In certain genres of fiction, there is a decades-old trope commonly known today as the "load-bearing boss." Basically, a load-bearing boss refers to when the hero defeats and/or kills the big bad guy, and then the big bad guy's secret base, castle, spaceship, or whatever else spontaneously explodes.
Sometimes it's a pettiness thing, like the bad guy trying to take the hero down with them, other times it just sort of happens for no reason other than to make things more dramatic. It is definitely cool, though, which is why it's been a staple of gaming for about as long as gaming has been a thing.
10 Ganondorf's Castle - The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
When Ganondorf obtained the might of the Triforce of Power, he took over Hyrule Castle, reshaping it into a horrible, twi🦹sted fortress full of traps and monsters. Of course, none of those traps and monsters were able to stop Link, who stormed the castle in pursuit of Princess Zelda.
The two had a major showdown in the castle's throne room, but even with his magically-enhanced strength, Ganondorf couldn't match Link's bravery. With his power exhausted, Ganondorf used the last of his strength to attempt to bring the castle down on Link and Zelda, but they were able to escape before it crumbled to ruin. Of course, it was in those ruins that Link had one last battle against 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ganondorf's beastly form, Ganon, but neither he nor the remains of the castle fared 🦋much better.
9 𒀰 Tourian - Metroid 𒈔
Amusingly, escape sequences and countdown timers have become aᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ tradition of the Metroid series, with almost every entry in the game requiring Samus to escape from an imminent explosion, be it a secret base or an entire planet.
Of course, the very first instance of this was in the original Metroid, as a powerful time bomb primed itself after Samus defeated the leader of the Space Pirates, Mother Brain. This first time bomb is only powerful enough to destroy the Pirates' base, Tourian, but in Super Metroid, an upgraded bomb is used that is powerful enough to atomize the entire planet of Zebes.
8 Dracula's Castle - Castlevania
Dracula's life is inexorably tied with the existence of his domain, the eponymous Castlevania. Whenever Dracula is resurrected, either under his own power or the machinations of someone else, Castlevania reappears somewhere in the world alongside him.
By that same logic, whenever Dracula is slain, Castlevania immediately crumbles to the ground, its master's life no longer present to sustain it. While the first Castlevania game is the most obvious example of this, you could throw a dart and hit any other game in the series where it happens as well. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dracula has been resurrected that often.
7 🍌 Crocodile Isle - Donꦏkey Kong Country 2
Crocodile Isle is the home of the Kremlings, as well as the main base of operations for the Kremling Krew and its leader, King K. Rool. It was from here that K. Rool enacted his plan to kidnap Donkey Kong and 🙈obtain his banana horde as ransom.
Unfortunately, he didn't count on Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong coming to Crocodile Isle to put him in his place, And when they did, he was launched into the massive geyser that powered all the island's systems. K. Rool's clogged the geyser, eventually causing a massive eruption, sinking the entire island.
6 Ravꦬen Rock - Fallout 3 🐽
When the Lone Wanderer comes face-to-face with President John Henry Eden in their main headquarters of Raven Rock, they're a bit surprised to learn that Eden is, in fact, a computer. Specifically, he's a computer with a personality created by clumsily mushing together the mannerisms of America's previous Presidents.
Through a series of speech checks, the Lone Wanderer can inflict Eden with a painful truth: he's nothing but a machine pretending to be the leader of a dead country. The sudden realization prompts Eden to initiate his (and by extension Raven Rock's) self-destruct, taking the whole Enclave operation with him.
5 Shido's Palace - Persona 5
Load-bearing bosses are a staple of Persona 5, as whenever the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:ruler of a Palace is defeated and their Treasure is taken by the Phantom Thieves, t🍃he entire metaphysical construct completel🅷y collapses and disappears into the depths of Mementos.
The last major human antagonist, Masayoshi Shido, receives special mentioning, however, as after the Thieves clobbered his Shadow and swiped his Treasure, he began to feel the change of heart coming ℱon. In a de🍸sperate move, he took medication to temporarily stop his heart, causing his Palace to crumble prematurely, nearly taking out the Thieves in the process.
4 Saddler's Hideout - Resident Evil 4
Countdowns to self-destructs are fairly common in the Resident Evil series, but if there was one entry that really did it with some panache, it was Resident Evil 4. Leon had pursued Osmund Saddler🐻 to his island hideout to rescue Ashley and put an end to the Los Illuminados once and for all.
Saddler assumed a horrifying mutant form to kill him, but was promptly introduced to the explode-y end of a rocket launcher. With Saddler out of the picture, the island was rigged to explode, though technically, those explosives had nothing to do with Saddler, being𒊎 ri⛦gged by Ada instead. Regardless, Leon and Ashley had to make one last death-defying escape, outrunning the chaos on a convenient jet ski.
3 🎃 The Tower Of Fate - Shovel Knight 🔜
In a similar vein to Dracula and Castlevania, the existence of the Tower of Fate is directly tied to the existence of The Enchantress. Or, to be more specific, the existence of someone serving as The Enchantress's host, as Shield Knight was for a long time.
Details are sparse on the Tower itself, but whatever dark energy sustains it is directly tied to the evil magics of the Amulet of Power that make up the Enchantress's consciousness, so when the Amulet was destroyed by Shovel Knight, the majority of the Tower soon followed. The bit of it that was still left afterward was then completely leveled when Plague Knight detonated his Ultimate Potion.
2 Andross's Base - Star Fox 64
Andross established the base of his invasion of the Lylat System in the bowels of the planet Venom, which was about as hospitable as the rest of the planet was. At♊ its heart was Andross himself, having inexplicably transformed himself into a gigantic floating brain (as only he had the brains to rule Lylat, of course).
Fox managed to successfully destroy this monstrosity, but with his dying will, Andross set the base to explode, determined to take Fox down with him. Fox was able to escape from the explosions thanks to the guidance of his father, James McCloud, though whether it was actually James, a ghost, or just Fox's own instincts is unknown.
1 ꦉ The Golden Pyramid - Wario Land 4
When Wario heard about a Golden Pyramid chock-full of treasure, he immediately knows what he's going to do that day: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:hunt it down, break in, and rob the place blind. He succeeded in this endeavor, ultimately making his way to the heart of the pyramid, where the last, most precious stack of treasure was guarded by the pyramid's master, the Golden Diva.
Wario made short work of the spirit, but in proper treasuಌre-hunting fashion, the whole place began to crumble around him. Of course, Wario was no stranger to crumbling treasure hordes, and escaped with loot in tow.