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Games where the final boss is actually the most difficult required boss

maxcriden

Member
Shadow Queen in Paper Mario 2

Yep. And it's insanely tough. One day we'll beat it....

Game that first came to mind for me is Splatoon. Final boss is a crazy melange of mayhem that blows away every other in creativity and difficulty. The game had some cool bosses before this, but the final boss is one of the best I'd seen in years.
 
Shinobi PS2.

Dear God, Shinobi PS2.

I came incredibly close to beating it on the hardest difficulty but was never able to. Even getting through the level itself is a huge bitch.
 
It's been so long since I played and I hardly remember anything about Jet Force Gemini, but iirc the final boss is a real piece of work and way harder than the other bosses.
This.

Mizar is the best example of this that I can think of.

[EDIT - People mentioning Punch-Out!! is also a very good shout.]
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Persona 2: Innocent Sin(PS1). It's ten times harder than anything else in the game.

Come to think of it, same can be said of Persona 1(PS1).
 
Ys: The Oath in Felghana (might not have been so bad had I taken the resurrection accessory though)
Devil May Cry 3
Metal Gear Rising
Shinobi (PS2)
Gunvalkyrie
Undertale
on the genocide route
 

Opa-Pa

Member
Persona 2: Innocent Sin(PS1). It's ten times harder than anything else in the game.

Come to think of it, same can be said of Persona 1(PS1).

Oh god, this. I steamrolled every boss in P1, but the true final boss was so hard I had to cheese him with the protagonist's ultimate persona.
 

Lulubop

Member
Dark Souls 3

Breath of Fire 3

Xenogears

Phantasy Star IV

Shining Force 2 (maybe 1, too)

Ristar

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

Disagree about Bloodborne.
Gehrman
wasn't that hard and is technically optional anyway. For mandatory boss, they're all pretty easy but I'd say Father G was the hardest for me the first time. Maybe Rom, though she never gave me much trouble. Pretty much all the difficult bosses in Bloodborne are optional.



Shit yes.

Nvm. Required.
 

Drkirby

Corporate Apologist
While there was technically one more, the final boss in Partners in Time was hellish. It was like a 30 minute gauntlet of timing every attack/defense correctly.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
Shinobi Ps2

Grandia II. I recall nothing being too difficult until the end but it's been a long time.
 
Neo Exdeath made me give up on ever beating Final Fantasy 5 for more than a decade.

I finally went back last year and took him down, but he's still the hardest required boss in the game.
 

Sölf

Member
Princess Shroob in the second Mario & Luigi game comes to mind. The whole finale took me over 2 hours, with several consecutive battles.
 

Zolo

Member
The final boss in SMT: Nocturne is the hardest of the REQUIRED bosses, though leveling may make him more or less difficult depending on how/when the other bosses were tackled.
 
QYSKN.jpg
 

poodaddy

Gold Member
Beautiful thing about Armstrong is that he's a test of all the skills you need to have mastered to beat every boss. He really feels like he's the endgame because of that.

Absolutely. My wife played him on normal difficulty and she was getting MAD! I didn't want to make her any more angry but I think I inadvertently did so by telling her to dodge and parry sometimes lol. I got a look :/
 
Espgaluda has a final boss with recharging health fuckery. Game is relatively easy for a bullet hell/Cave game due to slowing down mechanics but final boss = get good or never see the end of the game
 
Not a great game but it sticks in my mind because the final boss made me give up on it a few years back - last gen's Conan. Final boss was significantly harder than anything before.

I remember this shit. I stuck with it and did manage to beat the final boss but yeah that shit was horrible.
 

DaciaJC

Gold Member
To this day, Gwyn in Dark Souls gives me trouble. No other boss in the entire series punishes Estus chugging as hard as he does. Yeah, you can parry-riposte him to death, but he's an example of a hyper-aggressive boss with both speed and strength to his attacks who can fuck your shit up if you're not prepared.
 

phanphare

Banned
I actually prefer the final boss not being the hardest boss. maybe it's just me but by the time I get to the end of the game I don't want to get walled off because the final boss is harder than anything I've seen before in the game. it's a weird balance to strike for me because I want the final boss to test me on whatever the game was going for and I don't want it to be too easy but at the same time I'm at the end of the game and would like to finish it. I prefer to have the hardest boss or encounter or gameplay thing in the latter part of the game but not the immediate end. I don't know, it's hard to explain but I always dread getting to the end of a game and having that last bit just wreck my shit.
 
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