Most Intense/Enjoyable Boss Fights

[BebopCola]

In my humble opinion, boss fights are usually kind of a drag. A lot of cool moves/skills don't work on certain bosses, they might have extremely unfair conditions, they can inhibit progression, or they may disrupt narrative *cough Deus Ex: HR cough* and downright make no sense.

But sometimes there are boss fights that just completely kick ass for any number of reasons (boss music not least of all). What are some of your favorite boss fights?

Three of mine:

Orenstein and Smough from Dark Souls - everyone knows them, now. The music, the smashing of pillars, the rage as your summoned friend dies two seconds in. What an awesome fight.



Sepiks from Destiny - for some reason I just loved this fight. The adds come at you at just the right amount of ferocity to be difficult without being too unfair, and Sepiks itself porting around is a nice touch instead of being a static target. Sometimes you only had a second or two to score hits on the damn thing before you had to run/hide/dodge. It was a blast for such an early boss. And really the only memorable one to me (I never got to raid).



Minion from Twisted Metal 1 - my "oldie" boss fight is probably my absolute favorite. The entire game is a pretty simple drive and gun around towns, blowing up other cars with relative ease. Then comes this tank-looking motherfucker, with every goddamn special attack in the game, that relentlessly comes after you. It is an incredible cat and mouse fight, with nerve-wracking drive-by shots and jumping from ramps. Because oh yeah, this battle is on rooftops, so if you aren't paying attention you'll just drive off and die. Damn I loved this fight so much.

 

[lt519]

The revamped Prison of Elders Skolas fight in Destiny 1 is probably my favorite in a long list of excellent Destiny boss fights. Requires complete team coordination with the poison mechanic all the while fighting adds, completing objectives, and burning down the boss. On the old site we ran newbies through it all the time and it was so much fun.

 

[Deleted member 17402]

I always loved Metroid Prime 1 and 2's boss fights because they're methodical and show stages during the course of battle. Metroid Prime 2 especially went in on layered fights where bosses transformed or upped the ante during the second half of battle. But besides that, I always enjoyed the structure to them. You normally had to utilize several different types of weapons and methods to take them down, but best of all, you never feel rushed or as if you could die any minute. You could either take your sweet time with them and admire the fight or go to town.

 

[Mars People]

Its cliche but Credo in DMC4.

A lot of DMC4 was a drag but this boss fight was the highlight.

 

[TransEuropaExpress]

Ludwig from Bloodborne. One of the most harrowing, absurdly intense and ultimately satisfying as fuck boss fights ever for my money. Learning this guy and finally beating him took me like a week.

I always loved Metroid Prime 1 and 2's boss fights because they're methodical and show stages during the course of battle. Metroid Prime 2 especially went in on layered fights where bosses transformed or upped the ante during the second half of battle. But besides that, I always enjoyed the structure to them. You normally had to utilize several different types of weapons and methods to take them down, but best of all, you never feel rushed or as if you could die any minute. You could either take your sweet time with them and admire the fight or go to town.

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You know what, I completely agree with this and hadn't even thought about Prime's boss fights in a long time. I really loved these methodical "puzzle" style bosses that can also be found in 3D Zeldas often. Prime has so many cool find-the-weak-spot parts to its boss fights, I love that stuff and it's so engaging to me.

 

[leon9506]

fromsoftware the thread

 

[Deleted member 48434]

 

[h8bit]

The End from MGS3 for sure.

 

[Blizz]

Slave Knight Gael from DS3's DLC, The Ringed City, it felt like a dance since my first try at it, beautiful.

 

[Mars People]

Ludwig from Bloodborne. One of the most harrowing, absurdly intense and ultimately satisfying as fuck boss fights ever for my money. Learning this guy and finally beating him took me like a week.

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Shit I was just going to post this as well.

When you hit the half way point and the fight changes and the bosses name changes. Thats the good shit.

"Aah, you were at my side, all along.

My true mentor...

My guiding moonlight..."

 

[Strings]

Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix has a number of absolutely amazing (and oftentimes very creative) boss fights.

 

[Deleted member 17207]

 

[Ayirek]

The Nameless King from Dark Souls 3. Hard as hell at first, but once you learn his tells and find his openings it becomes a really fun fight.
Plus it's visually stunning.

 

[TransEuropaExpress]

Shit I was just going to post this as well.

When you hit the half way point and the fight changes and the bosses name changes. Thats the good shit.

"Aah, you were at my side, all along.

My true mentor...

My guiding moonlight..."

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Shit gets so fucking real in that second phase, I nearly dropped the controller shaking every time until my last few good tries. I also didn't realize for several days worth of tries that you have to run behind him for that huge magic/energy blast attack and for the life of me couldn't understand how to avoid it. Once I realized that was solution...amazing.

 

[BennyWhatever]

The Nameless King from Dark Souls 3. Hard as hell at first, but once you learn his tells and find his openings it becomes a really fun fight.
Plus it's visually stunning.

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This is it for me too. I like DS1 better, but DS3 is still good and this fight is definitely the highlight of the game for me. Great fight.

 

[Weiss]

Lotta good picks so far. Gonna go with Nightmare King Grimm from Hollow Knight.

 

[NediarPT88]

Besides From Soft games which are the peak for me, I really liked Sigrun from God of War at the the highest difficulty.

Lotta good picks so far. Gonna go with Nightmare King Grimm from Hollow Knight.

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This and Pure Vessel are pretty good too.

 

[Alberto Robert]

The last Jeanne fight in Bayonetta, the first fight with the Lumen Sage in Bayonetta 2, Credo in DMC 4, Vergil in DMC 3 and most bosses in DMC5 and Metal Gear Rising (especially Jetstream Sam and Senator Armstrong).

The Souls series and Bloodborne have a shit ton of cool and intense boss fights too. I also enjoy the last fight in The Wonderful 101.

Most Bosses in FPS are kinda bland or boring, but the Cyberdemon in Doom 2016 is great.

 

[Bulebule]

Ornstein and Smough in first Dark Souls is the most intense. First time playing it's an incredible experience when you are suddenly put into 1 vs 2 fight. I'd do anything to recreate that moment again when you didn't know about any tactics against them and they'd just mop the floor with you over and over again. Even level 1 playthrough was not as satisfying as first time battling against them.

Most enjoyable was the Stallord-fight in Zelda: Twilight Princess. Riding along the railing in the wall with the spinner was so much fun. I wish one of Zeldas had a fight like that again, even in 2D or 2.5D would be fine.

 

[Weiss]

Besides From Soft games which are the peak for me, I really liked Sigrun from God of War at the the highest difficulty.







This and Pure Vessel are pretty good too.

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I will never take on Pure Vessel because I'm too chicken for Godmaster.

 

[Tawpgun]

Most destiny raid bosses are hella fun. Probably the best shooter bosses out there, which might be a low bar but damn clearing a raid encounter is always satisfying.

 

[Jimnymebob]

Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix has a number of absolutely amazing (and oftentimes very creative) boss fights.

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Yeah, KH2FM's volume of great bosses is kinda staggering.
I know there are a few duds with the Disney bosses (that door in Beast's Castle which is absolute ridiculous on Critical if you head there straight away coming to mind), but they're fine overall. The FF and KH original bosses are fantastic across the board however (well, maybe not chair Xemnas lmao), and it's a crazy amount of content which all provide a really good challenge.

I hate to compare with Souls games, but some of the data fights are leagues above even the hardest Souls fights in terms of difficulty, but like the bosses from those games, they never begin to feel cheap or unfair.

 

[jett]

The final boss of Sekiro.

Motherfucker.

 

[TransEuropaExpress]

I'll probably be the only one to have thought this was a good, let alone fun, boss fight but...I really dug the puzzle aspect of this Laura encounter in The Evil Within where you have to trap and burn her. I like how you were able to strategically kick those barrels over towards rolling into her to blow them up with a gun shot and so, that type of shit is really fun to me. I could've done without the OHKO, sure, but still really liked it.

Also certainly qualifies as intense.

The final boss of Sekiro.

Motherfucker.

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One of the few video game bosses to ever break me. I just dropped the game, couldn't do it after the game in general had turned into an exercise of endless frustration for me. A shame, I wanted to do NG+.

 

[Ovaryactor]

The End from MGS3 for sure.

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Yeah this was and still is my fav:)

 

[(mat)]

My favorite boss fight of all time is the final fight in Banjo-Kazooie. It puts everything you've learned throughout the game to use, and the music is killer.

 

[Zedelima]

Astral Chain, the boss from file 09!
Wow it was epic

 

[Mesoian]

Every boss in the Wonderful 101.

The final boss of that game had me on my feet, SCREAMING.

 

[Doomguy Fieri]

Its cliche but Credo in DMC4.

A lot of DMC4 was a drag but this boss fight was the highlight.

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It's the first thing that comes to mind when I read "boss fight." It's just that good.

The last boss I really had to learn and found immensely satisfying is the DANKEATER from Dark Souls 3.

 

[RestEerie]

the 1st baldur fight is great with all the destructible trees....and it escalates into full DBZ mode..

 

[SecretCharacter]

This might catch a lot of flak on here, but the True Final Boss from Asura's Wrath was pretty intense and was easily the most satisfying boss fight I've played in years. Spoilers below.

Spoiler: Asura's Wrath DLC Ending

The fight is incredibly epic against Chakravartin as he keeps up with everything you're doing. Unlike other fights in the game, you actually can see his QTEs along with yours as you're trying to defeat him. It's a long, gorgeous fight and as it goes on, you slowly start to see the computer missing their QTEs and not mashing buttons nearly as fast. It's the slow collapse of the Ultimate Being that just really makes you feel like you've earned the victory.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

Mr. Freeze in Batman: Arkham City on hard mode is one of the best realizations of an existing character (and an amalgamation of their abilities) from other media within a video game. It also doesn't arbitrarily nerf Batman or his abilities.

Freeze gives Batman an ultimatum to do something for him, and when Batman refuses, Freeze traps them both within the old GCPD building. It plays out like the other stealth/predator sequences, yet after every method of attack you use, Freeze will counter it somehow—if you attack him from a vantage point or ambush him from out of the floor gates, he'll freeze them so they can't be used again, and so forth.

It creates an intensity you're rarely faced with, and forces you to be resourceful and remember all the various ways to attack an enemy. It achieves a balance of making the player feel desperate but also empowered. I consider it one of the best boss battles of all time for those reasons.

 

[Mr. Poolman]

Seven Force from Gunstar Heroes.

 

[DrArchon]

Monster Hunter thread? Monster Hunter thread.

Yian Garuga is one of the most intense fights in pretty much any game. This chicken will fuck you up. It's a complete lunatic that runs around super fast, throws out powerful attacks constantly, and mixes it its moves in creative and unpredictable ways.

And Iceborne gave us Scarred Yian Garuga, which is like a normal Garuga if it did way more damage, moved even faster, and spat fireballs out like a chaingun.

 

[Akai]

Lotta good picks so far. Gonna go with Nightmare King Grimm from Hollow Knight.

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Intense? Definitely. Enjoyable? Debatable.

I think I'd have enjoyed it more, if I didn't have to sacrifice 2 Charm Notches for the Grimm Child, which doesn't even participate in the fight. Gotta say, the soundtrack in this fight is pure fire, though:

 

[Deleted member 3924]

The last Valkyrie in God of War on Hard difficulty. Game needed more bosses like that.
Orphan of Kos (Bloodborne) is such a wild and weird bastard and we first beat it underlevelled on a new game+

 

[Damn Silly]

The End is still the king. Head to head really felt like you were facing the "father of modern sniping" that he was billed as. But you can also try to sneak up on him, kill him via old age or even before the boss fight has begun.

More recently, after beating Bloodborne, a particular standout was Lady Maria from the DLC. Just the ultimate battle of execution, whereas a few bosses felt more like it was either luck or just banging against a brick wall.

 

[KillerDark]

The better Souls/Bloodborne/Sekiro bosses take the cake for me. Also Lingering will on KH2FM Critical.

 

[Sleve McDichael]

Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix

The Roxas fight is incredible on critical mode.

 

[TransEuropaExpress]

Also, since it was just reissued...Contra III has one seriously great collection of fantastic boss fights:

 

[Weiss]

The better Souls/Bloodborne/Sekiro bosses take the cake for me. Also Lingering will on KH2FM Critical.

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I kinda sorta hate KHII but this fight is among the best in all of games.

 

[Mekanos]

Metal Gear Rising: The Game.

My favorite boss fight of all time is the final fight in Banjo-Kazooie. It puts everything you've learned throughout the game to use, and the music is killer.

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Excellent choice, this boss is surprisingly difficult for being one of the very few boss battles in the whole game.

 

[NediarPT88]

I will never take on Pure Vessel because I'm too chicken for Godmaster.

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It's not that hard to reach Pure Vessel, and once you do it once you unlock the boss fight so you can try it as many times you want.

All the fights that were added in Godmaster are awesome.

I forgot to mention Sisters of Battle, so good too.

 

[Firmament1]

So the obvious ones like Gael and Ludwig have been mentioned. In that case, I'm gonna mention Doku, Genshin, and the Regent of the Mask from Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge.

Doku is what the tutorial boss of NG3RE should've been. He's completely fair, with clear telegraphs on all his attacks, and giving you a sufficient amount of time to Counter-attack. At the same time, he has a lot of health, and if his attacks DO hit... You're in for a world of hurt. He's also pretty aggressive.

Genshin from NGII is a fast-paced duel that lets you use whatever you want on him. But he's basically your equal in his speed: He's ridiculously intense, aggressive, and doesn't hit too hard (mostly). He just whittles down your health really quickly with a constant flurry of attacks.

The Regent of the Mask is even faster than Genshin, and he hits like an absolute truck. He also blocks your attacks a lot, and can even block your counter (Which I'm not a fan of). However, what he doesn't have is a lot of health: Meaning that you need to take every opportunity possible to capitalize on damage to end the fight as quickly as possible. Otherwise, he'll overwhelm, and kill you.

Among others...

Genichiro Ashina from Sekiro is pretty good. I found him to be a tad on the easy side, but he's a really excellent back and forth boss that forces you to make use of all your defensive options, from blocking, dodging, and jumping.

Zeus from God of War 3 is great. A combination of a solid fight itself, with, as I said before, nice back-and-forth, and the insane spectacle of it all just makes for a boss fight that's just... Well, fucking great. OG God of War's bosses weren't always just good visually, but they also had bosses that were actually good fights.

 

[KillerDark]

I kinda sorta hate KHII but this fight is among the best in all of games.

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Haha yea it is definitely my favorite KH fight, not sure they will be able to top it!

 

[DocRemedy]

I always loved the Bongo Bongo fight in Ocarina of Time. Not particularly difficult, but enjoyed it none-the-less.

 

[Kunomori]

 

[Slim]

The best one: DMC3 final vergil fight.

Other great boss fights:
- Ludwig and Lady Maria from Bloodborne.
- O&S, Kalameet, Four kings from DS1.
- Twin princes from DS3.
- Daimon, Cursed Dragon, Death from Dragon's Dogma

 

[Violet]

the music change during the second phase, this is the best ever in the Souls series

 

[Raza]

Here's an oldie I remember to this day: Migen from Mischief Makers. At the time, hadn't played a boss anything like him. The way to defeat him is to take his slow punches, grab them, and throw them back at him.