"Who gives a damn about you? Your new name is 'Mid-Boss'." —Laharl,Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, giving his opinion of Vyers The Dark Adonis

A Mini-Boss, Sub Boss or Mid Boss is a distinct, generally unique, stronger-than-average monster that you encounter usually halfway to two-thirds through the level/dungeon/etc. It is noteworthy because it's tougher than any ordinary enemy (and isn't encountered under normal conditions like aGiant Mook), yet it still isn't as strong as the actualBoss Battle that awaits you at the end. In story terms, theMini Boss is oftenThe Dragon to the level boss.

Some games would have worlds split up into levels, and the level bosses would be mid bosses with the world boss being the "proper" boss.

Recurring antagonists, such as theGoldfish Poop Gang and theQuirky Miniboss Squad, are often mini-bosses.

In the days whenNintendo Hard was the norm, this was especially sadistic. But as games got easier, such enemies were often just a little harder than the regularMooks, and in some cases would just beBreather Bosses. But it's not always the case. Some lucky ones might even be a"Wake-Up Call" Boss orThat One Boss.

Fighting games like to use the "New Challenger" screen normally used for when a second player joins when a midboss arrives.

If there is one, the reward for defeating theMini Boss is usually a map of the level, the featured item or weapon of the dungeon (as in the case ofThe Legend of Zelda games), or aPlot Coupon, such as the Boss Key.

Mayreturn as a regular enemy later in the game. Of course, normal bosses may become sub-bosses later as well.

CompareSmash Mook (and some often are),Elite Mooks andDisc One Final Boss.

ContrastFinal Boss,Boss in Mook Clothing.

• Many run-and-gun games likeContra,Gunstar Heroes,Alien Soldier andAlien Hominid are usuallyfilled with them.
• The Legend of Zelda games fromLinks Awakening onward have at least one per dungeon. However, when it comes to dungeons,Phantom Hourglass oddly averts the trope, whose few mini-bosses (Jolene, a bigger-than-usual Eye Plant, aGiant Space Flea From Nowhere near Goron Island andA group of Phantoms in the Temple of the Ocean King), the latter one being an exception, are all fought in the overworld.
• TheFinal Fantasy games have some.
  • The Sealed Cave fromFinal Fantasy IV is in large part that way due to the Trapdoor minibosses. Yes, plural -almost every door is a Trapdoor.
  • The four elemental worlds inFinal Fantasy Mystic Quest would have two lesser dungeon bosses before the final crystal guardians.
• Vindictus has so very many. Sometimes you even getDual Minibosses!
• Kingdom Hearts has a few. The Shadow Sora miniboss fight in the Neverland level is infamous for being much, MUCH harder than the final boss for the level (Captain Hook).
  • This could be a affectionateShout-Out to the Dark Link Miniboss in the water temple ofThe Legend of Zelda, who is well known for the same reason.
• God of War had a couple.
• Street Fighter Alpha 3 had you fight a character relevant to your own character's story halfway through the game; this has shown up in otherFighting Games and are often referred to as "story battles".
  • This returns inStreet Fighter IV, happening just before the final battle in each character's story mode.
• God Hand loves these; every stage has at least one, and most have two or better.
• SaGa Frontier has quite a few.
• InDisgaea: Hour of Darkness, this is spoofed withRecurring BossVyers, known to himself as"The Dark Adonis", getsstuck with the nickname "Mid-Boss". This is the characters calling him a minor obstacle, not an actual description of his effects on the game or story. (He's actually the final boss of three of the four chapters in which he is fought.)
• Legend of Dragoon is a rare instance of the sub bosses are often as powerful, if not more than the normal bosses.
  • The two bosses you fight in the volcano during disc one come to mind: Virage and the Flame Bird. The Virage is fought part-way through the level, and serves to prove why they were so feared in ages past. Then you fight the Flame Bird (which most people had forgotten about, after the trauma of the Virage battle), and it turns out to have twice as much HP, but only half the fight.
• Mega Man games. They started appearing regularly in the third game (not countingBoss in Mook Clothing enemies such as Bigeyes). TheMega Man Zero series has them as a mainstay of each level.
  • Mega Man 8 also had a miniboss at the halfway point of half the levels (Sword Man, Clown Man, Aqua Man and Grenade Man).
  • Inverted in two stages ofMega Man ZX Advent, when the main boss is at the beginning of one level and the midboss of that level is at the end.
• At least sinceKirby's Adventure, Kirby games have had a bunch of recurring ones. In the games with aBoss Rush mode, they appear again in groups to make up for the lack of power compared to a normal boss. Some of them provide hard to come byabilities such as Cook.
  • The series as a whole also has Kracko Jr., which is an easier version of Kracko, a boss (and is usually fought in the same level).
• TheDarius series has Sub Bosses as tradition. Particularly notable are the Sub Bosses ofDarius Gaiden; each sub-boss has a spherical orb, usually on the top of it; if you destroy just that part, you can collect the orb, causing the sub-boss to pull aHeel Face Turn and fight for you! Though, it slowly explodes over time and eventually dies. For those who play this game for score, clearing the game nets a huge bonus for each sub-boss captured.
  • In G-Darius, your ship has the ability to capture all regular enemies enemies and make them fight for you, including Mini-Bosses, although the difference this time around is that you need to first shoot off the gold-colored shielding with normal shots before they can be captured. Once captured, they stick around until they take too much hits from the other enemies, and each one has a special attack they used against you, useable by inputting a set of joystick motions, much like inFighting Games. And yes, like in the previous game, keeping them alive until to the end of the stage is worth a large score bonus, although they can be utilized to cause a long-lastingSmart Bomb explosion or a stronger-than-normalWave Motion Gun blast.
• Deae Tonosama Appare Ichiban has many minibosses, but their presence is somewhat undermined by the fact that the playable characters'Super Mode can defeat most of them withone punch.
• Star Fox 64 andStar Fox Assault sometimes have a stronger enemy appear about halfway through the level, although you don't have to defeat them to progress. A straight example would be either Star Wolf or the Grunner on either Venom Route.Command also has some minibosses guarding motherships in the harder levels.
  • Star Wolf collectively act as a full-fledged boss fight, at least in64.
• TheAce Combat games usually have this in the form of either one-time-appearance enemies (such as post-mission update enemies) or the antagonist ace squadrons, such as Yellow Squadron and Strigon Team; the former becomes aDegraded Boss by04's final mission though.
• TheTouhou series is very fond of midbosses. With the exception of (as ofTen Desires) two stages,every stage has one. Sometimes more, though this is about as rare as not having one. The thing is, every boss has to have a unique character design and profile, so dedicated midbosses are rare. Which means that it's usually the same character as the stage's actual boss, even if this makes no sense from a story perspective. Other times you get stage bosses midbossing for other characters (sometimes between games!), though this is usually explained.
  • To drive home how muchTouhou likes this trope,Phantasmagoria of Flower View has a recurring midboss.Phantasmagoria of Flower View is a versus shooter, and as suchdoesn't have stages.
• Metroid games often have mini bosses. InSuper Metroid andMetroid Zero Mission all bosses other than final ones and the ones you need to kill to open a way to the final boss are considered minibosses. InMetroid Prime minibosses and actual bosses are easily distinquished: minibosses don't have a health bar andtend to become recurring enemies later on. InEchoes there is no clear distinction as all bosses have a healthbar, but the Energy Controller guardians are often considered to be main bosses and the item guardians minibosses (although in this case some of themost annoying fights are item guardians).Corruption has several minibosses that you fight about halfway through the zones and planets (the actual bosses are the Leviathan Guardians).
  • Interestingly, the very first game referred to the two required-to-enter-the-final-area bosses as "mini-bosses", even though they were basically full-fledged bosses. Also interestingly,Metroid II pretty much has no major bosses at all; it only has mini-bosses (Metroid evolutions of increasing strength) and a final boss.
• Sonic 3 & Knuckles features two levels (Acts) per thematic area (Zone). In earlier games, there would only be a boss at the end of the zone, but inS3&K, there is also a sub-boss at the end of each first act. They are distinct from other bosses, in that they are autonomous, not controlled by Eggman/Eggrobo.
  • An interesting thing about the Sonic 3 mini-bosses is that if the game is locked on to Sonic & Knuckles, they use the mini-boss music from S&K instead of Sonic 3's mini-boss music. AGood Bad Bug reveals that the S&K mini-boss music is actually on the Sonic 3 cartridge.
  • Also some of the character fights inSonic Adventure. You only do them during story mode, and they are pathetically easy. InSonic Adventure 2,Sonic Heroes,Sonic Rush Series,|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, andSonic and The Black Knight however, they are classed as normal bosses, and some of them can be really irritating.
    • The E-100 robots from the same game.
  • The final level ofSonic the Hedgehog CD has one, a trio of fireflybadniks named Hotaru.
  • There's a handful inSonic Colors, like Big Chaser and the giant eyeball in Asteroid Coaster.
• La-Mulana has a great variety of minibosses scattered throughout the ruins. The Dimensional Corridor is packed with them, with 11 different minibosses to defeat before the area'sBoss Battle.
• Beginning inWild ARMs 3, theWild ARMs series began havingMini Bosses literally pop out of nowhere - the party will be shown walking around an empty corridor, one person says "Something's coming!" (or words to that effect), and boom, you're fighting aGiant Space Flea From Nowhere.
• Super Mario Bros examples: Birdo inSuper Mario Bros. 2, Boom-Boom inSuper Mario Bros 3, Reznor inSuper Mario World, Bowser Jr. inNew Super Mario Bros., the first Koopaling fights inNew Super Mario Bros. Wii (facing them a second time, with a tougher battlefield, counts as proper boss battles). As for the 3D games:
  • Super Mario 64 has theKing Mook enemies that don't have a background boss theme (Big Boo, the Big Bullies, Mr. I, etc.), while the ones with boss music (Big Bob-Omb, Bowser, Eyerok, etc.) are obviously bosses.
  • Super Mario Sunshine inverts the trope, oddly, as in each level you first face the local boss, and then Shadow Mario near the end.
  • Super Mario Galaxy andits sequel both have lots of minibosses, which are the bosses of the galaxies that precede the Grand Star stages (where the actual bosses reside).
• InPersona 4, several dungeons have Mini-Boss shadows around half-way through them, which also double as a case ofBoss in Mook Clothing
• The Tour Official inBackyard Skateboarding.
• Streets of Rage 2 and 3 had loads of these, including Jack (a knife-wielding gangbanger), Electra (the lady with the whip), the Fat Boys, and Hakuyo (the Chinese martial artist). They would often reappear in later levels either asDegraded Midbosses or in conjuction with other Mid Bosses.
• Many first encounters with enemies that are stronger than the average angel inBayonetta count as well. By the end of the game however, they become regular enemies and even some of the previous bosses become minibosses as well. The game suggests that they're different from the original bosses by giving them a different color scheme and an English name while the original versions had Latin ones.
• The King of Fighters will sometimes have a character challenge you from nowhere, interrupting the normal flow. These characters usually fight alone (unlike the usual team battle), but usually have increased defense to balance it. In the console version ofKOF XI, your actions up to that point determined the midboss, and if you beat them, you unlocked them.
• In Wing Commander, named Kilrathiaces such as Bhurak "Starkiller" nar Caxki and Bakhtosh"Baron Redclaw" nar Kiranka in the first game, orKur Human-Killer in the second, qualify as minibosses.
• InPokémon Mystery Dungeon 2,Regice, Regirock and Registeel to Regigigas.
• "W-W-Wait a sec! A new opponent has entered the arena!" Depending on your score, you'd either faceM. Bison orGeese Howard.
• For an action-adventure game that follows the footsteps ofThe Legend of Zelda,Okami has a miniboss cast as well. In order of appearance, they are Waka, the Satomi Canine Warriors, the Tube Foxes,Evil Rao, Oki,Nagi, True Orochi, and Nechku alone. ABandit Spider, almost a replica of the first boss, can also be fought three times (one in each of the Devil Gate grottos that house thevery difficultMulti Mook Melee matches). Lastly, judging from the tense music, the three big fish creatures that arecaptured at different points (Whopper, Cutlass Sword and Marlin) are minibosses as well.
• There are five inNo More Heroes 2 Desperate Struggle, and are fought through the optional revenge missions. They are the ones who kill Bishop (Travis's friend) after the start of the game.
• In the thirdFatal Fury game, Yamazaki will step in to challenge you twice, once midway and once at the end of the arcade ladder. The first battle is a one-round fight and he's not too strong but in the second bout, the gloves come off and you take him to the full length of the match. Succeed and you move onto the Jin brothers,Chonshu and (provided you do well enough against Chonshu)Chonrei.
• Conkers Bad Fur Day was one of the fewRareware games that included minibosses (another beingDonkey Kong 64). The first two or so (a pitchfork and a wild bull) are traditionally found at a mid point of their residing levels, but the rest (such asgroups of fiery imps or cavemen, for example) are fought right before the actual bosses.
• In regards ofDonkey Kong 64, several of them consists ofgroups of regular enemies, though there's also a giant spider and a big evil toy.
• The seven Ash Vampires inMorrowind, who are the younger brothers of the final boss.
• Some of the linearCastlevania games would have this.IV had only a mid boss in level 2, while level 4 had both a mid boss and a level boss.
  • Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin has theDragon Zombie that shows up in a couple of places. Unlike most other non-boss enemies, it appears the first time you visit the room and is replaced by weaker enemies in future visits.
  • The first Armor Lord inCastlevania: Symphony of the Night is like this as well. Except it just disappears rather than being replaced by weaker enemies.
• The NESTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game featured Bebop as a miniboss halfway through the first major stage, who goes down fairly easily unlike Rocksteady, who you have to fight in order to rescue April.
• Rock Man 4 Minus Infinity:
  • Shadow Man is aRecurring Boss version of this trope. He shows up in Toad Man, Bright Man, and Pharaoh Man Robot Master stages.
  • Whopper and The Trio of Ring Rings in Ring Man's stage
  • Hogale and Enker in Dive Man's stage.
  • Quint and Kabatoncue in Drill Man's stage.
• Bujingai the Forsaken City has several withdemonic "Overlords" of Tears, Sin, Despair, and Pain.
• MadWorld has several different ones for different areas; Big Bull Crocker, Yee Fung, Tengu, Death Blade, Big Long Driller, and the Cyber Slashers in order of appearance. They have surprisingly high health, a variety of attacks, and the ability to get into Power Struggles with Jack. Naturally, you tangle with nearly all of them in the stage leading up to the final boss (Death Blade and the Cyber Slashers, for whatever reason, weren't in on that action). In that stage, the Quirky Mini-Boss Rush turns Yee Fung into a Mook Master, has Tengu flanked by dozens of ninjas, and finally hastwo Bulls and a Driller.
• Hell vanguard fromDevil May Cry 3.
  • The originalDevil May Cry had a few, like Shadows. They also have their ownunique music.
• Anvil of Dawn has Messengers, who function as field commanders for the Big Bad. You fight about seven throughout the game. There's also a tougher, recolored Wither Priest guarding the key tothe Castellan's hall.
• Resident Evil 4 has a few, and are often fought in order to get an important item, or gain access to an area.
• Dark Souls has quite a few of these, most prominently are theDark Knights.
• Traditionally, theMortal Kombat series includes a particularly challenging sub-boss right before the final boss in arcade mode. Those who fill the role include...
  • Goro filled this role inMortal Kombat and the home versions ofMortal Kombat 4, then split the role of second-to-last opponent inMortal Kombat 9.
  • Kintaro took over inMortal Kombat II, then became the other possible penultimate opponent in9.
  • Motaro took the role to new levels ofSNK Boss frustration inMortal Kombat 3 and its updates.
  • In the arcade version of4, it was Quan Chi. It made sense from a storyline perspective, but he was a selectable character from the very start already.
  • Moloch was next to take the role inMortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.
  • Mortal Kombat: Deception changes things up a bit by having the tag team of Noob Saibot and Smoke. In thePlayStation 2 and Xbox versions, you had to unlock them, but on the Gamecube and PSP, they were available right away.
  • Mortal Kombat Armageddon picks randomly from seven differentMighty Glacier characters on thePlayStation 2 and Xbox. On the Wii, two normal fighters, Khameleon, who was only available on the Wii, and Scorpion, who's just there because he's theEnsemble Darkhorse, get added into the selection.
  • Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe has Darkseid or Shao Kahn as your penultimate opponent. If you fight only opponents from either Mortal Kombat or DC, then you will fight their representativeMighty Glacier, but if you fight opponents from both sides, the game picks at random.
  • In addition to Goro and Kintaro, Shang Tsung is always your eighth opponent. The twist is that he can access some AI-only moves.
• Purple features demons acting as mini-bosses you canencounter randomly while stepping on blank nodes on the stage select screen.Sometimes two, as well. In World 6,they appear as tough enemies instead.

• Trope
• Older Than the NES
• Boss Battle
• Examples Need Sorting
• Mini Boss