History Main / TrueFinalBoss

A hidden BossBattle in a VideoGame that shows up after (or [[BaitAndSwitchBoss instead of]]) the game's usual FinalBoss battle, but only if certain conditions have been met. In terms of the narrative, they could be the regular FinalBoss gone OneWingedAngel, TheManBehindTheMan, a GreaterScopeVillain, TheDragon ([[DragonTheirFeet having arrived late to the party]]), [[TheDogWasTheMastermind some side character nobody thought was important until right this moment]], or (if the game is a fan of MindScrew) a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere. Or maybe the ''regular'' FinalBoss is TheDragon or a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere, and the BigBad proper is the True Final Boss. Regardless of their identity, this is undoubtedly THE [[DifficultySpike strongest, baddest opponent]] you can battle in the game (aside from maybe the {{Superboss}}).

Exactly how to unlock the True Final Boss varies: It may be as simple as playing the game on a higher (or the [[HarderThanHard highest]]) DifficultyLevel, or it may involve achievements like a SpeedRun, NoDamageRun, HundredPercentCompletion, or some obscure GottaCatchThemAll SideQuest, or the boss may appear at the very end of an unlockable BossRush mode after the main story. In some cases you may not even be able to fight them on your first attempt at the game, being reserved for NewGamePlus runs (typically when this happens it's because you're able to use knowledge or abilities that weren't an option during the original run but now are possible because of the differences in your character from the last time you were in this position; alternatively it could just be that something new was permitted from the original playthrough). Not every game will {{Foreshadow|ing}} that this foe even exists in the first place or how to find them — GuideDangIt — and sometimes even an official strategy guide will intentionally avoid spoiling them in advance. (But for that, there's always the Internet…)

Compare and contrast {{Superboss}}, which is an extra-hard secret unlockable boss that has no relevance to the game plot (or at least not to the immediate struggle) and only gives a BraggingRightsReward for beating it. A True Final Boss is sometimes this since they're not always required outside of [[HundredPercentCompletion 100% completion]].

Not to be confused with a normal FinalBoss after a DiscOneFinalBoss. If a True Final Boss exists and does not replace the FinalBoss when its conditions are met (and there is not a substantial chunk of the game between them), the regular FinalBoss is effectively downgraded to being the PreFinalBoss.

** ''VideoGame/BlasterMasterZeroII'': If you have received all three Interplanetary All-Purpose Markers from the MA pilots, once again you go to the true final level after the regular FinalBoss, this time [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent playing as a different character]] who eventually gets their own sword. The ultimate fight this time is against [[SdrawckabName Drolrevo]], the ultimate influencer of the mutants.

A subtrope of RouteBoss, wherein the "[[SecretFinalCampaign route]]" is unlocked after completing all other story content.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' has two in a row. The normal FinalBoss is Mergo's Wet Nurse, and if you'd like to end it there, you can (achieving the ''Yharnam Sunrise'' ending). But if you refuse the opportunity, you get to fight [[spoiler: Gherman, the First Hunter]]. And if you don't have three specific items (some of which [[PermanentlyMissableContent can be missed completely]], so you may not have the opportunity to collect them in your playthrough), it'll end there with the ''Honoring Wishes'' ending. If you ''do'' have and use the plot-important items, then you will instead get the third and final boss in the sequence, [[spoiler: the Moon Presence]]. Defeating ''that'' will unlock the final ending, ''Childhood's Beginning''.

* ''VideoGame/SwordOfPaladin'': If the player obtains all twelve Satan Gems and masters all the Paladin skills, [[spoiler:they can give the gems to Zechs and beat the FinalBoss again. This unlocks a postgame duel with Zechs, who now surpasses Nade's Master Paladin form.]]

* Collecting all 65 of the weapons in ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'' unlocks a [[MultipleEndings 5th secret ending]] in which you fight the Queen of the Grotesqueries. Though it's a rather unconventional battle, more akin to a RhythmGame than to a real boss, it is widely considered [[NintendoHard the hardest challenge in the game]] ''[[DifficultySpike by far]]''. To wit — after the first thirty seconds, ''[[OneHitKill there is no room for error]]''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TycMDbNG1U You'd have to be a robot to beat this in less than fifty tries]].

** Beating Krizalid with a high enough score in '99 let you fight Iori or Kyo, and in ''2002 Unlimited Match'', beating Krizalid, Clone Zero, Original Zero, or Igniz lets you fight Omega Rugal if you meet certain conditions. You only get one chance to beat him, and that is literally almost impossible unless you absolutely know what you're doing. Omega Rugal's stats are [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard artificially increased]] to the point where one normal attack on them does roughly 1/3 of its normal damage. Basically, teamwork is key. Lose one set and it's GameOver. Win and you unlock them for regular play.

* The ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' games usually avert this, at the worst making you fight the FinalBoss two times, once without 100% Completion and once with it. [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2NTranced The second GBA game]] plays it straight, though, where you need 100% completion to fight N. Tropy. This also applies to the first GBA game. Get all the collectibles and fight Cortex again, and you’ll get an AdvancingBossOfDoom sequence with Megamix.

* In ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2'', the player character is required to obtain all 13 Time Capsules found in Parusa's hub and in certain Battlesphere challenges in order to unlock the GoldenEnding. When normally facing off against Merga as the FinalBoss, a recording of her love interest Cordelia plays before Syntax reveals herself to have survived and goes through with the plan of absorbing the moon's power, becoming the game's True Final Boss.

* ''VideoGame/LegendOfGrimrock II'': Defeating the Lindworm makes the credits roll, but to truly complete the game you need to go back and defeat the elusive Island Master. Doing so will liberate the island of his control, preventing future explorers from being trapped by him again.

** In Abyssos, Hephaistos breaks the chains on his body and transforms into an EldritchHorror with multiple eyes on his right arm and upper body, demonic and angelic wings, and a double-helix torso.

** Unlike the first three Ultimate raids, Dragonsong's Reprise takes it much further and is a WhatIf of the ''Heavensward'' storyline. While the first three phases against Sers Zephirin, Grinnaux, and Charibert, King Thordan, and Nidhogg play out normally, the intermission after Nidhogg returns you to the point where Haurchefant dies in the main storyline, requiring the party to save him from the attack that killed him. Without the motivation to seek vengeance against Thordan and the Heavens' Ward, Thordan reaches Azys Lla without any resistance, loots it, and subjugates the Dravanian Horde with Allagan technology, culminating in a battle against both Hraesvelgr and Nidhogg, who are then absorbed by Thordan to become Dragon-king Thordan.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ: Legend of the Super Saiyajin'' for the Famicom, Goku can only turn Super Saiyajin if one of his Earthling friends[[note]]Gohan or Piccolo dying is an instant GameOver[[/note]] is killed by Frieza's final form. If this happens, and Vegeta is still around, Vegeta will turn Super Saiyajin as well and attack Goku after Frieza is defeated.

** Starting with the Generation III remakes of ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', most games give the Elite Four and Champion stronger teams for you to face upon rematch; some games unlock this immediately, while others require you to complete a post-game storyline before their teams get upgraded.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'', there's Team Rainbow Rocket's Giovanni, both the leader of an alternate timeline where Team Rocket fulfilled its goals and is the commander of other successful {{Big Bad}}s from previous generations. To even reach him, you need to go through almost every villain in the series up to that point, all of whom are packing [[OlympusMons Legendary Pokémon]] and one of whom who also has access to Mega Evolution. Giovanni himself is the most formidable of them all: his Pokémon are high-levelled and cover their weaknesses effectively, but the real problem is the fact that he has a ''[[SuperMode Mega]] [[SuperSoldier Mewtwo]]'', which has one of the highest base stat totals in the entire series. Beating him is extremely hard, but feels ''very'' good.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'' has the titular PhysicalGod as the object of the very last mission in the game. Encountering it requires the player to collect every single Pokémon (barring Mythicals) and complete all other Missions, which entails completing both the main storyline ''and'' the postgame story. Only then does Arceus allow you to challenge it at the Temple of Sinnoh, before putting you through what is unambiguously the most ruthless fight in the game.

* In ''VideoGame/RecordOfAgarestWar'', after spending how many hours in the game, you'd think Summerill is the final boss. If you unlocked the True Ending route (itself a GuideDangIt), you get to fight ''five'' sealed dark gods/goddesses who are level 300 and the True Final Boss who is at level 350, when your level at this point is at most level 100. Taken UpToEleven in the prequel ''VideoGame/RecordOfAgarestWarZero'', where the true end (still a GuideDangIt) nets you close to 20 additional boss fights (each progressively harder than the last) before facing the True Final Boss if you played on hard.

** In ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'', completing the main story grants you access to the Ultimate Choice, which is its equivalent to The Arena and the True Arena. Clearing it on either difficulty levels 6 or 7 will grant you access to the highest dificulty, Soul Melter, featuring Void Soul replacing Void Termina's fourth phase, which was originally the game's True Final Boss. However, an update added a new mode called Heroes in Another Dimension. Clearing that mode and beating Soul Melter in The Ultimate Choice will unlock the secret difficulty, [[HarderThanHard Soul Melter EX]]. Reaching the end of Soul Melter EX will bring you face to face with Void Termina, the True Destroyer of Worlds, with its fourth phase being Void, replacing Void Soul, becoming the game's [[UpToEleven True True Final Boss]].

** ''Daifukkatsu Black Label'' introduces a [[UpToEleven second True Final Boss]] (provided certain requirements are met). It's a TurnsRed version named "Zatzusa", the [[ItWasHisSled formerly claimed]] crowning terror of Shump bosses. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHqN_fH2S7k Here it is in the original game]]. On the 360 retail ''Black Label Arrange'' mode of ''Daifukkatsu'', the Ketsui crossover, now you have to fight Evaccaneer DOOM on steroids (now called HIVAC), [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH3pbDY5Khk making the original look like a mid-boss]] in comparison.

* Taken UpToEleven in ''[[VideoGame/{{Gauntlet}} Gauntlet: Dark Legacy]]''. In the original version, Gauntlet Legends, Skorne's true form could only be fought after hunting down all 12 runestones AND running through a level beforehand. After this fight in the remake, Garm absorbs Skorne's power, transforming into a large statue, taking control of Skorne's forces, and sealing himself within a citadel that can only be reached by finding the 13th runestone in the Battlefield.

* ''VideoGame/Disgaea2CursedMemories'' has a rare example of this (rare for the series anyway, which tends much more towards Bonus Bosses) if you go for the Worst Ending. Upon defeating Zenon, you end up fighting Rozalin/the real Overlord Zenon, who is at level ''2000''. (Compare with the traditional FinalBoss who's at level 90.) And unlike the other storyline fights with enemies at this level, you're supposed to win this one. Granted, it'll take a lot of grinding of a sort just to unlock this fight, but it can still catch you off guard. Luckily, there's a way to back out of qualifying for this ending. Which is a ''good'' thing, as your reward for victory is some NightmareFuel.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesKuroNoKiseki'' has Van, the protagonist himself, become the True Final Boss in the form of his Devil identity: "The Wandering Devil King" Vagrants-Zion, one of the five strongest Devils residing within [[{{Hell}} Gehenna]]. This is after the FinalBoss fight where Van recovers his stolen Diabolic Core from a Devil-powered Gerard Dantes and takes it back inside him while in Grendel Sin form, an "unshackled" form that gives its wearer cosmic awareness of Zemuria's truths and lies. Players will need to fight this Devil King with the remaining members of the Solutions Office in two phases: first while Van is locked inside it, and second when you regain control of Van as the Devil King becomes unstable after losing its human vessel. Unlike ''Cold Steel IV'', this doesn't require a side quest to complete as this fight is somewhat immediately after the Final Boss.

** ''Star Force 3'' gets weird with this. As normal, getting every star lets you fight the super form of the final boss. However, inputting [[GuideDangIt secret]] passwords lets you fight your Rival's new super form, and the super forms of the SuperBoss, the SuperBoss of the last game, and one of the new bosses. After all of that, you can fight the final boss's super SUPER form...as a random encounter. Not only that, but if you go through a long gauntlet of Wi-Fi matches (which is hard with all of the [=DCers=]), you can fight yet another secret boss and earn a secret star.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'': After Snagging 47 of the 48 Shadow Pokémon, a series of events will lead to the final battle in the game. An odd example, though: while Fein is no pushover, he’s no Evice, either, just an EliteMook who happens to have the last Shadow Pokémon.

* ''VideoGame/{{Teleroboxer}}'' features 7 different opponents to fight, with Mamoru with his Tukikage being the last one. However, the ending flat out tells you that you are ''not'' the champion. This can be changed...assuming you have 7 wins and 0 losses. Should this requirement be met, you get treated to one final battle with an actual cat named Milky, who pilots the Bamsham. And if you score the victory against Milky, you get both the belt and the permission to see the credits.
* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' has two of these in its first FightingGame [[GaidenGame side story]] ''Immaterial And Missing Power''. With only two exceptions, each character's story mode lets you fight Yukari if you beat the previous five stages without continuing, and then lets you fight Suika if you don't continue against Yukari. (If you don't fight Yukari, you get a bad ending, and if you beat Yukari but don't fight Suika, you get another bad ending). Naturally, the two characters without True Final Bosses are...Yukari and Suika.

** ''VideoGame/BlasterMasterZero'': If you kill every mutant and get every power-up (including life upgrades) and area map in the game, a cutscene after the regular FinalBoss introduces you to the game's InfinityPlusOneSword and whisks you away to the true final level, ending with the ultimate fight against Sophia III possessed by the Mutant Core.
** ''VideoGame/BlasterMasterZeroII'': If you have received all three Interplanetary All-Purpose Markers from the MA pilots, once again you go to the true final level after the regular FinalBoss, this time [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent playing as a different character]] who evenually gets their own sword. The ultimate fight this time is against Drolevo, the ultimate influencer of the mutants.

** ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'': If you undergo HundredPercentCompletion, the final boss will have roughly three times as much health as it normally does, and its attacks deal double damage.

** After completing the main story of ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand,'' you gain access to the Isolated Isles: Forgo Dreams, a post-game world that goes through remixed versions of each previous world. Upon completing the Isolated Isles and defeating Morpho Knight, you can challenge the Ultimate Cup Z, at the end of which you fight Chaos Elfilis. They even gain an additional form that has many callbacks to the previous Soul bosses.

** [[{{Kitsune}} The Nine-Failed Fox]], in the Epilogue's True Ending, achieved if Kou's skill stars add up to at least 8. It is an almighty, god-like being that wants to keep Shiori as its servant, but Rem convinces it to restore her life and let her return to her friends and family if the protagonists can prove their strength in a fight.

[[folder:Shoot 'Em Up]]

A hidden BossBattle in a VideoGame that shows up after (or [[BaitAndSwitchBoss instead of]]) the game's usual FinalBoss battle, but only if certain conditions have been met. In terms of the narrative, they could be the regular FinalBoss gone OneWingedAngel, TheManBehindTheMan, a GreaterScopeVillain, TheDragon ([[DragonTheirFeet having arrived late to the party]]), [[TheDogWasTheMastermind some side character nobody thought was important until right this moment]], or (if the game is a fan of MindScrew) a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere. Or maybe the ''regular'' FinalBoss is TheDragon or a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere, and the BigBad proper is the True Final Boss. Regardless of their identity, this is undoubtedly THE [[DifficultySpike strongest, baddest opponent]] you can battle in the game (aside from maybe the SuperBoss).

** ''Dodonpachi Saidaioujou'' manages to [[SerialEscalation exceed even that boss]] with its own second true final boss: '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqlQDHL8F8I Inbachi]]'''[[note]]Whose name can be translated as [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "hidden bee" or "evil bee"]].[[/note]]

* ''Battle Traverse'' has one that shows up to ''[[FakeOutFadeOut interrupt the end credits]]'' if the conditions for it are met. As your character rides on their chopper back home, the boss Village Northward shows up behind them and your character steps back out to fight them.

** Unlike the first three Ultimate raids, Dragonsong's Reprise takes it much further and is a WhatIf of the ''Heavensward'' storyline. While the first three phases against Sers Zephirin, Grinnaux, and Charibert, King Thordan, and Nidhogg play out normally, the intermission after Nidhogg returns you to the point where Haurchefant dies in the main storyline, requiring the party to save him from the attack that killed him. Without the motivation to seek vengeance against Thordan and the Heavens' Ward, Thordan reaches Azys Lla without any resistance, loots it, and subjugates the Dravanian Horde with Allagan technology.

** Unlike the first three Ultimate raids, Dragonsong's Reprise takes it much further and is a WhatIf of the ''Heavensward'' storyline. While the first three phases against Sers Zephirin, Grinnaux, and Charibert, King Thordan, and Nidhogg play out normally, the intermission after Nidhogg returns you to the point where Haurchefant dies in the main storyline, requiring the party to save him the attack that killed him. Without the motivation to seek vengeance against Thordan and the Heavens' Ward, Thordan reaches Azys Lla without any resistance, loots it, and subjugates the Dravanian Horde with Allagan technology.

** Unlike the first three Ultimate raids, Dragonsong's Reprise takes it much further and is a WhatIf of the ''Heavensward'' storyline. While the first three phases against Sers Zephirin, Grinnaux, and Charibert, King Thordan, and Nidhogg play out normally, the intermission after Nidhogg returns you to the point where Haurchefant dies in the main storyline, requiring the party to save him the attack that killed him. From that point, the storyline diverges into an alternate retelling of the Dragonsong War.

* In the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series:
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'', if the player collects all of the Starshards as well as the other 4 spheres, Marth finds out that his quest to defeat Hardin was just a distraction so [[HijackedByGanon Gharnef could revive Medeus]].
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'', defeating BigBad King Zephiel with all the gaiden chapters completed and all legendary weapons intact unlocks a few extra chapters, pitting you against TheRemnant and culminating in the real final boss fight with Zephiel's literal [[TheDragon Dragon]], still under orders to carry out his ultimate plan.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' has something of an [[AnticlimaxBoss anticlimactic]] final boss on Easy and Normal mode, but he springs a cruel surprise on Hard mode: not only does he start moving (with a massive movement range of 10 spaces), after you "beat" him, he immediately invokes a dark god and resurrects with wildly increased stats and fully-replenished (and jacked-up) HP. And it's '''still your turn''', meaning any units that attacked him are unable to act until your next turn! Adding to that, only six characters can actually inflict damage on him before he resurrects, of whom you can only have three at once. (Eagle-eyed players might suspect something is amiss going into the final chapter, as there are [[SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity less enemies on the map]] than in Normal mode.)

[[/folder]]

** ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' requires you to complete each of its main modes before revealing ''another'' mode in which you must RunTheGauntlet, defeating [[BossRush every enemy in the game]] in a random sequence, keeping accumulated damage in between.