All Time Hardest Boss

[Sir_Snooze]

If this counts, everything in I Wanna Be the Guy. Play it for about 5 seconds and you'll understand EXACTLY what I mean. Especially The Guy. Holy Hannah...

[Ajax]

I love this thread. One of my earliest posts dates back to 2003, and that was on page 113. Unless I'm mistaken, this is the oldest surviving thread on OCR.

...

The super-secret end boss of Cave Story was unbelievably hard, both to fight, and to get to. Not so hard anymore now that I have beat the game multiple times, but still quite difficult.

[KYOOBIKLEEZ]

The hardest boss I've ever faced has to be Zinaida (final form) from Armored Core: Last Raven. Holy shit that bish was tough. I found this in an FAQ for the game:

*WARNING: THE FOLLOWING MISSION MAY FRUSTRATE YOU TO THE POINT YOU MIGHT BE

TEMPTED TO DESTROY YOUR CONTROLLER. FEELINGS OF THIS MISSION BEING IMPOSSIBLE

TO BEAT ARE COMMON HERE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.*

So true...

[duskvstweak]

I am somewhat ashamed to say it; but Bowser and his dumb castle in world 8.

Also, freaking Metal Gear in "Metal Gear Solid".

[AJ-enova]

I am somewhat ashamed to say it; but Bowser and his dumb castle in world 8.

Also, freaking Metal Gear in "Metal Gear Solid".

Oh No! Metal Gear Rex was well easy (as long as you had Full Rations and some Chaff Grenades)

In the 1st fight throw Chaff grenades - he cant do shit - and jsut keep hitting him with the stinger

In the 2nd fight just keep firing!

Always works for me!

[Ferret]

I wonder how long it is before we start listing bosses we've had as employees.

[Zipp]

Dracula in Castlevania 3. Holy fucking shit.

[EC2151]

Dracula in Castlevania 3. Holy fucking shit.

Tell me about it.

Don't even bother with the whip for any of Drac's forms but the first. The rest, just USE THE AX AND NOTHING ELSE.

It's the only way to stay safe, and your partners are about as useful as dick in this fight.

But oh man, it is oh-so-satisfying to finally take down Dracula.

The hallway leading up to Death in CV1 is just fucking merciless and annoying, coupled with an annoyingly difficult Death battle. The worst was killing him, and THEN having a flying scythe kill you.

[LuketheXjesse]

Double Dragon III is not only one of the hardest games ever conceived - its final boss is a nightmare and nearly impossible to beat.

The Arcade version of the final boss may very well be the hardest boss ever.

for yourself.

[noTuX]

Legend of Legaia:

He is not really a boss, but the monk that lives in Rim Elm. You can fight against him, but he is impossible for me to beat. Ever since I got the game, I have been trying to beat that one guy, but no matter how high my level is, he still beats the shit out of me in about three turns.

What do I need to do to beat him?

[The Pezman]

In my experience, there are two distinct ways a boss may be difficult.

One is that it has a set of moves which are difficult to counter or dodge, but can be. It may have high HP or a small attack window, but these bosses are difficult in a fun way. They provide a tangible challenge but it's clear that they can be beaten with enough work and persistence.

And then there are stupid bosses with unpredictable moves that can't be read or countered. The boss isn't really hard, he can just do a bunch of ridiculous things which put you in a bad place very quickly.

Guess which one inspired me to make this entry?

The final boss of No Mores Heroes 2 has more cheap tricks than a prostitute. Let's go through them.

For starters, he can instant kill you (by punching you out a window) if he hits you in the wrong part of the room relative to him. Boom. All of a sudden you've got to maneuver and keep yourself out of that line of sight. May be easy enough on its own, sure, but let's continue.

About a third of the way through the battle, he starts up a teleportation attack. Okay, we've seen these before. Probably not so difficult to counter. But just you wait. He can teleport right behind you at any time and smack you. What does he do then? Teleport again and smack you again. And a third time for good measure. Oh, and he can do this three-teleportation attack three or even four times in a row. It cannot be reliably dodged or blocked because you can't see where he is in time.

The interesting thing is that none of his attacks, individually, take off that much damage. It's almost like a taunt. "I dare you to beat me with more than half your health remaining." Given this, it still sounds plausible I can do it. I'm a patient guy, and I know his strategy for the most part. Even if he can sucker punch me at will and I dodge roll like crazy in the hopes of avoiding it, I'll just keep doing it til I knock him down enough. Of course, when he keeps teleporting around that becomes ass-kickingly hard to do.

And the coup de grace. In the last third of the fight, he gets a new teleportation attack. "What could possibly be worse than getting sucker punched up to twelve consecutive times?", you ask?

How about Tornado punched? Same attack, but now he tosses you across the room with the power of wind each time. And that can come before, after, or sandwiched between regular teleportation attacks.

Picture this. You've persevered against the guy for a good while. You're about 2/3 down after using the health refill, but he's down for the count as well. Just maybe 10 or 12 more good hits...

He comes at you with the teleportation. SHITSHITSHIT... wait! I dodged it! I'm dodging! Let me roll away... crap he tornado punched me! But where did I end up... fuck.

Out the window.

I haven't beaten him yet. Other bosses in this game prove Suda 51 knows how to make a great boss fight. One that's unique, challenging, and lets you have a fighting chance and not getting half your health knocked off by a random combination of attacks he may or may not perform. Considering the bosses are the focus of the game, I'm pretty pissed off they decided to end the game with such a lousy one. He's not hard. I faced previous bosses much harder. But it's completely up to chance (if he doesn't do certain moves or I'm lucky enough to dodge them) as to whether I can beat him. Ever.

[Kinslayer]

Legend of Legaia:

He is not really a boss, but the monk that lives in Rim Elm. You can fight against him, but he is impossible for me to beat. Ever since I got the game, I have been trying to beat that one guy, but no matter how high my level is, he still beats the shit out of me in about three turns.

What do I need to do to beat him?

To beat Tetsu, you need to be REALLY high level, and it's also suggested that you get the ability to summon the Ra-Seru, go collect the eggs while levelling up, and if you meet certain requirements, you can get Meta in Rim Elm, Terra at Mt. Rikuroa, and Ozma in East Voz Forest...(these are spells, not the actual Ra-Seru again) and the eggs also contain Ra-Seru spells for the other 4 elements.

And speaking of Legend of Legaia, I have a few more bosses to add:

Juggernaut: Because his Stone Circle move is unpredictable, he can really wear you down fast

Van Saryu of Ratayu, I totally forgot how much of an ass he is...

Gaza of Sol The Astral Slash looks so cool, but god it can damn near kill a character

Sim-Seru Gaza--not only is there the Neo Star Slash, but the Astral Wave can almost wipe out the entire party, and again, like Juggernaut, it's unpredictable.

As a Kid I used to think these bosses were hard...now they're child's play...

Pinstripe Potoro and N. Brio from Crash Bandicoot

Tiny and N. Gin from Crash Bandicoot 2

Neo Cortex from Crash Bandicoot Warped...

[Cecilff2]

In my experience, there are two distinct ways a boss may be difficult.

One is that it has a set of moves which are difficult to counter or dodge, but can be. It may have high HP or a small attack window, but these bosses are difficult in a fun way. They provide a tangible challenge but it's clear that they can be beaten with enough work and persistence.

And then there are stupid bosses with unpredictable moves that can't be read or countered. The boss isn't really hard, he can just do a bunch of ridiculous things which put you in a bad place very quickly.

Guess which one inspired me to make this entry?

The final boss of No Mores Heroes 2 has more cheap tricks than a prostitute. Let's go through them.

For starters, he can instant kill you (by punching you out a window) if he hits you in the wrong part of the room relative to him. Boom. All of a sudden you've got to maneuver and keep yourself out of that line of sight. May be easy enough on its own, sure, but let's continue.

About a third of the way through the battle, he starts up a teleportation attack. Okay, we've seen these before. Probably not so difficult to counter. But just you wait. He can teleport right behind you at any time and smack you. What does he do then? Teleport again and smack you again. And a third time for good measure. Oh, and he can do this three-teleportation attack three or even four times in a row. It cannot be reliably dodged or blocked because you can't see where he is in time.

The interesting thing is that none of his attacks, individually, take off that much damage. It's almost like a taunt. "I dare you to beat me with more than half your health remaining." Given this, it still sounds plausible I can do it. I'm a patient guy, and I know his strategy for the most part. Even if he can sucker punch me at will and I dodge roll like crazy in the hopes of avoiding it, I'll just keep doing it til I knock him down enough. Of course, when he keeps teleporting around that becomes ass-kickingly hard to do.

And the coup de grace. In the last third of the fight, he gets a new teleportation attack. "What could possibly be worse than getting sucker punched up to twelve consecutive times?", you ask?

How about Tornado punched? Same attack, but now he tosses you across the room with the power of wind each time. And that can come before, after, or sandwiched between regular teleportation attacks.

Picture this. You've persevered against the guy for a good while. You're about 2/3 down after using the health refill, but he's down for the count as well. Just maybe 10 or 12 more good hits...

He comes at you with the teleportation. SHITSHITSHIT... wait! I dodged it! I'm dodging! Let me roll away... crap he tornado punched me! But where did I end up... fuck.

Out the window.

I haven't beaten him yet. Other bosses in this game prove Suda 51 knows how to make a great boss fight. One that's unique, challenging, and lets you have a fighting chance and not getting half your health knocked off by a random combination of attacks he may or may not perform. Considering the bosses are the focus of the game, I'm pretty pissed off they decided to end the game with such a lousy one. He's not hard. I faced previous bosses much harder. But it's completely up to chance (if he doesn't do certain moves or I'm lucky enough to dodge them) as to whether I can beat him. Ever.

Beat him my first try. The second form didn't give me too much trouble. The teleportation is a pain, though. The worst part was figuring out how to defeat the first form.(I was trying to knock it out of the window each time when it was stunned and happened to get the blade clash by accidentally moving my remote fast enough for a slash). After watching a recorded video of him using the crappy teleport moves constantly though, I'd say I was probably lucky.

When it comes to final battles, Jeane and Henry blow this guy out of the water.

[The Pezman]

Beat him my first try. The second form didn't give me too much trouble. The teleportation is a pain, though. The worst part was figuring out how to defeat the first form.(I was trying to knock it out of the window each time when it was stunned and happened to get the blade clash by accidentally moving my remote fast enough for a slash).

Yeah, I had to use a strategy guide for that.

After watching a recorded video of him using the crappy teleport moves constantly though, I'd say I was probably lucky.

I've since beaten him, but only because I also got lucky. So yes. Yes you were. And that was my point: luck should not be a decisive factor in a fight outcome.

When it comes to final battles, Jeane and Henry blow this guy out of the water.

The whole ending of NMH2 from that boss onwards was just crap. I feel like they just wanted to finish the game at that point.

Now Ryugi, THERE was a boss.

[Crulex]

As far as the hardest boss goes, I'd give it to Proto-Babil in FFIV DS, simply because that is the only boss I still haven't beaten yet. Damn Divine Judgement.

[Cecilff2]

Now Ryugi, THERE was a boss.

I'm playing through on bitter. Boy was he ever. The only one to kill me so far on this playthrough.(Alice came close too, though) I'm not looking forward to Batt.

I've died more at Ryuji's bike battle than all other parts of the game combined.

[mastersam]

For me, it depends on what game we're talking about, sort of, because it all constitutes a different kind of hard. For example, when I played Soul Calibur III, I was stupid enough to try and fight Night Terror at the highest difficulty. He's already a cheap fighter, having retarded amounts of range, power and speed, but upping the AI was nuts. Even on easy, I've had times where he's pulled a fast one and I lost.

As for RPG bosses... Dr. Lugae on FFIV DS. I can never manage to act in time with that stupid Reversal Gas, and I always end up hurting someone when I'm trying to heal them. I had no problem fighting him on ANY other system but this one, even when it wasn't dumbed down. IRRITATING as all Hell.

[Nabeel Ansari]

The first eggman boss in Sonic 1.

I can never seem to get him. :/ I'm sure many others have this problem.

But seriously,

in my experience it had to be...

The Emerald or Ruby Weapon in FFVII.

[Hy Bound]

I was going to say the emerald or ruby WEAPON too, but both of those have a trick to beating them. Otherwise, I'd say any an doll of the bosses in Ninja Gaiden. I know these have probably been mentioned already, but dear poo thats a hard game.

[Gario]

Always thought the Omega Weapon boss from FF8 was tough, too... Then again, that's in a very unfair sort of way. 12,000 to your entire group?

Cheapshot, anyone?

[BardicKnowledge]

The bonus bosses from Ninja Gaiden Black's Mission mode are certainly candidates. Especially when you have to fight more than one of them at once...

[Kai's Bloodfang]

Ninja.

Gaiden.

enough said.

[Schwaltzvald]

Ninja.

Gaiden.

enough said.

NES versions or the recent ones..?

Currently trying to do a no death/no bomb/all-spellcard-capture run on Subterranean Animism's

. The stage's not so much an issue as Koishi is...

As well as that

screwing me over on such a run as well...

[Kai's Bloodfang]

NES versions or the recent ones..?

The recents.

I hate the bosses so much

[Schwaltzvald]

The recents.

I hate the bosses so much

Like most bosses you'll overcome them soon enough.