• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Fighting game bosses are the fucking worst.

This was probably my least favorite in recent memory:

LqK9bLw.gif

People who play my Alpha ins DOA5 all know that move.
 
Street Fighter Alpha 2's arcade mode just ended in a rival fight rather then an overpowered boss character. I prefer that by a long way.

Me too (& it's the same way with the Darkstalkers/Vampire series). Kind of makes me hope that they go back to that route in SF V.
 
I hope people understand that I really mean that almost all FG bosses are actually poorly designed and un-fun. Not that I'm just saying they're assholes cause they're tough.

And yeah, fuck that DOA Kasumi gel thing.
 
I actually thought that was kind of fun, but I did fall back on the exploit that she inexplicably has an immense amount of trouble blocking overheads so you can magic combo into your qcb+hk overhead, pick her up off the ground and go from there.

way more fun than bloody marie tbh

I'm probably a lot less epxerienced in fighting games than most people ITT, like I don't even own an arcade stick and since I don't play regularly I usually just button mash until I take the time to memorize some of the moves again (I should probably look into playing more often with someone else). Thanks for the tip though, I'll remember it for the next time I give it another shot.

Marie can be a bit annoying at times too, her second phase in particular and that shadow attack she does is what usually kills me.
 
Let me tell you about the end of Groove On Fight. This is beyond the pale.

It has all the usual, a few fights then a "rivals" match, all 2-on-2 straight up. Then the game pits you against someone I can only compare to Devil Daigo from Big Bang Beat 1st Impression, except twice as fast and twice as attacky. We're talking kicks, projectiles, the works. At least he's only 1 against your two.

After he's out, your team basically says "why don't we have one last match, partner against partner?" And you think, okay, I get this. Start with the punching.

Then IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GODDAMN MATCH, a vampire-looking demon dude explodes from the chest of the last boss in the background, then proceeds to TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR (former) PARTNER. So now on top of whatever health you lost during the short interlude, you now have to finish fighting your partner, and this dude who summons an INSANE amount of demons, all of which have incredibly damaging projectiles and a good range.

If you lose? Haha, fucker, it's one on two now, and the final boss has the two. Good luck getting hits in.
 
Dio from World Heroes was a true jerk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-WG0EMkMzg

But that aside, saying bosses like that aren't fun isn't really true. They're kinda like Everest. You take them on because they are there.

That satisfaction when you learn their quirks and dismantle that helldemon for free? Oh man. Souls games wish they could match that.
 
I beat rugal in king of fighters 98 with kim, andy and choi on the psp version. I didnt know any combos. Don't remember how i did it but i did.
 
I beat the KoF XIII final boss easily
on easy

:)))

The AI in KoF XIII can be pretty dumb though.

I found out that the CPU is pretty much completely incapable of dealing with Vice's Splash move, even on higher difficulties, so you can just spam it over and over for an easy win.
 
Let's not leave out a trend of only getting one shot against the boss, so the boss fight is an automatic game over whether you win or lose. Fuck right off with that shit.
I hate this in Super Smash Bros. Wii U / 3DS. The final fight is not cheap, but one fuck up means you are automatically forced to go down to a lower difficulty, which is downright insulting and you also have to redo the whole arcade mode again if you are trying to do the single player challenges.
 
cheap bosses are fantastic. there needs to be more chars that are cheap bosses. its a boss after all.

seth is a bit too easy (ai issues)
hope street fighter v has gill as a boss again. or an equivalent,
 
Bosses that are only flashy and do overpowered attacks are fun for me. I sorta treat them as a replacement for the AI's inability to do proper combos and pressure.

Bosses with a stupid amount of armor in their moves or instantly react to your inputs to an insane degree are not fun.

That was SCIII in its entirety for me.

Most bosses can be cheaped anyhow. Sweeps worked in KOFXIII, and Seth you pretty much just need to perfect j.HK into sweeps (consider spacing is all).

Shin Akuma though, never lasted long enough to want to figure out how to cheap them. They just deal too much damage, which is a bit...well, not that fun.
 
Dang. SFIV Seth was difficult? I'm shit at fighting games (hence why I don't play them) but a couple of years ago I watched my hubby play through SFIV on PS3. He doesn't play games anymore and it was his first SF game after a 16-year hiatus (last SF game he played was on the SNES). He mained Ken and pretty much spammed hadoukens and various kicks to victory. After he beat Seth he said "it's just like before. Nothing much has changed."

So I thought Seth was a walk in the park. Or maybe my hubby is actually pretty badass at this game?? *genuine shock*
 
Kof bosses are the worst but imo kof also has the best one, krisalid of kof99(a game that many ignore, myself included if not for krizalid and a really spectacular stage)

kof_um_krizalid_by_orochidarkkyo-d5kh4ge.png


He is strong and with a better ai(imo) but he's not overpowered, it don't really know how to describe it but fighting against him is like fighting an opponent that knows how to fight.

Imo it also has a fair and good moveset, i really like to use him in mugen.
 
All you need is 3 buttons to beat valnilla seth, lp,mp,hp Zangief spin that move the computer doesn't know how to react to it. I remember, back when I didn't know how to play SF4 (I was 12) I just did Zangiefs spin move and went on a 15 game win streak online, hood ol days lol
 
Me too (& it's the same way with the Darkstalkers/Vampire series). Kind of makes me hope that they go back to that route in SF V.
If I recall only a few characters ended against anyone but Jedah. But the main bosses AI in Darkstalkers weren't too bad anyway. Unless you played the very first game, Pryon was a bastard in that. He got nerfed in Vampire Hunter at least.
 
I never beat snk boss without cheesing or exploiting AI.
special mention to arcana heart 1-3 holy fyck that final boss is fucking hard and cheap
 
Dang. SFIV Seth was difficult? I'm shit at fighting games (hence why I don't play them) but a couple of years ago I watched my hubby play through SFIV on PS3. He doesn't play games anymore and it was his first SF game after a 16-year hiatus (last SF game he played was on the SNES). He mained Ken and pretty much spammed hadoukens and various kicks to victory. After he beat Seth he said "it's just like before. Nothing much has changed."

So I thought Seth was a walk in the park. Or maybe my hubby is actually pretty badass at this game?? *genuine shock*

Seth is one of the easiest final bosses in fighting game history. He's not even hard compared to other Capcom end bosses, let alone some of the SNK nightmares over the years.
 
Nancy in Tekken is stupidly overpowered in the arcade mode but the game continues even if you lose.

Plus the attack with that laser that destroys the floor is hilarious.
 
ill take any boss over Jade in UMK3. I hate that input reading bullshit. UMK3 AI is the absolute worst, cheapest bullshit ever. there is no creative playing to be done, just outcheaping the cheapshots.
 
While not the hardest, Shin Akuma in CvS2 was… hmmmm.

He recovered from dizzy instantly but I'd always try and land a meaty attack on his wake-up when he was stunned, never learnt my lesson. I remember one time I dizzied Shin Akuma, went for a meaty attack on his wake-up… and he parried it and went straight into Raging Demon.

You have to laugh.
 
But that aside, saying bosses like that aren't fun isn't really true. They're kinda like Everest. You take them on because they are there.

That satisfaction when you learn their quirks and dismantle that helldemon for free? Oh man. Souls games wish they could match that.

Basically how I feel about it, I hate it in a game when you beat the final boss in one or two tries. Way too anticlimactic.
 
Yujiro Hanma in Garoden Breakblow is designed quite well. He is literally the strongest character in the game by light years. He makes all sucker punches obsolete since he can counter and defeat any opponent before the round starts. His attacks does 2x more damage than anyone else and he has the highest stamina as well. Matches against this guy can last for 20 minutes.
 
All you need is 3 buttons to beat valnilla seth, lp,mp,hp Zangief spin that move the computer doesn't know how to react to it. I remember, back when I didn't know how to play SF4 (I was 12) I just did Zangiefs spin move and went on a 15 game win streak online, hood ol days lol

Good heavens, I'm not old but this makes me feel bloody old. Good lord!
 
Go play Arcana Heart 3 and fight against Parace L'Sia on normal difficulty -- you'll realize that all these bosses you're complaining about pale in comparison.
 
It's not about bosses for me. AI in general is culprit here. Yesterday night I was playing Makoto in USFIV against the Dudley CPU. It was fun because each time he had Ultra metter and I poked with my lp, he Ultraed me in reaction. I felt i was controlling Dudley and making his Ultra by pressing lp. Unless they get rid of such bulshit, fighting the AI will always be broken.
 
Over a decade after the game's release and I still can't beat Igniz. He is to me the cheapest boss I have ever faced in a game.

I completely agree with the OP. Very few fighting games don't have awful final bosses. KOF '97 is a good example. Orochi was really cool and beating him is doable.

The worst thing is when the boss looks lame, plays lame and is also hard. The perfect example is SF4's Seth. I hate that boss.
 
Kof bosses are the worst but imo kof also has the best one, krisalid of kof99(a game that many ignore, myself included if not for krizalid and a really spectacular stage)

kof_um_krizalid_by_orochidarkkyo-d5kh4ge.png


He is strong and with a better ai(imo) but he's not overpowered, it don't really know how to describe it but fighting against him is like fighting an opponent that knows how to fight.

Imo it also has a fair and good moveset, i really like to use him in mugen.
IMO the best boss in KOF in terms of design and music. The fight is really fun too, although he still suffers from being a cheap bastard like every other boss not named Orochi.
 
As crazy as it it Deidra in Naruto Shippuden Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 for the Wii.

So difficulty multiple reviewers pointed out how cheap he was.

Basically you he could predict moves and didn't have the same restrictions on chakra use. Could substitute (teleport) like crazy and summon an insane amount of clay animal bombs. Much more than in regular play.

Finally you had to play the fight in 4-tails Naruto form limiting you long range attacks. Basically the strategy was to spam the same teleport over and over again with no guarantee it would work.

This was even on level 2 out of 4 difficulty. You needed to beat it to be able to buy 9 of the unlockable characters.
 
Shame we can't get them to fight each other :) see who is the king of the FG bosses

For what it's worth, KoF2002UM contains most of the infamous SNK bosses (Rugal, Goenitz, Krizalid, the Zeros, Igniz), and still treats Nightmare Geese as its ultimate challenge.

Fitting, considering he started it all for the company.
 
Top Bottom