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[KàIRóS]

I'll start with one that I think many will agree with: The End from Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater, if someone forgets why Hideo Kojima is considered a gaming genius you need to remind them of this guy.

The brilliance of this boss relies on the many ways the player has to defeat this old man, from straight up dueling him in a Sniper vs Sniper fight to tracking him down with items like the Thermal Goggles which reveal his footsteps and then killing him stealthly or capturing his parrot and letting the parrot go so you can see where he's located or doing the most creative way a game has ever let a player defeat a boss by literally not playing the game for a week and when you boot up the game again The End will be dead due to old age.

You can even fail the battle and The End will take Snake to prison, he uses tranquilizer darts so Snake never dies and thus a game over against him is practically impossible it is also possible to avoid the battle entirely by simply killing him way before the boss fight by sniping him after a cutscene, it's a memorable boss no matter how you decide to beat him.

 

[Kaachan]

Gilgamesh from FFXII

And Yunalesca from FFX

While they may be initially frustrating because of their difficulty spikes and debuffs they ended up becoming my some of my favorites in gaming. These kind of bosses teaches you to not just hammer away at attacks, but rather plan out carefully and make use of everything you've learned throughout the game

 

[EverydayBeast]

Ganon battles made you afraid, to a fault. His transformations are crazy.

 

[TintoConCasera]

As a kid I used to think this fight is cool as fuck. Replayed it earlier this year and can confirm, it's cool as fuck.

Used to think you need the hammer, biggoron sword or Din's fire in order to beat him but turns out you can beat him with just the Master Sword.

 

[Fbh]

Ishhin from Sekiro is as close as we've gotten to a perfect boss battle IMO:

It's challenging but fair.
It doesn't rely on some gimmick but rather puts your mastery of the combat system and all the skills you've learned through the game to the test.
It looks awesome
It's not some super long and drawn out endurance test. Win or lose it's usually over in less than 10 minutes

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Malenia in Elden Ring for me.

It was so satisfying to learn all her moves, then learn to evade all of them. Especially big ones like waterfowl dance or scarlet aeonia, ones that one shot you and are hard to dodge.

 

[The_hunter]

I like boss battles that are puzzles you have to figure out. The entire Shadow of the Colossus, MGS series and Demon's souls are games I really enjoyed.

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

Never felt so relived to beat a boss.

 

[Markio128]

Queen Ghoma from Ocarina Of Time. Yes it was the first boss, and was really easy to beat, but it was the first boss in a 3D game that made me say something along the lines of, ‘Oh shit’.

 

[German Hops]

 

[MAX PAYMENT]

The End was awesome. He's incredible on your first experience. Then pretty lame when you know how to cheese him on subsequent playthroughs.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Bayonetta 2 chapter 4 boss made me pause the game and take a 10 minute break to process it all afterwards; completely awesome insanity.

 

[M1987]

Artorias on ds1 was a incredible fight

 

[SSfox]

MGS1 bosses are all time best.

Then you have many iconic, there is FS games too many iconic ones, Smough and Ornstein, Malenia ect.

And GOW games, specially 2 (Barbarian, and the sisters, so fucking epic) and 3 (Hades is a fucking mindblow, Cronos EPIC AF).

The colossus in SOTC and more.

 

[F31 Leopard]

Gogmazios MH4U

 

[Lokaum D+]

Hopefully one day GOW ll have this epic battles back in the menu.

BONUS

 

[Mephisto40]

Abyss Watchers - Dark Souls 3

 

[spawn]

Every boss from Bloodborne

 

[NewYork214]

God of war 2 and 3. Almost all of em

Minotaur from 1 was awesome as well. And hydra. Fuck it god of war 1-3

 

[MAtgS]

 

[The Stig]

The End is a great shout.

Rey vs Rex was fun in MGS4

 

[BennyBlanco]

When he starts limping at the end. Then when you realize he was just a good boy protecting his masters grave, and you saw him again in the DLC.

Fuck this game owns.

 

[Chronicle]

Hopefully one day GOW ll have this epic battles back in the menu.

BONUS

Gow 3 has so many epic battles. There is no other to me.

 

[Shifty1897]

Totally agree on The End fight. I remember having my mind blown when I found out you could use a sniper rifle to blow his head off as he's being wheeled away about an hour before you're supposed to fight him if you're fast enough.

When I think of incredible bosses, it's always Metal Gear Solid games and PlatinumGames titles.

The one that still gives me chills:

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Twinrova in Ocarina of Time. It’s the one boss where positioning, timing and movement really count in the game, and its slight puzzle element makes it that more interesting.

The twin centaurs in Tomb Raider Anniversary, for similar reasons. They’re not just about mindlessly shooting or QTEs, there’s a strategy here and it may take you some trial and error to understand what it is you have to do.

Quadraxis in Metroid Prime 2. It’s the perfect boss fight, testing everything you’ve found and learned and bringing you very close to the limits of your resources, especially in hard mode.

 

[Fuz]

I remember being really impressed with bosses in Phantom Hourglass.
I don't remember them toh.

Also, Dark Souls: The Thread.

 

[CYRU5_DA_GR34T]

Haha easy, Master Hand, Super Smash Bros classic, especially fun playing as Kirby or Link

Aside from that Bayonetta vs Jean in the 1st game.

 

[Codes 208]

To name a few

 

[Eimran]

The End (Metal Gear Solid 3)
The Boss (Metal Gear Solid 3)
Dr Freeze (Batman Arkham City)
Baldur (God of War)

 

[Raonak]

Both Ray vs Rex and Old Snake vs Liquid Ocelot were amazing in MGS4

 

[TintoConCasera]

Loved fighting Grigori in Dragon's Dogma. A truly epic fight that really feels like the end of a journey, even if it isn't.

Probably one of the few fights against an actual dragon I think we have in a 3D action game. Aside from MH ofc.

 

[Mister Wolf]

 

[fart town usa]

As a kid I used to think this fight is cool as fuck. Replayed it earlier this year and can confirm, it's cool as fuck.

Used to think you need the hammer, biggoron sword or Din's fire in order to beat him but turns out you can beat him with just the Master Sword.

I always thought the trick was to not Z-Target him, that's my technique at least. No targeting and just slashing like a mad man.

 

[TintoConCasera]

I always thought the trick was to not Z-Target him, that's my technique at least. No targeting and just slashing like a mad man.

Hey, that could work too!

What worked for me this last time I played it was to just wait when he's transparent, and once he becomes less transparent, start alternating chops and slashes (vertical and horizontal sword attacks) while being very careful of not doing any thrusts, since he steps on your sword if you do that. If you manage to do it without thrusting, eventually the hit will land.

Legit didn't knew it was beatable this way. Kinda crazy that I first played this game like 24 years ago and I still had something to discover.

 

[Icymanipulator]

Recently, the Valkyrie Queen from God of War.

Mr. Freeze in Arkham City.

Basically every monster in the Monster Hunter series.

 

[Rest]

I thought this was about boss battle music. Oh well, here's what I was going to post:

 

[delfrickintree]

"The End" was my favorite bossfight for so long. Really blew my mind.

Shoutout to Darksiders 2 for having some great battles too:

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Awesome rom hack let's you as him too with new moves.

 

[bender]

 

[Pimpollo818]

my fav Soulsborne boss:


fav Platinum Game's boss:

 

[Platinumstorm]

Kefka
FFXIV has several: Ultima, The Thunder God Cidolfus, The False Idol and her Inflorescence [FFXIV is truly one of the best games ever]
The Nutcracker Symphony Fight in Bioshock
MGS3 I definitely have a favorite, but I don't remember which.
Vanquish had some really fun bosses!

I appreciate the sort of grandeur and cinematic experience of bosses versus the "fight" aspect.

 

[EDMIX]

The number 2 in Last Of Us 2.

We beat the shit out of that 2, baseball bats, golf clubs, shot guns, chainsaws, dynamite, arrows, arrows wit the dynamite duck tape to it lol

jk jk....but The Last Of Us 2 lol

she was on that TRT juice and you had to give her dat MP5!

+
DMC3 for the cringe

RE7 Jack doing donuts in the garage for no fucking reason

Kuze cause he badass

 

[nkarafo]

Can't find any good gifs but a little game on the N64 called Mischief Makers had some of the best boss fights i can remember.

 

[cireza]

Phantasy Star II Mother Brain

Gunstar Heroes Seven Forces

 

[Neolombax]

I quite liked the Sephiroth fights in the Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts 2. Back then I didnt have access to the internet, so the fights were a real surprise. It was the right amount of challenge, and the feeling of accomplishment beating him was such a rush.

 

[GeekyDad]

Trying to think of a single boss battle in Ninja Gaiden Black that wasn't truly great. Now, it's been some time since I've played through it, but I got nothing. I know Awakened Alma came immediately to mind when reading the thread title.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

To name a few

But you didn’t name any.

 

[kyussman]

I don't generally enjoy boss fights that much,they interrupt the flow of the game and usually annoy me more than anything,lol......the ones in the original God of War games were always pretty good though,they were epic and fitted in with the design of the games well.Too many boss fights feel thrown into games because they just have to have a boss fight,the GOW ones felt more natural given the games themes.

 

[Gambit2483]

I quite liked the Sephiroth fights in the Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts 2. Back then I didnt have access to the internet, so the fights were a real surprise. It was the right amount of challenge, and the feeling of accomplishment beating him was such a rush.

That Sephiroth fight in KH2 was pretty epic, especially once the music kicks in.

 

[dave_d]

Dark Fact and Darm in Ys Books 1&2 but a lot of that is the music and the fact that it was the first time in any game to hear a score like that play during a boss fight.