Where did the term boss -apkrig come from in games?
When you say boss, in the world of video games, there is no doubt who you mean. That’s the tough enemy at the end. At the end of the level, at the end of the game – it doesn’t matter. A big and strong opponent to be defeated. But why is it called that? There is no such simple answer to this simple question.
In dnd, the player’s task was to get an orb from the deepest dungeon, which is guarded in the treasury by an enemy called the Golden Dragon.
First of all, you have to separate the mechanism and the principle from the deadline. As an element, the boss appeared in the games much earlier than as a label. The first video game to feature a so-called boss fight is probably the 1975 RPG dnd for the PLATO system. As the name suggests, it was a variation on D&D or Dungeons & Dragons. From there, this mechanism gradually spread to other genres, such as shooting, fighting, platform, but also rhythmic or musical games.
In dnd, the player’s task was to get an orb from the deepest dungeon, which is guarded in the treasury by an enemy called the Golden Dragon. Naturally, he has a high level and his defeat is a condition for completing the whole game, as we know it today. But at the time, it was not a clear standard.
In the 1980 space shooter for Phoenix and the Atari 2600, the boss reappears in the form of a large mother ship in the last level. This was also before the term boss became commonplace. Another similar example is the game Gorf from 1981. Boss also appears in the game Galaga from 1981.
However, the very mechanism and role of such an adversary can be traced better than the origin of the word boss and why this term began to be used. It may have appeared for the first time in the 1980 manual for the Space Panic slot machine. One of the first mentions also appears in 1983 in Joystick magazine in connection with the older game Galaga. But this is still an informal designation.
In order to get to the boss, in most games you must first defeat weaker opponents, his minions and minions. Subordinates, if you will. They usually fight for the boss, which logically makes him their boss.
It is believed that Nintendo Power magazine did not contribute much to its popularization until the late 1980s. But Nintendo Fan Club News and NES culture in general also supported it. According to foreign witnesses, players who had Nintendo at home used the term earlier and more often than those with other systems. For example in connection with Metroid or Double Dragon games. In the late eighties and in the case of games like Super Mario Bros. 2 or Master Blaster, the term boss is starting to appear more often in the manuals.
One theory of the origin of the word says that even before video games, the name was used in some board games. According to another, it originates from the underworld, where the boss is an informal title for the leader of a group. And you often fight in games against various mobsters or gangs. The principle is simple. In order to get to the boss, in most games you must first defeat weaker opponents, his minions and minions. Subordinates, if you will. They usually fight for the boss, which logically makes him their boss.
According to some, the fact that older games often had only a very simple plot also contributed to this designation, and it was not necessary to know at all what the characters had to do with each other or why the villain was actually a villain. Logically, this created the premise to think that the character at the end of the game bosses the previous enemies, which he sent to the player.
The term also appears abundantly in kung fu movies, from where it is only a step towards thematically similar video games. This is the example of the Kung-Master Master from 1984 and the Kung Fu from 1985. The NES version manual explicitly mentioned the bosses of the individual floors. It is also not without interest that in some Asian countries the term for bosses has become common again king. The connection is not difficult to deduce.
Since then, we have seen innovations in the form of minibos or hidden bosses, as well as games that stand out in these battles, such as Shadow of the Colossus or Cuphead.
What is certain is that today there is no consensus as to the origin of the word itself in gaming terminology. However, the whole issue is interesting also because it shows us how the players’ dictionary gradually formed and grew by names that someone once had to try to establish and today we consider them quite common.
Since then, we have seen innovations in the form of minibos or hidden bosses, as well as games that stand out in these battles, such as Shadow of the Colossus or Cuphead. Can you remember the first time you heard the term boss in connection with games? What boss did you beat first? And what do you remember when you say boss?
