Wanderer posted:

One of the relatively recent innovations in game design is in the construction of a level so some secondary challenge is the actual boss fight. In Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the run up to the final encounter, during which you don't have the time rewind anymore, is the "boss fight"; the later game Forgotten Sands, where you're forced to wall-jump between temporary walls of water, pulls a similar trick. In the older Resident Evil games or something like Zombies Ate My Neighbors, the "boss fight" is managing your inventory well enough so that you have the ability to participate in the fight at all, and if you've done that well enough the fight itself is trivial.