History Main / GiantHandsOfDoom

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' has [[spoiler:DJ Octavio]], who is damaged when you knock his mech's giant fists back at him by shooting them before they hit the ground.

%%* ''ComicBook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire'': [[http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070421 The Teleporter]] is shown this way. He can generate as many hands as he needs.%%Shown what way?
* ''Comicbook/MsMarvel2014'': Enlarging her fists to gigantic proportions is one of the most frequent applications of Kamalah's [[RubberMan stretching powers]].

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%%* ''Comicbook/MsMarvel2014'': Enlarging her is one of the most frequent applications of Ms. Marvel's [[RubberMan stretching powers]].

%%* ''Comicbook/MsMarvel2014'': This is one of the most frequent applications of Ms. Marvel's [[RubberMan stretching powers]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfVoxMachina'' is based on the ''Dungeons and Dragons'' actual play streaming show ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' where the character Scanlan makes extensive use of the aforementioned "Bigby's Hand" spell - a roughly 5ft tall semi-transparent purple hand he can use to fight; however as [[WritingAroundTrademarks they don't have the license for that name]] it become's "Scanlan's Hand".

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyroDawnOfTheDragon'': The Golem isn't fought directly, for the most part, and the bulk of its body remains in the background most of the time it's seen. Rather, it slams its hands and fists on the ground and sweeps them across the screen to attack, and its hands must be attacked to stun the Golem and expose its crystal weak points.

** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'':
*** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'': [[spoiler:Cackletta's Ghost]] consists of a torso flanked by two floating claws. You have to destroy the head and hands before the heart is revealed.
*** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'': [[spoiler:Dreamy Bowser]], the final boss, has this to a lesser extent. You only have to destroy the right hand to attack the head, but the left hand can grab one of the bros, forcing you to attack it to get him back. While the other final bosses of the series, [[spoiler:the Elder Princess Shroob's second form and the Dark Star Core]], fight similarly, only these two actually utilize this trope to a notable extent.
** ''VideoGame/WarioLand3'': [[spoiler:Rudy the MonsterClown]], the final boss, stays in the background of the fight, and attacks with his fists that are kept in the foreground. The "grabbing and squeezing" attack is also the only way in the whole game to get a GameOver.
** ''VideoGame/WarioWorld'': Ironsider consists of a a broken minotaur statue and a pair of floating stone hands it controls. It can be defeated by throwing or pile-driving one of its hands into its head.

* ''VideoGame/{{Valis}} IV'': The second stage boss is a floating head and pair of hands.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Excite}} Excitebots Trick Racing]] had a few track hazards consisting of a giant white-gloved hand. While they will try t crush you, if you manage to sneak past them, you can pickup five stars towards your total.

* ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac Rebirth'': The TrueFinalBoss has two hands which have their own health, and can respawn once killed, though they don't do much besides protect [[spoiler:Mega Satan's]] head and smash the ground, sending out shockwaves, and [[spoiler:Mega Satan]] [[DidntNeedThoseAnyway ditches them once he goes to his next phase]]. Hilariously, because the hands are treated as separate entities than the head, it's possible to charm one of the hands and have it [[StopHittingYourself smash his own head]].

* ''VideoGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': The Red Dragon arcade games is much like this. Tower of Doom's Flamewing attacks not only with the claws, but with fireballs, rockfalls, and his fire breath. He's by far the toughest boss in the entire game.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'', the [[spoiler:Darkest Lord]] is a [[TheFaceOfTheSun golden sun]] with two floating clawed hands, one of which carries a staff. They are actually strong enough to be fought separately as fully-fledged bosses!

[[folder:Roguelike]]
* ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac Rebirth'': The TrueFinalBoss has two hands which have their own health, and can respawn once killed, though they don't do much besides protect [[spoiler:Mega Satan's]] head and smash the ground, sending out shockwaves, and [[spoiler:Mega Satan]] [[DidntNeedThoseAnyway ditches them once he goes to his next phase]]. Hilariously, because the hands are treated as separate entities than the head, it's possible to charm one of the hands and have it [[StopHittingYourself smash his own head]].

%%** The Shrine boss, Dorman, and Jabir's [[OneWingedAngel second form]] in ''V''.

** The [[DemonicSpiders infamous]] Wallmasterss, in multiple entries, might be the first examples from the company and are easily among the earliest, though they are not bosses, just {{mook bouncer}}s.

** The [[DemonicSpiders infamous]] {{Wallmaster}}s, in multiple entries, might be the first examples from the company and are easily among the earliest, though they are not bosses, just {{mook bouncer}}s.

* ''VideoGame/{{NieR}}'': Defense System Gepetto, being an {{Expy}} of Gohdan, has two giant floating hands as his main weapons. They can not only smash you, but they also shoot [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]] from their fingertips.

[[folder:Third Person Shooter]]

%%* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'': [[spoiler:Tiki Tong]] uses this strategy against the Kongs.
%%* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'': Kerozene's hands in the GBA remake.

[[folder:Other examples]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Eversion}}'' has creepy giant hands shooting out of the second AdvancingWallOfDoom.
%%* ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'': The Clock Tower boss is this type of boss.
%%* ''VideoGame/SpiderManShatteredDimensions'': The boss battle with Electro does this with electricity-shooting hands.%%Does what?
%%* ''VideoGame/Stinkoman20X6'': Stlunko.
%%* ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' has several:
%%** The Shrine boss, Dorman, and Jabir's [[OneWingedAngel second form]] in ''V''.
%%** Orjugan in ''[[Videogame/YsVITheArkOfNapishtim The Ark of Napishtim]]''.
%%** Galbalan in ''[[Videogame/YsTheOathInFelghana The Oath in Felghana]]''.
* ''VideoGame/ScottPilgrim'': The Super Fighting Robot attacks with detachable hands, which also happen to be the only parts you can damage. Meanwhile the rest of the body chills in the background, invincible but still attacking you with lasers, missiles, and a flamethrower.
* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'': Balore punches at you with his hands at first, then switches to a laser fired from his eye (which is his weakpoint). ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow Dawn of Sorrow]]'' as well as ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin Portrait of Ruin]]'' also feature him, but he's a little different and only alternates between his laser and hands.
%%* ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'' uses this for the final encounter.
* ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'': The first boss is the Fist of Grudge, a pair of Katherine's hands holding a giant fork.
* ''VideoGame/{{Deception}}'': The ''player'' can use these as a type of trap. Typically, the either grab an invader to lock him in place for a while, or they bash him/her around to cause high amounts of damage.
* ''VideoGame/{{NieR}}'': Defense System Gepetto, being an {{Expy}} of Gohdan, has two giant floating hands as his main weapons. They can not only smash you, but they also shoot [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]] from their fingertips.
* ''VideoGame/{{Turrican}}': One of the early level bosses from the Amiga classic' is a giant mechanical fist flying around trying to crush the player.
* ''VideoGame/{{Valis}} IV'': The second stage boss is a floating head and pair of hands.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'': The mage Hockomonkey periodically disappears, leaving a multitude of its disembodied hands behind to swipe at you and throw parts of the environment, only reappearing once they've all been destroyed. This is especially annoying in the rematch, where the combined HP of them rivals that of the boss itself.
* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'': The boss Skeletron is depicted as a flying skull, with hands and arms. He has a version later in the game called Skeletron Prime, who, as well as attacking with his hands which are now equipped with a vice and a drill, will also shoot lasers and bombs from his other pair of arms.
* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'': ''Undefined Fantastic Object'' has the boss battle with Ichirin and her [[SuperSmoke cloud youkai familiar]], Unzan. She attacks with giant fists [[BulletHell danmaku]], which also leave trails of smaller bullets. Ichirin herself is basically [[MemeticMutation Unzan's hitbox]].
* ''VideoGame/Persona3'' and ''VideoGame/Persona4'' feature the "Hand" type Shadow, which is basically a walking, disembodied hand. Most of them are quite small, but some of the MetalSlime variants are huge.
* ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice'': Several boss battles are against Mao's dad, or more specifically his hand. You see, Mao's father is so huge that even his fingers are several times the size of the average character. Somehow, the game treats destroying all his fingers as completely beating himself.
* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline2'': Dark Falz Elder sics [[MultiArmedAndDangerous four of his hands]] on you (Which look like bizarre hydras; the two outermost fingers being legs, and the other three heads) for the first phase of his fight, remaining in the background to launch lasers and meteors at you while the hands attack directly with the sorts of moves you might expect. They occasionally mix things up by pairing off or summoning numerous additional hands onto the field to perform combination attacks.
* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'': The Golem Mine boss, complete with a giant head that [[AttackItsWeakPoint has a weak point]] that you could reach by stepping on its giant hands.
* ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac Rebirth'': The TrueFinalBoss has two hands which have their own health, and can respawn once killed, though they don't do much besides protect [[spoiler:Mega Satan's]] head and smash the ground, sending out shockwaves, and [[spoiler:Mega Satan]] [[DidntNeedThoseAnyway ditches them once he goes to his next phase]]. Hilariously, because the hands are treated as separate entities than the head, it's possible to charm one of the hands and have it [[StopHittingYourself smash his own head]].
* ''VideoGame/TitanSouls'': Both Gol-Iath and Gol-Set use their giant hands to attack the archer; the latter of the bosses needing to be dealt with by guiding the hands toward panels which when pressed, expose the boss's weak spot.
%%* ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheOldBlood'': The final boss is a rare first-person shooter example of this type of boss.
* ''VideoGame/ImmortalRedneck'': The first pyramid's final boss, Weryt, uses his hands to slap you, send airwaves, homing missiles and also to punch the floor. Under his head, there are several weak points the player needs to break.
* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has monsters called Wall Beasts that attack you through holes in the wall of a cave and the only part of their body that you see is a giant hand. In order to fight them you need to be wearing a spiked helmet to stop them from grabbing your head.
* ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'': Jaan can enlarge her hands to help her fight enemies.
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* ''VideoGame/CryptKiller'': The disembodied Pharaoh statue boss, which is a floating Egyptian head with two disembodied arms that periodically tries punching at the player. It's actually one of the more normal-looking bosses in the entire game.
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'':
*** Lava Reef's miniboss is comprised of two threats, one of them being a giant hand that rises from the lava below and tries to crush Sonic.
*** In the first stage of the final boss fight, you must destroy all six of its Malicious Fingers.
** ''VideoGame/Sonic3DFlickiesIsland'':
*** The boss of the Rusty Ruin Zone attacks solely by trying to crush Sonic with its conveniently platform-shaped paws.
*** One stage of the final boss features two disembodied hands that first try to crush him, then to run him over by racing across the arena.
** ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Advance|Trilogy}} 2'': The Egg Saucer is basically a giant wheel-like vehicle with the cockpit and weak point, a laser, and a huge hand. The hand hurts like hell, and if it hits you directly, you are likely to die instantly. Makes this ThatOneBoss.
** ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Advance|Trilogy}} 3'': Hyper Eggrobo attacks with such hands, and you have to use them as platforms to hit the boss.
* ''VideoGame/TaleSpinCapcom'': The fourth level boss, the massive "invisible gentleman", defends itself with punches from its floating, white-gloved hands. The weak point? The bow tie, obviously.
* ''VideoGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': The Red Dragon arcade games is much like this. Tower of Doom's Flamewing attacks not only with the claws, but with fireballs, rockfalls, and his fire breath. He's by far the toughest boss in the entire game.
%%* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'': Vysage, Lefty, and Righty are usually found together. At one point, though, the three make up the first stage of a boss battle.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure'': The final form of [[spoiler:Julius]] is technically one of the "disembodied head and hands" variety, even though all he did was teleport and shoot fireballs. This was apparently a fan-favorite boss, however, as one of the most common complaints about the remake ''VideoGame/SwordOfMana'' is that this form wasn't present.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': Kologarn, a boss in the donjon Ulduar, is an entire giant golem, but most of his attacks come from his two hands (which are also directly killable). Also, yes, his eyes shoot laser beams.
%%* While not exactly giant, the titular Glover and the BigBad Cross-Stitch are gloves. Cross-Stitch os certianly a lot more [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom Doomy]], though.%%Link the work.
%%* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'': The final battle versus [[spoiler:Abaddon]] in ''Nightfall''.

!! [[AC:Video Game Examples]]

[[folder:Nintendo examples]]
Creator/{{Nintendo}} absolutely loves this trope, to the point that only a [[{{Pun}} handful]] of its franchises do not have it in some way.

** ''VideoGame/LinksCrossbowTraining'': The Twilit Fossil Stallord mostly stays in the background, and fights by striking at Link with its hands.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** Haunter has the shape of a head-and-hands boss, although its stronger evolution that's more likely to be used as a boss, Gengar, lacks these.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'': [[spoiler:Eternatus' Eternamax form]], the ClimaxBoss, is a more straightforward example than Haunter, as [[SecretAIMoves this form is fought only as a boss]] and the only part of it in range of the battlefield is a giant hand that appears to have a thumb on both sides. However, the only typical hand boss action it does is swat its hand on the battlefield.

* ''VideoGame/StarFox64'':
** Andross uses these. Ever since his appearance in this particular game he is almost always depicted as a giant floating head and hands, with no explanation of how he got that way.
** His nephew Andrew tries to [[{{Pun}} ape]] his uncle's "head and hands" schtick in ''Assault'' by transforming his flagship into a giant head and hands. Falco notices the similarities and calls him [[LampshadeHanging "An Andross wannabe."]]
* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'':
** Master Hand, and from ''Melee'' onward, Crazy Hand. [[DualBoss Sometimes you have to fight them both at the same time.]]
*** Master Hand can do most of the attacks listed in the description. The only of those that Crazy Hand cannot do is walking on two fingers. Instead, he crawls on all five fingers, rather like a spider.
*** If Master Hand teams up with Crazy Hand, they can do ''even more'' attacks, such as smashing the player character in a giant clapping motion, crushing him/her between two fists, have one slap the ground while the other uses the FingerGun, etc.
** Isaac appears as an Assist Trophy and summons a giant hand to push your opponents off the stage.
* ''VideoGame/{{Wario}}'':
** ''VideoGame/WarioLand3'': [[spoiler:Rudy the MonsterClown]], the final boss, stays in the background of the fight, and attacks with his fists that are kept in the foreground. The "grabbing and squeezing" attack is also the only way in the whole game to get a GameOver.
** ''VideoGame/WarioWorld'': Ironsider consists of a a broken minotaur statue and a pair of floating stone hands it controls. It can be defeated by throwing or pile-driving one of its hands into its head.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'': The disembodied Psynergy hands. While the old generation used them to move or lift objects, the new generation have weaponized them to crush boulders or slap stuff.
* ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101'' has many bosses designed by this template (circular area and a huge boss circling around it, punching you and throwing stuff), including one of the forms of final boss.
* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' has [[spoiler:DJ Octavio]], who is damaged when you knock his mech's giant fists back at him by shooting them before they hit the ground.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'', the [[spoiler:Darkest Lord]] is a [[TheFaceOfTheSun golden sun]] with two floating clawed hands, one of which carries a staff. They are actually strong enough to be fought separately as fully-fledged bosses!

[[folder:Other examples]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}''
** The final form of [[spoiler:Yami, the final boss]] is a giant hand attached to an orb. This is repeated in ''Tatsunoko vs. Capcom'', where [[spoiler:Yami]] is again the final boss. Its grab super is downright ''lethal''.
** In the sunken ship area, there is a room where a giant seaweed monster lives. When you enter the room, two gigantic hands rise out of the water and attempt to crush Ammy and/or push her off into the waters below. Fortunately, the monster can be killed by draining the water from the room, and then rolling spiked cylinders across its face until it dies.
%%** ''VideoGame/{{Okamiden}}'': [[spoiler:Akuro]] goes with the more standard approach to this trope in his first form.%%Which is?

* ''Franchise/MegaMan'':
** ''VideoGame/MegaMan3'': The final boss sometimes takes a break from raining projectiles on you and tries to punch you. You can jump on the fist to reach his head and attack his weakpoint.
** ''VideoGame/MegaMan10'': The Keeper minibosses in Strike Man's stage are giant hands that punch a ball and Mega Man in order to attempt to do damage.
** ''VideoGame/MegaManV'': The game's incarnation of the Wily Machine has the player fighting both of its hands, individually, before fighting the Wily Machine itself. The arms are capable of slamming down on the ground to hit Mega Man or toss him into the air, and they can also shoot missiles. The second one can also grab Mega Man to ensure those missiles hit him.
** Several ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' and ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZero Zero]]'' games have the final boss transform into their giant form, then attack with massive hands, lasers, and hands shooting lasers.

* ''VideoGame/{{Pulseman}}'': The final boss is another "Head and Hands" type boss who shoots energy balls from his hands, punches, and pounds the ground to summon minions.
%%* ''VideoGame/BombermanGeneration'' has one as a boss in one of the desert stages.
%%* ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'': The third Boss in ''Contra III''.

[[folder:Anime And Manga]]