What makes a good boss?

I saw an interesting topic on another forum (think it was IGN) - What makes a boss a good boss? Do you prefer them to be challenging? Cinematic? Do you like them to have some kind of hidden weakness, or do you prefer a simple, hit 'em till they're down?

......Or do you just hate all bosses?

Good topic!

I would say that a good boss would be a hard and long one.
Thats why I like the bosses in RPG games. Other facts that would make a good boss is the ones that you dont know at first how to fight it or how to kill/damage it.

I'm going to have to agree with Waaar on this one.

The boss has to be difficult, and make you put a lot of time into it...otherwise a boss is just a bigger normal bad guy, which is boring!

Of course, I love a good opening cinematic, and a TON of emotion is great for an epic fight....if the boss is meaningful to the story and has a good character, it makes it all the more climactic!

A great examle of this would be No More Heroes...every boss character had an in-depth story and great opening before a challenging and rewarding fight...

of course, Resident Evil and Final Fantasy games are known for epic fights as well...Sephiroth, Jecht and Vayne are great examples...

you foprgot the sorceress in FF VIII not sure if the real one or the first one was better

SmashedBrother wrote:

I saw an interesting topic on another forum (think it was IGN) - What makes a boss a good boss? Do you prefer them to be challenging? Cinematic? Do you like them to have some kind of hidden weakness, or do you prefer a simple, hit 'em till they're down?

......Or do you just hate all bosses?

yes to the above that is colored. there had been several times that i would just keep hitting away only to find out there was some weakness like in madworld or in a few fights in earthbound

They should have a good weakness, but not too huge of a weakness...I think that is one of Zelda's problems...too huge of a weakness just makes them far too easy, especially when the weakness is exposed after some routine attack and wait cycle, and when the weakness does TONS of damage.

Personally, I think No More Heroes boss system is quite a bit better...there were weak spots, but you didn't have much time to take advantage of them, and they were hard to catch....that's the way a good boss fight should play out.

And now, what you've all been waiting for!


My two cents (yeah, right. Heh.) -

Personally, I've always thought that Metroid Prime has some of the best examples of challenging bosses. Most of them have a weakness (although there's occasionaly a "shoot out" boss, but they're few and far between) and to get at their weakness you have to come out and risk their attacks. Ridley from the first MP is a good example. He bombes you for a while, while going to fast to be hit, and then for a short time he attacks you from close enough to hit him. Then there's the Parasite, that ice monster in Phendrana Drifts....MP had a lot of good bosses.

Although, while I like bosses to be challenging, there plenty of bosses I love just because of the story, like Ganon from Ocarina and Galcian from Skies of Arcadia.

The ideal boss for me would be a major villian in the story, cinematic, and challenging enough to be difficult, but I'm still able to beat him the first time and enjoy the story. LATER, I can go back on a hard mode and face a nearly invincible version of him (when I'm not so impatient for the story to go on, so that it won't be as frustrating)

ForsakenLament 04 wrote:

They should have a good weakness, but not too huge of a weakness...I think that is one of Zelda's problems...too huge of a weakness just makes them far too easy, especially when the weakness is exposed after some routine attack and wait cycle, and when the weakness does TONS of damage.

Agreed. The problem with WindWaker's and Twilight Princess's bosses is that they just become totally vulnerable, and when (and if.) they attack, it's pathetically easy to avoid, and it's so weak it's not really worth avoiding.

A boss needs to be hard... and have also a easy weakness... anyway what im saying is there needs to be a balance between the two.

Sooooo.......Now that we've mentioned what makes a good boss, what are some of your favorites?

well i have a few

1 Culex (mario RPG)
2 dark beast ganon (TP)
3 smithy (duu )
4 Solaris (sonic 06)

Oops! just realized that we already have a topic for Best/Hardest Bosses

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