Dual Boss

"Folks they always complain.
'Bout how their bosses are pains,
but I can't sympathize
because before my eyes

are TWO BOSSES! It drives me insane!"
—Cubivore

All too often, an adventurer manages to make it to the last floor of a dungeon to retrieve the Holy Talisman of Power... but finds that he has to fight not one, but two bosses at the same time. He has just come face to face with a Dual Boss.

A Dual Boss is a pair (or group) of bosses that you must fight at the same time (not one at a time). These are two or more fully powered bosses, as opposed to a Flunky Boss who decided to bring his Mooks along for the ride.

Dual Bosses may be identical or complementary: Popular combinations include a Mighty Glacier paired with a Fragile Speedster, a Warrior with a Squishy Wizard, or similar combination of opposites. Character-wise, they are often twins, siblings, lovers, or just partners or identical constructs/vehicles.

Dual Bosses usually start out fairly, alternating attacks every few seconds or hits (with the exception of the occasional Combination Attack) in patterns that give the player opportunities to evade or strike back. This teamwork disintegrates as their health declines however, and as they Turn RED (film) they begin attacking the player independently—although it's not uncommon for each boss to fight individually straight from the outset. Pairing two unrelated bosses for a rematch is not uncommon, but this may result in their attack patterns combining in a way that it is impossible to dodge both creating a Luck Based Mission.

Defeating one boss often causes the other to Turn RED (film) to maintain pressure on the player. Otherwise, the battle becomes significantly easier once the player has taken one of them out.

A particularly difficult Dual Boss is almost certain to become Those Two Bosses.

Not to be confused with the Duel Boss.

Compare Cognizant Limbs, Wolfpack Boss.

Examples of Dual Boss include:
  • Bayonetta - Grace & Glory
  • In Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos were hard bosses that the player has to fight in succession. ...And then all three at the same time, powered up and with more health.
  • Variation: Mortal Kombat: Deception has the Noob-Smoke tag team, basically two different characters who share one HP bar.
  • The two Barons of Hell (AKA the 'Bruiser Brothers') from the original Doom at the end of the first episode.
  • The vores in Quake make their first appearance this way.
  • Super Smash Bros.. series:
    • Crazy Hand, from Super Smash Bros.., is fought only beside Master Hand and has a surprisingly different move set. Twin Master Hands also appear in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror as the bosses of Candy Constellation.
    • Crazy Hand does get fought separately in Brawl's Boss Rush, however.
    • In addition to that, in Brawl, if it is 2 Player mode, Dark Link and Dark Samus are both battled at the same time, and you and the other player have to defeat them both.
    • Duon is a variation on this, as it's two giant robots with completely different movesets...attached to each other at the back.
  • The third level of Gungage features two giant dog-like creatures, one red and one blue, attacking you at the same time. Their attacks include fire breathing, charge attacks which temporarily stunt you, and summoning fire below you. On top of that, you have to fight on a raised platform, so if you do not watch out you can fall off the edge. Arguably the most difficult boss fight in the game.
  • Dual Dragon from Wario World.
  • Claw Brother and Blade Brother, a pair of Chinese Vampires in Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines.
  • Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright from the Kirby series, as well as several others such as Lololo and Lalala.
  • Bonus Boss Grindcore Minks from The World Ends With You. Also not-bonus-bosses Kariya and Uzuki and Shiki and Megumi.
  • Super Mario RPG has several.
    • Hammer Brothers.
    • Knife Guy and Grate Guy appear together later in the game.
    • Then there's the fight with Cloaker and Domino, which includes a different Sequential Boss depending on which one you kill first.
    • Also the Axem Rangers, 5 bosses at once. Being a parody of Super Sentai and Power Rangers you have to fight their giant mecha right after.
  • Paper Mario has the Goomba Bros, The Goomba King w/ The Goomba Bros, The Koopa Bros. (a quadruple boss who are also an obvious Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles parody), and several others. Paper Mario 2 had a trio of the Shadow Sirens, replacing one of their members for a rematch. The penultimate boss was Bowser and Kammy.
  • The second fight with Butcher Oleander in Psychonauts, when Misperceived Evil Raz's Dad backs him up. Note that the two-headed Freakazoid Dad is a regular old boss.
  • Super Mario Bros. series:
  • Mander and Dogman from Medi Evil 2, both of which are faced together on two occasions.
  • Agni and Rudra from Devil May Cry 3.
  • During Garrus' loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2, Harkin throws two YMIR mechs at you. By that point in the game, they aren't quite as scary as the one at the end of Freedom's Progress.
  • Zelda series:
    • The last boss (Twinmold, the giant worms) before Majora in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
    • Igos du Ikana's bodyguards, two stalfos who can only be killed by reflecting light in them.
    • And the trio of Lanmola sandworms which they were based on from The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past.
    • Koume and Kotake, the witches in The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, at least until they merge together and form Twinrova.
    • Some of the minibosses also like to show up in pairs, such as Stalfos and Darknuts. Sometimes with the added catch that both need to be defeated in quick succession or they come back to life.
    • And the Gohmas in the fifth stage of The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening. Weirdly, these were placed in a location where beating them wasn't essential.
    • Also Gleeok from The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass - while its two heads are attached to one body, that body is never seen, although the same is not true of Gleeok in other games.
    • Link's Awakening also has dual Dodongo Snakes as mini-bosses in three dungeons.
  • There is a Japanese Mega Man 2 fangame which is essentially one of these - you fight all eight Robot Masters at once!
    • Another (English) fangame based on 2 has you playing as the original six robot masters, each one fighting one of the other eight. So what happens to Bubble Man and Flash Man? They both team up against Elec Man in one of the Wily Castle stages.
    • Speaking of which, Gemini Man of Mega Man 3 is a Dual Boss all by himself. His Star Force counterpart, Gemini Spark, is the same in this regard.
  • Speaking of Mega Man Star Force, Acid Ace R and Dread Joker R also qualify as this and That One Boss. The sibling rivalry which defined the originals is absent with the remakes, as Omega-Xis quickly points out before the fight. And yes, you have to fight both of these losers in a row.
  • Mega Man X series
    • They have a pair of bosses that act similarly to Gemini Man - Split Mushroom in X4 and Axle the Red (a.k.a. Spike Rosered) in X5.
    • Likewise the Final Boss in Vile's scenario of the Remake Maverick Hunter X, where Vile will fight against both X and Zero.
  • Mega Man Zero series
    • In the Boss Rush of Zero 2, "one" Boss fight stands out: Zero fighting against Herculious Anchortus (defeated in the previous game) and his brother Kuwagust Anchus.
    • And again later, with the baby elves in Zero 3.
  • Shinobido has at least two unskippable Dual Boss battles, but they're actually very easy, since you have to bring down only one of them to win.
  • Mega Man ZX Advent had Urgoyle and Argoyle the Shisharoids. Also, Prometheus and Pandora.
  • In the original Romancing SaGa for the SNES you had both a Sequential Boss and a Dual Boss battles of the Minions of Saruin in the final dungeon, in the remake you would only fight all three at once if you defeated them in the final dungeon and collected the treasures that they guarded.
  • Final Fantasy VII:
  • Ninja Gaiden
    • The original arcade game has a recurring pair of Road Warrior-lookalikes who first appear at the end of Round 2, as well as twin sumo wrestlers at the end of Round 4. The third stage also ends with a battle against a trio of claw-wielding acrobats.
    • Kelbeross, Jaquio's pet dogs, in the first two NES games.
    • Great Koganei, the third boss in Ninja Gaiden III for the NES, has the ability to create a duplicate of himself.
    • The Mission Mode in Ninja Gaiden Black and Sigma featured twin bosses that made an already hard game even harder.
  • World of Warcraft:
    • Romulo and Julianne, a parody of...guess. First they are fought in sequential order, then both at the same time. They need to die together to avoid one resurrecting the other.
    • Scarlet Commander Mograine and High Inquisitor Whitemane in Scarlet Monastery Cathedral. Like above, it starts with one, then another comes, resurrect the other, then you have to fight both at the same time.
    • Jarien and Sothos, Bonus Boss in Scarlet Stratholme.
    • Skarvald and Dalronn in Utgarde keep.
    • Swamp Lord Musel'ek and Claw in Underbog
    • The Twin Emperor Vek'lor and Vek'nilash
    • The Eredar Twins, Lady Sacrolash and Grand Warlock Alythess. Both must be fought at once, and killing one twin causes the two to fuse together, with the surviving sister gaining some of the former's powers.
    • The Crusader's Coliseum raid has 3 separate multi-boss fights, all somewhat different in execution. First you fight not one but TWO Jormungar. They have separate healthpools but if one dies before the other, the surviving one Turns Red and starts doing 50% more damage.
      • The Crusader's Coliseum is home to two more Dual Boss fights. The Twin Valkyr fight is an Ikaruga style encounter with a black Valkyr and a white Valkyr. There are black and white portals around the ring, and players have to click the portals to change color; you absorb damage of the same color as you but take extra damage from the opposite color. You need to switch colors when each boss does her big attack.
      • The other is Faction Champions fight. You fight 6 (in 10 man or 10 in 25 man) bosses, each a superpowered version of the playable classes. It's the only PvP style boss fight in the game.
    • The ogres King Gordok and Cho'Rush the Observer from Dire Maul. Gordok is a hard-hitting melee warrior, while Cho'Rush is a spellcaster (may be a shaman, priest or mage at random).
    • Valiona and Theralion in Bastion of Twilight. While you never have to melee them both at the same time, one is in the air using his or her ranged powers while you're fighting the other on the ground.
    • Elemental Ascendant Council also in Bastion of Twilight. Four bosses total. You start off against two of them, then they switch out with the other two when one of the first pair reaches 25% health. Then when one of the second pair reaches 25% health, they combine into the Elemental Monstrosity.
    • Omnitron Defense Council in Blackwing Descent. The fight consists of four separate golems with a shared health pool. Only two are active at the same time however.
    • Nefarian makes his return as the last boss in Blackwing Descent and he is joined by the reborn Onyxia for the first phase of the fight.
    • Conclave of the Winds consists of three separate bosses that must be defeated within a minute of each other.
    • The Four Horsemen encounter from Naxxramas has you fight four death knights at once; letting them get too close to each other means a wipe for the raid, so two are tanked in separate corners with the tanks switching often, and the other two are tanked by ranged casters.
    • The Illidari Council is another council fight, with four different bosses that must be fought at the same time. They have a shared health pool.
    • The first three phases of the Kael'thas fight are examples of this. First, you fight his four advisers, one at a time. Then you fight all the legendary weapons at once. After that, you fight the four advisers again, but this time all at the same time. After they're dead, Kael'thas himself enters the fight and then it's a regular single boss fight.
    • The High King Maulgar encounter in Gruul's lair puts you against the titular boss and a few other ogre bosses that must be fought simultaneously (three are tanked by real tanks, one is tanked by a mage spellstealing his buff, and the fifth is tanked by other ranged dps, preferably two warlocks or two hunters).
    • Mannoroth and Varo'then are fought simultaneously in the Well of Eternity instance. Players initially focus on Varo'then while Mannoroth fights Illidan and assists Varo'then by summoning demons and using Fel Firestorm to burn the players. Players then focus on Mannoroth once Varo'then dies.
  • The "axe and sword twins" in Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. Also That One Boss, though most of the bosses in that game are almost as frustrating.
  • Final Fantasy VIII:
    • Fujin and Raijin are fought twice during the game - once in Disc 2 and once in Disc 3.
    • Also Wedge and Biggs, who are seen once in each of the first three discs. You only fight them in the first two, however.
    • And Minotaur and Sacred, the Brothers GF.
    • Not to mention the Iguions, two gargoyles brought to life by Edea's magic near the end of Disc 1.
  • Legend of Mana features a dual boss fight with Sierra and Vadise during the Dragon Storyline.
  • Bloodrayne:
    • The final battle in is a 3-way fight between Rayne, the Devil, and the Nazi Commander.
    • She fights twin Nazi officers earlier on.
  • The Shtrom & Druk duo in the 6th level of the classic Captain Commando. Also notable that they're both a Palette Swap of the 2nd level boss, Shtrom Jr., who was already That One Boss on his own!
  • The Castlevania series makes use of this relatively often:
    • That One Boss of the first game is Frankenstein's Monster and Igor (though damage can only be and need only be dealt to Franky). The preceding Boss Battle is against a pair of mummies.
    • The popular duo of Slogra, skeleton-with-a-beak-wielding-a-spear, and Gaibon, dragon, make a Dual Boss in Symphony of the Night.
    • The first form of Portrait of Ruin's final boss is Dracula and Death instead of just Dracula as is fairly traditional for the series. They fuse into one for the second form.
    • Stella and Loretta too. Trying to heal them can be MIGHTY DIFFICULT to say the least...
    • There is also a triple hidden boss of heroes past. To get to them, you must fight two Franks at once. This triple boss first appeared in Symphony.
    • The Werewolf and Minotaur fight in tandem in Symphony of the Night, complete with team maneuvers. They even retain those abilities when they become a Degraded Boss.
    • The Dragon Zombies in Circle of the Moon.
  • The Poes Edgar and Virginia in Lunar Knights.
  • Baten Kaitos, at the end of one rather frustrating dungeon. The bosses in question are large cat-esque creatures that happen to be fire- and water-element creatures.
    • Both the original and Baten Kaitos Origins also feature Trio Bosses, in the form of three enemy commanders: Giacomo, Ayme, and Folon in the original, and Valara, Nasca, and Hughes in Origins.
  • At one point in Skies of Arcadia, the party is split into two groups. The two separate parties navigate a dungeon together, but don't meet up until just before the boss fight, which is appropriately against two bosses. There are a handful of other examples, but those two are the most prominent.
  • Persona 3
    • The game does this three times with the Full Moon Shadows Empress and Emperor, Chariot and Justice, and Fortune and Strength. First time the two bosses have similar skills and strategies, just leaning towards magic or physical. The next time the two can fuse together and split apart again. The next time one protects the other until you beat it, the protected one creating a roulette of effects each turn.
    • Then there's also Jin and Takaya.
    • Many of the Tartarus guardians come in groups of three identical Shadows.
    • In The Answer, there's Akihiko and Ken, Junpei and Koromaru, and Yukari and Mitsuru.
  • The final battle in Kingpin is a shootout against both the Kingpin and his invincible female bodyguard.
  • Golden Sun series:
    • At the end of the first game, you have to take on Saturos and Menardi.
      • You also face them together briefly in the prologue, though in this case it's a Hopeless Boss Fight.
    • In the sequel, you take on Karst and Agatio on top of Jupiter Lighthouse, then fight them again in Mars Lighthouse.
    • Dark Dawn follows in its predecessors' footsteps with Blados and Chalis, as well as the Kaocho generals Ku-Tsung and Ku-Embra. Blados and Chalis fight you twice over as a pair; the second time, they're escorted by the Chaos Hound, aka Volechek.
  • In Soldier of Fortune 2: Double Helix, you fight a Dual Boss battle against The Torturer (who's armed with an M60 heavy machinegun) and Deviant1 (who's up on a balcony with a sniper rifle) inside a prison yard. Both characters do increased damage, so much so that Deviant1 can kill you with a single shot. They also can absorb more bullets than a normal human, although the difference isn't too unrealistic. The game is otherwise devoid of boss fights (except for 2 battles against an enemy helicopter).
  • The final battle in The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is one of these, as you fight two man-sized mechs that serve as the Big Bad's personal bodyguards.
  • Tales of Vesperia:
    • the recurring foes Adecor and Boccos, who you fight several times, and who also act as tutorials to some of the gameplay aspects. They can actually be tough to beat, since Yuri fights them alone more often than not.
    • There's also Belius who creates a double during your fight. This is stoppable however, as you can relight the candlesticks scattered around the fighting area to end the illusion.
    • There's also Tyson and Nan and optional bosses Gauche and Droite... Wow, Vesperia really likes this trope.
  • Tales of Symphonia used this one a few times
    • Minor villains Yuan and Botta
    • Summon Spirits Luna and Aska, the Sylph
    • Sheena and her Guardian Spirit
    • The Dragons in the Dragon's Nest, and the other dragons at the Remote Island Human Ranch (also a Sequential Boss with Rodyle)
    • Summon Spirit Celsius with her partner Fenrir
    • Alice and Decus in Dawn of the New World Oh, and Lloyd and Marta... you get the picture, right?
  • Tales of Hearts has you fight twin Mechanoids Chlorseraph and Clinoseraph, a Dual-Wielding, Hot-Blooded Omnicidal Maniac and a double-shield-wielding, defensive, ice-cold soldier, in their Link-Drive Mode. Not to mention when your party takes on the entire Chalcedny Squad.
  • Tales of Xillia has the final boss fight against Gaius and Musee.
    • There's also the earlier fights against Wingull and Presa, Jiland and Celsius, and Presa and Agria, to name a few.
  • Silent Scope series:
    • Silent Scope 2 has the ninjas, Sho and Kane, two bosses that each take 10 hits from a sniper rifle, teleport around, move really fast all around the screen, and create illusions of themselves to throw off your aim.
    • The first game had the somewhat less frustrating Tom & Jerry.
  • The second to last fight in the arcade game Hippodrome involves a pair of assassins. Appropriately enough, the level is called "The Twin Paradises".
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game series:
  • Zorn and Thorn from Final Fantasy IX. Once they're defeated the second time they fuse into a boss that is slightly more difficult to kill. And then you're done with the infuriating little creeps for the rest of the game.
  • Biran and Yenke from Final Fantasy X. Made more difficult than usual because you can only fight them with Kimahri. Still not very hard, especially compared to the boss right after them.
    • Ormi and Logos in Final Fantasy X-2 each get one solo boss fight but are otherwise fought together pratically every time they appear during the first two chapters of the game. A couple of those times, their employer, Leblanc, joins them to make it a 3-on-3 battle against the three playable characters.
  • Blue Fang and Red Horn in Dragon Quest VIII. Although they're optional due to being part of a sidequest, they have one dangerous move, where they team up and pummel one of your characters simultaneously. This is especially nasty if the one who initiates it has tension built up. However, it can only be used if they're both alive, so killing one will remove this potential threat, giving you some leeway to take out the other.
  • Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald have Liza and Tate, Gym Leaders that you fight in a Double Battle with two Pokémon on each side. Depending on how well you've prepared, this is either a fun battle, or that those two bosses.
    • In Emerald, you team up with Steven to fight Team Magma Leader Maxie and Admin Tabitha in Mossdeep's Space Center.
    • Pokémon Diamond and Pearl have Mars and Jupiter in Spear Pillar where you fight alongside your rival. In Platinum, there is also Flint and Volkner in the post-game, where they are fought by the player and the player's rival at the entrance to Sinnoh's Battle Frontier.
    • HeartGold and SoulSilver have a post-game Dual Boss battle where you and your rival battle Clair and Lance.
    • Pokémon Black and White has subway bosses Emmet and Ingo. They run the Double/Single Lines (respectively), but in the Multi Lines you and the other player character fight them together.
    • Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia has a battle just before the Final Boss where you fight the three bosses you just fought separately (Rhyperior, Magmortar, Gallade) at the same time. If you are playing a WIFI Mission where you have to help Darkrai,[1] at the end, when you least expect it... BAM! You fight a second Dual Boss, which is Drapion and Gliscor, the bosses you encountered earlier in the game.
    • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky: The first bosses are a (very weak) Koffing and Zubat at the end of Beach Cave.
  • Liz and Ard from Wild ARMs 2.
  • The end of the first "episode" of Lego Batman features a dual boss fight involving Batman, Robin, the Riddler and Two-Face. It's somewhat reminiscent of Batman Forever.
  • At the end of Icewind Dale II, the player gets to fight the halfbreed twins Isair and Madae (respectively a high-level sorcerer and cleric). They are aided by a wide variety of pretty competent Elite Mooks
  • Neverwinter Nights has penultimate boss fight against Corrupted Copper Dragon and Corrupted Silver Dragon.
  • In Neverwinter Nights 2 You will need to fight 2 Black dragons after you try to strike down Crystal Heart for Nolaloth.
  • Jet Force Gemini brings us the Escebone Mantises, a twin pair of gigantic cyborg mantids. They're quite hard to beat.
  • Touhou:
    • In Mystic Square, the fifth game, we have Yuki and Mai as the stage 4 bosses. They're also a textbook Red Oni, Blue Oni: Yuki is the Red Oni, and Mai is the Blue Oni.
    • Something like this returns in Imperishable Night. In Final A of any pairing, you get to fight Eirin again, this time with Kaguya, after the former is defeated.
    • In Touhou fangame Mystical Chain, all boss fights are like this, but it also has a slightly off-kilter example in its fight with Fujiwara no Mokou and Kaguya Houraisan: it's really them fighting each other, and you're just collateral damage.
    • Fairy Wars takes it Up to Eleven Three with you having to face the three bosses of the three stages all at once after you have beaten them!
    • In Ten Desires, Seiga, the stage 4 boss, fights alongside Yoshika, the boss of stage 3, resurrecting her every time she is defeated.
    • In the fangame Labyrinth of Touhou, the Hibachi twins hit every note of this trope. One is immune to magical attacks, the other to physical attacks. When one is killed, the other gains significant stat boosts and a new arsenal of party-wiping attacks.
  • Lechku and Nechku from Okami. Two Big Badass Wolves, versus two demonic clockwork gentlemanly owls. The owls are the bosses.
  • Solt and Peppor, several times in Chrono Cross (sometimes joined by Ketchop).
  • Cave Story:
    • The Final Boss has you fight the Undead Core, alongside a transformed Sue and Misery. On top of that Misery also summons more creatures for you to kill.
    • Earlier in the game, a pair of dragons function as a Skippable Boss
  • The Dragon Angels in Lunar: The Silver Star are the last obstacle you have to reach before getting Althena's Sword, the last piece needed to complete the Dragon Armor ensemble and tackle the Magic Emperor.
  • Chrono Trigger:
    • A couple of bosses in , including Masa and Mune (before they do a DBZ-style Fusion Dance), and Azala and the Black Tyranno. The Golem Twins, who each counter with "copycat" attacks, are a more infamous example.
    • The DS version has the Archeofangs, two very annoying bosses who need to be defeated within mere seconds of each other (or at the same time) or the one alive will revive the other at full HP. Doing this is much harder than say, FFV's Gargoyles, because the two Archeofangs have different stats and weaknesses. To make matters worse, they also drain your MP throughout the fight as well. Fortunately, their attacks tend to be relatively weak.
  • Breath of Fire III
  • Streets of Rage:
    • Mona and Lisa in the first and third games. In the first game, they were merely Palette Swaps of Blaze, but in 3, they had their own sprites and Wonder Twin Powers (and yet they are much easier than in the first game).
    • In two-player mode, every boss except Mr. X is a dual boss battle.
    • The second game had robots Particle and Oxygen as the bosses of Stage 7. The 6th boss is basically a repeat of the second and third bosses.
  • Kingdom Hearts II
    • Volcanic Lord and Blizzard Lord from.
    • The KH series has a few more which are essentially two-part bosses, such as Barbossa and Clayton.
    • Then there's the Crimson Prankster in 358/2 Days, who revive each other if not killed in quick succession.
    • Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep gives Aqua a wonderful fight against |Hades and the Ice Colossus, a copy of the Ice Titan, during her storyline.
    • KH series loves this, especially to up the power on some arena bosses, who were usually a problem alone, but as a pair are quite more fun. KH1 had Cloud and Squall Leon. KH2 had Tifa and Yuffie. BBS had |Hades and Zack.
  • Rise of the Triad has an add-on, appropriately-titled Extreme Rise of the Triad (now available as a free download from 3D Realms), where one of the levels forces the player to fight two copies of the game's second boss. Only one of the two bosses needs to be killed by the player to end the level, but it makes the task much harder than fighting just the one, like in the regular game.
  • Another Century's Episode likes to dabble with this, sometimes pairing up major antagonists or Dragons from different series to wail on you.
  • Virtual On:
  • Interesting variant in Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals. The boss of the Sword shrine is a pair of Evil Clowns who fight separately but automatically revive when you kill them. Once you've beaten them both once, your party works out they're reviving each other so you split your 4-character party into pairs to fight them both at the same time, played out as 2 consecutive boss battles.
  • Juli and Juni in Street Fighter Alpha 3.
  • One of the forms of the final boss of Rayman.
  • Spyro 3 did this with a pair of Eastern dragons.
  • One Piece: Unlimited Cruise has a number of Dual Boss fights.
    • Episode 1 has a battle against Captain Kuro and Don Krieg. Only the former is a real threat, almost raising the fight to That One Boss status.
    • Episode 2 has a few of them. You fight Red Haired Shanks and Dracule Mihawk at the end of island 2. There is also a bonus Dual Boss on the same island against Rob Lucci and Paulie. Island 3 has a boss fight halfway through against Kaku and Rob Lucci, both in their Devil Fruit forms.
  • Emperor Fossil and Queen Fossil in Darius Twin.
  • Devil Survivor:
    • one character who particularly likes these: Kaido. Most of your battles involve another character fighting alongside them: Honda in most cases, and Midori during one possible plot twist.
    • There's the last two Devas, who team up to fight you and bring six or seven teams of lesser demons with them.
  • Randy and Andy from River City Ransom, as well as Benny and Clyde.
  • In Space Channel 5 Part 2, the first part of the King Purge battle has you taking on Purge and the Mecha President Peace.
  • Double Tusk of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.
  • Final Fantasy V: Two Gargoyles guard the location of each sealed tablet; You must kill them at the same time (or at least, one after the other within a short window), otherwise one will revive the other.
  • Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories features Sgt. Martinez and Diego Mendez during the final fight.
  • In Evolva, the bomb which is about to blow up the planet is guarded by two identical giant parasytes.
  • In Keith Courage in Alpha Zones, the fifth boss is a duo of two Recurring Bosses, and the Final Boss is a Palette Swap of the fourth with the addition of an invincible companion.
  • Plok has the Bobbins Bros. Later on in the game (during a flashback when you play as Plok's grandpa), you have to fight against THREE of them.
  • In the Hunt has your submarine fight two snail-like submarine robots as a boss. One always faces right and the other always faces left, but other than that, they share exactly the same attacks. Destroying one of them makes the other become a lot more aggressive.
  • The unreleased game Chimera Beast had the first boss, two lamprey-like organisms which could only be damaged when their heads were visible.
  • The Mu bosses in Illusion of Gaia are Jack and Silvana, a pair of married vampires. They battle together, complete with a combination attack. When one dies, the surviving spouse flies into a frenzy and Turns Red. Generally considered That One Boss.
  • Gunships and Striders in Half Life 2 usually appear solo, but on two occasions you are faced with two gunships and once have to defeat several Striders at the same time. In the end of Episode Two you fend numerous Striders as they advance the Rebel base.
  • X-Men Legends has a fight against Avalanche and Sabretooth, which is made stranger by the fact that they share the same voice actor. Beat up Avalanche enough, he retreats and you win the fight. Sabretooth is unkillable - he'll just come back from offscreen. Makes sense with the Healing Factor.
    • X-Men Legends 2 has Sinister and the brainwashed Beast, who is undefeatable. Sinister will immediately make for his reviving machine, which will recharge Beast's health immediately.
  • Most of the supervillain fights in Marvel Ultimate Alliance are these.
  • In Sonic 3 and Knuckles, Knuckles fights two sub bosses in Launch Base Zone Act 1 instead of Sonic and Tails just having one. If you play as Sonic and Tails together, technically it's Knuckles fighting you as a dual boss. Also Whisker and Johnny in Sonic Rush Series Adventure.[2]
  • No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
    • New Destroyman, two cyborgs made from the severed halves of the original Destroyman. One of them fights Shinobu up close with punches, while the other one fights at a distance with Eye Beams and runs away a lot. Because they have separate health bars and can revive each other if one dies, this fight becomes a very annoying game of chase.
    • The trick is to completely ignore the cowardly one until you take out the brave one, then wait for him to fly over to revive his other half. It's entirely possible to interrupt the resurrection and kick the crap out of him, and he'll keep trying even as you trounce him.
  • Komodo Moe and Komodo Joe, the Brains and Brawn Sibling Team from Crash Bandicoot. One will constantly try to hit you up-close, and the other throws respawning swords from a distance.
  • In BioShock (series) 2, after rescuing all the Little Sisters in a level in you have to deal with a pissed off Big Sister (which is also That One Boss for a while). Near the end of the game you are in the room with just a pane of glass between you and the thing you came for when suddenly TWO Big Sisters come at you.
  • Left 4 Dead has multiple Tanks attack you after the rescue vehicle arrives. Survival Mode can also see two (or more Tanks at once, as does the finale of Swamp Fever in 2.
  • Halo series:
    • In Halo 3, the Covenant deploy two Scarabs at once. Good thing you've got co-op. And you get flying vehicles right before it.
    • On a lesser scale, any encounter with Hunters could count. They always appear in pairs, carry massive fuel rod guns, and have armor that reflects any shots not placed directly on the weak point.
    • On the first level of Halo: Reach, you have to fight two Zealots at the same time. This is one of only three encounters with Zealots in the game.
    • The first game also has a dual Zealot battle on Two Betrayals, at least on Legendary.
  • Last Scenario has two Dual Boss fights and Nintendo Hard Wolfpack Boss fights.
  • In its Spiritual Sequel Exit Fate, you get to fight Those Two Bad Guys (repeatedly), and there's a secret Dual Boss Bonus Boss battle.
  • The rather obscure but excellent Shoot'Em Up "Steel Saviour" has a dual Mini Boss in the form of two cool looking flying thingies. When one is destroyed, the other goes... ballistic. Starts at 2:04 here.
  • Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic series:
    • on Korriban, if you decide to go Light-Side completely, then after getting the star map in Naga Sadow's tomb, you may end up fighting both Yuthara and Uthar at the same time, although they can both be easily weakened earlier- or you can persuade one of them to join you on the Light Side...
    • The sequel has a Dual Duel Boss on Nar Shaddaa- Atton is caught in the bar by the Twin Suns, a pair of deadly Twi'Lek assassins. It's a fairly tough fight, and ends with them fleeing; they're a lot easier the next time you meet them, as at that point, you have a full three-strong party...
  • The Elites in Hero Core, which are also a Mirror Boss.
  • The Meta Rangers in Viewtiful Joe Double Trouble. First, you fight Ranger Log, then Ranger Digi, then they team up to fight you on their final health bar. When you revisit the fight during the Boss Rush, they fight you together right from the start.
  • MadWorld has the Masters, Jedi knock-offs that come in an older/younger pair (looking rather like Obi-Wan and Anakin). Their answer to the Force is magnets, so they're tethered to each other for most of the fight and accordingly share a health bar.
  • In Metamorphic Force, you fight a duo of small cyclops midway through the fourth level.
  • At one point, Resident Evil 4 pits you against two Gigantes instead of the usual one. You can, however, just give one a lava bath.
  • Resident Evil 5 tops that with a two-on-two battle against Albert Wesker and Jill Valentine. Played mostly for fanservice, as Wesker proves to be nigh unkillable and killing Jill results in an instant game over. Your AI partner literally advises you to run and hide, and the fight automatically ends in seven minutes when Wesker runs out of spare time. Damaging Wesker enough causes the battle to end prematurely (which can be achieved by hiding strategically and attacking at certain opportunities) and is an unlockable achievement/trophy.
  • In God of War 2, Lahkesis and Atropos.
  • Gorc and Pic from Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. The only thing that kept them from being that pair of bosses was their tendency to get stuck in the vent-lifts so you could choose to fight only one at a time. If you were lucky...
  • The second time in God Hand that you encounter the Three Evil Stooges, Felix and Bruce take you on together, with Conchita dropping in and out of the fight from time to time. When you fight them in the arena, it is possible to cause this to happen by triggering more than one of their icons.
  • In the flash game Epic Battle Fantasy 3, you face a 3 headed dragon. Each head acts as it's own boss, though, with different stats and health bars. When you kill one head, stats are doubled for the two remaining heads, and when you kill one more, the last head has tripled stats.
  • Seiken Densetsu 3 has Bill and Ben, a pair of ninja who you fight on two different occasions. They start out as a single enemy, but split into two after taking sufficient damage, without losing any of their deadliness. Both times, but especially the second, they qualify as That One Boss.
  • Every time the main characters of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness cross over as bonus battles in other universes, they're usually fought in the order of Flonne -> Etna -> Laharl (with Flonne and Etna acting as backup).
  • The Ninja Warriors Again for the SNES has a bastardly hard fight against Phobos and Deimos, a pair of giant silver and gold androids in Stage 6.
  • La-Mulana does this exactly once, with the Mini Bosses Gozu and Mezu.
  • The Incubuses in Odium. Actually pretty weak both on their own and in tandem. Also sort-of overlaps with Flunky Boss since there are two monsters with them that can inflict the annoying Harmless Freezing on you.
  • Dead Rising 2 has the twins, who both come at you armed with katanas and can easily take you down in a few hits, making them That One Boss. It's subverted a tiny bit though, because when you kill one of them, you get a cutscene which shows the remaining twin commit suicide by impaling herself.
  • Vindictus has numerous examples of this trope, with anywhere from 2 to 5 bosses in a mission (not including mini-bosses). Depending on the mission, they are either identical or complimentary. In most missions, they appear at the same time, usually 2 or 3 of them. The Hoarfrost Hollow mission "Prepare for Counterattack" is a hybrid of this and Sequential Boss—the mission starts out with 1 boss, and 4 more arrive, 1 every 2 minutes, as "reinforcements"; each one higher level than the previous. If they can't be killed fast enough, it's possible to end up fighting all 5 at once (it's pretty typical for solo players to have to fight the last 2 or 3 simultaneously).
  • Quite a few examples in the Double Dragon series.
    • In the middle of Mission 3 in both, the arcade and NES versions of the first game, the player has to fight against twin clones of Abobo before arriving at the enemy's hideout. Later in Mission 4 (in the arcade version only), there's also a battle against twin clones of the Mission 1 boss (a black Head Swap of Abobo with a Mr. T-style mohawk and beard) before the final boss fight with Willy and his bodyguards (who are all clones of the Mission 2 boss, who was in turn a head swap of the player character).
    • In the arcade version of Double Dragon II, the player has to fight against twin clones of Burnov (the Mission 1 boss) near the end of Mission 3, and then twin sets of all the previous bosses (Burnov, Abore and Chin) before the boss battle with Willy in Mission 4. The final boss battle will be against two Lee Brother clones if a second player is present (one for each player).
    • The NES version of Double Dragon II features the twin ninja bosses at the end of Mission 2, as well as the Lee Brother clones from the arcade version in Mission 8. Subverted by the Bolo enemies, who always come in pairs (with one exception in Mission 4) but never fight together (the second Bolo always appear after the first one is defeated).
    • The Chen Brothers in Super Double Dragon, Ron-Fu and Ron-Pyo, in the end of Mission 4. In the American version though, the player has to fight them separately, one in the upper balcony and the other in the lower balcony. In the Japanese version, both are fought at the same time on the upper balcony.
    • Hong and Wong, the Twin Tigers, in the end of Mission 3 of Double Dragon Advance. They're loosely based on the Chen Brothers from the SNES version.
  • Enki and Enlil at the end of Chapter 6 of Final Fantasy XIII.
    • Don't forget Jabberwocky and Bandersnatch, the palette swapped versions of Enki and Enlil. Which can be fought as a regular mob not very long after their boss battle.
    • Final Fantasy XIII-2 has Pacos Amethyst and Pacos Luvulite, who revive each other endlessly, so you have to bring them both near to death before killing either one.
  • The first phase of the final battle in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 pits you against metallic copies of any two of the following: Doctor Doom, Dormammu, Akuma and Wesker (the second joins about ten seconds into the fight). They share a life meter, so knocking one of them out kills both of them. Hitting both of them deals double damage, so hyper combos with large hitboxes are useful.
  • The twin dragons Devaria and Givaria in Death Smiles' Extra Stage.
  • Both battles with Natia in Bomberman Hero. The first time, she's accompanied by the spider-like robot Cronus (though she mostly just floats around taunting you and providing Collision Damage until Cronus is defeated, making this close to a sequential boss), while the rematch suddenly reveals that she has a twin.
  • The first battle with "The Betrayers" Devola and Popola in Nie R counts, as does part of the second battle.
    • Also, the first boss battle against Hansel and Gretel.
  • The Katayanagi twins in the Scott Pilgrim comic and its live-action adaptation.
  • The first boss in Cho Ren Sha is this. One neat thing is that you can use the charged ball attack they use for a one-hit-kill if you make them aim at each other before they fire.
  • The Goat Sisters, a black and white humanoid goat-imp in Rule of Rose attack you simultaneously in a cramped space, making much of the battle a struggle at staying out of their weapons' range.
  • The two snake things (Fune and Nahime) early on in Metroid: Other M. Sometimes the tougher enemies can be fought in pairs or threes, acting as miniboss battles. Overlaps with Wolfpack Boss in those cases.
  • Yogleks & Omulgun in Ys.
  • The Little Mermaid has Flotsam and Jetsam as the bosses of the second stage.
  • The Apostles of the Seed Dusk and Dawn from Hellsinker tag team at you and also uses various combination attacks.
  • EarthBound does this with the final boss, though Giygas is invulnerable during the first phase, and Heavily Armed Pokey ditches fighting after that phase ends.
  • City of Heroes has a few occasions when you can find yourself facing multiple powerful bosses, but a classic example is during the Behaviour Adjustment Facility Trial, where the league must face Siege and Nightstar at the same time after defeating them each separately, and like many examples must be defeated at the same time to prevent regeneration. There are also continually respawning reinforcements. Somewhat subverted however in that the standard strategy has teams fighting them entirely separately, while coordinating the battles to ensure that they go down together.
  • Spiral Knights: the Roarmulus Twins are a pair of gigantic Gun Puppy turrets fought at the end of the Ironclaw Munitions Factory, invulnerable except when one of them hits the other with a rocket. They also appear in the Ironclaw Shadow Lair as the Red Roarmulus Twins. The Gloaming Wildwoods Shadow Lair ends with a pair of Rabid Snarbolaxes (who have Silkwings to heal them).
  • Captain America and The Avengers has two sets of these as mid-level bosses appearing after a boss flees: Klaw and Living Laser in Scene 1, and the Controllers in Scene 5.
  • The boss of the oil refinery in Shatterhand.
  • Two mobsters in level 3 (Cemetery) of The Simpsons Arcade Game.
  • Terraria has The Twins, two giant robotic eyes connected by a string of flesh. One, called Retinazer, shoots Frickin' Laser Beams at you, and the other, Spazmatism, uses Hellfire.
  • The Architect's twin pet dragons found in the Silverite Mines in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening.
  • Dark Souls: The Bell Gargoyles on the roof of the church in Undead Parish. Once you get the first one down to half its health, another one appears that breathes fire along with its halberd and axe-tail attacks, also with half a health bar. It's almost impossible to fight both of them with the area attack fire breath and tremendous physical attacks, so it's pretty much compulsory to summon Knight Solaire to tank their attacks while you hack away at their backs.
    • Dragon Slayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough are found together as the first major boss in Anor Londo and are generally considered one of the tougher challenges of the game. Ornstein leaps and lunges with a lightning spear at high speeds. Smough stomps around at a slower pace, but his giant hammer smarts more and throws you around the arena. Any strategy other than continuously backing away to keep them both in sight is almost a guaranteed death sentence. Oh, and when you kill one of them, the other absorbs their partner's power and comes back stronger and fully healed: Ornstein becomes a giant with a virtual one-hit-kill move, or, alternatively, Smough gets a big lightning charge for his hammer. Fun.
  • Vigilante has the Mad Brothers (the Tough Brothers in the TG16 version) as bosses of the junkyard level.
  • Custom Robo has Eliza and her Backup Twin, Isabella as the penultimate battle of the game.
  • Father and Grandpa Andore in Final Fight, who appear exclusively in the second area of the West Side stage in which the player must face both at the same time in a steel cage match. They are essentially stronger versions of the standard Andore enemies, who are giant mooks. To make sure the odds are stack against the player, the game throws a third Andore relative named Uncle Andore if the player has a partner.
  • The first Golden Axe has the Bad Brothers at the end of the very first stage.
  • Tyrea and her Telethia guardian in Xenoblade Chronicles.
  • In the Dungeons & Dragons module The Red Hand of Doom features several fights where one of the horde's humanoid generals and a dragon fight the PCs at the same time. It's possible to get some of these as separate encounters with stealthy approaches.
    • This is considered a good design rule in earlier editions in general as no matter how powerful a boss is it can only act once a turn and there are typically four player characters. Later editions and Pathfinder solved this by giving certain powerful creatures extra actions, though it's still a solid concern.
  • Storm Eagle teams up with Chill Penguin in the last boss phase in Puresabe's New Year's 2017 hack.
  1. ↑ It was here for a limited time only, and it required beating Darkrai.
  2. ↑ However, there is a mission that played said Dual Boss, but although it played like normal, you must only defeat Johnny, because if you defeat Captain Whisker, you will fail the mission.
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