30 Days of Video Games

[Match]

FAVORITE BOSS IN A VIDEO GAME

GOL AND MIA'S PRECURSOR ROBOT FROM JAK AND DAXTER

I've probably mentioned this badboy before.The final boss of "Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy." Basically, it's a robot built by an ancient people called the Precursors who possess unimaginable powers. Thousands of years later (or something) Gol, who is the sage of Dark Eco, and Maia, who is presumably his life partner, kidnap the other Eco sages to rebuild the robot, so that they may open the Dark Eco silos and release it into the world, recreating existence to their liking. This is the climax of the game. Thus far, Jak (that's you) has been utilizing the different kinds of Eco to progress through the game.

by the way, that's Blue Eco(which gives you speed and activates Precursor machinery)Green Eco (which acts as health)Yellow Eco(which allows you to shoot fireballs from your hands) and Red Eco (which allows you to have more power behind your attacks)

Edited January 24, 2012 by A Match in Oil Ocean Zone

[#AR]

First off, let's get a guy from a Fighting Game:

GEESE HOWARD (FATAL FURY/ART OF FIGHTING/KING OF FIGHTERS)

My favorite out of the numerous SNK bosses. This guy was a certified badass. Enough freakin' said. (Not to mention, his son is pretty cool too).

SHO MINAMIMOTO (THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU)

Ok, seriously, whoever's idea it was to make a boss that talks in trigonometry/calculus deserves a medal. This guy is definitely my favorite reaper in this game. Why? He speaks in math (the tasks of his week were all in math as well), He makes abstract junk heap art, and also because of 3 words...

SO ZETTA SLOW!!!

His boss battles are also pretty fun, especially in his Taboo Noise form. Considering how fast he moved, you hate to be careful and keep a keen eye on both screens or else you get fucked up bad.

[MykonosFan]

DAY 9 - FAVORITE BOSS BATTLE

No intro, getting right to it. Crying Wolf.

MGS4 was my first Metal Gear Solid game, and while pretty much every boss encounter affected me, Crying Wolf took the cake. I'm really bad at sniping, but I was determined that's how I was going to do this boss fight. Not only that, but I'd stay in a place where the enemy soldiers would have difficulty getting me, and in a place where I could get a clear shot at Crying Wolf when she moved into position.

What I realized afterwards, is that it took me half an hour with my plan of action.

So, essentially, for 30 minutes, I was hearing this.

That's right. Her crying is a part of the game's soundtrack. Being positioned on a tower in the midst of a blizzard, constantly looking between the cracks of trees to try and catch a glimpse of Crying Wolf, while constantly hearing sobbing was an experience. Again, every boss dug it's way into my psyche at least a little, but this one truly had an impact on me. It literally sent chills down my spine. Excruciating too, I honestly felt like Snake.

Of course, that's just the result of me sucking as this boss can probably be finished very quickly, but I got one hell of a ride from it so I don't care.

[Burnt Ash]

Favorite boss....this one would have to be Tabuu from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Now this is more to do with the story rather than the boss itself (I still think it's a great boss). At this moment of the story, it's now or never, don't defeat Tabuu, and the world is gone. It really felt like a great final boss for it's placement in the story. The gameplay's still great (Tabuu has really awesome moves...except that red ring thing sent me to death countless number of times on Intense mode), I loved the option to choose out of a vast amount of characters to defeat Tabuu. I felt accomplished when I defeated him in Boss Battles Intense Mode .

[Arcade Racer CC14]

Since picking my favorite boss is pretty tough given all of the excellent bosses out there, I'm going to go with something different:

King Arthur (Final Duel) (Sonic and the Black Knight)

I LOVE this fight. The atmosphere is epic, with the awesome feeling of a final duel set at sundown, the music is freakin' AMAZING (Fight the Knight is one of the best battle themes EVER.), the conversations between Sonic, Caliburn, and Arthur during the duel really get you engrossed in the heat of battle, and the multiple slashes that Sonic pulls off when Arthur is vulnerable are just bad@$$. Epic fights like these are one of the reasons why SatBK is my favorite game in the series. I live to fight the knight!

[Chibinuva]

Day 9 - Favorite Boss in a Video Game

Just in case there's a day for final bosses later on, I'm going to pick my favorite regular bosses.

Perfect Fucking Chaos.

I must say, this boss is god. (and he technically is one) A giant lizard creature, composed entirely of water, and now with dragon-skin armor. Boosting through the level is very pleasing, and it once again provides a great example of a good combination of speed and platforming, switching between boosting across the water, and platforming across the ruins of the city. I also love the aesthetic design of the level, since it reminds me of Crisis City, but being overrun by water instead of fire and lava. It is also a great tribute to the original boss fight, and is a perfect fit for Sonic's 20th Anniversary game. Finally, it demonstrates how powerful Sonic has become, as he's managed to go from needing his super form to beat a god, to beating a freaking god, without any sort of help at all. Just goes to show what ten years of practice can do.

[LoseR]

Hm.... I guess I'd have to go with this guy here, from Kirby & the Amazing Mirror:

:

BEHOLD! One of two final bosses in Kirby games that are actually HARD!

Although you had to fight this guy 7? (I think) times, it was still enjoyable every time, as it would get more and more difficult each time. After fighting him a few times, the rest of his body would be destroyed, and he would turn into a giant eye.

Finally, after beating him in this mode, he gets weak and you, and you buds, chase him down on warpstars shooting stars at him. Honestly though, I'm not even sure if it's possible to die here though, as the credits start to roll in while you fight.

Edited January 24, 2012 by Wooly-Attacks

[Gregzilla]

Day 9 - Favorite boss battle

Hey look, this game again!

Mother Brain from Super Metroid - This is one of the most epic and emotional fights in game history, and it's all done without words. It gives an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness, followed by a lust for revenge. The fight itself is fairly simple, but it's all the weight to it that really gives this one the edge. I also really like it when games surprise you with bigger, badder, and harder confrontations. It starts out exactly like the Metroid 1 final boss, leading us to wonder if they just rehashed it like lazy-asses. Not the case, because as soon as you think Mother Brain is down for the count like last time, she becomes one of the most hideous 16-bit monstrosities ever devised. The ugly yet beautiful visuals, emotional impact, fun gameplay, and frighteningly tense music are what makes this boss fight my personal fave. Not to mention that the ending of this game made us feel sad for a life-sucking monster that didn't even have a face.

CLOSE SECOND:

Big Bad Baby Bowser from Yoshi's Island - This is the most awesome boss fight in the Mario series in my opinion. It retains the gameplay of the other levels but in a new perspective, and the visuals just look badass. And don't forget that freaking amazing music! I believe the Mario games have yet to match the intense thrills of this classic boss fight.

Runners Up:

Perfect Chaos from SA1 - Meeeeemorieeeees. My personal favorite Super Sonic fight. It brought about an interesting strategy, in that Chaos would only take damage if you hit him while moving fast enough. It was a great way to keep an emphasis on Sonic's speed without resorting to chase bosses like later games. Plus it holds a special place in my heart, as SA1 is the first game I can recall completing start-to-finish.

Ganon from Ocarina of Time - As you can probably tell, I'm a big fan of fights trying to convey an epic atmosphere. In terms of atmosphere, I don't think fights get much better than this. It's dark, there's fire, there's lightning, Zelda screams as you clash with this beast, and the fate of the world rests on this moment. And the music...my god. I'm usually a fan of intense, fast, pounding music that pumps you up to kick ass, but this tune is just so awe-inspiring, yet so subtle. As a whole, I think OoT is overrated, but this fight is one of the best of all time.

Cyberdemon from Doom - No gimmicks, no weak points, no complicated methods of attack. Just a one-on-one battle against one of Hell's most monstrous baddies. Rocket launcher vs. rocket launcher. Whoever dies first loses. Go.

Anything from Metal Gear Solid 4 - Hideo Kojima may make some ridiculously complicated stories, but when it comes to gameplay he is a fecking genius. Hide and seek, sniper battles, 4th wall breaking, mech battles, and to top everything off, a fighting game-style final battle. Most of my picks were for epic feel and atmosphere, but Kojima gets the award for most creative.

[turbojet]

Favorite Boss Battle

Another Arkham City mention, but mine isn't Mr. Freeze. I thought he was rather predictable and I was always adept with Batman's predator techniques so his "only once" AI didn't really bother me. My favorite boss in the game and in all video games has to go to the one character that I feel hogs a shit ton of Batman's villain spotlight.

Ra's Al Motherfuckin' Ghul

I don't like Ra's or his daughter or his constant importance in the Batman mythos, but this boss fight was motherfucking awesome. You fight him while Batman is coked up on some Lazarus and the battle turns into Batman versus a bunch of Sand Ghuls. 10 of those bastards leap on Batman all at once and you have to counter all of those fuckers and Batman unleashes some epic break loose. What this does is raise your counter and you are able to one shot a few of the sand clones. It is an awesome visual to see Batman tear apart these fuckers. During this sequence, you did in and out of coked out of Lazarus land to reality. A few times, Ra's will floating meditate some Giant Sand version of him while also summoning some rotating bunch of sand clones to guard him. Batman has to use the remote electrical charge to him while the giant sand Ra's swipes at him with giant shurikens and sword swipes. Did I say it was awesome? Oh fuck yes. Towards the end, Ra's starts to get desperate and leaps out Batman from out the ground and starts slashing his Scimitar at him repeatedly. Batman blocks every single swipe and then goes Fist of the North Star on his face! That shit was like machine gun pistol punches. Dayum!

[Commissar Hurricane]

Knights in the Nightmare-Piche.

This choice has more to do with the story.

Being one of the few characters that where still alive, seeing her a few times she seems to be innocent and nothing to with what is going on.

Eventually she is punished because of her grandfather actions and turned into a monster you must fight.

Probably one of the saddest parts of the game.

[krazystitch]

Day 9 - Favorite Boss Battle

So, you just finished running through numerous levels, crossing through many different terrains and defeating many different enemies.

Bosses that tried to stand in your way crumbled by the very essence of how incredibly awesome you are..you know it's time for the final battle.

Where does it all take place?

IN MUTHAFUCKIN' SPACE, THAT'S WHERE!

Doomsday Zone - Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Alright, look, I just want you to look at the scenario above and tell me what you see...yeah, that's right, take it all in....give it another second...alright. You're playing as a glowing, flying hedgehog traveling through space at GOD KNOWS HOW FAST chasing after this giant mechanical robot that's holding a huge green emerald in order to save the planet and all the people living on it. Seriously. That scenario is pretty much the definition of an awesome boss fight. Plus, it's not just the atmosphere that makes this boss awesome. No, no. It's the way that you take this guy down. Is there a weak spot? Sure there is. Well..do you just run into him? Heavens no. Use some kind of legendary weapon? Haha, no. You make him DESTROY HIMSELF WITH HIS OWN GODDAMN MISSLES! Hell yeah! THAT'S HOW YOU TAKE DOWN A FREAKIN' ROBOT!

But when you hit him enough times, are you done? No way, man! There's still one final phase you gotta go through! The rockets continuously hit him and the armor finally falls off..

You still gotta chase after him!

Constantly ramming your own body into this freakin' robot's head until it FINALLY gives way and explodes, causing you to grab the Master Emerald and save everyone from the evil Dr. Robotnik! That's how you end a game! It makes you feel like a total badass! When you were young, you went through all the trouble of changing red dots to blue dots and you saw this level appeared on screen, you knew that shit was going down. Especially when you heard

This boss battle is beyond awesome and always just as epic as the very last time as you played it, putting it as my favorite boss battle of all time.

Edited January 25, 2012 by krazystitch

[PSI Wind]

God, I love this game......

Anywho: Yami is one of the few Bosses and Final Bosses that still give me trouble because of how LONG it is. It's also the atmosphere that really gets me. Yami takes all of your powers away once the Sun is Eclipsed (Ammy is the Sun Goddess, so the Sun eclipsing is pretty much Yami defeating Ammy) and you're just one White Wolf. What does Ammy do even afterwards? Well, once Waka is pushed away, it looks at Yami with angry eyes and just ROARS at it, pretty much saying "I'm gonna kick your ass, goddess or not!". You get your powers back as the fight goes one but MAN is it a long road to get them. He has some tough defense and the different Brush techniques you need to use to allow you to actually attack it's true (as in, the fetus fish-like thing) becomes somewhat of a pain. You also don't get much time to attack it each time, so it takes LONGER to get him into your attack phase.

[azoo]

Day 9 - Best Boss Beating EVER

Zero / Zero², from Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.

This guy is pretty much the definition of shock appeal. In a game series built around saccharine, colorful happiness (especially with the crayon-ish art style of KDL3 & K64), you meet darkness incarnate, in the ironic form of a purely ivory-colored creature. Definitely the most gruesome monster in the entire series, its whole existence is built around evil, depression and hate for everything; thus is the creator and controller of the Dark Matter.

Starting with his first form in KDL3, we come to the Hyper Zone, with swarming Dark Matter flying in and out. In here you fight a single DM. Seems to be nothing more than a mere pawn among the likes of what you fought during the ending of KDL2. No big deal, right? Well, suddenly Zero decides to appear in a flash, a nightmare-fuel-injecting white sphere that seaps mini DM monsters through his pores, with one blood-red eye. Before long, Kirby has depleted the health meter of Zero to none, until he finds out that Zero's final phase consists of his eye cracking his body in a violent rupture and dismembers in a blood-curdling fashion. Don't forget to mention the part where he's shooting his own blood out of his eye and onto you.

After defeating his eye, Zero is gone for good, right?

Riiiight...

In Kirby 64, the Dark Matter return, but considering that Zero died, and KDL2 had DM without Zero being there, it was safe to assume that Zero isn't here too, right? You see, this is one of the things that made his return so thrilling: you didn't see it coming. He just.. appeared there, at the end of the game. You worked hard for the buildup in collecting 74 of those Crystal Shards.. but you didn't know it would lead to this..

WHAT IS GOING ON AAAAAAA

Zero's back, and it's more gruesome than before. A thorny tentacle growing from below? Crying and ejecting blood from it's baggy crimson eye? Giving a deceiving "good soul" look from the happy face in the beginning and the halo atop? Red (probably (in a unsurprising way) blood) on the tips of it's wings.. it has wings?! Just what is going on here?! It's basically a zombie-angel-demon with some criminally dark music in the background, bent on consuming the entire galaxy in an epitome of despair.

..Well you see, he's not that insanely scary until you realize the context: it's a Kirby game. Kirby games are usually, as said before, sweet and colorful romps across a paradise filled with rainbows and food. And even in a game like K64 where the content is a bit more varied and darker than that, it still comes off as a shocker to see a creature like this in it.

Sure, there's always the creature with the one eye looking all evil and gunk, but I don't think any have left such gruesome, negative and disturbing vibes as Zero has.. which is why I like him so much. It's why he's my favorite boss. Not because of the difficulty (no, Kirby games are piss easy and everyone knows it); but because of how it was completely unexpected with how much of a different atmosphere Zero's existence does to the rest of the game. It certainly gave those two games insanely dark undertones for the final "good endings" to each, and actually kind of made you feel more accomplished for defeating them afterward.

It's kind of why I wish the DM and Zero would return as the lead villain to another Kirby some day.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Azukara

[Autosaver]

DAY 9 - FAVORITE BOSS BATTLE

Xion - Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

The girl with black hair is Xion

Xion was basically a puppet. She knew no one, she was no one. It wasn't until Roxas (You, as the main character) befriended her that she actually spoke a word. What was her first word? Your name. That was pretty emotional. Throughout the game, you go out with missions with her. Unfortunately, you don't get paired with her every time. That is OK since Axel, Roxas, and Xion planned that all three of them would hang out at the clock tower after each mission. Eating ice cream is fun on a hot sunny day.

It isn't until later that you learn who Xion is. Xion isn't exactly a real person, she is a replica of you. This causes a ton of problems throughout the game. She continually steals power and "Memories" from Roxas which weakens him. This eventually causes Roxas to be able to barely defend himself. Basically, Xion is destroying you as a player. You can't coexist, one has to live and one has to die. Xion doesn't want to do this, she wants to get herself destroyed. She leaves and opts to get herself erased from existence.

The organization that created her wants her back. She is the key to everything. Roxas sooner or later will leave the organization and then they won't be able to build Kingdom Hearts. The organization sends out one of her friends (Axel - Red Hair) to capture her. He succeeds and brings her back. The organization then powers her up and sends Roxas to place devices in various worlds. Roxas has no idea what these devices do, and he starts to doubt the organization.

Roxas leaves the organization and goes to Twilight Town. (The clocktower sunset place) He climbs the clocktower and sits there alone. Xion pops in with both of them eating ice cream. An awkward silence comes forward and Xion starts talking. Her face has drastically changed, she is changing. She knows that only Roxas or her can exist. She knows Roxas won't kill her, so she transforms into her ultimate form so Roxas has to defeat her. Guess what those devices that Roxas planted did? They powered her up.

Look at that monster. Should I destroy it? If I don't, I'll die. If I do... she dies. I guess I have to kill her. You face her in 4 different forms with epic music playing in each phase.

What did you just do? You just killed your best friend who you've been emotionally attached to for the entire game. It had to end to this, what a sad ending. It doesn't help that this emotional scene has incredibily sad music playing in the background. This even puts a tear in your character, regretting what he just did. "Xion, who else will I have ice cream with?!" I'm sure you might laugh, but eating ice cream every day basically becoming your friendship was a huge thing for them.

Yeah.. the games may be confusing but I tried to streamline it as much as I could.

[leave_nothing]

My top boss fight definitely goes to the final fight in Wind Waker. It is difficult enough to choose a favorite Zelda boss (Stallord, Kholdstare, Digdogger, Dark Link, fighting as Fierce Deity Link in MM) but it's definitely hard to beat seeing the cartoony, cel-shaded mini-Link shove the master sword into Ganon's forehead.

[T-Min]

Day 9: Your Favorite Boss Battle

WARNING! Spoilers for Kingdom Hearts II!

Xemnas.

(And note, it's been about five years since I fought this guy, so my memory on some things may be a bit fuzzy on some aspects.)

It's a pretty freaking lengthy battle with four different phases. The first phase is simple enough; just a standard one-on-one fight, Sora's Keyblade against Xemnas' lightsabers. What makes it cool, though, is that, via a reaction command, you can actual reenact the iconic scene from the original game's secret ending. It's pretty awesome, and on top of that, am I the only one who just loves fighting human bosses in the KH series? I dunno, there's just something so satisfying about wailing on someone's face with a Keyblade...

Then there's the second phase, which pretty much runs on the Rule of Cool. In this phase, the party has to fight their way to Xemnas as he puts obstacles in their way. You're going to be literally cutting your way through buildings using Reaction Commands, and doing a whole bunch of other cool stuff. It feels freaking epic. After this part, everyone thinks that he's defeated and run along, but then he comes back with a dragon airship and the third phase commences, in which you have to ride on a starship thing and keep shooting at him with lock-on missiles and such until he's dead. I'd say that this was the lowest point of the battle, but it's still pretty fun.

And then Xemnas pulls Sora and Riku into a whitish mindf**k dimension and then the true final battle begins. Using the Reversal command, you can dodge his lightning bolt-esque attacks and pretty much stay in the air for a good chunk of the battle; and you need to, since he'll be flying around a lot himself. And he pulls no punches either; he's very fast and at some points brings out clones of himself. One move of his surrounds you with energy balls and you must repeatedly tap both the triangle AND X buttons so that Sora and Riku will use their Keyblades to deflect them, and another causes him to grab hold of Sora, at which point you take control of Riku and have to fight your way to him so that you can save him. It's difficult, climactic, and most importantly, fun.

And while on the note of it being climactic, well, the build-up is actually quite a big part of this bosses appeal. You've fought your way through tons of worlds, met many characters, annihilated many members of Organization XIII, and watched the plot unfold up to this point. You've made your way to the Nobodies' stronghold, where Kingdom Hearts is looming over it as a heart-shaped moon. The Nobodies intend to use it to gain hearts, and Ansem the Wise sacrifices himself in an attempt to use a machine to destroy it. However, it fails, and now the party's only hope is to defeat Xemnas, Organization XIII's leader. Of course, now that you're in the Nobodies' stronghold, there will be a lot more enemies standing in your way as well as the remaining members of Org. XIII. After fighting your way through all of these obstacles, you finally go up against the Big Bad himself. The build-up to this battle just makes it feel so much more special than it would have otherwise.

Edited January 25, 2012 by The T-Man

[turbojet]

FUCK YES!

[Noir]

Tentacle - Half Life

This is a tie with Koloktos; I just drew the Tentacle because uh... it's easier to draw. Man it's not like I got all day to draw shit.

One of my absolute favorite things in vidya is when you don't actually fight a boss, but instead have a level designed around defeating it. So the Tentacle already wins points for that. The other thing that really shapes this into such a fantastic boss is the atmosphere. Which really is not so much the boss' strength as it is the game's, and I could sing praises of Half Life all day but that's not why I'm here.

as you first see the creature is wonderfully unsettling, made worse by the constant banging of it against the walls, and seeing it rather violently attack a scientist. The fact that it can kill you in one hit and you can't damage it makes maneuvering around it a literally pulse-pounding ordeal. And having the whole level revolve around its central location really highlights it so that its a recurring threat the whole time, making it all the more satisfying to press the button that kills it.

Koloktos - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Koloktos owes a lot to Motion+, because I don't think it would amount to much with just a standard controller. This thing had me sweating, it had me standing up as if wielding a sword myself, swinging my arm like a master swordsman and smiling like a retard for it all the whole time. It was so crazy that I could get so into a boss fight in a vidya game but that's why I loved it so much. It was also stuffed with surprises so that every time I was ready to pat myself on the back I was thrown into a new phase. It started off fairly standard really, but once it sprouted legs I was completely lost for how to fight it... and the a-ha! moment when I noticed its swords laying about honestly rivaled that last portal in Portal 2 for me. I couldn't see how much better it could get but caging its weak point was just another great twist with a wonderful solution to go along. And the icing on the cake: It was damn hard. An absolute blast from start to finish.

Honorable mentions:

Ganon (Ocarina of Time) - OoT does such a great job of playing every good vs. evil stereotype straight and making it work, and Ganon couldn't have fit the bill of pure evil any better. Feeling like the victor only to have this giant hellacious beast emerge is such a great moment, and the lighting, as I believe Carbo mentioned, was used in a genius way to set the mood.

Ganondorf (Wind Waker) - The magic here is Ganondorf's explanation of his motives before the battle. Honestly, I felt he was somewhat of the good guy here. That coupled with the setting created a brilliant backdrop for the fight. Skyward Sword even adds some interest to it

by revealing that it ends with Fi being sealed at the bottom of the sea forever.

Bowser (New Super Mario Bros Wii) - Just for being another boss fight that's really a whole level.

Quadraxis (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes) - As far as aesthetics go, this is easily one of the best designs out there.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Noire

[Jacky]

Day 9- Favorite boss

Mr Freeze- Batman Arkham City

need I say more? he's a

boss. He's designed in the matter that you have to think and use all of your tactics to beat him, without reusing the same thing over and over, which is so cool. Which is the thing, you

have to plot out attacks and hope he goes into the trap. His echoing voice, his technology, it all makes you feel like he's right behind you about to kill you. It's certainly the most creative and fun boss i've played in quite a while.

Like I'm not joking, he's such an ice boss, and when you finally beat him and WINter, you'll feel so chill and fuck i'llstopwiththeicepunsalreadyfinejeezpleasedonthurtme

Edited January 25, 2012 by Professor Jackstraw PhD

[SonicHOG]

(Shame I forgot to post yesterday *facepalm*.... I guess it's alright if I don't get the participated all days badge.... Enough about my rambling though....)

Day 9 - Favorite Boss

The Finalhazard has a place in my heart for a number of reasons. One of them is that the battle gave you a sense of urgency, especially with the threats of the colony crashing into the planet and having to switch between Sonic and Shadow. Conversely, it was SO satisfying raming into the tumors weakpoints. Another reason is the score. Live and Learn remains a favorite of mine as far as Sonic music goes and it fits this battle like a glove. This rock tune gets one pumped and willing to save Earth from homicide-driven destruction.

[Chooch]

I have to go with the Great Eggman Robo from Sonic and Knuckles.

The music, the atmosphere the build up to that point. It's absolutely amazing. The Great Eggman Robo is one of Eggman's most ominous looking creations. It's absolutely massive and its hands are perfectly capable of crushing Sonic in between them. The fact that you have to break each and every one of its fingertips before moving on to the main cockpit really puts into perspective how large it really is. The second part of the battle has it relentlessly chasing down Sonic, destroying the ground behind you while shooting gusts of fire out of its nose and Master Emerald powered laser beams out of its mouth.

It's already been mentioned several times today, but I have to agree. It's just too good.

[Kuzu]

DAY 9, FAVORITE BOSS:

So there I was on the Internet, watching leaked Unleashed videos and then I uncovered this fucking track:

And then suddenly my ears bled when I instantly recognized the orchestra, that it was an instrumental of the song that wasn't even heard in this game up until now. And when it builds up during the Chorus? My blood started to boil, and this is just from the music alone, so naturally the boss fight had to live up to the music right? Well was so glad to be right,

This fucker right here made me shit bricks, as in I was actually a little terrified to fight this thing. Then Sonic gave a look that pretty much said "Aw Hell Naw", takes the emeralds and goes Super. So then I knew I was ready, and what ensued was probably the most epic scaled boss fight in the franchise. Yeah it mostly a spectacle, but that's what really makes it so fucking awesome, that you're nothing but this tiny golden hedgehog going up against this demon, and it felt fucking fantastic, and the finishing blow cemented Sonic as one of the biggest badasses among the mascot platformers.

"Hey Mario? Beat Bowser at the center of the universe? Well fuck you, I rammed a demon even bigger than that through the eye like paper, suck on THAT".

[mcsleepy]

Day 9 - Favorite Boss

Well I have a bunch of favorite bosses, so this is kind of a tough pick, but for now I guess I'll go with Cornell, Lycan Lord of Shadow, from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

Story spoilers

Now, Lords of Shadow is filled with pretty challenging and awesome bosses, but I bring up Cornell because this fight was basically my "wake-up boss" for this game. There were a few bosses before that gave me trouble, and definitely a few after, but they didn't drive me as much into a corner as Cornell did. The main reason is because Cornell is really freaking fast, and doesn't telegraph his attack nearly as much as other enemies and bosses do. You can be attacking him or waiting an opportunity to perfect block and then suddenly BAM. Hammer to the face. You can be running away and then WOOSH. He charges across the entire field and smashes into you in a second.

The final attack sequences in this game are some of the coolest parts, as Gabriel will enter a QTE (which are typically fairly easy) and just go crazy on whoever's unfortunate enough to be in his way. After trying to kill Cornell after quite a few failures, you go through all three of his forms, you go through a sequence where you manage to "leash" him on your chain whip, fling him around the arena, and eventually yank him fromt he air and straight into the ground. Then you take his hammer, smash him around with it for a while, and then smash it over his head, providing Gabriel with a pointy wooden stake, which turns out, is perfect for stabbing giant werewolves through the head. And having died to him numerous times, and providing a very hard extra challenge, (No magic. Which means no healing or extra damage.) beating him into the ground with his own weapon was just so god damn satisfying.

Honorable mentions go to:

Carmilla, the Vampire Lord of Shadow, mainly for her equally impressive finishing sequence.

Tentalus, from Skyward Sword for the ship escape sequence and being giant and cool IMO

Stallord, from Twilight Princess, because I get to kill it with a giant beyblade.

Edited January 25, 2012 by mcsleepy

[Mandyrobin]

I have several favourites, some of which have already been posted by others, so I'm going to choose one no one else will.

Ihadurca (Evil Zone, PlayStation)

The best character out of the entire roster from this anime-ish fighting game. As the only true boss of the game, she is fought as the final challenger at the end of the other characters' stories and is quite a tough customer. After all, all the other warriors are competing in a tournament to kill Ihadurca before she emerges from her prison. The funny thing is, in her own story (she is one of the few video game bosses to have fully fleshed out story mode just like the other characters), she literally destroys the Evil Zone's defense system and proceeds to kill all the other warriors. Even better, you only have to finish three of the other characters' stories before hers in unlocked. She is naturally the most powerful playable character in the game.

[Shoot em up Capbusta]

This boss holds a special place in my heart because it was one of the first games where I felt like oh shit this is it. Andross an evil space monkey hell bent on taking over the lylat system as well as destroying Fox. When the game first starts you get a glimpse of Andross and after that he is heavily referenced through out the whole game. During battles Andross's goons taut you and tell you that "your no match for him" and you'll never succeed in defeating him. It was a nice build up that I enjoyed throughout the whole game. Then when you finally go up against him you decide that your going solo on this one. As you go down to face him Andross talks to you basically telling you how your no match for him and he will rule the galaxy blah blah blah. But this is one of the few fights in video games where where I felt the oh shit feeling again, I came so far and now after all that hype about him I finally get to face him.

With the galaxy at stake and your own personal vendetta against him you knew shit was going down. The boss is definitely not hard at all but the moment you first encounter him the battle will really feels intense. After you take him put he goes into his second phase which is his brain and he looks hella creepy if I might add. Defeat him and he pulls a kamikaze on you and tries to take you out. Basically pulling a metroid trying to get your ass out of there in enough time.

After I finished the boss I felt like I actually did it I beat him. To me I felt like you really grow from being just some rookie pilot to the savior of the lylat system.