"Great Video Game Bosses" or "No Mecha-Hitlers Allowed"

[Seil]

Before you ask, yes, there was a Mecha-Hitler (http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/0/39/2358267-hitler_wolfenstein_3d.jpg). It was in Wolfenstein. Now, I'm replaying Knights Of The Old Republic, and I was thinking about Malak. (Spoilers beyond this point for... everything. Everywhere.) Now, about three quarters through the game, you meet Malak; the end boss. He's a chump. Really.

While he remains that way for the end fight, (though a bit stronger in his ATK stat) he has several people in jars (http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20040703) in his lair. Force jars. Whenever he gets low on health, he walks over to one of these jars and drains their life (http://img3.joyreactor.com/pics/post/funny-pictures-auto-vgcats-comics-475353.jpeg). He's got about twenty jars, and they can only be destroyed by specific force powers that you may or may not have. This makes for a frantic battle with a character who, let's face it, has been painted as a coward and an opportunist the whole game. So it makes sense that he'd give himself this advantage story wise and game play wise makes for a tough boss battle.

It's interesting; a really good boss is someone (or something) that has been painted as bad ass all the way through the game (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ8-rLJ-59Y), and can back that up throughout the final battle (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4I05cHbEY4). Whether it's a dragon laying waste to an army, or an evil person that transforms into some eldritch abomination (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYAlhVR7Lfs), or maybe just space aliens (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0uQZFb0KpY)... A really good, tense fight against someone (or something) that you saw level a city (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98M7fELYsRU), an army (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocdh7cbYCjk), your best friend/parents/home village (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqmPPum1Alo) can be very satisfying. There's also the boss' attacks to take into consideration. A great boss isn't filled with cheap attacks that decimate your entire party, light you on fire or disintegrate you (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Hh4yOy6Ow).

Up there I said "No Mecha-Hitlers." Why? Because, while cool, (like the Cyber Demon from Doom) they're not really fantastic bosses in terms of story or characterization. They're just tough dudes. Who do I pick? Well, I already mentioned Malak up there, from KOTOR. I guess I'll go with the Arishok from Dragon Age 2, because while you knew you were going to fight him, it was a pretty cool setting what with the Kirkwall nobility cheering you on. For my third boss, I think I'll go with GlaDOS. Yeah, it wasn't really a "fight," per se, but it was still interesting and I think the best you could expect from an FPS puzzle game. (Besides, Portal 1 was way better than Portal 2.)

What's your favorite boss?

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What's your favorite boss?[/color]

[Locke cole]

Spoiler warning for any games I mention.

From Tales of The Abyss: Van. As final bosses go, he's pretty great. He's a powerful swordsman and an extremely dangerous mage. He throws around extremely powerful attcks (like this dragons-shaped burst of light) that can probably wipe out your squishier party members in a single shot. But if you're properly prepared for the fight, you can stand up again and again after each attack. I've always believed that some of the best bosses are ones that fight like the player does. And he does, very much so. He's got a ton of the same spells and physical artes that you can learn, he's got several Mystic Artes with set attack ranges for you to try and avoid, and his sword style is very reminiscent of the main character's, because he taught it to him. Also, the story buildup to the fight is very intense. And it's all marked by some of the best final boss music I've seen.

I have two examples from Metal Gear Solid 3:

First is The End. Some people will probably contest me on this, but I find that it's one of the best boss fights I've ever seen. It's a sniper duel with an old man who is considered the father of modern sniping. He's pretty much perfectly camoflauged to the forest you're in, he has insane aim and reaction time, and you start out with no idea where he is. It's a sniper duel in a very real way. It's not some bombastic battle where you go in guns blazing. It's a tense, quiet, nerve-wracking engagement where being exposed is a serious danger. There's not even any music to accompany it, to add to the eerie quietude of the whole thing. And it's actually pretty fair. If you go farting about like an idiot, he'll fill you with enough tranq darts to take down an elephant (Yes, Tranq darts. The guy's the ultimate sniper, but he's trying not to kill you), but you have all the tools you need to find him. You have your own camoflauge, you can search for the sunlight gleaming off of his rifle, and you have a directional microphone to look for his breathing. But perhaps one of my favorite bits is how he can totally sucker you. Like, if you find his sniping position, but you can't get there except by switching maps and moving around, you can sometimes find that he'll no longer be at said spot, and has instead moved around, and aimed his sights directly at his previous spot! There's just something in this fight that I've not seen in many other boss fights. It's tense, it's quiet, it's paranoia-inducing (is he right behind me again?). There are just few things like it out there. Granted, it's kind of an afternoon affair, but I think it's worth it.

On the other hand, the final battle with The Boss, is perhaps the perfect blend of all the tricks you learn in the game itself. I said a few paragraphs up that my favorite kind of boss is one who fights like the player, and The Boss is a perfect example of that. You have three major strengths in the game. Your camoflauge, your guns, and your CQC techniques. The Boss has all three of those things, and better than you do. She's wearing a pure white jumpsuit, and you're fighting in a field of snow-white flowers that are constantly fluttering through the air, reducing visibility, especially if you try to crawl down to hide yourself. Attacking head-on is a dumb idea, because she's got the best gun in the game, and will murder you head-to-head, necessitating a stealthy approach. And attempting CQC without the right timing will have her ruin your gun, smack you to the ground, and break your arms. So, since none of your stuff can truly overpower her, it all comes down to outplaying her. A great boss fight is a true test of your skills. Something that tests everything you've learned over the course of the game. If The End was a distillation of the "stealthing through the jungle" part of the game, The Boss is the ultimate test of every other skill you've acquired. And it is amazingly tense, too. You're on a strict time limit for the fight, but it's not displayed by a clock. Instead, the countdown comes in the form of the game's extremely James Bond-esque main theme. It's an amazing background piece for the fight itself, on top of being a very tense countdown.

[Seil]

Can we just go ahead and say that any boss from Metal Gear Solid is automatically great? Because any boss battle from Metal Gear Solid is automatically great.

wA02xxwaOH8

Also, while Legendary isn't the best game, every new enemy is like a mini-boss battle. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ9JLid_Kfs)

[mauve]

Dr. Cid from FF12. Sure, he's not the final boss, or even the MAIN boss of the game, but in terms of character I liked him a lot better than Lord Vayne or Venat. I really liked the balance his character had between how civil and dignified he looked and how COMPLETELY NUTS he actually was. He had a decent boss fight towards the end with some actual character development, which was nice. Plus, the little drawing of a genuinely happy-looking Cid holding an infant Balthier at the end made me b'awwww.

Gonna second GLaDOS here. She's such a great character, constantly battering you with passive aggression throughout the entire game(s) while slipping in hints about the storyline without blatantly spelling everything out for you. It gave you a real feeling of satisfaction when you finish the boss fight at the end of the first game. (Because face it, in the second game, NO ONE wins. XD I love Portal 2 to pieces, but really GLaDOS is the only one who gets what she wants in the end, and even that doesn't last if the Multiplayer storyline is to be belived.)

Nightmare II from the original Devil May Cry. GOD DAMMIT I HATED THIS BOSS SO DAMN MUCH UUURRRGHHHH!!!! But somehow it's still on my list! He's (it's?) pretty much the exact opposite of the other bosses on this list because it has zero characterization and zero real place in the story line. It's just sort of dumped in as a reason for Dante to continue after something resembling plot development occurs. But this boss was so challenging, you just HAD to feel great when you finally beat it. Nightmare II had attacks for every range, it had identical moves that produced totally different outcomes, it had a grand total of 1/16th of its entire body that was capable of taking serious damage, and to top it all off you could only make the weak spot appear by repeatedly attacking a stone tablet stuck to the wall of the arena you're trapped in. Oh, and standing still to attack said panel made you a target for a series of razor-sharp homing missiles Nightmare II liked to shoot out at unusual intervals. Have fun with that. But when you finally beat the damn thing, you felt like a badass. And somehow, that made it all worthwhile.

The majority of enemies from Shadow of the Colossus. This game is nothing but boss fights, but most of those fights were amazingly atmospheric and epic-feeling. It did an amazing job of making you feel like you're the epitome of the underdog: You're a scrawny little dude with a bow and a sword, you can't do any major feats of strength aside from cling to a living mountain as it tries to squash you like a bug, and as the game goes on you realize you're totally screwed no matter what you do. MOST of the colossi are beautifully designed and have a degree of emotional weight and.. oddly enough... personality to them. For me, the only exceptions to this were the horse colossus and the one you fought in the geyser field; I rarely ever managed to get them to step in the right place to trigger the next part of the fight and that really took away from my enjoyment of the game. ....damn you, horse colossus.

[Aerozord]

if we are talking best boss as far as narrative,

Would be the one that sticks out most in my mind

From Bioshock, Andrew Ryan. yes he is the easiest boss of all time. You just kill him in a cutscene. But it fits so flawlessly into the narrative, is such a perfect twists, and makes you question the mindlessness in which players listen to NPCs and commenting on the players inability to say no.

To me that surpasses epic confrontations

[Ramary]

Majora's Mask from....well Majora's Mask was pretty awesome since all 3 phases of the fight are so radically different, and had their own remixed version of Majora's theme that was heard though out the game. In a series full of great bosses, this one stands out a lot to me, and not just because it is the final boss in My Favoritist Game Ever.

I second The Boss from MGS3 SO VERY HARD, and everything Locke said was correct, but I will not be doing the fight justice if I did not mention You have to pull the trigger, the game won't do it for you.

Knight Artorias from Dark Souls gets a mention because of just how intensely crazy the fight is, how aggressive and crazy his attacks are, and how you are essentially fighting Guts from Berserk.

Gruntilda from the end of Banjo-Tooie. What other boss has the sheer gall to stop the boss fight to quiz you on things about the game.

Nyx from Persona 3 for being longer then some films and having great dialogue during the fight.

I second Aero's Andrew Ryan pick. Because a man chooses. And also I basically stopped my recently replay it after his "boss fight" cause it only goes down from there.

Meta Ridley from the first Metorid Prime. Aside from he fight itself being awesome, Ridley himself was constantly shown to be flying above you all the time, and you spend the whole game wondering when he is flying gonna attack, then right at the 11th hour after a super long backtracking hunt, he just pops right out of nowhere to fight yea, while wrecking all them artifacts you worked hard to find.

I am giving a special personal pick to Fafnir from Magicka, and not the reason you would expect. For the longest time, Fafnir was a really buggy boss, so many issues poped up during the fight, like falling into invisible pits, or he would just outright be unkillable. My favorite was after he got to 40% or so hp, he would crash the game to desktop in the most efficient and clean way I ever seen in a game, you would blink and BAM desktop, Karesh and I swear that was an intentional attack for a long time. Me and Karesh finally got lucky after a week or so of trying to beat it, and it felt SO DAMN GOOD.

I am sure I will think of more at some point. I will stop here on this point.

NONE OF THESE BOSSES CAN COMPARE TO THE MIGHTY BEASTECTOR
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[Flarecobra]

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It's not too often that the first boss of a game is among the most fun battles.... but come on, it should be obvious why.

[Toast]

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The first real boss from Secret of Evermore, the Thraxx, will always be one of my favourites. His design is really interesting, and the gimmicky mechanic for killing him, though basic, is still pretty challenging. I remember as a kid I could not beat this guy, but I kept trying and trying, putting the game down in disgust for months then starting over. The first time I beat him I did it so easily that I wonder how I had failed so many times before.


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The last fight with Wiegraf/Velius from Final Fantasy Tactics. One of the game's most difficult fights, if not the most difficult. It also carries a lot of narrative weight. Up to this point, you've fought Wiegraf several times, and he's always been a tough opponent.

Fighting the undead lich from Guild Wars was also a really awesome boss fight. This guy has led you around by the nose for almost half the game, resurrected your prince and turned him against you, and released the evil and powerful titans on the world. It's incredibly satisfying to wipe the floor with him. Unlike later campaigns where the final mission was just the boss fight, in this particular mission you had to fight your way to the lich through some really tough encounters, which really made it all the more enjoyable.

The Transcendent One from Planescape:Torment, because it isn't a straight up fight, though it could be.

[Amake]

I'll agree The Boss is the boss of all the bosses in all the games, and probably a good part of the reason I've hardly touched any Metal Gear game since. When I executed her I was like "Welp, this is over now."

Not mainly for the reasons mentioned above though. The story is what makes it really heart-wrenching. Maybe her villainy is supposed to be ambiguous and shit, but in my estimation she was the Goddamn hero, and I was not conflicted about fighting her, I wanted to fight her less than any fightable creature in any game I've played. Kids in Fallout 2? Line up the thieving little snot factories and let the bad karma roll in. I'd gladly be spit upon for the rest of my days in Fallout if it meant I could progress in MGS3 without killing The Boss. And fuck you sideways, Hideo, for not only letting the bad guys win but making the player instrumental to their victory.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, let me mention the final boss in Delta Force Land Warrior, whom I beat last year. I couldn't tell you what his name was or why he had to get a bullet in the head, except that he had a mustache and spoke Arabic. But I sneaked that shit good and shot about 150 guys on this rather overpopulated island, and then I crawled through a bunch of tunnels under the island and shot some more dudes at the furthest distance the tunnels would allow, including one with a rocket launcher. Not that there was anything peculiar about him having a rocket launcher, or that I noticed it before he was flying backwards and kicking in the air. But after I shot him and the rest of the dudes in that room they told me the mission was over, and I crawled back to the extraction point and then, instead of preparing for the next mission, I watched some credits.

Protip: The gun that has the same name as the game is grossly imbalanced.

[Ryong]

The Kitsune in Okami. Fuck that was a fun and challenging fight, simply because you fought someone with the same powers you had and that could interrupt your drawings.

Mazaal, a boss from Zelda the Minish Cap that consists of two floating hands and a floating head. Once you shoot some eyes it has in its hands, its head falls to the floor and you have to turn into a minish to get inside it and slash away at its core. I loved the mechanic of changing sizes ( and how different the world becomes ) and really like how it's integrated in the fight, more so than the boss itself. It's not the only boss fight that involves it, but it does it so much better than the other one.

Gyorg Pair, from the same game, was also a fun fight. You're on top of a giant flying manta ray-esque monster with multiple eyes while a smaller one attempts to hit you and you're jumping from one to the other trying to stab their eyes out. While mid-flight.

I couldn't stop going "oh shit this is the coolest" during the Gabranth fight in FF12 but then it turns out I was ridiculously strong and the fight was really easy but it was fun as fuck.

Do big monsters in Monster Hunter count as bosses? Because I thoroughly enjoyed every time I fought a Rathian or a ( or Zinogre if you're into this weird new translation) or a Nargacuga...Or a Duramboros, goddamn seriously?

I am giving a special personal pick to Fafnir from Magicka, and not the reason you would expect. For the longest time, Fafnir was a really buggy boss, so many issues poped up during the fight, like falling into invisible pits, or he would just outright be unkillable. My favorite was after he got to 40% or so hp, he would crash the game to desktop in the most efficient and clean way I ever seen in a game, you would blink and BAM desktop, Karesh and I swear that was an intentional attack for a long time. Me and Karesh finally got lucky after a week or so of trying to beat it, and it felt SO DAMN GOOD.

does this mean Dark Souls' Bed of Chaos is a good boss? Because it essentially goes "fuck your shit, I hope you like getting thrown off pits because you weren't lucky" and "it'd be a shame if you landed directly on top of an insta-kill fire pillar which you have no time to dodge".

[Seil]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Shadow Of The Colossus yet.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

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EAT IT BEAR, EAT IT

[Aldurin]

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Not exactly challenging, but a really cool boss that fits the textbook guideline bosses, while getting a hype theme and cinematics.

[Sithdarth]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Shadow Of The Colossus yet.

Uhh...

The majority of enemies from Shadow of the Colossus. This game is nothing but boss fights, but most of those fights were amazingly atmospheric and epic-feeling. It did an amazing job of making you feel like you're the epitome of the underdog: You're a scrawny little dude with a bow and a sword, you can't do any major feats of strength aside from cling to a living mountain as it tries to squash you like a bug, and as the game goes on you realize you're totally screwed no matter what you do. MOST of the colossi are beautifully designed and have a degree of emotional weight and.. oddly enough... personality to them. For me, the only exceptions to this were the horse colossus and the one you fought in the geyser field; I rarely ever managed to get them to step in the right place to trigger the next part of the fight and that really took away from my enjoyment of the game. ....damn you, horse colossus.

You have actually been reading the thread, right?

[Seil]

I was concentrated more on Nightmare there. Because fuck Nightmare.

[Ramary]

does this mean Dark Souls' Bed of Chaos is a good boss? Because it essentially goes "fuck your shit, I hope you like getting thrown off pits because you weren't lucky" and "it'd be a shame if you landed directly on top of an insta-kill fire pillar which you have no time to dodge".

Bed of Choas was a terrible boss because of bad game design, Fafnir is a pretty good boss that became legendary because he could shoot you off the screen, never to be seen again. Plus insta-dying in magicka is pretty much the norm.

[Revising Ocelot]

Stop talking about Magicka bosses when the real enemy is that one guy trying to heal beam you while you do the steamy lightning beam, resulting in somebody's meaty chunks spraying across the room. Usually all 2-4 of you.


As for slightly less ludicrously gibby bosses, Vergil from DMC3 was a prime example. They even throw in another villain who, being the poser he is, cannot muster himself to fight you in a form greater than some stupid blob monster to try and trick the player that the game went to shit at the last moment but nope, the final fight is indeed a challenging one on one between two people with ridiculous swords at the mouth of hell. Probably very anime, but I don't watch the stuff. It's unhealthy for you.

[mauve]

I was concentrated more on Nightmare there. Because fuck Nightmare.

This is an acceptable answer.

[Amake]

I never even unlocked five or six of Nightmare's fourteen paragraphs of Bestiary text. (Probably because I could never get past level 4 on any difficulty beyond Normal.) In a perverse way I like a boss that has such a complex moveset you can fight it like twelve times before you see everything it can do to you.

Although that brings me to another great boss, M Bison in Street Fighter 2. I just went over his moveset in my head and unless I forgot something he has exactly eight attacks. (Punch, kick, jump kick, glide kick, scissor kick, throw, head stomp, psycho crusher.) In his case it's glorious in its stark simplicity; other, lesser characters have 30 basic attacks of varying speed and strength in various positions, but Bison's punch is both quick and fierce, so he just needs one.

How many hours have you spent cowering in the corner under his relentless barrage of scissor kicks, knowing that any slip will get you pounded into unconsciousness and at least halfway to death, knowing that at any moment he'll stop kicking and instead walk up and throw you unless you have the guts to take one of the small openings he might leave? It's a buttload of hours for me.

So many cries of frustration, so many continues, until his patterns become ingrained in your marrow and you learn the counters and how to manipulate him into leaving himself open and even then, when you can take him apart in your sleep, you can slip up once and have your ass handed to you in five seconds flat and lose out on the ultimate victory. Spoiler: If you beat the game at the highest difficulty without losing a match, your reward is that the credits take place on the boss stages instead of regular stages, and the victory screen has blue background instead of black.

[mauve]

The Kitsune in Okami OH MAN I FORGOT ABOUT THE KITSUNE! That was an awessome boss fight! And you're right; it was super cool to have to fight a boss that could attack you by using the Celestial Brush at the same time you did. It did a great job of shaking up the gameplay mid-game, taking away those mements where you've trained yourself to assume everything freezes while you draw.

The Strider battle at the end of Half Life 2 Episode 1. It's just one Strider. One goofy looking Strider. But you're woefully unarmed, trapped in a train station terminal trying to dodge its attacks and get to a rocket launcher on thhe platform above you, cowering behind shipping crates as you work up the courage to dart out and hoe youu dodge the doomlasers that are constantlyrattling the shipping containers around you as you hide.A good, atmospheric fight, if a bit disappointing as a final boss.

Let's just go ahead and lump the first few Hunter encounters and the Overseer In A Barn scene/fight from HL2 Ep 2 in there too. Super fun, great setup and a real cinematic feel.

[Locke cole]

Oh yeah, I loved the fight with Nine Tails. I especially loved the introduction to it.

"Well, I've reached the top of Oni Island, and I've got ll but one of the Brush Techniques. Oh, and there's one final constellation! I'll get the last spell and use it to take out that evil fox. Wait... something's a bit strange here. Why are the stars sort of red? Why is the music diff-oh crap! The constellation's a fox!"

Oh, and on Monster Island bosses, I gotta put in a vote for the Ceadeus. There was so much buildup to it, especially after you find that the Lagiacrus, a similarly well-build monster, isn't behind the earthquakes. Buildup aside, it's just amazing in terms of amosphere. The damn thing is bigger than your base camp. He spends the time swimming to its lair completely unnoticing you, and harming you simply by the motion of its swimming. And then you get to its actual lair, and it gets angry. Best underwater fight in the game. The only thing tthat really compares is the full version of the Jhen Mohran fight.

Oh, and the music!

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[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

Kefka.

'Nuff said.

[Ramary]

AW MAN HOW THE HELL DID I FORGET ABOUT UGH ZAN
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[Locke cole]

The setup of FFVI's final fight is pretty great. the multi-tier fight, complete with some hardcore blasphemy, and an amazing four-movement boss theme.

[Revising Ocelot]

Searching my memories, Metroid Prime 1 + 2 had some amazing bosses. Dunno about Prime 3 since I never had and probably never will have a Wii. But the Primes had particularly unique bosses, and especially grueling ones were you to play on Hard mode.

F'instance, the Omega Pirate in MP1 was a bit of a pansy on normal mode, but Hard mode has the added side benefit of the long trek through the Phazon Mines towards him being particularly taxing, and the fight is approximately -three- times as hard since you won't be able to finish off all the Beam O' Pirates before he starts recharging his armour, the only time when he's vulnerable. And the music! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDlpaK4ScJw)
Meta Ridley was a bastard on either difficulty, and unlike Ridley in other games you couldn't just zerg him down with massive firepower, especially after he gets grounded and spends the time charging at you with tiny windows of opportunity to attack his weak point.

Prime 2, rather hilariously, had a minor boss - Boost Guardian - being incredibly fiendish, because you fight him in an arena where your health is constantly dropping with limited recovery, and he spends most of the time using your Boost Ball upgrade to pinball around the area at top speed. Spider Guardian was a particularly special puzzle boss, although apparently I got off lightly with the PAL version as the camera angles were screwed up on NTSC. And just about every major boss, particularly the Grub-That-Becomes-A-Giant-Moth-Whose-Name-I-Can't-Remember and the Emperor Ing usually were 30 minute marathons.

[Ramary]

Prime 3 had an early fight with Meta Ridley where you were both falling down a shaft the whole time.
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Final Dark Samus fight was pretty good too.

[Azisien]

I know I'm an asshole for liking FF7, but in my youth fighting Sephiroth for the first time was pretty intense. Turns out he wasn't all that powerful given the amount of grinding I had done, but that didn't mean I had pants without shit in them after he used Pale Horse and Super Nova one after the other.

GLaDOS and Wheatley were both excellent experiences.

What this thread has really done is make me think about how frequent game bosses are NOT great. How more often than not, they are actually irritating and un-fun interruptions from otherwise enjoyable gameplay.

[Ramary]

I know I'm an asshole for liking FF7,

Asshole (not really)

but that didn't mean I had pants without shit in them after he used Pale Horse and Super Nova one after the other.

Super Nova spam made me hate the fight personally. (did not help that I did not like the character as a villain too, he was kinda bleh, and he overshadow a lot of the better antagonists in the game)

[Arcanum]

The Overmind in Starcraft. The final level has you controlling both Tassadar's and Raynor's forces (on opposite sides of the map so your bases have to fend for themselves), you get access to the Hyperion (Raynor's Battlecruiser), Gantrithor (Tassadar's Carrier), Zeratul, and a bunch of Dark Templars (you couldn't build DTs until the expansion). And to top it all off the Overmind is killed by Tassadar super-charging his Carrier with psionic energy before ramming it into the Overmind, sacrificing himself to kill it for good. Sure that last part only happens in a cinematic, but it's still awesome.

Gonna reiterate Shadow of the Colossus, but there were two specific colossi that I will forever love more than the other fights and that's both flying colossi. First, the bird, that you need to taunt into diving at you so you can jump onto it. It's probably one of the easiest fights in the game, since you're just running around on its back and you don't really need to worry about your stamina, but the fight is so damn thrilling with how fast the bird is flying around.

The second flier is the desert snake, and that one is great because you're chasing after it on Agro not only to shoot it out of the sky, but to close the distance so you can climb onto it. Plus, again, you're flying around and I always felt exhilarated during those fights.

While the Kitsune boss fight in Okami was great, my favorite is the Clockwork Owls (Lechku and Nechku) because you end up fighting alongside Shiranui (aka you from 100 years ago) in the first encounter. And just like in the Kitsune fight, using your Celestial Brush lets Shiranui use her's as well, resulting in extremely powerful brush techniques. Then when you fight them both you partner up with Oki, which is also pretty great.

The Flamelurker from Demon's Souls also holds a special place in my heart. Every boss I fought before him had a nice trick to help you beat them (throw firebombs at Phalanx, hide in a certain spot to avoid the brunt of Armored Spider's attacks, Adjuticator was a punk, so was Leechmonger, and I fought Flamelurker before the Tower Knight because I didn't want to try running past the dragon bombarding the bridge in 1-2) but Flamelurker you had to actually fight head on. And he was fast, and hit like a freaking brick, and the first time I fought him I didn't have the Int to use the spell to reduce fire damage. It took me several tries with two helping phantoms, and still when I finally killed him it was by the skin of my teeth.

And finally, Poseidon from God of War 3 for the sole reason of the QTE at the end of the fight. xEQc8n-844k

[greed]

It's a new inclusion but Senator Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising had me getting up and cheering when I got to the end, I haven't had that much fun fighting a boss in well ever. I was grinning like an idiot and occaisionally cheering the whole fight, even though I died like 20 times.


NANOMACHINES SON

[Arcanum]

It's a new inclusion but Senator Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising had me getting up and cheering when I got to the end, I haven't had that much fun fighting a boss in well ever. I was grinning like an idiot and occaisionally cheering the whole fight, even though I died like 20 times.


NANOMACHINES SON

In addition to that boss fight being just pure awesome, the fact that he was basically Greed from Full Metal Alchemist made it even more awesome. I was tempted to include it in my post, but felt talking about it would be too spoilery considering how new the game is.

And I also died 10-20 times on that fight. Wasted all of my repair pastes in the first phase, so when I got to the 1v1 in the crater I had to survive on a single life bar until I sliced apart the scrap he throws at you (which killed me the first time I got to that part because I wasn't expecting a four square precision slash).

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Gonna reiterate Shadow of the Colossus, but there were two specific colossi that I will forever love more than the other fights and that's both flying colossi. First, the bird, that you need to taunt into diving at you so you can jump onto it. It's probably one of the easiest fights in the game, since you're just running around on its back and you don't really need to worry about your stamina, but the fight is so damn thrilling with how fast the bird is flying around.

The second flier is the desert snake, and that one is great because you're chasing after it on Agro not only to shoot it out of the sky, but to close the distance so you can climb onto it. Plus, again, you're flying around and I always felt exhilarated during those fights.


And finally, Poseidon from God of War 3 for the sole reason of the QTE at the end of the fight. xEQc8n-844k

Agreeing with all of the above. Avion and Phalanx are awesome collosi (Avion being my favourite in the whole game). I fired an arrow at Avion on a whim to see what would ahppen, then he started swooping towards me. I had about 1 second before I realised exactly what I was supposed to do, jumped at the last moment, grabbed hold, and then that music starts as you're left clinging on to the beast for dear life. So epic.

And Poseiden, well. That entire section put all other game openings to shame.


Another favourite of mine, going back to MGS; Crying Wolf. A friend and I were playing that section through together and we got a bit stuck on this boss. It took us about 30 minutes before my friend noticed something odd about the battle; the wind kept changing direction. Then we realised, she could smell our location. Kojima is a magnificent bastard.

Of course, an hour later the entire thing was overshadowed by the whole REX vs RAY fight, which I'd been waiting 10 years to play. I was not dissapointed.

[Arcanum]

Another favourite of mine, going back to MGS; Crying Wolf. A friend and I were playing that section through together and we got a bit stuck on this boss. It took us about 30 minutes before my friend noticed something odd about the battle; the wind kept changing direction. Then we realised, she could smell our location. Kojima is a magnificent bastard.

I was actually very disappointed with that fight. After getting the impression that the Frogs would spawn endlessly, I hid under the APC near the area's entrance and waited for a chance to see CW wandering by so I could catch her by surprise. When she did I popped out and after getting some shots off I retreated back to the APC where I learned her rail gun couldn't hit me while I was under it. So now that boss fight is just a waiting game while I sit under that APC with a sniper out, waiting to see CW stroll by in the distance so I can shoot her to alert her to my position so she pops out to use her rail gun, allowing me to snipe her in the face.

The Raging Raven fight was also a huge disappointment, especially after how awesome the Laughing Octopus fight was.

Actually gonna add that one to the list. Playing hide and seek with Laughing Octopus was amazing.

[Locke cole]

Oh, I forgot Xenoblade.

I'd say that my favorie boss fight (in normal gameplay. I haven't yet reached the superbosses) is a toss up between the two endgame bosses: Disciple Dickson, or Zanza.

The story buildup is just amazing, before even getting to how much I love the way the game plays.

[phil_]

Oh, I forgot Xenoblade.See, I've been wanting to say Xenoblade, but the story bosses in that were really underwhelming, including and especially the final few (really, anything after Metal Face). This is entirely my fault, because I went around killing the much more difficult named monsters (and doing every other side-quest), leaving me so over-leveled that I could probably have just auto-attacked and healed a little and I'd win those fights. I'm considering a "no side-quest" run, just to see how hard it'd be with no extra equipment or levels.

Still never killed those T-rex things, though not for lack of trying. I think that says something good about that fight, given that I'd gain nothing from winning it, yet I still repeatedly threw my dudes at it.

[Bells]

on that note, i have to say that Arc Rise Fantasia had some really fun boss battles too, its mostly due to the Gameplay itself though... and the optional Bosses are truly challenging, but the story bosses are not really push overs (until you find the optimal strategy/combo).

On that SAME note, the same applies to Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatosk , but that game has fun bosses more on the Theme and Ambiance department than on the gameplay department itself.

[shiney]

I enjoyed fighting Dagran in The Last Story. That game had a lot of fun (if cliché) storyline and events and it was thoroughly entertaining. *nods with certainty*

[Azisien]

I completely forgot. The best boss battle ever was Lucien from Fable 2.

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