Your favourite boss in a video game

[The Harkinator]

The End, a simply excellent sniper battle set in a great location. The End is still the bottom line in intelligent opposition and the whole thing strikes the right balance between being a hunter (feeling like a competent soldier) and being hunted (facing a legendary enemy). The fact that you can go for minutes at a time without seeing The End helps the whole thing as the excitement isn't always ramped up to 11 and that makes the action moments feel all the stronger. There are times when you can actually pause and appreciate the area. Getting into Sokrovenno West and passing the Markhor grazing by the stream is a nice moment, then The End sets you in his sights and the hunt is on again.

 

[Lilikins]

hmm a few I guess...

Ornstein and Smough-Dark Souls
Simply for the fact that after trying..and trying..and trying(do that a few more times) and breaking one controller (he was at about 1 hit left...and my f'ing power went out because of a storm outside) I finally managed to kill Pikachu and Snorlax and I must admit it was one of the most amazing feelings in gaming Ive ever had.

Yogg Saron (no lights)- World of Warcraft (Wrath of the Lich King)
Ive no comment on that boss fight..at all. Anyone whos been there knows its like repeatedly smashing your face against a wall and hoping the wall breaks sooner or later. And then forming the raid team for it as a leader with the opening line of 'whos ready to get their arses handed to them in a basket and sent home'.

Bowser-Super Mario
Any Super Mario will do hehe, hes the most iconic and well known villain of the gaming world. He has a complexity with stealing peach over and over again..which should normally get him a restraining order for the rest of..eternity, but atleast in the last few games Ive played hes moved on after having his heart broken again and again and decided to steal stars or..do other stuff instead.

 

[Frankster]

*sees lists and tries to name a few different ones*

-Vegeta as the final "boss" in Yamcha's storyline in Budokai 3 was memorable for all sorts of reasons:
1) You had to work for it by playing his story "flawlessly" and finding all the dragon balls, which is actually hardest with Yamcha since he has like just 2 or 3 stages to find them all in.
2) It gives a very satisfying resolution and a bit of payback to what has to be one of the most screwed over characters in the whole of DBZ, both by its creator and its fans.
3) It had this catchy number as the fight song: 4) It's a tough fight to win, since you're playing with arguably the worst character in the game (see above point about being a totally screwed over character in all respects) against one of the strongest.

-Final boss of True Crimes: Streets of LA.
It's a mano to mano martial arts fight between you and some evil martial arts master set within a circle of fire, it's awesome:

-Final boss of Jade Empire.
-It's also a 1v1 martial arts fight, similar to the above right down to protagonist shouting out names of styles as he switched from one to the other.

Heh guess I've got a theme of sorts running: all of these choices are 1v1 martial arts fight with a funky theme in the background.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

Some have already been mentioned, but bear repeating.

Hades in God of War 3: Awesome music and setting, it had a ton of variety in the fight, it lasted just the right amount of time to feel really epic without feeling drawn out, and you got an awesome reward for beating him (the Claws of Hades).

The final showdown (Planescape: Torment) intriguing both because you discover who 'it' really is (I don't want to give anything away), and there are so many ways that this "fight" can take place. Phenomenal final scene to one of the best games ever made.

Ornstein and Smough (Dark Souls): Just a very well done boss fight. Has two very memorable and interesting looking antagonists with unique characteristics, requires strategy and patience, and is very tough but not impossible.

Diablo (Diablo 2): The setting was totally awesome (an unholy church that's literally in Hell) and the game did a great job of ratcheting up the tension by having you know that each switch you threw was bringing you closer to fighting Diablo. Then when you finally do, he awesome looking and tough as nails, a great fight.

 

[Spacemonkey430]

The final boss fight with Ganon at the end of Twilight Princess. Like five parts, tense swordplay, and lots of different styles of combat

 

[Michael Legault]

The End, a simply excellent sniper battle set in a great location. The End is still the bottom line in intelligent opposition and the whole thing strikes the right balance between being a hunter (feeling like a competent soldier) and being hunted (facing a legendary enemy). The fact that you can go for minutes at a time without seeing The End helps the whole thing as the excitement isn't always ramped up to 11 and that makes the action moments feel all the stronger. There are times when you can actually pause and appreciate the area. Getting into Sokrovenno West and passing the Markhor grazing by the stream is a nice moment, then The End sets you in his sights and the hunt is on again.

I love this fight so much I only sniped him out earlier in the game to fight the ocelot unit for the first time ever last month despite having pre-ordered the first version of mgs3, getting mgs3 subsistence and mgs3D and playing it at least once a year, I always feel sad after that fight as it's the last forested place you can play around in before the final runs through urban environments. Turned out the ocelot unit is rather fun to hunt, it's your turn to be the master of Sokrovenno.

That said The Pain is a fun fight too, laying poison and rotten food and punching him out while he vomits is strangely fun. It's nice to have multiple choices for taking down bosses.

 

[vid87]

I think I'll cheat a bit and say any boss that's considered a "minion" or "lieutenant" to the main villain, especially if they've been introduced before as a minor character with their own personalities - there's something so satisfying about taking on something strong enough to be dangerous and "striking them off the list" but knowing there's something bigger waiting. The RPG "Thousand Arms," Organization 13 from Kingdom Hearts, and usually the boss gauntlets from the Final Fantasy series.

 

[Storm Dragon]

My favorite boss fight would have to be Stallord in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. He's this giant skeletal dragon that you fight while surfing on a big top. The second phase of the fight is just awesome.

Honorable Mention: The second fight with Argath in Final Fantasy Tactics. I had already killed him way back in Chapter One, but then the demons bring him back from the dead in Chapter Four to fight me. I hated that arrogant, whiny bastard with a fierce passion, so when this happened, my reaction was "I get to kill him all over again with my now-absurdly overpowered team? Christmas came early!"

 

[RiseUp]

The end of Twilight Princess. Four boss fights in a row, back to back to back to back. It doesn't let up, and just before it starts to become monotonous, another stage of the fight begins.

Oh, and Koloktos from Skyward Sword. Few things are as fun as beating a giant ************ with his own swords.

I would mention Snorlax and Pikachu, but it seems like enough people have done it for me.

 

[Meximagician]

The duel with Axel Gear from Rocket Knight Adventures. I've got a real affinity for mirror bosses, which is Axel's first form. Plus, how many fights involve sword-fighting, rocket-jet-wearing, armor-clad opossums, ending with the loser tossed into the vacuum of space? Screw pirate-robot-ninjas, that fight alone has more hyphens than a Middle Eastern DMV.

 

[woodaba]

Oh, so, so many. Here's my shortlist.

Henry Cooldown from No More Heroes
Possessed!Riku from Kingdom Hearts
Unknown from Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix
Xemnas from Kingdom Hearts 2
Ultimecia from Final Fantasy VIII
Ganondorf from Twilight Princess
Vergil from Devil May Cry 3
The Demi-Fiend from Digital Devil Saga
The True Final Boss from Persona 4
Solidus Snake from Metal Gear Solid 2
Artorias the Abysswalker from Dark Souls
The Dragon God from Chrono Cross

 

[darkcalling]

Optimus Prime/Megatron at the end of Fall of Cybertron. Epic sword duel between two of my favorite characters ever.
The Black Knight in Castlevania:Lords of Shadow. Maybe the saddest boss fight I've played.
Mathias at the end of the Tomb Raider reboot was probably the most satisfying QTE boss I can remember.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

I definitely would include a lot of the bosses from the MGS games. The End was probably my favourite, but I also liked Psycho Mantis, The Boss, Revolver Ocelot from MGS1, and Fatman!

I also loved some of the 'bosses' in the Ace Combat games. The superweapons and aircraft, and the Aces and squadrons were good fun. I liked how the squadrons used different tactics, and you had to change yours to suit... and flying through the vents, shafts and superstructures (that moved! All the embarrasing times I was destroyed by the recoil of Stonehenge! :/) was immense fun!

Hresvelgr and Gleipnir were also fun to fly around and shoot down! Great games!

 

[Hieronymusgoa]

Mass Effect 2 was quite a fun boss fight, indeed.

And again, Ornstein and Smough, loved the music, the fight, the whole setting was great and is one of my all time favorite boss fights.

FTL: When I was finally equipped enough and had the experience to finish the final three stages of the flagship I had a very intense fight. I think I might have had literally sweaty hands and even my heart was racing a bit. And winning against this big guy was as intense and rewarding as some Dark Souls fights.

 

[Kingjackl]

I love the Fury from Metal Gear Solid 3. He had a wicked design, and I loved the atmosphere of his fight. You could hear his clanking footsteps as he stalked you through the darkened tunnels, and then you'd hear his kick-ass flamethrower go off and shit bricks. Granted, he was pretty easy but that just meant you were free to experiment. I made a fun game of trying to beat him using only the shotgun, which felt like going over the top of the World War 1 trenches armed with only a pointed stick.

I can also list a few favourites:
Mr Freeze from Arkham City.
The final boss from Ace Combat Zero.
The final boss from Persona 3 (though I admit I always cheated myself out of fighting the last form thanks to Armageddon).
Jean Bison, Octavio and LeFwee from the Sly trilogy.
Zinyak from Saints Row IV, though mainly for the music. Y'all know what I'm talking about.
Surprisingly, the 14th Colossus from Shadow of the Colossus was pretty fun when he wasn't stunlocking you.

 

[draigan]

In my opinion the Metal Gear Solid series has had the best track record for boss fights of all time. Almost everyone throughout the franchises history has been unique, innovative, tons of fun, and wholly memorable.

However, if I had to choose one to take home the crown, it would have to be the Psycho Mantis fight. The totally meta way you have to beat him just blows my mind every time.

I don't know if it would be my favorite, so many to choose from but its definitely my most memorable

 

[AmberSword]

Wait I just noticed that in my first post I forgot Kefka... I FORGOT FRIGGIN KEFKA.
The mad god is my favourite boss of all time in the FF series, at the rate Square Enix (used to be Squaresoft) is going I doubt they're capable of doing anything to top that now.

Feast your ears.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Senator Arms-

First thing that comes to mind is Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising.

Seriously, probably one of the most adrenaline pumping fights in a game that pretty much defined what it meant to have awesome boss battles.

DAT SOUNDTRACK!

DAMNIT.


Okay I'm going to just go ahead and put Khamsin from the Bladewolf DLC because it's got my 2nd favorite track from the game and the finisher is awesome.

I AM A WIND OF DESTRUCTION!

 

[Glongpre]

Spoiler: skip to 8:24

The clone fights from Ninja Gaiden Black are my favourites. The ai is great, and it makes it a challenging fight without any kind of cheap attacks. The ninpo can be avoided, the shurikens can be avoided. It just comes down to your ninja skills.

Even in the video the guy used an exploit, but he made a couple mistakes and he was punished. Love that shit.

Spoiler: another one

The player isn't that good, but it was his first encounter. You can actually dodge the ninpo attack by a well timed roll.

Oh yea, and there is a clone that uses each weapon. So one with the dragon sword, one with flails, one with dabiloharu(or whatever), etc...

Spoiler: another, at 1:40

 

[duwenbasden]

>Your favourite boss in a video game

The Boss from The Third Street Saints. He/She's sarcastic psychotic and really have a different attitude towards the world. For good? For bad? Who knows.






Fine fine fine, Mr. House from New Vegas. If you let him live, he wins; if you kill him, the only pocket of the free world leaves with him. You lose either way.