I've been on a big 2D action/platformer kick lately, and I got to thinking about some of the more clever or visually impressive boss battles to grace 2D games over the years. I think 2D boss fights have a charm distinct from their 3D brethren because they often have to make use of clever sprite manipulation techniques resulting in big, beautiful 2D enemies filling the screen. Honestly, there are so many standouts that come to mind that I have a hard time choosing what to focus on for the OP. I'll just get us started with a few quick examples, and then I'll let all of you take the reins and fill this thread with glorious images and recollections of your favorite 2D boss battles.
Here are a few that immediately jump to mind for me:
Gunstar Heroes - Seven Force
Gunstar Heroes was a game chalk-full of memorable, visually impressive boss fights. Its use of huge segmented sprites with all sorts of state-of-the-art 16-bit graphical wizardry resulted in boss battles that looked consistently striking at a smooth framerate on the Genesis. If I had to pick the standout, however, it'd be Seven Force. There was such a perfect pace to that fight, and you really felt like you were fighting an extremely aggressive and murderous mech.
Yoshi's Island - Raphael
Yoshi's Island was another all-time 2D classic that had its fair share of memorable boss fights. Much like Gunstar Heroes did on the Genesis, Yoshi's Island made use of the Super-FX2 chip to power advanced sprite transformation techniques like scaling and rotation to enhance the visual spectacle of its bosses. The fight that always struck me as exceedingly clever for its time was the fight with Raphael on the tiny moon. In essence, this fight foreshadowed the planetoid mechanics of the Galaxy games, only in 2D.
Muramasa: The Demon Blade - Ippondatara
Granted, the actual design of this fight and the way it plays out is pretty traditional, but I'm putting it up here for its sheer 2D visual spectacle alone. Vanillaware bosses are almost uniformly gorgeous and impressive, so I probably could've randomly selected any of them from Muramasa and felt content with my choice. I'm going with Ippondatara because conveying a sense of fighting a colossal creature that towers above the clouds in 2D is not an easy task, and I think Vanillaware did an excellent job at it.
Rayman Legends - Mechanical Dragon
I'm including this one as a good example of how to implement polygonal bosses into a purely 2D game. Everyone should know by now how drop-dead gorgeous Rayman Legends' 2D artwork is, but they might not be aware of the fact that all of the bosses are fully rendered 3D models. They just happen to be perfectly integrated into the look of the 2D art most of the time, resulting in some really dynamic and visually impressive battles. This one is my favorite in the game because I love how you end up activating it with the press of a button and then see all of the lights flicker on before the dragon takes flight and goes after you.
Here are a few that immediately jump to mind for me:
Gunstar Heroes - Seven Force
Gunstar Heroes was a game chalk-full of memorable, visually impressive boss fights. Its use of huge segmented sprites with all sorts of state-of-the-art 16-bit graphical wizardry resulted in boss battles that looked consistently striking at a smooth framerate on the Genesis. If I had to pick the standout, however, it'd be Seven Force. There was such a perfect pace to that fight, and you really felt like you were fighting an extremely aggressive and murderous mech.
Yoshi's Island - Raphael
Yoshi's Island was another all-time 2D classic that had its fair share of memorable boss fights. Much like Gunstar Heroes did on the Genesis, Yoshi's Island made use of the Super-FX2 chip to power advanced sprite transformation techniques like scaling and rotation to enhance the visual spectacle of its bosses. The fight that always struck me as exceedingly clever for its time was the fight with Raphael on the tiny moon. In essence, this fight foreshadowed the planetoid mechanics of the Galaxy games, only in 2D.
Muramasa: The Demon Blade - Ippondatara
Granted, the actual design of this fight and the way it plays out is pretty traditional, but I'm putting it up here for its sheer 2D visual spectacle alone. Vanillaware bosses are almost uniformly gorgeous and impressive, so I probably could've randomly selected any of them from Muramasa and felt content with my choice. I'm going with Ippondatara because conveying a sense of fighting a colossal creature that towers above the clouds in 2D is not an easy task, and I think Vanillaware did an excellent job at it.
Rayman Legends - Mechanical Dragon
I'm including this one as a good example of how to implement polygonal bosses into a purely 2D game. Everyone should know by now how drop-dead gorgeous Rayman Legends' 2D artwork is, but they might not be aware of the fact that all of the bosses are fully rendered 3D models. They just happen to be perfectly integrated into the look of the 2D art most of the time, resulting in some really dynamic and visually impressive battles. This one is my favorite in the game because I love how you end up activating it with the press of a button and then see all of the lights flicker on before the dragon takes flight and goes after you.
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