why do we call them "bosses" in video games?

[@connorscanlan2167]

When I was a kid, I just instinctively called them "bosses," because I assumed they were the ones in charge of all the littler enemies throughout the level. As in, I just assumed the boss was literally their boss, telling them to putter about the level.

[@Bonzi77]

so basically, one dude in the early days of home consoles called a final boss a boss once, and everybody else just went "yeah sure that works"

[@Nails077]

"Boss? Is that the term for it? I mean Yeah! I knew that!" "What, you didn't know? I totally knew!" And since that day, everybody called it boss.

[@AltKaxREAL]

it just makes sense somehow, i wonder what other words had the same story as that

[@ros9764]

@@AltKaxREAL Grand foe...ig?

[@MrERLoner]

@@AltKaxREAL i heard the term " mayor" used a lot.for lecel end bosses

[@Ablaire]

Same scenario with “easter egg,” if I recall correctly.

[@D3K018]

The term boss is so wide nowadays that even rhythm games like DDR use terms like "Boss Song" for very high difficulty charts. Thanks so much for researching & sharing this wonderful piece of history!

[@TheGamingSiri]

This is a really neat project; videogame etymology is a very underresarched subject that can tell us a lot about the way these games were designed. That comparison between early game structure and classic Bruce Lee films blew my mind. It's something that makes complete sense and yet I never connected the dots until now. Keep up the great work!

[@mavadelo]

As someone that was a teenager in the 70's I always wondered if there was a correlation between "Boss fight" and Bruce Lee's "The Big Boss", interesting to see you asked yourself that similar question. Had your video about the basketbike recommended, noticed you are "just starting out" (well, at least with this channel) so decided to watch your other vids as well, so far not disappointed in the content, reminds me a bit of Nick Robinson (the youtuber, not the actor) who also does gaming related investigations. Well made and edited, pleasant voice.. keep this up and your channel might go places. Well deserved sub and like. Will be watching your channel with interest.

[@meikkon_]

it's weird, i thought statistically speaking that more people would be wondering about the origin of the "boss", but people are a lottt more interested in the basket bike than i expected. and thanks for stopping by - there's plenty more on the way!

[@redtaileddolphin1875]

@@meikkon_ that statistic has since switched! This is now your second most popular video

[@meikkon_]

@@redtaileddolphin1875 who knows where the waves of youtube will take us!

[@NegativeDumpster]

Here's my theory: The term "Boss" _did_ originate with the Galboss/Command Ship, but at first, it simply meant a particularly powerful enemy. Over time, it became used to refer to powerful enemies who were giving out orders to the other standard enemies you were fighting, a development that was likely inspired (at least in part) by "The Big Boss". The fact that the player often fought these "bosses" in a one-on-one duel just made the comparison even more apparent. As time went on, the term "Boss" became a shorthand for an especially powerful enemy who is usually fought one-on-one. The term is even used to describe enemies who aren't actually bossing anyone around; even though they aren't actually leading anything, "Boss" still denotes how much of a threat they are.

[@Poyostar]

Come to think of it, I never really questioned why bosses were called bosses in video games... this was a solid video all around!

[@BagOfMagicFood]

Gosh, I remember some essay from waaaaay back on the early Internet that claimed the act of defeating video game enemies represented overcoming one's _father,_ and lamented that these father figures had been termed "bosses" in the popular lexicon.

[@meikkon_]

freudian analysis of game design...let me know if you find that essay again, it would certainly make for a fun read

[@ticktockbam]

Sounds like the guy that wrote that interpretation was projecting lol

[@beatrix1120]

@@ticktockbam either that or they just finished watching Star Wars

[@TetsuDeinonychus]

I always just figured it's because the big enemy you fight at the end of classic games is often story-wise the leader of the lesser enemies you fought and the term kinda stuck. So by the time game stories got more complex and "bosses" weren't necessarily the leader of the enemy characters it was too late. We were already just used to calling them "bosses".

[@LowEffortGamer1978]

I saw the term "boss" in the "sister" games Kid Icarus and Metroid, which were both designed by the same Nintendo team led by Gunpei Yokoi. In Kid Icarus, the fortress bosses had an on-screen, HP counter that called then "Boss", and Kraid and Ridley were referred to in the manual as "mini bosses." These enemies also had their own battle music, which even the first Zelda game didn't have, unless you counted the Level 9 dungeon music as a "boss" theme for Ganon. Nintendo Power started using the terminology for all big end-level and endgame enemies at some point. I believe the bezel instructions for Galaga may also have referred to "Boss Galaga."

[@HGRAP1]

I remember as a kid I use to call them “kings.” It probably was because the first boss battle I remember is Bowser, who is the King of the Koopas. I guess that in my head it made sense, the big bad HAD to be the king of all the other enemies.

[@borkbork9541]

It sounds absurd to think individual games could shape terms used throughout an entire industry but with hindsight of how small gaming was in its infancy, it makes sense that every entry mattered far more back then due to the smaller pool.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

I remember having one classmate in middle school in the early 90s who insisted on the term "master" instead of "boss," which briefly made me wonder if I was using the wrong term.

[@Diwasho]

Strangely, around that same time many other nations and cultures began using the term completely independently from America and Japan, without Nintendo's marketing influencing their lexicon. It would be interesting to see how other places used to call them in their languages but it seems that boss was somehow adopted everywhere, even in the most distant countries.

[@Sampler19]

In the eighties we used to call them "Endgegner" in Germany (which means enemy at the end/last enemy). I think the term boss was more widely adopted here in the nineties. In the following decades "Endgegner" became a term for the final boss. I guess the usage of boss for a video game enemy feels more natural in German than in English, because it seems to have a more of a negative connotation here. Boss in German kind of means "big/bad/evil boss". If you talk positively about your real boss you'd most likely use the word "Chef".

[@meikkon_]

i think the transfer for the term will have mostly spread via game manuals. nintendo used it regularly first but other game companies did later adapt to this, especially in the 90s. however it brings up the interesting question of localisation. as others have pointed out, boss is otherwise used in either an ambivalent or somewhat negative manner in english, so it's easy to get people to adapt. but the equivalent in other cultures might tend to use the term more positively. there is real potential for a follow up in that regard

[@ferrynoc]

huh. never questioned it, kinda just ingrained in my brain. Good video!

[@acfchen_real]

Thank you, KZbin recommendations I actually find it interesting that I've never seen anyone talk about the "boss" term in video games

[@VeritasUnae]

Great deep dive, well informed and really interesting! Looking forward to more c:

[@JohnRollercoasterJr]

Keep doing exactly what you’re doing. Your channel is definitely going to be huge

[@BriamGzz]

Lol, Bruce Lee being the responsible for the term "Boss" in videogames is very funny

[@cynanthropy]

honestly im surprised you dont have more subscribers man these videos are so good

[@tjsase]

Cool video! You have a great pace, structure, and style of editing. Always great to have more video game documentaries, especially ones that touch on unique topics

[@nxls379]

underrated channel

[@mustacheman529]

I've never thought about this. Very interesting video. Subscribed for more of this series.

[@enharmonics]

Awesome video! I’m excited to see you cover more terminology!

[@SlebanDogux]

Ok wow, this video is amazing. Really well informed and researched, interesting topic and good editing, keep it up dude, im sure you'll get a ton of subscribers soon.

[@NickWoodburn]

You speak fluently and concisely. The pacing is good. For this reason alone, there's a silver play button (at least) in your future.

[@meikkon_]

very kind words, thanks so much for dropping by!

[@dougawesomecities]

Video game linguistic anthropology. This is amazing. Automatic sub

[@athamicis]

I sometimes would lay awake at night wondering this. Thank you.

[@phabokin4036]

Ive been reccomended your stuff after the idle animations vid, you deserve more views

[@CleaveTheDragon]

I think the earliest uses of the term were more literal in their application, just noting that those ships were bossing the other ships around, not that they signified a more powerful/unique encounter.

[@Pensive_Scarlet]

"The enemy bosses are just three Dodongos." Yeah, no problem, just a nigh invincible creature only weakened by imprecise explosives which you may not even have on hand, and there's three of them by the way. nbd

[@julioagua]

Before globalization (around the final years of the 80's), in my country (Argentina) we used to call the mid bosses "monstruos" (monsters) and the final boss "monstruo final" (final monster).

[@NezumiVA]

Really well put together video!

[@plaidpvcpipe3792]

Going in, I think the answer’s simple: a boss is the guy who’s in charge, the best, or otherwise superior to others. You’re often fighting champions, big monsters, or leaders in boss fights. Hence, “boss.”

[@LannderRiessen]

Great work! This was very interesting!

[@KnaveMurdok]

First videogame I ever played was Commander Keen by Id software. That game has no bosses. Just a series of increasingly difficult levels. first time I think I heard the word Boss in videogames was when I got a Gameboy and played Super Mario Land. As a kid, my interpretation of that word was that I was fighitng the literal boss of all the enemies I'd fought up to that point, and that worked in context for the game. The first Boss in SML was a giant Sphinx, which worked cuz I'd fought a bunch of smaller Sphinxes earlier. Second level was a Giant Seahorse, which worked cuz I'd fought a bunch of smaller seahorses earlier. That theme stayed intact through the whole game. Themes like this are pretty common in videogames, although not always ironclad.

[@tadeuferreira4059]

So THAT'S all the origin of the term about! Great video!

[@Spunney]

This is an awesome video, thanks for making it!!

[@Rafielo]

You should do an analysis on "why do we call them lives/deaths?" Great video btw!

[@doubleaabattery7562]

That's easy though, in a video game, when you lose all progress (or lives), then it's like starting a new life or starting your life over again, and when you die, well that's you losing that progress. I guess reset would also be a good term but it wouldn't have the same impact as life and death (which could also be a reason powerful enemies are called bosses)

[@Dexuz]

That's more understandable though, in many arcade games your character effectively dies whenever you reach the losing state, in Donkey Kong for example Mario gets a halo whenever he gets hit. So if you die, to continue on you need extra lives.

[@StarHusko]

I have a feeling this guy's channel is about to pop off.

[@earthian3658]

This was very well done. You've earned a sub for sure!

[@Iohannis42]

The arcade game "Phoenix" from 1980 featured a "boss" without calling it as such. They were in use long before the usage of the word itself.

[@judsongaiden9878]

Contra and Life Force were the first games I ever played that had a boss at the end of every stage. And if you think Sans is hard, try battling Alphys NEO in Unitale. She's a Nerd who deserves her Revenge! See what I did there? 0:54 Yahtzee Croshaw explained it. And he mentioned Undertale in the same video.

[@blakekaumeheiwa4511]

man went full Semantic satiation on the word boss. I cannot look at that word as a word anymore.

[@meikkon_]

proof reading the script back for this one was rough, can't lie. once you stare at any word long enough it seems to just make less and less sense...

[@plaidpvcpipe3792]

10:04 “glitch” is not a word invented for gaming, computer science, or even technology more broadly. It most likely comes from the Yiddish (a Jewish language) word “glitsh,” meaning “to slip,” which comes from the German “glitschen,” “to glide.” Yiddish is a large source of loan words into English, on account of Ashkenazi Jewish influence on American culture. “Schmuck,” “bagel,” “dreck,” “nosh,” “schlock,” “shtick,” and “spiel” are just some yiddish words used in English.

[@yupazestru5189]

You're a boss, but you're not my boss. - Dark Pit

[@sosafnow]

As a kid I always referred to them as "masters", I don't have a single clue why, but it was what I was comfortable saying all the way until i was ten. I know games like Mega Man coined the term "Robot Masters" it was used to describe the bosses you fought in those games, I however didn't play a Mega Man game until I was twelve. So to this day, I occasionally still say master when referring to bosses just cause it's what I'm used to, but to also throw off people whenever I say it. Master, Master...maybe because of Metallica?

[@NukeOTron]

...strangely enough, as someone who used The Dot Eaters as an important historical reference online, I read that Gorf, of all games, was the first game to have an end boss, if not one of the first. That game had five different phases that it cycled through, and the last wave was always the Flag Ship, which you shot and broke apart in an attempt to blow up its core. Gorf, in its own strange way, had a history associated with Galaga, since one of its phases was literally "Galaxians", featuring the bugs from Galaxian. That's why the arcade version of Gorf doesn't get any official re-releases. Then again, Gorf was released in '81. I recommend playing it.

[@meikkon_]

having looked, gorf seems to take "inspiration" from a lot of places. despite that it seems very fun, and that flagship is definitely a great example of an early boss. apparently there's a cabinet hosting gorf pretty near to where i live, so i'll make sure to check it out

[@HaydenLikeHey]

Awesome vid! Glad it came across my home page!

[@agentaydenvee3683]

God this KZbinr is to underrated

[@moosesues8887]

Damn surprised this video hasn’t blown up yet

[@savagemessiah.]

The algorithm is psychic apparently, I was just wondering about this and now I'm recommended this video. Suspicious.

[@meikkon_]

the algo certainly works in mysterious ways. i wonder if mind reading is in the google t&c's...

[@samsolitaryroll]

As someone who born in a non-english speaking country the term boss is always labelled to the strong enemy at the end of stages of beat-em-up games. And I apply it to RPG whenever I met stronger enemies that have their own battle theme.

[@fern1146]

Great video, very interesting

[@grayanddevpdx]

I’m pretty sure it started with Bowser in Super Mario Bros, he’s literally the boss, and people continued calling highly powerful antagonists bosses because that was kind of a trend that the game’s hardest enemy was literally the boss.

[@Shadders2010]

Actually, even before Nintendo Power, there was the "Official Nintendo Player's Guide" - it was a big, gorgeous book that was like the gamer's Bible when it came out. That was the first time I remember seeing the word 'boss.' I even thought it was kinda weird, like, I couldn't imagine a dragon giving orders. But I rolled with it. It's likethe word "Stage." After 35 years I still feel weird calling levels "stages."

[@meikkon_]

ha, wow - quite a find. it uses boss about 30 times! not sure how i didn't pick up on this one. i think nintendo power is ultimately responsible for pushing the term as it had a very, very broad circulation from it's inception (having originally been nintendo fun club). but cool that nintendo was pushing the term well before then. stages and levels are certainly contenders for later videos too...

[@Shadders2010]

@@meikkon_ Dude, I got mine when it *came out.* I was *there,* maaaan. OG 80s gamer.

[@Bro3256]

Would have liked to see a bit more of a deep dive with how the term boss was used in Japan, especially since if we're talking game magazines for example, what about LOGiN or Famitsu? How do they describe bosses? If we're talking game manuals how about early Famicom game manuals? What terms do they use to describe their bosses? Good video regardless.

[@idiotsland242]

Cuphead would of probably be a better example than undertale

[@clydemarshall8095]

I just assumed the term derived from Bowser/King Koopa in the original Super Mario Bros. as he nominally was in charge of all the minions Mario jumps upon in the game.

[@FamicomLass]

Great video. Crazy that you only have 70 subscribers.

[@becketclark9942]

Yo these songs you made are sick! Where can I find them? I want to check out the one you put up behind the Nintendo section... it sounds familiar. Also the vsauce one in the beginning was great, your channel is signature af

[@meikkon_]

the nintendo one is a cover of coldplay's amsterdam in the mario 64 soundfont. I haven't uploaded these anywhere yet, but when I reboot this series and make more music for it (at some point 😅) I plan to bundle them into a larger collection. probably on bandcamp or something.

[@becketclark9942]

@@meikkon_ I used to be a big Siivagunner enjoyer back in the channel's heyday. It reminded me of some of their work. I'd listen to it on bandcamp for sure

[@FloridusMan]

Feels like a vsauce video but it really taught me a lot. We really yet pop culture influence so much of our language

[@MilkJugA_]

I would like to know the origins of the term "ironman". It's usually some sort of challenge mode in mmos and such

[@terrapin-yob]

great video! I've often thought it was interesting how we've adapted words and they're acquired completely different meanings, like with calling 64 blocks a stack in minecraft. btw, whys there a TJ Ferreira clip at 9:52 lol

[@meikkon_]

i was originally planning on using that clip in a future video - you'll have to stay tuned to see what that's all about though ;)

[@VELVETPERSON]

So, marauder's shield is the final boss of Mass Effect 3?

[@MrERLoner]

I remember people calling them Mayors" in the early 802

[@KairuHakubi]

I assumed it had to do with regular enemies being 'mobs' which i believe means 'mobile' in the old code language.. so it's like, mob boss.

[@maxbdgaf4862]

sometimes you find a channel and youre like yeah theyre next up

[@iCatchLupin]

I used the PLATO system depicted in this video. It was an interactive display at the Living Computer Museum & Labs in Seattle, WA. It has unfortunately closed ever since the pandemic began and it's dubious if it will ever reopen, because its founder Paul Allen died.

[@meikkon_]

that is a shame, preserving it's history is important given the influence it's had on just about everything computer related

[@liamdell6319]

I was expecting Super Mario Bros. 1 to appear since that featured boss fights against an actual leader, King Koopa, better known as Bowser in the west.

[@meikkon_]

so, fun fact - i reserved both bowser and eggman (those 'bossing around' type bosses) for the short i made to try and push this video to the algo. however, it's unlisted currently since it didn't perform so well + it's quite clear that nobody is here for short form content. if i hadn't made that video, bowser would have probably wriggled his way into this one. i do wonder if later copies of nintendo power would have dubbed him a boss or just referred to him by name, might have to look that up

[@levimccallum7722]

*HEY ITS THE FUNNY BONE MAN*

[@mayamayhemmusic]

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Galboss!

[@cameronmckillican7118]

this is so pog

[@CathyDotUK]

7:37 my mind just can't help it i saw it and thought no no no among us

[@meikkon_]

made me chuckle, not sure how i didn't see that in editing :P

[@hobbified]

I had another Bruce Lee inspired game in mind: Kung Fu. Another one where you fight through waves of ninja mooks to literally beat up their boss, but a little later than the one you came up with.

[@meikkon_]

there were a lot to chose from honestly, too many to list. the 'bruce lee' format was huge on home consoles in the early 80s, probably because it was easy for players to understand what was going on and it was already accepted as cool in pop culture. if you wanted a game to sell, it was the way to go!

[@sergiobisonte]

when I was a kid no one said boss... our first contact with home consoles was basicaly the NES.. in the end of super mario there was a dragon... thats what we called for all the bosses in all games... 'the dragon'

[@TK-_-GZ]

Algorithmic punch

[@michaeltylerstewart]

Holy shit, I was just thinking about this the other day

[@TyzulaShipper183]

nice vid

[@zarrg5611]

Isn't glich a pre-computer word used in radio, derived from yiddish.

[@jimbotron8552]

based tails pfp

[@the1337fleet]

I just called them final daddies

[@aprofondir]

I think the term boss was used by players informally all along

[@rustyshackleford1305]

You know, one could make the case for the obvious Marxian analysis of defeating the bourgeoisie--literally the boss at a job---as being the ultimate power fantasy for most proletarian adults. Game play could be defined under value of labor of theory value, with the ultimate commodity/win state being a completed game of being finally being free from the shackles of your alienated labor. ...but only after you defeat your boss first.

[@arthritis1999]

here before this video goes viral.

[@Hydrazine1000]

Excellent work, highly enjoyable, but erhmmm... No mention of the 1987 game called Metal Gear (by a certain Hideo Kojima and published by Konami) that featured Big Boss? (Bigu Bosu) That's costing you bonus points. Still great to watch though.

[@Kholdster]

I always assumed it was just a weird translation from Japanese that stuck

[@sidorak26]

Why do we call them bosses when you of in the cold food of out hot eat the food?

[@BellXllebMusic]

Who doesn't wanna beat up their boss? Video games appeal to the male fantasy

[@JackieJKENVtuber]

In undertale they're actually called "boss monsters" in-universe, so bad example on the intro

[@ryanstevens3822]

is it a dutch word? sounds like a dutch word

[@meikkon_]

actually it *is*, interestingly enough. the etymology of the actual word boss comes from the dutch "baas". i believe it was picked up and transformed into the "boss" as we know it today by the US in the 1800s (but don't quote me on that!)

[@ryanstevens3822]

@@meikkon_ think i learned this in a neal stephenson book

[@pixelperfect9111]

Because most of the time the boss is a wise crack or hard @$$ that makes your life hell.

[@iidoyila]

if sans is a final boss to you then you're a bad person

[@meikkon_]

good point, actually. would that make the player 'the boss', and sans the hero? makes for a neat subversion of game tropes if so

[@iidoyila]

​@@meikkon_ it's ok to be a bad person in a video game, that's why i play NAGA SIREN in dota 2 BUT for some reason if you genocide in undertale i want your name put on a list anywayh

[@EarthboundBenjy]

It's an interesting video, but since this is such a far-reaching topic that's relevant throughout all of gaming, it seems a little unusual for you to want to limit your audience to specifically people who wouldn't be put off by unmarked upfront Undertale spoilers?

[@meikkon_]

well in fairness, almost any video game boss on the thumbnail would technically be a spoiler. i went for sans since he's an expressive and iconic boss + there's no good reason (outside force of habit) to call him a boss in the first place. i think the game has been out long enough now (nearly 8 years?) so for me it's safe territory ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@EarthboundBenjy]

@@meikkon_ I really don't mean to pick on you, but I felt like I needed to respond. I don't agree with the first statement. There are plenty of games with obvious monsters or villain characters, where the existence of a boss fight with them wouldn't really be a spoiler. Think about the various bosses you come across in a game that's all about fighting bosses, such as Dark Souls or Hollow Knight. Or think about evil characters in RPGs that are _obviously_ villains such as Moebius from Xenoblade, or Those Who Slither In The Dark from Fire Emblem. If you showed me a picture of one of those guys, I wouldn't exactly say that it's a spoiler to learn that there's a boss fight versus them. I haven't actually played Dark Souls yet, but i plan to when I have more free time, so I am someone who is currently sensitive to Dark Souls spoilers in gaming videos (and I have in fact clicked off of videos halfway through due to this), but even I wouldn't feel spoiled if I saw a Dark Souls boss as a thumbnail in a video like this, for example. Sure. I get it that Sans is a good example of a videogame boss fight that isn't actually a "boss" of any underlings, storywise. He's also not actually a villain character, which might also be interesting to note. But he's only "safe territory" for you because you've already played the game, and you are also expecting your audience to be familiar with the secret "genocide" route of Undertale. Regarding your other point... There's plenty of popular games far older than 8 years that are still on my "to get around to one of these days" list. I only played Final Fantasy 9 for the first time last year, a game that's around 22 years old. And the year prior to that, I played Phantasy Star 4 for the fist time, and that one's even older. And both games contain major plot points that would have certainly had their impact dampened if I had known about them beforehand. Is Undertale's secret route so popular and well-known nowadays that it's perfectly okay to throw down unmarked spoilers for it in an otherwise non-Undertale related video? I don't know if I am being overly petty, but I think it's important to consider things like this.

[@WandererEris]

Have you ever heard a word so much that it loses all meaning even though the video is about explaining the meaning and usage?

[@meikkon_]

editing it is even worse. you just start questioning the fabric of language entirely as you hear yourself repeat the same sentence over and over...