NUMBER 10
Donkey Kong 64: Mad Jack
The bosses of Donkey Kong 64 were very simple and extremely easy to defeat: After they were done throwing fireballs at you, you’d throw a TNT barrel back at them, then do it again, then once more. But not Jack. No, the developers at Rareware decided to throw a wrench into the entire established formula by forcing you to kill him in a method that was completely different from what we were used to.
Mad Jack hops around on the set of platforms that make up the playing field, and you must avoid his attacks or be crushed instantly. After a long period of time, Jack will suddenly stand up and fire a laser at you. During this short time period, you must slam down on a switch, electrocuting him- but that’s not as simple as it sounds. You have to hit the switch that is the same color that he’s standing on, or else you will be killed instead. Since the field is made up of some 50 squares, that’s a lot of hopping to do in a small amount of time. And you have to do all this while he’s laughing the most terrifying laugh that will ever be heard by human ears.
NUMBER 9
Revenge of Shinobi: Spiderman/Batman
This one from Sega's incredible Genesis sequel has to go down on the list of one of the most daring ever. In addition to including Godzilla in the game, Sega's developers had the balls to include Spider-Man -- or at least an incredibly close approximation of him -- as a boss. Wears a red spider suit? Check. Crawls on the wall and hangs upside down? Check. Shoots spiderwebs? Check. This was Spider-Man. But that's not all: once lower on health he'd transform... into Batman! Sure, he had a green face, but otherwise he was every bit of the Dark Knight you know (except that he floats a bit). It was an epic battle between a ninja and freaking Spider-Man/Batman. In fact, it was just so incredibly badass (and bound to get the developers sued) that Sega removed these two forms from later versions of the game. We were sad, and so were DC's lawyers.
NUMBER 8
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Mecha Sonic/Dr. Robotnick
The end of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 actually has a pretty cool boss sequence. First, you face off against Dr. Robotnick's most formidable enemy creation yet -- a mecha version of you, Mecha Sonic! Once you take care of him, you face off against Dr. Robotnick himself in a giant mech suit. Something about the epic nature of the battle - up in a freaking space ship - just makes us love it. If you've beaten it yourself, it's hard to disagree.
NUMBER 7
Super Mario Galaxy: Bowser
NUMBER 6
Super Metroid: Ridley
Metroid veterans had a heartwarming moment of familiarity at the beginning of Super Metroid as they met the first game's saurian space pirate boss Ridley in the heart of Ceres station -- only to panic as they realized they had to fight him without any power-ups (which SUCKS). Whatever the outcome of the battle, Ridley's real goal was to abduct the baby metroid that had latched onto Samus as its adoptive mother. Suddenly, the Metroid series was making things personal.
There was a certain satisfaction in finally tracking Ridley down to his lair in order to reclaim the missing larva... though the pirate leader certainly wasn't going down without a fight. Quite the contrary, he took a far more aggressive stance against Samus than he had employed in the original Metroid, taking advantage of his vertical lair to rise out of sight and dive-bomb the bounty hunter. Constantly varying his attacks, Ridley alternately bombarded Samus with his scorching breath and captured her in his talons in order to whip her with his barbed tail. He was no pushover defensively, either, soaking up dozens of attacks and rarely ever flinching in the face of Samus' counterattacks. Ridley continues to torment Samus throughout her adventures, but he's never put up a better fight than in Super Metroid.
NUMBER 5
SUPER SMASH BROS BRAWL: TABUU
Tabuu is like an old stalker girlfriend. He requires lots of dodging, a lot of athletics and at least some self-hatred to keep trying. Also, some of his attacks are straight up instant-kills. I remember freaking out the first time I fought him on one of the easiest settings. Fight him on Intense difficulty, and you're basically screwed. Imagine playing in a tournament of Smash Bros. against the most skilled 9-year-old kids you've ever had to face... and multiply that by 5. Hundred. Thousand.
NUMBER 4
Super Metroid: Mother Brain
One of the most emotionally moving climactic battles ever to be experienced within a videogame, Super Metroid's final fight against Mother Brain is even more remarkable for presenting itself with no dialogue whatsoever. We never thought we'd feel affection for a giant floaty-blobby thing, especially one that startled the hell out of and nearly killed us earlier, but the aid it offers in an otherwise unwinnable fight followed by its self-sacrifice in our defense always manages to fill us with a righteous sense of "f*** you, lady." The fact that the baby Metroid's death empowers you to completely pulverize Mother Brain is incredibly satisfying, and the abrupt change of mental gears from badass empowerment to blind panic as you race a timer to escape the destruction of the planet makes the experience far more moving than any amount of overwrought dialogue could ever manage. WIN.
NUMBER 3
Metroid Prime: Metroid Prime
We can hear the complaints coming from a mile away. Three Metroid bosses?!? Yes, three Metroid bosses. Why? Because Metroid bosses basically wrote the book on what boss battles SHOULD ALL be like. The monsters are huge, and the battles are beyond intense.
Now, as for Metroid Prime's, uh, Metroid Prime. The first Metroid Prime had a few notable bosses, from the Parasite Queen to Meta Ridley, but the game's final boss, Metroid Prime, is one of our all time favorites. With the fantastic Metroid music playing in the background, both of its forms were entirely intense. The first form was a giant crab that required you to pay attention to its color patterns in order to figure out which beam weapons to use, and the second form was a giant brain with tentacles that could only be destroyed using the phazon beam, which was so fun to use. Between the impressive visuals and the wild attacks, it's an extremely cool, and difficult end boss.
NUMBER 2
Pokemon Gold and Silver: Red
A Pokemon game?! Yes, a Pokemon game. Anyone who has played Gold and Silver all the way to the end (and I mean END), will instantly remember this battle. Red is the toughest trainer to exist to date in ANY Pokemon game. His team features all three Kanto starters, Pikachu, Espeon, and Snorlax, all in the 70s and 80s in level.
He's pretty much like Ash from the TV show, except he doesn't suck. Quite the contrary, actually, as his team will obliterate even teams that cakewalked through the Elite Four. None of his team members have a weakness in common, either. What it comes down to is...the best strategy for this boss fight is: SURVIVE.
NUMBER 1
The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time: Ganon
It is hard to argue this one. The Ganondorf and Ganon battles dwarf just about every other boss battle in video game history with two unbelievable fights separated by a frantic escape from a collapsing tower. If the unprecedented magic spell ping-pong wasn't intriguing enough, reaching the bottom of the tower only to be greeted by quite possibly the scariest yet most awesome looking beast, Ganon, surely must be. When it comes down for your final showdown with the beast, you are stripped of your trusty Master Sword and must therefore find another way. After weakening him enough without your sword, stabbing his face with it to end 40+ hours of gameplay of an instant classic was perfect. Difficulty, intensity, epicosity (yes we made that up), the Ganon fight has it all.
No comments:
Post a Comment