Video game bosses with two health bars are good, actually
The trope of video game bosses with multiple, refilling health bars is often hated, but more often understood. Here's why they're good.
Published 20 hours ago
The second health bar is a beloved staple, when done right
Thrill of the refill: I love it when a boss gets a second health bar
FromSoftware/Activision via Polygon
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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 at 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.
FromSoftware/Activision via Polygon
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.