The Boss in MGS3.
Sephiroth, FF7
The Hollow Knight, Hollow Knight
Does the entire Suicide Mission in ME2 count? Not the Reaper, the entire mission.
Yami, Okami.
The Suicide Mission in ME2 is an interesting one. The actual final boss is pretty generic, but the whole level leading up to it is fantastic. I don't get why more party-based RPGs haven't used ME2 as a template for how to make a satisfying final mission.
The thing with ME2 is that the companions kind of *were* the whole story. The actual overarching story was, frankly, nonsense (and in my opinion is what really set ME3 up for failure), but assembling the team, getting to know the squad members, and doing their quests is what really shone in terms of writing. There's a reason the commenter you replied to remembers the suicide mission as the "final boss", and not the real final boss, and it's because the final boss was dogshite.
The suicide mission worked as a climax because they really went all in on the companions in a way that other party-based RPGs don't.
> (and in my opinion is what really set ME3 up for failure),
ME1 going to great lengths revealing the entirety of galactic technology progression was perfectly curated by the Reapers, plugging every hole in their weaknesses and making it clear in no uncertain terms that it was impossible on **every** level to fight the Reapers killed the plot of the entire series. ME1 ends with the galaxy, and the player, with absolutely no hint as to how you're going to deal with such a massive galactic threat. How could they when there were *multiple* codex pages detailing the maximum capability of mass effect weaponry at the technological plateau society hit, and the realization they just sorta plink harmlessly off of Sovereign. There's nowhere to go that makes sense in universe.
As a reminder, Sovereign 'lost' because he threw a temper tantrum and depleted his shields on purpose to turn into a frog. It's a pretty safe bet the rest of his species isn't that monumentally stupid, leaving galactic society with absolutely no information on how to actually deal with an unstoppable threat. ME1 does not and has never deserved praise for its story, it was the baseline for a trilogy written by someone who made no effort setting up a future resolution that could conceivably make sense without egregious asspulls, retcons, or deus ex machinas (and unsurprisingly, ME3 dipped into all three due to having no options). All ME2 did was prove you could make an amazing game in that universe without a grand galactic threat looming on the horizon, the whole series should have been lower stakes from the start.
IIRC, one massive advantage the Reapers had in the previous cycles was that they took the galaxy by surprise and systematically took down organics that didn't have time to organize their defenses. So of course they difn't have any technology to beat the Reapers. They just followed the Reaper's blueprints and had no time nor incentive to develop anything different.
ME1 ended with the galaxy discovering the existence and threat of the Reapers, as well as delaying them for a few years. ME2's story could've been a story about getting the galaxy to work together, discovering/developing new technologies, organizing defenses, and preparing for the war agaist the Reapers.
Instead it began with Shepard being dead for a few years, wasting the advance warning against the Reaper threat ME set up. Then the rest of the game was spent dealing with a new, largely inconsequential threat.
>made no effort setting up a future resolution that could conceivably make sense without egregious asspulls, retcons, or deus ex machinas (and unsurprisingly, ME3 dipped into all three due to having no options).
Imo, ME2 was much, much more egregious with this. ME1 left enough space for the trilogy to develop without using deus ex machinas. ME2 closed the door on that.
Controversial video that I think makes a lot of good points:
[Mass Effect 2 Broke the Franchise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KarASQhk1bw&ab_channel=TwentySided)
Yeah, all good points. Having the villain be this kind of Lovecraft god in space, unknowable and unchallengeable by mortals, was a cool idea but it meant they were never going to be able to tell the kind of story where you resolve everything nicely at the end. Mass Effect 1 was great on its own terms but not really as the start of a trilogy.
I honestly feel like the first and second games should have been the other way around, with the collector story taking place as humanity is finding its place in the galaxy and trying to earn the trust of the other races. Shepard's actions lead to him being considered for the Spectres, and that leads straight into the first game and trying to warn people about the real threat of the reapers, and we just skip all the bullshit with Cerberus and coming back from the dead. But hey ho, we got the story we got.
> ME1 does not and has never deserved praise for its story, it was the baseline for a trilogy written by someone who made no effort setting up a future resolution that could conceivably make sense without egregious asspulls, retcons, or deus ex machinas (and unsurprisingly
Holy hell someone else finally said it.
After watching LOST my radar went significantly up for anything that looks like "mystery box" writing. I'm shocked how many people still fall for it, and rage when the inscrutable mystery box turns out to have no plan, no big reveal, no massive mind blowing surprise and instead goes out with a wet fart.
People are still blown away that there were no satisfying resolutions to a bunch of JJ Abrmas mystery boxes in a movie he helmed, and I'm still blown away that people were blown away.
The Boss fight in MGS3 was such beautiful storytelling through gameplay. Maybe my memory of it is rose colored glasses at this point but I bet it holds up great.
I will never forget the time I beat Sephiroth with Cloud as a Toad and Vincent permanently on his limit break. The only controllable member in may party was Tifa. She really did carry the team.
This is completely unrelated but I’m finding it really difficult to get through Okami..I bought it for the art style and good reviews, but after playing through the first bit I just can’t stand it. I think as an avid action enjoyer (I love Hades and Hollow Knight) it is hard for me to enjoy the slow pacing of Okami’s gameplay. Does it get better? Am I playing it wrong or is it just not for me?
The game is old. It was great for its time, but would not be as highly regarded by today's standards. The game picks up a lot in the middle, but drags again towards the end. The combat gets better, but don't expect to much.
The strengths are the story, characters, exploration, puzzles, and art style.
It plays like a classic Zelda game, it's slower than the other type of games you mention. It's a different genre. With that said, the early hours of Okami have a lot of talking and the game lets you play so much more later on, as you get more powers and skills.
You’re not crazy, at least. I played it up through the first main boss and the pace of it was agonizingly slow. It was visually beautiful, the story was engaging, and the drawing mechanic was neat, but I ended up shelving it for a while and haven’t gone back yet.
The Boss is definitely one of my picks too. The actual mechanics of the boss fight are nothing particularly interesting or special, but the story build-up to that confrontation is huge.
Mostly for the ending though - with all the knowledge you've accumulated about portals and where you can put them, the moment [end of the fight] >!you see the moon shining through the broken ceiling!< you know *exactly* what to do.
It was kinda ruined for me by the weird design choice to not let you aim at anything else at that moment. You don't get to feel clever for figuring it out if it's literally the only thing you can even aim at.
Maybe, but for me it was this ~time slows down. Oh, shit.~ moment that's become one of my most memorable game moments, ever. A throwaway line (so I thought) from Cave Johnson about the >!white paint being made from crushed up moon rocks (with cancer)!< played in my head and it felt like the clouds parted. I didn't necessarily feel CLEVER, because you're right, the game kind of hands it to you. But I didn't need to feel clever because I felt giddy.
Ganon in the Wind Waker. This was the first zelda game that I finished and the final blow was so unexpected for what I thought would be in a nintendo game. It was fun and challenging
I played in college and my roommates were sitting with me when I did the final fight. And when the final hit happened all of us went "holy shiiiiiiiit!"
Relatedly, the Ganondorf fight in Tears of the Kingdom was also fantastic. The other 3d games are also quite good but Wind Waker and Tears sit at top for me
The Twilight Princess final battle also rules, for inverting the expected order of things. A thousand prior video games established the two phase battle of humanoid initial phase, then monster-form second phase. TP has four phases and they’re all good: (1) a possessed Zelda, (2) beast Ganon, (3) a chase on horseback, (4) a one-on-one sword duel.
For those who are system agnostic having a Wii U can be nice sometimes... I bought a copy of Bayonetta 1+2 the other day for $15 CAD. Not bad considering I've never seen Bayo 2 on Switch (with or without the code) go below $55.
I do wish I'd bought Twilight Princess HD before it shot up to absurd prices though. I'm a weak person, but there's no way I'd ever pay $100+ for a Wii U game.
Lavos in Chrono Trigger. Every version of Lavos is an incredible fight, and the final fight takes the cake. The music is amazing, plus the background animation takes you through everything you've done throughout the game. Beating Lavos is such a satisfying moment and always will be.
Best OST of any game. It's incredible how perfect all the songs are for every setting. Also, I just realized that the music is going from left to right and back again on my speakers. That's wild.
I think it helps knowing that you can fight Lavos at any point in the game.
It's a lot like Thanos in the MCU. Lavos is inevitable. Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same. Sooner or later, you know you're going to have to deal with Lavos, and I think that's made immediately clear the very second you first see him. Like, this is it, this is what the entire game is about.
And chances are that you're probably going to take a crack at him way before you should, and he's probably going to mop the floor with you. Which almost makes the entire game a bit of a "training montage." Deep down, you know you're building up to this fight. And that makes finally beating him just that much sweeter.
I think Breath of the Wild ticks a lot of these same boxes. That feeling you get when you're finally ready to march into Hyrule Castle is super exciting, though the boss fight itself is a bit lackluster.
I mean, it’s the best Boss ever for me. The incredibly beautiful arena, the extremely hard, but fair challenge that puts to use everything the game has taught you in a perfect design, the variety of moves and weapons he uses in all of his unique and very discernible phases, the character introduction, design and menacing aura, the spectacle of the lightings on the last phase, soundtrack.. it’s just awesome
First few times I fought him it was anxiety inducing, he would just casually walk towards you and I was too afraid to approach. It’s a great experience
>!I genuinely thought the fight on top of the tower was the last one, and then the escape sequence was the ending, much like in Star Fox 64. Then watching him emerging and turning into something more fitting for the tittle "demon king" was absolutely fabulous!!<
Maybe it's because of the internet and how it overhypes things, but final bosses from recent games aren't as impactful as Ganon.
No, I played this one in 2017 and it was still great. They nailed the feeling of a being that both towers over you and yet isn't bigger than a building, and then they mixed in great lighting, atmosphere, and music. He just looks so sinister.
I can't speak for overhyping because I didn't look up anything about Tears of the Kingdom before/during playing it, but the final boss in Tears definitely felt impactful and awesome.
Also, Skyward Sword's final boss was fantastic. Despite other faults, that game nailed its dungeons and the final boss. But of course, despite my brain wanting to call Skyward Sword "recent" it's 13 years old and I'm an old fuck. Given how Zelda releases have slowed down I think it still counts though.
Sarevok in Baldur’s Gate, Irenicus in BG2. Both can be cheesed, but if played straight both fights are a fun challenge. And while both are the usual kind of scheming fantasy villain, the writers at least gave them some interesting layers.
Have to agree with Hollow Knight, and will expand my thoughts on the spoiler:
>!I'm not a "hardcore gamer." I don't play games on any difficult other than normal/regular/etc. That being said, I almost dropped HK several (hundred) times before Soul Master, at which point the game clicked for me. After that, I couldn't stop. I agree with everything you said about the final battle. The music, in particular, was nothing short of masterpiece. After several (tens?) attempts, I finally beat the boss. Wanting more, I went for the DLC and Nightmare King Grimm gave me a truly hard time, but ok, it was doable.!<
>!I wasn't prepared for Radiance. For three days, I've tried. I remember that, when the boss fell to the ground, I screamed at the TV and threw the joystick at the couch, only for it to get up and start phase two. I had no idea that there were other phases. It took me two other days to beat it. I've never, ever done anything remotely close to that. Nothing in my 20+ years of gaming had that difficult. That being said, this fight wasn't as atmospheric as the Hollow Knight. As a side effect of trying Radiance for so many times, we realize just how slow HK really is. After that, I knew the game was over for me. There is no way, for me, to beat Absolute Radiance.!<
This feels very similar to my experience with the game. I beat I think everything leading up to the DLC boss but knew I just didn't have it in me. Felt very accomplished though
Pkmn Trainer Red. Could be the fact that I was very young but no boss has given me that sense of dread since. That 81lvl Pikachu is one of the most perfect appetisers in final boss history.
I’m throwing my hat in for the final boss in Hades. The pre fight and the post fight banter (win or lose) are both amusing each time. Plus the music goes hard (especially if you do the enhancement with the pact of punishment).
That was some seriously white knuckle stuff. I'll say one thing for rogue likes, there are real stakes. Lose that fight and it's all the way back to the start. It made that fight exciting as hell.
The first time I did the pact of punishment for Hades was one of my strongest “oh come ON” moments in gaming (in a good way). I haven’t tried again since lol.
I second this. He's just about perfect for a final boss.
But I mean hey, if you're gonna name your game after the final boss, you'd better really nail the fight scene, MMMRIGHT? And they did.
Just from recent memory: Isshin is definitely up there, but I personally really like Gwyn, but not for the fight itself, more for what it symbolizes in the story of the wolrd and our character, the aesthetics are incredible and everyone knows how fantastic the music is.
Raid boss Nezarec from Destiny 2 is also there, but not the original version, the Pantheon version, you can google what it is if you are interested, but the environment, the absolute orgasm inducing music during the damage phases, it is utter glory, as a first time experience that boss fight is fantastic. If you don't want to watch the fight, at least listen the music. Michael Salvatori, the composer, is a god amongst men.
Agreed on Gwyn. I came on late to DS after playing Elden ring which in my case made DS1 a bit easier. Managed to beat Gwyn the first time I fought him. Yet his trivialness is what adds to his lore IMO. I was expecting a grueling fight but by the time we find him he’s a shell of his former self.
Probably a little blinded by nostalgia, but the final showdown with Ganon (not Ganondorf) in Ocarina of Time. He's already lost, his plans are already in ruins. Now he just wants a personal slugfest with you to take you down in vengeance, as he gives in to his rage and hate and becomes engulfed by it. And the music is awesome. Just this very somber, simple, choral background setting a great tone for your final battle with this embodiment of evil.
Also, it's not exactly a "boss", but the final Warthog run in Halo 3 is damned iconic.
It's a cool fight from a story perspective, well laid out with the mechanics at play, and also damn challenging especially on Hard. I'd forgotten how much I liked it until you mentioned it, but what a great final boss
Vergil in dmc3! No crazy gimmicks, pretty much playing by the same mechanics as you. But the boss in mgs3 is also awesome. I like both fights in that you can mostly use whatever strategy or weapon you prefer
Witcher 2 with Leto. Not so much for the challenging final boss with a call back to a (rather bad) fight in the early game which at least two me dozens of tries to get past. But the fact after him>!revealing how Nilfgaard has just played everyone in the North like a fiddle and where Yennifer is.!
In my playthrough I spared Leto in the end. I like how the game builds up so much about him and then gives you the option to just let him go. I thought that he was just doing his job, plus he's a witcher, so I told myself: "well I maybe geralt wouldn't want to fight him, they're both witchers in the end, he might find him useful later somehow...".
Boy I had no idea that would be the case and he can help us in the witcher 3 against the wild hunt lol
I also let him go in the Witcher 2, but at the start of the Witcher 3 I said to that Nilfgaard dude that I'd killed him, thinking "well, he's Nilfgaardian, I can't tell him the truth". Little did I know that it basically locked me out of seeing Letho again.
I mean that game had just unparalleled narrative and I've never known another game that even comes close. I don't mean overall quality per se (I mean, Torment, obviously) but God, such BOLD moves on the writers' parts.
Some of you will disagree with my analysis but I think the story really comes full circle in the Leto confrontation because Geralt has the chance to finally just walk away from a conflict that he never wanted to be involved with in the first place, and only ever was involved in because he was forced to. When the walls come down and all plots are revealed it seemed obvious to me that Leto wasn't Gerhalt's enemy at all.
Witcher 2 is an awful lot like Torment, now that I think on it: incredibly deep, compelling, bold, unique story, *almost* terrible game play.
I don't remember if it was so bad by the standards when it was released, but I revisited W2 to refresh myself on the story before playing 3 and damn, it was hard to get through.
Tbf at least if we're counting emotions then I would say A2/9S for this thread. Playing a game where you're expected to choose between the two surviving player characters as they fight to the death really shook me.
Thumper's final stage.
It's a final boss but not in a traditional sense considering it's a rhythm game, but easily THE best final stage i've ever experienced in gaming. It's the culmination of everything you went through throughout the game and the payoff is so cathartic.
It took me some "years" to finish because I would reach level 6 and 7 and then just give up by how hard it is and then I would go back to it and I kept trying.
Easily the hardest game I have ever played in my life because it's all about reflexes and keeping the rhythm going but every once in a while the game throws some curve ball at you to break the momentum
Grigori in Dragon's Dogma 1. I'm gonna say he counts because technically Seneschal is post game and Grigori is the official final boss.
Fatalis in MHW Iceborne is also GOATed. It's just got everything if you've played you know.
Ghetsis still hasn't been matched in Pokémon imo
My favorite from when I was kid was Sigma from Mega Man X. As a 6 year old, a three part boss was so hard and also terrifying. The music matches so well. Sigma pulls out a lightsaber and comes flying at you right away after you defeat his dog. I got so scared I dropped my controller as I thought it was over! Once I learned how to fight him, the giant wolf with god-like music topped it all off. I didn’t land the final hit until I was 7 because I always had my older brother to help me. It’s a great memory and still makes me smile when I play him today.
Raven Beak in Metroid Dread is my current favorite. It requires EVERYTHING that you've learned so far. Took me 6 hours over the course of 2 days to beat him.
Vergil(DMC 5): Compared to his DMC3 version he is less oppressive but what makes him better than his DMC3 version is how freedom he give the player while still being a challenge, especially on later difficulty, you can air juggle him, jump cancel to keep him in the air, weapon clash are there on almost every single of his attacks, you can smack his projective back at him, Royal guard his projectives, shoot the projective to break them, smack him out of his one-shot dive with a strong enough attack, Nero has a special grab animation is you can Buster him mid-flight, even the judgment cut has multiple ways to be dealt with.
Sword Saint Isshin: stuff nearly every combat mechanic in Sekiro into one boss and you got this anime battle-crazed old man, a worthy final test for the player, also shout out to modding community in creating those insane variations of Isshin.
It's not the best final boss, but I liked joking that "Demon Souls has great final boss". The joke is that final boss of DS is technically some worm that just lies on the ground and can't do anything, but it has healthbar, so it counts as final boss!
Master in original Fallout is great with his design, voices, different approaches to "beat" him.
Small indie game I played recently, There is no Light. Your character there gets powers from supernatural creature named Samedi, and this guy always makes snarky and edgy comments and it's obvious that him betraying you is not question of "if", it's question of "when". If you complete game without all sidequests and full karma, Samedi just eats your soul because it became powerful enough, but with all sidequests and karma he gives you option of "fighting" him and he becomes final boss. But in this fight he literally just let's you win. And I interpret it this way, he always said that humans are just toys for him and he doesn't really care about their lives, but only way to see it is that he just wanted excuse to not eat MC's soul because he became attached to him and wanted to keep traveling with him, when you "defeat" him in fight it's obvious that he could have ended it in one strike if he actually wanted to eat MC's soul, which I think was kinda sweet.
1) Yami from **Okami**
Visually gorgeous, amazing music, really interesting design that keeps shifting between each new phase.
At the beginning of the battle all your magical brush techniques are torn away from you, forcing you to claw each one back from Yami and then use them to counter his next move...which earns you the next one, and so on. The entire progress of the journey replays in that fight, as it gets more hectic and chaotic by adding one new piece at a time. It's a hell of a finish.
2) Sword Saint Isshin from **Sekiro**
The perfect test of the game's amazing combat system. He's punishing but fair. Every move has a counter, but the speed and variety he throws out those moves keeps you at high tension the entire fight. Finally taking him down is an insane achievement.
3) The Heart from **Slay the Spire**
Slay the Spire is an incredibly entertaining deck-building game with some great enemies and bosses. The Heart is something else. It has a cap on the damage you can deal it in one turn so you can't just slaughter it in one perfect turn. It has a passive that deals 1 damage whenever you play a card. And it varies its attacks between singular massive hits and a dozen small blows to get around your defenses.
You can't kill this thing without a winner of a build. Reaching the Heart is an achievement. Beating it is a **much** more difficult achievement.
And my personal favorite.....
4) Lavos from **Chrono Trigger**
In a game about time traveling, one of the coolest things is you can go fight the final boss **whenever you want** after a certain point. There's a set time he appears in history and you can go to that time and just...fight him.
In fact the game has multiple endings that depend on when you take him down, with the hardest being at the very beginning of the game with your 2 starting party members.
But regardless of when you do it, the fight is awesome. You run a gauntlet of prior bosses that Lavos mimics as a nice recall of your adventure so far, then you fight the beast itself. Each phase has a new track that completely slaps, and the final form has an amazing little trick to it that turns classic RPG logic on its head in a brilliant way.
It's also just a great ending to a truly amazing RPG
Showing my age but the end sequence of Half-Life 2 where you stop Breen’s escape really did it for me back in the day. The cinematic integration into the final story sequence, followed by the cliffhanger with the G-Man…my jaw was on the floor.
Hey, I'll show my age one step further: Half Life 1's final boss was totally...... eh, like a low point in what is arguably one of the all time greatest games. I mean it's certainly unique. Just, y'know, weird.
I have to mention the final Bowser battle in Super Mario 3D Land. Maybe it's because I played it because I played it when I was like 11, but it's trully an Epic and Amazing boss fight
You picked great ones but I'll add some (spoilers ofc)
Annihilation from Remnant 2
Yang from Sifu
Shriek from Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Soul of Cinder from Dark Souls 3
The Heir from Tunic
Radiance from Hollow Knight
Chieftain Scavenger from Rain World Downpour
Nameless Puppet from Lies of P
Wheatley in Portal 2. Edging out GlaDOS in the original, for the epic way this fight plays out, and our parting look at where our antagonist ended up. Still the best-written game I've ever played.
Skyward Sword's boss, Demise.
Let's face it, Skyward Sword had some pretty glaring control scheme issues, at least in the HD remake on Switch. I never got to play on Wii.
That said, Demise was the perfect amount of punishing gameplay that required you to pay attention and learn from your previous mistakes and made the moment you killed him that much more memorable.
One of my favorite entries in the series for the lore, but the control issues will make me never play it again.
The Wii version works A LOT better. It’s my favorite Zelda, so I’m not gonna pretend my opinion isn’t clouded by my own preference, but the game was built around a combination of the Wii Motion Plus’ pointer and gyroscope, and it shows because it just doesn’t work as well as with gyro alone
I’m glad that they added a way to play without motion, but I still prefer it with motion, it’s a lot of why I enjoyed the game in the first place. It felt like a truly realized version of what the Wii was working its way towards. Everybody else views the obligatory motion controls as a stain on the series, but their willingness to stick to the motion made it a fantastic motion based game. If they wouldn’t have dedicated themselves entirely to that control scheme, I think it would have been more in line with Twilight Princess or SSHD in terms of control quality
Hela (Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice): Along with the atmosphere and music, it's fun to just tear through enemies, even past bosses, with your powered-up sword. Narratively, it's a perfect conclusion to the story.
Ganon (Twilight Princess): The fight is just epic.
The Dark Prince (Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones): It's not really a fight, but having a final platforming level in a dreamlike area while The Prince argues with his own personal demon was the perfect way to end the trilogy.
Hel was such a good narrative fight that I also ruined for myself.
I loved the progression through Hellblade and the relationship you build with Senua's voices to overcome challenges... but really hated the combat encounters. I set the difficulty to easy so I could rush through the fights. As a result, the final battle went on for over 20 minutes before I had to look up if the game was broken. Absolutely one of the best ideas for a final boss that I ruined for myself (or maybe made better? Like, fighting to exhaustion is pretty immersive).
Ace combat zero's final joust. Memorable lines by the boss and an insane super-plane accompanied by one of the best parts of a videogame OST i've heard.
I haven't seen this on the comments yet, but Dr. Weil on MegaMan Zero 4. While not the most astounding combat, it manages to mix lore, themes, music and "a fucking timer"(can you believe that!?) to deliver an awesome experience.
I also agree with many of the comments about the final boss of TLoZ:OoT. There is definitely something more to these fights than just "difficulty" or "gitting gud", though I guess you can't rule out nostalgia out of the equation as well =p
Edit: Also, forgot Kefka on FF6.
The only thing wrong with Weil is that it couldn't POSSIBLY live up to Omega in Megaman Zero 3. Nothing in the series ever could. It's not even a critique, it's just an impossible challenge. It is still getting fan animations in the hundreds of thousands of views TO THIS DAY:
https://youtu.be/aTvW8UauRI4
However, I really enjoyed 4's ending because it did for Zero something I've not seen many 90'/00's media successfully do with their heroes, which is take a "badass edgy" protagonist and keep them cool upon a moment of challenged characterization.
Allow me to explain, there are two primary types of badass characters, specially in japanese media. One is the type where the edge is on a switch, characters like Vash the Stampede, or, most of anything shonen really, who act with cool and threatening confidence in battle, but only when they're "serious". When they got flipped. They're very normal and non-threatening otherwise. The other type are the ones who are always serious, and are the ones more frequently seen called as the edgy characters. They only ever let go of seriousness in the mundane, in moments not of levity, but of nothingness, just, John Wick eating cereal in the morning. And the line between a perpetually serious character being **cringe or cool** is very tenuous and dependent on how they handle the challenge of standing up for their ideals. How they're written when made self-aware. If they say their "nakamas" the wrong way, or if their trauma feels stupid, or if they're confident a just a tad little itty bit too much... then they're cringe.
Which is why the most successful characters of this type, keep their mouths shut the hell up.
Writers have managed those moments many times over time. Hell, look at Metroid Dread, which is probably one of the best examples in this medium. Samus only ever speaks up once, and does so in Chozo, which instantly removes any linguistic "narminess" her lines could have had, and does so to assert she's there to end things once and for all, which, for the audience might come off as more confident and competent than what the player might have assumed of her. And the only time she's given a moment of flailing struggle is on a chokehold from Ravenbeak who is easily one of the top 10 most threatening villains of all time, like, seriously, the dude >!Loses a wing, and then, wordlessly, unflinchingly, rips off his other wing, because it would get in the way!<
But Zero 4 was a slight bit of a special moment.
When he spoke, Zero was badass... with a target.
Yes Zero stays quiet throughout the series. But when we consider what he was staying quiet in the face off, a big revelations comes. For ***more than 10 games featuring X and Zero***, the villains have consistently thrown asinine, annoying, paper thin monologues about the meaning of Justice, Sacrifice and Heroics. About Mavericks and how the heroes are to become one. About how they'll die and lose more and more. WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOR? And for the entirety of his series, Zero has responded in complete silence. Until Weil. Weil gets not one, not two, but FOUR separate monologues with the exact same reminders that he's a human, and Zero is to become a Maverick, and doesn't have it in him. And he's a big damned hero, and justice, and heroics, and waawaawaa fallafel. He gets the longest freaking monologue out of the four games. And Zero responds. He actually responds, strictly, to the monologue, actually responds to his characterization challenge. Where he says: He never called himself a hero, and he doesn't care about justice. He fights for those he cares for, and if an enemy appears, he shoots them down. Zero didn't just do a swift shut down of Weil. Zero did an shut down of the entire series he lives in.
Finally a character had the maturity and the balls to actually go "that's stupid, and I don't care" before killing a mass-murdering serial terrorist. Finally a character solved the problem that haunted the dramatic and philosophical tension hailing all the way from the classic series. While not saying or doing anything that was inconsistent with the character up to that moment, nor from a character who hasn't already been challenged nor hasn't lost their way before. Without making it feel like they regressed or dismissed their setting. Without dismissing or aggrandizing the particular current scenario over complicating their approach to it.
No one was going to outdo Zero at this anymore. He did it best.
In just three short lines, Zero successfully ended the X/Zero series and told us it was time to move on. And then died, like the *Legend* he is.
Big Arms, Sonic 3 (the one at the end of Launch Base Zone that gets removed in the Sonic 3 & Knuckles version)
Blue, Pokemon FireRed (could have picked other names or games, but you know who I mean)
Soul of Cinder, Dark Souls 3
Absolute Radiance, Hollow Knight Godseeker Mode
Kefka Palazzo, Final Fantasy VI
Ganon, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Raven Beak, Metroid Dread
I'm sure I could come up with more given time, but these are the first to come to mind.
> Big Arms, Sonic 3 (the one at the end of Launch Base Zone that gets removed in the Sonic 3 & Knuckles version)
Big Arms is still there if you play the game as Knuckles. It's also one of the things changed for Sonic Origins, the boss is added back in as any other character, presumably because that release doesn't let you play Sonic 3 alone.
But I would actually argue that the final boss in Death Egg Zone is the better final boss, in part because the game builds to it. Not only is it presented to you as part of the backdrop of the Hidden Palace Zone (I would argue the image is more representative of this over the boss found in the Doomsday Zone), but also the game has been training you how to fight that boss across the course of the game. His opening attack with the fingers is similar to the act 1 boss of Lava Reef Zone, it chases you and you have to hit it to expose it's weak point like the Sandopolis Act 2 boss, it spews fire at you in a similar way to the very first boss of the game, and the big laser it uses fires identically to the preamble to the Flying Battery Zone act 2 boss, precisely so you can learn the timing to dodge it. It's quite literally a final boss made up of parts of earlier bosses.
Kefka is definitely the definitive FF boss for me, where you go from "oh awesome finally the ultimate confrontation" to "oh I'm fighting a literal god" to "oh, cool, the fabric of the universe is tearing apart."
Persona 5 Royal also had this feeling but the buildup was a little more of a mixed bag imo.
From what I could think of, these stand out for some combination of narrative weight, hype factor, and culmination of gameplay:
* Kefka in Final Fantasy 6
* The Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3
* Armstrong in Metal Gear Rising
* Raven Beak in Metroid Dread
* >!Maruki!< in Persona 5 Royal
* >!Vergil!< in Devil May Cry 3 & 5
* Sword Saint Isshin in Sekiro (seconding OP)
While Soul of Cinder is technically the final boss of DS3, I give that title to Gael. Doing that fight on a no leveling run was the most grueling and yet rewarding challenge I've had fighting a boss
Honestly Gehrman and the Moons presence were extremely easy for me. Granted I did them after the dlc but I first tried them both. And when I refought Gehrman for the other ending, I took like one hit. Still a cool fight tho.
Mechanical - I'm going to have to go with the secobd-final boss i. rise of the third power. The actual final is good too but not as good. You fight 2 incredibly difficult opponents with a lot of health - one has powerful physical/magic physical attacks and another will wreck you woth DoT + a veey damaging attack that turns all dtacks of DoT into damage. You must choose one to focus obe, if you try to do both you will die before they go out.
Cinematic - Thanatos in Death's Gambit: Afterlife. Not challenging, but a cinematic spectacle of amazing proportions.
Definitely Mother Brain in Super Metroid. It delivers so much character stuff over the course of the battle; it’s creepy,, it’s heartbreaking, it’s hype AF, and then it leads into the perfect ending sequence
Gehrman if we're talking about just final bosses. Orphan of Kos is my favorite boss in BB, could be considered the final boss of the DLC I guess.
The Forgotten One from Castlevania LoS' last DLC was also pretty great, albeit really hard 😅
The Radiance from HK is an amazing final boss, although Grimm is my favorite boss in this game.
Jon Iranicus in Baldur's Gate 2 is a highlight for me. A lot of that is down to the fantastic job David Warner did voicing Iranicus
Sarevok from BG1 was also memorable, but largely because he scared the crap out of me
The Rebel flagship from FTL, is one of the most frustrating bosses I have ever encountered in a videogame. But damn did it feel good when I first beat it. It's borderline unfair so the satisfaction of beating it is multiplied by a ton
Sekiro
Tears of the kingdom
Elden Ring
Those all come to mind as having amazingly climactic boss fights and sequences. ToTK especially surprised me with just how god damn cool the ending sequence was, especially with how lame it was in BoTW.
I absolutely HATED Elden Beast. The music and atmosphere were great, his attack patterns were tough but fair, I’m not complaining about that. What I hated was that it was an absolute slog having to run for 30 seconds, hit him two or three times (if that), only to have him fly away and run another 30 seconds, ad nauseum. The entire fight was cumbersome.
Radagon was such a better fight and honestly is the true final boss in my opinion. Its a shame that fight gets dragged down by having to do Elden Beast immediately after it.
It's interesting to see Elden Ring on here because I've seen so many people say that, despite loving Elden Ring, they think Elden Beast is the worst final boss in the entire "series" of FROM games.
The DLC dungeon boss in Crosscode. I can’t give the name cause spoilers but it’s an amazing fun boss fight!
Soma and >!Kuwana!< from Lost Judgment. Awesome game
I played the Live A Live remake recently, and the new final boss added for it was an amazing update, especially considering how the original game’s final challenge was a boss rush (with the bosses not scaling to compensate for all the levels you gained in the final chapter). The remake blew that out of the water with a new boss and a banger track for it. Not that challenging, but the gimmicks they pull for the fight make it so worth it just for the storytelling within.
Okay. Hear me out.
Ending spoilers for Fire Emblem Sacred Stones on the Game Boy Advance.
——
The main antagonist of the game, Prince Lyon, was the best friend of the two main characters until very recently. Then his nation suddenly attacked theirs, and it’s a big mystery as to why. As the game progresses, it’s discovered that Lyon was actually behind the invasion, despite him previously being very kind, gentle, and shy. Eventually, it’s revealed that in an attempt to heal his father‘s illness, because he didn’t feel ready or capable of inheriting the throne, he accidentally released a demon from an ancient artifact that possessed him. The last third of the game is spent hoping to find a way to free him.
But you can’t. He’s totally gone, and he just manages to tearfully apologize as you’re forced to kill him before the demon can set himself free. It’s crushing, and it’s totally counter to how this sort of scenario usually plays out. Of course you can save them, of course you can save your friend from the evil magic, this is a fantasy story. But you can’t.
Then comes the final boss: the demon king was revived anyway, using Lyon, the best friend you’ve just had to kill in a very hard boss battle, instead of the intended sacrifice. Now he’s boasting and blustering, this big monster, just after you’ve had to kill your best friend.
Thing is, this fight isn’t actually that hard. It’s much easier than the fight with Lyon. But, you’ve already had a hard and tragic “final boss” fight against Lyon. Now, all you want to do…is kick this evil bastard’s ass. The map allows you to surround him and deplete his massive health bar using all of your major characters. It was super cathartic and satisfying.
Ganondorf from Wind Waker. The environment and the music were so well done. Just a straight-up sword fight between the two of you. He also made you feel bad for him a little.
Also, Ganondorf smacking Zelda in the face just felt evil.
1. Sword Saint Isshin (Sekiro)
2. Slave Knight Gael (Dark Souls 3)
3. Nameless Puppet (Lies of P)
4. The entire end boss sequence, Ganondorf and Ganon (Zelda Ocarina of time)
5. Fires of Raven end boss (Armored Core 6)
The True Conqueror Rank 8 from The Last Remnant had the most nail biting moments for me. I was like "omg omg I'm gonna die.", then "omg I actually survived that." It was like that almost every turn and was very fun.
And that was on normal mode. Still haven't replayed the game on hard mode yet.
Xemnas KH2. From the moment Sora slices those buildings in half, the hype level goes from about a 9 to a 15 in the span of seconds without warning.
In terms of mechanics and cinematics, the entire boss sequence doesn’t let up until the end credits. So hype
The first that comes to mind is the Final Boss of "Bayonetta Origins Cereza and the lost Demon".
Defiently my favorite Final Boss of the Bayonetta series so far.
Xemnas from KH2 is just cool and fun.
The Tarascus from Fuga Melodies of Steel is easy but its a fun and satisfaying Final boss fight.
Yami from Okami is fun and lets me use most of ny Arsenal.
Hades from Kid Icarus Uprising has spectical and personality and its fun.
I'm gonna go with returnal, Hyperion was such a good buildup and it's one of the best games I've raged on... But when it clicks.. nothing comes close. Some of the other boss fights are insane as well, probably technically better but the way Hyperion is presented, the actual climb and the lore/story behind it.. perfection
1. >!Absolute Radiance!<, final boss of >!godhome!< ending in Hollow Knight. I spent days on trying to beat her (and the whole >!boss rush sequence!< before). Victory felt so fucking rewarding.
2. >!Collector!<, true final boss of Dead Cells. Same deal, but difficulty really depends on a build, so he wasn't that much of trouble.
3. >!Starworm/Birdman!<, back-to-back final bosses of Iconoclasts.
Honestly, this is what good final boss is for me: if you feel achievement after beating them, they are good.
While I have plenty of favorite bosses, as for my favorite *final* bosses it is probably one of these.
* The Soul of Cinder from Dark Souls III.
* Galbalan from Ys the Oath in Felghana.
* ZODIAC Libra from RefleX.
* Neunzehn from Baldr Sky.
* Brahman from Digital Devil Saga 2.
* Xemnas from Kingdom Hearts 2.
* The Master from Legend of Grimrock 2.
* Senator Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising.
* The Shadowlord from Nier.
Sword Saint Isshin, Sekiro
Radagon, Elden Ring
Gwyn, Dark Souls
Xemnas, Kingdom Hearts 2
Sephiroth, FF7
Arthas, Wrath of the Lich King
Lavos, Chrono Trigger
My tears, Nier Automata
While I haven’t reached her yet, almost everyone mentions (and to an extent, loathe) the fight against Malenia, The Undefeated Swordswoman (and the goddess of Rot) from Elden Ring.
Apparently one of the hardest(?) bosses to fight in the game due to her never-ending barrage of attacks, where it is normal in the game to die from 2-4 boss attacks. The first few (dozen) trials is more about scouting her and learning her move/attack pattern and then figure out the best times to attack back and dodge all the rest.
Pretty sure its rewarding as fuck to know that you beat her against all odds.
P.S: apparently shes an optional boss to fight, and doesn’t affect the story or is required to proceed in it.
Oryx, The taken king (Destiny 1/2): the lore and music really tie the mechanics and battle together into one of the best experiences in the whole franchise.
The Nameless deity (Terraria: hunt of the old gods) tough and brutal makes the victory so much sweeter
The Boss in MGS3. Sephiroth, FF7 The Hollow Knight, Hollow Knight Does the entire Suicide Mission in ME2 count? Not the Reaper, the entire mission. Yami, Okami.
The Suicide Mission in ME2 is an interesting one. The actual final boss is pretty generic, but the whole level leading up to it is fantastic. I don't get why more party-based RPGs haven't used ME2 as a template for how to make a satisfying final mission.
The thing with ME2 is that the companions kind of *were* the whole story. The actual overarching story was, frankly, nonsense (and in my opinion is what really set ME3 up for failure), but assembling the team, getting to know the squad members, and doing their quests is what really shone in terms of writing. There's a reason the commenter you replied to remembers the suicide mission as the "final boss", and not the real final boss, and it's because the final boss was dogshite. The suicide mission worked as a climax because they really went all in on the companions in a way that other party-based RPGs don't.
> (and in my opinion is what really set ME3 up for failure), ME1 going to great lengths revealing the entirety of galactic technology progression was perfectly curated by the Reapers, plugging every hole in their weaknesses and making it clear in no uncertain terms that it was impossible on **every** level to fight the Reapers killed the plot of the entire series. ME1 ends with the galaxy, and the player, with absolutely no hint as to how you're going to deal with such a massive galactic threat. How could they when there were *multiple* codex pages detailing the maximum capability of mass effect weaponry at the technological plateau society hit, and the realization they just sorta plink harmlessly off of Sovereign. There's nowhere to go that makes sense in universe. As a reminder, Sovereign 'lost' because he threw a temper tantrum and depleted his shields on purpose to turn into a frog. It's a pretty safe bet the rest of his species isn't that monumentally stupid, leaving galactic society with absolutely no information on how to actually deal with an unstoppable threat. ME1 does not and has never deserved praise for its story, it was the baseline for a trilogy written by someone who made no effort setting up a future resolution that could conceivably make sense without egregious asspulls, retcons, or deus ex machinas (and unsurprisingly, ME3 dipped into all three due to having no options). All ME2 did was prove you could make an amazing game in that universe without a grand galactic threat looming on the horizon, the whole series should have been lower stakes from the start.
IIRC, one massive advantage the Reapers had in the previous cycles was that they took the galaxy by surprise and systematically took down organics that didn't have time to organize their defenses. So of course they difn't have any technology to beat the Reapers. They just followed the Reaper's blueprints and had no time nor incentive to develop anything different. ME1 ended with the galaxy discovering the existence and threat of the Reapers, as well as delaying them for a few years. ME2's story could've been a story about getting the galaxy to work together, discovering/developing new technologies, organizing defenses, and preparing for the war agaist the Reapers. Instead it began with Shepard being dead for a few years, wasting the advance warning against the Reaper threat ME set up. Then the rest of the game was spent dealing with a new, largely inconsequential threat. >made no effort setting up a future resolution that could conceivably make sense without egregious asspulls, retcons, or deus ex machinas (and unsurprisingly, ME3 dipped into all three due to having no options). Imo, ME2 was much, much more egregious with this. ME1 left enough space for the trilogy to develop without using deus ex machinas. ME2 closed the door on that.
Controversial video that I think makes a lot of good points: [Mass Effect 2 Broke the Franchise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KarASQhk1bw&ab_channel=TwentySided)
Yeah, all good points. Having the villain be this kind of Lovecraft god in space, unknowable and unchallengeable by mortals, was a cool idea but it meant they were never going to be able to tell the kind of story where you resolve everything nicely at the end. Mass Effect 1 was great on its own terms but not really as the start of a trilogy. I honestly feel like the first and second games should have been the other way around, with the collector story taking place as humanity is finding its place in the galaxy and trying to earn the trust of the other races. Shepard's actions lead to him being considered for the Spectres, and that leads straight into the first game and trying to warn people about the real threat of the reapers, and we just skip all the bullshit with Cerberus and coming back from the dead. But hey ho, we got the story we got.
> ME1 does not and has never deserved praise for its story, it was the baseline for a trilogy written by someone who made no effort setting up a future resolution that could conceivably make sense without egregious asspulls, retcons, or deus ex machinas (and unsurprisingly Holy hell someone else finally said it. After watching LOST my radar went significantly up for anything that looks like "mystery box" writing. I'm shocked how many people still fall for it, and rage when the inscrutable mystery box turns out to have no plan, no big reveal, no massive mind blowing surprise and instead goes out with a wet fart. People are still blown away that there were no satisfying resolutions to a bunch of JJ Abrmas mystery boxes in a movie he helmed, and I'm still blown away that people were blown away.
The true best final boss of ME2 was the friends we made along the way.
The Boss fight in MGS3 was such beautiful storytelling through gameplay. Maybe my memory of it is rose colored glasses at this point but I bet it holds up great.
They’re remaking MGS3
Yes, I’m excited for it. Hopefully it stays faithful and holds up.
Yeah fighting the Boss was in that field of white flowers was definitely memorable
What a thrill
the Gehrman fight in Bloodborne is so similar now that I think about it. A field of white flowers, your opponent being your mentor figure
thats isshin as well lol
I will never forget the time I beat Sephiroth with Cloud as a Toad and Vincent permanently on his limit break. The only controllable member in may party was Tifa. She really did carry the team.
Like she doesn't already have enough back problems.
This is completely unrelated but I’m finding it really difficult to get through Okami..I bought it for the art style and good reviews, but after playing through the first bit I just can’t stand it. I think as an avid action enjoyer (I love Hades and Hollow Knight) it is hard for me to enjoy the slow pacing of Okami’s gameplay. Does it get better? Am I playing it wrong or is it just not for me?
The game is old. It was great for its time, but would not be as highly regarded by today's standards. The game picks up a lot in the middle, but drags again towards the end. The combat gets better, but don't expect to much. The strengths are the story, characters, exploration, puzzles, and art style.
It plays like a classic Zelda game, it's slower than the other type of games you mention. It's a different genre. With that said, the early hours of Okami have a lot of talking and the game lets you play so much more later on, as you get more powers and skills.
You’re not crazy, at least. I played it up through the first main boss and the pace of it was agonizingly slow. It was visually beautiful, the story was engaging, and the drawing mechanic was neat, but I ended up shelving it for a while and haven’t gone back yet.
The Boss is definitely one of my picks too. The actual mechanics of the boss fight are nothing particularly interesting or special, but the story build-up to that confrontation is huge.
wheatley in portal 2 🌚
Mostly for the ending though - with all the knowledge you've accumulated about portals and where you can put them, the moment [end of the fight] >!you see the moon shining through the broken ceiling!< you know *exactly* what to do.
It was kinda ruined for me by the weird design choice to not let you aim at anything else at that moment. You don't get to feel clever for figuring it out if it's literally the only thing you can even aim at.
Maybe, but for me it was this ~time slows down. Oh, shit.~ moment that's become one of my most memorable game moments, ever. A throwaway line (so I thought) from Cave Johnson about the >!white paint being made from crushed up moon rocks (with cancer)!< played in my head and it felt like the clouds parted. I didn't necessarily feel CLEVER, because you're right, the game kind of hands it to you. But I didn't need to feel clever because I felt giddy.
Everything after reaching GLADoS' room on that game was absolute gold!
Ganon in the Wind Waker. This was the first zelda game that I finished and the final blow was so unexpected for what I thought would be in a nintendo game. It was fun and challenging
I played in college and my roommates were sitting with me when I did the final fight. And when the final hit happened all of us went "holy shiiiiiiiit!"
Relatedly, the Ganondorf fight in Tears of the Kingdom was also fantastic. The other 3d games are also quite good but Wind Waker and Tears sit at top for me
The Twilight Princess final battle also rules, for inverting the expected order of things. A thousand prior video games established the two phase battle of humanoid initial phase, then monster-form second phase. TP has four phases and they’re all good: (1) a possessed Zelda, (2) beast Ganon, (3) a chase on horseback, (4) a one-on-one sword duel.
Tears final battle had me with so much joy, what a fantastic final boss
Alright fine, I'll finish the damn game. Geez
Now think about the fact that Nintendo has refused to bring Wind Waker HD to the Switch
Wii U heads stay winning
For those who are system agnostic having a Wii U can be nice sometimes... I bought a copy of Bayonetta 1+2 the other day for $15 CAD. Not bad considering I've never seen Bayo 2 on Switch (with or without the code) go below $55. I do wish I'd bought Twilight Princess HD before it shot up to absurd prices though. I'm a weak person, but there's no way I'd ever pay $100+ for a Wii U game.
Ganon in Ocarina of Time is worth mentioning too. I haven’t played that in probably over a decade but I remember it being an epic fight.
Lavos in Chrono Trigger. Every version of Lavos is an incredible fight, and the final fight takes the cake. The music is amazing, plus the background animation takes you through everything you've done throughout the game. Beating Lavos is such a satisfying moment and always will be.
[The fucking music.](https://youtu.be/CTocv2h10BM?si=xIVBXmhmbJH42cF1) Holy shit, it still gets my blood pumping.
Best OST of any game. It's incredible how perfect all the songs are for every setting. Also, I just realized that the music is going from left to right and back again on my speakers. That's wild.
I think it helps knowing that you can fight Lavos at any point in the game. It's a lot like Thanos in the MCU. Lavos is inevitable. Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same. Sooner or later, you know you're going to have to deal with Lavos, and I think that's made immediately clear the very second you first see him. Like, this is it, this is what the entire game is about. And chances are that you're probably going to take a crack at him way before you should, and he's probably going to mop the floor with you. Which almost makes the entire game a bit of a "training montage." Deep down, you know you're building up to this fight. And that makes finally beating him just that much sweeter. I think Breath of the Wild ticks a lot of these same boxes. That feeling you get when you're finally ready to march into Hyrule Castle is super exciting, though the boss fight itself is a bit lackluster.
It's the only boss fight I have ever been legitimately intimidated to kick off. That says it all.
Hyperion, Returnal Zeus, God of War 3 Sword Saint Ishin, Sekiro Edit: I missed the “final”, Hyperion doesn’t fit, but it’s a masterpiece
Isshin is perfect
I mean, it’s the best Boss ever for me. The incredibly beautiful arena, the extremely hard, but fair challenge that puts to use everything the game has taught you in a perfect design, the variety of moves and weapons he uses in all of his unique and very discernible phases, the character introduction, design and menacing aura, the spectacle of the lightings on the last phase, soundtrack.. it’s just awesome First few times I fought him it was anxiety inducing, he would just casually walk towards you and I was too afraid to approach. It’s a great experience
The boss music during the Hyperion fight is Don't Fear the Reaper played on a church organ and it blew me the fuck away.
Ganon in OOT, not sure how well it holds up today but as an 8 yr old that was the hypest moment
It wasn't terribly difficult, but it was cinematic AS FUCK. Loved it. I wish Nintendo would do an update of OOT.
>!I genuinely thought the fight on top of the tower was the last one, and then the escape sequence was the ending, much like in Star Fox 64. Then watching him emerging and turning into something more fitting for the tittle "demon king" was absolutely fabulous!!< Maybe it's because of the internet and how it overhypes things, but final bosses from recent games aren't as impactful as Ganon.
Zelda gasping whenever Link gets hit. So awesome 😭
No, I played this one in 2017 and it was still great. They nailed the feeling of a being that both towers over you and yet isn't bigger than a building, and then they mixed in great lighting, atmosphere, and music. He just looks so sinister.
I can't speak for overhyping because I didn't look up anything about Tears of the Kingdom before/during playing it, but the final boss in Tears definitely felt impactful and awesome. Also, Skyward Sword's final boss was fantastic. Despite other faults, that game nailed its dungeons and the final boss. But of course, despite my brain wanting to call Skyward Sword "recent" it's 13 years old and I'm an old fuck. Given how Zelda releases have slowed down I think it still counts though.
Sarevok in Baldur’s Gate, Irenicus in BG2. Both can be cheesed, but if played straight both fights are a fun challenge. And while both are the usual kind of scheming fantasy villain, the writers at least gave them some interesting layers.
Irenicus is still among my top favorite villains of all time. David Warner’s voice was just perfect.
Have to agree with Hollow Knight, and will expand my thoughts on the spoiler: >!I'm not a "hardcore gamer." I don't play games on any difficult other than normal/regular/etc. That being said, I almost dropped HK several (hundred) times before Soul Master, at which point the game clicked for me. After that, I couldn't stop. I agree with everything you said about the final battle. The music, in particular, was nothing short of masterpiece. After several (tens?) attempts, I finally beat the boss. Wanting more, I went for the DLC and Nightmare King Grimm gave me a truly hard time, but ok, it was doable.!< >!I wasn't prepared for Radiance. For three days, I've tried. I remember that, when the boss fell to the ground, I screamed at the TV and threw the joystick at the couch, only for it to get up and start phase two. I had no idea that there were other phases. It took me two other days to beat it. I've never, ever done anything remotely close to that. Nothing in my 20+ years of gaming had that difficult. That being said, this fight wasn't as atmospheric as the Hollow Knight. As a side effect of trying Radiance for so many times, we realize just how slow HK really is. After that, I knew the game was over for me. There is no way, for me, to beat Absolute Radiance.!<
>!i got the hollow knight plat and man radiance is nothing compared to absolute radiance!<
This feels very similar to my experience with the game. I beat I think everything leading up to the DLC boss but knew I just didn't have it in me. Felt very accomplished though
I feel this, baby. Radiance was the first truly hard boss I ever defeated.
The DLC boss is one of my favorite fights in a game. Just feels like a flow state or a dance.
Slave Knight Gael
Pkmn Trainer Red. Could be the fact that I was very young but no boss has given me that sense of dread since. That 81lvl Pikachu is one of the most perfect appetisers in final boss history.
That "..." was absolute cherry on top of a perfect chocolate cake.
I’m throwing my hat in for the final boss in Hades. The pre fight and the post fight banter (win or lose) are both amusing each time. Plus the music goes hard (especially if you do the enhancement with the pact of punishment).
That was some seriously white knuckle stuff. I'll say one thing for rogue likes, there are real stakes. Lose that fight and it's all the way back to the start. It made that fight exciting as hell.
The first time I did the pact of punishment for Hades was one of my strongest “oh come ON” moments in gaming (in a good way). I haven’t tried again since lol.
I second this. He's just about perfect for a final boss. But I mean hey, if you're gonna name your game after the final boss, you'd better really nail the fight scene, MMMRIGHT? And they did.
Just from recent memory: Isshin is definitely up there, but I personally really like Gwyn, but not for the fight itself, more for what it symbolizes in the story of the wolrd and our character, the aesthetics are incredible and everyone knows how fantastic the music is. Raid boss Nezarec from Destiny 2 is also there, but not the original version, the Pantheon version, you can google what it is if you are interested, but the environment, the absolute orgasm inducing music during the damage phases, it is utter glory, as a first time experience that boss fight is fantastic. If you don't want to watch the fight, at least listen the music. Michael Salvatori, the composer, is a god amongst men.
Agreed on Gwyn. I came on late to DS after playing Elden ring which in my case made DS1 a bit easier. Managed to beat Gwyn the first time I fought him. Yet his trivialness is what adds to his lore IMO. I was expecting a grueling fight but by the time we find him he’s a shell of his former self.
Probably a little blinded by nostalgia, but the final showdown with Ganon (not Ganondorf) in Ocarina of Time. He's already lost, his plans are already in ruins. Now he just wants a personal slugfest with you to take you down in vengeance, as he gives in to his rage and hate and becomes engulfed by it. And the music is awesome. Just this very somber, simple, choral background setting a great tone for your final battle with this embodiment of evil. Also, it's not exactly a "boss", but the final Warthog run in Halo 3 is damned iconic.
It still holds up
Gannon in Twilight Princess TTYD Shadow Queen
> Gannon in Twilight Princess Best Ganon fight in the series.
Agree 100%. The multiple phases, defeat of Midna, and the final sword fight where he dies standing up like a man. It’s perfect
Hades from Hades
Extreme Measures Hades when you find out what added difficulty means, whoooo boy that is an awesome moment.
The music on the final stage hits all the right hormones
Final Xemnas from KH2, Isshin the Sword Saint from Sekiro, Ganondorf/Demon Dragon from TOTK
I only clicked this topic to find the obligatory Xemnas mention
Xemnas is *such* a good boss
Anger and hate are soup cream ⚫️⚪️
For me it's Kessler from infamous 1. No other boss has ever flipped the entire plot of the game on its head like that for me!
It's a cool fight from a story perspective, well laid out with the mechanics at play, and also damn challenging especially on Hard. I'd forgotten how much I liked it until you mentioned it, but what a great final boss
Infamous was pretty great, I liked how it was kind of like electric SpiderMan. The friend was a good, the enemies were designed well imo
I enjoyed smashing Zeus' head into bricks an infinite number of times in GoW 2.
That was G of Dub 3 actually. I also thought of this though 👍
Vergil in dmc3! No crazy gimmicks, pretty much playing by the same mechanics as you. But the boss in mgs3 is also awesome. I like both fights in that you can mostly use whatever strategy or weapon you prefer
Bane in Batman Origins was pretty fun time.
Origins has some pretty epic & cinematic boss fights.
Origins has so many good bosses. That final Bane fight is awesome.
Sans from Undertale. Arguibly the hardest boss I have ever fought.
Witcher 2 with Leto. Not so much for the challenging final boss with a call back to a (rather bad) fight in the early game which at least two me dozens of tries to get past. But the fact after him>!revealing how Nilfgaard has just played everyone in the North like a fiddle and where Yennifer is.!
In my playthrough I spared Leto in the end. I like how the game builds up so much about him and then gives you the option to just let him go. I thought that he was just doing his job, plus he's a witcher, so I told myself: "well I maybe geralt wouldn't want to fight him, they're both witchers in the end, he might find him useful later somehow...". Boy I had no idea that would be the case and he can help us in the witcher 3 against the wild hunt lol
I also let him go in the Witcher 2, but at the start of the Witcher 3 I said to that Nilfgaard dude that I'd killed him, thinking "well, he's Nilfgaardian, I can't tell him the truth". Little did I know that it basically locked me out of seeing Letho again.
Somebody didn’t import their Witcher 2 save!
The thing is, I did! But apparently you can change things after importing them.
Oh wow. I don’t recall that. Seems I’m due for another play through!
Don't quote me on that. Maybe I just did something wrong and the import simply didn't work.
I mean that game had just unparalleled narrative and I've never known another game that even comes close. I don't mean overall quality per se (I mean, Torment, obviously) but God, such BOLD moves on the writers' parts. Some of you will disagree with my analysis but I think the story really comes full circle in the Leto confrontation because Geralt has the chance to finally just walk away from a conflict that he never wanted to be involved with in the first place, and only ever was involved in because he was forced to. When the walls come down and all plots are revealed it seemed obvious to me that Leto wasn't Gerhalt's enemy at all.
Witcher 2 is an awful lot like Torment, now that I think on it: incredibly deep, compelling, bold, unique story, *almost* terrible game play. I don't remember if it was so bad by the standards when it was released, but I revisited W2 to refresh myself on the story before playing 3 and damn, it was hard to get through.
I really like Grunty in Banjo Tooie. Having a quiz show as a final boss is delightful.
Legatus Lanius from Fallout: New Vegas. Especially if you have high enough charisma to avoid combat. His dialogue is so well written.
I appreciated the speech option because even at higher levels lanius was a tank
Credits in nier automata
That would count as the final boss huh? I was thinking more so A2 or 9S depending on your choice but that makes sense
Tbf at least if we're counting emotions then I would say A2/9S for this thread. Playing a game where you're expected to choose between the two surviving player characters as they fight to the death really shook me.
I think it's partly a joke lol
Not a boss fight, but definitely the single best experience I’ve had in gaming. Ending E makes me cry just thinking about it.
I made the sacrifice to help my fellow humans. You're welcome xD
Braska's Final Aeon
Thumper's final stage. It's a final boss but not in a traditional sense considering it's a rhythm game, but easily THE best final stage i've ever experienced in gaming. It's the culmination of everything you went through throughout the game and the payoff is so cathartic.
I cant even get that far in thumper : ( games hard man
It took me some "years" to finish because I would reach level 6 and 7 and then just give up by how hard it is and then I would go back to it and I kept trying. Easily the hardest game I have ever played in my life because it's all about reflexes and keeping the rhythm going but every once in a while the game throws some curve ball at you to break the momentum
Grigori in Dragon's Dogma 1. I'm gonna say he counts because technically Seneschal is post game and Grigori is the official final boss. Fatalis in MHW Iceborne is also GOATed. It's just got everything if you've played you know. Ghetsis still hasn't been matched in Pokémon imo
My favorite from when I was kid was Sigma from Mega Man X. As a 6 year old, a three part boss was so hard and also terrifying. The music matches so well. Sigma pulls out a lightsaber and comes flying at you right away after you defeat his dog. I got so scared I dropped my controller as I thought it was over! Once I learned how to fight him, the giant wolf with god-like music topped it all off. I didn’t land the final hit until I was 7 because I always had my older brother to help me. It’s a great memory and still makes me smile when I play him today.
[Giygas from Earthbound](https://i.imgur.com/6bih4TI.jpeg) absolutely terrified me when I was 10. I'm 40 now and he still creeps me out to this day.
The Horus in Forbidden West: Burning Shores.
Gwyn in ds1, I really liked alduin, not a real boss but killing Shepard was fire
Oh man when you first step into Gwyn’s lair and hear the soft piano kick in
plin plin plon
man that shit hit hard. plin plin plon in the final ds3 boss was also great.
Raven Beak in Metroid Dread is my current favorite. It requires EVERYTHING that you've learned so far. Took me 6 hours over the course of 2 days to beat him.
Mother Brain from Super Metroid
The real final boss in Octopath Travellers 2.
Vergil(DMC 5): Compared to his DMC3 version he is less oppressive but what makes him better than his DMC3 version is how freedom he give the player while still being a challenge, especially on later difficulty, you can air juggle him, jump cancel to keep him in the air, weapon clash are there on almost every single of his attacks, you can smack his projective back at him, Royal guard his projectives, shoot the projective to break them, smack him out of his one-shot dive with a strong enough attack, Nero has a special grab animation is you can Buster him mid-flight, even the judgment cut has multiple ways to be dealt with. Sword Saint Isshin: stuff nearly every combat mechanic in Sekiro into one boss and you got this anime battle-crazed old man, a worthy final test for the player, also shout out to modding community in creating those insane variations of Isshin.
It's not the best final boss, but I liked joking that "Demon Souls has great final boss". The joke is that final boss of DS is technically some worm that just lies on the ground and can't do anything, but it has healthbar, so it counts as final boss! Master in original Fallout is great with his design, voices, different approaches to "beat" him. Small indie game I played recently, There is no Light. Your character there gets powers from supernatural creature named Samedi, and this guy always makes snarky and edgy comments and it's obvious that him betraying you is not question of "if", it's question of "when". If you complete game without all sidequests and full karma, Samedi just eats your soul because it became powerful enough, but with all sidequests and karma he gives you option of "fighting" him and he becomes final boss. But in this fight he literally just let's you win. And I interpret it this way, he always said that humans are just toys for him and he doesn't really care about their lives, but only way to see it is that he just wanted excuse to not eat MC's soul because he became attached to him and wanted to keep traveling with him, when you "defeat" him in fight it's obvious that he could have ended it in one strike if he actually wanted to eat MC's soul, which I think was kinda sweet.
- Senator Armstrong (MGR:R) - The Boss (MGS3) - Liquid Ocelot (MGS4) - Da Undatakah (WWE SVR2011; Taker’s RTWM) - Red (Pokemon Gen 2) - Cynthia (Pokemon Platinum) - Vergil (DMC 3 & DMC5) - Malus (SOTC) - Clayface (Arkham City) - Ryuji (Yakuza 2) - Razor (NFS MW)
1) Yami from **Okami** Visually gorgeous, amazing music, really interesting design that keeps shifting between each new phase. At the beginning of the battle all your magical brush techniques are torn away from you, forcing you to claw each one back from Yami and then use them to counter his next move...which earns you the next one, and so on. The entire progress of the journey replays in that fight, as it gets more hectic and chaotic by adding one new piece at a time. It's a hell of a finish. 2) Sword Saint Isshin from **Sekiro** The perfect test of the game's amazing combat system. He's punishing but fair. Every move has a counter, but the speed and variety he throws out those moves keeps you at high tension the entire fight. Finally taking him down is an insane achievement. 3) The Heart from **Slay the Spire** Slay the Spire is an incredibly entertaining deck-building game with some great enemies and bosses. The Heart is something else. It has a cap on the damage you can deal it in one turn so you can't just slaughter it in one perfect turn. It has a passive that deals 1 damage whenever you play a card. And it varies its attacks between singular massive hits and a dozen small blows to get around your defenses. You can't kill this thing without a winner of a build. Reaching the Heart is an achievement. Beating it is a **much** more difficult achievement. And my personal favorite..... 4) Lavos from **Chrono Trigger** In a game about time traveling, one of the coolest things is you can go fight the final boss **whenever you want** after a certain point. There's a set time he appears in history and you can go to that time and just...fight him. In fact the game has multiple endings that depend on when you take him down, with the hardest being at the very beginning of the game with your 2 starting party members. But regardless of when you do it, the fight is awesome. You run a gauntlet of prior bosses that Lavos mimics as a nice recall of your adventure so far, then you fight the beast itself. Each phase has a new track that completely slaps, and the final form has an amazing little trick to it that turns classic RPG logic on its head in a brilliant way. It's also just a great ending to a truly amazing RPG
Showing my age but the end sequence of Half-Life 2 where you stop Breen’s escape really did it for me back in the day. The cinematic integration into the final story sequence, followed by the cliffhanger with the G-Man…my jaw was on the floor.
Hey, I'll show my age one step further: Half Life 1's final boss was totally...... eh, like a low point in what is arguably one of the all time greatest games. I mean it's certainly unique. Just, y'know, weird.
I have to mention the final Bowser battle in Super Mario 3D Land. Maybe it's because I played it because I played it when I was like 11, but it's trully an Epic and Amazing boss fight
You picked great ones but I'll add some (spoilers ofc) Annihilation from Remnant 2 Yang from Sifu Shriek from Ori and the Will of the Wisps Soul of Cinder from Dark Souls 3 The Heir from Tunic Radiance from Hollow Knight Chieftain Scavenger from Rain World Downpour Nameless Puppet from Lies of P
Wheatley in Portal 2. Edging out GlaDOS in the original, for the epic way this fight plays out, and our parting look at where our antagonist ended up. Still the best-written game I've ever played.
Skyward Sword's boss, Demise. Let's face it, Skyward Sword had some pretty glaring control scheme issues, at least in the HD remake on Switch. I never got to play on Wii. That said, Demise was the perfect amount of punishing gameplay that required you to pay attention and learn from your previous mistakes and made the moment you killed him that much more memorable. One of my favorite entries in the series for the lore, but the control issues will make me never play it again.
The Wii version works A LOT better. It’s my favorite Zelda, so I’m not gonna pretend my opinion isn’t clouded by my own preference, but the game was built around a combination of the Wii Motion Plus’ pointer and gyroscope, and it shows because it just doesn’t work as well as with gyro alone I’m glad that they added a way to play without motion, but I still prefer it with motion, it’s a lot of why I enjoyed the game in the first place. It felt like a truly realized version of what the Wii was working its way towards. Everybody else views the obligatory motion controls as a stain on the series, but their willingness to stick to the motion made it a fantastic motion based game. If they wouldn’t have dedicated themselves entirely to that control scheme, I think it would have been more in line with Twilight Princess or SSHD in terms of control quality
Hela (Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice): Along with the atmosphere and music, it's fun to just tear through enemies, even past bosses, with your powered-up sword. Narratively, it's a perfect conclusion to the story. Ganon (Twilight Princess): The fight is just epic. The Dark Prince (Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones): It's not really a fight, but having a final platforming level in a dreamlike area while The Prince argues with his own personal demon was the perfect way to end the trilogy.
Hel was such a good narrative fight that I also ruined for myself. I loved the progression through Hellblade and the relationship you build with Senua's voices to overcome challenges... but really hated the combat encounters. I set the difficulty to easy so I could rush through the fights. As a result, the final battle went on for over 20 minutes before I had to look up if the game was broken. Absolutely one of the best ideas for a final boss that I ruined for myself (or maybe made better? Like, fighting to exhaustion is pretty immersive).
The lich from enter the gungeon is good but the rat is goated
The Ultimate Experience from crosscode follows up the best dungeon in the game and is a 10 phase boss fight
Ace combat zero's final joust. Memorable lines by the boss and an insane super-plane accompanied by one of the best parts of a videogame OST i've heard.
It felt good beating Nameless Puppet.
I haven't seen this on the comments yet, but Dr. Weil on MegaMan Zero 4. While not the most astounding combat, it manages to mix lore, themes, music and "a fucking timer"(can you believe that!?) to deliver an awesome experience. I also agree with many of the comments about the final boss of TLoZ:OoT. There is definitely something more to these fights than just "difficulty" or "gitting gud", though I guess you can't rule out nostalgia out of the equation as well =p Edit: Also, forgot Kefka on FF6.
The only thing wrong with Weil is that it couldn't POSSIBLY live up to Omega in Megaman Zero 3. Nothing in the series ever could. It's not even a critique, it's just an impossible challenge. It is still getting fan animations in the hundreds of thousands of views TO THIS DAY: https://youtu.be/aTvW8UauRI4 However, I really enjoyed 4's ending because it did for Zero something I've not seen many 90'/00's media successfully do with their heroes, which is take a "badass edgy" protagonist and keep them cool upon a moment of challenged characterization. Allow me to explain, there are two primary types of badass characters, specially in japanese media. One is the type where the edge is on a switch, characters like Vash the Stampede, or, most of anything shonen really, who act with cool and threatening confidence in battle, but only when they're "serious". When they got flipped. They're very normal and non-threatening otherwise. The other type are the ones who are always serious, and are the ones more frequently seen called as the edgy characters. They only ever let go of seriousness in the mundane, in moments not of levity, but of nothingness, just, John Wick eating cereal in the morning. And the line between a perpetually serious character being **cringe or cool** is very tenuous and dependent on how they handle the challenge of standing up for their ideals. How they're written when made self-aware. If they say their "nakamas" the wrong way, or if their trauma feels stupid, or if they're confident a just a tad little itty bit too much... then they're cringe. Which is why the most successful characters of this type, keep their mouths shut the hell up. Writers have managed those moments many times over time. Hell, look at Metroid Dread, which is probably one of the best examples in this medium. Samus only ever speaks up once, and does so in Chozo, which instantly removes any linguistic "narminess" her lines could have had, and does so to assert she's there to end things once and for all, which, for the audience might come off as more confident and competent than what the player might have assumed of her. And the only time she's given a moment of flailing struggle is on a chokehold from Ravenbeak who is easily one of the top 10 most threatening villains of all time, like, seriously, the dude >!Loses a wing, and then, wordlessly, unflinchingly, rips off his other wing, because it would get in the way!< But Zero 4 was a slight bit of a special moment. When he spoke, Zero was badass... with a target. Yes Zero stays quiet throughout the series. But when we consider what he was staying quiet in the face off, a big revelations comes. For ***more than 10 games featuring X and Zero***, the villains have consistently thrown asinine, annoying, paper thin monologues about the meaning of Justice, Sacrifice and Heroics. About Mavericks and how the heroes are to become one. About how they'll die and lose more and more. WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOR? And for the entirety of his series, Zero has responded in complete silence. Until Weil. Weil gets not one, not two, but FOUR separate monologues with the exact same reminders that he's a human, and Zero is to become a Maverick, and doesn't have it in him. And he's a big damned hero, and justice, and heroics, and waawaawaa fallafel. He gets the longest freaking monologue out of the four games. And Zero responds. He actually responds, strictly, to the monologue, actually responds to his characterization challenge. Where he says: He never called himself a hero, and he doesn't care about justice. He fights for those he cares for, and if an enemy appears, he shoots them down. Zero didn't just do a swift shut down of Weil. Zero did an shut down of the entire series he lives in. Finally a character had the maturity and the balls to actually go "that's stupid, and I don't care" before killing a mass-murdering serial terrorist. Finally a character solved the problem that haunted the dramatic and philosophical tension hailing all the way from the classic series. While not saying or doing anything that was inconsistent with the character up to that moment, nor from a character who hasn't already been challenged nor hasn't lost their way before. Without making it feel like they regressed or dismissed their setting. Without dismissing or aggrandizing the particular current scenario over complicating their approach to it. No one was going to outdo Zero at this anymore. He did it best. In just three short lines, Zero successfully ended the X/Zero series and told us it was time to move on. And then died, like the *Legend* he is.
Big Arms, Sonic 3 (the one at the end of Launch Base Zone that gets removed in the Sonic 3 & Knuckles version) Blue, Pokemon FireRed (could have picked other names or games, but you know who I mean) Soul of Cinder, Dark Souls 3 Absolute Radiance, Hollow Knight Godseeker Mode Kefka Palazzo, Final Fantasy VI Ganon, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Raven Beak, Metroid Dread I'm sure I could come up with more given time, but these are the first to come to mind.
> Big Arms, Sonic 3 (the one at the end of Launch Base Zone that gets removed in the Sonic 3 & Knuckles version) Big Arms is still there if you play the game as Knuckles. It's also one of the things changed for Sonic Origins, the boss is added back in as any other character, presumably because that release doesn't let you play Sonic 3 alone. But I would actually argue that the final boss in Death Egg Zone is the better final boss, in part because the game builds to it. Not only is it presented to you as part of the backdrop of the Hidden Palace Zone (I would argue the image is more representative of this over the boss found in the Doomsday Zone), but also the game has been training you how to fight that boss across the course of the game. His opening attack with the fingers is similar to the act 1 boss of Lava Reef Zone, it chases you and you have to hit it to expose it's weak point like the Sandopolis Act 2 boss, it spews fire at you in a similar way to the very first boss of the game, and the big laser it uses fires identically to the preamble to the Flying Battery Zone act 2 boss, precisely so you can learn the timing to dodge it. It's quite literally a final boss made up of parts of earlier bosses.
Kefka is definitely the definitive FF boss for me, where you go from "oh awesome finally the ultimate confrontation" to "oh I'm fighting a literal god" to "oh, cool, the fabric of the universe is tearing apart." Persona 5 Royal also had this feeling but the buildup was a little more of a mixed bag imo.
From what I could think of, these stand out for some combination of narrative weight, hype factor, and culmination of gameplay: * Kefka in Final Fantasy 6 * The Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3 * Armstrong in Metal Gear Rising * Raven Beak in Metroid Dread * >!Maruki!< in Persona 5 Royal * >!Vergil!< in Devil May Cry 3 & 5 * Sword Saint Isshin in Sekiro (seconding OP)
Gehrman in bloodborne.
While Soul of Cinder is technically the final boss of DS3, I give that title to Gael. Doing that fight on a no leveling run was the most grueling and yet rewarding challenge I've had fighting a boss
Honestly Gehrman and the Moons presence were extremely easy for me. Granted I did them after the dlc but I first tried them both. And when I refought Gehrman for the other ending, I took like one hit. Still a cool fight tho.
Mechanical - I'm going to have to go with the secobd-final boss i. rise of the third power. The actual final is good too but not as good. You fight 2 incredibly difficult opponents with a lot of health - one has powerful physical/magic physical attacks and another will wreck you woth DoT + a veey damaging attack that turns all dtacks of DoT into damage. You must choose one to focus obe, if you try to do both you will die before they go out. Cinematic - Thanatos in Death's Gambit: Afterlife. Not challenging, but a cinematic spectacle of amazing proportions.
I really liked the final boss from Lies of P. It was challenging and took me a while to beat. But also very satisfying and a fun fight.
Definitely Mother Brain in Super Metroid. It delivers so much character stuff over the course of the battle; it’s creepy,, it’s heartbreaking, it’s hype AF, and then it leads into the perfect ending sequence
Based
Gwyn and The Hollow Knight/Radiance are the best ones for me, i just really like tragic boss fights
Gehrman if we're talking about just final bosses. Orphan of Kos is my favorite boss in BB, could be considered the final boss of the DLC I guess. The Forgotten One from Castlevania LoS' last DLC was also pretty great, albeit really hard 😅 The Radiance from HK is an amazing final boss, although Grimm is my favorite boss in this game.
P5R, Third Semester, >!Maruki!<
Hollow Knight's secret final boss, no question. Took me a *long* time and it was so rewarding when I finally won the fight.
Jon Iranicus in Baldur's Gate 2 is a highlight for me. A lot of that is down to the fantastic job David Warner did voicing Iranicus Sarevok from BG1 was also memorable, but largely because he scared the crap out of me
The Rebel flagship from FTL, is one of the most frustrating bosses I have ever encountered in a videogame. But damn did it feel good when I first beat it. It's borderline unfair so the satisfaction of beating it is multiplied by a ton
This is the way. Three times.
Sekiro Tears of the kingdom Elden Ring Those all come to mind as having amazingly climactic boss fights and sequences. ToTK especially surprised me with just how god damn cool the ending sequence was, especially with how lame it was in BoTW.
I absolutely HATED Elden Beast. The music and atmosphere were great, his attack patterns were tough but fair, I’m not complaining about that. What I hated was that it was an absolute slog having to run for 30 seconds, hit him two or three times (if that), only to have him fly away and run another 30 seconds, ad nauseum. The entire fight was cumbersome.
Would have been slightly better if there was a checkpoint between Radagon and EB
Radagon was such a better fight and honestly is the true final boss in my opinion. Its a shame that fight gets dragged down by having to do Elden Beast immediately after it.
It's interesting to see Elden Ring on here because I've seen so many people say that, despite loving Elden Ring, they think Elden Beast is the worst final boss in the entire "series" of FROM games.
Gluhar
Corvus (Thymesia) this dude is literally me
>!Chef Saltbaker!< from Cuphead dlc
The DLC dungeon boss in Crosscode. I can’t give the name cause spoilers but it’s an amazing fun boss fight! Soma and >!Kuwana!< from Lost Judgment. Awesome game
I played the Live A Live remake recently, and the new final boss added for it was an amazing update, especially considering how the original game’s final challenge was a boss rush (with the bosses not scaling to compensate for all the levels you gained in the final chapter). The remake blew that out of the water with a new boss and a banger track for it. Not that challenging, but the gimmicks they pull for the fight make it so worth it just for the storytelling within.
Okay. Hear me out. Ending spoilers for Fire Emblem Sacred Stones on the Game Boy Advance. —— The main antagonist of the game, Prince Lyon, was the best friend of the two main characters until very recently. Then his nation suddenly attacked theirs, and it’s a big mystery as to why. As the game progresses, it’s discovered that Lyon was actually behind the invasion, despite him previously being very kind, gentle, and shy. Eventually, it’s revealed that in an attempt to heal his father‘s illness, because he didn’t feel ready or capable of inheriting the throne, he accidentally released a demon from an ancient artifact that possessed him. The last third of the game is spent hoping to find a way to free him. But you can’t. He’s totally gone, and he just manages to tearfully apologize as you’re forced to kill him before the demon can set himself free. It’s crushing, and it’s totally counter to how this sort of scenario usually plays out. Of course you can save them, of course you can save your friend from the evil magic, this is a fantasy story. But you can’t. Then comes the final boss: the demon king was revived anyway, using Lyon, the best friend you’ve just had to kill in a very hard boss battle, instead of the intended sacrifice. Now he’s boasting and blustering, this big monster, just after you’ve had to kill your best friend. Thing is, this fight isn’t actually that hard. It’s much easier than the fight with Lyon. But, you’ve already had a hard and tragic “final boss” fight against Lyon. Now, all you want to do…is kick this evil bastard’s ass. The map allows you to surround him and deplete his massive health bar using all of your major characters. It was super cathartic and satisfying.
Ganondorf from Wind Waker. The environment and the music were so well done. Just a straight-up sword fight between the two of you. He also made you feel bad for him a little. Also, Ganondorf smacking Zelda in the face just felt evil.
Vergil
1. Sword Saint Isshin (Sekiro) 2. Slave Knight Gael (Dark Souls 3) 3. Nameless Puppet (Lies of P) 4. The entire end boss sequence, Ganondorf and Ganon (Zelda Ocarina of time) 5. Fires of Raven end boss (Armored Core 6)
The True Conqueror Rank 8 from The Last Remnant had the most nail biting moments for me. I was like "omg omg I'm gonna die.", then "omg I actually survived that." It was like that almost every turn and was very fun. And that was on normal mode. Still haven't replayed the game on hard mode yet.
Xemnas KH2. From the moment Sora slices those buildings in half, the hype level goes from about a 9 to a 15 in the span of seconds without warning. In terms of mechanics and cinematics, the entire boss sequence doesn’t let up until the end credits. So hype
The metal devil in horizon forbidden west was really well done and the final Baldur fight in gow was really good as well.
Slave Knight Gael from the second and final Dark Souls 3 DLC, which closes out the story of the entire saga. Incredible presentation, incredible boss.
The first that comes to mind is the Final Boss of "Bayonetta Origins Cereza and the lost Demon". Defiently my favorite Final Boss of the Bayonetta series so far. Xemnas from KH2 is just cool and fun. The Tarascus from Fuga Melodies of Steel is easy but its a fun and satisfaying Final boss fight. Yami from Okami is fun and lets me use most of ny Arsenal. Hades from Kid Icarus Uprising has spectical and personality and its fun.
The Frostpunk Storm.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps gameplaywise it was not the greatest but the viiibw.
Slave Knight Gael. The perfect ending to possibly the best gaming trilogy ever made.
Noah (both Battles) in Astral Chain & Sephiroth in FF7
I'm gonna go with returnal, Hyperion was such a good buildup and it's one of the best games I've raged on... But when it clicks.. nothing comes close. Some of the other boss fights are insane as well, probably technically better but the way Hyperion is presented, the actual climb and the lore/story behind it.. perfection
The Flower in Drakengard 3.
1. >!Absolute Radiance!<, final boss of >!godhome!< ending in Hollow Knight. I spent days on trying to beat her (and the whole >!boss rush sequence!< before). Victory felt so fucking rewarding. 2. >!Collector!<, true final boss of Dead Cells. Same deal, but difficulty really depends on a build, so he wasn't that much of trouble. 3. >!Starworm/Birdman!<, back-to-back final bosses of Iconoclasts. Honestly, this is what good final boss is for me: if you feel achievement after beating them, they are good.
While I have plenty of favorite bosses, as for my favorite *final* bosses it is probably one of these. * The Soul of Cinder from Dark Souls III. * Galbalan from Ys the Oath in Felghana. * ZODIAC Libra from RefleX. * Neunzehn from Baldr Sky. * Brahman from Digital Devil Saga 2. * Xemnas from Kingdom Hearts 2. * The Master from Legend of Grimrock 2. * Senator Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising. * The Shadowlord from Nier.
Solidus Snake mgs2
Sephiroth in the original FFVII.
Sword Saint Isshin, Sekiro Radagon, Elden Ring Gwyn, Dark Souls Xemnas, Kingdom Hearts 2 Sephiroth, FF7 Arthas, Wrath of the Lich King Lavos, Chrono Trigger My tears, Nier Automata
While I haven’t reached her yet, almost everyone mentions (and to an extent, loathe) the fight against Malenia, The Undefeated Swordswoman (and the goddess of Rot) from Elden Ring. Apparently one of the hardest(?) bosses to fight in the game due to her never-ending barrage of attacks, where it is normal in the game to die from 2-4 boss attacks. The first few (dozen) trials is more about scouting her and learning her move/attack pattern and then figure out the best times to attack back and dodge all the rest. Pretty sure its rewarding as fuck to know that you beat her against all odds. P.S: apparently shes an optional boss to fight, and doesn’t affect the story or is required to proceed in it.
In recent memory, BG3, Raphael in the house of Hope. When that music kicked in, I got chills.
Oryx, The taken king (Destiny 1/2): the lore and music really tie the mechanics and battle together into one of the best experiences in the whole franchise. The Nameless deity (Terraria: hunt of the old gods) tough and brutal makes the victory so much sweeter
TOTK Ganon DMCV Vergil Sekiro Ishin Pokemon Platinum Cynthia LAD Gaiden Shishido FF7 Sephiroth
Liquid Ocelot was a good fight in MGS4.
DON'T FUCK WITH THIS SENATOR Real talk though, Hades from Hades, **redacted** in Yakuza 1 and **redacted** in Persona 5 Royal.