telltale signs of an upcoming boss battle

[Lord Dracogangake]

Something flies out of no where, hits you, and reduces your life points by half before another something falls from the sky and lands, cracking the floor, and looks at you with shining orange eyes.
Now that's never happened to me, but I'm pretty sure there's a game out there with a boss fight starting like what I described.

 

[Ezzay]

The guy your playing as is moments from or just has completed his main objective through out the game. Dead Space pulled this one with the hivemind.

I was really disappointed with that last boss. I found it really easy.

Great game though.

 

[nagato]

You've just fought a load of bosses from earlier in the game again, this will be a build up to an even harder new boss. Ninja Gaiden did this when you went to get the Demon Statue.

see also EVERY CAPCOM GAME EVER

 

[T-Bone24]

Oh and that 'thing lurking throughout the level' thing actually sounds pretty cool. I don't think I've seen that before.

Well, try out Dead Space or Half-Life 2 Episode 2. For episode 2, they show the Hunter so much before you even get to fight it. And in the Dead Space chapters leading up to chapter 8 or something, this uber powerful ultra-zombie is following you...

In Psychonauts, before you fought the final boss battle, it would say: LOADING POINT OF NO RETURN! I don't know why, but there's some kind of clue somewhere in there.

 

[NimbleJack3]

After an infodump/checkpoint, when it's quiet and your teammates are doing something which requires placing themselves in an exposed position. (Most notably shooters for this one.)

 

[SsilverR]

The disk starts chik-chik-chiking while it loads the bugger.

YEAH! HAHA ... whenever that happens i'm always lyk "ah hell! ... theres no fucking way a single .. or even a group of zombies takes that long to load"

 

[not a zaar]

Come to think of it, I can't think of a single example of a boss that ambushes you. It's always painfully obvious if you have even a passing knowledge of gaming.

 

[rasmusernst]

How about the games, on the older Sega and Nintendo systems, where there would actually be an alarm, right before the boss battle.

I guess they just wanted to warn the inattentive, sugar crazed kids that played the game, that they should pay attention to the screen.

 

[DrDeath3191]

Any character saying "What was that?!"

 

[irishstormtrooper]

Dramatic music, or a short cuscene involving the character looking up and around an arena-like environment.

 

[cardinalwiggles]

like the big bug in half life 2, when you have to reach a big circular arena whereby the only way to pass is for something huge to die and "accidentally" knock down the wall, as well as have to:

-jump down
-go through the big door that locks from the outside
-fall from onto a place

that way you can't escape from the big hairy monster

 

[Cowabungaa]

When you find out that you can't leave the area you just entered. It usually only takes a second or so to realise that, after wich the usual cutscene starts.

 

[Clarkarius]

You forgot to mention the use of sound/music.

-the music that has played throughout a level cuts out so that only sounds in the background can be heard

-or in rare cases a game may play pre-boss music (like FF Crystal Chronicles on teh GC)

And also there is the one where your taken to a room with either no clear exit or some thing suspicous inside...

 

[Terria]

A massive, unskippable cut-scene.

Usually the length of said cut-scene is in direct conjunction with how hard/cheap the upcomming boss is.

 

[Ginnipe]

Walking into a gigantic arena like room. The music stopps

 

[PartyMonkey]

erm there is a a walk way around the top of the room which it makes you walk round and you can see the thing in the middle. At the point you go ah poop!