History Main / BaitAndSwitchBoss

** Similarly, at the end of ''SuperMarioGalaxy'', just right before you even get to [[BigBad Bowser,]] you see [[OverlordJr Bowser Jr.]] once more, but instead of fighting him, he simply flies away in his spaceship, and you actually end up fighting Bowser directly.

DrawnToLife: The Next Chapter has a pirate-version of an average {{mook}} as the first boss. You can simply kill him in one hit, just like you did to all of his comrades earlier. Well, guess what? [[spoiler: His ghost (who is three times your size) appears and sends small armies of ghost {{mooks}} your way.]] [[ThatOneBoss Good luck.]]

* In ''CastleCrashers'', when you reach the first boss fight, you first see a barbarian about twice the size of the regular {{Mook}}s. Then there's pounding on the door behind him and it falls onto him, as an '''even larger''' barbarian shows up -- this one fills up nearly half the screen.

** Also, I'm not sure if the fight where RecurringBoss Balrog gets transformed into a giant frog counts... on the one hand, technically you're still fighting Balrog, but on the other...

* In Ben10UltimateAlien, Aggregor is the BigBad for most of the first season, but in the most recent episode [[spoiler: he's within inches of acquiring PhysicalGod levels of power when a desperate Kevin powers up directly from the Ultimatrix and beats him to a pulp- but thanks to how Kevin's powers work, suffers from [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity great insanity]] in the process, becoming a villain again ''and'' BigBad to boot]].

** (cough) Not "out of nowhere". The Kernel has been out to get ''you'' too. You're an unauthorized program and you escaped him once already, while killing his men.

*** Played for laughs in ''Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo'', where after defeating all of the other characters a pumped up [[JokeCharacter Dan Hibiki]] stands up as the final boss... and then Akuma/Gouki pops out kicking Dan's ass and making him flee in tears, facing you with a nasty evil grin.

** Parodied in ''Super Puzzle Fighter'', when ''Dan'' comes out to challenge you as the final boss. He's quickly slapped aside by Akuma. For those of you who don't know, Dan is the [[PunchOut Glass Joe]] of the game.

* In the beginning of ''GodOfWar: Chains of Olympus'' a cyclop armed with a gigantic club smashes through a door you're trying to open. You drive off his first attack, and then the massive Basilisk, the real first boss, nibbles the cyclop from outside the door and eats it. At least he leaves you his club to use on the big lizard.

* In ''Jade Cocoon 2'', all the non story bosses are oversized verisons of reuglar monsters, and before fighting a short fmv clip is played. In one of them a large Dragon fly buzzes at you menacingly. It looks a little out of place in the water world, and seems smaller than other bosses. It then gets eaten by a HUGE frog monster, who then attacks you.

* In the first two stages of ''ThePunisher'' (the arcade game) you run after mafia boss Bruno Costa, eventually cornering him and setting up for a not so intimidating boss battle. Suddendly, a laser sweeps away Bruno and his henchmen in a single hit, and a huge robot sent by the Kingpin engages you.

** Any character that has an alternate ("Yami") form can do this to themselves. Yami Yugi and Yami Bakura are their default forms, but can switch out with Regular Yugi or Bakura. Marik can switch out with Yami Bakura, who is a lot more aggressive. These examples mean minimal, though, as they yse the same decks.

* Happens ''twice'' in succession during the climactic episodes of {{WITCH}}. KnightTemplar {{Chessmaster}} Nerissa was BigBad for most of the season, but near the end former BigBad Phobos returns, steals her AmplifierArtifact and seals her inside it, resuming his EvilOverlord throne. [[spoiler: And then in the last episode, Phobos's previously loyal [[TheDragon Dragon]] Cedric senses oppurtunity, goes all ScaledUp, and ''eats'' both Phobos and the artifact, acquiring both Phobos's throne and nearly limitless power]].
* In Ben10UltimateAlien, Aggregor is the BigBad for most of the first season, but in the most recent episode [[spoiler: he's within inches of aquiring PhysicalGod levels of power when a desperate Kevin powers up directly from the Ultimatrix and beats him to a pulp- but thanks to how Kevin's powers work, suffers from [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity great insanity]] in the process, becoming a villain again ''and'' BigBad to boot]].

* ''TheWorldEndsWithYou'' tries to set you up expecting a match with [[spoiler: a [[BackFromTheDead back-to-the-undead Minamimoto]] - which judging by an [[HopelessBossFight earlier encounter]] would be undesirable. It turns out the [[BigBad Composer]] kills him first, though Neku points out that someone capable of that is their next opponent and they shouldn't get too comfortable]].

* In Yugioh Worldwide Edition, sometimes a nearby duelists with a story connection to the person you challenge will make your opponent go away and you'll have to fight them instead, An example would be Marik and Bakura or Mokuba and Seto Kaiba. You could try to challenge Bakura, but then Marik shows up out of nowhere and drives him away with possibly the worst excuse ever to trick someone with this line,"[[NotEvenBotheringWithTheExcuse If I recall correctly, there is something you need to take care of right away... You don't have the luxury of wasting any time here, correct."]] This works and you face Marik.

* In Yugioh Worldwide Edition, sometimes a nearby duelists will make your opponent go away and you'll have to fight them instead. An example would be Marik and Bakkora. You fight Dark Bakkora but then Marik shows up out of nowhere. Then he drives him away with possibly the worst excuse ever to trick someone with this line,"[[{{Narm}}If I recall correctly, there is something you need to take care of right away... You don't have the luxury of wasting any time here, correct."]] This works and you face Marik.
** This works in reverse as well so to fight the one you desire, you have to choose the other one. This also works with other characters although sometimes it is onesided. For example if you catch Rex or Weevil in an area with a rare hunter, you can bet that the rare hunter will boot them to get at you.
*** Sometimes, when [[{{nightelf37}}I]] 'cower' from the rare hunters by dueling Yugi or Kaiba ( or even Bakura), they have a chance to be booted by the hunters, too.

* The entire plot of ''{{Tron}} 2.0'' builds up to a final confrontation against Thorne, the 12-foot-tall BigBad Super-Virus... and when you finally get to his inner sanctum, [[spoiler:you see him being unceremoniously killed by the regular-sized ICP Kernel (the leader of the game's {{Mook}} cops), who out of nowhere decides to fight you too while he's at it]]. The rest of the game is also a case of a HalfwayPlotSwitch, as the last several levels has you chasing after greedy corporate hackers after an entire game of battling TheVirus.

You've blasted your way through the enemy's lair, demolished the mooks, and solved the puzzles. Now it's time to face the boss of the stage, right beyond those big conspicuously ornate doors. Your loins are girded for the fight as you barge in and see... A boss. Not a particularly fearsome boss, really. I mean, you've fought something almost exactly like him about four levels ago. The boss prepares to unleash his fury...

* In ''ChronoTrigger'', one of the three {{Mini Boss}}es of Magus's Castle is Flea, the sorceror. You find Flea at the end of a long corridor, and start a fight with it; the enemy name reads "Flea?". The boss is incredibly weak, and once you beat it, you hear a voice - it's the ''real'' Flea, who [[spoiler:was hiding as a bat and following you the whole time.]]

** The Trial of the Crusader raid has another, rather sad one. A gnome warlock named Wilfred Fizzlebang, rather confident about his abilities and his supposed immense power. He intends to summon a Doomguard (a rather powerful demon, but not ridiculously powerful, however). Instead, he accidentally summons a huge Eredar Lord, a much more deadly demonic sorceror, and proceeds to attempt to convince said demon (who is about 20 times bigger than him) that HE, the gnome, is in charge here. Needless to say, he gets swiftly killed by his summoned demon, who then proceeds to blast away at the players.

*In an early dungeon in MegamanLegends2, the MacGuffin at the end of the dungeon is gone when you get there. This is not surprising, as you already fought a CowardBoss pursuing the same MacGuffin twice in the same dungeon. He then shows up behind you... and informs you that he doesn't have it, then leaves you to fight the boss that does.

*In MegamanLegends in the first ruin you go to the key room only to find it not there. Bola who you've had to beat twice already to make it that far shows up saying he has the key. As Megaman Vulnaught/Trigger gets into a fighting stance Bola laughs saying he was just kidding. He got the key but the master reaverbot of the ruins ate it. At that point he leaves and a few second later a gargantuan frog reaverbot falls onto a nearby pillar shaking the screen when he lands.

* In the final level of the ''AlienVsPredator'' arcade BeatEmUp by {{Capcom}}, you mow down your way to a fat colonel that is getting Aliens for the Weyland-Yutani company. After you take out his last mooks he steps forward to face you... only to be impaled and teared in half by the Alien Queen, which you thought you killed three levels earlier. Cue hellish final boss fight.