History Main / ShieldedCoreBoss

* A few boss battles from ''PokemonPinball''. In the first game, Mewtwo protects himself from the player's attacks with a ring of rotating psychic orbs; he regenerates them every time the player succeeds in inflicting damage, although as his HP drops, the barrier becomes progressively weaker, allowing some attacks to slip through.

* A few boss battles from ''PokemonPinball''. In the first agme, Mewtwo protects himself from the player's attacks with a ring of rotating psychic orbs; he regenerates them every time the player succeeds in inflicting damage, although as his HP drops, the barrier becomes progressively weaker, allowing some attacks to slip through.

* In ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'', the last form of the FinalBoss Onmyo Harihara is surrounded by six different orbs, five of which causes her to be impervious to a different element and the remaining one reflecting physical attacks. You need to strike down the orbs to even start hurting her, but she automatically restores one for free ''every turn.'' If you don't have something that does Almighty damage to wipe out all the orbs at once, you're looking at an uphill battle.

* The Area 6 boss in ''VideoGame/StarFox 64'' requires you to shoot three energy balls surrounding its energy core before it will take damage. After a short window of opportunity, it generates three large metal tendrils and closes its shell entirely; you must shoot and destroy the tendrils to open the shell, then repeat the process all over again.
** The ReactorBoss in the first game requires you to deactivate its shields before you can damage it. The second version can regenerate them.

* [[MeaningfulName Absolute Defender]] from ''[[{{Darius}} G-Darius]]''- you have to destroy his (regenerating) shield generator in order to damage him, but once you do so, you can hit him anywhere in order to damage him.

* The Final Boss of ''MegaManZX Advent'' is like this, you have to damage his [[DeflectorShields forcefield]] enough for it to disappear, then quickly get your hits in before it get put back up again.
* Helicopter bosses (such as the WarmUpBoss) from ''NightStriker'' have a forcefield that can take quite a few hits. Once it's down, you have to hit the heli or else it'll put its shield back up in a short time (and if you do hit it, it regenerates the shield). The good news is that these helis have only three hit points, unless it's the FinalBoss of stage R, which has more.
* The Big Core ship and its many variations in the ''{{Gradius}}'' series generally has a series of shields you must shoot through to reach the core.

* ''MassEffect2'' has a couple of these: the Reaper core in the Derelict Reaper mission and the rogue VI in the ''Overlord'' DLC. In both cases, you have to shoot things around the core first to make it vulnerable.
* Doc Ock in the ''{{Spider-Man}}'' PS1 game is protected by a sort of electric field that must be shut off in order to get close to him and do damage.

* ''ResidentEvil4'' has this with the Queen Plaga/Salazar/Verdugo chimera; you have to shoot Verdugo's eye so the creature opens up to reveal Salazar, who is its weak point.

* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireDragonQuarter'' has a variation with the Regents and their "Absolute Defense". From a gameplay standpoint it simply absorbs a set amount of damage from the party's attacks, requiring them to string together {{Combos}} long enough to break through it; but it is visually depicted as a BeehiveBarrier taking each hit until it shatters.

* From the final chapter in ''OdinSphere'', the "King of the Underworld" is a gigantic undead Cerberus. Unlike the still-living cerberus you defeated before him, after destroying his three heads you must attack his exposed heart before he regenerates the heads and the process repeats -- a battle that lives up to publisher {{Atlus}}'s reputation for NintendoHard games.

Some of these bosses can be [[NintendoHard very difficult]], depending on how much damage their shielding can sustain before it is disabled, and how quickly the boss regenerates it. In some [[ThatOneBoss extreme cases]], damaged (but not destroyed) shielding may even regenerate on its own, requiring the player to not only inflict damage to disable it, but to inflict damage ''quickly''. On the other hand, some are [[GoddamnedBoss simply tedious]] if destroying his shield takes a long time and he doesn't otherwise pose much of a threat; in many such cases a player may opt to take some damage if it means getting some more hits on the core while it's exposed.

Some of these bosses can be [[NintendoHard very difficult]], depending on how much damage their shielding can sustain before it is disabled, and how quickly the boss regenerates it. In some [[ThatOneBoss extreme cases]], damaged (but not destroyed) shielding may even regenerate on its own, requiring the player to not only inflict damage to disable it, but to inflict damage ''quickly''. On the other hand, some are [[GoddamnedBoss simply tedious]] if destroying his shield takes a long time and he doesn't otherwise pose much of a threat.

* In many ''LegendOfZelda'' titles since ''OcarinaOfTime'', most boss battles typically consist of using a newly-acquired weapon/tool from the latest dungeon to "stun" the boss and expose its weak point to ordinary sword strikes before the boss recovers from it; the entire process is generally repeated [[RuleOfThree three times]] before the boss dies.
** Ghirahim in ''SkywardSword'' is the quickest example: In his final battle, once he summons a large claymore as his weapon, the only way to finish him off is to chip away and shatter his weapon with repeated sword strikes, then deliver a thrust attack to his exposed core. Get thrown off rhythm and Ghirahim will simply repair the blade with a snap of his fingers.

* In ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'', Sluggy the Unshaven's heart is the obvious [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak point]], but hitting it requires getting through the surrounding ectoplasm, which regenerates.

* ''BreathOfFireDragonQuarter'' has a variation with the Regents and their "Absolute Defense". From a gameplay standpoint it simply absorbs a set amount of damage from the party's attacks, requiring them to string together {{Combos}} long enough to break through it; but it is visually depicted as a BeehiveBarrier taking each hit until it shatters.

* In ''MetroidPrime 3'', the gigantic war golem "Mogenar" has four Phazon cores (in various locations) shielded by red energy orbs; the player must blast through the shielding and then deliver a strike at the core with their Hyper Beam. Mogenar can regenerate the energy orbs using fixtures located along the edge of its BossRoom, and regenerates all of them whenever any core is destroyed. It is considered one of the game's [[ThatOneBoss most difficult battles]].

* A penultimate boss in ''{{Psychonauts}}'' uses Telekinesis to protect himself with several rings of debris, and the player must use Raz's own various powers to break holes in each layer and deliver a strike, while the boss is simultaneously using his own psychic powers to repair each breach.

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* In ''Sonic3AndKnuckles'', Robotnik pilots a large stone golem as the boss of Sandopolis Zone Act 2; although it only takes one hit to dislodge the armor and expose Robotnik to a strike, the armor quickly snaps back into place, resulting in a limited opportunity to strike.

** Koloktos before him covers its weak point by various means, and the battle proceeds primarily by using the whip to strip them away before striking the core. It goes up a notch when he TurnsRed, with Koloktos wielding [[MultiArmedAndDangerous six]] [[{{BFS}} gigantic swords]] while shielding its weak point with an iron grate. One strategy is to [[detach three of its arms with your whip, then pick up one of those giant swords to knock off its remaining arms, legs]], and then smash through the grate and strike its core, which itself must be repeated three times to win the battle.

* In ''MetroidPrime3'', the gigantic war golem "Mogenar" has four Phazon cores (in various locations) shielded by red energy orbs; the player must blast through the shielding and then deliver a strike at the core with their Hyper Beam. Mogenar can regenerate the energy orbs using fixtures located along the edge of its BossRoom, and regenerates all of them whenever any core is destroyed. It is considered one of the game's [[ThatOneBoss most difficult battles]].

* A penultimate boss in ''Psychonauts'' uses Telekinesis to protect himself in several rings of debris, and the player must use Raz's own various powers to break holes in each layer and deliver a strike, while the boss simultaneously uses his own psychic powers to repair each breach.

* In ''SkywardSword'', the Boss Koloktos eventually shields its heart with an iron cage and pulls out six giant swords and uses them to swipe at you, summon baddies, etc. You can detach three of its arms with a whip that you receive in its dungeon. [[spoiler: You can then pick up the giant swords and use it to detach the other three arms, bisect it at the hip , and smash through the iron cage and eventually start whaling on its heart.]]

* From the final chapter in ''OdinSphere'', the "King of the Underworld" is a gigantic undead Cerberus. To defeat him, you must destroy each of his three heads, then attack his exposed heart before he regenerates the heads -- a long battle that lives up to {{Atlus}}'s NintendoHard reputation.
** It's somewhat important to note, however, that the game wasn't actually developed by Atlus, only localized.
* A penultimate boss in ''Psychonauts'' uses Telekinesis to protect himself in several rings of debris, and the player must use Raz's own psychic powers to break holes in each layer and deliver a strike, while the boss simultaneously uses his own psychic powers to repair each breach.

* Given an [[BestBossEver excellently awesome twist]] in ''SkywardSword''. The Boss Koloktos eventually shields its heart with an iron cage and pulls out six giant swords and uses them to swipe at you, summon baddies, etc. You can detach three of its arms with a whip that you receive in its dungeon. [[spoiler: You can pick up the giant swords (!) and use it to detach the other three arms, bisect it at the hip (!!), and smash through the iron cage and eventually start whaling on its heart (!!!).]]

* Given an [[BestBossEver excellently awesome twist]]in ''SkywardSword''. The Boss Koloktos eventually shields its heart with an iron cage and pulls out six giant swords and uses them to swipe at you, summon baddies, etc. You can detach three of its arms with a whip that you receive in its dungeon. [[spoiler: You can pick up the giant swords (!) and use it to detach the other three arms, bisect it at the hip (!!), and smash through the iron cage and eventually start whaling on its heart (!!!).]]