In most Boss Battles, there is only one "correct" outcome to the battle, that being the protagonist's victory, or, if it's a Hopeless Boss Fight, their defeat. If you lose when you're supposed to win, the game will not proceed; go back to your Save Point and try again. If you win when you're supposed to lose, you'll usually find that The Battle Didn't Count.
But sometimes the dev team thinks of everything and allows the game to proceed whether the player won or lost the battle in question.
Failure to defeat this boss may mean the player loses out on the opportunity to collect Experience Points, money, or items. In some games, the story may change depending on the outcome, or, more subtly, secretly record this outcome for future reference, having effects later on.
The Monster Arena is a popular venue for hosting open-ended battles, although the consequences of these battles rarely extends beyond the venue itself.
Note that getting a Non-Standard Game Over or an ending from getting the unexpected outcome of the fight is not this trope. Nor does avoiding the boss altogether.
This may be a form of Newbie Immunity if set at the beginning section of the game, to alleviate the fear of losing.
Subtrope of Boss Battle (specifically under Optional Boss) and Failure Is an Option. Contrast Hopeless Boss Fight, Heads I Win, Tails You Lose.
Examples:
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Action-Adventure
- ANNO: Mutationem: At the end of the tutorial segment, Ann battles against a Training Boss to use each of her skills against it. Whether she does defeat it or the boss depleted her health, the training simulation undergoes an error and shuts down.
- Blaster Master Zero III: At the end of the first area, Jason is pitted against Kane Gardner from the Sophia Force. Jason's G-SOPHIA SV has been stripped of its upgrades and rendered virtually defenseless, while Kane is packing a fully equipped Metal Attacker with three health bars. The odds are stacked against you such that the plot will progress even if you lose. However, it is possible to win, and doing so will reward you with slightly different dialogue from Kane and an achievement on supported platforms.
- The first fight with Genichiro in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a Hopeless Boss Fight, and the new player is expected to lose very quickly. Of course, if you're persistent enough, once you deplete Genichiro's health, one of his mooks distracts you in a cutscene, making the Wolf lose his arm as usual.
- Super Metroid: Ridley on Ceres Station. If you lose, he'll fly off with the baby Metroid. If you win, he'll drop the baby Metroid...and then immediately pick it back up again and fly off.
Adventure
- The final fight against the Oracle in Fahrenheit can be won or lost. In the former case, Lucas gets to fight the Cyborg later, while in the latter, you take control of Carla in an attempt to save Lucas — which you can also fail, giving you one of the three endings. The other two are received for either beating or losing to the Cyborg.
- Heavy Rain is basically all about this. Just about every fight can be won or lost, which can even result in the death of main characters... and the story will just keep going. Of course, this affects the outcome of the game and who makes it to the final stage.
Driving
- Initial D Arcade Stage: After defeating Takumi for the final time in Legend of the Streets mode, you get a free match against his father Bunta, who lives up his Living Legend status by being the toughest and fastest opponent in the game. Whether you win or lose to him, the credits will roll.
Eastern RPGs
- In Arc Rise Fantasia, there are summons that go to the strongest of two parties after certain battles. You can both win and lose these battles, and change the summons that you and your rival can use.
- Axial Disc 1: The first duel between Sai and Chip will result in the former jumping off the cathedral no matter what the outcome in order to escape the latter's Anti-Magic field. However, winning does result in a hefty money drop and an NRG Doubler accessory. Similarly, the second duel between them can be won or lost, since the rest of the party enters Chip's room immediately afterwards. Winning that duel nets the player the Mag Rings weapon, which is one of Sai's best weapons. The results of the second duel is acknowledged in the sequel if an old save is carried over.
- Beloved Rapture: In the final battle of Chapter 1, Johan isn't meant to defeat Drago and his wyvern, but if the player manages to win, Drago will leave anyways. The only difference is that Johan receives a hefty amount of EXP.
- In Breath of Fire III, although the player loses their first fight against Balio and Sunder, when Ryu battles them later to save princess Nina from abduction, the player may win or lose that battle without penalty.
- Chrono series:
- Chrono Trigger: In the Kingdom of Zeal, the plot requires you to be captured. To this end, a Golem is sent to attack the party. While the standard fare would be to lose to the monster, you can actually defeat it (in fact it can be pathetically easy if you know how). Doing so results in the summoner using the "Look Behind You" trick then shooting you In the Back. All winning does is net some decent EXP.
- In Chrono Cross, the third battle with Lynx, AKA the one that happens directly after the Serge/Lynx body swap that pits you against your former party members plays out like a Hopeless Boss Fight, unless you're playing on New Game Plus, at which point it becomes possible to win. However, if you do, Kid gets back up and stabs you anyway, so there's really no point other than bragging rights.
- The first boss fight in Demon's Souls is one of these disguised as a Hopeless Boss Fight, in that you're expected to lose to such a massive difficulty spike, but if you're really a bad enough dude to take out the Vanguard with starting equipment and stats, you get to collect its soul item (and the human souls it had amassed, although you won't get to keep them) and advance to a bonus room containing some sick loot. And an early preview of the Dragon God, who in this case just kills you in a scripted event. Dying is, after all, how you end up in the Nexus.
- In Digimon World: Dawn and Dusk, both games start with a tournament held by the game's two main factions, ending in a battle against your rival from the other faction (Sayo in Dawn, Koh in Dusk) on roughly even footing. There's no difference between winning or losing the match beyond a change in the following cutscene. The tournament is also A Taste of Power before your non-mascot Digimon get reverted to Rookie level the next day.
- Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: Early on; one can get attacked by a nameless "Alternate Overlord" who turns into multiple smaller copies and attacks. If you lose; Laharl's father's minions; each about level 500 or so; come in as temporary allies and easily stomp them. If you win; either through Level Grinding or New Game Plus; the game simply continues with no commentary.
- Faraway Story:
- The first battle against Crowa is too high-leveled for a normally leveled party, and the story continues if the player loses. If the player wins, Necrovia will step in and defeat the party anyways.
- Remi is a Time-Limit Boss, but whether the player wins or loses, she'll continue to stand in the party's way, forcing Erena to stay behind to distract her.
- Maya's battle can be won or lost, since her ghost body is unstable and prevents her from finishing the party off.
- Final Fantasy X: You don't need to win the blitzball tournament to continue the story, the only difference being whether Wakka holds the trophy afterwards or not... and perhaps a feeling of shame in the player.
- In Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Ike's battle with the Black Knight can go several ways. If you win, which is practically a Luck-Based Mission, you recruit a powerful Dragon laguz. If you don't feel up to it, you can wait out five turns, at which point the character you would normally recruit pulls a Big Damn Heroes and finishes the fight himself but dies in the process. Ike also has the option to flee from the Black Knight which results in the same outcome as waiting five turns.
- Fire Emblem Gaiden: Jedah is immune to damage, so his battle looks like a Hopeless Boss Fight set to end in six turns. If you figure out how to deal damage and knock him out, you get his Draco Shield.
- Golden Sun:
- In the first game, the Colosso competition can end in your victory or defeat in the tournament. Winning nets you an extra item and (if you export your save data) an extra scene and a unique item in the following game. Loss still advances the plot, but with fewer goodies.
- The battle against Agatio and Karst on top of Jupiter Lighthouse in The Lost Age is also like this. After the battle is over, Alex shows up, heals the losing team, then the three of them run away, and the plot advances like normal. But if you win, you get a bunch of money and XP and a chunk of Dark Matter.
- Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road: The player can choose to play the final match of the tournament as the main team they've been playing as for the whole game, or as their opponents, Raimon, who were the protagonists of every other game in the series. Either side winning is treated as a good ending, and there's even a hidden third ending if the match ends in a draw.
- In Jay's Journey, you have to fight Puff early on when he mistakes Jay for working with Antignarot. You miss out on a Defense booster if you lose, but that's all; either way, the misunderstanding is cleared up and Puff joins Jay's party.
- Kingdom Hearts:
- Kingdom Hearts I: When Sora first arrives in Traverse Town, Leon fights him in the town square. There's no penalty for losing, and it is very difficult to win (unless you're aware of a certain flaw in your opponent). If you do win, Sora will delight in his win (and major EXP gain) and then promptly pass out. The next scene will have Leon praising Sora, instead of the usual "This is supposed to be the Keyblade master?!". You can also get an Elixir from Yuffie afterward, who mentions it's a gift from Leon for impressing him. Other boss fights where the story continues whether you win or lose are the first battles against Darkside in the prologue, Sabor in Deep Jungle, and Cloud in Olympus Coliseum.
- Kingdom Hearts II has a this as well (albeit Downplayed) starting with the very first fight in the game. The plot continues no matter if Roxas wins or loses to Seifer. Then during the struggle tournament, while you have to win against Hayner and Vivi to progress, the outcome against Setzer merely determines whether Roxas earns a belt for winning or a medal for losing.
- In Koudelka, whether or not the player can defeat the game's Final Boss determines whether they earn the game's Good or Bad Ending, with the latter being considered canon. What makes this unique is that losing is what gives the canon ending.
- Certain boss fights in The Legend of Heroes - Trails either expect the player to lose or take losses but will reward the player if they either win or do a sufficient level of damage before they immediately wipe you out. This will change the upcoming cutscene where the enemy will acknowledge your efforts and reward you with bonus points towards your overall ranking.
- Lie of Caelum:
- The duel with Miyu will have the story continue no matter the outcome, since this is just a friendly spar.
- No matter the outcome of the boss battle against Kado and Mai, the mysterious voice will command them to stop fighting, resulting in Elysion regaining mobility and knocking them out.
- Except for the last Lufia game, the mad gods known as "Sinistrals" could only be killed with a magic sword called the "Dual Blade". However, defeating one in combat prior to obtaining it would result in a rare equipment drop, and a slightly altered cut-scene afterward where the Sinistral blinks, then uses non-combat cutscene powers to defeat your characters anyway.
- Luminous Plume: The first battle with the Black Blade allows the player to continue whether they lose or drop the boss's HP to 50%. In the latter case, the boss will still win in the cutscene.
- In Mother 3, there's the Almost Mecha Lion in the Chimera Lab. Win or lose, a Clayman will finish it afterwards.
- During Chapter 3 of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the story will progress regardless of the outcomes of the third fight against the Iron Adonis Twins and the fight against Bowser, which both take place in the Glitz Pit arena. It's justified because neither of these matches were santionced by the Glitz Pit, and thus have no effect on Mario's ranking.
- Pokémon:
- In Pokémon Red and Blue, the player's very first Mon battle was against their rival, and they could win or lose this fight without penalty or consequence, although "Special Yellow Edition" additionally used this as a factor to determine which Eevee form he would ultimately evolve his starting 'Mon into (lose, and it will always become a Vaporeon; win, and it will become Flareon or Jolteon depending on if you win/lose/skip an optional battle later on). Losing in your first rival battle in FireRed and LeafGreen will have Professor Oak explain that losing in a trainer battle would normally require you to cough up some of your money, but he will cover your expenses this time since your rival demanded a battle when you weren't prepared for it.
- In Pokémon Gold and Silver, the first battle against your rival after the latter steals a Pokémon from Professor Elm's lab can be won or lost, with the story progressing in the same manner either way.
- In Pokémon Platinum, the first battle against Barry takes place almost immediately after he and the player receive their first Pokémon. If you lose, you do lose money (and the game will state that you "blacked out"), but the game's story will still progress regardless.
- In Pokémon Black and White, the player will be challenged by Bianca and Cheren back-to-back after they receive their first Pokémon. Regardless of the outcome of these battles, the storyline will still progress.
- In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, the player will be challenged by Hugh to a battle after receiving a Pokémon from Bianca. Win or lose, the story will progress regardless.
- In Pokémon X and Y, the first battle against Shauna and the battle against Post-Final Boss AZ can be won or lost, with the storyline progressing either way. The third battle against Korrina (a Duel Boss featuring both Trainers using a Mega Lucario) also plays out similarly, with the only difference being that the battle will automatically restart if the player does not Mega Evolve their Lucario.
- In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the final battles against Brendan/May (who also doubles as a Post-Final Boss) and Zinnia, as well as the battle against Deoxys at the end of the Delta Episode, can be won or lost while still progressing the storyline.
- In Pokémon Sun and Moon, the game's storyline will progress regardless of the outcomes for all of Hau's storyline battles besides the final one, the battle against Dexio (in Sun) or Sina (in Moon) in Heahea City, the Battle Royal match between the player/Hau/Gladion/the Masked Royal, the third battle against Gladion, the first battle against Lusamine, and the battle against the Post-Final Boss Tapu Koko. Additionally, Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon will proceed regardless of the outcome of the battle against Dusk Mane/Dawn Wings Necrozma at the Altar of the Sunne/Moone.
- In Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, it is not required for the player to defeat Trace during their first battle in Professor Oak's Laboratory.
- In Pokémon Sword and Shield, you can lose the first two battles against Hop and the mandatory battle against Peony during the Crown Tundra and still be allowed to continue the story.
- In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, the player can lose all of their main story battles against Rei/Akari, their second battles against both Volo and Irida, and their mandatory battle against Adaman, and still be allowed to continue the story. The Adaman battle is particularly noteworthy since he only challenges the player so that the player can showcase their strength to Melli (who is openly skeptical of them). If the player loses, Adaman will sheepishly declare that he just got lucky and continue to stress to Melli that the player is worthy of respect.
- In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the storyline will progress regardless of whether the player wins or loses their first battle with Arven, all of their battles with Nemona in the main story except the final one (which fittingly involves the player properly surpassing her by defeating her Champion team), their first battles against both Carmine and Kieran during The Teal Mask, and their first battle against Lacey during The Indigo Disk.
- In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the player is not required to defeat Urbain/Taunie in any of their battles during the main story. The most notable example of this is during their third battle, where they battle to decide who is the top-ranked Trainer of Rank A, in addition to who gets to scale Prism Tower with Floette. If the player loses, Urbain/Taunie will scale the tower as decided by the battle's outcome. If the player wins, however, then Urbain/Taunie will still insist that they be allowed to head to the top of the tower, stating that the player was already chosen by Zygarde and that they should be on standby in case something goes terribly wrong (which it does).
- In Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, the story will continue whether you win or lose the battle with Cipher Commander Exol during the ONBS raid. He already got the data disc he came for, so the battle is more of a formality than anything.
- Radiant Arc: The second battle with Derek doesn't have to be won to continue the story, but winning grants a powerful accessory and a slightly different cutscene.
- Romancing SaGa 2: You can lose the first battle against Dantarg and suffer no ill effects beyond any LP lost and BP expended during the fight and Dantarg insulting you in a cutscene. The next time you face him, though, you have to win and he'll be in a stronger form, so you'll have your work cut out for you if you didn't beat him the first time.
- Sacred Earth - Alternative: The Final Boss fight with True Konoe can be won or lost, but the cutscene afterwards is exactly the same, with True Konoe killing the replica and absorbing her. The only thing that changes is that the ending is extended to show what happens to True Konoe.
- Scarlet Nexus: The first battle against the other player character takes place in a training exercise between multiple teams, with Yuito's and Kasane's team fighting each other. Winning or losing will carry the game forwards, with different cutscenes depending on Yuito or Kasane winning, although Kagero will also give your player character an item if you win.
- Early on in Secret of Evermore, you're attacked by four Raptors. If you lose, your dog drags you to the nearby village and an NPC heals you. If you win, you get money and continue on into said village, where another NPC rewards you with an early-game armor for free.
- In Shanghai.EXE: Genso Network, the exhibition match against Beetle Man at the cruise ship can be lost without a game over.
- Steambot Chronicles has the duel against the leader of the Killer Elephants early in the game. Win, and the Boss will recall his forces occupying a nearby town. Lose, and he'll capture you, but release you shortly thereafter as a show of respect for you having the courage to take him on, and recall his forces occupying a nearby town.
- At one point in Suikoden I, the protagonist's recently-returned retainer Pahn demands that the rest of the party escape while he buys them time by stalling the approach of General Teo. The resulting Duel Boss can be won or lost to let the story continue, but losing results in Pahn's execution as a traitor. Teo spares him and retreats if Pahn wins.
- Tales Series:
- Tales of Symphonia has a famous three-boss sequence at a spoilerrific important scene that goes regular boss -> this trope -> Hopeless Boss Fight. If you lose, the boss can't bring himself to finish you off because he's the main character's father. If you win, he can't finish you off because, well, he lost. Either way, this is where the Hopeless Boss Fight steps in to finish the job.
- In Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World the fight against Ratatosk is this. Interesting in that even though it's the final boss fight whether you win or lose absolutely nothing changes.
- In Tales of Xillia, the first fight against Agria in Jude's story and the first fight against Gaius can be won or lost, the only difference being that you'll miss out on rewards.
- Xenogears has the battle against Alpha Weltall, which is nearly impossible to win unless you've gone all out preparing for it and get a little lucky. The game proceeds exactly the same either way; however, if you do win you get the Slayer Robe, which is the best on-foot armor in the game (and that only appears if you have the Trader Card equipped, which makes rare drops more frequent and is difficult to get ahold of in the first place).
Fighting Game
- Rival Schools has this during the Story Mode:
- Your team will encounter Raizo as the third battle. You're meant to lose the match, after which a designated member of your team is taken hostage while the other two are brainwashed and made to do Raizo's bidding for the next two battles. Depending on the team and their story, the effects of Raizo's mind control either wear off, or you're restored to your senses, after the second battle following the Raizo encounter.
- On the off-chance that you manage to defeat Raizo, the game skips the mind control phase of the story and cuts directly to the battle with Justice High. You still lose a member of your team, however, as the story demands this happen. They're either kidnapped by Raizo, after the battle, or they proceed to Justice High on their own to speed up the team's investigation. By the time you arrive, you learn your missing teammate was caught snooping and is now a hostage.
- Trapt: If you decide to fight the final boss, you get some interesting results, depending on the outcome. If you lose, Princess Allura/Alicea will get possessed by the demon without anyone the wiser. If you win, the Princess will vanquish the demon, and go back to the castle with her faithful knight.
Massively Multiplayer Online Games
- In original Guild Wars, the bonus objective of the Dragon's Lair mission involves killing a major character. If you lose, your character is simply resurrected and completes the mission anyway. If you win, the character's death has no effect on the story, and they still communicate with you at some later points.
- In Temtem, the story continues whether you win or lose the first few battles with Max, as well as the (almost) Hopeless Boss Fight against General X.
Other
- Panel de Pon has a Final Boss Preview midway through Stage Clear mode. It's exactly as powerful as the real Final Boss, so if you lose, the boss just laughs at you and leaves.
Platformer
- The penultimate boss in Axiom Verge is open-ended, as there's nothing stopping you from simply walking past it to where the Final Boss resides. The ending doesn't change regardless, but you actually get an achievement for not defeating it before beating the game.
- In the Mega Man Zero series, if the player loses a life out on a mission, they may be given the option to "give up", where the mission is a failure but the story continues without the mission's rewards.
- In Silhouette Mirage, in the third fight with Zohar, you can defeat him before the time limit runs out or run out of time and the game will continue regardless. Whether you win or run out of time determines if you fight him for the final time in his true Guardian Angel form or Serah as the next boss, and which final bosses you can fight and endings you can get.
Roguelike
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers:
- Regardless of whether you defeat or lose to Grovyle at Crystal Lake, the following cutscene has him knock out your entire party with a single attack, leaving you powerless to keep him from trying to steal the Time Gear.
- It's technically possible to win Bidoof's Hopeless Boss Fight against Team Rogue with the right items and good tactics, but victory leads directly into the cutscene of Bidoof losing.
- Shoot & Sow: Running out of time during a boss battle lowers the amount of reward items you get, but otherwise you can proceed as normal.
Shooters
- In Action Doom 2: Urban Brawl, after riding the subway, you come up against two gang leaders; depending on whether you beat them or lose to them, you go down a different path and eventually get a different ending. Interestingly, it is losing to them that will lead to the best ending you can get at that pointnote .
- In Chimera Beast, you can either beat the final boss for one ending, or lose all your lives against it and choose not to continue for another. Due to your character being a Villain Protagonist from a Horde of Alien Locusts, winning gives you the bad ending, while losing gives you the good ending.
- In an old arcade game called The Ocean Hunter, you, at one point, encounter a shark, tougher than the rest, tearing at a scuba diver. If you manage to kill the shark before the diver dies, you get an extra life and an Optional Boss— but nothing happens if you don't manage to save him.
- In Dragon Spirit: The New Legend, the game's Warm-Up Boss determined whether the player progressed in "Easy" or "Hard" mode, with "Easy" mode giving the player a stronger dragon before revealing it as All Just a Dream, and "Hard" mode featuring two additional levels and the game's True Final Boss.
Western RPGs
- CrossCode: The Spheromancer duels with Apollo and Shizuka will progress the story whether you win the duels or not, which is fortunate since their encounters can be pretty difficult for players to win against, even relative to other bosses. For Apollo, this is since he's only testing your merits as a player. For Shizuka, she's attempting to impede your progress but is forced to let you go by an Evotar version of Satoshi.
- Fresh out of the boss battle in Deltarune Chapter 3, your party is ambushed by the Big Bad with difficult, hard-hitting bullet patterns. This easily spells a loss, but dealing enough damage nets a powerful weapon for Kris. The party gets knocked out in the ensuing cutscene nonetheless. Reload after losing twice, and you get a prompt to keep trying or let the plot progress, along with a Player Nudge if you're missing an important piece of armor or if you were close to the stopping point.
- In Dragon Age: Origins, during a certain rescue mission, the player is confronted by the powerful Ser Cauthien. If the player manages to defeat her, the mission is complete and they may return to their Quest Giver immediately. If the player is defeated, they are thrown into prison and must find a way to escape (and will fight her later).
- In every single Fallout game, many bosses (And most of the major final bosses) you can avoid the battle entirely with charisma or sneaking alone. Don't feel like killing the Master in an epic boss battle? If your skills are high enough, convince him to commit suicide. Don't want to do the final test at the beginning of Fallout 2? Talk the guy out of it. In Fallout 3, you could kill the Overseer and take his keys, or blackmail him to give you the keys, or rob him blind when he's not looking, or avoid him entirely and raid his office. This counts for the trope, because in the Fallout series, most of the time the boss battle isn't the fight itself you have to win, but just getting past the scenario in general.
- LISA: The Pointless: The Climax Boss against Arnold Shpitz can end in two outcomes: You can lose to him, or you can defeat him, but the outcome is the same (i.e. you finally escape Downtown Olathe by jumping off a cliff, which injures Joel Miller.), aside from one thing. Actually managing to kill Arnold Shpitz grants you an Infinity +1 Sword in the form of his brass knuckle.
- Undertale:
- The battle against Papyrus has an interesting take. You can kill him like anyone else or spare him when you are given the chance and the plot goes on as normal. Losing to Papyrus is impossible because he will never deal a killing blow against you, even if the last hit was fatal. He stops the battle to capture you and toss you into a Cardboard Prison that you can just walk out from. Escaping means you have to fight him again, but losing to him three times will have him forego the capturing and lets you proceed anyway.
- The Final Battle against Asriel Dreemurr is impossible to lose. You can die, but your soul refuses to shatter and the fight simply resets with you fully revived.
Non Video Game Examples
- In Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Special Edition note , Aquatic Ruin Zone, Act 1, ends with a boss fight against Knuckles. If you win, you proceed as normal. If you lose, as Docfuture demonstrates, then you switch to playing as Knuckles for at least the next Act.