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Guess what I found? It's a new handy dandy ass handing machine called... hell, I don't know what it's called. In Panzer Dragoon Orta (great game btw), there's this cat-like skeletal thing at the end of stage 3 or 4... I'm not sure which because I've been fighting him for a couple weeks and I don't remember the level number. There seems to be a weak spot on the things face (what there is of it) that you're supposed to attack after you've blasted all the armor off from the rear. I say seems because I've hit the thing with a berzerk blast and barely saw that health bar go down. Of course, the fact that you're always dodging jelly shots and it jumping at you when you're in front of it makes this in no way any easier. Oh yeah... hard boss...

Ghouls & Ghosts... one boss that is so cheap it's not funny. The BIG fly that your have to fight before you enter the chamber and battle Loki... Beelzebub(sp). They should have made this little putz the final boss, as Loki is a cakewalk compared to Beelzebub. This huge fly foirms from dozens of little flies, then begins to float about the room for a short time spitting green larva eggs that spin end over end. Then, it changes back into the little flies... and God help you from there. I've watch Aurther get reduced to pile of bones so many times on this part, I could scream. Those little flies go anywhere... randomly. There's no pattern to avoid, and if you're on the lowest part of the floor and these flies stream across the screen at you, there's a 90% chance you're getting hit... twice. You can't avoid it as the stream is too long to jump over and a wall stops you from running any further. All you can do is get hit. This part just hands you your ass so readily...

First off... kudos for the guitar work. Well handled and nicely performed. I enjoyed the opening, the return to the same style of guitar work at the end and the riffs that were being pounded out at the 3:00 mark on. I thought these areas were the strongest compositionally. The transition at the 1:00 mark lead me to believe that there was heavily metalization heading my way... but nothing hit until the 3:00 mark. For me, this extended build up was the weak point. I'm not speaking of the guitar playing, as it was good through out... agains, kudos there. I'm speaking compositionally. During that two minutes (1:00 - 3:00), it seems to build up, then return right back to the beginning of a build up. By the time the dual metal guitar riffs start at 3:00, they feel too delayed in their arrival and then overwith far too early. Listening, I thought those dual guitars should have had at least a minute of that two minute stretch, to really give them time to thrive in the spotlight, and to contain the build up into them. Despite my feelings on that point, a good mix with some great guitar work.

Well, feeling the urge to go a bit retro, I started playing Doom II on my PC. You know what I found out? That I forgot about probably one of the single, most unfair bosses out there. The Demon on the final level Jesus Christ is that thing is brutal. You get no clues as to just where the hell to hit it, BIG TIME monsters like Arch Viles, Revenants, Mancubus' and Pain Elementals are popping up all over the place (damn those Arch Viles for making Revenants like they were going out of style), and there's a tall elevator to ride on... that way you get killed at varying heights instead of just ground level. To say it took me a while before I figured out what to do is would be misleading, as it took a gamefaws to figure it out after watching my guy get splattered so many times, Jackson Pollock could have used him for one of his paintings. How do you do it? For those who have yet to play, I won't ruin the "fun".

Hey all. Anyone here have the game Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm? Yeah, it's not the best game in the world, but it is pretty fun... until you get to the BIG dragon at the end. I can't remember that last time I watched my life bar go down like that. While the dragon is cool looking, and it doesn't have a lot of different attacks, the ones it does have do enough damage to make up for that fact. Long range fire, short range bites... OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH the fun. Granted, beating the thing gives you a nifty real time cinema, but... Definitely a nasty boss...

Well, I found new friend today. His name is Igniz... and he's the final boss in King of Fighters 2001 on the Dreamcast. In case you haven't guessed, I'm being sarcastic This guy, is SO fucking unfair. He has no striker characters, as he doesn't need one. He has a special move that uses his cape like a slicer and takes about a third of your health bar off. He also has a Super Move that once used, is nearly guaranteed to hurt you... as even if you block it, another character is summoned up to hit you while you're blocking, which then enables the Super Move to start hitting you. Unfair to be sure. He also has a Lion he can summon up to attack you, normal attacks that do much damage, and in general... the guy's a pain in the ass. And I thought Rugal was a bitch...

Anyone remember a game called Hexen? Anyone ever get to the final boss, Korax? Fun huh? I really don't wanna think how many times I've had to reload a game save against that boss. First you get a big room FULL of enemies to fight through. Once you're done with them and nicely weakened, out comes the serpent rider, Korax. Oh what fun he is. Teleporting from spot to spot, his energy shots aren't that hard to avoid, but he takes FOREVER to get rid of. You'll run out of both mana types before he's half dead. Then you get to try and run up to him so you can strike him... that's where it gets hard. He's only in place for a few seconds to fire before he warps off to another spot, so you'll only get a couple hits in. To say this is tough, is the truth. Pray that you have lots of healing vials to use... you'll need them.

How many remember the Genesis game Battletech? Anyone remember the final stage? How about the little shit that calls that place home? Yeah, him. The stage is hard enough on its own merits, but throw in the mech that you're supposed to make it to so you can destroy him and win... and then make him a nasty little bastard to boot... well, you got a hard boss right there. Eventually, I beat the game, but not before seeing that ending screen with your mech laying on its side and your pilot hanging dead out the cockpit window WAY too many times

I'm probably the only one who had trouble with his thing, but the werewolf boss in Castlevania Chronicles (I think ) that jumps around a clock face, pulling pieces off and throwing them at you. I had so much trouble avoiding those clock chunks long enough to any damage to the damn beast, but then trying to hit it after it ran out of ammo wasn't overly simple either. I don't even wanna think about how many times I fought that damn thing before I finally got past it...

Here's a boss for ya. For the proud few who have gotten to play this beast of a game, the stealth bomber-like jet in Battle Garegga. First you have to fight five small versions that die easily enough. Then, you mean the main jet... and the party starts. He's got three or four type of firing patterns, and one of then (where the bullets sweep back and forth a few times) is nearly a guarenteed kill for that boss. But, if you manage to beat it, you face it again two stages later... more armor, faster shots, more types of shot patterns and MUCH faster movement. You will loose ships on v2 of that boss, and you will loose many. If you manage to beat it, then you march on to the final boss, who's actually easier

Well, I sent this to Streets of Rage bum a while ago, but I figured I'd put it up here too... just in case someone else got a little confused. Just a touch of TF IV history Thunder Force IV was released in Japan by Technosoft in 1992. By that time, their American branch was dead and gone (it was that branch of theirs that brought out Thunder Force II, Thunder Force III and Herzog Zwei to The States). So, Sega bought the rights to it and brought the game to The States as Lightening Force. Why they didn't go with "Lightning" I don't know (sounds cooler), but they called it "Lightening". I prefer the Japanese name myself anyways And thanks for the feedback thus far guys .

Got another one. Anyone ever played G-Darius on the Playstation? Even go up against the boss that's at the end of the level who's Greek letter looks like a lowercase "N"? You know the one... it looks like a giant sea horse. This boss, is hard. I don't know how many times I died fighting it, but I ran out of continues after fifteen minutes. It has somewhere in the realm of about 5 or 6 different modes of attack... including one where it circles the edges of the screen (its circling gets faster and faster with each time it does it). I must have hit that thing was a dozen super blasts, and it was still going strong. I think part of it's head came off at one point, but that just seemed to piss it off more and it began attacking with a new attack method on top of the older ones. I don't think it liked me much

The Lich at the end of Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom. I have died, SO many times fighting that little shit. It's almost impossible to hit him with your weapon, and the fact that he has magic coming out of his ass doesn't make things any easier. He casts spells left and right and knocks you down with ANY attack he uses. Even when you do hit him, he takes a little damage, and most magic spells are useless against him. Someone with a sick sense of humor made that boss.

New boss... The Eternal Champion in the Genesis version of Eternal Champions. The Sega CD version kinda toned this guy down, but the Genesis version of him shows no mercy whatsoever. He's fast, does a lot of damage with just a weak hit and not only do you have to beat him, you have to beat him 5 TIMES!!!!! That's once for each form If he beats you, game's over. No continues, no nothing. GAME OVER!!!! That's just damn cold...

O-kay. This one, is simply pure insanity. Serious Sam: The Second Encounter. The final level is made up of two parts. The first, is the HUGE area before an equally HUGE cathedral. A storm rolls in, and with lightning, thunder and fire raining down, a twenty minute battle begins... where you fight EVERY kind of enemy in the game, and large multiples of them. Should you survive all this, you go in the cathedral walls where you fight the final boss. This BIG wizard casts a spell that conjures up enemies. As you progressively do more damage to him, the monsters he conjures up get more or more powerful. Since they're more powerful, they take more damage to kill. So, while you're trying to hit the wizard and hold back the higher Hit Pointed monsters, they keep piling up until you're surrounded by hordes of creatures as the wizard reappears safely far away... and summons more of the damn things. That's one helluva boss fight.

Geonitz from KoF 96... He's almost as cheap a final boss as Rugal, but he's got one move that oin anything but easy he loves to use. He says something, and a column of air rises at a random point on the screen. It does a good amount of damage and he can call it up over and over many times in a row so all you do is block and lose health. Glad he didn't come back as a final boss a second time...

Here's one. The Red Dragon at the end of King of the Dragons on the SNES. That boss is nasty. Big time life bar, little damage done with even the highest level weapon, half the spells are useless on it, the other half only do a little more damage than your weapon, and between the head and two claws of the thing, you're constantly being knocked down, set on fire and chewed on. Definitely a nasty boss... cool looking, but nasty.

Got a new one. The crab boss in Zone "X" in Darius Gaiden. This thing, is HUGE. The Black Hole Bombs don't do much damage to it. It takes up over half the screen, has two large claws that move around as it does, it takes a rediculous amount of hits to die and if you lose you weapons by having your ship blown up... it's over. One of the hardest bosses in the Darius saga. Oh yeah. Those looking for Doom? Get Doom: Collector's Edition ($14.99 now). It's all three on one CD. And pick up JDoom. It's a great OpenGL addition to the original games that adds lighting effects, higher resolutions, new effect for the weapons (the plasma gun looks awesome firing), and all sorts of gameplay additions. And, it's free

Found a copy of Art of Fighting for the Genesis a while back. Got pretty good at the game... could even get to the final boss without continuing. Getting past the final boss? That's a different story all together. Mr. Big is his name, and fucking you up is his game. I had the thing on "Easy" and he was beyond cheap. You could see his weapons weren't hitting you, but you'd still have to block, or they'd still knock you back/down. Air attacks work allright for a round, but then he blocks anything and everything you do on the second and third rounds. Not to mention the guy's big, so he has a helluva reach. SNK... leave it to them to make bosses so damn brutal

Here's a fun one... The final boss in Weapon Lord. Some of the characters are semi easy, but the final boss, Zarak, is a complete and total tool. On anything but easy, he beats you into a corner and basically keeps you there. You jump, you're hit. You attack, you're hit. You block, he just keeps hitting you with supers that do a little damage at a time until you either die or run out of time. Cool game, but damn man....

After getting my copy of King of Fighters 2000 for the Dreamcast, I came across yet another boss that deserves to be here. I don't know his name (it's in Japanese), but he's the new final boss for the series. He is, in short, a dick. He's definitely going to be keeping Rugal company, as this new guy is nasty. Even on "Normal" (3 in the settings), he knocks you out of the air, keeps you at bay with long range attacks, is able to attack you EXTREMELY fast, and can do some nasty damage with his Special moves and his Super attacks. I waited for this game for what seemed like forever, and it's KICKING MY ASS! I love it

I doubt this is gonna make me any friends, but I wasn't very enthralled by this remix. The following is just my opinion... I know this is his first Dance/Electronica mix, but it never really seemed to go anywhere. In all honesty, it sounded like a three-plus minute opening. Drums fade in at :13, cymbals creep in at :31, a new synth sound comes in at 1:03, and that's basically where it stays for the remainder of the song. It's almost like it's in a perpetual state of being ready to lead you into the main crux of the song... but it just stays where it is. The only thing to break the song up from 1:03 on, is the howl-like synth from 2:16 - 2:31. Otherwise, it stays put. I do think this piece has some interesting qualities. Heavy reverb, minimalist note structure, howl-like sound-- all could be used to create an eerie atmosphere... just not in this Dance/Electronica mix. The instruments used did mix well with each other, and they sounded fine. The song was just very uneventful to me. In the end, this combination of Dance/Electronica instrumentation and ambience-like structure just didn't seem to add up to a good song. I saw this song's genre combination a little like a love ballad done in Death Metal-- interesting idea, but the end result doesn't mesh well... at least in this instance. As I said before... good ideas are in here. But, I feel those ideas have been marred by the genre they've been placed in. I'd like to hear this kind of ambience and sound effects combination as an orchestral piece. I think the evil/ominous feeling would be SO much stronger. But, as Dennis Miller said... that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Geese Howard from Capcom vs SNK. M. Bison in that game is a complete puss. But Geese Howard is a complete prick. On anything but easy, he knocks you out of the air when you try and jump in, he keeps throwing shit to keep you back and when you try a projectile attack, he jumps over it. Somehow, Capcom made him even more of a dick than SNK did.

Tell me about it... I had to beat the bosses with a regular controller. Damn near wore out the buttons. Instead of "A", "B", "X" and "Y", the tops of my Dreamcast pad's buttons just have a smooth surface

The boss with the chainsaw in House of the Dead 2. I can get by it now, but before, I was going John Woo all over that things weak spot and never getting a hit on it. Now I know the secret to it, but until I learned that, it was one nasty SoB!