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What's the Most Unique Boss Fight Gameplay-wise?

Stat

Stat

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,154
I'm not looking for the best bosses - but the most unique.

I.e. Old Monk in Demon's Souls.
A random player will invade you and assume the role of the boss. You have to beat to "win the boss fight."
www.youtube.com

Demon's Souls Remake PS5 - Old Monk Boss Fight

Old Monk boss fight in Demon's Souls Remake on PS5 where a random person is summoned to fight you as the boss. BFD, Boss Fight Database. Demons Souls PS5 bos...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

I know its pretty unique but I do know the co-op mode in Splinter Cell had a similar ending boss fight.

Its a co-op mode. In the final cutscene, you are each watching unique to you cutscenes based on the character that you are playing - but you are told that one of you has to die. Suddenly, its a cat and mouse game on a giant airship. Maybe you try and trick the person about what is going on

www.youtube.com

Archer ending ( Splinter Cell Conviction Coop)

www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
Manmademan

Manmademan

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Aug 6, 2018
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Stat said:
I'm not looking for the best bosses - but the most unique.

I.e. Old Monk in Demon's Souls.
A random player will invade you and assume the role of the boss. You have to beat to "win the boss fight."
www.youtube.com

Demon's Souls Remake PS5 - Old Monk Boss Fight

Old Monk boss fight in Demon's Souls Remake on PS5 where a random person is summoned to fight you as the boss. BFD, Boss Fight Database. Demons Souls PS5 bos...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

I know its pretty unique but I do know the co-op mode in Splinter Cell had a similar ending boss fight.

Its a co-op mode. In the final cutscene, you are each watching unique to you cutscenes based on the character that you are playing - but you are told that one of you has to die. Suddenly, its a cat and mouse game on a giant airship. Maybe you try and trick the person about what is going on

www.youtube.com

Archer ending ( Splinter Cell Conviction Coop)

www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
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Old Monk can't really be considered unique because From reused this idea for the Looking Glass Knight in Dark Souls II.
 
DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

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tu90LPT.jpg
 
Fat4all

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d05zkavjf8l21.jpg


you have to push the literal boundaries of where you can fight
 
The Crystal Exarch

The Crystal Exarch

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Dec 3, 2017
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São Paulo, Brazil
DiipuSurotu said:
tu90LPT.jpg
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To give people context, this is the Time Devourer from Chrono Cross.

You have to cast spells on him in a specific order of elements without breaking the sequence, then you can use the Chrono Cross, which breaks the gem on his middle and releases Schala.

Notice how each element gives a distinct note, and then they all blend and form the first chords of the first ending song, Life ~ A Faraway Promise

 
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Ryuelli

Ryuelli

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,209
I'm sure it's not as unique as I think it is, but Valithria Dreamwalker in WoW always stood out to me for not needing to kill her, but instead the fight focuses on healing her.

wow.gamepedia.com

Valithria Dreamwalker

Valithria Dreamwalker, is a green dragon. During WotLK, she was captured by the Scourge and held prisoner. She is the first boss of the Frostwing Halls wing of the Icecrown Citadel raid. The fight ends when the raid has succeeded in healing Valithria up to 100%, while adds spawn in decreasing...
wow.gamepedia.com wow.gamepedia.com
 
Fat4all

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Stat said:
Why is this unique? I have not played it. I know its from that indie game that every few months Im like "Ill play that eventually"
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undertale has three different 'playthroughs', and san's is the boss at the end of the hardest one

san's is one of the "aware" characters in the game, not to get too spoilery, and thus his fight breaks the rules of how you normally play

undertale is part rpg part bullet hell, so all the dodging is done in real time, so there's a lot of memorization, but even that gets turned on it's head as you keep dying to sans

eventually he even starts attacking you on the UI elements, causing you to have to dodge on your own turns when you're attacking

eventually, the only way to beat him is to find a way to break the rules of the game yourself
 
CHC

CHC

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Oct 27, 2017
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Psycho Mantis in MGS1 was pretty nuts, drastically harder unless you changed controller ports. The whole idea of him "reading your mind" by messing with your PS1 at the hardware level was just wild.
 
UnluckyKate

UnluckyKate

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Oct 25, 2017
10,526
Final boss in Transistor :

333


Transistor is a tactical top down game, you freeze the game like in Fallout's VATS system, plan your actions (movements, attacks, target enemies, fall back... ) , see you action points cost, then execute and see everything programmed, being done.

The twist of the final boss fight in the game, is that he has the same power as you. He can freeze time and execute his command during yours and your evasion. Its bloody brillant

 
Manmademan

Manmademan

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Jakenbakin said:
You're really trying to tell the OP their answer didn't qualify for their own thread because of some obnoxious "wELl aCKshUaLlY" shit?
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Yeah, I'm saying if the mechanic happens a second time in the same series, it's not a unique boss fight. Not rocket science, pal.

edit: I'm being told it happens a third time in Dark Souls 3 for the "Halflight, Spear of the Church" fight. That one is DLC though *and* being summoned for it requires beating Darkeater Midir, apparently so...yeah, probably not a lot of people lining up for that third one.
 
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Deleted member 29691

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Pretty much all of the fights in Shadow of the Colossus for me, especially the last one.

And a lot of Nier Automata, the one where you get hacked and the game turns into a shmup comes to mind.
 
Rirse

Rirse

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Jun 29, 2019
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Luca Bright from Suikoden II



At first glace it seems like a normal boss fight against the major villain in the game, but the fight against him you selecting EIGHT-TEEN PARTY MEMBERS to make up a group of three to take turns fighting him, slowly wearing him down. Afterwards he still not dead and has to face off in the Suikoden series signature duel. Do note this guy has no second form or even transformation...just a super strong human who takes everything and the kitchen sink to slain.
 
Fat4all

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jotun? said:
Wait what?

I gave up and just watched the ending on youtube, and I didn't see anything like that, just being good at dodging everything. What is this rule breaking?
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when you have to physically push the combat area over to the "FIGHT" button
 
rataplein

rataplein

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Oct 28, 2017
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i love this kind of thread... lots of pictures without context or not detailing you what game/boss is it!.

besides some of the cool ones already mentioned, i'm gonna say mr. freeze in arkham city. you have to use different tactics that you've learned through the game. not difficult, but a lot of fun!
 

TwinBahamut

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Jun 8, 2018
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I'm not sure if anything has ever been more weird and unique than the final "battle" for Ending 5 in Drakengard. It doesn't even use any of the actual combat mechanics from the rest of the game. I had no idea what was even going on or what I could do the first time I tried. It was frustratingly hard. It took ages for me to finally get past it. And the ending afterwards really wasn't wasn't what I wanted.
 
Fat4all

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rataplein said:
i love this kind of thread... lots of pictures without context or not detailing you what game/boss is it!.

besides some of the cool ones already mentioned, i'm gonna say mr. freeze in arkham city. you have to use different tactics that you've learned through the game. not difficult, but a lot of fun!
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it does a great job signaling that you have to use every single thing at your disposal thanks to him freezing-out the option to do the same thing over again

very smart fight
 
lvl 99 Pixel

lvl 99 Pixel

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Oct 25, 2017
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Fat4all said:
d05zkavjf8l21.jpg


you have to push the literal boundaries of where you can fight
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Eh... most of the fight is still just the same gameplay types until the last gimmick. Its like Giygas in Earthbound (or some of the other Mother bosses).
The first flowey boss was more unique being in a completely different artstyle and screen space to the rest of the game
 
Fat4all

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lvl 99 Pixel said:
Eh... most of the fight is still just the same gameplay types until the last gimmick. Its like Giygas in Earthbound.
The first flowey boss was more unique being in a completely different artstyle and screen space to the rest of the game
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he does more tricks with the game area than any other boss

he also attacks you on your own dang menu, on your buttons
 
OP
OP
Stat

Stat

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Oct 25, 2017
5,154
rataplein said:
i love this kind of thread... lots of pictures without context or not detailing you what game/boss is it!.

besides some of the cool ones already mentioned, i'm gonna say mr. freeze in arkham city. you have to use different tactics that you've learned through the game. not difficult, but a lot of fun!
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I know, I was going to say "please tell us why its this boss fight" but figured that people would get mad at that.

Agreed on Mr Freeze. I feel like Deathstroke in Origins was similar where he'd learn your combos.
 
Boy

Boy

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Apr 24, 2018
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Most metal gear solid bosses. I feel like that franchise has the most unique bosses in gaming history.

Also the first 30 min of God of War 3 where the whole level is designed around a boss fight
 
Kurtikeya

Kurtikeya

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Dec 2, 2017
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I'm going to cheat and say Ori and the Blind Forest's Ginso escape. In the context of the game to that point, you've done a good of puzzle-platforming and you've become acquainted with Bash. So the game puts you to a "final test" in a beautiful escape sequence.

You also get a achievement called Run For Your Life before it starts.

 
Manmademan

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Zukuu said:
NieR has a text-dungeon as quasi-boss-level.
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Ok yeah that one qualifies. completely bizarre.


Boy said:
Most metal gear solid bosses. I feel like that franchise has the most unique bosses in gaming history.
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After thinking about it I think you might be right. "The Sorrow" in MGS3 is by far the strangest boss fight in the series.

The "fight" itself is wandering through a river populated with the dead spirits of everyone else you killed during the game. If you killed them with a shot to the balls they will still be clutching their junk in the afterlife, howling about how they're now "useless." The more people you kill before getting to The Sorrow himself, the harder the "boss fight" is. It's possible to play through the game non lethally and have the boss fight "river" be virtually deserted.

You "beat" the sorrow by dying at the end of the encounter and eating a "revival" pill to wake yourself up from your own false death. If you don't care about getting his camo, you can avoid the "fight" entirely by intentionally drowning yourself in the water right from the start.
 
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