Blogger Listmas ’13 – Top 5 Final Boss Battles

You’ve been put through the crucible and have been found worthy, yet there is still one more opponent in your path. Your entire journey has led to this moment and it’s do or die. Video games have, since their early days, revolved around the final battle with the boss. Whether he or she be a monster or man, these battles are designed to be epic and to test the player to utilize all the skills that they have learned. I figure that since Christmas time  is like the final boss battle of the year, this list would work quite well.

A few rules; I must have played the game to completion. I don’t have the largest repertoire of video game experience so don’t be expecting some old reference that most people wouldn’t understand and would only serve to make me feel good. Any of these games are worth playing and reaching their final fight. Also, SPOILER ALERT.

5. Wheatley – Portal 2

Absolute power corrupts absolutely, a line often used to help describe Wheatley. Wheatley begins Portal 2 as someone who’s trying to assist you in finally putting GLaDOS down for good, yet part of the process of doing that involves hooking himself up into the system GLaDOS used to occupy. Seeing the power in his control, Wheatley becomes an even more dangerous threat than GLaDOS ever was simply because of his ignorance and stupidity. Bumbling his way through the controls of the Aperture Science facility, Wheatley does his best to prevent the player from reaching him. Once the player does reach him with the assistance of GLaDOS (now being contained inside a potato battery) the final battle commences.

Wheatley’s largest weakness is his ability to think outside the box. He decides that placing bomb proof shields in between himself and you is enough to protect him, not ever considering the true might of the portal gun. The actual fight, in my opinion, isn’t much to write him about but the ending of the fight is what made me grin the most. As the facility falls apart and Wheatley has you on your seemingly last breathes a hole in the roof reveals the moon above. Realizing that the portal wall gel stuff is made out of moon dust, you launch a portal to the moon’s surface. The pressure differential begins to suck everything out of the room, including you and Wheatley. In the end it is GLaDOS herself who rescues you from the vacuum of space. After gaining control of the facility again GLaDOS lets you go, realizing that running her tests with co-op robots is much safer than trying to kill you. In the end, the last fight of Portal 2 is the inventive and witty clash that I think we all expect from Valve.

4. Metroid Prime – Metroid Prime

This boss fight has a special place for me. Metroid Prime was one of the first GameCube games that was wholly mine and I loved every minute of it. Looking back, I wasn’t as good at games as I thought I was. This battle was the first boss fight which truly stumped me and was a major roadblock.

Metroid Prime, the creature, is the source of the corrupting material known as Phazon that has been causing so much issues for Samus. The Chozo, a race of hyper intelligent bird-like people who were the ones who gave Samus her power suit, had once lived on the planet of Talon IV, were wiped out by this beast. Realizing that if this creature was strong enough to destroy the Chozo then it could be a plague on the entire galaxy, Samus faces Metroid Prime in battle. Metroid Prime is nigh indestructible; it’s only weakness being specific types of energy at specific times. Samus must use the visual clues given off of Metroid Prime’s body to determine what to shoot at it. Once the exoskeleton is destroyed, then the heart of the beat is revealed. The core of Metroid Prime turns out to be invulnerable to anything but Phazon, which it gives out when it attacks with a certain move, Samus must bide her time to absorb said Phazon into her suit to go into hyper mode. Only in hyper mode can she damage the worm.

Looking back at it, Metroid Prime does fall victim to the thing that Nintendo and some other game companies have tended to do too often; give the bosses single weaknesses that they coincidently highlight. I understand that this is a game mechanic what is tried and true but it’s not anywhere near realistic. However, who cares about realism when your playing Metroid Prime?

3. Pixy – Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War

You’ve proven yourself on The Round Table, becoming the most feared ace in existence. You’ve played a major part in stopping a major war. You’ve saved the nation of Ustio. The last challenge before you is to defeat the man who was your shadow, your protector during all of those times. Pixy, previously your wing mate as Galm-2, has changed his allegiances. Allying himself with the terrorist organization A World Without Borders, Pixy takes the experimental warplane Morgan into the air as he manually launches the V-2 rocket with the intention to wipe the world clean of borders and start over. Having literally just laid A World Without Borders a final blow, you must defeat your old friend in aerial combat. He has experimental technology on his side but you are the Demon of the Round Table, you are the only one who can stop him.

What I love most about this battle is the mood that’s been set in place. Up to this point all you know is that Pixy went missing at the end of the Belkan War and hasn’t been heard from since, then reappears as he kills you new wing mate, PJ, just as PJ was realizing that the fighting was over and he could propose to his girlfriend. The irony dawns that Pixy, becoming tired and jaded over his hate of war, is using violence to achieve what he sees as an end to violence. Added on to all of this is a frankly amazing and perfect choice for a soundtrack piece to play over the fight. Truly, a monumental ending to a really great game.

2. Ganon – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Call me a Zelda fanboy, you’d be correct, but there is in my mind no battle more epic than the end of Ocarina of Time. Having just defeated Ganondorf and saved Zelda you escape the crumbling ruins of the evil tower in classic Nintendo fashion. You reach the bottom, thinking that your task is done. Then, amidst the rubble, a sound is heard. Ganondorf erupts from the ruins, obviously dying from his wounds. In his last act he releases the evil inside him and transforms into Ganon, the Demon Lord himself.

Ocarina of Time was one of the first games I really every got into. I would actually play others but I never became nigh addicted to them like I did to Ocarina. In my youth Ocarina of Time was what made me a gamer, and a lot of his had to do with the superb ending to the game. Ganon is nothing to shake a stick at to the unprepared. Ganon towers over you, and his first swings knock the Master Sword itself away from you. This leaves you to improvise with your other weapons in order to weaken him enough to let you retrieve the Blade of Evil’s Bane again.

Ocarina of Time is able to achieve the perfect tone during this fight. Darkness looms over, making it hard at times to judge Ganon’s true size. To a first time player Ganon is truly a force of nature and one of the best boss fights ever, but not THE best (in my opinion)…

1. Gwyn – Dark Souls

Oh Gwyn, how you have fallen from grace. Once the magnificent lord of sunlight, Gwyn has become the lord of cinder by the time of the events of Dark Souls. The first flame which had originally given the lords their power had begun to fade, so Gwyn decided to try to give it more strength. Paying his own power as a sacrifice to the flame, Gwyn has slowly lost his intelligence and has become only a husk of his former self. The player, the chosen undead who has the power of the Dark Soul, has to relieve Gwyn of everything else he has; his life and body. When the player enters the Kiln of the First Flame no words are spoken. Gwyn charges the instant he sees you, swinging his flaming great sword that he wields in one hand in order to kill this intruder.

One of the great things about Dark Souls are the boss battles. These fights are often against large and menacing creatures and are truly awe-inspiring. Gwyn however is just what’s left of a god who has lost all of his power. The music of the battle reflects this almost perfectly, almost making you feel sad about the fate that has befallen him. You’ve battled your way through this beast of a game, you’ve faced every obstacle and monster and have persevered. You were expecting a climatic battle with a god, not this. In essence, the feeling you get fighting Gwyn is the capstone on the entire Dark Souls experience. Almost a perfect ending.

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What are some of your favorite boss battles? They don’t necessary need to be from the end of a game, that’s just what I used for this list. Also, if you want to listen to an amazing bit of community art for Dark Souls then check out this video. It’s really awesome to see some of the stuff that the Dark Souls community has been able to do.

Dark Soulsong: “Lordvessel” by Tanooki Suit

Thanks a ton if you’ve read all of my Listmas lists so far, this has been pretty fun to do. I’ve had to actually think about what I’m going to write about, which I haven’t done in a while, and I’ve been reminded how much I really like doing this.

However, there’s one more day of lists to look forward to and I think I’ll give you a little hint at what it’s topic is going to be…