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[EatChildren]

Senator Armstrong, Metal Gear Rising Revengeance.

The demo had taught me that the core battle systems were surprisingly forgivable on standard difficulty, for a Platinum game, and that they didn't really open up until you played on hard. For this reason I started my copy of the full release on hard, and though it was very challenging at times it was always workable.

Then along came Armstrong, who made me his bitch, enough for this to happen.

I fucking loathe the Dual Shock 3 build quality. It's terrible, and this was my second controller. Due the extreme tilting to perfect parry throughout the game, climaxing with Armstrong, the rubber nub on the left analogue stick had torn off. While it's flimsily attached in the shot, it didn't take long for the entire thing to break down, and I was forced to finish the exceptionally difficult fight with the hard plastic analogue nub with no cushioning, and the sharp edges of the circular top digging into my finger every time I tried to parry.

It was brutal and brilliant.

 

[KevMan1815]

Last of Us

Spoiler

Deer fight

 

[Hypron]

Senator Armstrong was the best boss this past year by a long shot IMO. Better than anything else including Jergingha in TW101. The bosses in TW101 were bigger and even more ridiculous but not more interesting or funnier.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

'I have a dream.' That one day every person in this nation will control their own destiny. A nation of the truly free, dammit. A nation of action, not words, ruled by strength, not committee! Where the law changes to suit the individual, not the other way around. Where power and justice are back where they belong: in the hands of the people! Where every man is free to think - to act - for himself! Fuck all these limp-dick lawyers and chickenshit bureaucrats. Fuck this 24-hour Internet spew of trivia and celebrity bullshit! Fuck American pride! Fuck the media! FUCK ALL OF IT! America is diseased. Rotten to the core. There's no saving it - we need to pull it out by the roots. Wipe the slate clean. BURN IT DOWN! And from the ashes a new America will be born. Evolved, but untamed! The weak will be purged and the strongest will thrive - free to live as they see fit, they'll make America great again! ...In my new America, people will die and kill for what they BELIEVE! Not for money. not for oil! Not for what they're told is right. Every man will be free to fight his own wars!

 

[Alienous]

Senator Armstrong was the best boss this past year by a long shot IMO. Better than anything else including Jergingha in TW101. The bosses in TW101 were bigger and even more ridivulous but not more interesting or funnier.

The emotional resonance in the Samuel fight wasn't good enough for you? The catharsis after beating Sam was weirdly impactful.

In terms on ingenuity, Monsoon wins, however.

 

[MichaelFassbender]

Senator Armstrong from MGR. I really had to work to win, and when it was all done, I felt good! What more can you ask for?

 

[Fancy Clown]

As someone who loves boss fights, I really really need to play Metal Gear Rising to see what this hype is about. Once again, my PS3 being dead comes back to bite me in the ass.

 

[Regiruler]

Armstrong was hard but tbh he wasn't terribly good. Monsoon and the better W101 bosses stand over him.

 

[Hypron]

The emotional resonance in the Samuel fight wasn't good enough for you? The catharsis after beating Sam was weirdly impactful.

In terms on ingenuity, Monsoon wins, however.

Yeah it was pretty good but emotional impact isn't something that was on my mind anymore after having beaten Sam 10 times, whereas how fun the fight against Armstrong is still was. Although, I'm not saying the fight against Sam isn't fun by any means, it's just less excellent

 

[antitrop]

#TeamMetalGearRising

All of them. Armstrong is my favorite final boss of all time.

That game was a religious experience.

 

[CrackPebbles]

Jetstream, Armstrong, Mistral, Monsoon, Armstrong again from the Jetstream DLC.

I have alot more experience with the Jetstream DLC than the core game since I prefer playing as Sam, I can't leave out that version of Armstrong.

 

[Momentary]

Whenever I want to get ready for supersets at the gym, I play the Armstrong boss battle before leaving.

 

[Converse]

The moral of this thread is that Platinum is the boss of boss battles.

For me, though, the entire end-game sequence of The Wonderful 101 is peerless. There was lots of great stuff this year, but as I mentally compared 2013's other boss battles to TW101, each comparison ended with no contest. I sat there like a slackjawed ape for the whole hour and a half that the game takes to wrap up; it's just such an uninhibited, balls out, celebratory, excessive, hilarious and surprisingly sweet crescendo.

Basically, it's the final ultimate legendary earth power super max justice future miracle dream beautiful galaxy big bang little bang sunrise starlight infinite final wonderful best.

 

[Banjotanooki]

I made my own hard mode by turning Exp. share off and training them one by one and still had a hard time with her. Definitely one of the most exciting champion battles ever!

Music was badass as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O-c2YZTvH4

 

[BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO]

All of Rising

.

 

[Feindflug]

The Wonderful 101 and Metal Gear Rising had absolutely amazing boss battles.

Senator, Operation 5-C & the whole Operation 9 were my favorites, now that I think about it today's gaming would've been so much more boring if Platinum didn't exist...thank God they are here and making games. <3

 

[lordxar]

Thank you! What makes this boss battle stand out? I realize you didn't post it, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on it.

That $%&*# was tough. She poisons Knack so his health drops constantly and you have to beat her, she retreats, beat her again, retreats, and finish her. I think you could checkpoint after the second retreat but memory is foggy. Anyway that battle was freaking tough on hard.

 

[jett]

Senator Armstrong, Metal Gear Rising

 

[strange guy]

All the bosses from Metal Gear Rising and you know who from TLOU.
Haven't played TW101 yet but sure that last boss is great

 

[Kriken]

I said before he was one of the toughest boss battle, but he was also one of the most satisfying victories when I did beat him

It's almost as if Platinum Games knows how to make great boss fights

 

[Fimbulvetr]

This.

It's a shame that so many people had trouble with the fight, but I can understand why. I can't even find a video to post of someone doing it flawlessly.

People had trouble with this? How? There are only even, like, three things you can do during this fight.

 

[MrBadger]

I knew this would be a Senator Armstrong/The Wonderful 101 thread when I read the title. The people suggesting bosses from TW101 and Rising aren't wrong though. Can't wait to see what kind of bosses Platinum give us in Bayonetta 2.

Also, I agree with the OP on Dream Team's bosses. I'm a big fan of Alpha Dream's visual style and I found the gyro controls in the Bowser and Zeekeeper battles to work well, and they were rather minimal. I think my favourite boss in that game was the Elite Trio

I really liked how they summoned hoards of enemies to pull off some pretty unique attacks, and managing to KO them all at the same time is satisfying. Plus it's really cool how you actually fight these guys. That rare moment when the team of comic relief bad guys gets serious.

Also agreed on the spider in Luigi's Mansion 2. I think it's a shame there weren't more puzzle-based fights in the game, because the first boss is definitely the best. Maybe the final boss is good too? I'm still stuck on that one mission where you have to kill every kind of ghost under a time limit. I'm terrible at it.

 

[Hindl]

CTRL+F "Wonderful 101"

Well done GAF

 

[Roto13]

Senator Armstrong was like the final exam of Metal Gear Rising. The perfect final boss.

If the button prompts were bigger it would undeniably be a QTE.

Because that's basically what it was.

That's what all of Arkham's combat is.

 

[maxcriden]

I've actually never even played the game haha. But I've heard the game can be a surprisingly difficult old school brawler, so maybe just a good ol' fist fight? Really not sure, sorry!

No sweat, thanks for the reply!

 

[Panzerkrei]

Jaguar Javier from Guacameele was a very satisfying fight, on normal it took me 5-10 tries to get even close to beating him. Then at some stage I got the timing down, studied his patterns properly and did some great mid air juggles, and completely destroyed him.

Made even more satisfying when I came back to him on hard and beat him without getting hit.

 

[Catalix]

CTRL+F "Wonderful 101"

Well done GAF

As if there were any doubt. Platinum's strength in this department is undeniable. W101 and Rising are boss battle powerhouses.

Armstrong was my personal favorite. I've lost count of how many times I've faced that bastard, but it never gets old. Always keeps me on my toes.

 

[Dragon1893]

Now that I think about it there were a ton of great fights last year.

MGR: all of them.
TLOU:

Spoiler

David

GoW Ascension: first and last boss.
Muramasa Rebirth also had a lot of great ones.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Deathstroke - Arkham Origins

This was precisely the kind of bossfight I was wanting post-AC: 1 that worked within the melee combat mechanics. You couldn't just simply press Triangle to win, you had to pay more attention to your actions for once & be a little smarter. More so than any fighting game I felt this boss captured the feel of the fistfight showdown between equally matched opponents.

Yeah that boss fight was pretty freaking great.

 

[BPoole]

Sam and Senator Armstrong from MGR

Jaguar Javier from Guacamelee

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Honestly MGr's bosses were not that great. They dragged on for too long, where you were just doing the same technique over and over. Thats why I preferred the female boss from the parry guy, armour guy (yeah I forget all their names because the whole cast is forgettable).

 

[mhs004]

Too ridiculous to ever forget.

That was a terrible bossfight.

 

[DieH@rd]

Revengeance had truly awesome boss battles, but Armstrong was without the doubt best.

 

[Weltall Zero]

As mentioned countless times, Metal Gear Rising. Pretty much all of them, even the DLC ones, perhaps except for

Spoiler

Sundowner

who was a pushover, particularly considering how prominent he had been story-wise until then. Sam was also easier and simpler than I'd have wanted. Quality-wise,

Spoiler

Armstrong

takes the cake as an intense-as-hell, all-encompassing fight with some of the best BGM (not like the rest of the BGM and particularly boss tracks aren't amazing to the last), but all others are great as well, especially

Spoiler

Mistral

.

I also liked several of Dragon's Crown's bosses, especially the Gazer, the Killer Rabbit, and both Dragons.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

That was a terrible bossfight.

How so?

 

[Dead]

All the bosses in Metal Gear Rising

Took me HOURS to beat Armstrong, but holy fuck it was satisfying.

 

[mhs004]

How so?

Idk man I just hated the boss overall. He was bland and the fight was boring.

 

[Alienous]

Idk man I just hated the boss overall. He was bland and the fight was boring.

But ...

 

[mhs004]

But ...

Wait! What! Since when!?

 

[I Wanna Be The Guy]

I'm pleased to see so many Last of Us mentions. That boss fight really was amazing and a stunning finale to that part of the game. With that said I think if you just look at that fight on its own in a bubble it probably wasn't anything special mechanically. What made it great was the build up to it and how we felt about the situation itself in relation to the characters and story at that moment.

Oh and as for the people saying Deathstroke....eh. It seemed cool but once you just understood the fight it was all just so super simple. It was enjoyable I guess, but mechanically I don't think it was the best boss fight in the game by a long shot.

 

[Anura]

MG:Rising all of them
TLOU

Spoiler

dude trying to knife ellie

MH4 white magura online (my first 3DS online game)

The White Magura fight had some surprisingly killer atmosphere for an MH game perhaps better than the Amatsu fight in P3rd.

Anyways my vote goes towards any Lvl 100 forest quest in that game. Those quests are just insane!

 

[Hystzen]

I wonder how many people even got to the lyric stage of the Sundowner fight in Rising. Could could beat that boss just dodging and hitting his back ignoring the whole precise cutting of his shield.

What's great about Armstrong is that it basically needs you understand the combat and show what you learned

 

[Solid Samus]

It's all about Senator Armstrong.

and there's the thread people

FUCK THESE LIMP DICKED POLITICIANS, CHICKENSHIT BUREAUCRATS

 

[legacyzero]

MGR's Monsoon was a fucking BLAST

 

[Regiruler]

I wonder how many people even got to the lyric stage of the Sundowner fight in Rising. Could could beat that boss just dodging and hitting his back ignoring the whole precise cutting of his shield.

What's great about Armstrong is that it basically needs you understand the combat and show what you learned

Well there was the nonsense about skipping the rocks.

 

[Dragon1893]

Forgot to mention Killer is dead, that had some good ones too.

 

[questionmark]

Clickable.

 

[Neff]

First and last bosses of W101 are probably the greatest videogame bosses ever, let alone from last year.

I liked the entire Armstrong reveal/cutscenes/speeches more than the actual fight itself, but it was damn good.

 

[trw]

I have no idea how so many chooses TLOU. While it was a satisfying from a narrative standpoint and well executed it was really a terrible bossfight. Especially since you have MGR that you can compare it to and Armstrong is among the best final boss fights I can remember.

 

[Dawg]

Standing here
I realize
You are just like me
Trying to make history

But who&#8217;s to judge
The right from wrong
When our guard is down
I think we&#8217;ll both agree

That violence breeds violence
But in the end it has to be this way

I&#8217;ve carved my own path
You followed your wrath
But maybe we&#8217;re both the same

The world has turned
And so many have burned
But nobody is to blame

Yet staring across this barren wasted land
I feel new life will be born
Beneath the blood stained sand
Beneath the blood stained sand