Xplo

Heh.. it's funny someone mentioned steel drums, because I was listening to this and thought, "wow, this would really kick ass with some good steel drums", because to me it sounds more like a soft piano with a lot of reverb or something, whereas steel drums have a distinctively different sound. For me this really brings the track down.. not because it's bad (in fact, I like it a lot and made sure to save myself a copy) but because in my mind it came that close to perfect and missed the mark.

I never bother to review the remixes, but I gotta say, this one kicks some huge ass. Seems very layered and polished to me, lots of variation so it never gets tedious.. it just flows on and on like a river of audio candy. And FWIW, I like the first part in the full version.. kinda spooky and menacing. Shame it had to be cut for the site, but either way, this is definitely one of my favorite remixes here.

What was the final boss in Terranigma? Was it that big mechanical thing? Because if so, leveling up on those floating cube things will quickly make that boss a pushover.

Same here, to be perfectly honest. Just thinking about DMD mode makes me twitch. Definitely.. holding down R1 all the time like that is just brutal. I rented Soul Reaver 2 the other day and even though it's a lot easier, it gave me the same problem. I'm not really sure the human hand was supposed to work that way

Yeah, holy water works, but the cross works better. But everyone knew that, right? I don't remember how I finally beat him but I'm sure I used one of those. If you have a PS2, give Devil May Cry a shot. This game is HARD. Especially toward the end. If you could get to Jaquio with the Jump and Slash - which meant that you had to play through most of the end of the game without dying, but isn't it all about perfection? - he was a complete wuss, like pretty much anyone when you used the J&S on them. Second best thing was to get that attack that shot fireballs up at an angle (or something like that?) which took him down pretty quick. If you had any other special attack, or none, then GOD HELP YOU. I probably tried taking him down with the sword a couple dozen times and I never quite managed to do him in. Really? Ouch. He certainly wasn't easy - you needed speed and maybe a little luck - but I could *usually* beat him. Congratulations, man. I don't think I ever beat him at all. Fighting him took nerves of steel and the reflexes of a god.

Hardest RPG boss ever: Malroth from Dragon Warrior 2. He didn't have any cheap one-hit kill attacks like some bosses, but he did enough damage to keep your healer occupied (or worse), had enough HP to withstand several rounds of fighting, and.. CAST HEALALL LIKE IT WAS GOING OUT OF STYLE! Even at maximum level, you stood a fairly good chance of not being able to kill him (so much for the "all you have to do is level up" theory). On that note, I'd like to nominate the entire game as exceptionally cruel. Runners up: Chaos (FF1) and Lavos (Chrono Trigger) were hard if you fought them at the level where you would normally reach them, without doing any level-building on the side.. more so than many RPG bosses, I'd say. Honorable mention: The Dragonlord, Dragon Warrior 1.. at level 16. One level before you get Healmore. Yes, that means you're fighting him with HERBS. Can you do it? I never could, but I'm convinced it's possible. Anyone who has trouble with bosses in FF games from the second half of the series is a pussy. I'm sorry, the truth may hurt but it had to be said. Hardest action boss: Who the hell knows? There are literally thousands of these games and many of them have insanely hard end bosses, especially when they started in the arcade ("insert one credit to continue.. 10.. 9.. 8..."). With that said... The Grim Reaper from Castlevania was the horror of my young gaming days. In my mind, I will always imagine his room as containing great heaps of rotting Belmonts in the background, even if I did finally beat him sometime last year. Nearly anything on higher difficulty levels of Devil May Cry. If you haven't played this game, or you only rented it and played it on Easy, give the real thing a shot. It will scar your soft, pink flesh with cruel metal whips and fire and send you home, broken and crying for God and Mommy. The ultimate end boss in Demon's Crest is hard, certainly, but not insanely hard; once you get a feel for how he fights (it's a very simple pattern) you should be able to spank him handily if you're smart enough to use the right items at the right times. I forget how the ending goes, though.. Doesn't Firebrand get the Super Übercrest of Infinite Hurting and go on to conquer the world, or something? Dammit, the world needs another game like that.. good gameplay, awesome dark pseudogothic atmosphere.