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I played Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, and I enjoyed having a choice between grinding for more upgrades and facing the final boss at any time. I know more games with this mechanic, like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Searching the internet, I found more examples; however, it is unclear which was the first game to feature this innovation. Which was it?

To clarify, I am talking about games where the following holds:

  1. The final level or boss is quite challenging.
  2. Your character gets more powerful as you play the game.
  3. You can choose when to face the final level/boss. Even early on in the game (though not necessarily right at the start of the game). This is a feature of the game and not something you do with a cheat, glitch, or information you're not supposed to have at that point.
  4. There is at least a theoretical possibility of beating the final level or boss even if accessed at the first opportunity. (A TAS showcase, for example)
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    Morrowind should be a candidate, too Commented 2 days ago
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    If you skip the concept of character the first two XCOM games I believe fit your requirement. Both have tech you have to research that to build the vessel that can reach the endgame fight, but the fight is hopeless without either a lot of equipment or a lot of development of your soldiers. Commented yesterday
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    From the title, I was thinking of Myst where you can win within a few minutes - but then the body pretty much disqualifies that since you need knowledge which normally comes from one of the trapped brothers after finishing most of the ages. Commented yesterday

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Fallout (1997)

Apparently, the first two Fallout games can both be beaten in under an hour, using the right character builds and strategies. I'm not sure if these would count as 'beating the end boss' though, or whether they would be deemed too exploitative? You don't directly beat the final boss in combat, but instead trick/talk your way past them.

Fallout 1 (October 10, 1997) involves using diplomacy skills to convince the mutants to start a self-destruct mechanism.

Fallout 2 (1998) involves killing the President by overloading with super stimpacks, then using the auto turrets to kill Horrigan.

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  • The Fallout games are famously permissive in how they let players approach problems, so I don't think this is "too exploitative". For FO1, though, this may fall afoul of "information you're not supposed to have yet" - at the start of the game, your character is actually on an entirely different quest, and isn't even aware that the final boss exists, much less where on the expansive map to find them. Skipping to the end requires out-of-universe knowledge from prior playthroughs, as in-universe knowledge of the boss is only gained much later in the storyline. Commented 9 hours ago
  • @NuclearHoagie these are good points - it is a bit meta-gamey. The OP also hasn't commented on whether it counts if the final boss is bypassed through roleplaying, rather than being beaten in combat. Commented 7 hours ago
  • I'd say it counts: Fallout was deliberately designed with "stealth" and "diplomacy" routes to victory in addition to the traditional fighting route. Commented 34 mins ago
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1994's Demon's Crest

As TVTropes says:

The first three endings in Demon's Crest [...] After finishing the first level, you can either fly to the second... or head right for the Phalanx's castle. In fact, you get there so quickly the final boss hasn't even finished setting up the final Death Course, hasn't figured out how to use his crest, and dies after one round. If you go to the last level after the fourth, the level will actually be ready, and Phalanx is stronger, but he still can't use the crest fully. If you go there after finishing all the levels, he'll finally have figured out how to REALLY use it, going One-Winged Angel at long last.

Although, TVTropes is wrong, as SPArcheon mentioned in the comments and this review implies with:

Pretty short main quest (for the worst ending you only have to beat one boss in each of the first three levels after the intro one and then you can go face the final boss at Phalanx's castle though it's not the "real" one)

But if you treat bosses / levels like Shrines in your Zelda examples, it's still sorta similar, it's just that the Zelda games front-loads all your exploration abilities, unlike typical "Metroidvania" fashion.

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    Was about to answer suggesting Chrono Trigger, but it seems this was a year earlier! Commented yesterday
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    @hb20007 - This looks like it should basically be a frame challenge that you're being too restrictive. Otherwise, take Hearth's idea / ask them to write a Chrono Trigger answer. Commented yesterday
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    @Malady I don't think I'm being too restrictive because this doesn't sound like being able to challenge the final level or boss at any time. It sounds like a much easier version of it instead. Commented yesterday
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    Nope, this is false, the info on TV Troopes as usual isn't complete. After going thru the intro level the first THREE levels appear on the map. At this point in order to unlock the "Early final boss" you have to go to a specific level and get the Crest of Wind BEFORE defeating another boss that unlocks the second sets of levels. Furthermore, going to the final boss at this points will skip both the level before the boss (not built yet) but more importantly the boss will be weaker and won't transform to its final form. Basically, this is not "ending the game early", this is "getting bad ending" Commented 17 hours ago
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    @Time4Tea yes you can and it actually trigger a specific ending Commented 6 hours ago
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dnd (1975)

I'm going to suggest that the answer is one of the very first RPGs - dnd:

Screenshot of dnd

It was released in 1975 for the PLATO mainframe system and was an early RPG. It was a forerunner of Rogue and apparently featured a multi-level dungeon with random monster encounters and had a stats-based leveling system. It was arguably the first video game to feature an end boss - there was a dragon at the lowest dungeon level guarding an orb that players had to retrieve to win the game.

Players could decide how much to level up their character before tackling the dragon. Would this count? The ability of the player to choose their pace through the game has been a feature of CRPGs ever since they were invented.

(this is according to the CRPG Book project, which is also the source of the screenshot)

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    Does the game really allow you to get to the final boss whenever you choose? I checked some gameplay footage and it seems that visibility is quite limited and the levels are mazes. I suppose that you need to play through each level and find the teleporter to go to the next one. If it's only about having the choice to go to the next level without exploring 100% of the current level, then it might not be what I'm looking for. Commented 2 days ago
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    @hb20007 I think it depends on what you mean by 'facing the final boss whenever you choose'. The game certainly seems to let the player choose their pace through the game and at what stage of character development to face the end boss. However, no, I doubt the end boss can be accessed right from the start of the game, at level 1 before doing anything else. If that is what you meant, it might be good to clarify that in the question. Commented 2 days ago
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    E.g. even if in Elder Scrolls 1, you were able to go and fight the end boss straight away, would the fact that you have to first escape from the initial dungeon before doing so discount it? Commented 2 days ago
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    I believe there's a big difference between having to finish the initial dungeon and having to finish all the dungeons. Commented 2 days ago
  • @hb20007 it depends what you mean by 'finish'. If the player runs through the first 6 levels as fast as possible, straight to the teleporter down, then does that constitute 'finishing' them? (if the player only sees 2-3 rooms on each level) Commented 12 hours ago
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Morloc's Tower (1980)

There was a game for the Apple ][ named Morloc's Tower in which the player explores the titular edifice, with Morloc being the final boss. It was published in 1980.

Morloc moved around the tower randomly. During my second play-through I met Morloc (and with some luck defeated him) on the ground floor. The player's score is calculated from the time taken to win the game; by winning as quickly as I did the calculation logic overflowed.

Wikipedia has a page: Morloc's Tower

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    Interesting. It's less you fighting the final boss and more the final boss coming to fight you and underestimating the opposition! Commented 21 hours ago
  • This might actually be the earliest, depending on the criteria (whether OP counts having to beat the first area/dungeon before progressing to the boss. Commented 18 hours ago
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    @Robotnik It doesn't sound like a game where you can choose when to face the final boss. Commented 16 hours ago
  • I was about to suggest Sinestar arcade, but you got me beat by 3 years. Good job. Commented 8 hours ago
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LJN's Jaws (1987)

LJN's Jaws for the Nintendo Entertainment System fits your criteria. The final boss, Jaws, is encountered on a random basis while sailing no matter what your current strength. I had this game back in the day and there was one time I encountered Jaws not 30 seconds into starting a new game. The way the game enforced the requirement to level up sufficiently is that you had a time limit to defeat Jaws and, failing that, you would be sent back to the map screen and Jaws's health would regenerate. Beating Jaws at the beginning was impossible within the time limit. At higher levels, beating him was possible but difficult and became progressively less difficult as you reached the highest tiers. You had the choice how high you wanted to level up before beating him.

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    Good find, but this fails point 3 "You can choose when to face the final level/boss", since you encounter Jaws on a random basis Commented 2 hours ago

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