Alright then, this has really begun to get on my nerves. I remember the days that you could be trudging through a game, and be on your smallest little trickle of heath, as you reach the end of the game it throws its biggest best and most badass enemy at you to slaughter you time and time again.
I miss those days, not these new pitiful game endings that simply wrap up a story. Even games in which developers should know that nobody cares about story (Gears of war 2, I'm looking at you) they still wrap it up with something that couldn't even be called a boss.
Am I the only one that misses end game bosses? Or am I the only one even noticing their absence from a lot of games?

conqueror Kenny:

I miss those days, not these new pitiful game endings that simply wrap up a story. Even games in which developers should know that nobody cares about story (Gears of war 2, I'm looking at you) they still wrap it up with something that couldn't even be called a boss.

They knew there was no way they were going to top the fish. The fish boss was ace, that's all they need.

I agree. The best bit about games was the fight to the end and then spend hours trying to defat a boss that was 100 times more powerful than your character e.g. Ansem in Kingdom Hearts.
I like video games telling stories but bring back the sharp jump in the difficulty curve.

Gears of War 1 had a good end boss. I couldn't beat him on insane without glitching and getting him stuck behind a block.

Ninja Gaiden and DMC have decent boss fights. One of my favorite boss memories is fighting that demon samurai guy in Ninja Gaiden 1 on the xbox in the courtyard. One on one sword duel was very satisfying, although they had the nerve to follow it up with an annoying jumping puzzle.

I hated getting ridiculous boss fights at the end of games. Good ones, ones that made sense in relation to the games, I didn't mind but the formulaic Big Final Boss with Special Gimmic Action™ I found more tedious than challenging. (Gears 1's fight with General RAAM being a perfect example of it done poorly... I'd much rather have the end fight of Gears 2, becuase at least it's not boring.)

-- Steve

The problem is they already used all the good ones. Now we are left with all the B listers. We'll just give you a normal guy that will take you 1 shot to kill and call it a game. It is BS

I've always loved the boss fights in Zelda games, but I was a bit disappointed when I beat Twilight Princess. Ganondorf was way to easy. It was almost the same strategy as in Ocarina of Time. Return some lighting bolts, shoot some light arrows...

Anton P. Nym:
I hated getting ridiculous boss fights at the end of games. Good ones, ones that made sense in relation to the games, I didn't mind but the formulaic Big Final Boss with Special Gimmic Action™ I found more tedious than challenging. (Gears 1's fight with General RAAM being a perfect example of it done poorly... I'd much rather have the end fight of Gears 2, becuase at least it's not boring.)

-- Steve

But it always made the games so much more satisfying when you did beat them. I find that in games without them I just see the credits roll and think "Well, is that it?" With a boss fight stuck on the end I am much happier when I do see them roll.
Also, the Gears 2 boss, not boring? You stood in a raven and used the hammer on it. Quite boring if you ask me.

In games where the story is important, I hate boss fights. I nearly quit Bioshock on the final boss, because it was so out of place, and really didn't fit with anything else in a game.

In games about the action, that make no pretense of being 'more' than just an action game, they are a good thing, though I don't miss them when they're gone.

That being said, one of the best story driven games has boss fights, but they don't feel like a standard: Save point, health dump, door to arena, big boss, end. This is the the Half-Life 2 episodes, where you just happen to run into a really tough enemy that fits the setting and story.

I don't miss them at all. I can't even remember a single time when I enjoyed a boss fight. All boss fights tend to fall into three categories:
1. Predictable, dodgable, attack pattern. These bosses beat you through monotony - since you do 2 dmg a shot and have 40k health and they insta-kill you, you're bound to screw up. When you die, you get to repeat! Not to mention the first 20 minutes you spent to analyze the attack pattern. Lame timewaster - but there is some sense of accomplishment, I guess.
2. Gimmic Boss. "I AM A BOSS. I AM SUPERMAN, IN THE DEATHSTAR, WITH A BLACKHOLE LAUNCHER, AND 69 DIFFERENT TYPES OF FORCEFIELDS... MUHAHAHAHA.. wait... what? You unplugged my defences from the wall? Oh no! I'm a little weakling now!" Just annoying. First, I always feel cheated. I mean, I spent the whole game mastering the controls, honing my fighting abilities and generally learning how to own to.... do a left wing trick to beat the game? Weak. Not to mention, these 'uber bosses' are always so stupid to have such an easily exploitable weakness - if figuring out how to win is so easy, why did I have to spend the WHOLE game to do it myself? Some peon could do this.
3. The Kitchen Sink Leader: This one just makes me frusterated. They hide behind a wall (or sometimes in the open!) but are untouchable until you've killed every single bloody henchman that's left in the whole entire universe... not to mention THREE of the supposedly 'unique' ultra tough, rare, one-of-a-kind, used to be extinct dinosaur/alien creatures. I shouldn't have to explain why this boss type sucks, but I'm going to make special mention of how annoyed I get to find that some mini-boss you beat before and you think is done comes back in duplicate. Especially more fun when it seems to undermine the storyline.

So no. I don't miss boss fights. Bring on a reasonable ending any day. Or come up with a cooler boss.

Log Dropper M.D.:
Play to the end of Ninja Gaiden II if you want some annoyingly difficult boss fights. I believe it was about 4 bosses in a row.

Ninja Gaiden II Is nothing compared to Black. Four of the hardest bosses you will ever face, all one after the other. At least in II you got a break to do some shopping.

zhoomout:

conqueror Kenny:
Alright then, this has really begun to get on my nerves. I remember the days that you could be trudging through a game, and be on your smallest little trickle of heath, as you reach the end of the game it throws its biggest best and most badass enemy at you to slaughter you time and time again.

Am I the only one who kinda thought this was a bit of a cheap trick? Especially when there was no way to know how to beat the boss the first time and this meaning you have to start the game again. Repitition is not fun.

Sure it was annoying way back when, before you could save your games. But now just pop an autosave in front of the boss room and your golden.

Actually, it was about 5 in a row in Ninja Gaiden II, first 2, a short corridor with 3 normal enemies that drop health if your lucky, and then the final three. And am I the only one who though it was completely retarded to have the second to last one to only be damaged by a fully charged arrow to the head? I mean come on! It took me two tries just to figure out that was how you damaged him!!! Big boss fights are mostly just gay hold overs from when all games were in arcades designed to get the most money out of your wallet.

I always have enjoyed Zelda bosses, as easy as they are now.
But ones which never fail to bore me are the Castlevania ones! Even Dracula is different each time you battle him game to game!

conqueror Kenny:

Anton P. Nym:
I hated getting ridiculous boss fights at the end of games. Good ones, ones that made sense in relation to the games, I didn't mind but the formulaic Big Final Boss with Special Gimmic Action™ I found more tedious than challenging. (Gears 1's fight with General RAAM being a perfect example of it done poorly... I'd much rather have the end fight of Gears 2, becuase at least it's not boring.)

But it always made the games so much more satisfying when you did beat them. I find that in games without them I just see the credits roll and think "Well, is that it?" With a boss fight stuck on the end I am much happier when I do see them roll.
Also, the Gears 2 boss, not boring? You stood in a raven and used the hammer on it. Quite boring if you ask me.

Bad phrasing on my part, sorry. What I meant is that the ending of Gears 2 doesn't outstay its welcome; it's there, it gets done, splashy cutscene. RAAM, however, with that dumbass Kryll-Cloak of Cockblocking was just more tedious to kill than rewarding. Beating him wasn't a thrill, it was more a relief from pain like the feeling you get when that splinter finally comes out of your thumb. I don't do masochism; if I want miserable repetitious chores I'll go to work where they pay me.

-- Steve

Spoiler for the final level of Gears of War 2:

I love end bosses that are hard but not too hard for me to give up on a game. AND have awesome music.

Anton P. Nym:

conqueror Kenny:

Anton P. Nym:
I hated getting ridiculous boss fights at the end of games. Good ones, ones that made sense in relation to the games, I didn't mind but the formulaic Big Final Boss with Special Gimmic Action™ I found more tedious than challenging. (Gears 1's fight with General RAAM being a perfect example of it done poorly... I'd much rather have the end fight of Gears 2, becuase at least it's not boring.)

But it always made the games so much more satisfying when you did beat them. I find that in games without them I just see the credits roll and think "Well, is that it?" With a boss fight stuck on the end I am much happier when I do see them roll.
Also, the Gears 2 boss, not boring? You stood in a raven and used the hammer on it. Quite boring if you ask me.

Bad phrasing on my part, sorry. What I meant is that the ending of Gears 2 doesn't outstay its welcome; it's there, it gets done, splashy cutscene. RAAM, however, with that dumbass Kryll-Cloak of Cockblocking was just more tedious to kill than rewarding. Beating him wasn't a thrill, it was more a relief from pain like the feeling you get when that splinter finally comes out of your thumb. I don't do masochism; if I want miserable repetitious chores I'll go to work where they pay me.

-- Steve

Spoiler: Click to View

The change in place was nice although:

I miss boss fights a lot. The Metroid games (the 2D ones) come to mind when I think of really enjoyable boss fights, especially near the end.

In Devil May Cry 3, they were (almost all) excellent. Painfully hard, but gratifying to both beat and fight against. DMC4 had good boss battles for the most part. Both of them generally let you try a wide variety of tactics (less so with 4) that could potentially work.

Then there are boss fights in RPGs that demand a lot of tactical analysis on how to best beat them. Final Fantasy Tactics (though somewhat atypical) comes to mind, along with the Baldur's Gate series. In RPGs that are deep enough to offer you a lot of meaningful choices, they can be quite fun.

Shadow of the Colossus is only boss fights. They're atmospheric to the extreme and it still is fun to fight them again. However, they're still built around the gimmick principle.

Aside from those, I really haven't found many great boss battles. Zelda's are almost only gimmicks; none of them are challenging once you know the trick and they're impossible to beat unless you know the trick. Bioshock's final one was completely out of place. Frequently, without a gimmick, poorly designed bosses are little more than slightly higher roadblocks to steamroll your overpowered party/character over.

Log Dropper M.D.:
Play to the end of Ninja Gaiden II if you want some annoyingly difficult boss fights. I believe it was about 4 bosses in a row.

Oh come on. I used the scythe (Raining Blood is cheap as hell), the bow and the claws. The bosses were easy if you use those weapons (especially when you fight against the last boss).

The scythe is the most unfair thing you can use against the bosses and it breaks the game.

Killing the Colonel at the end of Fallout 3, was fun. Wait ... Nevermind ....

shaddow of the collosus (spelling) is a perfect of example of how bosses should be done. If you don't already know the game is just 13 huge boss fights one after other with each one taken out rather cooly. However the main reason boss fights have shown a decline is the apparant want for overly realistic games, mainly in FPS, cause a super powerful end of level boss just wouldnt really fit in with COD4 etc.

Neosage:
I love end bosses that are hard but not too hard for me to give up on a game. AND have awesome music.

Then personally i think Painkiller is the game for you - assuming you haven't already played it

Metroid prime bosses are the best, especially the dark samus fights.

piers789:

Neosage:
I love end bosses that are hard but not too hard for me to give up on a game. AND have awesome music.

Then personally i think Painkiller is the game for you - assuming you haven't already played it

Argh I totally forgot I bought that game.

Neosage:

piers789:

Neosage:
I love end bosses that are hard but not too hard for me to give up on a game. AND have awesome music.

Then personally i think Painkiller is the game for you - assuming you haven't already played it

Argh I totally forgot I bought that game.

I know what you mean, i was replaying it until i got Fallout 3 and now it's just hovering somewhere around my PC.

piers789:

Neosage:

piers789:

Neosage:
I love end bosses that are hard but not too hard for me to give up on a game. AND have awesome music.

Then personally i think Painkiller is the game for you - assuming you haven't already played it

Argh I totally forgot I bought that game.

I know what you mean, i was replaying it until i got Fallout 3 and now it's just hovering somewhere around my PC.

Heh...I kinda tried to install on laptop failed. Then couldn't be arsed to install it on ma big comp.

The Cyberdemon is my bossfight yard stick. Once you knew how to take him down, he was simple, but the sheer terror you felt the first time you heard him roar into life and start pelting you with rockets is rarely matched in fancy-pants modern FPSes

Serious Sam's boss always rates a mention in bossthreads.

Sweet, unholy jesus does it ever.

Other than that, I prefer the bosses who are powerful, tough, have awesome weapons and can only be killed by the contents of the room conveniently stacked with ammunition, which serves as a marker to let you know there's a boss-fight coming up.

Bosses that require you to use some jumping platform, elevator or teleporter to hit some secret weak spot that only requires a few rockets to take down give me the shits, same with bosses who are killed by the story, rather than by you.