"Disco Kid's got it right! A bright smile can make you a star!"
It's not uncommon for video game bosses to grab hold of the Villain Ball, just to make things easier for the player. Sometimes they'll use attacks that either tire them out or leave them open to counterattacks, sometimes they'll stock their battle arenas with weapons that can be used against them...
...and sometimes they'll completely let their guard down just to taunt you.
Enemy Posturing refers to any boss who takes time out of the battle to taunt you, laugh at you, strike a pose or wave to the crowd, leaving themselves defenseless in the process. In some cases, this will be the only time the boss is vulnerable, and the taunting is used to let the player know that it's time to attack. Otherwise, it's just to make the battle easier, and reward the player if they can react quickly enough.
Subtrope of Boss Vulnerability. See also Braggart Boss. Compare The Computer Shall Taunt You, Evil Gloating and Suicidal Overconfidence. Compare and Contrast I Shall Taunt You, when the enemy uses taunts to goad you into letting your guard down.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Action-Adventure
- ANNO: Mutationem: While fighting against Absalom, he'll occasionally swing his sword to the side after delivering several strikes, which leaves him open to attacks.
- Batman: Arkham Asylum:
- You fight Poison Ivy while she's encased in a protective glass pod, but occasionally she'll open it just to laugh at you. You can hit her with a batarang when she does this.
- During the final battle with Titan-infused Joker on the roof, he'll sometimes climb up one of the towers to taunt one of the police helicopters flying overhead. When he does this, you have to use the batclaw to pull him down.
- In Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Zangetsu will occasionally taunt you during his fights as he's not taking you particularly seriously. The first time, because he holds you in such contempt he doesn't even think you're worth trying against, and the second time because he's testing to see if you're strong enough to rely on in his plan to kill Gremory.
- During the fight against Hercules in God of War III, he will use an attack which stuns Kratos, then turn his back on him and start bragging towards Hera, who's watching the fight from a nearby balcony. Kratos recovers from the stun, takes the opportunity to sneak attack Hercules and steals his Nemean Cestus.
- Cyber Jenny and Ultra Mechabun in Ittle Dew 2 have a posturing step in their AI cycle.
- Luigi's Mansion:
- During the first boss fight against Chauncey the baby, after he completes his attack pattern, he'll just giggle at you and wave his rattle around. That's when you vacuum up one of his bouncy balls, launch it at his face, stun him, and begin the capture process.
- In Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, while the ghosts will try to attack you while you are capturing their comrades, they will all stop to taunt you right after you finished capturing another ghost. This makes them far easier to capture as well. If you use the Dark-Light Device against armed Greenies, they will also stop and taunt you, making themselves vulnerable.
- Metroid Dread: One of Raven Beak's attacks is to taunt Samus with this gesture, complete with a Badass Arm-Fold. If she tries to hit him with a Melee Counter, it leads into an extended sequence with two counters, but a much longer timeframe to fill him up with missiles than usual.
- Subverted in Secret of Evermore. Vigor the Indestructible will sometimes pose mid-battle, but when that happens the crowd cheers him and pelts you with projectiles, making this an attack.
Beat 'Em Ups
- Altered Beast (2005): The Weretiger boss would occasionally stop to Finger Wag you or cross his arms and tap the ground in boredom if you get knocked down. You can quickly attack him during this.
- Karateka: In a video game that is all about striking when the opponents are not blocking, sometimes the enemies will motion for you to come at them, which counts as "not blocking" and thus is a good time to launch a flurry of blows.
- Nightmare Creatures II: Nearly all the monsters will have an animation in which they stand still and roar or taunt Herbert, leaving themselves open for an attack.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003): Subverted with Evil Turtlebot. Occasionally he will stand there and make some lightsaber-like noise, which renders him open to attack. But it wasn't a taunt, he was switching between fighting styles.
- River City Girls 2: The final boss will stop to pose after doing the Shun Goku Satsu, leaving himself open while his back is turned.
Fighting Games
- Mortal Kombat: Shao Kahn in the second and third games will occasionally stop fighting just to point at you and insult you.
Party Games
- Crash Bash: After you beat his flunkies, Papu Papu will have a time to laugh and be open to the player's attacks. Especially since he was protected by a shield that dissipates when he starts gloating.
Platformers
- ANTONBLAST: BrawlBuster is a pro wrestler who fights you in the ring. Your attacks just bounce off of him, but he can't resist taking the time to flex and pose. That gives you the opening to bounce off the ropes and smack into him.
- Crash Bandicoot's third boss, Koala Kong, will periodically start flexing after he's done throwing rocks at Crash. That gives Crash the chance to launch the rock at him with a Spin Attack.
- Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!: Bleak the snowman will sometimes stop launching snowballs from his hat cannon to laugh at you, providing a brief window to throw a snowball at the flashing weakspot on his chest.
- Donkey Kong 64:
- Army-Dillo can only be attacked when he comes out of his shell just to laugh at you. That's your cue to hit him with the exploding barrel that he was courteous enough to leave in the middle of the stage for you.
- The final battle against King K. Rool has the five Kongs taking turns fighting him in a boxing ring. When it's Donkey Kong's turn, you have to jump into a barrel launcher, wait for K. Rool to start waving to the crowd, and nail him. Just be careful when he Turns Red in that phase, because he will start to fake it out.
- Pizza Tower:
- The third boss, the Noise, will become vulnerable after every attack, taunting Peppino through such means as Flipping the Bird or Shaking the Rump, giving Peppino the chance to take him by surprise.
- The final boss, Pizzahead, does the same thing in his final phase, laughing at Peppino after his attacks.
- In Shovel Knight, the first fight against the Black Knight has him occasionally pausing to laugh at you.
- In Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, whenever LeFwee does attacks with his blade, he'll momentarily does a posture that allows Penelope to counterattack.
- In SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom and The SpongeBob Movie Game, if you get harmed, most or all enemies in the room start laughing at you, leaving their defenses down and allowing an easy counter.
- In Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break, the boss of the second level is Arnold the Pit Bull. You must attack him when he is making poses. If you try to attack him while he is running, he will shape you into a basketball and bounce you around the court.
RPG
- Bandits in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will sometimes taunt you during battle. The taunt itself is rather short, but it can't be interrupted and leaves them completely vulnerable to attack.
- Deltarune: In the Punch-Out!! homage section at the end of chapter 2, the Giga Queen will sometimes pause to do a regal laugh at you.
- Fullmetal Alchemist 2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir: Subverted with Armstrong. He will pose and flex his muscles, but if you hit him, he will counterattack.
- In Kingdom Hearts I, during your sparring match with Hercules, he'll sometimes taunt you by saying, "Hey, give up yet?" while posing and flexing, leaving himself open to attack.
Sports Games
- Several of the boxers from the Wii version of Punch-Out!! will engage in enemy posturing, essentially giving you a free hit. You can also fill up your star meter if you hit them right when they're blinking yellow.
- Disco Kid is a particularly shameless example, in that he strikes a pose at you right at the beginning of the first round. And then, when you rematch him in the Title Defense mode, he starts the first round the exact same way.
- Super Macho Man is also an example that stands out, because he has a few different postures you can interrupt for a star. Keep in mind you can't interrupt his actual attacks, meaning you have to exploit these postures unless you are really good at dodging and countering. Also, his longest posture, where he shouts his own name, is a very obvious warning that allows you to prepare for his most devastating attack, potentially allowing you to win the match.
- Donkey Kong, the True Final Boss, is a less straightforward example. During the fight, he spends a lot of time making faces at you, dancing, scratching himself, etc. You can try to attack him while he's taunting, but you have to get the timing just right, or else he'll dodge and counter-punch, or worse, launch a massive combo.
Stealth-Based
- Metal Gear:
- Metal Gear Solid: After running out of ammo, Ocelot will stop short to refill until Snake catches him off-guard to be hit.
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty: Fatman will briefly dance around on the heliport, giving Raiden a chance to knock him down and shoot.
Survival Horror
- In Clock Tower (1995), Scissorman will often just toy with you by trying to bash you with the blunt side of his blades to knock you to the ground. If he succeeds he'll hop on the spot and do a little victory dance giving you ample time to get up and run. It's clear from the get-go he's Just Toying With You and, once you're too exhausted to fight back (status has fallen to red) or if he gets you cornered, he just guts you without any chance to fight back.
Wide-Open Sandbox
- Dead Rising:
- Dead Rising: Subverted with Brock Mason, the final boss. He starts the fight by laughing at you, but you're not actually supposed to attack him when he does; if you try, he'll preempt your attack with a shoulder block. Instead, you have to wait for him to come at you, sidestep him, and then attack him.
- In Dead Rising 2, if Randy Tugman manages to hit you, sometimes he'll celebrate by doing a victory dance. You can counterattack him while he's doing this.
- In Dead Rising 3, the bodybuilding psychopath Jherii will sometimes stop to admire herself in the mirror, giving you plenty of time to get some licks in.
Other
- Warhammer Fantasy:
- Sigvald the Magnificent is a Fighting Narcissist whose men carry mirror-polished shields so he can admire himself at a moment's notice. This explains why he has the Stupidity rule, usually reserved for large, slow-thinking beasts of battle to make them waste a turn.
- Inverted with Wulfrik the Wanderer, whose taunts make the enemy lose control and rush in to fight him no matter how suicidal that is.
