Top 15 Badass Boss Battles This Generation That Made You Throw Your Controller

GB writes: "Ah, Boss battles! It feels so good when you defeat a monster in the dungeons or take down some giant robot. Nevertheless there are some bosses which literally make you throw the controller on your TV! Here we check out the top 15 boss battles this generation of gaming which made you go nuts!"

[bmw69]

the battle with boss in Ninja Gaiden 2 was bad ass!

[Chubear]

.. that's shocking.

[Method]

Great list. Hades is definitely my favorite of the lot. The atmosphere was absolutely perfect.

@Chubear Halo 3/ODST didn't have any particularly memorable or challenging boss fights.

[Downtown boogey]

Zeus was much, MUCH harder than Hades. It took met two hours to beat him on Titan on my first playthrough.

[CrimsonFox13]

Great list? It's a horrible list. It just seems like he threw in random boss fights. For example, in God of War 3 and Demon's Souls, there are bosses that are harder AND more bad-ass.

[Method]

@Downtown boogey

Zeus was piss easy IMO. All you have to do is camp Gaia's heart for free health orbs.

With Hades you're left with no way to recover other than just avoid getting hit all together.

@CrimsonFox13

Armored Spider definitely isn't the most badass boss from Demon's Souls, but I challenge you to name a more badass boss in God of War 3 than Hades. There is none.

[Mr Logic]

I don't know what these guys are talking about. Most of their list is correct, but I thought beating Glados on Portal was really easy. Also thought that inFAMOUS and R2 weren't hard at all.

[gamingisnotacrime]

i hated that boss, Hades was tough too but the scorpion really pissed me off

[Downtown boogey]

You really think I didn't notice that immediately? What makes it even harder is that you don't know whether you're supposed to attack Zeus or the clones primarily.

Really seems like you haven't beaten it on Titan.

[kneon]

Saren, really? That one was pretty lame. My team mates died within the first couple of minutes and being an engineer I had few useful combat abilities. Luckily his movements were so predictable that I just hid behind the wall and picked away at him with my pistol the whole time. It was tedious but certainly not bad ass.

[Redrum059]

MGS always ends up on that list.

[Chubear]

That just can't be right can it? I mean, collectively, these games sold over 12million units and more than ANY FPS or core gamer game this gen and it's believed by anyone worth their gaming salt that there were no memorable boss/end battles in Halo3 or ODST? That's impossible.

A FPS that sold over 10mill copies just be on anybodies "top 10 battles" list shouldn't it?

[RecSpec]

The first time I fought him I lost about 8 goddamn levels.

[kratos123]

come on guys there is one boss how kicked my ass soo hard i almost broke my tv zodonuis from ninja gaiden sigma 2 my god what a Bi%ch on master ninja really hades and zeus were cake if you would see what this guy did to you and yes i played gow3 on titan on my first playtrough
the finnal boss in ngs2 was too easy i dont know how he made the list

[akiraburn]

I agree with most of this list's game choices although some of the bosses chosen from the games were odd, given that in some of them there were much more intimidating or epic bosses. Here's a few changes I would have made:

Personally, in MGS4 I would have chosen either the Liquid or Vamp battle, since they were both astounding. With Demons Souls, I felt that Armored Spider was the second easiest boss (Phalanx being the first), and would have rather seen the False King or Flame Lurker. I probably wouldn't have put Resident Evil 5 on there or Bioshock. Neither of them really felt amazing to me or hard during the boss battles, although if RE5 was going to be on there, I would have rather seen the giant tentacle monster fight as their choice since that felt a lot more "huge" to me than Wesker's fight. I don't necessarily think Resistance 2 should have been on there, at least not with that fight against Daedalus. I probably would have added at least one of the bosses from Yakuza 3 (because it can get pretty tough at times), as well as The Lich King in WoW, and perhaps one of the fights in Batman: Arkham Asylum.

[kaveti6616]

It appears Chubear has decided to invest his two remaining bubbles into clever stealth trolls.

Halo games sell millions because Halo games have millions of fans who care more about the multiplayer aspect of gaming than the single player campaign. If you can't deal with the fact that millions of people enjoy the Halo multiplayer mode, then go see a psychiatrist about why you can't carve out your own subjective reality and not judge others for having their own, you twit.

[JoySticksFTW]

...especially when he goes into Hulk Smash mode near the end of the fight

But the False King fight makes me the most nervous.

Even though you can fry him pretty easily with Firestorm, that bastard drains levels at random. F' that

[jessupj]

pretty much just name every boss is demon's souls and you get your top 15 :)

[IrishAssa]

I didn't really like the bosses in MGS4 except the main ones like Vamp and liquid, the rest were just random, The best boss battles in the MGS series are in 3 I think. 1 had the bosses ya feel sorry for after ye kill them. 4 I just didn't care about the B&B

[shadow2797]

If you've gone for the Big Boss Emblem, Screaming Mantis is by far the hardest boss. Laughing Octopus isn't easy, but she's nowhere near as irritating as Screaming Mantis.

I also agree with Radec.

[Christopher]

Not the best list, IMHO.

Demon Soul spider boss battle is really only hard if you have no ranged capabilities. I'm also surprised that more of these bosses don't take up the list.

Fallout 3 Behemoths were actually pretty easy if you knew they were coming. Mines, especially bottlecap mines, took quick care of them.

Saren in ME1 was never really hard because when he goes into the geth wall jumping mode it was a pretty quick battle from there since it didn't take much damage to end it.

Kessler I defeated on my first time. Guy had some pretty kick-arse powers, but they made them way too easy to read and way too easy to fill up on life/energy between his big attacks.

[exnihilonihilfit]

But I can't help but notice that 13 of the 15 games are on PS3, and 7 of them are PS3 exclusives... I don't know if that's due to a bias on the part of the author, but I'm surprised that a flame war hasn't started. I'm proud of you N4G, maybe this petty rivalry has started to come to an end.

[Minokichi]

man idk about u guys but im going to take it back to NES lol but Mike Tyson punch out was the hardest to beat to me and i tried alot to beat him and to this day i cant beat him same for Zelda 2 a pain in the ass

[Marceles]

I didn't throw my controller at most of these...if anything I held on to it so I can play it over again. Hades on Titan and Radec are probably the only ones on the list that I came close to throwing the controller, but everything else went pretty smooth.

[AssassinHD]

Armored Spider was incredibly easy with a bow. Leechmonger was impossible for me to kill until I got Firestorm. I would have to say the most challenging boss for me was Old Monk, although I am not sure if that fight technically counts. I am speaking about Demon's Souls of course. Oh Flamelurker gave me a hella hard time on NG+.

[Darkstorn]

Every single boss battle from MGS4 should be on this list.

[JoySticksFTW]

For those who don't know

* Every Minor SPOILER *
.
.
.
.
.

If you play DS while signed into PSN, the game will pick another player around your level at random to fight you for one of the boss battles!

With all of the different deadly character builds possible in DS -- with some players battle-hardened from doing nothing but breaking into other people's games and whuppin' arse... well, no preparing for that battle

Some people unplug their internet connection so you have to fight the safer computer AI controlled "Old Monk"

I just take some grind stones (if the person uses Scraping Spear or Acid) and a way to nullify magic if the person gets too Firestorm happy

and a Meat Cleaver :)

[Urmomlol]

This article contains virtually no text and just has a bunch of videos embedded in it. Couldn't even bother to write up a synopsis for each one?

[BeaArthur]

haha, you make a good point. I didn't even think about that. some of those boss fights are pathetic.

Saren is easy to beat if you just stay on the move because he can't really target you very well if you are moving. Hades only took me 2 tries. Other than Ninja Gaiden 2 and Killzone 2 (and maybe RE5 because the controls are so stiff) none of the games on that list (that I have played, which is most of them) were all that hard. Slightly challenging maybe but none of them made me want to throw my controller.

[TrailerParkSupervisr]

I was loaded up on mini nukes and 'nades and pretty much just went thru them all to take him down. The Armoured Spider from DS just about gave me a stroke. Remember, not only do you die a lot, you have to go all the way back to the beginning and work your way there.

I loved DS. Can you imagine if Bethesda and Altus made love and produced a Demons Souls Elder Scrolls child?

[mrv321]

The Super Behemoth can be bad at the wrong level. I remember when I first came across a wild Bear at level 3 or 4, scared me half to death I used ALL ammo, except for one or two pistol rounds... it was super powerful at the time, I remember pumping clip after clip only for a small effect. And now look at me level 20 enclave power ammo to the max condition, A few plasma riffle riffles max condition with 900 shots...

[spunnups]

If you had a flame bow the Armored Spider was extremely easy. The mistake people make is trying to melee attack it, that will never work.

[Incognegro]

actually....meleeing was the easiest way for me to take the dude out. When you got right on him, he'd drop down and leave himself open because his close range attacks wouldn't have as much effect I'm guessing. whenever he'd try to roast you though, you'd have to haul butt back to avoid the flames. pushing forward proved a bit difficult but it wasn't too hard. especially if you had the purple flame shield. matter of fact, there's a pretty good guide up on youtube that has this same strategy.

[xabmol]

Tell that to my level 5 Bone Smasher! =]

P.S.

Flame Lurker >>>>>>> Armored Spider

I couldn't beat that guy on my own until sometime after my 20th play through.

[4pocalyps3]

i didn't find hades that hard to be honest. i found it epic, but not hard. kessler did my nut in but not so much as to throw my controller. same with daedalus. i don't think there's been a boss battle this gen that's made me want to throw my controller tbh. then again, im pretty laid back...apart from gow1...god that game made me rage >_<

[kurochi]

from MGS IV was the closest in having me breaking my beautiful LCD at home......

[Downtown boogey]

Liquid on The Boss Extreme?

[Redempteur]

is it normal that i find it hard even on normal ??

[kurochi]

couldn't figure out how to "kill" him... it took me forever to figure out I need to pump him with the syringe (plz, no sexual references).... than it was a breeze.
It must have taken me 2-3 hours to figure that one out. I refused to look it up to see how to kill him. LOL

[Monkey521]

So true. My friend watched me fight vamp for almost 2 hours before he said, "isn't vamp living off of nano-cells?" I looked at him and said, "I hate you" Then I beat vamp in less than 15 minutes.

[Aphe]

King Allant was the hardest boss for me in DS, he kicked my ass so many times I nearly gave up.

[Downtown boogey]

Flame Lurker on New Game+?

[Aphe]

That's another that nearly made me give up, and that's on the first playthrough lol. I only played through 1-1 and 1-2 on new game+ so far, I've taken a break from DS for a while. I love the game but I played it solidly until I completed it, I'll return to it again in a few months.

[spunnups]

Agreed, King Allant was easily the Hardest One on my first Playthrough. I died so many times. I even would summon some friends to come along with me but they always seemed to die before we got to the King.

[Downtown boogey]

I threw a lot of my old playthrough stuff away in the thought that there would be new stuff to be had after beating the game once... How wrong can one be?
It became flatout impossible to beat the Lurker alone as I couldn't summon anyone or get summoned by anyone.

[aaronisbla]

lol i wasnt even aware that the armored spider had that flame attack as i have never got close enough for him to use it. Now i see where the ignite spell comes from

[Obama]

Flame Lurker became pretty easy once you know all the moves he makes. King Allant is more challenging since he can drains your level if you come too close to him.

[stridershoge]

Radec was really annoying, it took me a while to beat him.

[Downtown boogey]

On Elite... Dear dear... He truly was a higg.

[kneon]

Yup I'm stuck there on Elite now. But I think I have to restart the chapter as when I went up to the balcony I could hear Rico but he was no where to be found. It was hard enough on normal with Rico "helping" but without him I don't think I'll make it. Even though his help is minimal, at least he makes a good bullet sponge.

[mephixto]

Radec is the easiest boss on the list. Just pick up the flamethrower put some fire on him and it's done even use the knife if you want. This works even in elite

[Obama]

Radec is easy; it's the soldiers besides him that are deadly. I beat the final level on elite after like 15 tries. Pissed me off but worth it in the end.

[kneon]

It depends if you get lucky. This level has a few bugs and I think one of them is that sometime Radec is near impossible to kill. I've done the flamethrower, emptied every single one in the room on him, hit him with rockets etc. An hour later he was still alive, and that's not even on elite. I've also killed him in 10 minutes (again not on Elite) with much less effort required using just assault rifles.

[cyborg]

Uncharted 2's final bossfight would somewhere be at the top! Amazing game but the final boss fight really dissapointed me.

As for the most badass bosses I have faced this gen, I would have to say MGS4 had some of the most challenging ones. IF it were measured on epic quotient, than Gow3 boss fights(especially Hades and Choros) would take the top spots for me

[Downtown boogey]

You're so right... The fact that Shambala even existed was lame. Cronos however was, like you said, very good.

Some (or most) boss battles hinder the flow of the game and ruin endings if the game tries to convey ANY OTHER FEELING THAN RAGE.

[kneon]

I agree, it was a pain on crushing only until I figured out the easy way to kill him, then it was just tedious. But the rest of the game is so fantastic it's not really worth complaining about.

[Defiantmac]

Of all the ones they pick, it's practically the easiest boss in the game. Could have picked flame lurker or the last boss in the game, both were extremely difficult.

[kurochi]

I was just about to mention anything on Demon's Soul has my vote.... LOL

[The Time Reaper]

Kessler was an amazing, kinetic fight. I was really impressed with all the bosses in infamous, especially considering its a sandbox style game.

[badz149]

but I must admit that he's kinda easy even on Hard! staying away from him the entire battle is the only thing there is! Cole is too strong for Kessler especially on the evil playthrough!

[spunnups]

You can almost include any one of the boss battles in Demon's Souls but one that particularly sticks out is the one against the Tower Knight.

[Aphe]

Yeah he was impressive. The first time I took him on all I could say was 'F*ck!'

[spartan112g]

Alpha 152 made me break a couple microphones and a controller. I have anger issues. :(

[gamingisnotacrime]

the armored spider was easy with ranged attacks (magic)
how the hell did he get so much HP and Stamina at this point?????
Is it on New Game+? i must be playing this game the wrong way, everytime a black phantom invades me or i help other as blue phantom they have kick ass equipment and magic. Should have used that wiki guide

[CherryLu-Chan]

I was there last night and had the fragrant ring and regenerator ring on, so full magic and health.
When I got in there I saw the ghost of another player further on than me hiding slightly behind a wall to the left. As I ran in I saw a note on the floor that read 'safe'.
Spammed him with soul arrows and he went down quicker than a cheap date on prom night. Or something.
Stroke of luck perhaps with seeing that ghost and the glory of the message on the floor, but that's what makes the online component absolutely my favourite of any game i've played.

[Unbornkirkster19]

Worst Boss Battle list i think i have ever seen.
(No specific order)
1.Crying Wolf
2.Sniper wolf
3.Tower Guardian
4.The End
5.GOW2 Kraken
i dont feel like mentioning anymore.too lazy haha.

[ryano23277]

Your 3 from MGS are my 3 of my favourites.

Escpecially Crying Wolf.

[exnihilonihilfit]

That it's a list of battles from this generation, right?

[hazelamy]

barthandelus, ffxiii, and the frakker doesn't even have the decency to die the first time you beat him.
threw my pad a few times because of that guy.

[JadedWriter]

I just beat that A Hole! I almost snapped my controller in half and rage threw it through a wall!

[BuckyBarnes]

Nobody mentioned the biggest cheap boss of all time this generation.

Seth from SF4 on ANY DIFFICULTY OTHER THAN EASY.

[Baka-akaB]

Well he doesnt fit the "badass" title , he was just just horribly cheap ...

[BannedForNineYears]

1. Demon's souls.
2. Demon's souls.
3. Demon's souls.
4. Demon's souls.
5. Demon's souls.

[CherryLu-Chan]

are made of living win. ^-^

[aaronisbla]

how the hell is the resistance 2 last boss battle on that list? loved the game quite a bit but that battle was crap

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

I agree.

The leviathan in Chicago was a much cooler fight.

Also...

This look familiar?

http://www.digitalbattle.co...

http://talkplaystation.com/...

Here it is!

http://moviecultists.com/wp...

[Gen0ne]

That was Echoes... man.

Edit: Oh the heading says Corruption and the video says Echoes. My bad, kinda.

[swice]

GlaDOS, Dark Samus, and Saren were not that difficult. They were just long

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

Daedalus?

Why Daedalus over the Leviathan in Chicago?

That's the best boss battle on there!

Also...no Gears of War 2 boss battles? What the heck?

Honestly though...anyone that's played R2 and Gears 2 can tell you that the boss battles are almost identical. Haha. :)

Kessler was awesome and so was Bohan. :)

God of War III should be on there like 10 times though. Haha.

Also...Ninja Gaiden II was meh. Even the last boss battle was...boring. I'd put Devil May Cry 4's battles up there before that, to be honest. Lol.

[silkrevolver]

He was so easy, even on Hard mode.... I don’t really get that, but oh well. Fun game, and I can’t friggin wait for a sequel.

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

Demons Souls - Old King Allant Boss.

[Hudahudahuda]

Maiden Astrea was the most memorable boss fight for me mainly because of how bizarre it was. Tower Knight and Flamelurker were also cool.

Hades, Poseidon, Cronos...Fantastic boss fights, Cronos felt like an entire level.

[CherryLu-Chan]

I beat him last night - Absolute piece of cake.

Tower Knight was far tougher and more epic than that.

[LIL WAYNE BALD]

Had problems with heavenly sword, KILLZONE 2, Resident Evil 5 and Metal Gear Solid. when it came to the MGS Octopus i played dirty LOL i used the rocket launcher every time i confronted her. so it wasn't that hard for me really. i didn't have problems with the God of War Hades boss battle, i had more problems with that damed perception Puzzle! then i had with n e boss battle from God Of War. the resistance boss battle was more annoying and boring then anything. INFAMOUSE boss battle looks more frustrating then it actually was for me if my memory serves me right, but i distinctly remember heavenly sword being the most impossible rage filled unbeatable boss battle i have ever played. these boss battles we'rent easy and didn't really make me throw my controller except for heavenly sword and maybe INFAMOUS. good article :D!

[peeps]

nice little list. reminded me of how good inFamous actually was lol i remember being tempted by it but then being swayed into buying it because of the UC2 beta.

was 1 of my fav games this gen tho and actually, i wonder if we will hear about a sequel at E3.

[DarkAzureIIIX]

Wow a lot from PS3 only games, that must be why all the hate right?
/s

[Djinn]

I remember fighting Kessler on hard. The first time he manhandled me in seconds, literally. I was like "o god, its not gonna end here is it?" But after a few tries I gradually got better and mastered all of his attacks. I still have trouble with those annoying flying drones though.

[GamerPS360]

false king from demon soul is the hardest one.

[Figboy]

i have to say some of my favorite boss battles would be (forgive the bulk of them being MGS and God of War related, but those two series do boss battles so much better than many other series):

1) Fighting Psycho Mantis in MGS1 - it was simply a clever, never before seen way to implement a boss battle and break the fourth wall.

2) Fighting The Boss in MGS3 - the emotional build up to this boss was excellent. the setting was also fantastic, and when the Snake Eater theme kicks in at the "5 minute warning" it's truly epic.

3) Fighting Zeus - The opening part of that battle is so full of epic, and the fact that most of us had been waiting YEARS to pound his face in, made the culmination of the battle just that much more satisfying.

4) Fighting Laughing Octopus - the camoflage aspect of that fight was AWESOME, and creepy at the same time. you really had to scour the environment for changes to find her.

5) Fighting Hercules - they may not be the most flashy, but the one on one, human battles in God of War are some of my favorite, and Hercules is probably the best one. it was such a brawlers fight, in particular when you get the Cestus and start duking it out with him. the musical score, setting, and Hera's commentary make it such a memorable fight. not to mention the FINISHER! OMG!

6) Kessler - not because it's a particularly fantastic boss fight, but the setting, and using your particular abilities against his was pretty cool. the sequence of events afterwards is also one of the best moments in gaming.

7) Fighting Liquid Ocelot - the setting, lighting, and graphics make this fight so incredibly awesome, as well as the build up of waiting to get your hands on Ocelot since MGS1 culminates in one of the most memorable boss fights for me this gen. there were so many times during that fight that i couldn't believe it was actually real time. and the musical score was BRILLIANTLY implemented.

8) Fighting The Hydra - The demo of this battle is what convinced me to pick up God of War 1. at first, i was reluctant to give the series a shot, even though i love Greek Mythology, but when a friend brought over the demo and we played it, i was sold. i bought the game day one. it does two things that are staples of the series: establishes how much of a complete BADASS Kratos is, taking down a Hydra single handedly, and establishes that the series is about scope and scale.

9) Fighting The Colossus of Rhodes - The Hydra battle in GoW1 was amazing, and i didn't think they'd top it, but they did. the visuals, the systematic breaking down of the Colossus, and the scale of the battle was simply incredible. it's a memorable, and amazing boss fight.

10) Fighting Poseidon - The Hydra, and Colossus set quite the standard for God of War games, and looking at the ending of GoW2, you'd expect the intro to GoW3 to be suitably epic, and blow the other two awesome openers away. well, the opening sequence, and subsequent fight against Poseidon do just that. it's an INCREDIBLE visual and game play spectacle. it's something that a simple youtube video just doesn't convey properly. sure, you can watch it, but getting to play it, and experience it for yourself is one of the most fantastic moments in gaming for me.

the rest of the boss battles in GoW3 almost pale in comparison, but then again, it was like that for the previous GoWs also. the first boss always set the tone, and subsequent bosses were good, but it's hard to top the openers. this battle will probably go down as one of the most defining moments of this generation when all is said and done.

those are my top ones. i can't think of 15 at the moment, but these are the boss fights that really stuck out to me.

[shysun]

I'm glad HS final boss made the list. At that point in time it was my favorite boss fight of the new gen systems.

[MeatAbstract]

Demon's Souls - I would of had Flamelurker instead. Armored Spider had a very simple pattern.

[Kuzo]

You've gotta really suck as a gamer to have thrown your controller over the Portal Game. But of all the Metal Gear games, 4 had the easiest bosses. If you had to pick one boss from 4 though, it would have easily been Ocelot.

[PS360PCROCKS]

I, to this day cannot beat Fontaine, Radec or Saren. I have played each at least 100+times to no avail. I gave up on all of them. I know I should be ashamed to be a gamer lol but I also sold my 360 over a year ago and my Bioshock and Mass effect copies are for 360 so I can't even try. and I gameflyed KZ2 so I just sent it back so I also haven't had any chances.