History Main / RingOutBoss

* The Crocomire in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' is this. Also, when it does finally fall into the acid pool, it has such a horrible FamilyUnfriendlyDeath that some players genuinely feel bad for the poor thing.

** Iggy and Larry from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', which you have to knock into the lava on a giant tilting platform.

* Belcha, the first boss of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble'', is a large barrel which must be pushed into a lower portion of the floor at the end of his room. You don't have the leverage or strength to do so, and thus you must feed him beetles that occasionally fall from the ceiling - Belcha's [[MeaningfulName belches]] steadily push him backwards whenever he eats one. Curiously the pit contains no hazards of its own and is no deeper than Belcha is tall. Considering Belcha's lack of mobility, however, the poor chap will never escape his comitragically small ditch.

* The final boss in ''The Comicbook/IncredibleHulk'' for the Super NES combines this with ZeroEffortBoss. The Leader (one of Hulk's main foes, having been made superintelligent by a lab explosion) stands before a [[BottomlessPit deep shaft]]. Whale on him all you like with straight punches, he offers no resistance and just laughs at you. Uppercut him, and he's lofted in a graceful arc, straight down the shaft to his doom.

* In the DS version of ''[[VideoGame/LEGOAdaptationGame LEGO Batman]]'', Bane is totally immune to your attacks- the only way to beat him is to make him run into stuff and stun himself so you can drop things on him.

* About giant spider bosses, Phantom from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' will fight you three times. If you defeat him the third time as usual, he will break a skylight and fall over a statue that impales him. But one of his attacks, a big jump, can be avoided at the last second ''while YOU are over the skylight''. Do it a few times and Phantom will break it so voilà, instant death without breaking a sweat.

* All of the Bowser fights in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' are type 2 that resemble type 1 fights. You have to avoid throwing Bowser off the cliff (as he will just jump right back into the arena), but rather throw him into the bombs surrounding said cliff.

** Bowser himself in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' - though projectile attacks can also be used.

* The video game version of ''VideoGame/{{Terminator}} 2: Judgment Day'' for the UsefulNotes/GameBoy ended with a fight against the T-1000 where, akin to the movie, he was invincible but got knocked back when shot, so the idea was to knock him off the platform into the molten stuff below.

A SubTrope of PuzzleBoss, and often a BullfightBoss, the Ring-Out Boss is a type of BossBattle where the boss itself cannot be just defeated via damage, but has to simply be knocked or thrown back into a [[LavaPit dangerous substance]] or [[SpikesOfDoom obstacle]] to cause damage. Very much the Boss Battle type used when the hero fights the ImplacableMan or a character with NighInvulnerability.

A SubTrope of PuzzleBoss, and often a BullfightBoss, the Ring-Out Boss is a type of BossBattle where the boss himself cannot be just defeated via damage, but has to simply be knocked or thrown back into a [[LavaPit dangerous substance]] or [[SpikesOfDoom obstacle]] to cause damage. Very much the Boss Battle type used when the hero fights the ImplacableMan or a character with NighInvulnerability.

* In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestMaskOfEternity'', the only way to defeat the skeleton with the chainmail in the Dimension of Death is to knock him back until he falls off of the tower you're fighting on.

* Type 1 is a boss which cannot be defeated by anything other than knock back, your attacks don't directly hurt said foe most of the time, or don't take them down for good, and you have to try to make it so instead of wearing down a health bar via lots of damage, that the impact from your attacks knocks them back into something dangerous to the boss.
* Type 2 relies more on force, and actually picking up, carrying and throwing/dropping the boss into the deadly substance or obstacle.

!!Type 1:

!!Type 2:

* The final battle with Gargamel, in the first ''VideoGame/TheSmurfs'' game for the SNES, involved a catapult being used to cause him to fall to his defeat.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy,'' Topmaniac is defeated by jumping on the button on top of its head, deactivating it, and spinning it into the electrical fences surrounding the arena.

* Topmaniac in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' is defeated by jumping on the button on top of its head, deactivating it, and spinning it into the electrical fences surrounding the arena.

* The final battle with Gargamel, in the first ''TheSmurfs'' game for the SNES, involved a catapult being used to cause him to fall to his defeat.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jazz_9.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350: I sure wonder how to defeat this boss who holds an impenetrable shield…]]

!!Examples of Type 1:

!!Examples of Type 2:

* The first boss in ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit II'' (see page image), who has to be driven back off an edge, as any overzealous mother-in-law who blames the wrong person for her daughter's kidnapping would.

** In ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1'', the skeleton on level 3 has no life bar, and therefore cannot actually be killed. The only way to defeat it is to knock it down into a pit (twice!).

A SubTrope of PuzzleBoss, and often a BullfightBoss, the Ring Out Boss is a type of BossBattle where the boss himself cannot be just defeated via damage, but has to simply be knocked or thrown back into a [[LavaPit dangerous substance]] or [[SpikesOfDoom obstacle]] to cause damage. Very much the Boss Battle type used when the hero fights the ImplacableMan or a character with NighInvulnerability.

** Subverted with King Bob-Omb in ''Super Mario 64''. His only means of hurting you is tossing ''you'' off the arena platform, possibly subjecting you to fall damage. And you can't throw ''him'' off the mountain to hurt him. Doing so will just lead to him jumping back up to the top, and chastising you for playing dirty.

A SubTrope of ConvenientWeaknessPlacement, and very much a subtrope of RingOut, as that is the aim in one of these battles--albeit often with a foe who can come back a few times before being killed. Related to BossArenaIdiocy, as it's only due to the dangerous and (for the enemy) stupid design of their battle arena that they can even be killed at all.

** From ''VideoGame/SonicAdvanceTrilogy'': Toy Kingdom, where you pretty much evade his attacks, then hit, rinse, and repeat for a couple of minutes or so, trying to knock him into the bottomless pit.

** Iggy and Larry from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', which you had to knock into the lava on a giant tilting platform.

** Inverted with King Bob-Omb in ''Super Mario 64''. His only means of hurting you is tossing ''you'' off the arena platform, possibly subjecting you to fall damage. And you can't throw ''him'' off the mountain to hurt him. Doing so will just lead to him jumping back up to the top.

** The larger Cataquacks that walk over the mirrors in Gelato Beach, in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine''.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' has the first phase of the final battle with [[TheHeavy Ghirahim]]-he creates an aerial arena for you and he to fight on, and as can be imagined, you need to knock him to the ground and spear him through the chest with your Finishing move.
*** An earlier case would be Scervo, the [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot robot pirate]] miniboss of the Sandship, who is fought on a narrow gangplank and must be gradually pushed back by your sword attacks until he falls off of it.

** Partially subverted in that the Beam and Spark abilities can also hurt it, both being electric attacks. The fight, however, will take longer since Beam is weaker than most abilities, and Spark has a short range and stops you in place when in use.
** Subverted again since it has a second phase where you fight it's detached head (not as nightmare-inducing as it sounds) and can actually damage it directly.

** Dangoro from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess''.
** Partial example: Defeating Jahalla in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' requires throwing the boss into spiked columns lining the arena before finishing off the poes that make up its body.

** Subverted by the boss fight against the big Bob-omb in the first world of the game. You encounter him at the top of a mountain and he is defeated by picking him up and throwing him, but if you try to throw him off the mountain (as your first instinct might be) you will do no damage, and the Bob-omb will leap back up to the top and will chastise you for fighting cheaply. To damage him, you must throw him down onto the very ground (the top of the mountain) that you're standing on.