The B.B.B.E. Thread [or Best Boss Battle Ever thread]

[Lonk]

I think it is time that we discuss boss battles, but more of an opinionated topic for the sake of promoting discussion.  What makes a good boss battle?  Why are we so captivated by boss battles anyways?

 

The only unique rule here is that you have to give an explanation on why you love a certain boss battle(s).  It isn't enough to say that you like a boss just because of its appearance, but the whole deal of explanation is required.

[encapturer]

I've just started playing Resonance of Fate, and recently cleared the first boss, which was some sort of hulking tar creature.

Thing was huge and intimidating, and heavily armored, so you had to break down the armor. Due to RoF's battle system, this was alot more entertaining than expected. It made you feel awesome as one of your characters ran by the hulking creature, wearing down it's plates with machinegun fire, then followed by another character, taking to the air and breaking each worn down piece, exposing the creature's weak flesh.

Then it repaired its armor somehow... with a tar drum! Which you could destroy to stop it from doing that! All while trying not to die from its flaming tar chunks it kept lobbing at you. There have been some criticisms of RoF's battle system I've read, but even if I find myself unable to finish the game, the whole experience was worth it to me just to fight this one battle.

[Yosuke-kun]

Hmmmm that's a tough one. I definitely had the most fun fighting Xemnas if KH2, but my favorite is probably Nuadha from Mabinogi. If for now other reason than his theme music. I mean how can you not love it? It's like the writer of this song just pissed out excellence when he wrote it.

 

EDIT: Actually thinking back on it, all the boss fights in RoF were totally badass .3. So they're somewhere up there too.

[Lonk]

It may be new, but the Torkscrew Battle from Dream Team is shaping up to be incredibly high on my B.B.B.E scale.  First of all, I like his design.  Second of all, it has the best general boss music to accompany it's battle.  Now the battle itself is awesome.

 

True to his name, his attacks all involve the use of his drill, and he uses it in several unique ways such as:

-Doing a drill dive that inflicts a large amount of damage on a bro and has a very good chance of reducing DEF.

-Drilling underground to stub at a bro's feet.  Also, if it is partially avoided, then you engage in a bit of a minigame with the other bro in where you have to grab the coins that the bro on the drill is dropping while avoiding Torkscrew's spike drops.  It is the first time out of the dream world where you actually use the circle pad to move while avoiding an attack.

 

In addition, his most unique attack is where he splits the bros. apart by sending one into the background for him to attack.  The other bro has to avoid mooks that are summoned by this attack.  If you managed to kill the mooks with properly-timed counterattacks, then they have the chance of dropping goods.  You really have to keep an eye on both Bros., since it is easy to divert your focus on one or the other at this point.

 

It's an amazing test of reflexes and dodging (which means that if you win, it's because you are skilled), he has a good amount of HP, so he won't go down easily, the fight is incredibly interactive especially for a M&L boss (which already have the best interactivity levels in any turn-based RPG ever), and getting an excellent on him with the Fire Flower (if you found all of the Attack Pieces in the area) feels so good.  This is why I consider Torkscrew to be the paramount of amazing boss battle design.

[Northern Sage]

Argorok is definitely among my high favorites. I am among the people that actually really liked CitS, with how beautiful the entire place was, the strange music and the build-up to the GOD DAMN DRAGON YOU ARE ABOUT TO FIGHT. It is kind of a throwback to Volvagia, with a noticeable difference in the setting. You are ridiculously high up above the ground and a rain storm rages around you while one of the most intensely atmospheric boss themes I've ever heard plays. Furthermore, Argorok just looks great, although with one exception all dragon boss fights I can think of usually have good designs. The fight plays out immensely well, with you climbing the stands around the arena, clamping onto the boss and stabbing the crap out of it. But the real awesomeness comes from the second phase, where you are swinging from peahat to peahat to dodge the fire the dragon spits at you.

It's memorable, it's well built up, it's fun and unique and most of all, THAT ATMOSPHERE.

[Shradow]

You gotta love the final fight in Donkey Kong Country. I mean, what other boss plays a fake credits roll in the middle of the fight, tricking you into turning off your console (since a lot of games back then had nothing after the credits) because you think it's over?

[mitchermitcher]

I'm gonna say, the final boss battle against Nyx in Persona 3, not just because of the badass soundtrack that is possibly one of the best tracks to come out of the SMT franchise, not just because Nyx looks really badass and has a awesome sword, but also because he's pretty hard even in easy mode(Spent half of my feathers against him. The feathers you get at the beginning of the game if you chose easiest difficulty), and is a long boss battle that was actually interesting(All that arcana switching kept the battle fresh). 

[Yosuke-kun]

Fighting Jecht from FFX .3. Yeah, I said it. Jecht's a BAMF no matter how you look at it. He's a tough boss for most people, he's cooler than Sephiroth, you get a bit more of an emotional connection to him while fighting since he's the main characters dad, and that soundtrack was awesome. Anyone who says this isn't up there is kidding themselves and they know it xD

[Thar]

I've fought a lot of good boss battles, but I'd have to say Reflux from Rayman 3 is my favorite. It's just memorable, especially because I was 12 years old when I last played it and reached the first part. It was nearly impossible for me to get past him. But 5 years later I was able to pull it off, and I finally witnessed the full battle. It was a feeling that turned nostalgia into pure satisfaction towards the game as a whole, and I ended up beating it two more times.

 

A close second has to be Bowser from Mario 64. Good god, Bowser's final threat towards Mario before the final battle with climactic organs playing in the background was almost too much to handle back then. Not only that, but landing the final blow on him prompted me to say "f*ck this" and shut the game off, but I was too stubborn and sweated trying to beat him, eventually landing it and falling asleep afterwards.

 

All in all, the classics will always be the best, imo.

[DarkWithin9867]

Fighting Jecht from FFX .3. Yeah, I said it. Jecht's a BAMF no matter how you look at it. He's a tough boss for most people, he's cooler than Sephiroth, you get a bit more of an emotional connection to him while fighting since he's the main characters dad, and that soundtrack was awesome. Anyone who says this isn't up there is kidding themselves and they know it xD

Still... Can't... BEAT HIM!!! ;-;

I'd have to say Riku from Kingdom Hearts: Re:Chain Of Memories in Reverse/Rebirth mode. Riku IV was EVIL and definitely memorable (11 attempts... Before finally winning), but I'll never forget playing the R/R fight 20 levels lower than I was supposed to be while listening to Sweating Bullets (song seemed fitting >_> ) and winning on my first try. The cutscenes before and after the fight are awesome, and in the end you wish you could play it again. But then again... It's HARD, so you don't.

Actually, the last 3 bosses of CoM and Re:CoM are all awesome...