Let's think a little broader now. What are your Favorite bosses throughout gaming history?
Gotta go with the Mana Beast. He was fun, if easy, but his music fuckin rocked.
Similarly, I really dig Magus.
Storm Eagle from Mega Man X.
Up until that moment in playing a Mega Man game (I hadn't played the oringinal Mega Man), I was used to going through the gate and fighting the boss as usual. However when you reached the gate (which you enter from the right...really unusual) in Mega Man X, the ship itself practically blows up, leaving the remains of the ship as a wide, two screen length area. Then Storm Eagle makes his entrance by descending with the crackling of those metallic wings, the meter fills up, and his first attack is to try to blow you off the side of the stage! And if you survive that -- which you should despite being scared out of your wits -- then there's a chance he'll "disappear" from the screen (although if you are on the same screen you will see him ascend) and dive at you, appearing on screen for only a short period of time. It doesn't seem like much these days, and the fight isn't hard by any stretch, but it did trip me out because it was so unexpected.
His was a pretty boss fight.
I dug Wheel Gator more though. He was a good fight, just tough enough if you were fighting him first, but not too difficult that you could never kill him.
Personal Favorites:
Pirate K. Rool (DK Country 2)
Goji and the Golden Rhino (Jet Set Radio)
Majora's Mask/Incarnation/Wrath (Zelda: the Underrated Follow-up)
Skorne (Guantlet Legends/Dark Legacy)
That's all for now.
Not a big fan of the boss fights in the DKC series. Too much pattern, not enough improv.
True, but he had three patterns. Yeah, think about it...
the hardest battle was against hugh baldwin in CV:COTM
That statement makes it sound like Hugh was the thoughest boss in any video games ever. Do you have anything to back that?
Hard boss fight? The fuckin Prime Metroid. Bastard always kills me. Never beat the fucker once.
I didn't think Hugh was THAT hard, but that's probably because I overleveled and used up my stock of health potions.
DKC boss battles had to be predictable for an important reason. Two hits and it's game over. If the battles were any more complicated it would be unfair.
Wheel Gator was a bit hard, although I always fought him first, against the recommended order. But I don't like fighting him because I run into the same problem that I do for a lot of Mega Man X battles...staying on that wall during certain attacks. That wall pounding hurts your thumb after a while.
On the other hand, I like fighting Storm Eagle in part BECAUSE of the ease. It's easier on your hands too since you get rests, something you don't get with most bosses. He's actually easier to beat with your buster than with the C.Sting. It's a good stress reliever...man, I really should play Mega Man X again just for the heck of it.
Hard boss fights are never fun, because I always lose. :(
I'm still fighting CV1 death.
my fav boss fight ever has to go to dracula from Rondo
it was a perfct recreation of the og Drac battle that I loved sooo much
hardest boss fight ever for me, hmmm probably alma,the greater feind from the xbox ninja gaiden It took over 70 tries for me to kill her
There is only one boss that took even remotely near 70 tries for me to kill...Mega Man X3 Kaiser Sigma (I lost count after 30). Even the Giant Moldworm in A Link to the Past did not take that many tries. I have a rule that if I'm noticing how many times (usually after the first or six) it's taken me to kill an enemy, I'm giving up on fighting that enemy because the games' no fun then.
I never was able to beat Kaiser Sigma... but then, I didn't really try hard. X3 bored me so bad.
One day i wanna try going into Flame Mammoth's stage and beating him first. Without any powerups or anything. I've heard that a fun way to get owned.
As for my order in X2, I always do the Gator first, then I think I do the Junkyard Moth. I do those two because it leaves enough open spots that I can easily access in a quick amount of time to get all the Zero parts. I think I then go in and do Ostritch, Sponge, and I think it's normally the Stag, although I may be remembering wrong. I know sometimes I have to try for the crab instead, but it always takes too long to kill that fish and make it to the Zero Part boss room. They always leave before I get there.
Gotta say that The big dude (not Axle) is far harder in the first fight with him than after wards in Sigm'a Castle.
X3's whole fight with Sigma was too difficult. Not only did he have that annoying Captain America-like Shield in his first form and that nigh-invulnerable Kaiser Sigma form, but then you have to climb your way up in a narrowing vertical corridor bering chased by FIRE! Believe me, the game makers went overboard in the challenge of that game.
You will get owned, definitely if you try to take on any of the Mavericks in the original Mega Man X with nothing (and by nothing, I mean not even the dash boots, so Chill Penguin doesn't count). The only boss I ever defeated without anything is Armored Armadillo, but it took like a half hour because you only do 1 bar of damage per hit with his armor on.
For X2, I beat Wheel Gator then Bubble Crab because here's the thing about the Zero parts: the X-Hunters stick around as long as you don't beat any more Mavericks. They will jump stages, but they won't disappear forever. So don't worry about killing the fish, just exit and enter a stage. With the Spin Wheel and the Bubble Splash, you can get a good amount of the powerups and fight the X-Hunters. I always try to fight them in Overdrive Ostrich's stage because the X-Hunter door is easy to access there.
Eh, just feels like cheating. I much perfer to take out the side-bosses while playing the main game. More challenging. X2 is fun, but the least challenging of all the games, honestly.
I'm sorry but I can't see how you think X2 is easier than Mega Man X. Some parts are clearly easier than Mega Man X, but just having three extra bosses makes the game harder. Plus in Mega Man X2, I had an extraordinarily hard time getting some of the powerups.
I always had more issue wth the end boss of X than X2. He's vastly more powerful, and irritating to fight.
Oh that I definitely agree. The Sigma's final form in X1 is a bitch to fight. But if you fight Zero in X2, that makes beating the game downright impossible. Plus the fact is most of the other bosses in X2 are harder than X1.
Favorite Boss battles. I remember palying Super Mario Brothers for the first time. That was actually the first game I ever played that had an actual boss.
As for favorites, I vote for Kefka from Final Fantasy 6 (3 if you've only played it on SNES).
Not only is being a insane clown scary enough, his final form was three screens tall. Very fond memories of that game.
Actually, I can beat X2 fighting both Zero and Sigma. That was a challenge, but fun.
I do have to agree Kefka was cool. A friend of mine played that game all the freakin time.
Kefka is a clown...so yeah...I hate him. My friend is stuck on a stupid formation battle where you have to guard the entrance.
My worst place was Suikoden 3...the ice dragon guy. It was impossible to beat. The ice deals around the dragon itself kept coming back and the moves took out half the life points.
My favorite boss whould have to be sephiroth from ff7. However i like almost any boss music.
Get the Fanboy!! :knifed
You can beat every boss in that game with the same strategy: HasteAll, RegenAll, Summon, Summon, Summon...
I know this for a fact because that's how I beat the game.
Atma weapon
Kefka fights ff6
Menace CVDoS THIS GAME F'ing Owns.
Paranoia he was a nifty Cv boss
Galamoth was a whore
Neclord fight on Suikoden 2 *drools*
All Megaman fights up to X7
Ridley
And the Ninja turtles enemies also me and my friend just beat VI on hard mode in 28.16.
Just remember that "hard" is a relative term.
You never see a flaccid mode. Curious...
FF7 wasn't really hard, I have to concur. Long, sometimes tedious, but not hard.
The only difficult thing about it was getting those missable items which I didn't care for anyway.
(nods)
Thing I hated most about all the FF games was the amount of needless time you had to spend powering up. That was something I dug about Chrono Trigger. No wasted power-up time.
Until you got to the last boss. that bastard kept killing with his chest of doom.
(blinks) I never had that issue. Ever...
Magus, the thing with his chest laser does 999 damage every time.
Did you play through the extra quests at the end? The ones that help to open up the best items?
Yup, did that to level up, had the best evra thing. just magus or spikey dude whatever th flick his name is. I don't know My memory card formated itself so I don't have it.
That's fucked up man. I never had that happen. Ever.
I don't remember a chest of doom attack in Chrono Trigger. Odd indeed.
Well he opens his cheat, and it sprays fire all over you, but I don't recall it insta killing.
As many times as I've played through that game (SNES version twice, and then the Playstation version enough times to unlock almost all the cut scenes and endings) I should have remembered that one. My mistake.
It is kind of funny though that you fight BAD ASS Magnus, only to have him join your party and start with almost nothing at all. What happened to all the spells he just used to try to kill us?
He got is power drained by Lavos, remember?
Yeah, but still it's all too often in RPG's that an all powerful character fights you, only to stop, join your team, and somehow they lose their powers and equipment. hmmmmmm.....
At least it was explained...
very true, very true
CT had good production values all around. There are some games out there that just lack and are hard to really enjoy, like... Secrect of Evermore. I so wanted to like that game, and while it's fun on an occasion, and the art was pretty decent... it's just not a very good game. I'd rather have gotten SD3, which we were supposed to get originalyl, but the released SoE here and didn't want SD3 to compete with it... Lame.
Chrono Trigger is one of my favorite games. I am kind of hoping they remake it for Gameboy Advance like they are doing with Final Fantasy 4, 5 and 6. :D
I also have to agree about Secret Of Evermore. It had potential, but kinda left a bad taste.
When are they gonna remake FF3? I'm hankering to add that in some form to my collection.
They are supposed to be working on it as a DS title, but nothing further is known about that.
I know the feeling. They need to hurry up and release it.
Um...haven't you heard the news?
http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q4-2005/100505a.html
That sounds... odd...
and now for something completely different
It should still be worth it though
Usually when someone says "and now for something completely different" they change the subject.
Well, I was going to.....but......I.....think I got distracted....
HEY LOOK! What's that?
~runs away~
That's right... run in a strait line
:gun1
One of the hardest boss fights for me was from Final Fantasy IV. It is the gauntlet with the Four Fiends of Elements.
FFV was annoying for the boss fights, It got to a point in that game where if you didn't have every character able to use Summon magic, you just got owned. Weak.
Aparantly I've been shot :redrum
I started replaying all the Final Fantasy games again, and I am just now on FFV again. I agree about the Summon magic though. :meh
Yeah it's like what's the point of having a great customization system if in the end you have to give all the characters the same powers just to win the game?
well, you make a point. then again, who gives a flying crap about looks? i just make my characters as strong as possible for the biggest cheapshots.but since this thread is about boss battles... my favorite is against Jenova. I am a pretty big fan of the Jenovas and the Weapons. good fights, difficult, though. if my friend hadn't warned me earlier, i woulda lost every time i fought Emerald.
Meow.
(one xtra post for no reason)
1-Storm Eagle(MMX)
2-Olrox(of course,CVSotN)
3-Death(from all CV games)
4-the Black Dragon(chrono cross)
5-Bat company and zephyr(CVDoS)
6-puppet master(CVDoS)
7-Dracula(CVCotM)
8-4 demons of golbez(FF4)
9-giant of babel(ff4)
10-Golbez and zeromus(FF4)
Since I missed this thread first go around and it got resurrected here's my faves:
Meio - Strider 1 and 2, part 2 was a better fight as he had two parts and just looked awesome.
Lucifer, Sardius, & Satan - GnG series bosses, all were pretty huge and all had to be beaten with a special weapon, none were really to hard to fight, but were hard to get to.
Bacterion, Zeios, and the Gradius Gaiden boss (The One Being if I remember his name correctly) - Gradius and Salamander last bosses, although they all tended to be wimps and the slighest bullet that tickled them would ultimately kill them. Konami tried hard with each game, but I guess they decided to make them easy, because getting to them was hell enough.
Stone Wizard - Kid Niki, crazy looking boss, then again crazy looking game with every boss strange, one blows air on you, another tries to stab you with a sword while lumbering around in heavy armor.
I could think of many more I like, but if this thread survives, maybe another time.
Boss that were fun.
Zelda-Ganon, the big pig version. 64.
Majora\'s Mask, all form were fun.
Wind Waker-Ganon was fun too.
Breakdown-Solus. I like trying to beat him without being hit once.
AoS-Julius.
CoD-Legion. The after form made me want to scream.
HoD-Maxim.
Bosses that made me throw my controller and yell harsh things.
DMC-Vergil. DAMN YOU.
CoD-Drac\'s second form. I was to ballsy and died lots. Augh.
Conker\'s Bad Fur Day-The Alien. It refused to go out the vacuum.
I\'ll stop now. :knifed
castlevania sotn the demon the spits the lazzer and the squd thing ine the upside down castle.
Was it just me, or was Death from AoS the most badass version ever? I mean, a double-bladed scythe! How could you beat that? Other than him... I'd say that Bowser from SM64 was one of the best bosses. And about Vergil being hard... Which DMC?
The original Death was the baddest by far.
Yeah he was cheap. :mwaha
Queen Fossil E - G-Darius - one long fight against a huge fish looking ship, nice cinema before, and about a 5 minute battle after. And to think that's just the second boss.
Battle of Olympus - that Hades Heini, damn,forgot his name,
oh yeah, and grand hooray to CV SX 68k's Dracula.
Sucked the most: Legacy of Darkness' Ultimate Dracula = :plzdie
Doom's Cyberdemon > All
some other pretty neat battles are
Ganon on TLOZ:OOT
Orochi on KOF97
Zodd on Sword of the Berserk
Wart on Super Mario Bros. 2
Culex from Super Mario RPG is one of my top all-time fights. That dude was TOUGH. Smithy was a challenge too, no matter how much you leveled.
The end fights in the Ratchet and Clank series were usually fun fights too, though a walkover once you got the gold weapons usually.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=FS1atDJdXCE&search=srw%20boss
Keisal Ifes, Super Robot Wars Alpha 3.
Ive waited some 6 years to kick his ass.
It was one grand battle, 10,000 years in the making involving the powers that be and the power that may be. all tied in a neat Metal shell... yummy.
Has to be the Axem Rangers from Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/xHaZxMaTx/AxemRangers.jpg)
Ah, how many I can name..... :)
Sephiroth (Final Fantasy 7, Kingdom Hearts, and KH2.)
Ultimate Weapon (Final Fantasy 7)
Kuja (Final Fantasy 9)
Dracula (Castlevania 64)
Perfect Chaos (Sonic Adventure)
Metal Overlord (Sonic Heroes)
Bowser (Mario Brothers 3-Sunshine)
Mega Oogie Boogie (TNBC: Oogie's Revenge)
The Main Boss of Megaman Legends for Play Station (can't remember his name. :meh )
I'd post more if I could remember. ><; this be it for now...
The second to last level with 5 boss characters- Fire Emblem (US)
The Great Mighty Poo- Conker (A boss made of fecal matter who sings to you... c'mon..)
Gnome- Tales of Symphonia (I love his voice and attitude. Heh)
The Savannah boss- Kingdom Hearts 2 (Fighting the entire savannah as a living being.. yay!)
Phantom Ganon- Ocarina of Time
Twinrova- Ocarina of Time
Giant Baby Bowser- Yoshi's Island
Perfect Chaos- Sonic Adventure
Biohazard- Sonic Adventure 2
Final SA-X (Or whatever it's name was)- Metroid Fusion
Meta-Ridley- Metroid Prime
I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can remember.
I guess I'm not alone with some of my boss choices. Got some great bosses so far!
Mike Tyson - Mike Tyson's Punch Out:
Took a little over a decade, but I finally beat the guy to get that lame ending. Meh.
Culex - Super Mario RPG:
The rest of the game was easy compared to him.
Mana Beast - Secret of Mana:
I didn't want to kill it but...
Dark Knight (Cecil's Dad?) - FF4:
Sure you win if you just stand there and don't do anything, but somewhat challenging for the typical level Cecil has at that point in the game.
...There should be more, but my mind can't think anymore.
That was Cecil's dark side, and if you fought it, it hit you back twice as hard. You were supposed to defend to show you weren't going to be so aggressive and evil anymore. Excellent fight.
I love most every boss fight... I'll remember a few stellar ones eventually.
yoshi's island. final boss. second stage. the music is awesome. that is all.
Xze's bosses:
Sephiroth-FFVII
Seymour-FFX
Sephiroth, Cloud, Ansem, Maleficent, Riku- Kingdom Hearts
XD i'm lame
Personally, I shall never forget the end of Ultima VII: The Black Gate.
Dammit, Shamino! I'm trying to place some arcane symbols of ye mystical Electronic Arts, here. Stop shooting me in the back. It bloody hurts! Shoot Batlin, instead. He's the bad guy and he's shooting me too!
----
If you're looking for something a bit more conventional ...
Every single boss from every single Turrican game, ever.
They were all awesome. The fist gets special mention, though.
Nothing better than cheap ass bosses that requir 10 hours of level grinding and 2 hours of repetitive move usage to beat. :redrum
Quote from: The Warlike on July 17, 2006, 11:58:34 PM
Nothing better than cheap ass bosses that requir 10 hours of level grinding and 2 hours of repetitive move usage to beat. :redrum
*stabs Ansem* Heck yesh...
Had to get to level 99 and he still kicked my ass...
I nominate the minotaur battle from God of War. A fun romp with many twists and a kickass finisher.
Okay, let's see here...
Favourite; Metroid Prime (both forms) - Metroid Prime
A decent blend of gimmick (Phazon beam) and the unique aspects of regular MP gameplay (space jump for dodging attacks, matching beams against armoured first form, and switching visors for second form). Huzzah!
Most Gimmick-tastic-est; Shadow Stalker - Kingdom Hearts II, and Xemnas (skyscraper battle) - Kingdom Hearts II
Ah, reaction commands... For some bosses, they way overused it, but I loved 'em nonetheless. These two are my favourites as far as reaction commands go; Shadow Stalker because the variety of commands (and because swinging around pillars in a possessed ballroom is just fun), and Xemnas because the actual need for timing for the reaction commands to work (most boss battle reaction commands can be done by just tapping the triangle button constantly, this one actually needs timing to hit the right command.) Oh, and they also both made the list because they in no way feature the phrase "GET UP ON THE HYDRA'S BACK".
Most Tedious; Princess Shroob's final form - Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
I have no idea why this battle took so long... I dunno, might have been the three or four regenerating targets (legs and crown) that had to all be destroyed at the same time for you to deal actual damage...Possibly...*twitch*...
That was a good fight, lot better than the Sequel, and it's a lot easier to soak up phazon when you have the suit.
I like fighting Sepheroth from KH2, on Proud mode. the first few runs through I basically got what was left of my arse handed to me when I was maxed out, but 2 days ago i got him on lv51. (is it just me, or is he getten easier?)
The grimreaper :)
You know, I'd have to agree with Destina Faroda on Storm Eagle. His fight was an intense one. He was, infact, my favorite X-boss. However, the true test of a boss fight came from Sting Chameleon. His entrance was beast....he just...appeared! And as soon as that life bar filled up, the first thing he would ALWAYS do was to swing from the ceiling WITH HIS TONGUE and drop needles in random directions. As soon as that was over, you'd watch, terrified, at seeing him dissapear into thin air.
The battle went into a frenzy of button mashing and attempts to dodge his lightning fast tongue. And let's face it: without the foot attatchment on your feet, you were dead. Plain and simple. I still have problems fighting him today (even though I already beat the game, it had a high replay value in my book.).
There are others, but HIS was a boss fight to remember. xD
I was rather fond of the Finalhazard in Sonic Adventure 2, what with the banter between Sonic and Shadow.
Kraid, Ridley, Phantoon, Draygon, and Mother Brain from Super Metroid. Each boss battle made me go "whoa". Phantoon was one of the creepiest bosses ever, IMO.
Super Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhatten Project. Tough as nails.
All the boss fights in Phantasy Star Online are memorable, in my opinion, made more so by fighting them with friends and yelling crazy stuff!
Granfalloon from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was weird...
Can't forget Shadow Link from Legend of Zelda II!
contra III boss at the end
Quote from: Belmont on July 29, 2006, 09:59:50 PM
contra III boss at the end
One of the hardest final boss fights EVER.
I must say, Megaman Battle Network 4's final boss, Duo, was one of the most difficult and most hated boss fights to ever come into my hands. He was cheap, he wasn't fun to play against, and the battle-chips you had at the time sucked badly. However, I think the absolute WORST aspect of fighting him came with the music. I couldn't stand it. How could such trash be admitted into a game? I mean, what were they thinking!?
Had to use 4 program advances and a whole lotta luck to beat him. The ending sucked, too. It's the game that inspired me to stay away from the Megaman Battle Network series from then on. The ones before it were great, though.
Half Life bosses deserve a mention if for no reason other than the sheer complexity and length of the battles. The bosses were for the most part entire episodes rather than simply pieces of a level. Fun as hell when you finally kill the Garg or Tentacle.
While I am personally a big fan of the old style run-n-gun bosses I'll have to admit that it's really hard to make that type of monster challenging these days. FPS players are just too good at movement and the only way to make it interesting is to give the creature a ridiculous amount of hps/armor or to make their aim perfect. Going back and playing older games these days IY find the bosses way too easy even on the hardest settings. For example just the other day I reinstalled Quake II and ran through it. Of the 3 bosses I think only the final one actually did any damage to me.
Vertigo-Resident Evil 4(scared the sh*t out of me playing at 4 am, until I blew him up! :mwaha)
Seraph Lamington-Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (kicked my ass, wiped the floor with me, rinse, repeat)
Kuja-FFIX(so many possible comments)
Anima/Seymour-FFX(he beat me into oblivion)
Ruby/Emerald WEAPON-FFVII (ZOMG D:)
Odin-Final Fantasy Legends II (old and rare game, but he still beat my ass)
SAFER Sephiroth-FFVII (put your shirt back on silly sephy)
Ozma-FFIX (He looks like a a bouncy ball)
Kraken-Golden Sun (squid of doom)
Any boss on Megaman Zero 2...
Rowne has already mentioned the end of U7BG, so I'll give a couple from some of the other Ultimas.
Ultima 6
There aren't any bosses in this game, unless we count your beloved liege, the immortal king Lord British. The King is nice as pie unless you take his mug of ale (just the mug - you can strip the entire castle bare, so long as you don't touch his mug.) Oh, and he doesn't like you killing his staff either.
When angered, the King will make a bee-line for the Avatar and kill him with a single blow (how he achieves this is unclear) slaying everyone in his path until the Avatar is dead.
One of the most treasured objects in this series is the Glass Sword, which does 255 damage points and snaps. Even this won't kill the King and you can hit him with cannons all day and night to no avail. But there is a trick - when the King is in bed, he's not the King anymore. He's "person sleeping". Cannons are insufficient - the first blow will injure him but he'll wake up and become immortal again.
So we crept into his chamber late at night and used the Glass Sword instead.
(http://www.it-he.org/u6/murderer.gif)
Splash one King.
But we wanted a fight, yeah, rather than an assassination?
Well, as mentioned the King is not only immortal but has an instant death attack too. Summoning a daemon to fight for you is one approach, but they only last one blow from the King, if that. The only creature in the entire game capable of fighting Lord British hand-to-hand is himself - so I used the CLONE spell on him.
(http://www.it-he.org/u6/screen64.gif)
The anvils were summoned using the cheat mode since I had to have a barrier separating the contestants. The only way to get them to fight is to attack the (real) King with a crossbow - the copies are programmed to fight on your behalf, which is what the spell is for.
The battle raged on for two nights and two days, or until I got bored. It might have been a week, actually - game time runs fairly quickly. When I left the castle and returned, the clones and the anvil had vanished (being temporary objects) and the King was sitting on his throne.
Although he was still alive, the fight had damaged him - he never left the throne after that and was no longer capable of speech. This lead to my notion of him being a robot.
Ultima 8 - Pagan
Okay, Pagan. Again, not a 'boss' in the conventional sense, there's a guy called 'Beren' who is the chief of justice in the town and his purpose is to blow you up. If you're caught stealing, he blows you up. If you attack someone you shouldn't, he blows you up. If you murder someone, he blows you up. He is also immortal, so you can't blow him up.
(Player death is permanent in Pagan and Ascension - in the previous games you would respawn in LB's castle)
Usually Beren potters around in a small house in the rich part of Tenebrae, teleporting in when you do wicked deeds in the town. He also has another house in the sorcerer's enclave, and there he doesn't actually blow you up, although he will usually kill you in battle.
For some reason my brother was feeling particularly cocky and decided to take him on. We both knew the outcome, only we were wrong - after a couple of blows on the head with Skullcrusher, he keeled over and lay dead. It was truly one of those 'WTF? That's impossible!' moments.
(http://www.it-he.org/u8/berended.gif)
This pic was taken with the cheat mode, in his Tenebrae house
Then the other sorcerers came along and tried to kill the Avatar so we fled. Back in Tenebrae, Beren was still dead and we found to our delight that it was now possible to mug, kill and steal with no repercussions whatsoever. We managed to get it to happen once more, and then never again.
(http://www.it-he.org/u8/fence2.gif)
Until I discovered how to drown him in the pond
Ultima 9 - Ascension
About half-way through the game, the Avatar gets whisked off to The Guardian's secret lair in Terfin. There he is shown The Guardian's new video of the destruction of Skara-Brae, and beaten up.
The 'beaten up' part is interesting - The Guardian is able to attack you, but if you attack him, you take damage. As you approach death, he tells you that you can't win the game and chucks you out, since the idea is to prove a point not kill the Avatar.
In earlier versions of the game it was possible to use the CHARM spell on him, which knackered the game somewhat. In 1.18 they fixed this, but I wasn't going easily. When the Guardian told me to give up, I smacked him round the head with the Glass Sword. He got very angry indeed and the safety interlocks for that scene somehow failed. The next thing I knew the Guardian had killed the Avatar, but was still prattling on about how I can't win. He teleported the Avatar's mangled corpse back to the beach. Then the game crashed.
**EDIT**
Finally, I think my favourite honest-to-god Boss fight was S.H.O.D.A.N. in System Shock (and SS2).
My least favourite was the polyp at the end of Quake. I was bitterly disappointed, having found the message 'SATAN'S POWER DEFLECTS %s'S TELEFRAG!' within the program. The only reason I played the thing through to the end was because I assumed Satan was the boss and I wanted to kill him.
Instead I had the dubious pleasure of winning the game by killing a large sea-plant - some climax.
... you can kill Beren?!
Okay, where did I put my Ultima Anthology CD ...
----
Oh and is it just down to my perceptions or does the avatar look out of place in Ultima VIII?
As a last act of humiliation, in this land of decidedly normal looking people, the Guardian cursed the avatar with the appearance of a Lego Knight (http://www.healthstones.com/knights_and_dragons_store/lego_knights/8794_lego_sir_santis_knight/8794_lego_sir_santis_knight.jpg).
one thing is for sure...any boss is defeatable....
Quote from: Rowne on August 26, 2006, 07:36:12 AM
... you can kill Beren?!
Okay, where did I put my Ultima Anthology CD ...
Here's my step-by-step guide to drowning him:
http://www.it-he.org/u8_beren.htm
With the cheat mode enabled, you can sometimes kill him using the 'summon guards' option. When the Avatar says "Did I kill the person?" you say 'Yes' and they die. Most of the less-mortal characters such as Beren and the Tempest will tend to get up again, but I did manage to take Beren out permanently a few times, as in the screenshot. I don't think you can do this to Devon. (He has super Jesus powers so you can't drown him either)
You can also break Beren without killing him:
http://www.it-he.org/u8_hang.htm
or you can cheat....not that i do that....not at all.....
I'm a fan of Biolizard/Finalhazard from Sonic Adventure 2, well, I played it as SA2:Battle, but it isn't too different I don't think. I don't know why I enjoy it so much, I blame the fact that I like the music >>
Now that I've though about it a bit, I think I may have to nominate Unreal as having the best bosses. I absolutely loved the atmosphere of that game, the way that it put you on a strange planet with absolutely no clue what was happening, but slowly clued you in. There was never any spoken dialogue, all the other humans on Na Pali being dead before you meet them. The narrative was done via your universal translator, which brings us to the boss fights. You see, you pass a plaque near the beginning of a level that says "The weak shall be struck down by the hand of the beast" and upon further exploration come to realize that the structure you are in seems to be some sort of arena, with really huge doors to the fighting area. Clearly any seasoned FPS player, or any gamer for that matter, should realize at that point the meaning of the foreshadowing. Cut to the chase, the fight with the Titan was a helluva lotta fun. Good old school run and gun challenge. The thing pulls rocks from the ground and chucks them at you, stomps on the ground to knock you around, and smacks you to all hell in melee if you dare to get close. Many of his attacks were instantly fatal to you with anything but full hp and armor, which in hindsight makes sense given that he is 80 feet tall and the rocks he throws are the size of a VW beetle and 10x as heavy. Of course, as any seasoned FPS player also knows, ludicrous amounts of rockets can solve most ANY problem. Helpfully, Unreal's rocket launcher had 6 barrels, so delivering said ludicrous volume of rockets (or in secondary fire as grenades, less range and an arced path but more damage, nice for big slow targets or baddies behind cover) was not a problem.
Later on in the game you have to fight multiple titans at a time, though they do give you more room for that. Still later they beef up the titan as the Stone Titan, whom you meet first as a gigantic petrified statue sitting on a throne, guarding a pedastal with a powerful weapon upgrade on it. Again the astute player will realize that this is a sign to prepare yourself. The stone titan was of course, the same deal as his little brother, only with like 3x as many hps and more powerful attacks. Good old school FPS fun, none of the shenanigans you get anymore where you have to jump through a billion hoops to make the guy vulnerable. Just you, 7 tons worth of impossibly large weapons and associated ammunition that nonethless does not prevent you from running as fast as an olympic sprinter indefinitely, and a bad guy that defies most known laws of biology.
The final boss of Ristar. It wasn't that impressive or special, but at the time I was playing the game, back when I was about 10, it was an imsurmountable challenge. No matter how much time I put into it, it killed me with a depressing efficiency. Nobody else that I knew could do it either, no matter how many intense hours they spent holding the pad with an iron like grip, their bleeding eyes mere inches from the screen (okay, maybe it was just me that did that). Except for one. I barely knew him - he was up until that point just another kid on the playground - but that one event caused him to hold a near mystical status in my mind, a god of gaming, with incomprehensible, supernatural powers. Then, years later, whilst on a Megadrive nostalgia trip, I dug out the old cartridge, loaded up the final boss using the foggily recollected level select cheat, and defeated it first try.
Ho hum.
Does Senator Ryder in AMFV count?
does seto kaiba counts?
Does anyone remember Slash from "TMNT IV: Turtles in Time"? HE was the hardest boss in the game. Not even Shredder was as difficult. Part of the reason being that you had to hit Slash from behind to do any damage to him; he would block any attacks to his front. He was killer, and you'd waste so many quarters on him, it wasn't even funny. Then he'd go into that mega-death spin drive and slaughter you. He definately deserves some recognition.
There are others, but I'll save their mentioning for another time....
what about tyson in punch-out?
Quote from: Leafar on August 30, 2006, 10:54:34 PM
what about tyson in punch-out?
Mike Tyson? I really can't call him a boss or anything. He was just another boxer....except he could knock you down in one punch. He was cheap and a pain to fight. I knocked him down LITERALLY 5 times, and he STILL got back up. In the end, I only won by desicion. But it still was a fitting last fight of the game.
Battlelord, Lunar Commander, Cycloid Emperor - Duke Nukem 3D
Cycloid in particular was an amusing fight, given he's possibly the only boss where you could constantly look at him while fighting him rather than a constant dart behind cover, jump out, fire, repeat.
Any of the Mega Man X series bosses are great, though Kaiser Sigma wins the "oh.....sweet.....mercy..." award for my reaction upon first seeing how freaking huge he was.
Gol Dragon on PSO Episode II was definitely one of my favorite dragon boss designs ever.
All three PSO final bosses deserve mentions for various reasons.
Dark Falz: Creepiest boss intro 'cinematic' ever.
Olga Flow: One of the oddest fights in the game, but he looks incredible
St Milion: He's the crossbred spawn of an orbital laser and a sandworm. Need I say more?
Finalhazard is possibly one of the most entertaining boss fights I've played.
The dark trinity of Metroid Prime: Omega Pirate, Meta-Ridley, Metroid Prime
Megaman legands one - The three blumbears. Yanno, the red, blue, and yellow robots with servbots inside 'em?
LoZ: Majora's Mask - Ghot (sp?). The big mechanical bull you had to chase down as a goron. That rocked.
SVC Plus: Serious Mr. Karate or Shin Akuma...
way harder than the secret final bosses...
Fighting Jack Krauser in RE4 was the best boss I've seen in the series yet.
And if you're into flight sims, taking out Stonehenge, although not quite a boss fight, in Ace combat 4 is damn cool. That one always gives me a good rush.
Hmm my favorite boss fights would have to be...The MCP from Tron...Yeah that was fun...Fighting hitler in Wolfinstein is fun too....Watch his brain splode! And Metal Maddness on sonic heros!
Another one of mine would be Gravios from monster hunter. Yeah, technically every dragon or wyvern in that game could be considered a boss, but I say the Gravios should count.
Every..... single..... fight, in Shadow of the Colossus. In particular, I like the gigantic bird.
My favorites aaaare... Grunty from Banjo-Kazooie and every boss except for "Lord Woo F*ck f*ck" (My brothers kept calling him that after I told them his name. X3) in Banjo-Tooie. :B
...F*cking ugly fish. D: I'll beat him without cheats one day...*Shakes fist at him*
...Mr. Patch is fun to kill though. :3 I can use GRENADE eggs! ...And he sorta reminds me of Barney. :3 And...*Blabs on and on about Banjo-Kazooie/Banjo-Tooie* :B
Quote from: Boogeyman on September 29, 2006, 10:42:53 PM
Another one of mine would be Gravios from monster hunter. Yeah, technically every dragon or wyvern in that game could be considered a boss, but I say the Gravios should count.
*Clawhand* Dragon murderer!
*Tickles Boogey until he CRIES*
I think my favorite Boss Fight ever came from Sly Cooper: Theivius Raccoonus, and the fight with Mizz Ruby. For those who haven't played the game (you should, and it is cheap now), when you get to Mizz Ruby's lair, she wants to play a little game with you, a rythm game.
It just struck me as something so out of the blue, a boss fight that is a rythm game. While the Sly Cooper series turned back to more traditional smash and thrash boss fights with the second and third games, the unusual setups for the first game give me a reason to go back and play it again... again... and again.
Quote from: Dakata on September 30, 2006, 03:05:32 PM
Quote from: Boogeyman on September 29, 2006, 10:42:53 PM
Another one of mine would be Gravios from monster hunter. Yeah, technically every dragon or wyvern in that game could be considered a boss, but I say the Gravios should count.
*Clawhand* Dragon murderer!
First off, a Gravio is a wyvern, not a dragon. Second, don't tempt me :sword
Quote from: Boogeyman on September 30, 2006, 08:49:34 PM
Quote from: Dakata on September 30, 2006, 03:05:32 PM
Quote from: Boogeyman on September 29, 2006, 10:42:53 PM
Another one of mine would be Gravios from monster hunter. Yeah, technically every dragon or wyvern in that game could be considered a boss, but I say the Gravios should count.
*Clawhand* Dragon murderer!
First off, a Gravio is a wyvern, not a dragon. Second, don't tempt me :sword
You're still a murderer. :3
...*TEMPTS THE OOGIE BOOGIE MAN*
Wyverns are still dragon, just not true dragons.
Quote from: Evil.Iguana on August 03, 2006, 12:58:04 AMHalf Life bosses deserve a mention if for no reason other than the sheer complexity and length of the battles. The bosses were for the most part entire episodes rather than simply pieces of a level. Fun as hell when you finally kill the Garg or Tentacle.
While I am personally a big fan of the old style run-n-gun bosses I'll have to admit that it's really hard to make that type of monster challenging these days. FPS players are just too good at movement and the only way to make it interesting is to give the creature a ridiculous amount of hps/armor or to make their aim perfect. Going back and playing older games these days IY find the bosses way too easy even on the hardest settings. For example just the other day I reinstalled Quake II and ran through it. Of the 3 bosses I think only the final one actually did any damage to me.
or... because you already beat them before and knows how to dodge their tricks... I highly doubt anyone had ease on beating bowser on SM64 for the first time for example...
but if you want really hard bosses, play the original megaman series
Quote from: Manawolf on October 01, 2006, 03:39:56 PM
Wyverns are still dragon, just not true dragons.
Not in monster hunter, or at least not exactly.
Quote from: Dakata on September 30, 2006, 10:07:04 PM
Quote from: Boogeyman on September 30, 2006, 08:49:34 PM
Quote from: Dakata on September 30, 2006, 03:05:32 PM
Quote from: Boogeyman on September 29, 2006, 10:42:53 PM
Another one of mine would be Gravios from monster hunter. Yeah, technically every dragon or wyvern in that game could be considered a boss, but I say the Gravios should count.
*Clawhand* Dragon murderer!
First off, a Gravio is a wyvern, not a dragon. Second, don't tempt me :sword
You're still a murderer. :3
...*TEMPTS THE OOGIE BOOGIE MAN*
You get to wear their skin as armor. :3 In fact, my lance right now is made from the bones of the horned sand beastie.
As for the guy commenting on Slash from Turtles in Time... that's why you take turns being the decoy while your friend smacks Slash in the back. It confuses him so... heh.
Quote from: je.saist on September 30, 2006, 03:54:20 PM
I think my favorite Boss Fight ever came from Sly Cooper: Thieves Raccoons, and the fight with Mizz Ruby. For those who haven't played the game (you should, and it is cheap now), when you get to Mizz Ruby's lair, she wants to play a little game with you, a rythm game.
Dig that Voo-Doo!
I think one of my all time favorite boss battles was Clockwerk from the first one.
My Deffinate number one however is Mother Brain from super metroid. Not the hardest, but the hyper beam head dance is just freaking hilarious.
Quote from: Jim Halisstrad on October 02, 2006, 02:29:57 AM
Quote from: je.saist on September 30, 2006, 03:54:20 PM
I think my favorite Boss Fight ever came from Sly Cooper: Thieves Raccoons, and the fight with Mizz Ruby. For those who haven't played the game (you should, and it is cheap now), when you get to Mizz Ruby's lair, she wants to play a little game with you, a rythm game.
Dig that Voo-Doo!
I think one of my all time favorite boss battles was Clockwerk from the first one.
My Deffinate number one however is Mother Brain from super metroid. Not the hardest, but the hyper beam head dance is just freaking hilarious.
urgh. I hated fighting Clockwerk. The controls were just so cheap. I loved that final run getting TO him, but once in the air, the seperation between the aiming reticule and where your jetpack was going just about drove me up the wall.
Gods, the whole base sinking into the valcano? Yeah, that was a bunch of awsome crazy fun :3
While the other games were fun, in my opinion they never pulled off any thing that hectic. And is it just me, or are the other games easier?
Quote from: Jim Halisstrad on October 04, 2006, 05:29:27 PM
Gods, the whole base sinking into the valcano? Yeah, that was a bunch of awsome crazy fun :3
While the other games were fun, in my opinion they never pulled off any thing that hectic. And is it just me, or are the other games easier?
Yeah, aside from the ending set peice from Sly2, which was not really a boss battle in and of itself, but just after the final shooting match with Clock-La, when you have to jump "through / across" the peices of the disintigrating blimp...
But yeah, most of the fights just didn't seem as creative or as you put it, hectic, as the first game. Bently's fight with Jean Bison came close though. I don't think they really ratchted the difficulty down though. They did so much more with the map design and making for a more varied game play. I think Sly Cooper 2 and 3 hit the right mix for the main characters time and the side characters times. Something Sonic games have consistantly FAILED at. Grrr, bitterness showing again.
The first games boss battles were more like puzzles than actual battles. 2 and 3 were a little more free form, so it felt a little more gripping. Also, fun watching how a plan comes all together with the help of all the characters (everyone has their own particular strengths and vocations, and it's fun watching that happen). That final battle in Sly 3 is tough since the guy's later forms having him working like a living fireball. Really sucks when trying to get in close enough to actually hit.