Best Final Boss Fights

[Rabish Bini]

Mike Tyson from Mike Tyson's Punch Out!! for the NES.

I mean, to this day I still haven't beaten him, but goddamn do I have fun having my arse handed to me each time I try.

 

[FakeSympathy]

Gwyn, The Lord of Cinder
The final boss of Dark Souls is not a man with a evil mustache. Nor is he a villainous being plotting something evil. He is just a broken hero god who was once much more than what he has become. He is someone who was desperate enough to sacrifice everything to prolong the age of fire.

The Boss
Such an cinematic boss fight. At the end of MGS3, you fight your old mentor/someone Snake has cared so much for. You fight her one-on-one, with no one to interrupt the fight. After you defeat her, the ending shows why she betrayed her country(or should I say didn't betray her country), enough to make you feel like shit

Ganondorf
He is usually the final boss in every zelda game, whether in his human form or his beastly Ganon form. I had hard time choosing which incarnation i liked the best, so I just said "Oh what the hell?" and picked four. The first one is Demise, since he is considered the origin of the Ganondorf. The second version I liked was the Ocarina of time incarnation. The build up to the boss (Ganondorf theme on Organ FTW), the way he greets you, and the way he fights on in his beast form really was a great touch to the end of the game. The third version is the Wind Waker version. The music, the flooding Hyrule, Ganondorf's attacks, they all blend together very well. The last version I liked was Twilight Princess version, since this is also another kick=ass one-on-one sword fight.

 

[Hieronymusgoa]

I actually liked the final boss fight of Mass Effect 2 because the whole idea of this organic-fuelled monster robot was very terrifying and it had semijumpscares with a touch of Terminator 2.

 

[Glongpre]

I actually liked the final boss fight of Mass Effect 2 because the whole idea of this organic-fuelled monster robot was very terrifying and it had semijumpscares with a touch of Terminator 2.

I don't think it was the idea, but the execution. It being made to look like a human was a weird decision, because every other reaper is a squid.

But for sure, them using harvested humans as a resource is terrifying, and by extension, every reaper is made partly from other races they exterminated.

What would have been cool (just brainstorming), would be if they succeeded in making a reaper, and it manages to escape because at this point it would severely overpower a few soldiers on the ground (one reaper could take on a whole fleet of ships!). Then our villain of part 3 would have been this reaper made from humans, who is trying to fulfill the objective of the reapers that was laid out in the first game, and to try and create another portal for the reapers trapped in dark space, by tampering with some mass relays.

 

[Lufia Erim]

Hm... some made an impression on me early when I was easier to impress, and some are just plain good with a lot of different elements to them.

There's only one I can think of right now that fits both- the entire final battle of Final Fantasy 6. The barrage of deadly foes in the first three tiers have no names and don't need them, leading to a barrage of fan theories about what exactly Kefka's grotesque tower is, whether it's a reincarnation of the Warring Triad or a tribute to Dante's Inferno.

My personal favourite is the idea that each is a reflection of an aspect of Kefka's personality, with the tiers being reflections of Destruction (huge black titan with angry face), Madness (cluster of nude men and women in various poses and colours), and Godhood (male and female angels) respectively. I really like how giving each tier final attacks when they die powerful enough to likely kill at least one party member in retaliation (10 Hits, Calmness, multiple uses of Shockwave) makes use of the whole 'replacement party members' dealie and forces you to create a balanced team. Actually I wish those attacks were stronger.

Less ambiguous is the final tier, but no less grand. In a game with less broken combat options, a boss who spammed Fallen One (all HP to 1) and Hyperdrive (7000+ damage when you probably have about 4000) like that might be considered overpowered. Here, it feels fitting. Goner looks so impressive-looking that it's disappointing how little damage it does compared to everything else, but that's about the only complaint I can think of. Dancing Mad (all 15 minutes of it) is one of my all-time favourite game songs.

An operatic end to a great adventure.

Spot on. This is the one i came here to say. And your posts is better written than anything i would have come up with.

OT: My runner up is definitely Nyx from Persona 3. The music and atmosphere as well as this behemoth of a both all come together brilliantly. The atmosphere is one of despair. Not too long before the ending battle, he sits and has a chat with you, urging you to accept the fate of this broken world, that fighting is pointless and will bring on more pain than necessary. To just give up and appreciate your time left with your friends. If you agree the game ends, if you disagree you eventually fight him.

During the battle you are greeted with arguably one of the best final boss themes i have ever heard. Second only to " Dancing mad" from final fantasy 6, " the battle for everyones souls" is a treat to the ears. It sets the mood for a long and seemingly hopeless battle. If it's your first time facing him and you don't know what to expect, you will feel hopeless. As if he was unbeatable. You have to kill him 13 times. He will change arcana after every defeat changing his skills and resistances, so you need to be paying attention. If you had no idea this was coming, or you haven't leveled up sufficiently, you'll really feel like this is a hopeless battle. Add the fact that the game is know for it's difficulty, if your Main character dies it's game over and you have no control over your teammates ( i played the ps2 version). Makes this boss one of the most memorable bosses i have ever faced.

 

[Nehuen Laje]

Cave story is the best one so far

 

[Evonisia]

Gonna agree with Hawki on RAAM from "Gears of War". It always struck me as a how-to guide on making the final boss fight from "Halo 2" (Tartarus) perfect. I could gush for paragraph on paragraph at how much I think this boss fight works, and he's easily the best boss fight in the whole franchise.

Soul of Cinder ("Dark Souls III") and The Lich King ("Wrath of the Lich King", if we count final boss fights of expansions) stand out in my mind as well.

[small]Now, for worst boss fight ever, the Bed of Chaos! For it defies logic and becomes the final boss in all its hideousness.[/small]

 

[Mister K]

Quite a few good ones. Most of Platinum Games bosses, Keffka from Final Fanfasy VI, Jecht from Final Fantasy X (Yu Yevon for me is a post game boss, like Allant in Demon's Souls)... Can't remember them all.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The final boss in Okami. It's a complete non-character, and I don't even like the design, but the structure of the fight is such that you're tested on pretty much all 13 Celestial Brush techniques. So it has a very cathartic Final Exam vibe to it.

 

[MysticSlayer]

From a pure storytelling standpoint: The Dark Prince from Prince of Persia: The Two Towers. It's not really a fight, since there's no way to beat The Dark Prince in combat, and most of the stage is just simple platforming. However, in a sense of a final confrontation with the ultimate enemy of the series - the Prince's darker side that lusts for power and control - it was a fantastically told one.

From a pure gameplay standpoint: Ganondorf from Twilight Princess. It did a good job at testing all the major aspects of the game in a fight that felt justifiably massive.

Taking both together: The Vizier from The Two Towers. From a storytelling standpoint, it is the final fight with the series' most recognizable antagonist. From a gameplay standpoint, it was just a lot of fun and ended properly on a good platforming challenge. The still image of The Prince lunging for the Vizier right before killing him was also a great way to finally take him out once and for all.

Edit: Now I'm really in the mood to go back through and play The Sands of Time trilogy for the [embarrassed] time.

 

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

Another vote for Asura's Wrath. When god starts failing his own QTEs you feel awesome.

Yoshi's Island was amazing at the time. I'd been renting it for like 3 weeks constantly when I got to it and was blown away.

 

[Glongpre]

From a pure storytelling standpoint: The Dark Prince from Prince of Persia: The Two Towers. It's not really a fight, since there's no way to beat The Dark Prince in combat, and most of the stage is just simple platforming. However, in a sense of a final confrontation with the ultimate enemy of the series - the Prince's darker side that lusts for power and control - it was a fantastically told one.

Taking both together: The Vizier from The Two Towers. From a storytelling standpoint, it is the final fight with the series' most recognizable antagonist. From a gameplay standpoint, it was just a lot of fun and ended properly on a good platforming challenge. The still image of The Prince lunging for the Vizier right before killing him was also a great way to finally take him out once and for all.

This makes me want to finally finish the series. I got stuck on one part in Two Thrones, and it really pissed me off, so I stopped. The combat and the strict QTE takedowns were aggravating me.

That whole series is pretty darn great. Even Warrior Within was good, if a bit of a tonal and artistic departure, but I didn't mind the shift. It was rather fitting for the story.