Why Video Game Bosses Are Called... Bosses?

One of the many terms in video gaming you ran across is the term "boss". The term boss is usually defined as somebody above you or as your superior. Your manager is your boss, the company owner is your boss' boss. It's also important to note that a boss is not the boss. A manager is a boss but he's not the boss. The branch manager is answerable o the overall boss as a lower boss or placed in charge of a certain group of people. Video games do have the term for the boss or somebody you need to defeat either in the middle of the stage or at the end of the stage. A video game boss is termed as a significant computer-controlled enemy in contrast to the minions or baddies you defeat. 

Why do I think they've been called bosses? It's because a boss is someone who's in charge. You are dealing with stages filled with minions (who can be compared to employees) while the stage boss is equivalent to a supervisor (in the case of mid-bosses) or the manager (in the case of an end-stage boss). These enemies are called bosses because they act as superiors in the enemy organization that the video game protagonist/s are dealing with. It's called a boss fight because you're dealing with a significant member of the organization - not just some low-level or entry-level minion. It's like how the Fake Bowsers and later the Koopa Kids serve as managers for King Bowser's empire. The decoys themselves have significant powers entrusted to them in protecting the fortresses to lure away Mario. The Robot Masters in the Megaman series also are carrying out field jobs. 

Fighting games also have the concept of bosses. A boss is usually unplayable. You also have the trope called the SNK Boss Syndrome - a term used when an unplayable character displays significantly insane amounts of power. The Street Fighter II series had its first game where the Shadaloo Four (though Sagat eventually became good) were initially unplayable due to their insane amounts of power. However. Mortal Kombat was soon notorious (along with other SNK games) for introducing unplayable bosses. Mortal Kombat also had the concept of a sub-boss - a boss character you fought before you faced off against the final boss. The concept would still apply as to why they're called bosses and sub-bosses. Some bosses were later made playable when they were significantly toned down such as how Heihachi becomes the playable recurring antagonist of Tekken or how the Shadaloo Four became toned down.

In the fighting game, a sub-boss can act as an important figure or right hand to the final boss. For example, Goro is Shang Tsung's right-hand man in the first Mortal Kombat game. Later, Kintaro served as a sub-boss because he was the head of the extermination squads for the main villain, Shao Kahn. Motaro also served that same purpose because he played a big role in Shao Kahn's army. Later, the sub-bosses were roles as bodyguards to the main villain though not always. The term "boss" was still used for Goro in Mortal Kombat 4 as well as Mortal Kombat X even if he didn't serve Shinnok in the game and he was depowered and playable. In Marvel Super Heroes - Dr. Doom was the unlockable sub-boss though he was in no way serving Thanos (who was also unlockable). Dr. Doom was still a sub-boss because he was the boss of his own domain. Magneto served as the unplayable final boss of X-Men: Children of the Atom because he was the boss of Avalon. Juggernaut though served as the unplayable sub-boss even if the character wasn't affiliated with the Brotherhood in the comics continuity - though he did get retconned as a mutant in many adaptations of X-Men. 

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What do you think?