What is your most memorable boss fight?

[𝐍𝐲𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐥]

Title is self explanatory, out of any video game boss you've ever fought, which one was the most memorable?

To me, it was the final boss of Bowser's Inside Story because I was 8 at the time and it for some reason took me a long time to beat. Another reason was the music, I still have that boss theme in my music playlist to this day. That song slaps hard.

[emazur]

For me the most memorable ones are the hardest ones because I died repeatedly trying to figure out what to do. In the cases below these are both final bosses

#1 Lunar Silver Star Story (PS1) - Ghaleon. He has powerful wave attacks that can damage every member of the team - balance offense, defense, and healing is key. My last surviving unit (Mia - a magic user) was out all out of magic and her physical attacks are weak. But I was all out of options and 1 more hit would have killed me so I went in for a physical attack. It finished him.  Much, much harder game than the Sega CD version

#2 Gear of War 1 (PC) - Raam. I remember it being very difficult to determine when he'd be vulnerable to attack and how I could hit him during that time without taking on major damage. One thing that helped was staying under cover but only sticking up your arm to shoot (I had played the entire game without noticing you could do that)

Honorable mention since it's a more recent play (2020 in my case) - Resident Evil 4 (Assignment Ada side mission) - Krauser. Like Gears of War it is difficult to catch this boss with his guard down and you take a lot of damage if you slip up. I think I wound up equipping the rifle and zooming it at him which would cause him to rapidly zigzag towards you. For a brief moment after he appears before Ada you can shoot him (I think in the shin or foot) with the rifle (which isn't easy)

[Lord_Brand]

I remember battling Demise in Skyward Sword and losing the first few times. I finally got fed up with him and started attacking more aggressively, perfect guarding his every attack and rushing in with my own attacks whenever possible. Son of a gun actually knelt at one point. When I delivered the final, lightning-charged blow, it felt so good.

I also had a similar experience with Mr. Sandman, except I never lost to him in the actual match. I learned to hook him in the gut whenever possible, and purposefully baited his attack to dodge them.

Though not really a boss fight per se, I recently had another "berserk" moment where the green E.M.M.I. got me one times too many, so I just bull rushed through the section firing madly, ran into the E.M.M.I., parried its killing blow, and ran past it to safety.

Sometime, fortune really does favor the bold.

[vanguard333]

The Black Knight fight in Path of Radiance comes to mind. It wasn't very well-executed; you can't save before it, you only have five turns with which to beat him, and enemies show up on turn 3 to attack Mist. But the atmosphere of the fight and all the buildup to it makes it very memorable for me.

Another memorable fight for me would be the morpheel boss fight in Twilight Princess, simply because the second phase should've been epic: you're fighting a gigantic armoured lamprey eel underwater, and the cutscene makes it seem like it'll be an epic fight, but once you realize it's just swimming around randomly, the fight's a joke. It's hard to remember a boss fight that's more disappointing without it being intentionally disappointing for a joke.

Malladus in Spirit Tracks: fantastic boss fight overall with its atmosphere and different phases, plus Link & Zelda working together. But the most memorable thing about it for me was the final duet just before the final phase, and I could not play any of the duets in the game. I eventually got past it by giving the game to my brother, who could play the duets.

 

For a boss fight that's memorable in a purely good way, Ganondorf in Wind Waker. The atmosphere as Hyrule floods, the relentlessness with which Ganondorf fights (which caught me off-guard since I played Twilight Princess before Wind Waker and Ganondorf is very laidback in how he fights in that game), and Zelda waking up and assisting Link with the light arrows, all made for a very memorable fight.

Edited March 3, 2022 by vanguard333

[SoulWeaver]

10 hours ago, Nyquil said:

Title is self explanatory, out of any video game boss you've ever fought, which one was the most memorable?

To me, it was the final boss of Bowser's Inside Story because I was 8 at the time and it for some reason took me a long time to beat. Another reason was the music, I still have that boss theme in my music playlist to this day. That song slaps hard.

Oh, a good choice. I loved that one too, but ultimately I think it has to be the final boss of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days(the fight for Day 357, Day 358 is more of a pseudo-secret boss). The music being different for each phase gave you the feeling that things were getting more desperate with each phase, and the last phase's music is still one of the most beautiful game tracks I know, I have three or four different versions of it on my iPod and would definitely get more if I could. The game itself was also very important for me, so that certainly factors in.

Edited March 3, 2022 by SoulWeaver

[Jotari]

*Doulmagus in Dragon Quest VIII is pretty memorable to me. It's such a ridiculous spike in difficulty it does manage to sell the feeling that the game could be near its end despite being like only 50% over. He's genuinely tough. That's just kind of it, he hits super hard and took a tonne of tries to take down.

*Recency bias is going to play a part here, but I did really like Lord Fu in No More Heroes 3. Course most bosses in No More Heroes in general are pretty great, but Lord Fu in particular worked really well. At first he seems invincible, but as you soon learn his patterns and figure out how to damage him he becomes easier, but any small slip up can still send you reeling. And while it has nothing to do with his boss fight, his personality is great and is name is meaningful on a ridiculous number of levels.

*The first Seymour boss in Final Fantasy X really sticks out in my mind. As I was young back then and didn't know how to play video games well, so I struggled through it. It managed to be a really close call with him whittling me down to just one character on his final phase of the battle. I had summoned all my Aeons already, yet Yuna's grand summon was still flashing. I opened the menu and noticed for the first time I could scroll down and use Shiva, which I had missed throughout the entire battle. Very entertaining finish.

*It's going to be a weird one, but the Evil Eagle from Link's Awakening. It's another case of me playing it when I was pretty young and not smort, so I struggled with it. I liked how you had to use a combination of different weapons to win with several being useful at any given time. And the whole if you get knocked off the tower his HP is restored, which most people would probably find annoying, I found a pleasing part of the challenge and experience.

Edited March 3, 2022 by Jotari

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

I'm gonna say the second Doopliss fight in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. It was really neat, actually having to fight your former partners. And I love how Vivian first abandons Mario, but then comes back, rejecting her abusive sisters. Plus, the battle theme is very fitting for the setting, and honestly one of my favorite themes in all of gaming.

[Reality]

Let me think of a few

Starfox 64 - The voice clips made the bosses stand out. I would say the Macbeth Boss (Train Conductor) and Andross himself were the most memorable.

MDK2 - The first boss (The Pilot) is such an over-the-top screen shaking setpiece that it beats out Schwang Schwing later. The 2nd Boss (Sparky) is memorable for being the most extreme "electric jump rope" boss in any game I've ever played.

Rayman 2 - Jano (The Bad Dream) is memorable because of having a big chase sequence before the boss fight and really creepy cutscenes. Admiral Razorbeard is good at the end too.

[Lord_Brand]

I think Chill Penguin might be the first boss I ever beat in a video game. He was certainly the first Mega Man boss I ever beat.

I also rember fighting the Criosphinx in Chrono Cross. Took forever, but with the yellow plate I was able to defeat it and get the Sunglasses. Given the game's message about respecting life, you'd think they'd give you the better reward for solving its riddles and letting it live, though.

[Jotari]

7 hours ago, Lord_Brand said:

I think Chill Penguin might be the first boss I ever beat in a video game. He was certainly the first Mega Man boss I ever beat.

I also rember fighting the Criosphinx in Chrono Cross. Took forever, but with the yellow plate I was able to defeat it and get the Sunglasses. Given the game's message about respecting life, you'd think they'd give you the better reward for solving its riddles and letting it live, though.

If anything, contradicting itself and conveying its message poorly is completely in line with Chrono Cross.