Boss discussion thread.

This thread is for the discussion of bosses in games. What in your opinion makes a groundbreaking boss fight? Preferred time length of a boss fight? Also what what game series in your opinion has the best boss fights and what are your most memorable? For me I think God of War imo had some brilliant boss fights for example the first boss in GOW 3 and Zeus in number 2. Also I found that Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow for the DS had some brilliant boss fights, Master of puppets and the first boss who looked like he smashed through the wall (can't remember his name but found that very enjoyable as well). Let the discussion begin.

On a serious note, a few of the bosses from Rocket Knight Adventures come to mind, especially the bosses from stage two and stage six, being the more interesting and multi-faceted of the set (also, that evil train robot just looks crazy).

inb4 bullet hell

The bosses from parodius are awesome, very unique and imaginative :P
Another genesis/megadrive game that had great bosses, Gunstar Heroes, again very creative and pretty damn difficult.

inb4 bullet hell

Touh-- oh wait, nvm.

Espgaluda then?

BloodyAcid said:

Touh-- oh wait, nvm.

YES TOUHOU. Also the hell boss of the first game is my favorite:

Any Contra, Castlevania or Gradius game bosses are always enjoyable :)

Anyway if there was one video game franchise that has epic groundbreaking bosses are the Kingdom Hearts games.

Perfect example from the recent game Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance for the 3DS below.

Megalyth said:

inb4 bullet hell

no

Damn, I thought this was going to be a place to rant about the other kind of boss: power-tripping assholes and bitches most of us have had the displeasure of working under at some point.

DoomUK said:

Damn, I thought this was going to be a place to rant about the other kind of boss: power-tripping assholes and bitches most of us have had the displeasure of working under at some point.

Well, in this thread we can discuss anything good or bad about bosses how one's could've been improved etc. I forgot to make that part of the topic.

Dragon Slayer Ornstein & Executioner Smough in Dark Souls can be a very unforgiving boss fight. You have to fight both at once and each has attacks that can take more then half of you health or out right kill you. I was stuck on these two for a couple days. I'll admit when it beat them it came down to dumb luck.

Jodwin said:

no

You were the one I was expecting, actually. :) Only a joke, I like a lot of bullet hell games myself.

Does Shadow of the Colossus count? Every enemy is a boss, pretty much. I especially liked Colossus number 13, Phalanx.

Megalyth said:

You were the one I was expecting, actually. :) Only a joke, I like a lot of bullet hell games myself.

Does Shadow of the Colossus count? Every enemy is a boss, pretty much. I especially liked Colossus number 13, Phalanx.

Any game. I never actually played SOC I've been meaning to play it I remember reading about it in Games Master years ago, it sounded really good.

I love this fight, particularly the second form where you have to grapple around the arena:

Fun fact: The game's text files list two more forms for this thing. I'm probably one of the few players who would be happy if it went on even longer.

The great god imp.

Nah lemme think...while I can't think of many in particular, here's one...

Satan: In The Binding of Isaac, Satan is the final boss of Sheol (the other being ???), and just exudes this aura of ultimate badass. Well, he is the incarnate of all that is evil, so it's to be expected. He takes the statue of himself in the room, possesses it, grows humongous then begins to smash you to a bloody pulp with his massive goat legs.

Despite only being a mini-boss, this is still one of my faves

I also gotta say I liked the Alastor battle in Painkiller. I have to rack my brain for a little bit to remember other memorable bosses or boss fights.

EDIT: Ohh, I almost forgot about Nightmare!



In this fight you just need to get the gist of what steps it takes to kill it, at which point it becomes straightforward. However there's a second time you fight the Nightmare where it's substantially harder and takes longer to kill. I've always liked the way this boss was designed.