Your favorite Boss Fight

[Arslan Aladeen]

Not necessarily my favorite, but I was playing God Hand for the first time and a friend was over, when I got to a cutscene. A bus came by, stopped, and when it left, a gorilla wearing wrestling spandex was reading a newspaper on the bus bench. The main character Gene walks up to him and asks "Hey wait, you're not a human, are you?" Which the gorilla replies with a grunt and waving his hands to indicate that he is indeed not a human. As the boss fight starts, one of the silliest beat em up fight songs starts playing and I'm pretty sure he got in a few good hits cause I was too busy laughing.

Favorite boss fights probably include final fight with Vergil in DMC3 and the sniper battle with The End in MGS3.

 

[Joey Bolzenius]

Alma in Ninja Gaiden.

 

[searron]

I'm gonna pretty much agree, with a few of the above, and say choose an encounter from dark/demons souls. Favorite though is the yellow king in demons souls with a player that fights fairly.

 

[Kinitawowi]

Magus from Chrono Trigger. Quite exquisite pacing from the game leading up to the great climactic battle - and one of the first in the game that needs actual proper planning and strategy... before you realise that you're barely a third of the way through the game.

Mecha Hitler from Wolfenstein 3D, just because.

GH3's Lou battle set to The Devil Went Down To Georgia would have been perfect if not for some careless censoring.

It would have to be the chapter 7 boss in Bayonetta.

Mainly because it was pretty crazy and everything that happened before and after the fight was just balls to the wall nuts and I laughed the whole time. I mean, the whole thing was ridiculous. I could name a bunch of other boss fights from that game too that are pretty memorable and awesome, and not to mention crazy, but that one was my favorite.

I still can't figure out what's going on during the Temperantia fight, so it slightly loses something for me. Chapter 4 (Fortitudo) is an awesome boss, though; that's the moment when the game went from "cool but eh" to "holy shit", for me. The funniest boss turned out to be Yami Golem, in Chapter 9; the setup for the smash to the moon from Hecatocheir that pathetically misses before the six arms just give up and punch the fuck out of it.

Also Jubileus, because you punch its soul out of it's body AND INTO THE FUCKING SUN.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

It would have to be the chapter 7 boss in Bayonetta.

Mainly because it was pretty crazy and everything that happened before and after the fight was just balls to the wall nuts and I laughed the whole time. I mean, the whole thing was ridiculous. I could name a bunch of other boss fights from that game too that are pretty memorable and awesome, and not to mention crazy, but that one was my favorite.

I still can't figure out what's going on during the Temperantia fight, so it slightly loses something for me. Chapter 4 (Fortitudo) is an awesome boss, though; that's the moment when the game went from "cool but eh" to "holy shit", for me. The funniest boss turned out to be Yami Golem, in Chapter 9; the setup for the smash to the moon from Hecatocheir that pathetically misses before the six arms just give up and punch the fuck out of it.

Also Jubileus, because you punch its soul out of it's body AND INTO THE FUCKING SUN.

That game has a ton of great bosses, and I agree about Chapter 4. I mean, I was already enjoying the game and some of the tongue in check humor was amusing to me, but then that boss happened. It was love from there. I think the reason I love Chapter 7's boss is because of the before and after cutscenes, so ridiculous and awesome.

The final boss is one of my favorite final boss battles. I mean, it's really hard and I died more times than I'd care to admit, but that made me laugh pretty hard. Although, it was short lived because of guiding said boss into sun since that was a little frustrating.

 

[JagermanXcell]

-Ornstien and Smough.
First time playing it only took me 5 tries to beat them but wanting to beat them with their glorious theme in the background kept me super pumped. The feels on that last hit on Super Orns... the shiny armor you get as a reward from Domhnall... yeah... sweet memories.

-Vergil from DMC3, specifically the 2nd fight because of the rad music. That and fighting him with Beowulf and Royal Guard turns me on is incredibly satisfying.

-The End from MGS3. Why, because we'll probably never get another boss like him. ;_:7 And because even in death he can smack you with a wheelchair wheel.

-And most recently Senator Armstrong. Everything about his boss fight is perfect. Perfect music, perfect high level of difficulty, perfect satirical riff on Metal Gear as a whole, perfect, perfect, perfect.

 

[Blacklight28]

The Colossi from Shadow of the Colossus. Particularly the first flying one (number 5). That was an intense feeling, clinging for dear life to its body and trying to work my way to its weak points as it soared hundreds of feet of the ground.

 

[shogunblade]

I don't know if he's my favourite, but the Mendez fight in Resident Evil 4 always fills me with delightful dread. And I'm talking about the initial run, not New Game+.

You only have your handgun, shotgun, and rifle, none of which are particularly strong or effective at that point. And then you get locked in a small space with a 12-foot tall monster man. *shudder* It's a rare feat for a game to give me dark butterflies in my stomach.

The music is absolutely terrifying, more so than the fight itself sometimes, although the vibes I get of The Thing with the long tendrils within Mendez's Abdomen are enough to make me quiver in disgust. It's a great fight.

For me:

I'll get the Queen fight in Ico, the T-Rex fights in King Kong and the Giygas fight in Earthbound out of the way. All three provoke deep emotional responses from me, and also seem to be the ones that bother me the most, but they are all quite memorable.

 

[suitepee7]

vergil in DMC3, probably the 2nd time with his beowolf gauntlets.
close second is bayonetta, the boss with loads of tentacles that you run up
salazar in RE4, providing you dont use a rocket launcher
also mendez from RE4, confined spaces vs a melee boss are always fun xD
Jubileus from bayonetta follows, because it's really impressive, but not quite as fun as some of the others imo
bulletstorm plant boss, really enjoyed it (and it really sucked it was the only boss fight in the game -_-)

 

[mindfaQ]

GLaDOS from Portal, never had such an enjoyable time beating a boss. Her lines and the cores are just too good.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

They've already been mentioned in this thread, but The End from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Vergil from Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening are both up there with some of my favourite boss fights. The End's is just unique as well as an enormous amount of fun, while all three of the fights against Vergil are frantic and frankly, awesome.

Other favourite fights I can think of are definitely

Spoiler: Metal Gear Solid 3 spoilers

The final fight against The Boss is a wonderful fight. Emotional, tense and heart-breakingly beautiful, especially when you finally kill her.

Spoiler: Kingdom Hearts II spoilers

The final fight against Xemnas is also one of my favourites. The run up to it is rather long but still pretty fun but the last round is where it shines. The fact that it's Sora and Riku alone vs Xemnas is cool enough, but the sequence where you take control of Riku ranks up there in my favourite set-pieces and that final attack is just... wow.

On top of those two, Sephiroth from Kingdom Hearts II is a fantastic boss fight - fast-paced, difficult and suitably epic and Red in Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver. As far as bonus bosses go, he's probably my favourite and I still have glorious memories of playing Gold well into the night trying to beat him.

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

In Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, there are quite a few memorable boss fights that I often go back and play the whole level again just to experience once more. Metal Gear RAY (UG), Sundowner, and of course, Senator Armstrong. Monsoon can screw right off though, doing that fight without taking damage was an absolute *****.

Banjo-Kazooie had that climactic final battle against Gruntilda at the top of her tower, and with the music playing the way it was, it really made the moment seem awesome. You had gone through all of her shit after so many hours and final had the chance to take her down once and for all. I may be a bit biased with Banjo-Kazooie, but screw it, it's still one of my favorite boss fights. Most of the stage bosses in Banjo-Tooie are incredible in their own right, as well.

Call me out on this last one if you like, but I felt that the Human-Reaper in Mass Effect 2 was a really fun boss fight. When you get right down to it, you are basically fighting a giant Terminator that shoots laser beams. With handguns. Couple that with the music that was playing throughout the suicide mission, and you have one of the most memorable experiences out of the entire franchise. I loved it.

I'm sure I could think of more, but these are what I came up with off the top of my head.

 

[babinro]

Flemmeth from Dragon Age: Origins
This acts as a memorable boss fight more than anything else because of my investment in the game and how challenging it was the first time I fought her. It was also the first time I saw the fighter based dragon execution which was epic!

I can't think of much else. I tend to enjoy boss build-ups far more than I do boss battles. The ultimate boss build-up game for me has always been Resident Evil 4. Highlighted by the build up to Salazar. The arrogant pipsqueak who gets the best of you, torments you, and then gradually suffers as he realizes you are more than a match for him. The knife throwing cinematic in particular made me cheer.

Historically speaking, I considered Boss battles to be a chore. It can be rewarding to finally best a tough boss but it's seldom worth the effort and frustration (especially back in the NES/SNES days. I consider the best bosses in general to be those of the Zelda franchise. Mini puzzles that are fun to figure out but are seldom challenging to execute.

 

[DragonV2.0]

Razor beard in Rayman 2

you are fighting in a flying pirate ship against a robot pirate captain who is in a mech, suspended above lava as you ride a sentient rocket and force the mech into the lava...

wasn't that hard but man that is one fight i wont forget especially the run up to razorbeard on the aforementioned sentient rocket was great

also Hades from Kid Icarus uprising, because he is well... hades

 

[aozgolo]

My favorite would have to be Smithy from Super Mario RPG, I can think of plenty that were cooler, more difficult, more dynamic, etc. but the entire presentation of this boss made him truly feel like the ultimate baddie. Right from the get go you're left wondering what this Smithy character looks like. I even wondered if maybe the sword in Bowser's castle was Smithy, but even upon defeating him you fight through a huge factory, at the end of which you fight a succession of 5 bosses in a row before even coming face to face with Smithy himself, who can deliver quite the pounding to your Plumber and his merry band if you're not careful... I just can't wipe it out of my mind.


Most frustrating boss would be Solidus Snake from MGS2, I don't know how many times I died and had to wipe off my sweaty palms before I finally nailed this guy only to be given the biggest WTF? ending ever...


The most disappointing final boss? Well I'd have to say Fallout 3 (without Broken Steel), whether you consider President Eden or the Colonel the final boss, both are just as easily dispatched.

To be quite honest, I'd have to say Bethesda has a track record for building up a great villain only to have their boss battle be very disappointing, Dagoth Ur I recall being the only one to give me much of a challenge, mostly due to the clumsy combat mechanics of that game.

 

[crazygameguy4ever]

the multi-part boss battle in Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 against masked fake Madera/Obito Uchiha and most of the tailed beasts. That fight was long and difficult but I felt really proud that i beat it... definitely one i'll never forget. The boss battle against Solomon Grundy in Batman Arkham City was pretty good too.. definitely wasn't expecting such a strange battle but it was a lot of fun and was right up there with the boss battle against Mr. Freeze in terms of being enjoyably.

 

[fezgod]

Toss up between the Mr. Freeze boss fight in Arkham City and the Rebel flagship in FTL.

Mr. Freeze: The game wasn't just testing how well you knew the dodge button. You actually needed to seriously understand all the stealth takedowns in order to beat him, especially on higher difficulties.

Rebel flagship: Basically, if you didn't have the right equipment/upgrades you were pretty much boned.

 

[elvor0]

All from Metal Gear series. Sam(Rising), The Boss(Snake Eater) and Liquid Ocelot(4).

All reasonably simplistic, yet fantastically executed and intense. Even the fucking awful controls in the Liquid Ocelot fight are made up for by everything leading up to that moment, the music, the cutscene before it, the tension, the aftermath, beautiful.

 

[Grach]

Ridley from Super Metroid. Because he's fucking HARD. No stupid tricks like Draygon or an allergy to super missiles like Kraid and Phantoon. He takes everything like a champ, including power bombs. The music was also kickass:


Too bad Nintendo turned him into a screaming little ***** on Zero Mission and Fusion.

To be honest, there hasn't been a boss fight lately that was just you and your complete arsenal against a boss that was just as skilled as you. Just a good old punch up with someone that can beat you fairly.

Props also for the Kain/Raziel fight in Legacy of Kain: Defiance.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

How could I ever decide? XD I'll give you *one* of my favorites. Phosphora from Kid Icarus Uprising. The music is epic, the battlefield is simple yet looks really nice. Her herself, she's fast so the battle is constantly moving, her attacks keep you on your toes, and she has a good amount of health, so the fight lasts a good amount of time. Loved that fight <3