It’s most likely occurred to you: After bashing your head towards a very tough boss in a online game, you notice you’ve been duped. As you watch that boss’ depleted well being bar replenish once more, you notice what you thought was a victory was as an alternative an insult. Welcome to section two of the battle you believed you’ve simply received.
These moments might be deflating and infuriating. However I’m right here to defend them. As a part of Polygon’s protection of dramatic entrances in video video games, films, and tv, enable me to sing the praises of the dramatic re-entrance, the moments that remodel highs into lows.
The second (or third, fourth, and so on.) well being bar is a longstanding design trick in video games, carried out for a number of causes. Some situations of double well being bars are extra profitable than others, however they serve essential functions: They reframe the boss struggle expertise, add new layers of problem, and power gamers to (in lots of circumstances) attempt to strive once more, armed with recent information and ability.
Well being bars (or meters) have been utilized in video games for greater than 40 years, constructing on the “hit factors” system launched in Dungeons & Dragons. Early arcade experiences like Nintendo’s boxing recreation Punch-Out!! and Konami’s preventing recreation Yie Ar Kung-Fu relied on well being bars to indicate gamers how a lot stamina or life that they had left. Well being bars are commonplace throughout genres, from side-scrolling beat-’em-ups and shmups, to motion RPGs and technique video games. Most well being bars drain primarily based on injury and replenish primarily based on power-up gadgets. Some, nonetheless, merely replenish primarily based on recreation designers’ whims.
Whereas many contemplate the refilling well being bar an affordable tactic, I contemplate it an enormous boon to recreation design. Let me clarify why as we talk about the a number of methods well being bars can be utilized for good and evil.
[Note: The following story may contain spoilers for boss battles in games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, 2004’s Spider-Man 2, Super Metroid, and a half-dozen FromSoftware games.]
The Layered Well being Bar
In traditional video games like Capcom’s Closing Battle, Sega’s Streets of Rage, and Treasure’s Ikaruga, some enemies break the principles with layered well being bars that have to be drained a number of occasions — technically refilling after being depleted.
Extra trendy collection like Bayonetta and Yakuza/Like A Dragon use the identical tactic, piling on well being for more difficult opponents. In Yakuza Kiwami, for instance, a recurring Yakuza boss named Jo Amon has greater than a dozen well being bars that have to be whittled down.
Why not simply use one BIG well being bar in these situations? As a result of the layered well being bar communicates to the participant that whomever you’re preventing is a Large Deal: Their capabilities are unknown, and it’s worthwhile to take this struggle critically. Making a visibly longer well being bar to convey the depth of your opponents hit level pool may break a recreation’s UI. Alternatively, if gamers have been proven draining a smaller quantity of well being from a multilayered-health-bar boss, the sport may confuse gamers into pondering their assaults had been diminished, or that they need to pursue a distinct technique.
Layered well being bars are sometimes carried out out of pure utility, to maintain gameplay communication constant and provides gamers an additional problem. Thus, they’re one of many least compelling forms of refillable well being bars in video games.
The Second Section
Right here’s the place issues get extra fascinating. Moderately than presenting gamers with well being bars in bulk, such as you have been fistfighting at a Costco, some well being bars in video games will refill or stack as gamers enter the dreaded second section of a boss battle.
Second-phase boss battles with refilled well being bars have been current in traditional video games like the unique Castlevania for NES and ActRaiser for Tremendous NES. In recent times, this gimmick has been the commerce of Soulslike developer FromSoftware, which experimented with phase-two, extra-health-bars bosses just like the Maneaters in Demon’s Souls, which begins as a battle towards one Maneater, then introduces a second midway by way of the struggle. FromSoft went again to the nicely with its follow-up Darkish Souls, which featured the memorable and difficult bosses Ornstein and Smough. Gamers fought each characters, every with their very own well being bar, concurrently. When both Ornstein or Smough have been downed, the opposite grew to immense dimension, utterly refilled his well being bar, and went full bore in his assault on the participant.
Maybe essentially the most infamous instance by FromSoft is Elden Ring’s Malenia, who’s difficult sufficient in her first kind, Malenia, Blade of Miquella, then utterly refills her well being bar upon defeat and transforms into Malenia, Goddess of Rot, principally a human blender that drains well being by poisoning the participant.
Probably the most profitable instance of the two-phase, get all my well being again boss — after Ornstein and Smough — comes from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. In a single fierce battle, gamers face the Guardian Ape, a large beast that unrelentingly assaults the participant with punches, slams, and even his personal feces. Guardian Ape is rightly pissed off, although; he’s nonetheless obtained a sword by way of his neck from the earlier samurai who bothered him.
What makes the Guardian Ape struggle so memorable is that after defeating him the primary time, FromSoft clearly alerts the struggle is over with the phrases “Shinobi Execution,” a phrase that communicates a significant boss battle is over. Alas, it is a trick. The now-headless Guardian Ape springs again to life, holding its severed head in its hand and slashing on the participant with the now-removed sword. It’s one of the vital pleasant surprises in a FromSoft recreation, and luckily, used sparingly.
One of many extra memorable second-phase (and third-phase) boss battles in latest reminiscence comes from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. That recreation’s ultimate boss (spoiler: It’s Ganon.) spans a number of phases, however his second could also be one of the best. After defeating Demon King Ganondorf the primary time, Tears of the Kingdom rolls out a “comically overcompensatory well being bar,” for much longer than the unique well being bar, one which threatens to stretch past the display screen itself. It’s gag — and one which ActRaiser did earlier than it.
At this stage, nonetheless, builders like FromSoftware and its Soulslike imitators are maybe relying too closely on the second-phase, this-isn’t-even-my-final-form trope. However when it really works, it actually works.
The We Know You Know About This Trick Method
Whereas ActRaiser and Tears of the Kingdom play with the dimensions of well being bars as a gag, probably the greatest examples of refilling/a number of well being bars comes from 2004’s Spider-Man 2, primarily based on the film of the identical title. The sport diverges from the occasions of the film by together with enemies like Rhino, Shocker, and Mysterio — the latter of which performs on boss-fight expectations.
When Spider-Man confronts Mysterio because the illusionist tries to rob a comfort retailer, the villain threatens Spidey with destruction and pulls up a three-phase well being bar to indicate his power. However Spider-Man knocks ol’ Mysterio out with a single blow, revealing the well being bar itself to be an phantasm.
Refilling well being bars could also be a well-worn trope, however some recreation builders have approached the duty of subverting expectations in boss battles with spectacular creativity over the previous 4 a long time. Some examples of well being bar trickery are, naturally, higher than others. However don’t hate the thought, hate the execution. There are nonetheless loads of recent concepts to be skilled on this previous one.
IT’S PROBABLY HAPPENED TO YOU: AFTER BASHING YOUR HEAD AGAINST A PARTICULARLY DIFFICULT BOSS IN A VIDEO GAME, YOU REALIZE YOU’VE BEEN DUPED. AS YOU WATCH THAT BOSS’ DEPLETED HEALTH BAR FILL UP AGAIN, YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS A VICTORY WAS INSTEAD AN INSULT. WELCOME TO PHASE TWO OF THE BATTLE YOU BELIEVED YOU’VE JUST WON.
THESE MOMENTS CAN BE DEFLATING AND INFURIATING. BUT I’M HERE TO DEFEND THEM. AS PART OF POLYGON’S COVERAGE OF DRAMATIC ENTRANCES IN VIDEO GAMES, MOVIES, AND TELEVISION, ALLOW ME TO SING THE PRAISES OF THE DRAMATIC RE-ENTRANCE, THE MOMENTS THAT TRANSFORM HIGHS INTO LOWS.
THE SECOND (OR THIRD, FOURTH, ETC.) HEALTH BAR IS A LONGSTANDING DESIGN TRICK IN GAMES, IMPLEMENTED FOR MULTIPLE REASONS. SOME INSTANCES OF DOUBLE HEALTH BARS ARE MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN OTHERS, BUT THEY SERVE IMPORTANT PURPOSES: THEY REFRAME THE BOSS FIGHT EXPERIENCE, ADD NEW LAYERS OF CHALLENGE, AND FORCE PLAYERS TO (IN MANY CASES) TRY AND TRY AGAIN, ARMED WITH FRESH KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL.
HEALTH BARS (OR METERS) HAVE BEEN USED IN GAMES FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS, BUILDING ON THE “HIT POINTS” SYSTEM INTRODUCED IN DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. EARLY ARCADE EXPERIENCES LIKE NINTENDO’S BOXING GAME PUNCH-OUT!! AND KONAMI’S FIGHTING GAME YIE AR KUNG-FU RELIED ON HEALTH BARS TO SHOW PLAYERS HOW MUCH STAMINA OR LIFE THEY HAD LEFT. HEALTH BARS ARE COMMONPLACE ACROSS GENRES, FROM SIDE-SCROLLING BEAT-’EM-UPS AND SHMUPS, TO ACTION RPGS AND STRATEGY GAMES. MOST HEALTH BARS DRAIN BASED ON DAMAGE AND REPLENISH BASED ON POWER-UP ITEMS. SOME, HOWEVER, SIMPLY FILL UP BASED ON GAME DESIGNERS’ WHIMS.
WHILE MANY CONSIDER THE REFILLING HEALTH BAR A CHEAP TACTIC, I CONSIDER IT A HUGE BOON TO GAME DESIGN. LET ME EXPLAIN WHY AS WE DISCUSS THE MULTIPLE WAYS HEALTH BARS CAN BE USED FOR GOOD AND EVIL.
[NOTE: THE FOLLOWING STORY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR BOSS BATTLES IN GAMES LIKE THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM, 2004’S SPIDER-MAN 2, SUPER METROID, AND A HALF-DOZEN FROMSOFTWARE GAMES.]
THE LAYERED HEALTH BAR
IN CLASSIC GAMES LIKE CAPCOM’S FINAL FIGHT, SEGA’S STREETS OF RAGE, AND TREASURE’S IKARUGA, SOME ENEMIES BREAK THE RULES WITH LAYERED HEALTH BARS THAT MUST BE DRAINED MULTIPLE TIMES — TECHNICALLY REFILLING AFTER BEING DEPLETED.
MORE MODERN SERIES LIKE BAYONETTA AND YAKUZA/LIKE A DRAGON USE THE SAME TACTIC, PILING ON HEALTH FOR MORE CHALLENGING OPPONENTS. IN YAKUZA KIWAMI, FOR EXAMPLE, A RECURRING YAKUZA BOSS NAMED JO AMON HAS MORE THAN A DOZEN HEALTH BARS THAT MUST BE WHITTLED DOWN.
WHY NOT JUST USE ONE BIG HEALTH BAR IN THESE INSTANCES? BECAUSE THE LAYERED HEALTH BAR COMMUNICATES TO THE PLAYER THAT WHOMEVER YOU’RE FIGHTING IS A BIG DEAL: THEIR CAPABILITIES ARE UNKNOWN, AND YOU NEED TO TAKE THIS FIGHT SERIOUSLY. CREATING A VISIBLY LONGER HEALTH BAR TO CONVEY THE DEPTH OF YOUR OPPONENTS HIT POINT POOL MIGHT BREAK A GAME’S UI. ALTERNATIVELY, IF PLAYERS WERE SHOWN DRAINING A SMALLER AMOUNT OF HEALTH FROM A MULTILAYERED-HEALTH-BAR BOSS, THE GAME MIGHT CONFUSE PLAYERS INTO THINKING THEIR ATTACKS HAD BEEN DIMINISHED, OR THAT THEY SHOULD PURSUE A DIFFERENT STRATEGY.
LAYERED HEALTH BARS ARE OFTEN IMPLEMENTED OUT OF PURE UTILITY, TO KEEP GAMEPLAY COMMUNICATION CONSISTENT AND GIVE PLAYERS AN EXTRA CHALLENGE. THUS, THEY ARE ONE OF THE LEAST COMPELLING TYPES OF REFILLABLE HEALTH BARS IN GAMES.
THE SECOND PHASE
HERE’S WHERE THINGS GET MORE INTERESTING. RATHER THAN PRESENTING PLAYERS WITH HEALTH BARS IN BULK, LIKE YOU WERE FISTFIGHTING A COSTCO, SOME HEALTH BARS IN GAMES WILL REFILL OR STACK AS PLAYERS ENTER THE DREADED SECOND PHASE OF A BOSS BATTLE.
SECOND-PHASE BOSS BATTLES WITH REFILLED HEALTH BARS WERE PRESENT IN CLASSIC GAMES LIKE THE ORIGINAL CASTLEVANIA FOR NES AND ACTRAISER FOR SUPER NES. IN RECENT YEARS, THIS GIMMICK HAS BEEN THE TRADE OF SOULSLIKE DEVELOPER FROMSOFTWARE, WHICH EXPERIMENTED WITH PHASE-TWO, EXTRA-HEALTH-BARS BOSSES LIKE THE MANEATERS IN DEMON’S SOULS, WHICH STARTS AS A BATTLE AGAINST ONE MANEATER, THEN INTRODUCES A SECOND HALFWAY THROUGH THE FIGHT. FROMSOFT WENT BACK TO THE WELL WITH ITS FOLLOW-UP DARK SOULS, WHICH FEATURED THE MEMORABLE AND CHALLENGING BOSSES ORNSTEIN AND SMOUGH. PLAYERS FOUGHT BOTH CHARACTERS, EACH WITH THEIR OWN HEALTH BAR, SIMULTANEOUSLY. WHEN EITHER ORNSTEIN OR SMOUGH WERE DOWNED, THE OTHER GREW TO IMMENSE SIZE, COMPLETELY REFILLED HIS HEALTH BAR, AND WENT FULL BORE IN HIS ATTACK ON THE PLAYER.
PERHAPS THE MOST NOTORIOUS EXAMPLE BY FROMSOFT IS ELDEN RING’S MALENIA, WHO IS CHALLENGING ENOUGH IN HER FIRST FORM, MALENIA, BLADE OF MIQUELLA, THEN COMPLETELY REFILLS HER HEALTH BAR UPON DEFEAT AND TRANSFORMS INTO MALENIA, GODDESS OF ROT, BASICALLY A HUMAN BLENDER THAT DRAINS HEALTH BY POISONING THE PLAYER.
THE MOST SUCCESSFUL EXAMPLE OF THE TWO-PHASE, GET ALL MY HEALTH BACK BOSS — AFTER ORNSTEIN AND SMOUGH — COMES FROM SEKIRO: SHADOWS DIE TWICE. IN ONE FIERCE BATTLE, PLAYERS FACE THE GUARDIAN APE, A GIANT BEAST THAT UNRELENTINGLY ATTACKS THE PLAYER WITH PUNCHES, SLAMS, AND EVEN HIS OWN FECES. GUARDIAN APE IS RIGHTLY PISSED OFF, THOUGH; HE’S STILL GOT A SWORD THROUGH HIS NECK FROM THE PREVIOUS SAMURAI WHO BOTHERED HIM.
WHAT MAKES THE GUARDIAN APE FIGHT SO MEMORABLE IS THAT AFTER DEFEATING HIM THE FIRST TIME, FROMSOFT CLEARLY SIGNALS THE FIGHT IS OVER WITH THE WORDS “SHINOBI EXECUTION,” A PHRASE THAT COMMUNICATES A MAJOR BOSS BATTLE IS OVER. ALAS, THIS IS A TRICK. THE NOW-HEADLESS GUARDIAN APE SPRINGS BACK TO LIFE, HOLDING ITS SEVERED HEAD IN ITS HAND AND SLASHING AT THE PLAYER WITH THE NOW-REMOVED SWORD. IT’S ONE OF THE MOST DELIGHTFUL SURPRISES IN A FROMSOFT GAME, AND FORTUNATELY, USED SPARINGLY.
ONE OF THE MORE MEMORABLE SECOND-PHASE (AND THIRD-PHASE) BOSS BATTLES IN RECENT MEMORY COMES FROM THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM. THAT GAME’S FINAL BOSS (SPOILER: IT’S GANON.) SPANS MULTIPLE PHASES, BUT HIS SECOND MAY BE THE BEST. AFTER DEFEATING DEMON KING GANONDORF THE FIRST TIME, TEARS OF THE KINGDOM ROLLS OUT A “COMICALLY OVERCOMPENSATORY HEALTH BAR,” MUCH LONGER THAN THE ORIGINAL HEALTH BAR, ONE THAT THREATENS TO STRETCH BEYOND THE SCREEN ITSELF. IT’S A GOOD GAG — AND ONE THAT ACTRAISER DID BEFORE IT.
AT THIS STAGE, HOWEVER, DEVELOPERS LIKE FROMSOFTWARE AND ITS SOULSLIKE IMITATORS ARE PERHAPS RELYING TOO HEAVILY ON THE SECOND-PHASE, THIS-ISN’T-EVEN-MY-FINAL-FORM TROPE. BUT WHEN IT WORKS, IT REALLY WORKS.
THE WE KNOW YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS TRICK APPROACH
WHILE ACTRAISER AND TEARS OF THE KINGDOM PLAY WITH THE SIZE OF HEALTH BARS AS A GAG, ONE OF THE BEST EXAMPLES OF REFILLING/MULTIPLE HEALTH BARS COMES FROM 2004’S SPIDER-MAN 2, BASED ON THE MOVIE OF THE SAME NAME. THE GAME DIVERGES FROM THE EVENTS OF THE MOVIE BY INCLUDING ENEMIES LIKE RHINO, SHOCKER, AND MYSTERIO — THE LATTER OF WHICH PLAYS ON BOSS-FIGHT EXPECTATIONS.
WHEN SPIDER-MAN CONFRONTS MYSTERIO AS THE ILLUSIONIST TRIES TO ROB A CONVENIENCE STORE, THE VILLAIN THREATENS SPIDEY WITH DESTRUCTION AND PULLS UP A THREE-PHASE HEALTH BAR TO SHOW HIS STRENGTH. BUT SPIDER-MAN KNOCKS OL’ MYSTERIO OUT WITH A SINGLE BLOW, REVEALING THE HEALTH BAR ITSELF TO BE AN ILLUSION.
REFILLING HEALTH BARS MAY BE A WELL-WORN TROPE, BUT SOME GAME DEVELOPERS HAVE APPROACHED THE TASK OF SUBVERTING EXPECTATIONS IN BOSS BATTLES WITH IMPRESSIVE CREATIVITY OVER THE PAST FOUR DECADES. SOME EXAMPLES OF HEALTH BAR TRICKERY ARE, NATURALLY, BETTER THAN OTHERS. BUT DON’T HATE THE IDEA, HATE THE EXECUTION. THERE ARE STILL PLENTY OF FRESH IDEAS TO BE EXPERIENCED IN THIS OLD ONE.
