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Top Videogame Boss Fights Rated
Thanks to GameSpot for their list of their 10 favorite videogame boss fights ever. The article claims: "The bosses here qualify as memorable by excelling in a number of categories; difficulty, personality, and innovative fight mechanics all come into play", and goes on to name bosses such as Dark Falz from Phantasy Star ("...so terrifying, they couldn't even spell his name right"), Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid ("more about figuring out the gimmicks behind his trickery than being skillful with your weaponry"), and Ganon from Zelda: The Ocarina Of Time ("the most dramatic and epic [boss battle] in Zelda history.")
Half life, which had a couple of "Boss" type levels. Who could forget their first encounter with having to kill.. A GIANT NUT SACK. It made sloshing sounds and everything!
I've not played that many modern/recent videogames to fight that many bosses (I still remember the big thing at the end of Zaxxon!), but I have particular fondness for the third Bowser battle in "Mario 64".
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
It seems that Gamespot is getting very "top 25 ____ of all time" lists (this being top 10). This seems very gimmicky to me. It's like when gameshows start to have "celebrity editions" to boost popularity, and then have to keep doing them because no one wants to see the "regular guys" anymore. This happened to The Weakest Link, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and even the old Family Feuds.
The Spanish Inquisition Cardinal in a flying Comfy Chair.
He was too easy though as he flew in the same pattern and fired soft cushions in the same pattern. You could hide behind a rock and jump up and fire a couple of times at the same point in the loop and not get hit.
Consultancy: If you're not part of the solution, there's money to be made in prolonging the problem
"If you're far-left, or far-right, then you're far-too-stupid... "
That makes Howard Dean "Far-too-stupid". He'll probably be the leading Democrat again once the hype about Admiral Stockdale...er..Clark is over.
Wait a second... a few days ago, Gamespot said that Mortal Kombat was one of the most overrated games of all time.
Now it says that the Goro fight in MK is among the 10 best boss-fights in history? (#9)
So, for a game that seemingly has better boss-fights that any other game in history minus the other 8, it would not be a stretch to say this game therefore DESVERED its high praise.
So which is it? Most overrated or close-to best fight ever?
"Now it says that the Goro fight in MK is among the 10 best boss-fights in history? (#9)"
Reminds me of that particularly historic boss-fight in Florida in 2000 between Gore and GWB.
Where's the Great Mighty Poo?
Oh where, oh where is Kefka? He's one of the most evil RPG villains ever, and the final battle against him is one of the most memorable from any Final Fantasy game...
...Mother Brain?! For its time, Metroid's end battle was pretty innovative, IMHO... i.e., "disconnecting" her life support, the time bomb (I bet every player, upon seeing that message the first time, gasped a collective, "Oh shit!"), etc. Not to mention the fact that, oddly enough, the Mother Brain didn't even attack you; which could've been a bad idea, but I believe it was properly & cleverly executed by Gunpei Yokoi and the rest of the M1 team. And Super Metroid totally upped the ante with their new implementation of Mother Brain, as well.
It seems they focused on console games? What about the dragon at the end of dragon's lair (the original)? Or the mother brain from metroid? There were several bosses in ghouls and ghosts that were incredible. Doom II had a great endgame. This is the third or fourth list that /. has posted from these guys and I'm not impressed with their expertise. Sometimes I think they are switching 'popular' with 'good'/'overrated'/etc.
-Sean
D2 (a survival horror title for the ill-fated Dreamcast, and the sequel to D, naturally) has several memorable boss characters, but the scariest one is one that doesn't actually hurt you but just begs you to kill it. It takes quite a bit of time to finish it off, and the entire time it repeats its request.
Its relation to your character only makes it more disturbing.
How could they have left out Bowser from Super Mario Bros. 3?? He wasn't incredibly difficult, but it was certainly a departure from the norm for the series.
Mario had no way he could actually harm Koopa, so you had to use his attack against him. After spitting a few fireballs at you, he'd jump up into the air and try to smash you. His impact would destroy the row of bricks beneath him. The "trick" was to get him to keep smashing at the same spot in order to make him fall to his death. Good stuff...
"Come on, let's go drink till we can't feel feelings anymore."
In Sonic Adventure 2 Battle you fought the BioLizard which had ATTACHED ITSELF TO THE MOON. Maybe I'm crazy, but I thought that was one of the most amazing battles ever.
How about Cats from Zero Wing?
There's nothing more cunning or devious than the simple phrase "All your base are belong to us"...
Business \Busi"ness\, n.;
A scam in which all people involved perceive as beneficial...
Hitler - Bionic Commando (NES): It's Hitler!! and they showed blood! Hitler was sitting on the Albatross and you had to use the bionic arm to climb up and shoot the cockpit;
Golem/DragonLord - Dragon Warrior (NES): You needed the flute to kill Golem. DragonLord was hard, especially because the dungeon was really tough.;
Mother Brain - Metroid (NES): You had to place 30 missiles to beat it, while avoiding the donuts and re-generating columns.;
Grim Reaper/Dracula - Castlevania (NES): The Grim Reaper was tough (and the level too), but Dracula required tons of patience. He would transform into a huge monster at the end.;
Golbez - Final Fantasy II - SNES: The music, background and intensity of this battle makes it a classic;
Too many to mention - Contra Series, GunStar Heroes - Various: These series have the coolest collection of bosses ever, especially when the original team (now Treasure) used to be with Konami;
Bowser - SuperMarioWorld - SNES : I bought the SNES and got this game as a pack in, the Mode7 effects alone got me there. It was something to show to all your friends. Lava Boss - Axelay - SNES: This has to be one of the coolest bosses for a 16 bit system, however, the flicker/slowdown was unbearable.;
Odin - Ghouls & Ghosts - GEN: A friend of mine showed me this boss, and I must say that I was impressed, it was HUGE and challenging.
I remember Dark Falz very well. I spent two weeks straight playing Phantasy Star when it first came out, to get to him. I had to play another two weeks just to level up enough to beat him. The best part about him was that you didn't even know about him until the very end, when there was a twist in the plot. It really hieghtened your interest into what this thing was.
I think it also helped that they basically used the full graphic power of the Master System to draw him. Unlike the other enemies, Dark Falz had no background, it was just black, probably to get more detail into his character (which took up the entire screen). It blew away anything on the NES at the time.
And BTW, they had to use the name Dark Falz because of the 8 character limit on enemies in the game (the Japanese kanji for Dark Falz fit into the 8 character limit correctly, but when translated to english did not, thus the hackjob on the name). This happened to a lot of the characters in the game.
I may be biased since I just finished REZ a few weeks ago, but the yellow blocky guy on level 3 or 4 was one of the most intense boss fights I'd ever played in a video game. It was among the hardest, but in terms of creativity, I think it was incredibly brilliant.
On the PC side, which really isn't know for decent boss battles, who can forget nearly every single boss in the NOLF series? Fighting the ninja girl in a house tossed about by a tornado? And mancubes! Mancubes!
Oh yes, lest we forget the prolific Doom ][ (see I'm 'leet because I didn't REALLY use roman numerials) boss: John Romero's head. Man, who know how satisfying that would become!
Okay, I admit I have not played any of the games mentioned above. In fact, I don't even play that many games. However, it seems that they left out a *lot* of good bosses, many of them from far superior games than the ones mentioned. I mean, seriously, Earth Worm Jim? Serious Sam? I've heard those are pretty good games, and I realize this isn't a 'best games' list, but come on - what about the best bosses from the best games in history?
I recall in particular the end bosses in the shareware episode of Doom had me literally sceaming in front of the computer. Seeing those doors slide up, and revealing *two* imposing Barons of Hell standing there... It was one of the most frightening things I have ever experienced from a computer, beating even the goatse.cx guy. The fight that followed was one of the most intense I've ever had from an FPS.
And wasn't the end of X-Wing a re-creation of the trench run against the Death Star? How can you forget the Death Star?!
I guess I am just a sucker for new-and-improved sequels, but I thought the protracted battle with Ganon in Zelda:The Wind Waker was really cool. And the battle with Metroid Prime in the similarly-named-game probably had the coolest music of any boss battle I can remember. Also, Metal Gear Solid 2 had some nice boss battles- the fight between Raiden and 25 Rays was my favorite.
& I wish I knew the password to your heart . . . &
Is it just me, or is the "boss fight" the biggest, stalest, lamest c l i c h e-acute-accent in the video game world?
(Spelt out 'cause Slashdot blows and can't deal with accented characters.)
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
"Ganon from Zelda: The Ocarina Of Time" What? Ganon was a freaking pushover. Not nearly as difficult or visually impressive as some of the other bosses in that game.
Werdna, From the original Wizardry on the Apple II...
Undying - PC
Im not sure what the hell that thing was, but, damn it was ugly.
Chrystalis - NES
A big ass maze, then the good ole multi form boss with a weak point, that you can only hit when he's attacking.
Jainith
Cyber Hitler from wolfenstein 3d is the best boss ever!
Earthbound had some of my favorite bosses. Whether it was the five Guardian Diggers, all of whom claimed to be the third most powerful, or the Clumsy Robot that kept eating eating bologna sandwiches, or even Master Belch, the Earthbound bosses still hold a place in my memories (next to the fuzzy pickles).
The best Earthbound boss was the final one.
Giygas. The incarnation of evil. So infused with raw power that he lost his mind and body. And he's got that bastard Pokey as his sidekick.
You get him to his final form, and nothing works. Attacks are useless. PSI is even less useful. Items have no effect.
You've tried bashing, shooting, the heavy bazooka, multi bottle rockets, dragonite, psi starstorm omega, and even Poo's mimic ability. Nothing.
Your HP and PP are dropping, and your stockpile of healing items is running out.
Then you try the one command you've been avoiding since you picked up Paula. Its effects were random, and sometimes suicidal, but you had nothing to lose. It was the last boss, and nothing else was working.
I know it was corny, but damnit, that's the only boss fight to have an emotional impact on me.
But then again, I could be wrong.
was pretty memorable for me.
The way he yelled i got a kick out of it.
Run, coward! ARAHAHHH!
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
Death Viper is one of my all-time favorites. I loved the way he formed himself out of a mass of writhing snakes, and he was just as scary to fight as he was to look at. Not sure if he counts as a boss, since he's the only enemy in the game, but Sinistar used to give me nightmares too. "RUN COWARD, RUN!"
I dunno, I think that Biolazard was just angry cause he had a spaceship up his butt. (It's a spaceship he's attached to, not the moon)
Kefka. Most... dissapointing... fight... EVAR!
....
I was really looking forward to it. I fought my way to the end, the awesome music started, and I was ready to go!
The fight went something like this:
Ultima
Ultima
UltimaUltima (Celes had the Gem Box)
Ultima
Ultima
You get the idea. I held A down until I won. Didn't lose a single person.
Sigh... And I remember when "Nintendo Hard" meant something. Impossible jumps and exploding Hitlers: that was where it was at!
GeekNights!
Late Night Radio for Geeks!
From what I heard and read, SHODAN (the boss in System Shock 1) had an awesome boss fight game. I won't spoil it, but you can see it if you play it. System Shock 2's SHODAN wasn't special to remember.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Luca Blight from Suikoden II. Badass the entire game, and twice as badass during the extended last fight(s). If you don't know what I'm talking about, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy if you ever see it on eBay for under $3,500 or whatever it's going for these days.
Cyberdemon was the freakiest boss I ever ran into my gaming history.
1) He was HUGE for first perspective shooters.
2) He was ugly!
3) Crazy rockets!
4) Noisy!
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
The fight with Psycho Mantis in Metal Gear Solid was utterly retarded and made me stop playing that game.
If you don't know, the whole deal was that character was supposed to be psychic. You had to plug the controller into the other port to get past him because then he supposedly couldn't read your mind (ie: predict your moves and counter them perfectly). Without playing from the 2nd port - it was literally impossible to defeat him.
Not only did they have this retarded gimmick, they then proceeded to tell you the solution only after you'd been killed by him several times, each getting more and more frustrating. This only made me want to snap the CD in half - it was such a complete and utter waste of my time it was offensive. I traded the game in the next day, without completing it.
Metal Gear Solid is the only game I've played where I now actively hate the development team - even to this day.
Not only that, but I seem to recall that being the only NES game with actual curse words in it.
When you first meet hitler at the end of the game, he says something along the lines of: "You're a damn fool to think you can stop me!"
Major bonus points for 10 year olds at the time.
I couldn't even think of beating Jaquio on the console. I had to wait 'til the magic of emulators and save states to beat him. I had to slow it down to like 1/4 the speed and repeatedly save when I hit and restore when I got hit to even think of winning. It still required alot of work even then. I also agree with Mother Brain in Metroid was pretty hard. Just staying on the ledge to launch missles without being in the lava too long isn't easy.
Why don't you guys have friends or journals?
While not technically an endboss WarMech from Final Fantasy was denfinately the start of something good.
:P
Pace back and forth on the bridge leading Tiamat in the sky castle until he comes.... and nukes your entire party
"I am a kernel in the linux army"
For me it would have to be either Safer Sephiroth from FF7 (I remember literally laughing when one winged angle started, It sounded like a funny song... But then the clouds.... then the wings and all.... Majorly terrified!!!) Ganondorf from OCT, He was way scary, and an amazing boss battle, Or Doctor Willey!!! Man he scared me! After I played the mega man games I kept having nightmares of a little mad scientist coming up in a UFO and it opening up.... then the eye brows.... OH THE HOROR!!!
DUKEY!
Actually, I thought Wind Waker's last fight was very cool. Nevermind that the story before and after the last fight (which is not technically part of it) is the best of all the Zeldas, it was a fight where you *had* to use the counterattack ability that you had the whole game to learn how to use. Also, at the end you had to fight Ganon with Zelda supporting you with the Light Arrows. So much more satisfying than having her stand off-stage, gasping whenever you get hit.
Also, while the difficulty against weapon-users was up a few notches over Ocarina of Time, Ganon was again the only enemy that a cautious player could concievably need to use a fairy or potion for. I was really hoping that the much rumored second quest would be an actual harder game, but alas it was not to be. Maybe in the next game....
Ocarina of Time was so easy that I decided, once, to play through the whole game with only three hearts. I only really had trouble against Ganon's final form at the end, where I ended up having to use Nayru's Love.
I played that game - was fun - post is not offtopic
I think they really should add the boss fight from FFX, it was definetly had one of the best feels I've had on a game for a really FINAL epic battle. It's probably because of the first real badass heavy rock music on a ff game in the backround that was more than decent. The boss himself looked pretty psycho and the sorrounding area had just the right amount of we're so dead factor.
I am rather fond of the Mantis boss fight in metal gear myself. some others that didn't make the cut was: Dead to Rights(xbox version) where you fought in prison, in a gas chamber...against the ex-champion boxer (very hard), but great visually. Also, I was impressed with Enter the Matrix boss fight where you went up against an Agent in the back of an open airplane. Not very hard, but it was something different.
Metal Gear 2: Snake's Revenge for the NES.
The final boss was IMPOSSIBLE to defeat. The fight consisted of you having to lay mines for the boss to step on, and he never did. The only weakness he had were the bottom of his feet. He managed to scurry around every mine I layed, and the fight dragged on and on. Never did beat the game because of it.
- IP
And oh, "Ligar" at the end of Rygar for the NES. Bloody frickin' difficult as hell. Beat him, but ended up bald because of it.
- IP