Boss Subtitles

This is what I get for selecting 'Random' on TV Tropes.

Okay, so let's think back to our video game memories. My earliest are, as with many people's, during the '80s and 'early '90s that somehow refuses to die properly. It's a time when the Zelda series, name issues aside, introduces the world to a youthful hero trying to save Princess Zelda in all her various incarnations (except perhaps that version though even then). Mario, at least the Mario we all remember, first antagonized a gorilla to save another Damsel in Distress before beating up a lizard to save another Damsel (at least when he and his perennial adversary weren't goofing about). Sonic the Hedgehog taught kids various lessons in his Animated Adaptation (much like Mario really) while going insane with speed (even if other characters may run as fast as he can).

There are various tropes (some outlined above) associated with such early memories. One is the delightfully anti-immersive Boss Subtitle. This affects the kind of situation you expect it would, even if you fight them more than once. It is basically the name of the boss flashed on the screen for a brief while, with a brief description sometimes added to the mix.

This one can come across as too cheesy rather than invoke anything serious, though that isn't always what the author desired. After all, it's hard to argue Mario is far from the cynical end of the scale, even if it does raise certain questions about its inspiration. As such, be mindful of how you want the game to come across.

For example, certain genres have traditionally-expected elements where the Boss Subtitle would fit right in with. Platformers, for example, may have a bare-bones plot at best, if a plot at all, as well as the usual array of common enemies to offset the one boss at the end of it all. Without a deep story to compliment the game, an author may be able to get away with a Subtitle for the sake of providing a name (although providing none wouldn't detract from anything in this case).