Boss battles are very hit and miss. A rubbish boss fight is the bane of every gamer, and usually end up being either frustrating or just downright boring.
A great boss fight however can send a game soaring to the highest echelon of gaming brilliance. Here are five of our favourites bosses that we love to lay the smack down on...
As always let us know your personal favourites in the comments below.
The End - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Don't be fooled though, The End was a veteran of countless wars between his birth in the 1860s up until his fight with Snake in 1964. He was considered the world's greatest sniper and dubbed "The father of modern sniping" since developing a number of sniping techniques. He never required a spotter and he could lay in wait for days and even weeks at a time without food or water. The End possessed the unnatural ability to photosynthesise, presumably after his mum got off with a hedge.
So you can probably gather already that this wasn't your typical boss fight of 'shoot until it keels over and dies'/'shoot the glowing weak spots until it dies'/'dodge then shoot it in the back until it dies'. No, this was a pure man on man (or Snake on old man dressed as a hedge) duel to the death. You might have the fastest trigger finger but that wouldn't mean jack if you couldn't scout out the sniper to begin with.
What made this boss fight great was just the sheer wealth of ways to play it out. The first move was to actually locate The End, and this could be achieved by simply looking around for the glint of his rifle or using the binoculars to try and spot him amongst the grass; or by pulling out the directional microphone and if pointed in the correct direction, you would hear The End breathing.
You could just search each of the three areas in which the fight took place as well - and if you were good enough - you could sneak up behind The End in his hiding spot and place a few slugs in his noggin, though the old man was always quick to drop a flash grenade a leg it away from Snake to a different hiding spot. You could also kill The End's parrot, which would give him a harder time locating you, but it would make him fight more aggressively.
Possibly the best thing about this boss fight though is that it didn't have to take place at all. It was possible to snipe him at an earlier point in the game and have his boss fight replaced by a load of guards in the battle area. Also, using the PS2s internal clock, players could save the game during the fight and load it up a week later to find that The End had died of old age. Genius.
Comments
39 comments so far...
jim2wheels on 27 Jan '12 said:
No love for the Deus Ex boss fights? Surprising...
TheLastDodo on 27 Jan '12 said:
I don't believe the Freeze boss fight should be in this list.
The game tells you exactly how to beat him, it shows you all the ways to take him down, hardly a challenge, it's just different to the other AC bosses.
danfwarren on 27 Jan '12 said:
Puffy from Nights into Dreams, (including the version with sonic and dr robotnic)
Atolm in Panzer Draggon Saga was brilliant, but so were many of the bosses in that game
MrPirtniw on 27 Jan '12 said:
Alma from Ninja Gaiden. Utter, utter b!tch on Master Ninja mode (from what I remember)- especially as at the time I had limited health items. Taking her down was one of gamings most satisfying moments- I literally high fived the ceiling. She was tough, but Ryu's agility meant that you stood a slight chance as long as you concentrated and kept moving. Loved the challenge.
Good call on Panzer Dragoon, too!
KK-Headcharge78 on 27 Jan '12 said:
I remember that Shinobi fight and thinking Spiderman WTF and then Batman WTdoubleF!
Other faves were Bowser at the end of SuperMarioLand, Vulcan Raven in the PSOne MGS, the berzerker scraps in Gears 1 and the dude at the end of RoboCod who's name I forget.
koimaster on 27 Jan '12 said:
mr freeze? seriously?
Samildanach on 27 Jan '12 said:
Thats a pretty good list, though I think I'd have the Maiden Astraea/Garl Vinland fight from Demon's Souls instead of Mr.Freeze.
Barry316 on 27 Jan '12 said:
The last boss fight in Yakuza 4. It's four great fights in one.
brookie_2001 on 27 Jan '12 said:
Yeah the Mr Freeze one is debatable.
An underrated boss fight i find is the T-Rex in The Lost Valley from the original Tomb Raider (They ruined it in Anniversary), first time i actually got a little scared in a game. The camera shakes and then out of the darkness this huge T-Rex comes running towards you.
wrightandrewjame on 27 Jan '12 said:
CVG on the Psycho Mantis fight:
"You actually couldn't beat him until you unplugged your controller and plugged it in to the second port. Mantis couldn't read your moves when you did that, so it was then possible to defeat him."
Lies. You could beat him without switching your controller. I did it. You can't shoot him, but you can still attack him. It's a lot harder (of course) but you could land a single punch on him then just lie down to avoid his attacks and rinse and repeat until he goes down. It took ages but I did it. Doesn't change what he says, he still thinks you cheated but I consider it a great victory over him.
MagicBoughie24 on 27 Jan '12 said:
You could make The End surrender as well and get his camouflage if you managed to sneak up behind him and draw your gun at his head twice.
skabone on 27 Jan '12 said:
aaaaaaa,,,super shinobi - this game does not get enough love......i still remember the cheat for infinite shuriken. Think I remember all the secret boxes on the first level as well....
I thought the freeze battle was excellent, deserves a place in the top 10 at least.
Surprised not to see R-type in here tho - seems we forget those oldies.
What about longest boss fights ever? I think it took me like 2 hours to beat sephiroth in FFVII (or was it his mother, or something - its been too long)
charliecheswick on 27 Jan '12 said:
Any boss that leaves you shaking and sweating like John Terry at the MOBO awards gets my vote.
B_G_G on 27 Jan '12 said:
No One Lives Forever 2!
You're a super hot 60s spy lady, and you fight a super hot NINJA spy lady! With swords! In a trailer park wooden house! That's being ripped to bits! And is FLYING! Because its caught up in the center OF A TORNADO!
But yeah, sneaking up on a OAP and his budgie sounds like just as much fun.
ginsin on 27 Jan '12 said:
The Phalanx boss on Shadow of the Colossus was very memorable. Riding alongside the flying beast then jumping onto it is something I'll never forget.
Curt580 on 27 Jan '12 said:
they didnt get it wrong with psycho mantis!
vitorfernandes83 on 27 Jan '12 said:
Alma was the only boss ever to make me give up on a game, I loved the first Ninja Gaiden but that bitch ruined it for me. Please don't ever mention her again, it gets on my nerves, makes me want to get back to Ninja Gaiden and have revenge.
jubbgi01 on 27 Jan '12 said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Gaid ... ent_System)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Gaiden_(arcade)
Alma wasn't in the first Ninja Gaiden
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Henbonda on 27 Jan '12 said:
no god of war?? some of the boss fights throughout the god of war series are mental. The Cronos fight was epic!!
jm3811 on 27 Jan '12 said:
The boss fights in MGS were all memorable. The End was also an amazing moment, there was a similar fight in Jak 2 if I remember well. I'm not so keen about the most recent MG fights where silliness took over.
Shadow of the Colossus is obviously all about boss fights. I'm not sure that Phalanx is the best of them though.
There were some great boss fights in the original Silent Hill as well.
One of the moss magical fights is ICO vs the Queen. The picture was just stunning.
tmulford on 27 Jan '12 said:
Agreed the Huge Space Ship boss in particular stands out. Not sure that I can think of a great boss recently, not Mr Freeze, his weaknesses are far too scripted.
gmcb007 on 27 Jan '12 said:
The End fight is my personal favourite. I can't wait to foght him again next week. The first time I fought him I saved mid fight then went on holiday only to come back to a cutscene of the old guy dying from old age!
MJ-Thriller94 on 27 Jan '12 said:
The End from Metal Gear Solid 3 has to be one of my favourite boss battles ever. Loved every second of it. So pumped for the HD Collection next week to play it through again. Another boss battle i liked (also a Metal Gear Solid one), was the fight between Snake and Liquid at the end of MGS4. Not much of a boss, but an epic fight nonetheless. The nostalgia whilst fighting liquid was incredible. The Boss in MGS3 as well was awesome, espicially the finale of it, real emotional stuff. Kojima has a habit of creating memorable boss fights, i hope he keeps them coming.
There is another boss fight i loved also (not Metal Gear Solid related), but i just can't remember it at all, which is a shame, cause i remember it being a great one for me, i just can't pin-down what game it was from
Gooner Rhyle on 27 Jan '12 said:
What this guy says...EXACTLY. R-Type invented the huge scale boss battle taking AWESOME from the chip shop arcade cabinet to the Master System...Sephiroth was a long battle...but my favourite boss battle of all time? H..H..H..Hive Mind from Dead Space...
skabone on 27 Jan '12 said:
chip shop cabinets....awesome
remake dynamite duke!!!
toaplan on 27 Jan '12 said:
Grand Master from Strider. "You'll never leave Eurasia alive!", he laughed in the intro sequence. But I did, eventually I did.
MrPirtniw on 28 Jan '12 said:
Don't give her the satisfaction, man. Go mess her up!
vitorfernandes83 on 28 Jan '12 said:
Oh I'm sorry, I was trying to refer to a boss in Ninja Gaiden Black, she was maybe about half way trough the game, I tought you were refering to her, sorry. I really didnt like the second Ninja Gaiden, I'm not sure why.
You shlaaaag on 28 Jan '12 said:
Bitores Mendez (the dude with the beard) from Resident Evil 4. Greatest Boss Of All Time.
End of.
Welsh Jester on 28 Jan '12 said:
Streets of Rage 2 : Mr x, maybe not the hardest boss.. but at the time that game was awesome along with the music.
bennyt on 28 Jan '12 said:
For me:
Super Mario 3D Land...genius
Mass Effect 1 and especially 2-just to see the awesome cut-scenes, hear that amazing music and know that you survived...
Rayman Origins-pure fun and a great laugh in coop
Fable 1-Jack of Blades and Maze...god, i miss those two
and plenty of others that i can't remember
roland82 on 28 Jan '12 said:
Its true I had the Jap import version and didnt know you could switch controller ports. I took ages and was bloody hard.
I thought the Mr Freeze fight was good. It was one of the first fights Ive played that wasnt 'learn pattern, repeat until dead'.
Gambini on 28 Jan '12 said:
Erm, Hello?
The Sisters of Fate in God of War 2.... the mother of all boss fights.
solamon77 on 28 Jan '12 said:
I would rank the real end boss at the 2nd end of Super Ghouls and Ghosts as one of the best end boss fights. Even getting to him was almost impossible.
DavidVM on 28 Jan '12 said:
Doesn't Glados count as a boss fight or are we not allowed to count Portal in lists any more as it's unfair on other games?
hi0marc on 28 Jan '12 said:
It's good to see that you picked the best shadow of the colossus boss, maybe second to the snake in the sand that followed you until you turned your view around when on your horse to shoot it in its eye as it chased you, forcing it to hit the sides of the cave and reveal its weak spot.
toaplan on 28 Jan '12 said:
Kudos to you for even reaching the final boss in Super G&G. My confidence started to wane after the winter level about halfway though the game. I think Ghouls and Ghosts was the only one in the series with a near-reasonable difficulty level (I managed to reach the final boss in that game...) In Ghosts and Goblins I don't remember ever getting past the second level...
Madzaw on 29 Jan '12 said:
Scarecrow(in the first arkham) was much more epic than Mr. freeze imo , but did enjoyed mr. frreze..
some lost planet bosses were pretty cool also
metallicorphan on 29 Jan '12 said:
no love for Zelda Bosses?