I'm surprised this topic hasn't been made yet.
Everyone loves good boss battles, and when I say "everyone" I mean at least myself, which is why I consider it a shame that most games forego amazing boss battles or even remotely challenging ones...but hey, most of these games deliver in other areas, so I can't complain too much. Hell, it's usually hard bosses that cause the most complaints, causing players to rage that the boss is "overpowered" or "unfair" or something...but hey, that's what makes those bosses special and memorable. So, this is the topic for those bosses that were just THAT. DAMN. HARD.
What I will say though, is for a boss to qualify in your lists, you have to have eventually beaten it at some point - I'd rather not see people posting BAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWfest lists of bosses they can't beat and just gave up on, because there's hardly anything to talk about there. You have to have beaten each and every boss you post, after all, how can you truly claim to have endured the boss's worst if you couldn't even prevail in the end?
5. Icon of Sin, Doom II. This guy hit another Top 5 list I made as one of the best bosses I've ever fought - without a doubt, he's also one of the hardest I've faced. Being the final boss makes this fitting really - Icon of Sin basically appears as a gigantic, demonic head embedded in a wall who summons hordes of demon minions to attack you. His only vulnerable point is his exposed brain, which can be attacked via a small hole in his forehead, and given that Doom II does not permit you to aim up or down, you instead have to time your rocket shots with the slowly raising platform you have to stand on to hit your mark, before the platform rises too high for you to hit the boss - three rocket hits kills the boss by the way. Of course, while you're trying to aim at the boss's weak spot, more and more demons are spawning behind you and trying to shoot you down, making this boss a race against time essentially since taking too long will mean drowning (literally) in demons. Limited ammo and health recovery items make this tough too, but since the player can save at any time during this fight (you can save the game every time you land a rocket shot on him) it does make this fight considerably easier than it would be if you had to score all three rockets without dying.
4. Sephiroth, Kingdom Hearts. Sephiroth may be a momma's boy, and Kingdom Hearts certainly wussifies him in terms of appearance (AND CHOICE OF VOICE ACTOR LANCE BASS WTF?) but don't be fooled - that impossibly long sword is every bit as lethal as it looks in this game, and that alone is just one reason why Sephiroth is crazy-hard in Kingdom Hearts. His sword strikes are insanely powerful and have huge range, he starts moving and attacking incredibly fast after losing health which causes his already powerful attacks to become pretty hard to avoid, and his Meteor and Shadow Flare attacks are a pain in the ass in the final phase of the fight also. Sephiroth however loses points for being quite vulnerable to the age-old method of defeating hard bosses in RPGs: out-level the boss in question.
3. General RAAM, Gears of War. The general of the Locust Horde certainly makes his presence felt when he slaughters Kim at the beginning of the game, and you knew at that point you'd see this guy again before it was all said and done, and surprise surprise, he's the final boss of Gears of War. RAAM certainly doesn't disappoint in that regard - his weapon is a gigantic chaingun taken from a mounted turret, and he uses the bat-like Kryll to form a protective shield around his body, making him invulnerable as long as his shield is up. RAAM does suffer one fatal flaw with his shield however: The Kryll hate bright lights, and will flee from him should a bright flash of light emanate from any source near him, and will stay away until either the light goes away or RAAM himself moves away from the light source. RAAM will become vulnerable to attack without his shield, and can be fired upon freely, although his devastating chaingun will keep you from staying out of cover for too long. Ultimately, on top of being very challenging RAAM has no cheeky loopholes to earn easy victories against him with, which puts him ahead of the previous two bosses - in fact, he has a rather nasty trick against you instead: RAAM can Game Over you by killing your squad-mate even if you survive - well, no-one said these guys would play fair...
2. Yakuza, Metroid Fusion. It's actually debatable whether Yakuza is the hardest boss in Metroid Fusion since Nightmare is unbelievably difficult as well, but for me Yakuza wins and I'm sticking to one boss per game. Why does Yakuza win? Well, it took me THIRTY FUCKING ATTEMPTS to kill this bastard, the last three bringing him down to his final Core-X form before he finished me off instead. First phase is relatively simple: DON'T GET GRABBED. If this guy grabs you, you're in for a world of hurt, and one grab can easily do enough damage to doom your efforts there and then. In the second phase the boss's legs fall off - this somehow makes him unbelievably fast however as his body then starts leaping around the room while shooting projectiles down at you. His leaping spin attacks are practically impossible to avoid by reaction, so the best you can really do is stand in a corner and hope he doesn't hit you often, which is why it's so crucial to avoid the grab in the first phase - you really need to conserve as much health as possible in this fight, since going into Phase 2 with too much damage = Game Over. This guy would have won No.1 with ease if it wasn't for...
1. Jasper Batt Jr., No More Heroes 2. This guy...is THE hardest boss I've ever beaten, by far. Even more so than Yakuza, you HAVE to get lucky to beat this guy - there's no other way to beat him. Basically, Jasper has three forms; his first form is piss-easy, and while his final form is tough, it has nothing whatsoever on the hellish nightmare his second form has in store for you. His second form actually starts off fairly easy since his attacks are slow...but once he loses 30% of his HP he suddenly starts teleporting around the room, using this to instantaneously strike you from anywhere in the room, and also battering you with vicious teleporting punch combos to wear you down. It is practically impossible to consistently avoid this attack, so the only way to beat him is simply to hope he doesn't use it that often. Oh, and pray you aren't near any of the windows when he uses it as well, or he'll punch you straight out of the window for an instant kill on you - could this get any worse? Well, yes, it gets much worse when after suffering 60% damage Jasper enhances his teleporting punch attack by making his fists shoot gigantic blasts of air as he teleports around and punches you. This one actually IS impossible to avoid, so the only chance you have here is to, again, pray he doesn't use it often, and kill him as fast as possible before he unavoidably destroys you instead. This is easily the most ridiculous boss fight I've ever encountered, since it absolutely forces you to kill "Jasper 2" extremely quickly while being even more conservative about your health than in the Yakuza fight. I seriously doubted I'd ever beat this guy for a while, and even though I find the Yakuza fight pretty easy to do now, Jasper 2 is one fight I'll never, ever find easy as long as I live, and is the primary reason why I'd never play through No More Heroes 2 again.
Jasper gets bonus points for laughing at you every time he floors you with his punches. Jackass.
Everyone loves good boss battles, and when I say "everyone" I mean at least myself, which is why I consider it a shame that most games forego amazing boss battles or even remotely challenging ones...but hey, most of these games deliver in other areas, so I can't complain too much. Hell, it's usually hard bosses that cause the most complaints, causing players to rage that the boss is "overpowered" or "unfair" or something...but hey, that's what makes those bosses special and memorable. So, this is the topic for those bosses that were just THAT. DAMN. HARD.
What I will say though, is for a boss to qualify in your lists, you have to have eventually beaten it at some point - I'd rather not see people posting BAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWfest lists of bosses they can't beat and just gave up on, because there's hardly anything to talk about there. You have to have beaten each and every boss you post, after all, how can you truly claim to have endured the boss's worst if you couldn't even prevail in the end?
5. Icon of Sin, Doom II. This guy hit another Top 5 list I made as one of the best bosses I've ever fought - without a doubt, he's also one of the hardest I've faced. Being the final boss makes this fitting really - Icon of Sin basically appears as a gigantic, demonic head embedded in a wall who summons hordes of demon minions to attack you. His only vulnerable point is his exposed brain, which can be attacked via a small hole in his forehead, and given that Doom II does not permit you to aim up or down, you instead have to time your rocket shots with the slowly raising platform you have to stand on to hit your mark, before the platform rises too high for you to hit the boss - three rocket hits kills the boss by the way. Of course, while you're trying to aim at the boss's weak spot, more and more demons are spawning behind you and trying to shoot you down, making this boss a race against time essentially since taking too long will mean drowning (literally) in demons. Limited ammo and health recovery items make this tough too, but since the player can save at any time during this fight (you can save the game every time you land a rocket shot on him) it does make this fight considerably easier than it would be if you had to score all three rockets without dying.
4. Sephiroth, Kingdom Hearts. Sephiroth may be a momma's boy, and Kingdom Hearts certainly wussifies him in terms of appearance (AND CHOICE OF VOICE ACTOR LANCE BASS WTF?) but don't be fooled - that impossibly long sword is every bit as lethal as it looks in this game, and that alone is just one reason why Sephiroth is crazy-hard in Kingdom Hearts. His sword strikes are insanely powerful and have huge range, he starts moving and attacking incredibly fast after losing health which causes his already powerful attacks to become pretty hard to avoid, and his Meteor and Shadow Flare attacks are a pain in the ass in the final phase of the fight also. Sephiroth however loses points for being quite vulnerable to the age-old method of defeating hard bosses in RPGs: out-level the boss in question.
3. General RAAM, Gears of War. The general of the Locust Horde certainly makes his presence felt when he slaughters Kim at the beginning of the game, and you knew at that point you'd see this guy again before it was all said and done, and surprise surprise, he's the final boss of Gears of War. RAAM certainly doesn't disappoint in that regard - his weapon is a gigantic chaingun taken from a mounted turret, and he uses the bat-like Kryll to form a protective shield around his body, making him invulnerable as long as his shield is up. RAAM does suffer one fatal flaw with his shield however: The Kryll hate bright lights, and will flee from him should a bright flash of light emanate from any source near him, and will stay away until either the light goes away or RAAM himself moves away from the light source. RAAM will become vulnerable to attack without his shield, and can be fired upon freely, although his devastating chaingun will keep you from staying out of cover for too long. Ultimately, on top of being very challenging RAAM has no cheeky loopholes to earn easy victories against him with, which puts him ahead of the previous two bosses - in fact, he has a rather nasty trick against you instead: RAAM can Game Over you by killing your squad-mate even if you survive - well, no-one said these guys would play fair...
2. Yakuza, Metroid Fusion. It's actually debatable whether Yakuza is the hardest boss in Metroid Fusion since Nightmare is unbelievably difficult as well, but for me Yakuza wins and I'm sticking to one boss per game. Why does Yakuza win? Well, it took me THIRTY FUCKING ATTEMPTS to kill this bastard, the last three bringing him down to his final Core-X form before he finished me off instead. First phase is relatively simple: DON'T GET GRABBED. If this guy grabs you, you're in for a world of hurt, and one grab can easily do enough damage to doom your efforts there and then. In the second phase the boss's legs fall off - this somehow makes him unbelievably fast however as his body then starts leaping around the room while shooting projectiles down at you. His leaping spin attacks are practically impossible to avoid by reaction, so the best you can really do is stand in a corner and hope he doesn't hit you often, which is why it's so crucial to avoid the grab in the first phase - you really need to conserve as much health as possible in this fight, since going into Phase 2 with too much damage = Game Over. This guy would have won No.1 with ease if it wasn't for...
1. Jasper Batt Jr., No More Heroes 2. This guy...is THE hardest boss I've ever beaten, by far. Even more so than Yakuza, you HAVE to get lucky to beat this guy - there's no other way to beat him. Basically, Jasper has three forms; his first form is piss-easy, and while his final form is tough, it has nothing whatsoever on the hellish nightmare his second form has in store for you. His second form actually starts off fairly easy since his attacks are slow...but once he loses 30% of his HP he suddenly starts teleporting around the room, using this to instantaneously strike you from anywhere in the room, and also battering you with vicious teleporting punch combos to wear you down. It is practically impossible to consistently avoid this attack, so the only way to beat him is simply to hope he doesn't use it that often. Oh, and pray you aren't near any of the windows when he uses it as well, or he'll punch you straight out of the window for an instant kill on you - could this get any worse? Well, yes, it gets much worse when after suffering 60% damage Jasper enhances his teleporting punch attack by making his fists shoot gigantic blasts of air as he teleports around and punches you. This one actually IS impossible to avoid, so the only chance you have here is to, again, pray he doesn't use it often, and kill him as fast as possible before he unavoidably destroys you instead. This is easily the most ridiculous boss fight I've ever encountered, since it absolutely forces you to kill "Jasper 2" extremely quickly while being even more conservative about your health than in the Yakuza fight. I seriously doubted I'd ever beat this guy for a while, and even though I find the Yakuza fight pretty easy to do now, Jasper 2 is one fight I'll never, ever find easy as long as I live, and is the primary reason why I'd never play through No More Heroes 2 again.
Jasper gets bonus points for laughing at you every time he floors you with his punches. Jackass.