Boss/Bosses Appreciation Thread!

[legsrjust4show]

Tales of the Abyss has an AMAZING final battle against it's villain. Everything really comes together in those final moments and sometimes I'll watch it again on Youtube from time to time because it's just so good how they did it.

Earthbound also really delivers on the final boss department. Everyone talks about this one, but it's such a shocking way to end to a relatively silly game. It's also fairly difficult so when you manage to pull through it's so satisfying and all the music and everything really gets to me.

Yakuza 5 vs.

Spoiler

Misato Aizawa.

Also I feel the same about Yakuza 5's final boss

Spoiler

it's such an awesome final fight that kicks so much ass that it immediately makes up for the fact that him being the true villain is a surprisingly weak twist???

Also Yakuza 2/Kiwami 2's final boss fight is another one that's just badass. A lot of people are mixed on 2, but I think this Ryuji Goda is maybe my favorite villain still??? The guy was so straight forward and to the point and he's the only one I respect.

 

[Cu-Neo]

DMC 2 when you fight the Despair embodied at the end, the boss theme "Ragnarok" is great and the boss makes you use the mechanics of the game like dodging a lot of attacks instead of just shooting the enemy.

 

[Skeleben]

Spoiler: Pokemon Red & Blue

Gary mother fuckin' Oak at the end of Pokemon Red & Blue. Having your rival be the final boss is so sick, and I can't believe they haven't done it again since the first ever games. It helps that he's such a smug asshole, really makes taking his spot as champion 5 minutes after he earned it all the more sweeter.

 

[Deleted member 7989]

If you ask me:
Twilight Princess vs. Ganondorf.
Metal Gear Rising vs. Senator Armstrong.
Breath of The Wild vs. Calamity Ganon.
Sekiro vs. Sword Saint Isshin.
Secret Rings vs. Alf Layla wa-Layla.
Transformers Devastation vs. Megatron.
Yakuza 3 vs.

Spoiler

Yoshitaka Mine.

Yakuza 5 vs.

Spoiler

Misato Aizawa.

Judgment vs.

Spoiler

Mitsuru Kuroiwa.

Spoiler: Yakuza 5 spoilers.

Post automatically merged: Apr 26, 2025

Spoiler: Yakuza 5 spoilers.

You know what End Boss I like? They really had something with this boss. It tests you on everything you've learned. Not too hard, not too easy. At least if you've actually been paying attention to your build and level, and not do what I did and try to box his ass at lv. 30.

 

[Ikagura]

That would imply that the rest of the game wouldn't be as good?

Jokes aside maybe several Treasure game or Rez.

 

[WokiBakoki]

Also Yakuza 2/Kiwami 2's final boss fight is another one that's just badass. A lot of people are mixed on 2, but I think this Ryuji Goda is maybe my favorite villain still??? The guy was so straight forward and to the point and he's the only one I respect.

Spoiler: Yakuza 2, 3 & 5.

I like Ryuji a lot but eeeh, I feel like he isn't enough of a big deal in his own game. So much of the finale is taken up by all those koreans that it kinda stalls his epic showdown with Kiryu. I wish he had more screen time overall because he's great. Meanwhile Y3 has Mine who is SO evil and I love that. He's my top villain because you see him plotting and pulling off terrible things throughout the game instead of just hearing second hand accounts like in Y1 and 2 (in RGG's defense, less so in K1 because they added some cutscenes). As for Y5, I think that's the worst game of the lot but that final boss is really fun. Terrible story but at least it went out with a bang.

 

[Samatonic Samatonic]

My man right here.

 

[Hourai]

That would imply that the rest of the game wouldn't be as good?

It does, yeah. Makes it difficult to choose, for me.

YHVH from Shin Megami Tensei II
Raven Beak from Metroid Bread
Shiori Fujisaki from Tokimeki Memorial

That's it, I think.

 

[Deleted member 257420]

Every game because it means I'm about to be done with it.

 

[Jimbo_McDumbo]

Vergil 3 in Devil May Cry is peak, it kicked my ass up and down the curb but it was so awesome

 

[Hourai]

Every game because it means I'm about to be done with it.

I feel that. But that usually leaves me resenting the final boss, if I decide to keep going instead of take a 7+ month break.

 

[Deleted member 257420]

I feel that. But that usually leaves me resenting the final boss, if I decide to keep going instead of take a 7+ month break.

I just resent the entire game instead lol

 

[WokiBakoki]

Vergil 3 in Devil May Cry is peak, it kicked my ass up and down the curb but it was so awesome

I thought about Vergil 3 tbh. After the first few tries on DMD, I said "Right, I have to finally do it. It's time to master the ultimate techinique." I spent a week learning Royal Guard timing, and locked in for some proper attempts one evening and beat him. No bullshit, no items. I just had this natural respect for it and refused to use items, unlike Arkham before him where I spammed my way through because fuck him. It was awesome. He's not Bayonetta, but Vergil would laugh at anything From Software could throw at him.

 

[PrismRed]

PS2 Bujingai

 

[ThirteeTooBeets]

Okami is amazing all around but the final fight is my favorite and the most memorable to me

 

[jankusanagi jankusanagi]

Fighting Omega Rugal as the final battle in KoF '98 is pretty great. Not sure about "the best part" though...

 

[At_Least_20_Dogs]

Tales of the Abyss has an AMAZING final battle against it's villain. Everything really comes together in those final moments and sometimes I'll watch it again on Youtube from time to time because it's just so good how they did it.

Earthbound also really delivers on the final boss department. Everyone talks about this one, but it's such a shocking way to end to a relatively silly game. It's also fairly difficult so when you manage to pull through it's so satisfying and all the music and everything really gets to me.


Also I feel the same about Yakuza 5's final boss

Spoiler

it's such an awesome final fight that kicks so much ass that it immediately makes up for the fact that him being the true villain is a surprisingly weak twist???

Also Yakuza 2/Kiwami 2's final boss fight is another one that's just badass. A lot of people are mixed on 2, but I think this Ryuji Goda is maybe my favorite villain still??? The guy was so straight forward and to the point and he's the only one I respect.

tales of the abyss final boss is super cool to me just because it can be a bit different based on your team comp

 

[Firenoh]

Rogue Galaxy has a very strong final boss sequence. Just don't die 'cause it's a long one and there aren't any checkpoints.

 

[Ikagura]

 

[Deleted member 257420]

This don't count but this guy’s design fucking sucks

 

[Bakuma1997]

(I uploaded a WIP version previously of this article, but messed up and uploaded the WIP draft, worse i by the time i finished it my edit time was out, so this one is the real deal with grammar fixed)

*A book is opened*
In this mini article, I decided to add some of my personal canons to why the game's bosses made the titular Deal with the Devil. My plan was to put them in my own Headcanon Thread, but what I could get surpassed the scope. With all said...


ENGAGE

Spoiler: Inkwell Isle 1

Goopy Le Grande: His deal was for being a better boxer
In the fight's first two phases, he tends to use boxing glove-themed attacks, one being a transformation and the next one a straight jab.
My headcanon is that he wanted to be a boxer as a kid, but being a literal blob, he could not give a hit, let alone resist it, so he made a deal for being able to be a boxer. Note that in the Phase 2 transition, he drinks a mysterious pill. ¿What if it was steroids that he uses in his matches? Also, in the second form, after taking them, he uses the jab with a glove rather than merely transforming. His final phase seems to back the steroids theory, since he "dies" (he is fine in the credits) with his tombstone being the opponent.


The Root Pack: Being most respected
Being most likely the first bosses you fight, they seem to be barely a threat—heck, Ollie Bulb (the onion) cries during the fight—so they may have got the wish for more assertiveness. Ollie, being the only one that was fine with his lot, only fights due to being fought first, and in a late update, if you don't shoot them, they happily scram, forcing the carrot to send a backup in the turnip.


Hilda Berg: To see what's up there
Hilda Berg is an astronomy fanatic, as seen by her constellation-themed attacks. However, that caused her scorn and rejection by her peers. She begged for someone to believe her theories. Unfortunately, the Devil was the one that listened, so he granted her literal alien knowledge. Note how her first phase has "mere" astronomy-themed attacks. However, in her second phase, she seems to suffer before becoming a literal ship. ¿Perhaps the knowledge has finally overrun her mind?


Ribby and Croaks: N/A
They never made a deal per se, but rather they tried to join the Devil, blindly believing that if they directly made the deal, they would be in danger. But if they merely made a business deal, they would be safe. Either the Devil or King Dice had none and decided to force them into a partnership, hence the slot machine final form.


Cagney Carnation: Extra power
Easily Inkwell Isle 1's most evil debtor, the only one whose wish is not misguidedly evil. He craves to conquer. However, he is a mere plant, barely at knee height, so his wish was to be as terrible as anyone would fear. His innocent façade in the battle's intro is his form pre-deal. Note how he is the most aggressive of the entire Inkwell Isle's repertoire—and let's not talk about his terrifying final form (or his defeat pose).

Spoiler: Inkwell Isle 2

Baroness Von Bon: A kingdom of candy
Von Bon, as a kid, never got to eat candy. Her parents denied it due to excess sugar and her hyperactivity. That pent-up withdrawal made her grow into a candy-obsessed madwoman—and that's before the Devil offered her something real sweet: a kingdom of candy all for herself. Anyone can eat it, but she is a zealot, so she won't exactly share.


Beppi the Clown: Clients for his park
Let's be real—even if the park is the best in the world, a mascot like Beppi would cause anyone to run away. That caused his park to collapse in bankruptcy. Looking for money and to get some audience that loved him, he made the deal for the sake of his park and being loved. Sadly, he came to be loved... by utter cretins.


Djimmi the Genie: No deal
Fearing a wish-granting genie would make people stop making deals, King Dice decided to seek the lamp of the genie. His three wishes were:

• No more wish granting
• The wish can only be reversed by his (King Dice's) defeat
• And he will defend both as long as the Devil still has the contracts

Wally Warbles: To be able to care for himself and his son
Wally is the only boss with a sort of family shown—in this case, his son, but no wife. Maybe a cooked bird appears let's not think about it. The point is that, following that, Wally asked the Devil for his son to be able to defend himself in case he wasn't able. As seen in his fight, said power was giving his son a powerful mind—which makes you wonder, since he is one of the many bosses that doesn't reappear in the ending, and considering his state... shudders


Grim Matchstick: Friends
Easily the most tragic contractor. Grim has been alone since hatching. Being a humongous dragon that spits fire hasn't helped. Said loneliness evolved into stuttering, which made it even harder to communicate. Sad and alone in a huge castle he couldn't share with anyone, he literally sold his soul to have anyone to talk to. In a bit of extra cruelty, the Devil decided his power as a dragon could grant him a powerful guard dog for free, so he granted him two heads that were friends—but toxic ones—encouraging him into releasing his pent-up frustration onto anyone that dared to defeat the Devil. His kind side still remains, though—hence why his game over quotes are from apologies to begging the brothers to flee.

Spoiler: And finally... Inkwell Isle 3

Rumor Honeybottoms: A manual for being a proper queen
Rumor's beehive isn't exactly peachy. Her queen is too vain and lazy to do actual royal duties, so she created a police force to impose her views. That worked to keep order, but made honey production plummet. Despaired, she realized that she is to blame, so she asked for a way to fix her screwups. A certain die face hid a book in her library that caught Rumor's attention quickly, so she read it—not caring about the chant that triggered her change and would bind her to Old Scratch's whims. She improved her kingdom back to business, and said book remains as a weapon to keep her beehive safe.


Captain Brineybeard: A ship that could sustain damage
Captain Brineybeard is known as Davy Jones' Locker—an intimidating name for someone that sends ships to the sea's bottom... if only said ships were the enemies'.
Captain Brineybeard is a mess driving ships. When they don't sink due to lack of maintenance, they crash due to his poor navigation skills. At the risk of being homeless and with no sane Inkwell Islander willing to hire him, he asked for a ship strong enough to withstand the sea he blamed for his poor navigation skills. After his ships got destroyed, a fed-up King Dice decided to give him a ship that literally navigated itself—the cost being the final phase being overtaken by it, fed up as well with Brineybeard's poor captain rights.


Sally Stageplay: ¿¿¿???
(I mean, she drops a contract after defeat, but she never uses something that can’t be chalked up to toon physics, so…)
When you have everything served on a silver platter, even the most exquisite dish can be a chore to eat. That was Sally Stageplay's dilemma. She was Inkwell Isles’ best actor, singer, and writer. However, that made sure she stopped caring for acting after a while—especially since her fans would see her works no matter her screwups, only caring she was in the role. Dissatisfied with that, she asked the Devil for a play that could make her care for acting again, no matter how hard—in fact, wanting it to be hard. She got the gift in the form of a stagehouse that handed her anything she needed, including being hated if she did anything wrong.


Werner Werman: Protection against cats
Werner is a family man. Lacking any family, he came to see the mice that shared a home with him as a big family, so he came to protect them. Lacking any sort of super magic skill, he instead became by himself an expert pilot and mechanic, creating terrible machines with stuff one would throw into the garbage. Cats didn’t care, though, and still wanted a piece of his family. His army of mechas was formidable, but eventually he would get overwhelmed. So he came for help with a being that even dwarfed normal people as much as he was dwarfed by normal-sized people. He gave him his soul, and no more cats attacked his pack.


Dr. Kahl’s Robot: Unknown
To be fair, I expected to write how he wanted world domination. However, looking at the contract, the debtor is the FLIPPING ROBOT. I decided to adjust it in haste, so uh… ¿He wanted to make Dr. Kahl proud?


Cala Maria: Treasures
Cala Maria is a giant, but unlike Grim, she doesn’t care about people running away—in fact, people run TOWARDS her, be it her singing voice or her good looks. Multiple sailors wasted their lives trying to allure her into their loves. Cala Maria finds no interest in them, but in the treasures that barely survive their ship’s destruction. She still wanted more, so she decided to ask the Devil for a way for more ships with treasure to come to her—while resisting her good looks. The Devil handed her the legend that in the cave she calls home, the terrible squid girl hid treasures so great that not even your great-great-grandsons would have to work. And like that, thousands of ships went to join the crabs and barnacles at the bottom of the sea.


I decided to exclude the ghost train boss since he seems to merely do his job.

By the end of the day, the Delicious Last Course bosses seem to pay no mind to the debtors' events. However, they still have some lore to explore, but that is another story. So until then…
Closes book

 

[Deleted member 3339]

Spoiler: Shin Megami Tensei:Devil Summoner

Inaruna was the highlight of the game, absolutely the hardest final boss in the Megaten franchise. Yes even harder than Mem Aleph. She has high evasion, can attack you with multi hit physical, can nuke your demons very easily, can use crying scream which can stone or charm the protagonist (player death=game over), can remove buffs and debuffs very easily, and can hit pretty hard with megidolaon. also the final boss theme is my fav megaten final boss theme

 

[CG4R12I4N]

Wild Arms 2.
The Final Boss basically being (You) and the theme being the remixed OP song which basically implied that you will never ever lose against him is probably still one of the most impactful scene in any JRPG.

 

[LaserMoose]

My problem with Rugal in 2002UM isn't even him being a one-time attempt, or his damaging moves. It's his ridiculously large health.

I'd mention 94 and 95 but they're kinda similar in design, and the problem it's mostly the cheap AI. But that's the thing, an annoying AI can make the weakest characters pure hell to fight against.

I just played through an arcade mode run of KOF94, and Rugal was noticeably much easier this attempt than some of my other runs from years ago. Lucky's f.D was very abusable when managing Rugal, and Genocide cutter wasn't used too much by the A.I.

I had a much harder time against Choi - he was flying across the screen the whole time, and his [2]8B was very frustrating, causing a few game overs. In general, though, I still enjoy 94's arcade run.

 

[AkiraSO4]

I was fumbling around SVC Chaos and I honestly can't tell which boss fight is the worst. They behave in a very similar fashion. SMK is worse zoning wise, and Shin Akuma just waits you to whiff a normal with a Messatsu Go Shoryu at a moment's notice. Both have unockable Exceeds, though you can jump over SMK's Exceed, Shin Akuma's is near unreactable.

I managed to beat Shin Akuma with Dhalsim SOMEHOW, first and last time, lol. I got the good ending, even.

Post automatically merged: May 9, 2025

I just played through an arcade mode run of KOF94, and Rugal was noticeably much easier this attempt than some of my other runs from years ago. Lucky's f.D was very abusable when managing Rugal, and Genocide cutter wasn't used too much by the A.I.

I had a much harder time against Choi - he was flying across the screen the whole time, and his [2]8B was very frustrating, causing a few game overs. In general, though, I still enjoy 94's arcade run.

I have yet to replay KOF 94 at some point. Last time I played 95 was years ago. I only really play them from 96 onwards.