Posted Oct 17, 2006 at 11:28AM by Karl B. Listed in: Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 3, PSP, Xbox 360, MMORPG Tags: NES
Ó

You just know this guy is on the list somewhere.


Bosses. Sometimes they can make or break a videogame. If they're all too easy then you end up with a bunch of gamers who are complaining that there's no challenge to your game. If they're too hard, chances are you'll get the same bunch of gamers yelling at you for making the game too unbalanced. Sucks, huh?

When all the creative juices come together at just the right mixtures and you end up with a boss that gamers can actually (gasp!) like, then that's when you know that you've got a veritable hit on your hands. Hey, it's easy to form an attachment with the hero since you're playing as him, but get a gamer attached to the game's boss/bosses and, more often than not, you've turned someone not just into one of the faceless masses who play your game, but into a fan.

Okay, that was pretty long-winded, but we like bosses. We like boss fights, we like to pick at how they think, we like to analyze why they're evil, we like to ask ourselves, "Are they really evil or just misunderstood?" In celebration of our love of these level-closing baddies, we're bringing you an article from The Phoenix that outlines their choices for the 20 greatest bosses in videogame history. The list includes a wide range of games - from the NES to PC games, and it lists such luminaries as Sephiroth and Ganon alongside names like Abobo and Metal Man.

Now most of the baddies who made the list are from old-school games, so we'd love some input from you guys on who you think the baddest bad guys from new videogames are. Also, everyone has his or her own personal favorite bosses, and everyone also has his or her own personal top five. So if your personal picks are not in the list, don't fret. Let us know who they are and why you picked them by leaving a comment on this post.


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37 Comments


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   by me (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » first

first


   Re: clouducla - 2006-10-17
 » ur a moron

get a life loser!!!!
   by Shane (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » slow

That Website is really slow

   by matthew (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » sephiroth

Sephiroth = total pwnge

   by avatar (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » how about...

The Guardian from the Ultima series

'you have been a thorn in my side for far to long avatar....'

   by Sephiroth_VII - 2006-10-17
 » My list

1. Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII)
2. Zarok (Medievil)
3. Mr. X (Streets of Rage 2)
4. Xemnas (Kingdom Hearts 2)
5. Ganon (The Legend of Zelda)


   Re: Sephiroth_VII - 2006-10-17
 » Why

Sephiroth; He's just a badass. Also, he's gone through a horrible life, so at the same time, you can help but feeling bad for him. Oh, and he can't die.

2. Zarok; It was my first PS game, and when he transformed into a dragon, I was like "Oh *****!!!".

3. Mr. X; Before fighting him, you're stuck in an elevator going up for 8 floors. At every floor, enemies and one or two of the bosses from the previous levels jump in.
Then, when you reach the top, and stand before Mr. X's throne, about 50 grunts start coming at you from both sides of the screen.
When they're defeated, Mr. X's bodyguard, a Ninja, steps out how the shadows and draws his sword. He's extremely fast, and you almost die after 4 hits.
Finally, Mr. X gets up, and pulls out a machine gun. He run fast around slowly, but it's very hard to get close to him, since he's constantly firing his gun, while grunts start coming in from both sides of the screen again, but this time, there are Elite Guards with them.
The battle is almost impossible on Hard.

4. The battle is very varied. First you run through a city, cutting through the skyscrapers that he throws at you. Then, you board his flying fortress, and destroy the two engines by forcing enemies into them. Afterthat, you have to destroy the Energy Core of the fortress, while strong enemies spawn around you, and huge claw-like thingies shoot out of the roof above you.
Only then does the real battle start. I'll stop here, since this is a new game in EU, and many of you probably haven't completed it yet.

5. Ganon is just cool. I won't describe the battles themselves, as they vary a lot through the series.
   by ratix (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » guardian legend end boss "IT" a challege

thats the first boss i ever played against and any game in my life and it was tough. im surprized Chaos isn't up there along with the emporor from final fantasy II. Sephoroth made it why not also Kefka? in the original zelda ganon was such a pushover.

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   by BULL3TPR00F - 2006-10-17
 » only one..

there truly is only one greatest bad guy in the history of videogames...

BOWSER

   by Reneid Klein (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » Site barely worked

For like 45 minutes I kept refreshing the pages while checking other sites and they all worked but the link was down for half the pages, lame.

Anyway, I always forget good bosses, but for now I'll list some of my favorites in no real order.

*Seymore outside of Mount Gagazett - FFX (Playstation 2)
-This fight was probably the hardest RPG boss fight I've ever had he was actually much, MUCH harder than any form or Sin I ever fought, especially that joke of a final form. The last fight in the entire game was THE easiest one; it was really sad. But the Seymore battle made you think and I loved it, yet wondered how he got weaker after this battle.

*Duke - King of Fighters: Maximum Impact (Playstation 2)
-If I have to hear "DEATH BRINGER!" one more time I might go insane. Duke's endless special meter and ability to cancel specials into each other made this a boss fight to remember. It's messed up when he cancels a Death Bringer to do another one. "Death Bring--Death Br--DEATH BRINGER!!"

*Yurka - Evolution 2 (Sega Dreamcast)
-I believe Yurka is the only RPG boss I've never beaten. This was when I first got into RPGs so maybe I could beat him now, but I remember trying to beat him for hours, only to lose every one of the several dozen times I fought him. I'd give it my all and think I'd have a chance to win, then hear "Natual Disaster" and put my controller down because I knew it was all over.

*Giacomo, Folon and Ayme - Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Gamecube)
-Not the hardest fight ever. But still one of my favorite boss battles of recent years. It was fun trying to figure out which one to defeat first and how to set up the right cards in the deck to use at the right times.

*Luther - Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (Playstation 2)
-"Hear that sound? It's the gates of the netherworld opening up to take you away!" Is one of my favorite boss attacks ever. I dare say it took up 99% of the screen. Even with my characters leveled up with Lazer Weapons taking off over 20,000 HP per swing and Armor maxed out with defense, I still had to fight him about four times before I beat him. Mainly because I kept getting hit while trying to revive Cliff and Sylvia. Wish I had just left them dead like this guy did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnj6997MiLY

*Dark Link - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
-I know this makes six and not five, but who cares. Dark Link needs to be put in a list. Even if he wasn't the hardest on the game, he was sill the coolest (Along with the witch twins)

   by Purpleshadow (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » Oh C'mon

All this talk about bad guys and no-one mentions liquid snake. The final battle may have sucked slightly, but hes still a kick-ass boss.

   by guest (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » my 3 and a ?

1 Kefka from FF6, along with alot of bosses from that game.

2 Bowser (many variations)

3 The Old School Mortal Kombat bosses. Goro, Kintaro, and Shao Kahn "You Weak, Pathetic FOOL" LOL

and my ? is, has anyone in the world (seems like) ever seen WART? the final boss of super mario bros2. i never got to him, and never seen a pic online. link plz. thanks

   by enterman - 2006-10-17
 » slow

What a horrible website, so slow. It feels like your on dialup.


   Re: Napstar - 2006-10-17
 » -

Exactly !!!
   by japer (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » it tis

Ganon and Ganondorf is the best boss by far

   by masr1979 - 2006-10-17
 » ....

To those mentioning kefka and sephiroth in the same sentence.... shame on you. Not to say kefka wasn't bad, but he was annoying, in Star Ocean: The Second Story I also liked the first of the 10 wisemen you fight, the one that's fast as hell, if I remember correctly his quote is 'I will buy a one way ticket to hell with your soul".... talk about bad. MGS solid series has so many cool bad guys, The Boss, The End, Liquid (I loved the last battle), anyways how bout bahamut? in the earlier FF games him and tiamat would count down from 10 and you better pray that you kill them before they finish counting...... is that bad ass or what?

   by pauridius - 2006-10-17
 » guh... Sephiroth

In my opinion, Sephiroth is the most over rated boss / bad guy in the hystory of video games. Almost every message board has at least one person with Sephiroth in their name(Example: Posts 6 and 7), or a Sephiroth icon or sig. I liked the game, I just dont like the fan boys.


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   Re: clouducla - 2006-10-18
 » .....

over rated?!?!? he killed one of the most dear video game characters of all time and looked cool doing it! over rated???? ya thats why the dvd released with his face on the cover was # 1 on amazon.com for 3 weeks....come on man...get a clue..
   by Resso (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » agreed...

... with this:

*Dark Link - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
-I know this makes six and not five, but who cares. Dark Link needs to be put in a list. Even if he wasn't the hardest on the game, he was sill the coolest (Along with the witch twins)

but Liquid, kickass? give me a break

   by anonymous stranger (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » oh yea?

William Birkins!! that dude never dies... well in the end... but yea... transform into something more crazy everytime it dies!!!

How about nemesis? persistent I say!

People tend to forget the RE badies

   by KTM911 (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » well

wounder if they'll make a protagonist list...

definatly cloud(ff7) squall (ff8) dart (legend of dragoons) maby serge(chrono cross, even his profile said protagonist) and maby glitch (metal arms) not in that order but those are some of the best characters( cool wepons, tactics, and how much i relate to them....eg:squall, definatly says watever as much as i do) any one else got others to add?

   by like i would tell u (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » W()()T!!!!!

Bowser!!!!!! and GANNON!!!!!!!!

   by KillR_7 (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » Agreed with the stranger

O YEAH! Nemisis is really awsome!




Nemisis
Bowser
Ganon

this might sound weird but the colossus dude on coded arms. he took up the whole map!
that was pretty awsome!

   by wha??? (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » Huh??

How could they leave out Alma from Ninja Gaiden... probably the SINGLE hardest boss in videogame history, and one that wanted to make you smash your controller on teh floor, not because she was cheap, but because she was THAT tough.

   by Incrave (Unregistered) - 2006-10-17
 » Well......

I Think Eggman/Robotnik`s space should be higher than Bower`s space.Not that i hate mario or anything(I Prefer Sonic tho). But Eggman almost caused the end of the world.(In sonic-adventure2)But nutless a Opinion is a Opinion,

   by clouducla - 2006-10-18
 » ....

sephiroth....def # one....good thing cloud was on the job...if link were the one we used to try and defeat sephiroth....we'd be in trouble....

   by Edlad (Unregistered) - 2006-10-18
 » MGS 3 bosses

Come on, no mention of the Cobra team, they were all so cool, and the setups for the fights were nothing short of genius! Screw foxhound, Cobra would kick their ass.

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   by Boggi (Unregistered) - 2006-10-18
 » Bad

Psycho Mantis (MGS)

and somebody from a new game:

Hoodoo Brown (GUN)

   by DemonicAngel (Unregistered) - 2006-10-18
 » There is a God.

I really thought Sephiroth was going to be at the top. But for once, I agree with the number one. SHODAN is so memorable simply because she is totally amoral, seemingly omnipotent, and all-encompassing. ***** yeah.

   by NickT (Unregistered) - 2006-10-18
 » sephiroth #2? wtf

simply put shodan was more annoying than evil (as a boss)

sephiroth was and always will be the man when it comes to badass's!

   by warriorx - 2006-10-18
 » bad guys

heres my bad ass masters, Apocalypse-Megatron from The Transformers-Darth Vader-Akuma from Street Fighter and Master Bison-Skeletor -Magneto-The Shredder. lol

   by tterbed (Unregistered) - 2006-10-18
 » t-rex

don't know if the t-rex from Tomb Raider is a boss, but it shure scared the bagesus's out of me. Just got used to the cave feal, walk into and underground paradise and wham.. Big friggin T-Rex coming for a Laura snack.
awsome.....

   by alexteoh (Unregistered) - 2006-10-18
 » hmm

1. my dad
2.my mum

ill get back when i think of someone else

   by true beleiver (Unregistered) - 2006-10-18
 » truth

there is only 1 true boss and his mother jenova



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