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The 100 Hardest Video-Game Bosses, Ranked

It's more like a list of cool bosses (shadow of the colossus and metal gear solid for example) than actually difficult ones.

Well, I haven't played against at least 90 of those, but those that I played weren't difficult, they were just 'nicer' in some way / mechanic.
 
No Demi-Fiend, no sale.

LeleSocho said:
uhGDsN0.png

Kaiser Knuckle's General laughs at your list.
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Pretty much.
 
Fugu said:
I find this argument more than a little bit silly. If someone who has only seen 100 films is tasked with making a list of the 100 greatest films of all time, he's going to come up with a bad list. He can't justify his bad list by saying "well, I've only seen 100 films"; he's just not qualified to make a list.

It's all well and good to say "these are my 100 favorite films" -- although then still one wonders what the point of the list is when you've only seen 100 films -- but to talk of relatively objective criteria and only look at a very narrow scope of the topic because you want to make people feel involved in your list seems very strange to me.

You don't learn anything from a list like this. You are indeed correct that video games are a very diverse medium and that the diversity that this list covers incidentally includes very few actually difficult games, all things considered.
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Yeah. This is pure clickbait. Intentionally shitty fake journalism to get views for ads. That's, like 80% of the internet now. You must work to get food to eat and this is at least not as bad as doing the same shit in politics but still quite degrading.
 
Fugu said:
You don't learn anything from a list like this. You are indeed correct that video games are a very diverse medium and that the diversity that this list covers incidentally includes very few actually difficult games, all things considered.
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You do from the resulting discussion though, which I feel is half the point too. Past that though I do feel I learned something from the list, even if it was just a bit about bosses in games I'd not played. I found it interesting even while recognising it's far from a definitive list.

Flachmatuch said:
Yeah. This is pure clickbait. Intentionally shitty fake journalism to get views for ads. That's, like 80% of the internet now. You must work to get food to eat and this is at least not as bad as doing the same shit in politics but still quite degrading.
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I can understand disagreeing with the list but how is it degrading?
 
The ๖ۜBronx;250076523 said:
You do from the resulting discussion though, which I feel is half the point too. Past that though I do feel I learned something from the list, even if it was just a bit about bosses in games I'd not played. I found it interesting even while recognising it's far from a definitive list.
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Somehow you misattributed that first quote to someone else.

What I learned from this list is that the people who made it think the medium is largely confined to AAA games.
 
Fugu said:
Somehow you misattributed that first quote to someone else.

What I learned from this list is that the people who made it think the medium is largely confined to AAA games.
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That.. really is quite remarkable.. Thank you for pointing that out lol.

That's fair enough, it's certainly focused around games people are likely to recognise. Have you put down a list of ones you think are difficult but less mainstream? Sorry if I missed it if you have, but I'd certainly find it interesting to read.
 
Solid enough for a list focusing on the mainstream (to its detriment at times when you're calling that finale slog on Bioshock Infinite a "boss fight").

I can't accept their claim that Castlevania 3 death was tougher than Dracula, Dracula was an absolute buttface in that one, Death's skull form meanwhile was actually more bark than bite.
 
The ๖ۜBronx;250076523 said:
I can understand disagreeing with the list but how is it degrading?
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Doing shitty journalism aimed at manipulating people to get ad views is imo degrading, whether it's conscious or not. But a lot of work is messed up like this, certainly most intellectual work, so it's not really particularly bad.

I think if you really wanted a somewhat worthwhile list as a result, you'd do a series of discussions on your site and maybe in collaboration with gaming forums and make it a longer term project which gets updated. But this is just about throwing a list together in a half-assed way and get out of any critique by saying "it's just an opinion".
 
The ๖ۜBronx;250077699 said:
That.. really is quite remarkable.. Thank you for pointing that out lol.

That's fair enough, it's certainly focused around games people are likely to recognise. Have you put down a list of ones you think are difficult but less mainstream? Sorry if I missed it if you have, but I'd certainly find it interesting to read.
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I only play enough SHMUPs to know that I am not qualified to make a list about the 100 most difficult bosses because they are a) so singularly focused on being difficult and b) so singularly focused on bosses that such a list would necessarily consist at least 50% of bosses from SHMUPs.

The rest would come from arcade games for similar considerations.
 
Flachmatuch said:
Doing shitty journalism aimed at manipulating people to get ad views is imo degrading, whether it's conscious or not. But a lot of work is messed up like this, certainly most intellectual work, so it's not really particularly bad.

I think if you really wanted a somewhat worthwhile list as a result, you'd do a series of discussions on your site and maybe in collaboration with gaming forums and make it a longer term project which gets updated. But this is just about throwing a list together in a half-assed way and get out of any critique by saying "it's just an opinion".
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Fair enough, I think it's an honest list it's just from the perspective of the people that made it though I understand your grievances; it's far from comprehensive and should have been titled more personally to better represent what the list is.

Which makes me wonder, are there any decent lists out there that are updated and focus on parts of games like difficulty, bosses and the like?

Fugu said:
I only play enough SHMUPs to know that I am not qualified to make a list about the 100 most difficult bosses because they are a) so singularly focused on being difficult and b) so singularly focused on bosses that such a list would necessarily consist at least 50% of bosses from SHMUPs.

The rest would come from arcade games for similar considerations.
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That's a good, reasonable explanation. Could you name some favourites that were challenging? Always interested in checking out new games and haven't played a SHMUP since.. Ikaruga and honestly am so unfamiliar with the genre that I hesitate before labelling a game under it for fear of ignorance.
 
Toxi said:
List of hardest Monster Hunter bosses

  • Clashing Fists Brachydios
  • Descent into Hades Stygian Zinogre
  • Cruel King of the Sea Ivory Lagiacrus
  • Level 140 Zinogre
  • Level 140 Deviljho
  • Level 140 Shagaru
  • Level 140 Yian-Garuga
  • Level 140 Stygian Zinogre
  • Okay, level 140 goddamn everything short of Velocidrome
  • Beyond the Crimson Veil Crimson Fatalis, aka Spontaneous Combustion Simulator
  • Whatever the fuck half that shit from Frontier is
  • White Fatalis, aka Desert Bus
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Good list but I don't see Furious Rajang on there anywhere.

Anyways, The list in OP is obviously going to have a bunch of stuff people won't agree on, but I think it's a pretty good list other than Skolas for #1. Love that TTFAF made the list. I appreciate that he included boss fight videos of so many of them, to help me remember how hard they were. Goddamn that Alma from Ninja Gaiden. Just watching that vid reminds me of that damn brick wall.
 
Hardest game boss should be any guild raid leader for 25 or more people. Having to try to get a group of people to follow orders is much more frustrating than anything on the list. That said should have been more WoW and EQ bosses in there.
 
Fugu said:
Somehow you misattributed that first quote to someone else.

What I learned from this list is that the people who made it think the medium is largely confined to AAA games.
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That's usually the nature of these lists. They wouldn't much interest in a list of "100 bosses from really hard games you've never played, and maybe never even heard of".

Not to mention that the writers might not have played or heard of these games themselves.
 
The ๖ۜBronx;250080864 said:
Fair enough, I think it's an honest list it's just from the perspective of the people that made it though I understand your grievances; it's far from comprehensive and should have been titled more personally to better represent what the list is.
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I could easily write an honest list of my favourite Souls games but if I called it "Best Souls games", it would be pretty messed up - considering I don't like these types of games at all and I'm actually mad that FROM isn't making the stuff I like any more :-P I could maybe write "good" clickbait though, pulling stuff out of my ass about games I never played but...
 
This whole list is very subjective and depends on lots of different things. Some people find some bosses hard that others do not.

For me I have a few that really stand out.

1. Watchdog of the Old Lords in Bloodborne cursed chalice dungeon - OMG I had to play perfect to beat this thing as one hit would kill me. Took me hours

2.Ludwig in Bloodborne NG+ - took me hours to beat him as well. Cannot say how hard he would be in a normal run though.

3. Crota in Destiny - normal mode no problem......hard mode we actually gave up for a while.

4. Laurence in Bloodborne NG+ - holy crap the amount of HP he has is crazy

The overall hardest boss for me of all time is not even actually a boss but people who have played Bloodborne should agree.

The two shark men down the well (NG+). I think I broke a controller trying to beat them.
 
entremet said:
http://www.vulture.com/article/100-hardest-video-game-bosses-ranked.html

List in the link. Not just a list, tons of reading too. This is how you do lists. I love the inclusion of the Top Gun NES aircraft carrier landing as a Boss lol.

My personal top Top 3

1. O&S Solo (Dark Souls)
2. Alma (Ninja Gaiden Black)
3. Old King Allant (Demon's Souls)

What's your top three and what do you think of the list?
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The problem with most Dark Souls bosses is that you can level up until its trivial. Cant speak for Old King Allant but O&S can be a little easy once you overlevel.

1- Wheel of Fortune and Strength in Persona 3 FES

This was a pain in the ass considering the randomized buffs and damage and how you can only control the main character. If MC gets critted once and hit again it's over :(.


2- Last Shadow Warrior in Double Dragon 2

Dont remember it well just remember ut taking forever until I did the whole game in one go.


3- Orphan of Kos from Bloodborne the Old Hunters (NG+)

Kinda broke my own rule here but this boss is pretty impossible to attrition fight. I also never got to fight it outside of NG+ so I have no idea if overleveling can work outside of that.
 
Toxi said:
Nah, black phantom Selen Vinland.

She has an unblockable weapon, is fought on a tiny patch of land in a sea of mud you can't roll in (but she can), can heal, and can cast anti-magic field.

Basically, she has every unfair advantage possible. She's like the Meat Cleaver black phantom, but worse.

Pure Black World Tendency 5-2 is a bitch.
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Yea, you're probably right. I think I tried to erase Vinland from my memory >_>
 
Not hard anymore, or maybe never was. But my most memorable and challenging one me and my friends spent an entire night on was in Final Fantasy XI

Would be Zilart Mission 16, fight against Eald'narche. At the time not many got that far, well because there was no need to beat it. There were 0 guides on it at the time. So we spent multiple fights just trying to find ways to beat it, having a different strategy each time. Was hell of a good time.
 
It's interesting to see some creative interpretations of "bosses" on here.

On a similar theme, I'd submit the Beat Zico time trial trophies on Wipeout HD.
 
I still have the Skolas encounter saved on my PS4 HDD. It was a crazy close call, almost a team wipe right before we got him.

My heart was racing....

But we persevered and I got my Bungie T-shirt to prove it ;)

Also....

smt3-matador2.jpg
 
What a half-assed article. It just lists bosses from popular games, whether they're tough or not, and adds a bunch of SOuls bosses for easy cred. No rhyme or reason for the order of these, and several of them aren't even bosses. Couldn't help but chuckle at seeing so many Kingdom Hearts bosses used.

You heard it here first, Sonic 2's final boss is harder than the final battle of Devil May Cry 3...

2+2=5 said:
Wait no SNK bosses? The SNK Bosses that forged the SNK Bosses Syndrome?

http://snk.wikia.com/wiki/SNK_Boss_Syndrome
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SNKBoss
https://www.giantbomb.com/snk-boss-syndrome/3015-2788/

I knew that the list wasn't going to be filled with SNK bosses but the list is really a bad joke.
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It's doubtful whoever made this article has even fought an SNK boss. Either that or they just thought an SNK boss wouldn't be mainstream enough for this list.
 
Should have just called it "coolest boss battles". If this was actually the hardest bosses 80% of the list would be filled 16-bit games and older.

I love the Souls games, but most of those bosses can't really be considered for a list like this, since you can basically always outlevel them and make every fight easier by summoning.

Also the MGS bosses included is a joke. Liquid, Mantis and End are awesome, but they're all quite easy. Solidius on European Extreme is probably IMO the hardest MGS boss ever and he isn't even included.
 
Kusagari said:
I've got to say I have never understood the reputation Alma has.
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Neither have I. I'm not amazing at NG by any means (beat it on Hard, but never Master Ninja) but I'd never consider Alma to be one of the tougher fights in the game. It's almost become a meme at this point I feel.
 
No boss is harder than FF11's Pandemonium Warden. It took weeks just to get the items required to spawn the boss and then hundreds of people over an 18 hour period STILL couldn't beat him. FF11 liked to make bosses that were next to impossible to beat.
 
Maneaters in Demon's Souls is the only Souls boss to make me truly rage.

It's basically O&S, but remove the pillars and make the whole room a narrow walkway. Fuck them.
 
Difficulty is such a ridiculous thing to rank. I’m not very good at the Souls games, I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to kill Father G, Rom and Roof Guy but killed Ebrietas on my second attempt after a very close first attempt. Still no idea why that fight is considered hard by so many. /shrug
 
Deathshead from TNO even being on the list is a real head-scratcher. If anything I thought the fight was entirely too straightforward and obvious.

Also the lack of Rom the Vacuous Spider is a little suspect. Especially his Chalice Dungeon version.
 
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