adventure 2: King Boom Boo is only fought by Knuckles in the Hero Path, just after finding the three keys in the Death Chamber.
  • Shadow the Hedgehog: Depending on which story path Shadow takes, the player may end up facing one kind of boss or another:
    • In Lethal Highway, the second stage of the Hero path, Shadow faces Black Bull, a Black Arms-aligned beast.
    • In Cryptic Castle, the third stage of the Dark path, Shadow faces Egg Breaker, one of Eggman's mechs.
    • The fourth stage has different bosses depending on the route Shadow takes. In The Doom, the Neutral/Dark route stage, Shadow faces Heavy Dog, a ground-based G.U.N. mech. In the Neutral/Hero route, Shadow faces Egg Breaker in the Mad Matrix. And in the Pure Hero path, Shadow faces Black Bull again in the Death Ruins.
    • In the fifth stage, the True Neutral path pits Shadow against Egg Breaker in Iron Jungle, while the Pure Dark path has Shadow face Blue Falcon, an aerial G.U.N. mech similar to Heavy Dog, on the ARK.
    • The final boss of each ending is determined by the mission Shadow completes on the sixth stage. The Dark path^note Dark mission of GUN Fortress, Black Comet, or Final Haunt pits Shadow against Sonic and Diablon, the Neutral path^note Hero mission of Black Comet, either mission of Lava Shelter, or Dark mission of Cosmic Fall pits Shadow against Eggman in the Egg Dealer mech, while the Hero path^note Hero mission of GUN Fortress, Cosmic Fall, or Final Haunt has Shadow fight Black Doom.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
    • The Egg-Wyvern is the final boss of Sonic's campaign, fought after rescuing Princess Elise from the Egg Carrier.
    • Iblis's first and final forms are only fought by Silver, as the first and final bosses of his campaign, respectively.
    • Mephiles is only ever fought by Shadow. Twice in his campaign, first after defeating the second form of Iblis, and again as the final boss of Shadow's campaign.
  • Sonic Mania: The Heavy King, in his base form, is only fought by Knuckles. He's the end boss of Knuckles's version of Lava Reef Zone, after Knuckles takes an alternate path from Sonic and co.

Roguelike

• Dead Estate: Diavola can only be fought by assembling the silver key to open the coffin containing Chunks' antidote. This requires beating every alternative floor boss in addition to the four normal ones.
• Spelunky 2:
  • If you pick the Volcana route after the Dwelling instead of Jungle, you'll have the choice of fighting Vlad (who is also an Optional Boss).
  • If you pick the Tide Pool route after Olmec, you'll have the option of fighting Kingu, while if you pick the Temple of Anubis, you'll have the option of fighting Osiris, either of which is required if you choose to go to the Sunken City to fight Hundun.
• The Binding of Isaac unlocks several routes after making enough progress in the game:
  • The Cathedral route, where the final boss is Isaac. Defeating him with the Polaroid brings you to the Chest, where you'll fight ???.
  • The Sheol route is the counterpart of the Cathedral route, with Satan as its boss. In Rebirth and on, if you defeat Satan while holding the Negative, you can access the Dark Room and its final boss, The Lamb. In both this and the Cathedral/Chest route, bringing both Key Pieces to the final floor will let you fight an alternate final boss, Mega Satan.
  • Starting with the Afterbirth+ DLC, if you've defeated one of several bosses and have already beaten Hush, a purple portal can appear that leads to an alternate final area, The Void. The boss here is Delirium.
  • In Repentance, defeat Hush three times and you'll unlock an entire alternate route through the main game. Technically every boss here counts as a Route Boss, but the ultimate goal at the end is Mother.
  • Also in Repentance is the Ascent route, unlocked after defeating Mother once, where you'll encounter the True Final Bosses: Dogma, the Ultra Harbingers, and the Beast.

Role-Playing Game

• Abyss Crossing: The player can't fight all the Astras on a single route, since the protagonists they didn't pick will kill two of the Astras.
• Baldur's Gate II: Depending on whom you choose to side with at the end of chapter 2, the other one will be a boss at the end of chapter 3. Bodhi will later be a boss anyway in chapter 6
• Bloodborne has a short version after the Last-Second Ending Choice.
  • If you allow Gherman to sever you from the Hunter's Dream, you will need to fight no bosses beyond Mergo's Wet Nurse (the final mandatory boss), and you'll get the Yharnam Sunrise ending.
  • If you refuse Gherman's offer, then you'll fight him as Gherman, the First Hunter. If you haven't used certain key items beforehand, the line of final bosses stops here, and the ending you get is Honoring Wishes.
  • If you have used said key items, then you will fight one further boss, the Moon Presence, and get the final ending, Childhood's Beginning.
• Deltarune: Played with in the second chapter. The chapter has a secret boss, like the first, and it's just as optional as Jevil, albeit a little less subtle in discovery. However, going down the Weird Route has them replace the chapter's usual final boss as a mandatory battle. The fight is almost exactly the same, until they reach critical health, though.
• Dragon Age:
  • Subverted in Dragon Age II, which was supposed to have included a version of this trope during the final battle. Regardless of whether Hawke decides to support the mages or the Templars, they will have to fight both Knight-Commander Meredith and Grand Enchanter Orsino. The former was meant to be the Final Boss regardless of choice, but the latter was supposed to only be a Pre-Final Boss if the Templars were supported; however, the producers insisted on adding the fight to both story paths. Given that the cut-scene preceding the battle consists of Orsino going One-Winged Angel as the mages are killed, it winds up making no sense if you supported the mages, since few if any of them will die in that event. It winds up appearing that Orsino simply goes insane for no reason.
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition has a different boss at the end of the first act depending on whether the Inquisition decided to recruit the mages or the Templars. This same decision also determines which of the Big Bad's Co-Dragons will be encountered during the third act, since the Inquisition's choice will cause one of the Co-Dragons to lose the favor of the Big Bad.
• Elden Ring manages to avert this entirely. Its open world naturally makes it so that many bosses that would normally fit this trope can be encountered and defeated if you (for some reason) go to their areas without specifically being there for the quest. However, even for those few that would fit, routes aren't mutually exclusive from each other and only unlock the option to end the game a certain way, so, say, Lichdragon Fortissax, a boss exclusive to Fia's route, can still be fought no matter what you've chosen so far (well, usually) by simply going back and completing the necessary steps for the questline. The only necessary bosses in the game are necessary no matter what route you take.
• In Final Fantasy X-2, you are given a choice of whether to side with one of two factions: the Youth League or New Yevon. The choice doesn't really have major effects in the story (aside from the player temporarily being barred entry to the headquarters of the organization you didn't choose). However, if you sided with the Youth League, you can join a Run the Gauntlet-style tournament in Chapter 5, where you can fight some of its notable members.
• In the Fire Emblem series:
  • In Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, Chapter 15 sees you given the choice of going west and attacking the enemy head-on or going east and sneaking through a forest to get the jump on them. If you go west, you fight Brook, Kempf, Conomor, Nikalaf, Moore, Saias, Mueller, and the recruitable Ilios and Misha, while if you go east, you fight Linecock, Palman, and Amalda.
  • In Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade:
    • In Chapter 9, Roy can choose to either go north to rescue enslaved miners or west to make contact with the rebels. If he goes north, he fights Nord, Orlo, and Roberts; if he goes west, he fights Zinque, Scollan, and Morgan.
    • At the end of Chapter 16 (or 16x, if it was unlocked), if your pegasus knights are stronger than your nomads, you go to Ilia, while if your nomads are stronger, you go to Sacae. On the Ilia route, you fight Martel, Sigune, and optionally Tick, while on the Sacae route you fight Monke, Kel, Brakul, Marral, Thoril, Kudoka, and optionally Kabul and Chan. You also fight Arcardo and Roartz either way, although Arcardo packs a Silver Axe in Ilia and a Silver Lance in Sacae.
  • In Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade:
    • When you reach "Four Fanged Offense", if your lords are at least level 50 combined, you fight Linus here and Lloyd in "Cog of Destiny", while if they are less than 50 you fight Lloyd here and Linus in "Cog of Destiny".
    • When you reach "Pale Flower of Darkness", if your mages are stronger than your axe fighters and swordsmen, you fight Kenneth as the boss, while if your axe fighters and swordsmen are stronger, you fight Jerme. Both of them are resurrected as morphs to serve as midbosses in the final chapter regardless of which one you fought here, though.
    • After completing the game once, you are given the ability to replay it with Hector as the central character instead of Eliwood. Hector's route allows you to access some exclusive chapters and fight Wire, Sealen, Teodor (optional), Pascal, Kaim, and a final battle with Kishuna (optional). Conversely, the default Eliwood route has a couple of exclusive chapters of its own that Hector will never reach; Eliwood's exclusive bosses are Groznyi and Georg.
  • In Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, you can choose to accompany Eirika or Ephraim between Chapters 8 and 9. Eirika fights Binks, Pablo, a Wight, a Maelduin, Aias, and Carlyle, while Ephraim fights Gheb, Beran, a Deathgoyle, a Cyclops, Selena, and Vigarde.
  • In Fire Emblem Fates, you have to choose whether to side with Hoshido (Birthright), Nohr (Conquest), or neither (Revelation). While most of the bosses overlap between the three routes, Daniela, Keaton, Leo, and Nohrian King and Blight Dragon Garon are exclusive to Birthright, Kilma, Haitaka, Takumi, Hinoka, Kumagera, Kaden, Sakura, and Empty Vessel Garon are exclusive to Conquest, and Arete, Anthony, Mikoto, Gunter, and Anankos are exclusive to Revelation.
  • Fire Emblem: Three Houses has a number of bosses who are only fought on certain routes, and even bosses who appear on multiple routes may have differences between their fights on those different routes.
    • The Azure Moon and Verdant Wind routes have exclusive final bosses. Azure Moon ends with fighting Hegemon Edelgard, while Verdant Wind has Nemesis, who also brings along The Ten Elites to serve as minibosses on the final map.
    • Crimson Flower is the only route where Rhea appears as an enemy while in her human form, being the stage boss of the map directly after the plot branches, and also appearing in the penultimate map as part of a Boss Bonanza.
    • Dedue is fought on both Crimson Flower and Verdant Wind, but in the former route, he has a unique demonic beast form.
    • Thales is actually fought on all routes except Crimson Flower, but Azure Moon is the only one where he's fought while he's disguised as Lord Arundel, which is notable as he fights in a completely different manner while in the disguise.
    • Crimson Flower and Silver Snow share a final boss, The Immaculate One, but the two fights are very different. Firstly, the minibosses are different, with Crimson Flower having Gilbert, Catherine, and Cyril, themselves exclusive bosses to that route, while Silver Snow has the route exclusive White Beasts. The Immaculate One also has different stats and skill sets in each version of their battle, with the Silver Snow version being generally weaker until the boss Turns Red partway through.
• Genshin Impact has two route-specific bosses named Lupus Boreas and Azhdaha, who are encountered in Razor's Story Quest and the second part of Zhongli's Story Quest respectively. They stand out among the rest of the game's bosses by being tied to optional character quests and are required to fight in said quests in order to unlock them as Weekly Bosses (bosses who can only be fought once per week for Talent ascension materials).
• Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass: The Whispering Valley area exit is being blockaded by Turnbuckle and his toy army, and there are two ways to dispel the blockade — defeat the blockade yourself, which consist of a six-wave enemy rush, or go into the mansion and defeat Turnbuckle himself.
• OMORI: Mutantheart, Perfectheart, Space Ex-Husband, the Stranger, Abbi, Bossman Hero and the Boss Rush friend replicas are only available to fight on the Omori route of the game. The latter two are only available to fight on the console ports. And on the other hand, Aubrey and the Hooligans, the Recyclepath, Something, Basil, and Omori himself are only available to fight on the Sunny route.
• Persona:
  • Persona:
    • After the first dungeon, the game offers you the option to either go through the SEBEC route, or the Snow Queen Quest. The two routes have absolutely nothing in common, so you fight completely different bosses in each.
    • In the SEBEC route, if you answer critical questions at specific points in the game incorrectly, you'll be forced to fight Hariti and the Teddy Bear. Having to fight these bosses is a surefire indicator that you're locked to the bad ending.
  • Persona 2:
    • In Innocent Sin, right before Caracol, you can either leave Yukino behind or force her to come with you. If you take her with you, when you reach the observation bridge, you have to fight three Longinus Spear mechs. However, if you leave her behind, you find Shadow Yukino and Lady Scorpio fighting them, and you have to fight them once they're done.
    • In Eternal Punishment, one third through the game, you are asked to spread a rumor that the person investigating the New World Order is either a man or a woman. Spreading the rumour it's a woman results in Eriko's route, which takes you through the Sumaru TV station, and results in boss fights against her Stalker (actually a Shikigami), Wang Long Chizuru's puppet, and in the Underwater Ruins, Wang Long Chizuru herself. However, if you spread the rumor it's a man, you go to Nanjo's route, and the game takes you through the sewers and the secret laboratory, where you fight several Red Berret Mini-bosses, and Demonized Sugimoto. The Underwater Ruins boss is also replaced with Takahisa Kandori and four X-2 mechs.
• Pokémon Black and White: The first gym is unique for the series in that there are multiple gym leaders. Whichever one you end up facing is determined by the starter you picked.
• Rakenzarn Tales: Because of its Choice-and-Consequence System nature, it offers different bosses whether you choose Kyros or Kyuu as your main character:
  • The Prologue features only one boss. In Kyros' scenario, the main bosses are Samuel and Pete. In Kyuu's scenario, it's a Greater Demon.
  • Chapter 1-1 has more bosses and an end chapter boss. In Kyros' scenario, the bosses are the Hammer Bros, followed by Catchem and Killem. The end chapter boss pits you against a giant double-headed snake. In Kyuu's scenario, the first boss is a mysterious enchantress, followed by a giant shape-shifting mist monster.
• Sincere Deceit has two main routes, the Red and Blue routes, and several bosses exclusive to each one:
  • Dedan, Japhet, and Enoch are fought in both routes, but have different forms- in the Red route, they are afflicted with The Corruption, while in the Blue route they are possessed by God. And once you reach the Tower, you will either fight the Spectres that possessed them (Red route) or their Add-Ons (Blue route).
  • The Prison District has several such bosses, all based on a single decision made near the end of the area (whether you save Lady Magdalene from Roland before fighting Adam):
    • Adam is fought in an uncorrupted form if you don't save Magdalene first, and in a corrupted form if you do save her.
    • In that same area, saving Magdalene before fighting Adam will have you fight Roland, while fighting Adam and going for Magdalene afterwards will have you fight a ghoulified Magdalene.
    • The Judge is fought in the corrupted Zone 0 if you save Magdalene.
    • Sugar can be faced in a restored Zone 0 only if you save the Judge from Adam and let Magdalene die.
  • Lugosi is fought inside the church after completing the Prison District only in the Red route- in the Blue route, he is killed by the High Priest.
  • The game has five different Final Bosses depending on your route and which of the three doors you enter in the final hallway.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Long story short: If you're Law-aligned, you kill all the Chaotic leaders. If you're Chaos-aligned, you kill all the Lawful leaders. If you're Neutral, you kill everyone.
  • Shin Megami Tensei I:
    • At the end of the first main arc of the game, you have to choose whether to support the Japanese coup leader Gotou (Chaos), the American forces led by Ambassador Thorman (Law), or neither (Neutral). Whoever you don't side with will become a boss you have to kill.
    • In the Diamond Realm, En no Ozuno's third task is to find two weapons guarded by Phantasms. One Phantasm is Law aligned and the other is Chaos aligned, and they'll attack if you don't share their alignment. Otherwise, they'll give you their weapon and leave.
    • Upon reaching Ikebukuro, you are arrested and put on trial by the Chaos judge Yama. If you're either Law aligned or if you're Neutral and refuse to cooperate, you're found guilty and have to break out of prison, which requires killing the guard Nio and Yama himself. If you're found innocent, you skip the entire dungeon and neither can be fought.
    • The final alignment lock forces you to choose whether to support the angel Aniel or the demon mother Echidna (or neither of them). The choice works much like the Gotou/Thorman choice, where you fight Echidna on Law, Aniel on Chaos, and both on Neutral.
    • The four Devas only fight you on the Law or Neutral routes. If you're on Chaos, they'll give you their blessing and, if you're strong enough, join you.
    • Before you can properly enter the final dungeon, you're forced to intervene in a fight between Vishnu, who supports Law, and Ravana, who supports Chaos. You fight whoever you're not aligned with, and if you have to fight Ravana, you fight his son Indrajit immediately after as well.
    • In the Law Route, the Final Boss is Asura, while in the Chaos Route, it's Archangel Michael. If you're going through the Neutral route, you have to fight both of them in any order you like. Earlier on, with the same criteria, you either fight the Chaos Hero and Lilith, the Law Hero, or all of them. Averted with the other Archangels and Demon Lords, who are Skippable Bosses that can be ignored simply by not entering their rooms.
    • Optional Boss Beelzebub cannot be fought in the Chaos route because he joins you.
  • Shin Megami Tensei II: The Final Boss is the same in all three routes, but the bosses you fight before that are different.
    • In the Law Route, you fight Lucifer.
    • In the Chaos Route, you have to fight your way through a Boss Bonanza that consists of Sabaoth, Saddai, and Elohim, before fighting Satan.
    • In the Neutral route, you have to fight all of the above, plus Kuzuryuu.
  • Shin Megami Tensei if... has two examples on the three main routes:
    • The first boss of the game is completely different depending on how much grinding you've done. If you're under a certain level, you fight Faunus, while above that point, you fight Melusine.
    • The fourth dungeon is completely different depending on your partner's gender, including the boss fight. If you chose Yumi or Reiko, you get the Domain of Envy and fight Lilith. If you chose Charlie, you get the Domain of Wrath and fight Amdusias.
  • Shin Megami Tensei NINE:
    • In Chapter 5, after hacking into the disk Shiki gives you, you have the option of either going to Roppongi to investigate further, or going to Akiba Arena. Choosing the former leads to a fight with Alice, while choosing the latter leads to a series of fights with human opponents, followed by Susano-o if you manage to defeat all of them.
  • Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne:
    • At the end of Mifunashiro, you can side with either Futomimi or Chiaki, and whoever's chosen gives you a different boss fight. If you're aiming for Yosuga and side with Chiaki, you fight Futomimi, while if you want any other ending besides True Demon, you side with Futomimi and fight Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel. Since True Demon overrides all other endings, you can choose either fight.
    • At the end of the Diet Building, you're asked if you want to interrupt Hikawa's ceremony or not. Interrupting, which is required for Musubi, Yosuga, Freedom, and, depending on past choices, Demon, results in a fight against Samael. Staying out of it, which is required for Shijima and, depending on past choices, Demon, skips the fight entirely. Once again, True Demon allows you to choose whatever.
    • Of the six bosses in the final dungeon, only Thor and Baal Avatar are required on all routes. Siding with Shijima or Musubi lets you skip Ahriman or Noah, respectively, and if you side with Demon, you end up with a case of No Final Boss for You instead. The sixth boss only doesn't count due to being a True Final Boss.
  • In Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey:
    • The Neutral alignment has its own representative boss — Commander Gore — who fights you shortly after you lock into either Chaos or Law. And while picking Neutral will get you to fight through the Law and Chaos representatives to get to the Final Boss, they're not as strong as they are when challenged on the route of the opposing alignment.
    • Mastema can only be fought on the Chaos route.
    • Things get a little complex with the additional content on its 3DS remake Strange Journey Redux, as the final fight with Alex will change depending on whether you chose to finish the extra Bonus Dungeon and whether you reject or accept her plans for a new world. Finishing the Womb of Grief before reaching the depths of the final sector, and then rejecting her ideas will trigger one final fight where she invokes the power of her stolen Fruit and calls a couple of exclusive demons to her side. Otherwise, she just fights alone.
  • Shin Megami Tensei IV:
    • In Shinjuku, you're forced to choose between siding with an Ashura-kai member or the demon Kuebiko. In both cases you fight the other one, though the former fights by proxy via a demon horde.
    • Much later in the game, the party's ideological differences grow to the extent they split up and you have to choose who to go with. Going with Jonathan results in fighting a few minibosses and Lilith, while going with Walter results in a rematch with Koga Saburo followed by Michizane, Omoikane, and Yamato-Takeru.
    • On Law and Chaos, you have to fight Isabeau, who wants to stop the genocide you're planning on committing. The fights are different depending on the route, as she summons Chaos demons on Law and vice versa.
    • If you're on Chaos, the final dungeon features a bunch of miniboss fights headlined by Seraph before the final battle with Merkabah, while on Law you get two fully fledged boss fights with Belial and Lucifuge before fighting Lucifer. On Neutral, you fight all of them.
  • Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is far lighter on this compared to its predecessors, but still has a big one. After the final alignment lock, you either fight Dagda on Bonds or the partners, except for the already dead Asahi, on Massacre. The latter case also has a unique fight a little bit later against a massive horde of the last humans able to fight you, led by Fujiwara and Skins.
  • Shin Megami Tensei V:
    • Several sidequests follow a formula: two demons are opposing each other, and each independently asks you to take out their opponent. In every case, you can only fight one of the two, while the demon you didn't fight joins you as a reward for helping them.
    • In the final dungeon, the two leaders of the factions you didn't side with will fight you, while the leader of the faction you did side with is skipped. Additionally, only the hidden Neutral path gets to fight the True Final Boss Lucifer in his full three forms; he's limited to a single lower-level form in the Law and Chaos paths, and the normal Neutral path skips him entirely.
  • Devil Survivor: While most routes have you go through the same Bel gauntlet to let the protagonist claim the position of King, you'll get additional fights on certain routes.
    • Naoya challenges you at the start of Atsuro's route. He also is fought near the end of Amane's route with the assistance of Loki.
    • Yuzu's route forsakes the Bel gauntlet and you have to fight against an irritated Loki and eventually Arael and Sariel to break out of the lockdown.
    • Overclocked adds the 8th Days for certain routes with additional boss fights. Amane's 8th Day pits you against Okuninushi, Naoya's 8th Day pits you against Metatron, and Yuzu's 8th Day lets you confront Belberith.
  • Devil Survivor 2: The 7th Day sees the whole playable cast fragment into three different factions, and you get to choose which to side with and have to fight against the other two. If you choose to work with the Anguished One, you'll have to fight against everyone else using an understaffed roster. Different routes may see different teams or movesets for the same opponent.
• For the battle to liberate Greenhill in Suikoden II, you are given the choice of which skirmish your Hero will participate in. One map will pit you against Jowy Blight, in the alternate you'll face Dual Boss Yuber and Lucia instead.
• In Soma Spirits, the majority of the bosses are this because of the Dual-World Gameplay. Depending on whether you decide to collect each area's Joy Orb or Sorrow Orb, you will fight a different boss for the area, and how many of each orb you have also determines the endgame bosses you will fight.
  • The first area, Mysterious Woods, downplays this as you will fight the thief, Acre the acorn, on both routes, but he will take on a different form and strategy in each route.
  • Box World has Kaijubox and Tetsubox. You fight Kaijubox if you decide to take Cardboard Bob's happiness and keep him in his sucky job, and fight Tetsubox if you take Bob's sorrow and try to free him from his contract with Mr. Flap.
  • In Freezing Fjord, the Blizzard Queen only fights you directly at the end if you decide to take her Joy. Otherwise, she sends the Glacial Golem at you.
  • Maltose Mines has Digibot 3000 and Excavian. If you decide to take Lemondrop's joy and have him give up the search for the treasure, you fight Digibot 3000, whereas taking his sorrow and agreeing to help him find the ring has Excavian fight you.
  • In Phantasmal Chasm, the monster haunting the mansion Shadyo lives in changes depending on if you go for the Joy or Sorrow Orb. You fight Magic Can't if you take Shadyo's joy and None Chaku if you take his sorrow.
  • You will fight Big Bad Dissonance early no matter what you do, but if you have certain orbs you will fight him again, and he will be the Final Boss with a One-Winged Angel transformation. In other routes, you fight the other Big Bad, Form, assigned an early boss or the final boss with a transformation of their own, and in the true route you fight their combined form. You also fight Absolution in three routes, as a Hopeless Boss Fight in two and as a genuine Final Boss in the true route.
• Tactics Ogre has three main routes: Law, Chaos, and Neutral. Each route has their own unique bosses, and in some cases, they can actually be recruited in another route; for example, Xapan the mercenary can be hired by the player in the Law route, but is hired by your enemies in Chaos and Neutral.
• TinkerQuarry:
  • After defeating Sera, if you choose to take her Essence instead of leaving it behind, you will have to face two extra bosses. The first is Skid and Whiskers, who attack you to avenge Sera and as a result, you are unable to recruit them into your party. The second is the Chimera, a horrific fusion of Skid, Whiskers, and Ser. To make things worse, the latter comes immediately after the second fight with Staya, which is mandatory either way.
  • Clint is an optional party member. If you don't recruit him, the Final Boss is simply a third battle with Staya. If you do recruit Clint, he ends up betraying the party, crippling Staya, and becoming the True Final Boss.
• In Trials of Mana, your first character choice determines who are the last set of bosses the player has to face. In particular:
  • Choosing either Duran or Angela will have them facing against the Darkshine Knight, the Crimson Wizard, and their Big Bad, the Dragon Lord, as the Final Boss.
  • Choosing either Kevin or Charlotte will have them facing against Goremond, Tainted Soul, and their Big Bad, the Masked Mage, as the Final Boss.
  • Choosing either Hawkeye or Riesz will have them facing against Malocchio, Belladonna, and their Big Bad, the Dark Majesty, as the Final Boss.
  • The remake adds a post-Final Boss section against the True Final Boss, which includes having to fight battles to obtain Class 4 items. Depending on who is in the player's party, this includes battles against Golden Knight Loki, a duel against King Gauser, Angela fighting a shadow version of herself in a duel, and updated mooks in the form of the Mimiqueen, the Revenant, and the Queen Bee.
• Triangle Strategy has multiple route branches decided by your party voting with the Scales of Conviction, determining whether to handle a situation with Morality, Liberty, or Utility. The earliest example of this is in Chapter 3, which determines which neighboring nation the party visits; a trip to Aesfrost results in a battle with smugglers, while a trip to Hyzante leads to a fight with a rebelling scholar named Plinius Naveste.
• Undertale: Depending on which ending you're going for, several boss fights play out quite differently.
  • In any Neutral route (any playthrough where you don't go to the True Lab), the last two bosses are Asgore Dreemurr, followed by Photoshop Flowey. It should be noted that you cannot fight the second one indefinitely; if you beat him once, he won't fight you again because he knows he'll lose, thus locking you out of the fight.
  • If you do go through the True Lab, the fights against Asgore and Omega Flowey are skipped and instead you fight Asriel Dreemurr, the God of Hyperdeath. This is also the route that unlocks the Golden Ending.
  • The Genocide/No-Mercy route has by far the biggest changes, even if most of the individuals that fight you are the same.
    • Papyrus, Mad Dummy and Mettaton don't even fight you, they just stand there.
    • Undyne is killed in one hit and turns into Undyne the Undying, who is much, much more difficult.
    • This is the only route where you can fight Sans, who serves as the Final Boss of the route. Asgore and Flowey are dealt with in cutscenes instead.
• In Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, you can side with Ming Xiao or LaCroix, allowing you to skip one of the two final bosses (Ming Xiao herself, or the Sheriff with LaCroix). Neither path ends well for your character, though.

Shoot 'em Up

• In DoDonPachi Resurrection, each stage has two different midbosses depending on whether you fulfilled certain conditions in the previous stage or in the case of Stage 1, before the route split. The A-route midboss is an a boss original to this game, while the B-route midboss is one of the bosses from the original DoDonPachi. Subverted if playing the Version 1.51 or Arrange B variants of the game, or DoDonPachi Resurrection BLACK LABEL using Power Style, in which case you will always play the B-routes.
• In Flying Red Barrel, the third stage has two different bosses depending on your actions: the Merchant for one and the Lone Rider for the other. Likewise, Peat has a chance to show up as a mid-boss in the final stage depending on what you've done.
• Gradius Gaiden has two different bosses in Stage 2, and which boss you will encounter depends on which gate you destroyed.
• Star Fox 64:
  • The first level, Corneria, has two different boss battles. Granga is the one you face in the normal level route, while the Assault Carrier is exclusive to the secret route Falco guides you through. You can only face one in a single playthrough, level retries aside.
  • Depending on the route you took to reach the final world Venom, you either have to brave Andross's final defenses, Golemech and a fake Andross in the easy route, or have a rematch with Star Wolf before facing Andross (for real) in the hard one.

Simulation Game

• Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War has different enemy ace squadrons show up depending on whether the player has been flying as a mercenary, a Knight or a soldier.

Survival Horror

• Resident Evil 4: In chapter 2-3, Leon can optionally choose to take the road under the cliff to go to the castle, thereby having to fight a Gigante.
• The final boss of Silent Hill depends on whether or not you save Kaufmann. If you don't, Alessa transforms into an angelic figure called "The Incubator" and Harry is forced to kill her, which leads to the Bad and Bad+ endings. If you did, then after Alessa transforms, Kaufmann will show up and expel the demon named "Incubus" from Alessa using a vial of Aglaophotis, and Harry must defeat that instead, which leads to the Good and Good+ endings.

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