Basic Trope: A boss that's a much, MUCH harder version of a boss the player faced before.
- Played Straight: You face Emperor Evulz in a sword fight in the Disc-One Final Dungeon. He comes back at the end of the Brutal Bonus Level with faster and stronger attacks, and a new change of clothes.
- Exaggerated:
- You face the Warm-Up Boss at the beginning of the game and he's a total pushover. The True Final Boss is his identical twin brother (in both appearance and attack style) and he's the hardest boss in the game.
- Evulz has powered up so much that he's only the same boss in name and maybe appearance.
- Evulz comes back as the boss for every dungeon thereafter with slight improvements to his tactics and attacks every time.
- Evulz upgrades himself across multiple games.
- Downplayed: Emperor Evulz unveils a new attack or phase in the rematch, but is otherwise the same as before, only with higher numbers to match your growth in strength.
- Justified: Emperor Evulz has been improving himself so that he would not lose the same way again.
- Inverted: Emperor Evulz, stripped of his rank following his defeat, reappears as a Degraded Boss.
- Subverted:
- Before the rematch with Emperor Evulz, the giant dragon that was flying around the level in the background suddenly swoops in and eats Evulz, so you have to fight it instead.
- Instead of facing you in another sword fight, Evulz instead rematches you in a Humongous Mecha with guns attached to every limb.
- The rematch with Evulz is the exact same fight as before, even down to his HP.
- Double Subverted:
- After dealing with the dragon, Evulz bursts out of its stomach and powers up.
- After damaging the mecha, it breaks down, and Evuls jumps back out, facing you in a sword fight like before.
- After getting curbstomped, Evulz gets revived and empowered by an external force and the real fight begins.
- Parodied: Before the rematch, Emperor Evulz details the efforts he took to get up to speed, including flashing back to a Training Montage.
- Zig-Zagged: Emperor Evulz challenges you and, at first, seems to have the same attack pattern, only to suddenly suit up in Powered Armor and suddenly start firing at you. After you destroy the armor, he leaps out, brandishes his sword, and comes at you with faster and fiercer attacks. Once he's brought down to his final phase, he starts tiring out, with increasingly sloppy movements until his fighting spirit gives out.
- Averted: Emperor Evulz is only fought once in the game and does not come back.
- Enforced: "We need a boss at the end of the Hell Dungeon, but we don't have the time to develop a new boss. I know! We'll make a harder version of the Emperor Evulz fight!"
- Lampshaded: "I've learnt a few new tricks since our last match!"
- Exploited: The Bonus Dungeon is hard because Emperor Evulz is sharing his newfound power with his army, turning the mooks into Demonic Spiders.
- Defied: Emperor Evulz is Killed Off for Real by the hero so that he cannot return.
- Discussed: "Why did you spare him? You know he'll come back for his revenge some day!"
