"Boss" fights

[sagacious]

Where do you think the term "Boss" fight came from? were the game designers mad at their bosses and wanted to depict them as fat trolls to be killed for glory and honor? Is it because it is supposed to be the Boss of the enemy forces? If it is the second, why not call them Leader fights, or Assassinations (like assassin's creed), or Duels?

The term has come to be used so often, but in many boss fights, the "boss" isn't even the boss/lieutenant/leader or whatever, He's just big, often being just a puffed-up minion with no real authority, or a giant monster that doesn't really have any control over any other NPC/enemy.

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

A boss would be depicted as someone high up with a lot of power. So a buffed minon would most likely be higher up in the ranks of what ever "troll army of the 7th circle of candyland" your fighting, plus he would be harder to kill, thus more powerful.

p.s. I lol'd

 

[Glassesguy904]

I think a boss is whatever poor sap you happen to find at the end of a level/world. Or whoever has a very large health bar.

 

[Tasachan]

Haha I've always wondered why they were called boss fights, too. I mean, some of the boss fights are just big tough minions. For example, in Resident Evil a lot of the boss fights are horribly mutated infected. They're just bigger and stronger than the normal infected, but they aren't always smarter. Nor are they the boss of anything.

 

[Mr. In-between]

Probably the same person who came up with the term "levels" to describe different areas...

But yeah, I've always wondered about the etymology of "boss" in relation to video games.