Cognizant Limbs: Difference between revisions

** Another notable example is the Chykka, the main boss of the Torvus Bog in ''[[Metroid Prime 2]]'', where Samus needs to shoot its four wings simultaneously with the Seeker Launcher, knocking it into the poison bog to transform into Dark Chykka, who's even easier to damage thanks to your Light Beam being very effecting against Dark-anything.

*** Or you could use super missiles on each one. A single super missile is enough to hit one, and you should have a fair few missiles by now.

 

== Action RPG ==

* The Ultimate Being in ''[[Parasite Eve]] II'' has no fewer than nine separate parts -- several of which will split into two parts on their own after being damaged enough -- and each of them has some sort of attack. Only two parts need to be destroyed in order to expose the Core, and only the Core needs to be destroyed in order to bring about the boss's defeat, but of course, the real challenge is eliminating every part of the Ultimate Being, which bestows some bonuses upon the player.

* The final boss of [[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army]] is a [[Transforming Mecha]] whose arms must be destroyed before you can take on its true form.

 

== Eastern RPG ==

* The ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series uses this a lot. There's usually at least one boss battle like this in each game.

*** Although in the DS remake, {{spoiler|Baigan}}'s arms self-destruct the first chance they get once the body is killed.

*** Also in the [[Updated Rerelease]] for the Game Boy Advance, Neo Shinryu has multiple, invincible spots designed to suck in multiple attacks, giving it the appearance it's invulnerable some of the time.

*** And Sin itself, for that manner.

*** And Penance if you have the International Version. [[No Export for You|You probably don't.]]

*** Likewise, the game's final boss, Vegnagun, requires you to defeat all of its parts in various boss fights ''before'' you confront Vegnagun itself. And those parts often have their ''own'' extra parts.

*** Similarly, there is also the first battle with Barthandelus, whose armor/body parts must be destroyed to lower the main body's high damage resistance.

*** The [[Boss in Mook Clothing|Adamantoise]] and its [[Underground Monkey|variants]] have front legs that can be attacked separately; defeating them both causes the creature to temporarily fall to the ground, lowering its damage resistance and halting its punishing attacks to allow you to wail on it

* Most enemies in ''[[Vagrant Story]]'', especially all bosses, are examples of this trope. However, none of the limbs targetable actually function as a separate (or cognizant) enemy; reducing them to a 'dying' state severely impedes the enemy, depending on the limb in question. For example, reducing an enemy's legs to a 'dying' state will reduce its movement by 50%. In fact, the protagonist himself can also be targeted in this way and will incur the same penalties.

* In ''[[Illusion of Gaia]]'', in the US version, the very first boss had two big ol' claws, which you had to defeat before you could strike at the head. In the original Japanese version, you can't attack the hands and you can go for the head directly.

** Also, Magnus Von Grapple(Both V1 and V2) has the main body, and two hands.

** The worst case of this would probably be the fight against Melfice, where you could target his Sword, a piece of armour, or himself. While killing Melfice would mean you didn't have to destroy the items, you wouldn't get as much treasure and it makes the fight harder.

** Also, Smithy, the [[Big Bad]] of the game. His second form has both a regenerating body and a massive head which shifts between four forms.

** There were other bosses as well: King Calamari, which is composed of a gargantuan squid body and numerous [[Combat Tentacles|tentacles]]; Megasmilax, a potted Piranha Plant that grows one large head and numerous smaller ones; and [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|Count Down]], a giant clock whose ringing bells cast spells and can also be targeted.

* ''[[Legend of Dragoon]]'' had many of these, including a human boss whose swords counted as separate enemies.

** Especially present in a fight with a Virage on Disc 2. Disarming it in the more literal sense can lead to a [[Flawless Victory]], as the Virage AI can get confused and not attack at all. Unfortunately for you, the arms 'regenerate' at full health after a few turns. It's important to note that one of them gives it a [[One-Hit Kill]] attack.

** The final boss of the sequel, ''Partners in Time'', has ''seven'' different parts: its head, four arms, a bunch of legs, and its crown. You need to destroy the head, which is protected by the crown, which is kept out of reach by the legs. Everything but the head will come back several turns after being destroyed. This, obviously, means a long battle (and this is ''right after'' two back-to-back bosses!)

*** The third in the series isn't ''quite'' as bad, but still over the top. You're ''supposed'' to be fighting against the [[Artifact of Doom|Dark Star's]] [[Monster Suit]] - [[Evil Twin|Dark Bowser]] - but as it turns out, [[Big Bad|Dark [Bug] Fawful]] is hiding inside of him, and as soon as you knock him unconscious, the [[Intentional Engrish for Funny]]-speaking maniac heals him and sends him into a [[Super Mode]]. At ''that'' point, you have to injure his head (or just punch him in the gut) so that he spits out Fawful, then have Bowser inhale him so that the Mario Bros. can face him inside [[Womb Level|his body]]. Except...what's this? Fawful has a [[Super Mode]] too? And all three of his limbs and both of his contact lenses are targetable? Yep, and to reach the actual Dark Star on his head, you have to defeat all five limbs/contacts to make him fall over so that you can face the Dark Star and it's [[Kamehame Hadoken|ludicrously]] [[Laser Blade|overpowered]] attacks... For three turns. At that point, it heals Fawful and escapes back into Dark Bowser, and the process begins anew. However, the [[Curb Stomp Battle|playable]] [[Megaton Punch|cutscene]] at the very end of the battle makes up for it... [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|by far.]]

* Some of the various bosses of ''[[Phantasy Star Online]]'' possess multiple points that can be targeted by area or multi-target attacks, though not necessarily destroyed seperate of their host depending on the boss. Either way, all damage contributes to whittling down their total HP.

** [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons|The Dragons]] have six points; the head, two feet, two wings and the tail. Inflicting enough damage to the feet causes it to drop prone, allowing melee combatants to attack the head, which takes more damage than the others.

** [[AI Is a Crapshoot|Vol Opt]] is split into several monitors and smaller components in his first stage. During his second stage, his parts can be destroyed to prevent him from using their abilities. As one of them lets him heal himself, this is high priority.

 

== Platform Game ==

 

== Real Time Strategy ==

* Andross appears as a giant head and pair of hands floating in space in ''Starfox 64/Lylatwars''. Taking out the hands limits his attacks, but it isn't necessary to defeat him.

* The NES game ''[[Recca]]'' has [http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/recca/recca-16.png this guy]. Not only does he have four of them, but each of them are segmented- you will need to destroy all the segments to beat one, so you might as well go for his head and kill him off with your [[Smart Bomb]].

* The vast majority of bosses in ''[[Radiant Silvergun]]'' have many individually destroyable parts. The game rewards you with extra points for destroying the nonessential parts before the core part. Many parts of these mechanical bosses often indeed resemble limbs of living creatures.

* Every freaking boss in [[Einhander]] lives and breathes this trope, and some of the minor enemies! Beyond that, you often have to blow off the armor just to be able to actually hurt the boss or moderate enemies. On the upside, stripping off the boss's weapons is a good idea; not only does it give the player breathing room, many of them can be picked up and turned against the enemy.

{{quote| Zetta: This thing... err, these things... are Dark Lord Valvoga, the Star Overlord. In many worlds, they're the [[Final Boss]]. On the bottom is the dragon, Dryzen. The face in the middle is Ophelia, the fallen angel. At the top is Micky, who supposedly makes the decisions, but the others tend to bully him. They're basically calling the shots. For a demon general, he's pretty spineless.}}

** There's [[Justified Trope|a reason]] that this happens. {{spoiler|In the cutscene before the fight, Micky finally gets fed up with his pushy companions and decides to stand up for himself and take charge. This emotional breakthrough allows him to cross the [[Bishonen Line]] and perfectly unite the three into a smaller and much more powerful Valvolga... which, as said, only counts as a single enemy.}} It's still disappointing, though.

* The ''[[Front Mission]]'' series uses this for ''every unit in the game''. Considering this is a [[Giant Mecha]] game, this makes some sense: shooting off your opponent's arms will disable his weaponry, while blowing off his legs will (severely) hamper his movement. Doing the same to the body destroys the unit, regardless of its body-parts HP. It's not an uncommon event to have fields of "stripped" enemies--those who have no arms or legs but near-full body HP--at which point it's just [[We Wait|a waiting game]].

* In ''[[Battleships Forever]]'', all the ships consist of multiple individually destroyable parts.

 

== [[Card Games]] ==

{{quote| ''"Put X +1/+1 counters (heads) on Hydra. Each point of damage Hydra suffers destroys one head unless R is spent. During upkeep, new heads may be grown for RRR apiece."''}}