The boss battles you never beat.

Josey Wales · 06-01-2014 6:15pm #1

I'm sure we have all been happily playing our way through a game only to come up against a boss that beats you. So you try again. And again. Then try some more but no matter what, you just can't beat it. And now you are stuck, never to progress.

Has this happened to you and if so what bosses?

For me I can think of three straight away. I thought I was about to have a fourth in the final boss of Guacamelee in his second phase but I managed to best him eventually.

Ratchet & Clank 1 - Final Boss

I only played through this last year with the HD collection. I really enjoyed the game and felt that it held up remarkably well. Although it was missing some of the later additions in the series such as strafing. I got to the final boss and it was such a huge difficulty spike. I had tons of bolts going into the fight and ended up spending it all on ammo. When I died and had to redo the fight I had no bolts to buy ammo so I knew it would be impossible. I never tried again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLylJJvlTZw

Outland - Mother of Eyes

This one still rankles with me because I was enjoying the game so much and never got to see the final couple of levels. It has been so long now that I doubt I will ever go back and try.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiFKntUUwSA

Dark Souls - Capra Demon

I chose the Capra Demon to post here but really it could have been a few different bosses. I got to a point where no matter what direction I went there was a section that I could not get past. I just remember this one boss better as it seemed so impossible. I would enter the arena and he would just jump and me and two seconds later I'd be dead. The other one that I couldn't work out how to kill was a big butterfly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUYpZDYunIM

Star Lord · 06-01-2014 6:42pm

Fire Leo, from Viewtiful Joe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn57QQinlY0

The guy playing in the video makes it look like a piece of cake.

Mickeroo · 06-01-2014 6:50pm

Maximum Carnage on the SNES, the final boss. Loved the game but never finished it, you only got 3 continues to complete it in had none left by the time I reached the boss.

Not sure how many tries i had but eventually smashed my controller and never went back.

pablomakaveli · 06-01-2014 6:51pm

RAAM in Gears of War. Just couldnt beat him. I think you needed the bow and arrow weapon to beat him but didn't have it going into the battle.

Robot Sonic in Sonic 2. Furthest i could get and just never was able to beat him.

The giant songbird boss in Ristar. Ended up using cheats to go to the following level.

Ruby weapon in FF7. Nuff said really.

Those bloody Dark Aeons in FF10. Spent hours levelling my characters and went into battle against the one on Besaid island, unleashed every limit break from all my aeons and characters and got him down to the near dead animation. Then he's unleash his attacks and kill me. God i hated those Dark Aeons.:(

Josey Wales · 06-01-2014 6:56pm

pablomakaveli wrote: »

RAAM in Gears of War. Just couldnt beat him. I think you needed the bow and arrow weapon to beat him but didn't have it going into the battle.

I know I definitely would have struggled with the RAAM final boss but luckily I played through in co-op. My co-op partner basically took him out all by himself.

Penn · 06-01-2014 7:00pm

pablomakaveli wrote: »

Robot Sonic in Sonic 2. Furthest i could get and just never was able to beat him.

I could beat Robot Sonic, but could never beat Robotnik after him.

Golden Silver in Gunstar Heroes. Beat him co-op with my cousin, but could never defeat him by myself.

SouthTippBass · 06-01-2014 7:07pm

Recently, the final boss in metal gear revengence. I just stopped after what must haveen the 30th attempt as I just wasnt enjoying it anymore, and watched the ending on youtube. All time bastard boss though has to be the T1000 from C64s T2. He just murders you immediatly every time. And I played that game nearly everyday when I was small. One of these days Il get that ****er...

richymcdermott · 06-01-2014 7:23pm

Ratchet and clank 1 final boss

Prototype final boss : was mostly due to if i recall correctly with its stupid timer

Reekwind · 06-01-2014 7:34pm

Ugh. I tend to avoid games with discrete 'boss battles' entirely now. They were excusable in the age of platformers but today there's no more obvious sign of lazy design. We spend hours operating in a world that follows a simple set of mechanics, then you introduce some giant villain with timed bomb attacks whose weak point has to be hit an arbitrary number of times? No

The best final battles are those like Baldur's Gate (and generally RPGs are good at this) where the 'boss' is a bigger and more powerful version of the enemies that you've been fighting throughout the game

Pushtrak · 06-01-2014 7:42pm

Halo 2 end boss on Legendary. I tried for quite a long time, but couldn't do it.

sarumite · 06-01-2014 7:59pm

I remember you complaining about the outland boss a few months ago. I got to the same boss and never completed it myself.

I also never beat the final boss of inFamous on the hardest difficulty. I had played the whole game through on it and then dropped the difficulty. My plan has always been to go back and beat him when I have more patience with the game.

Tiamat in darksiders is a another boss I never beat. I youtubed the boss fight and decided I didn't want to have to try and beat it as the game was not grabbing me enough to try.

J. Marston · 06-01-2014 8:00pm

Not really a boss battle but I could never withstand Ocelot's torture in MGS1 when I was younger, I always had to submit.

TimeToShine · 06-01-2014 10:52pm

I actually killed the Capra Demon on my first try, he was pretty much the only boss I didn't struggle with! The Ceaseless Discharge gave me hell. If I were to throw it back a few years what really stands out is Spiderman vs Carnage on the PS1 game:

I was only a wee lad back then but jesus christ it haunts me to this day.

RobbingBandit · 06-01-2014 10:56pm

Shao Khan in the last Mortal Kombat, couldn't beat the fcuker no matter how hard I tried.

kevohmsford · 06-01-2014 10:59pm

Revenge of Shinobi on the Sega Mega Drive

Vojera · 06-01-2014 11:05pm

The one that's bothering me the most right now is the end of Cave Story+. There are 3 boss fights right at (what I presume is) the end and no opportunity to save or heal in between. In and of themselves don't seem to be too bad, but I can't get the knack of it. I WILL OVERCOME!

CastorTroy · 06-01-2014 11:16pm

The princess at the end of Prince of Persia Warrior Within (If you didn't collect everything to get the full ending). Those tornados.

Dead Space 2 final boss. Didn't have enough resources to succeed so kept running out

MitchKoobski · 06-01-2014 11:20pm

Kingdom Hearts. Sephiroth. Cuuuuurse yyooooouuuuu......

eddhorse · 06-01-2014 11:59pm

I played Resident Evil 5 co op with my brother, we just didn't have enough ammo to beat the final boss.

Also couldn't beat Ratchet and Clank into the nexus final boss.
http://youtu.be/6ICnvtKlhac

Giana Sisters got to the last boss, wasn't difficult, just didn't bother.

That's all that jumps out, demon/dark souls is all a boss section.

Josey Wales · 07-01-2014 12:39am

eddhorse wrote: »

Also couldn't beat Ratchet and Clank into the nexus final boss.
http://youtu.be/6ICnvtKlhac

Hmmm, I don't like the sound of that. I have that in my backlog.

Fakman87 · 07-01-2014 2:45am

Namir in Deus Ex Human Revolution was a nightmare, as depending on choices you make earlier in the game you may have to fight him without any of your special powers.

I had to watch the rest of the game on youtube which was a real shame for me.

johnny_ultimate · 07-01-2014 3:08am

This one's embarrassing - as a kid, I was always left stumped by Scar at the end of Lion King on the Megadrive. No idea why - I vaguely remember just clawing away at him aggressively but futilely, trying radical attack patterns and attempting to push him off the edge of the cliff. Of course, trial and error was a bit of a pain when you had to play through the whole game to get there again.

I have a suspicion if I played through today, the solution would be blindingly, insultingly obvious. I could also probably watch a youtube video of what happens. I don't know if I'm psychologically prepared for the shame.

Agricola · 07-01-2014 3:41am

Im a "gamey game" lightweight and repetitive, pattern solving, attritional boss battles really annoy the fúck out of me. Currently playing through Dead Space 3. Was happily blasting through it on normal until the snowbeasts appear. Down to Casual. Grand. Now Im up against a screen filling boss that pukes out mini enemies for you to contend with while your trying to hit his soft spot. It's just round after round after round endlessly, because Im failing to hit the right thing at the right time, or my poxy weapons reload too slowly etc etc. I didnt remember this God of War type shíte to be in the first 2 games and it's really turned me off this one.

SeantheMan · 07-01-2014 5:41am

For a long time it was Emerald and Ruby Weapons in FF7. I doubt anyone ever beat them on their first go.
It wasn't until a year or two later after completing the game that I returned it, put in some 'quality' time levelling up characters and certain Materias before going back and defeating them

They were in the game just to annoy you and add an extra challenge it seemed.
The same went for FF8 with Omega Weapon and that STUPID Ozma in FF9.
It just looks a giant marble and it's ridiculously OP

FortuneChip · 07-01-2014 7:05am

SeantheMan wrote: »

For a long time it was Emerald and Ruby Weapons in FF7. I doubt anyone ever beat them on their first go.
It wasn't until a year or two later after completing the game that I returned it, put in some 'quality' time levelling up characters and certain Materias before going back and defeating them

They were in the game just to annoy you and add an extra challenge it seemed.
The same went for FF8 with Omega Weapon and that STUPID Ozma in FF9.
It just looks a giant marble and it's ridiculously OP

There was a way to make Ozma really weak, something to do with Friendly monsters or something. Stupid "Super Boss" anyway.

I was absolutely chuffed when I beat Ultima & Omega in VIII. The first time I challenged Omega I only had access to "Attack", "Draw" & "Magic" or something like that. It did not go well.

I must be honest and say I've beaten all but "Pegasus" in FFX. The Dark Aeon of Dark Aeons. Yojimbo helped more than once.

Emerald & Ruby eluded me forever. To hell with them!

X-2 had some very lazy super dungeons, where you just kept fighting different sizes of the same monsters with ever increasing HP, there was no real variety to it at all. Good thing the battle system in X-2 was good, albeit a silly concept.

Not quite a "boss" per se, but the clock challenge on the final disc of "Fear Effect" back on the PS1. At the tender age of 13 I did not have the resolve to never give up.

CiDeRmAn · 07-01-2014 7:55am

There have been a few but the final boss in Metroid Prime.
It comes in several stages and the last one had me finally give up, that was 11 years ago now but it still haunted me.
I have Metroid Prime trilogy so I really should pop it in the WiiU and give it another shot, the whole game still looks great and the gameplay hasn't aged at all.

derfderf · 07-01-2014 8:17am

The last boss in the original ninja gaiden on the NES. I'd be fighting him for hours and he wouldnt die.
Same thing happened in Time Bandits, the big gringo boss in the wild west level. Shooting him for hours until I'd eventually get bored and switch off

Mr.Saturn · 07-01-2014 8:37am

The Spiderman vote reminds me of the battle with Electro in Ultimate Spiderman (PS2). It wasn't remotely hard, just the camera is woefully implemented, the battle prolonged and controls fidgety; I decided 'f**k it' after my fifth attempt trying to launch a car into the billboards and missing cause the camera resets at the most rotten of times. It wasn't though I was all that invested in the game, but just as I was starting to sink into it a bit, this shower of sh*te turns up.

Josey Wales · 07-01-2014 9:12am

Fakman87 wrote: »

Namir in Deus Ex Human Revolution was a nightmare, as depending on choices you make earlier in the game you may have to fight him without any of your special powers.

I had to watch the rest of the game on youtube which was a real shame for me.

That is a shame because it really is an exceptional game.

jacksie66 · 07-01-2014 9:17am

This post has been deleted.

gimli2112 · 07-01-2014 9:18am

Emerald Weapon in FF7 wasn't too bad once you had the right equipment and underwater materia but Christ Ruby destroyed me. Would nearly always take out my two best characters. Finally beat it after battling for over an hour with Tifa, with the threat of imminent death hanging over me every step of the way. I've replayed the game several times since but never tried taking it on again.

The boss battles you never beat.

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