7 Of The Cheapest Boss Fights In Video Game History

Dorkly: Many of us gamers bemoan the lack of challenging battles in today’s games. It seems that the controller-chuckingly stressful boss fights of yesteryear have been largely replaced by streamlined QTEs, cutscenes, and a significant drop in difficulty in order to appeal to a broader audience. Well, prepare to retrospectively grind your teeth in agony, because this is a tribute to seven of the cheapest boss fights in video game history. Not including SNK bosses; those gloryhounds already got the very concept of cheap bosses named after them.

[waltyftm]

I agree with all of them except M.Bison, he's a Pussy.

[Simon_Brezhnev]

I agree with that cheap Z.O.E. boss Anubis use to piss me off.

[NukaCola]

The final two bosses from WET. You beat both of them in a short 5 minute cutscene with two small QTEs. It's probably not only the lamest fight, but what I would call as the worst way to end a game, most likely do to budget. Felt horribly cheap.

[snipes101]

The final boss from El Shaddai pissed me off to no end. I mean come ON the dude had 3 forms. That is just annoying.

[despair]

@snipes101

I bet you don't play many new and old JRPGs, especially square/squareenix games, 3 forms were kinda the standard for most last bosses :)

[SilentNegotiator]

"YES!....YE- HEY! Am not!"

[-Superman-]

Crysis first boss.
You make him 1 hit with box, and he is dead

[DigitalAnalog]

But then again, I played it in Hard Mode, I think he took a good 5 or 6 swings before he caved in.

-End statement

[A-Glorious-Dawn]

METAL SLUG bosses were ridiculous, seriously if you ever played them in an arcade you would get slapped.

additionally you would loose your money.

[TheMrMadzen]

No one comes close to the final boss in Vexx....and here I thought I could beat that game....silly me

[ABizzel1]

@waltyftm

Then you must not have played SF: Alpha 3. What he says is the complete truth. His special covers the entire screen meaning you can't jump over it, and even if you block it, it still takes over 30% of your health. That Bison was one of the cheapest characters ever, but not number 1 IMO.

[Simon_Brezhnev]

lol bison was cheap as hell in Alpha 3. I remember if you jump and didnt block your dead. I think i had 2 set my stats to full air blocking i cant remember exactly .

[ABizzel1]

That's correct. If you jumped and didn't block his Psycho Crusher would take Over 70% of your health, and you had no choice but to jump towards him to try to hit him. He could teleport all over the place making it difficult to get close to hit him. And if you did a move that left you open (example Shoryuken) then he would teleport right behind you and finish you with his Psycho Crusher.

It took me probably an hour to beat him as a kid, and I finally did it with Chun-Li, and Later with Ryu. An hour may not seem like a long time, but considering each match takes about 1 minute to, that means it took at least 60 fights to win.

That sir is cheap, and many controllers were and temper tantrums were thrown due to Bison in Alpah 3.

[specialguest]

This guy makes SF:Alpha 3 Bison look so easy.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Marceles]

He really isn't hard, most of the time when he does the super you're already pretty much dead. If anything, it should be Gill up there.

[ATi_Elite]

I thought Seth from SFIV was the cheapest boss ever.

Actually I always enjoyed fighting M.Bison as his A.I. seemed human but Seth was a total cheap and rip off job to the point where i swear the game unplugged my controller at times just to let Seth win.

[Tito08]

Instead of Bison, it should of being Gill!!!!!!

[omeGAMERcenary]

I totally agree. Now that guy is cheap!
Or even Cyber-Akuma.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Cyber Akuma?

[Marceles]

Boss on Marvel vs Street Fighter, yeah he was a cheap ass too lol

[Tito08]

Gill is my most hated boss of all, whenever I'm about to beat him, he starts acting up and does his cheap ass moves to gain his super art by the time it runs out he regenerates, or if I'm very closed to lose, he brings the ANGEL super art...

Cyber Akuma, I found him mostly easy, but he takes a mean hell amount of health, if I see I'm too late to block one of his super moves, I know I'm fucked, Lol!!!!!

[NarooN]

Gill was such a hardcore asshole. You fight your ass off to get his health down, then he just randomly decides to regenerate RIGHT IN YOUR FACE??!!

[Tito08]

There were times there was supposed to be a double K.O., but with full super bar, he regenerates and wins with a perfect, how I hated that!!!!!

I remember back when I played against him in SF3: New Generation when he regenerated right in front of my face when I thought it was over, and I had little health, beat me, but I couldn't continue cause it was my last quarter, lol!!!!

[banjadude]

Anima is a lady? That's new to me... O_O

[Pozzle]

Yeah, it's Seymour's mother. :)

[banjadude]

Welp, I'm embarrassed... since I call myself a fan of FF X. Simple thing like that and I never knew... lol.

Thanks for the info!

[Saladfax]

O_O

I also never knew that.

They must have a very strange relationship.

[RedDead]

Serious? Well...it all makes sense now...

[4pocalyps3]

Yeah if you went and got Anima as an aeon yourself she explains what happens.

[DragonKnight]

Wow, you guys didn't know that Anima was Seymour's mother? There's a total of 3 different moments they tell you. Well, the first one no, but the other 2 for sure.

Moment 1: Luca. When They show the CG of Anima's head up close, Anima wears a tag with the picture of Seymour's mother on it. Now, you don't get to know that it's Seymour's mother until much later, but if you've beaten the game even once and played it again then you should know.

Moment 2: Zanarkand. The scene where his mother tells him she's going to become his Fayth. Seymour is only ever shown using one Aeon, and considering it's not the standard Aeons that have been around for centuries in FFX time, that should be clue number 2.

Moment 3: She tells you when you go get Anima. Lol.

[Captain Qwark 9]

hmmm i would say...

nine ball-ac master of arena
alma-ninja gaiden xbox

just two extras off the top of me head

[TXIDarkAvenger]

I'd put Shao Kahn over M. Bison. The only way really to beat Shao Kahn was to be cheap. Bison isn't anything compared to Shao Kahn imo.

[Relientk77]

Shao Kahn was pretty annoying, I could only beat him with certain characters

[Finger-Eater]

I could beat Shao Kahn on medium with Sindel and Ermac without being cheap. He is not that hard, is he cheap? Yeah. But once you learn to jump and move out of the way at the right times he is easy to beat.

[TXIDarkAvenger]

That's true. But that was later for me, when I got really good at the game. Just have to know when to block, attack, step back etc...

Still consider him the hardest boss in a fighting game though. I mean you can't possibly beat M.Bison the way you beat Shao Kahn.

[DeadIIIRed]

Lmao It's been well over a decade and I just realized Bison was Gomez Adams

[George Sears]

You mean from the movie? He passed away though.

R.I.P.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Please don't bring up that abortion of a movie.

[DragonKnight]

+Bubs for truth. I still say that that is the second worst video game movie ever. Only thing worse was the Super Mario Bros. movie.

[Marceles]

Especially that being the final roll of a great actor

[Quagmire]

Azazel...from Tekken 6?

[Lord_Sloth]

Jinpachi!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!

[Quagmire]

You thought Jinpachi was cheap? I take it you havent played Tekken 6 then.

[Lord_Sloth]

I have and I have beaten it. I just try to block Azazel out of my mind entirely.

[L6RD7BLU3]

Death Egg (Sonic The Hedgehog 2) I'm sorry you must suck really bad if you cant easily beat the Death Egg, and where the hell is Seth (Street Fighter 4) at on that list

[Saladfax]

The tricky part about the Death Egg is you had to beat Metal Sonic and the other boss with 0 rings.

It's not too bad if you know what you're doing, but if you die and have to start over...

[hampoofegg]

Good god, fuck that guy...he's all kinds of unfair.

[4pocalyps3]

I didn't mind Seth after a while he got "easy to read" (??? I forgot the word) So after a while I was able to beat him on the hardest difficulty.

[t0mmyb0y]

Predictable?

[4pocalyps3]

....+bubble

[Marceles]

Death Egg didn't bother me that much, it's just after he flies and lands wobbles around and you think he's wide open but one of his spiky hands are in the way of his belly. I freakin HATED when that happened.

[vickers500]

Crawmerax in Borderlands.

[Biggest]

If by cheap you mean easy as hell, I agree.

[vickers500]

Easy as hell if you hide in that corner he can't reach you from or have an infinite shield.

Pretty much the only character you can beat him with legitimately is Lilith.

[wenaldy]

Seth, Gill, Peace Walker Custom, Radec.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Radec........just the name brings back bad memories of that long fight but he was one of my favourite characters in the series behind Hackah and Luger. The guy who piloted the robot in Killzone: Liberation deserves an honorary mention as well.

[skyblue14213]

Since the author left out the bosses from snk games, I will leave them out also. In sonic 2 you could defeat the death egg final boss quite fast and easy once you knew the simple strategy of taking it out. I agree with the mortal kombat 2 version of shao kahn as that boss is tough as nails, he is not the hardest boss that I have faced but he is definitely one of the hardest bosses that I have ever encountered(the 3d version of shao kahn can not hold a candle to the mk 2 2d version of shao kahn in terms of difficulty).

Though M. Bison is not an easy boss to beat, I can only deem the street fighter alpha 3 version of M. Bison as worthy of being one of the hardest bosses to face. I would also like to add two bosses to that author's list which would be 1) eternal champion, and 2) dark eternal champion from the excellent classic gem called Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side. I have considered(for many years) Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side to be the best 2d fighting game that I have ever played in my life up to this moment(I have been gaming for over 22 years).

[HeavenlySnipes]

Any boss from the Ys games on Nightmare difficulty. They literally just spam there strongest attacks until you die

[MasterCornholio]

meh incredible crisis was more stressful than any of those bosses.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Omar1st]

Damn, Shao Kahn on the hardest difficulty on MK9 took me ages. I was close to being defeated at least an odd 30 times which for me is humiliating as fighters are my thing . But that 31st try, I finally opened a can of whoop ass on that nigga! Gave myself a pat on the back and smoked some weed :)

[KwietStorm_BLM]

The final fight with Nightmare on Dante Must Die mode in Devil May Cry, and Radec on elite difficulty in KZ2. Fuck then both. I wish I could curb stomp them to hell and back.

[Robotronfiend]

In my local arcade on MK2 people would just quit putting up quarters if you were too good. They'd just watch you lose to Shao Khan to get you off the machine.

Not really a boss, but the last checkpoint in level 7 (Graveyard) in Dead Nation is brutally difficult. It's cheap hiding 3 Mouths inside of mausoleums when you can only carry 2 sticks of dynamite to blast them open.

[Surt]

DeadNation!! Damn that game! It's the only game that I can remember since i was wee lad ever having to change the difficulty to easy to beat it. I'm so ashamed..

[jrbeerman11]

any cheap boss list that does not include MIKE TYSON as number 1 is WRONG.

seriously name me a tougher boss than mike tyson i challenge you.

[Tuxedo_Mask]

Mr. Dream

[Tanir]

alpha's kasumi is a douche

[Kluv]

No demon's souls bosses? No omega weapon from ffx?

[HINDERIZATION]

Omega Weapon in Ultimecia's Castle D:
I died pretty fast and even laughed at how I thought my party was good enough till i got hit with Light Pillar lmao.

[DragonKnight]

I found EVERY boss fight in Demon's Souls easy except for Flame Lurker and False King Allant. Those are the only two bosses who relentlessly attack you and are quick. People had a hard time with the Maneater bosses but they are a cake walk if you stay around the middle of the stage or use the fog door trick. They aren't at all cheap. And Omega Weapon from FFX is EASY compared to pretty much every other Omega Weapon from the series. FFVIII Omega Weapon is the second hardest in the series, first is the one from FFXII.

If you want to talk about optional FF bosses, frickin' Shinryu from the FFX arena is a pain. You only get to use Wakka, Rikku, and Tidus. Eraser will kill you regardless of any status protection you bring. He's more of a pain to beat than Nemesis IMO.

[Kraxe]

As soon as I read Alpha-152 from DoA4 I started laughing. everyone was saying that bitch is "impossible". then here comes my sister, who is just as noobie as me in the game, beat her. as soon as my Bro-in-law saw my sis beat her he pretty much said "I don't believe this".

oh in addition to pour salt into the wound/ego, we both only played the game for like what 4 or 5hrs? granted if we were to play someone else who had experience in the game, we would have our asses handed to us. also I don't have that much of a problem countering, well at least against my sis, but I still mess up time from time.

[ATi_Elite]

Remove M.Bison and put in Seth.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Obviously this guy never played an SNK fighting game.