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You're a protagonist, a hero, a warrior, a man on the mission of a thousand
lifetimes, a thousand ages, fighting the war to save the world from destruction
and obliteration. You cut, hammer and terminate everything that comes your way.
But after a while, you stop! Not because you're tired or that you've lost heart.
You do it for what you see.
What do you see? You see another being twice your size, with a soul as black
as the night, with a heart being pumped by the souls of the innocent, with teeth
made to crush bones, and with claws made to tear apart the hardest of metals and
the hardest of mortals-he is Satan's very own personal bodyguard-he is THE BOSS.
Battling Bosses is probably the oldest standing tradition in the history of
the industry. It usually goes about in a pretty simple and square manner; you
fight the regular enemies, murder them and obliterate them, until you see the
big dude with huge welcoming arms waiting right at the end of the doorway.
Bosses need not be big or small, they need not have a limited number of forms
and scales. They can have many darn forms, even a red light spitting out red
rays of some sort can be made a boss, but that wouldn't do justice to the kind
of technologies we have today, now would it? Boss fights usually make for some
incredibly interesting action sequences that can turn out to be equally
frustrating for some.
Bosses can only be considered legendary or memorable if they manage to
succeed or excel in categories such as innovative fight mechanics, difficulty
and personality, to name a few. The ones that have indeed managed to cast a
spell on our minds and hearts till now are very much part of this esteemed list.
One word though, we're not here to select the hardest or even the stylish bosses
of them all-just the ones we remember the most. So without further ado, let's
start our engines.
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Alma (Ninja Gaiden)
Alma is probably the only lady monster to make it to this list of legends
(apart from the questionable gender of Mother Brain in Super Metroid) and she
manages to earn her spot for being the most devastating she-devil on the
interactive entertainment circuit. Defeating Alma became a benchmark of sorts-to
help separate the real men from the boys in one of the hardest SP experiences
ever created. |
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De Rol Le (Phantast Star Online)
If you saw a Corpser from Gears for the first time, you knew you had trouble
coming. But in reality, it turned out to be the easiest of bosses. If you saw a
giant worm like creature, throwing a barrage of purple energized balls, making
effective use of its gut piercing tentacles and also a skin cracking/scorching
laser beam to go along with that, you know that you need a few friends to help
you out. De Rol Le is the only bad-ass boss that I've encountered so far where I
had to literally call my buddies for providing some real backup. You couldn't
stand still even for a single second. |
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Goro (Mortal Kombat)
Goro is an absolute behemoth, and apparently also a prince. He is the reigning
champion of the Mortal Kombat Universe-thanks to the incredible height at which
the he stands and also due to his fab four limbs, two of which are used to hold
and crush, while the remaining two are used for pummeling. Interestingly, he
also takes significantly less damage as compared to the other fighters in the
game-not fair, but that's what monsters are made of. |
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Hydra (God of War)
The Hydra has to be one of the most intensive first-person battle bosses
among all experiences. It was an absolutely electrifying way to kick off the
grandest adventures of God of War. The most interesting component is a small
mini-game that the creators managed to throw in for helping the player defeat
the giant monster. What makes battling Hydra so epic in nature is the thrill you
get when you climb up the monster's head with your chains and blades in an
attempt to put it out completely. Absolutely glorious. |
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Mike Tyson (Mike Tyson's Punch Out)
In the days of the champion, if you would spend half a second in the ring
with the Iron Man, it would probably be the end of your life. If you step into
the ring with the man today, he would probably take your intestine and wear it
as a tie leaving behind a dollar for a funeral. I can't say much about Punch Out
for the Nintendo Entertainment System other than the fact that it was hell. It
was so darn difficult that people used to bet on each other for money in order
to find out if anyone had what it took to defeat the man in the game. Many
people lost money, trust me. I was one of them! |
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Mother Brain (Super Metroid)
This one is the most subtle bosses of all times. Battling Mother Brain was
indeed difficult and annoying. Not because of the combat, but because of all the
god damned silence! You would have to defeat a live brain, without having to say
a word, amusing yet entertaining. 'Her' attacks include firing laser projectiles
and an energy-sapping beam. |
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Nemesis (Resident Evil - Nemesis)
Nemesis was a brutally hard experience for us and for the STARS team itself.
The game got its title from its final boss itself, go figure the relevance.
Nemesis was more than just a giant freak; it was a biologically enhanced
creature. Being chased for hours and hours by a monster gunning for your flesh
was an incredibly scary and tormenting experience. In fact, Nemesis also
appeared in the 2004 movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse, as scary as ever! |
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Psycho Mantis (MGS)
Hideo Kojima's first MGS installment was a memorable one because of many
things; the combat, the sneak factor, the weapons, the storyline, the characters
and of course the BOSS. Psycho Mantis was not your everyday big headed, big
armed guy. He was so much more than that. He had a brain and a gift. A gift of
reading your mind and anticipating your moves in advance using powers like
telepathy and telekinesis. You get so psyched out and he's so darn quick that
you won't even find the time to react to your death. |
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Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII)
Sephiroth-the luxuriously flowing hair, the seven foot sword (also called the
Masamune), the dark green eyes-no wonder why people see him as the perfect boss.
Not many know that the name Sephiroth is taken from Kabbalah, the mystical sect
of Judaism (Sefirot; or breath of the living God. Kinda apt, don't you think?).
With Sephiroth, it was more about personality than muscles and brain. He was a
handsome villain, and had a heart (though a black one). He had a soul but it was
not his own. In the game, his plan is to drain the planet of its energy with the
aid of the black material known as 'Meteor.' He was and still remains a mystery
to most. |
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The End (MGS 3 – Snake Eater)
End was an old visceral, an old fart you would make fun of everyday.
Apparently, Snake Eater showed us that old people fight back and they fight back
hard. The lengthy sniper battle with this legendary sniper called simply 'The
End', has to be one of the greatest Metal Gear Solid sequences ever. It was a
solid experience that demanded a lot of things to be done; keeping a keen eye on
all sights and sounds around and tracking and shooting. And you had to do it all
before you got found and discovered yourself. |
Other Mentionable Bosses
Ganon (The Legend of Zelda)
Bowser (Super Mario Series)
Legion (Castlevania Series)
Revolver Ocelot (MGS) n Night Terror (Soul Caliber III)
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