The boss battle or as some may call it “hit a big thing three times in it’s weak point to win”. It’s a marker of your impending arrival toward the end of a stage, world or the game itself. All your navigating, previous challenges and progression have been building to these major moments. That moment where you’re in what looks like an impossible fight with a monster over ten times your size, or that moment where it’s your brains that will see you claim victory rather than your brawn or even that moment where you’ll need to rely on others as you work as a team.
These are our favourite boss battles. The ones that have tested us to the edge and the ones that have stuck with us. Are your favourites here? We’d love to hear what you guys have to say so please leave your comments below.
Dan Says…
The Resistance games may not have been the huge franchise that Sony wanted it to be, but it certainly has its fans (me included) and despite Resistance 2 probably being the weakest entry into the series, it does contain my favourite ever boss battle.
“Your bullets do nothing but tickle him”
It’s not a difficult boss and doesn’t take any particular skill to complete, but what I love about it is that it’s so freaking exciting. Throughout the whole Chicago level, the game slowly teases you the boss, with quick glimpses and ground shaking roars heard in the distance. When you get to the rooftops the boss finally revealsa itself turning out to be a 300 foot Chimera. This thing is seriously huge and doesn’t think twice about picking you up and throwing you into several buildings, especially if you piss him off by shooting rockets in his mouth. You might as well just throw your guns away since bullets only bounce off this thing with your only option being to just run. Eventually you have to lure him underneath a bridge rigged with explosives that unfortunately fail to detonate when the leviathan approaches. Luckily shooting a rocket at the bridge does the job and the resulting explosion blasts half of his face off. This still isn’t enough to kill him however, but thankfully when he gets close you see that his skull is exposed and one last rocket to the face finally takes him down. Bigger they come, harder they fall.
The reason this is my favourite boss is just because of how damn fun everything is. The beast is massive, your bullets do nothing but tickle him and your running around rooftops with buildings crumbling around you while just trying to avoid the monster. There’s nothing quite like the feeling that you’re losing against a boss to really make the battle feel more thrilling.
It’s obvious that Insomniac Games put a lot of effort into their boss battles and I think this one tops them all. At times it actually feels like you’re playing in a big sci-fi action sequence with so much going on around you. The music is intense, the set pieces are great, the Leviathan looks stunning and put all those pieces together and you get a short but sweet battle that’s not easily forgotten.
Chris Says…
There are many memorable bosses for me, such as Bumble B from Donkey Kong Country. Generally I prefer bosses on a larger scale such as the Ice Titan from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow or any boss from Shadow of the Colossus. Having said all that, there is still one boss that always sticks in my mind and is possibly one of the most fun bosses I have ever experienced. The boss or bosses I would say tops them all is the Jill and Wesker encounter from Resident Evil 5.
Friend or foe?
You face this boss towards the end of Resident Evil 5. You have two targets: Jill and Wesker. The idea is for one player to distract Jill while the other player attacks Wesker. The main reason I love this boss is because it can be incredibly difficult, especially on the harder difficulties.
There is also two ways to defeat the pair. If you’re able to survive for seven minutes, Wesker will grow tired of you and you will move onto the next stage. However, you can also choose to tackle Wesker should you have the firepower. While running may seem the better option, there’s a reason for attacking rather than waiting seven minutes, as you will receive an achievement as well as an in-game item.
The boss may sound easy and rather dull, but the difficulty, along with the music makes this boss battle extremely fun and exciting. In fact, I have played through this boss enough times to lose count and I never tire of it. I would even go as far as to say that this boss battle is the highlight of Resident Evil 5.
Carl Says…
I had a hard time choosing my favourite bosses because there are just so many memorable ones to choose from, the list was almost endless. But I eventually managed to whittle it down to two, starting with GLaDOS (Generic Lifeform and Disc Operating System) from the Portal series.
She constantly puts you through many life-threatening challenges, all with a sadistic sense of humour. She guides you through each chamber in her robotic voice, although she makes it as difficult for you as possible. She lies, cheats and jokes her way through all of the challenges you face. Some of her lines are amazing and the underlying humour makes me chuckle every time, from laughing about your ultimate demise, to letting you see a deer, hinting to you that she’ll introduce you to your parents and so much more. She even sings after completing the game, it’s amazing. The fight between Chell and GLaDOS is so memorable, it’s a battle of wits that lasts for the whole game and coupled with the funny one sided banter, this makes it one of the best boss battles ever.
The other amazing boss that springs to mind is Crazy Hand from Super Smash Bros. Melee (and later Brawl), he is paired with the not quite as equally cool, Master Hand. His movements are so erratic and unexpected, he is actually quite difficult to defeat. The range of attacks he uses is impressive, and paired with Master hand, they can be devastating. After fighting through all the amazing characters before reaching the final stage, it seems a little odd that you’re fighting a not very recognisable character, but I think it makes Crazy Hand that much cooler. And though he may not have much of a back story, how often can you say a final boss is a giant floating hand?
Derek Says…
My all time favourite boss battle has to be Bowser (aka King Koopa) from Super Mario World.
After conquering Dinosaur Land and capturing Princess Toadstool, Bowser has retired to his fortress with Mario and Luigi left to rescue her and free the land in the process. After going though Dinosaur Land and completing most of the levels you arrive at Bowser’s castle which in itself is fairly tough to get through before facing the big man himself.
Creepiest clown face ever?
In what can only be described as a flying bowl with a face and propeller, Bowser swoops high above with little you can do other avoid his attacks. After a little while he gives up and decides to throw a pair of clockwork Koopas down your way. Bingo! Just the ammunition you need in order to send the giant beast packing. If you manage to fling the Koopas upward at him enough times Bowser then gets annoyed and swoops off to drop flaming fireballs at you. If all that wasn’t enough he then decides to drop a giant bolder (think Indiana Jones style) and also tries to squash you with his flying contraption. It’s worth noting that all the while this is going on, the face on the flying bowl changes and looks more and more menacing). After hitting Bowser enough times the ship will overturn and the princess will descend with Bowser spinning off into the darkness. And in true heroic fashion the princess gives Mario a kiss as a thank you for saving her.
This has to be the best boss battle in my opinion after a culmination of hundreds of hours of playing and a brilliant end to something that again in my opinion has to be the best game in the series and likely on the SNES itself.
Mia Says…
My favourite Boss battle? Toughie. It’s for sure a debate between one that’s fun, and one that took me a ridiculous amount of time to get past.
The most difficult? Definitely, Resident Evil: Code Veronica X’s, Alexia Ashford. With the typical Resident evil tone in mind, it took me about seven separate trial runs to finally finish her off, which involved me restarting the game entirely to hold back enough ammo! Besides the fact it took me weeks to get past her and finish the game, she’s a character and a final battle; that I have ridiculous amounts of respect for – having two separate stages of battle, each one more difficult than the last. The first, she can throw liquid fire and trap you in a small area and the second, where she mutates into an insect like creature; which literally makes it impossible to shoot her. Finally, she’s goes out in a traditional Capcom finale; she gets shot with a rocket launcher, and implodes, bringing a whole scientific facility down with her.
“A completely humorous fight that was unlike any other boss battle that had come before it”
The most fun I’ve had with a boss battle, on a completely separate hand, would be taking out GLaDOS in Portal – Valve took something completely serious, and added sarcasm, which just made it into a completely humorous fight (if it can even be classed as that) that was unlike any other boss battle that had come before it. Incinerating GLaDOS’s cores one at a time, gave you a chance to get to know what makes up that cold hearted robot, we all know and love and gives you a real giggle as well.
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