gaming Cheapest/Worst Boss Fights!

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,278]

Boss fights are something that has been a staple of gaming and there are series that just seem to nail it when it comes to these fights, like Zelda or Sly Cooper. A good boss fight always makes me happy. :3

 

However, there are games out there that cannot seem to do this correctly and as such, rely on cheap difficulty or really unfair tactics in order to justify the difficulty that a boss fight should have. So with that, we should list some. What are some incredibly cheap boss fights that instill anger into your soul? 

 

I have a good one to start off with and this is actually a recent one:

 

Topaz from Geometry Wars 3.

 

Oooooh boy. So, this series doesn't have good boss fights, gonna make that clear, but most of them, they are at least tolerable. Fairly straight forward somewhat difficult but definitely doable. Then, comes this thing. This boss, is how to do a boss fight in all the wrong ways. Not only do you have fight off countless minions that the boss spawns, but you have to survive through 8 or so different waves that get increasingly more cheap all while having only one life and you die in ONE HIT. On top of that, this boss is actually an extreme difficult spike compared to all other bosses in the game. It is clear that the devs don;t know how to make a justified final boss in the correct way so they just ramped up the waves that you have to survive and made it as cheap as possible. Boom final boss. No thanks. 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

Oh gosh don't get me started. 

 

Egg Emperor from Sonic Heroes. Always doing the same attacks over and over again...ugh. And the thing is, you always have to have at least a ring on you because once he hits you and you don't have any rings...you're dead. Plus, you gotta stay close and not let him get far or else he'll charge and it's always 100% guaranteed he'll hit you. Don't even mention the fact that canons are firing all about you and enemy robots are surrounding you... 

[Lume WMj 228]

The first one that comes to my mind when talking about cheap boss fights is Gyorg from Majora's Mask. It's at that point of the game that you finally learn how obnoxious the camera rotations and the underwater controls are. That, plus the fact that Gyorg absolutely terrifies me. :s

 

Other than that, the giant enemy crab or whatever (Brachyura, I think it's the name) from Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is another one that took me a couple of tries. It's just frustrating the fact that all you gotta do is memorize a ridiculous pattern of attacks while still trying to dodge them in a claustrophobic elevator-like arena. The way you land the killing blow on him is amazingly satisfying, though~

[CaptainDoubloon 856]

I can think of a cheap boss fight but it doesn't really anger me. It's the Archdemon in Dragon Age Origins. There are some ballista's that you can rapid fire at the archdemon for the entire fight, killing him from a safe distance without him ever attacking & hurting the Warden.

Edited January 2, 2016 by Captain Doubloon

[Celtore 2,769]

Silver from Sonic 06 is a pretty crappy boss design. His mechanic is throwing things at you and throwing you. Now where the crap comes in is that he can throw you once and have you drop all your rings, then he can immediately throw you again and kill you. You have no chance to get away or collect any more rings, he can just double throw you and kill you regardless of ring count.

 

The fight is also incredibly buggy, he can push you onto ledges that you shouldn't be able to climb up to, he can push you out of the invisible sky-wall and into space (which will eventually kill you even with rings) and he can even get you stuck in an infinite loop where he throws you, you pick up a ring, you get thrown again, you pick up a ring...

Edited January 2, 2016 by Celtore

[Photon Jet 5,489]

Silver from Sonic 06 is a pretty crappy boss design. His mechanic is throwing things at you and throwing you. Now where the crap comes in is that he can throw you once and have you drop all your rings, then he can immediately throw you again and kill you. You have no chance to get away or collect any more rings, he can just double throw you and kill you regardless of ring count.

 

The fight is also incredibly buggy, he can push you onto ledges that you shouldn't be able to climb up to, he can push you out of the invisible sky-wall and into space (which will eventually kill you even with rings) and he can even get you stuck in an infinite loop where he throws you, you pick up a ring, you get thrown again, you pick up a ring...

I'm with you on that boss fight as I saw many gameplay videos of it being really buggy. It was a heavy blow to the entertainment value of Sonic 06 as it was rushed so it can be finished before the deadline. At least the boss fight in Sonic Generations was much better.

 

One of the bosses I remember that had a cheap value is Hades' Heart from Kid Icarus Uprising. It spawns clones of itself which explode around the battlefield. Also, it's very hard to time the dodges just right to avoid it's rampage. The boss fight is kinda like Bomberman but with you avoding the blasts. 

[Mothra 540]

The 2nd boss fight from wrath of cortex is kinda hard to explain, but the controls are ass, and from what I remember, if you get hit just once at any time in the fight, you have to go back to the start. Could be wrong, haven't played that games in years, but this is the fight I'm talking about:

 

[yeet 2,026]

I wouldn't say it's cheap, but, you can't simply watch someone try Ornstein and Smough and know the struggle. That felt so good to finally beat after four days.

[Megas 27,063]

Wiegarf/Velius from Final Fantasy Tactics will royally fuck any player over in their first playthrough, and possibly jepordize their save data. The only way to have any fair advantage is to know about him beforehand

[Castle Bleck 19,166]

Colossus in Soul Calibur 3:

 

 

His obvious no-flinch and reach/stride advantage is just ridiculous, not to mention how he can even kill you with his own death animation.

 

The game's controls and mechanics are clearly designed for smaller combatants, so what was Namco thinking?

Edited February 12, 2018 by A.V.

[Megas 27,063]

Also, just to get fhis out there. Any and every SNK final boss ever

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,278]

I want to let you all know that I changed the title to include both Cheapest Bosses AND Worst Bosses. That way it can include the whole spectrum of bad boss design. : D 

 

You know another boss I always thought had a very high level of cheese? The brute that you fight at the end of Halo 2, I forgot his name. He pretty much can insta-kill you or kill you in two hits all while he is just absorbing gunfire and charging at you. I know some love this fight, but it never did anything for me personally. 

[Vertigo_95 572]

Quick Man and the Doc Robot of Quick Man from Mega Man 2 and 3 respectively. The one from MM3 hits you like a tank upon contact, and hence his name, he's quick. If you fight them without the intended weapons, good luck.

[BPCannon 193]

Final Fantay end game bosses annoy me not because of cheap tactics, but because they're so weak

 

For FF7, 8 (never finshed 9) and 10. I rushed to the last save point in the game, then spent more hours doing optional stuff to get OP enough to fight OP optional bosses than I did on the rest of the game. The actual story element bosses cold be taken down without doing any of the optional stuff though, and went down like a regular encounter after doing even half of it.

 

I understand that optional means you don't have to do it, but they should have at least made the required bosses difficult enough that you had to do some powering up and preparing before being able to take them on. Not just steam rollable after 20hrs on a speed run

 

I started doing the optional stuff on 11, but after a few hours I lost interest (as I did towards the end of 10) because I actually enjoy the story aspect of RPG's the most, and spending the majority of the time on something not essential to the story wasn't very motivating. Which is a shame because the optional bosses were always pretty awesome

 

For frustrating I have to pick Krauser on Resident Evil 4 - on Pro mode only. I had a nice idea to do a full game run on professional mode, in one shot, no saves no reattempts, if I died I would start again from the beginning. Was all going quite well until I got to Krauser. He made me give up on the idea and I had to save just before his fight. I could barely hit him at all, just too damn quick with that wing/arm/shield thingy that negates all damage on pro mode

Edited January 3, 2016 by BPCannon

[Rayne Mercury 55]

I wouldn't say it's cheap, but, you can't simply watch someone try Ornstein and Smough and know the struggle. That felt so good to finally beat after four days.

 

Yes! And to anyone who has yet to play Dark Souls, just remember: Someone has done this with a guitar controller, a drum controller, and his own voice. You CAN do it!

[Castle Bleck 19,166]

The final boss (Venom) in Ultimate Spider-Man.

 

Boss you've already fought 9,000 times before + still taking damage just for being near him too long (because story) + escort mission + helicopter blades preventing any more jumping away to safety (your only safe haven) =

 

 

Matter of fact, that whole game is just one big test in tedium.

Edited February 12, 2018 by A.V.

[Magnum Flare 553]

Also, just to get fhis out there. Any and every SNK final boss ever

 

Well, they started the SNK Boss Syndrome, after all.

 

Don't know much about bad boss design, but from multiple opinions, I could say that Jinpachi of Tekken 5 and Azazel of Tekken 6 counts as one. Nancy of Tekken 6 could count, but it's a robot that can be defeated if you know the tactic (and it's a bonus stage)

 

From many top 10 countdowns I watched in YT, Parace L'Sia of Arcana Hearts 3 counts as one of the cheapest boss fight (as QG said). I've seen the battle itself and suffice to say, it's a terrible boss from design perspective. QG wondered if Maximillian Dood could do a Boss Rage episodes of Arcana Hearts 3.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Magnum Flare

[VengefulStrudel 1,486]

I'll have to say Fire Crunch from Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. I never, never enjoyed that fight, not even a little bit. :okiedokielokie:

 

I always found the perspective odd, unsure whether or not I could actually hit him. Then you have these rolling flaming rocks he spawns that roll towards you, one-hit-KO'ing you. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if you didn't have to be right behind him most of the time, leaving you with less than a second to react to the rocks.

 

And when on his last hit point, I don't remember what it is exactly, I think either the rocks go in random patterns or split off into 2 small rocks (or both). Either way, I found it extremely cheap and frustrating as a kid.

 

[Discordian 6,013]

Final Fantay end game bosses annoy me not because of cheap tactics, but because they're so weak

 

For FF7, 8 (never finshed 9) and 10. I rushed to the last save point in the game, then spent more hours doing optional stuff to get OP enough to fight OP optional bosses than I did on the rest of the game. The actual story element bosses cold be taken down without doing any of the optional stuff though, and went down like a regular encounter after doing even half of it.

 

I understand that optional means you don't have to do it, but they should have at least made the required bosses difficult enough that you had to do some powering up and preparing before being able to take them on. Not just steam rollable after 20hrs on a speed run

 

I started doing the optional stuff on 11, but after a few hours I lost interest (as I did towards the end of 10) because I actually enjoy the story aspect of RPG's the most, and spending the majority of the time on something not essential to the story wasn't very motivating. Which is a shame because the optional bosses were always pretty awesome

 

For frustrating I have to pick Krauser on Resident Evil 4 - on Pro mode only. I had a nice idea to do a full game run on professional mode, in one shot, no saves no reattempts, if I died I would start again from the beginning. Was all going quite well until I got to Krauser. He made me give up on the idea and I had to save just before his fight. I could barely hit him at all, just too damn quick with that wing/arm/shield thingy that negates all damage on pro mode

Personally I prefer my final bosses to be easy. Once I'm at the end of a game I kinda just wanna finish it, not suddenly get a boss that says "lol no ending for you".

[ultrairongorilla 2,064]

The worst boss fight I think I ever faced was probably Capital B from Yooka Laylee. Where do I begin? The beginning where he throws his bee hives, and you have to hit him in the junk, isn't too bad, but I found his hit boxes a little wonky, and the bees chasing you seemed like they hit you when they want to.

The 2nd phase where he flies in the air and you have to hit him with your ice attack takes FOREVER!, and every single time you die during the last phases, you have to do these parts over and over again without a way to skip the annoying dialogue. It's incredibly draining, and after 75 tries, you WILL get sick of hearing it.

The last few phases involve him breaking apart the floor, throwing swarms of bees, and slamming down on you with shockwaves. I swear the energy meter is bugged or something because it feels like it fills back up whenever it wants to. The absolute worst part is during the final phase, when he shoots homing missiles at you and you're expected to fly in the air multiple times and get him to hit the missiles instead of you. Sounds simple right? Well it's not. The missiles almost never seemed to hit him no matter how close it is to him, and it will always end up hitting you instead. Dealing with all, remember that you also have an energy meter you have to make sure you conserve. Letting the meter go all the way down is the absolute worst thing you can do in this part, because if you're on the ground and you try to refill your energy meter, you also have to use your shields to defend yourself from his missiles, which you guessed it, also take energy. Again, it takes forever with how many times you have make sure he hits himself. The whole boss fight feels like a juggle match with your energy meter and your patience. The entire boss fight takes about 13-15 minutes to finish, and if you die, you have to start the entire thing over again. No checkpoints.

This boss fight is a complete load of crap, with the only saving grace being the music, which being done by Grant Kirkhope of course it's awesome.

 

Edited February 12, 2018 by ultrairongorilla

[Here No Longer 5,270]

Fable 2's final boss. Seriously, what even is this? It's NOT EVEN A FIGHT! All you have to do is hit him once. With ANYTHING. Eve then, if you don't after a while, Reaver does it FOR YOU. Literally have to do nothing at all to beat him.

 

[Steve Piranha 28,778]

Is attempting to catch Rayquaza in the original Ruby and Sapphire without a master ball count?

Definitely got my share of cheap bosses, but that's the one I remember right now. Why it sucks? it has two moves that ruins the basic "weaken the motherfucker, and throw balls at motherfucker until it gets captured formula": Outrage and Rest. The latter it's obvious, recovers the lizard full power, so all that delicate process of weakening it enough to get red, but not faint it for nothing. The former is one of those moves that are just spammed, only to get confused later. Never though I'd ever hate confusion on my foe  

[Cash In 21,509]

The Lava Reef boss in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It's not particularly difficult, but it takes for fucking ever to defeat it.

[Libra 11,690]

Any secret boss from the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

Mainly the Lingering Will. OH. MY. GOD. He hits hard and fast, with a variety of heavy hitting attacks that will drop you to almost nothing if you arent careful. Hes got his keyblade glider which wooshes around and strikes you three times, he takes away your command menu so you can only do specific attacks, and the best part is, HES RNG BASED.

By that i mean he doesnt start with the same move at the fight. for example match one he uses the keyblade glider, then you learn to block it to go for a rematch, and for that rematch he uses his shotlock (basically a kamehameha death ball) that also does heavy damage.

you know square I wouldve loved to have this moveset in BBS, just sayin '.

 

[Jordan D 149]

The Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth series has some fantastic bosses...but it also has some downright awful bosses. Here's just a few:

Cyber Sleuth bosses:

First JimiKENS fight: For better or worse, JimiKENS was the wake up call to most players that said "hey, this game is pretty cheap sometimes". After a 30 minute long cutscene, Jmmy assaults you with 3 powerful Digimon. There's no build up, no indication that a fight is coming up, nothing. Just bam! Super hard boss out of nowhere that most people didn't see coming that wiped them out.

Humanoid Eater: He doesn't have anything horrible per say, but his defense and HP are ludicrously higher than anything before and after. It's such a long fight that comes out of nowhere that many quit when they first fought him.

BanchoLeomon: His gimmick is he demands a 1v1 fight. How is this communicated to the player? By an attack that one-shots any Digimon until you only have one left. After that, he's actually not to bad but the unexpected nature of it has made him a bit of a meme in the Digimon fanbase. 

Eater Adam/An Eater Called Arata: Unlike other bosses, this one was at least justified and built up to. Even in a weaker form, Arata was capable of one-shotting Gallantmon, so of course his full powered form should be nothing to sneeze at, and it was built up as one of the greatest bosses in the game, but still. Overkill.

Mother Eater: Okay, I get it. The Mother Eater is this abomination beyond human comprehension that exists beyond God's Great Plan in a realm outside of space, time and earthly laws that merged itself with Yggdrasil; the God of Digimon. It SHOULD be a tough fight, but they went overboard. Its capable of one-shotting lv.99 Digimonand three-shotting defensive tanks with ease, and can buff itself to high heaven. It does make you feel like a badass though, with spells that destroy entire universes and skyscraper sized hands flying at you. 

Hackers Memory bosses:

Hackers Memory paces its bosses way better, you know when a big boss is coming up, but sometimes you don't know just how bad a boss is gonna be.

Lobomon & Agunimon: Holy crap I hated this boss. It ain't even really hard,  just cheap. They constantly buff their own speed, evasion, attack and heal each other. They do like no damage, but avoid every hit and heal each other all the time.