Best Boss Battle In A Game

[Melaisis]

MGS3 the End. I killed him by sneaking up on him and tranquilizing him with the mk22, I got the camo and his rifle, it was so satisfying.

True! Although I think all the possible variations of the demise of The End really makes it epic. I mean, you can kill him before you even dare to face him in battle, FFS! Or even make him die of old age, hah!

..what? He was so easy. You could use the hammer and he would just stand there and TAKE IT, over and over and over again. If he wasn't a mini-boss, he'd be the games by FAR easiest Adult Link boss.

I concur. Hammer superiority?

 

[ItsMelvin85]

I'd have to say the Bird Colossus from Shadow of the Colossus. Stabbing the wing tips and hanging on for dear life as it barrel rolls...awesome. I do have to throw out an honorable mention though for Kingdom Hearts II. The very last battle is fantastic, mainly for it's cinematic style when going into the action sequences.

 

[Omnidum]

The fight against the opera singer from Rayman 1.

 

[Strafe Mcgee]

I'd have to go with either Ninja Gaiden or DMC 3. I love the beat em up style of action and both games have bosses that are truly, truly hard. When you face a boss you shouldn't just be thinking "Okay, watch the pattern. Figure out weaknesses... Done." You should be thinking "Ohbuggerbuggerbuggerbugger...." whilst frantically trying to defeat an epic, truly difficult enemy.

Honourable mentions go to Sephiroth in FF7, Metal Gear in MGS1 and Dante in DMC4. Fighting against Dante is fantastic, though I wish I'd figured out how to use the sword's rev counter before that fight... He's TOUGH when you do it without it.

 

[ThaBenMan]

So many. Let's see...

The God of War games - the Hydra, Euryale, Theseus, the Fates, the Barbarian King, the Colossus

The Thorian in Mass Effect

All of Shadow of the Colossus

The Half-Life games - the giant tentacle monster, the giant blue thing, helicopters, gunships, striders

Okami - Wakka, The Spider, the Crimson King, Nine-Tails

Psychonauts - the lake monster, the bull, the brain tank

 

[Voltrox747]

This is a hard one, but I'm going to go with Mischief Makers. Specifically the first time you fight Lunar, Taurus, or Merco. I absolutely love the way Mischief Makers took a simple concept like grabbing enemies and made a platformer out of it that ended up being far more fun than the usual "run and shoot" formula. I chose these fights because I like the interactivity with the bosses. Rather than them being stunned for a while after a strong attack, you would generally have to grab them WHILE they're attacking and then throw them in the proper direction. This made it feel more like I was actually fighting them rather than just avoiding until they left themselves open. My favorite example of this is when Taurus throws a heavy punch at you, and there's a wall behind you, you can grab his fist when he punches and throw him toward the wall, making him stumble and crash into it. The only thing keeping me from saying these are the best boss fights of all time, period, is that they're just too easy. If they made a sequel to Mischief Makers that was actually hard I'd hail it as the best 2D platformer of all time.

 

[christhe1der]

Allright, for me the first thing that came into my head was something from one of the pikmin games... Wow, those games were amazing. A game where the sequel didn't murder the original. Thinking about it though, the best boss from either game was probably battling Louee in the bottom of that last cave, with the giant metal spider that made you use all of the different pikmins.... Classic.

 

[ThaBenMan]

Ooh, JcDent, you reminded me when you mentioned dragons -

The dragons in Baldur's Gate II and Neverwinter Nights were awesome bosses too. If I remember correctly, the red dragon and shadow dragon in BG were optional, but really satisfying to kill, and then there was the black dragon you had to kill for the storyline later. So awesome.

 

[Duck Sandwich]

Dr. Wily - Mega Man 7

'Nuff said.

 

[whatabout_paul]

I still think back to Sonic 2 and the last bosses in that. Fighting the first iteration of a Metal Sonic with no rings then a GIANT Dr Robotnik robot was immense. My 8 year old self managed to hit the thing 8 times which was the magic number of times bosses had to be hit in Sonic games to kill them. I flung the controller down with glee having finally beaten the thing on my second or third go only to realise the unthinkable; the boss wasn?t dead and was about to stomp Sonic into the ground. Quickly I retrieved the controller from the floor and frantically tried to collect myself to finish off this demon. 4 hit?s later and it was dead. Annoyingly I?ve never had a boss moment that sticks in my mind more than that.

 

[the_tralfalmadorian]

pretty much all of the god of war and ninja gaiden bosses.

The fight with Calo Nord in Knights of the Old Republic will also always hold a special place in my heart.

 

[irishdelinquent]

..what? He was so easy. You could use the hammer and he would just stand there and TAKE IT, over and over and over again. If he wasn't a mini-boss, he'd be the games by FAR easiest Adult Link boss.

Yes, I'll admit that Boss X is simple to beat when the hammer is used, but to me that wasn't the point of the thread. I thought this was a discussion about which boss battles we thought were the best. Best doesn't necessarily mean most difficult IMO. I always thought he was an awesome boss because he threw you off balance; you've gone through the other dungeons, fighting through massive bosses, only to come face-to-face and blade-to-blade with yourself. That battle always stuck out for me because it was different.

Also, he's easy to beat if you spam Din's Fire.

I concur. Hammer superiority?

lol yes, there is hammer superiority. Hence why it's called the banhammer and not the bansword

 

[GrimRox]

The final Vergil fight in DMC 3 is up there but for me there can only be one, and that is the tyrant in the original Resident Evil. I know it was hardly epic but I had the bare minimum equipment at this point in the game as it was my first full play through and when I got the rocket launcher my 1st shot missed. Whatever happened in the next 2 or 3 seconds seemed like an eternity. I really got a buzz out of it.

As for a sub boss, RE2's Mr X stalking you through the game was just epic. Far better than Nemesis!

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

God of War certainly has the most memorable boss fights and is right up there, but for me the best boss fight in terms of enjoyment was the first fight against Lord Doku in Ninja Gaiden. It was just a "no bullshit" sword on sword duel, dodging, parrying and slashing. Utterly brilliant.

 

[TomNook]

C'Thun from WoW.

 

[Kayevcee]

The giant red tornado/wind god from Serious Sam: The Second Encounter. There's armour, health and ammo all over the place, you're getting chucked around and hurled into the air by miniature hurricanes, enemies are spawning in in droves, there's missiles and debris and lasers going off everywhere, you can't trust your rocket and grenade launchers because the wind catches them and throws them off course, and while all this is going on you're trying to load 150,000 rounds into an ever-expanding sentient tornado about two hundred feet high that wants you dead. Fun.

-Nick

 

[Akatsuki_slave]

Spoiler

1). Dark Link (OoT)- He can match your sword skills blow-for-blow, and he strikes from nowhere. He's one of the hardest bosses I've ever faced. And he does count as a boss, since he is considered a sub-boss.

Seconded, but only if you fight him with the master sword. It's not just the fight itself, but the room you fight him in is gorgeous.

Thrided (is that a word? Oh well). That room and battle blew my mind. It was awesome. But I didn't find it that difficult. The boss in the Shadow Temple kicked my ass though.

My fave LoZ boss battle was the final battle w/ Ganon in Windwaker. Just b/c that final move is so cool.

And from Kingdom Hearts (bring the flames, I don't care!)

Spoiler

Sephiroth. Damn. That was hard but awesome. Who didn't want to fight him in real time? Come on! Admit it!

 

[Syrio Forel]

favs:
1.)The End (MGS3) Running in the woods from sniper bullets hiding from that old bastard for half an hour is very very fun and intense.
2.)Glados (Portal) REVENGE!
3.)The Fury (MGS3) Close corridors flamethrower battle.
4.)Darth Nihilus (KotOR 2)It's just a cool battle in a cool location.

I'm surprised more people didn't mention the bosses in the Metal Gear Solid series, as those are really fun and varied.