Best Boss Fight pre-launch discussion

[Kong Wen]

This will be the second new category we launch next week assuming all goes well in the finals this week.

You nominated a phenomenal 87 boss fights in this category with only a couple of duplicates, but there are a couple I wanted to double-check:

King of All Cosmos - Katamari Damacy

As far as I can recall, you never end up fighting this guy. He sets forth challenges for you, but I can't even remember a stage/set-piece where you can be said to be vying against him to make him qualify as a "boss fight."

Dr. Wily - Mega Man Series

You fight Dr. Wily more than a handful of times, and the fights are pretty different each time—some are great and some are trash. Which specific boss fight were you thinking of?

Evil Otto - Berzerk

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Evil Otto more of a stage mechanic than a boss fight?

Shadow Dancer - The Revenge of Shinobi

This one is just tricky to check since there's also a Shinobi game from around the same time called Shadow Dancer, which makes Google very unhelpful. I absolutely believe there's a boss in The Revenge of Shinobi called Shadow Dancer, but can you link me a video or something that just shows which boss it is?

[Sharecrow]

Not my nomination but there is a shadow ninja boss in Revenge if Shinobi. It’s probably him (the level 2 boss).

[Kiwi the Tortoise]

Shadow Dancer - The Revenge of Shinobi

This one is just tricky to check since there's also a Shinobi game from around the same time called Shadow Dancer, which makes Google very unhelpful. I absolutely believe there's a boss in The Revenge of Shinobi called Shadow Dancer, but can you link me a video or something that just shows which boss it is?

The seizure inducing 2nd boss.

Beware of the video

[Kiwi the Tortoise]

Not my nomination but there is a shadow ninja boss in Revenge if Shinobi. It’s probably him (the level 2 boss).

Ha... didn't see that one when posting

[VictorViper]

King of All Cosmos is a stretch, we can nix him if people prefer. But he is, effectively, the main antagonist of the original KD (never played the sequels). Given the story line, the entire game is essentially a "boss fight" insofar as you are cleaning up the asshole's mess.

Wily was my pick (though surely I wasn't the only one). If we HAVE to choose a game then my vote goes to MM3.

Evil Otto is something the group should decide. Yes, he's a hurry up mechanism. Yes, he's invincible. He's also a constant threat and forces an amazing priority switch in terms of gameplay. He is a boss of a boss, IMO.

[Kong Wen]

King of All Cosmos is a stretch, we can nix him if people prefer. But he is, effectively, the main antagonist of the original KD (never played the sequels). Given the story line, the entire game is essentially a "boss fight" insofar as you are cleaning up the asshole's mess.

Wily was my pick (though surely I wasn't the only one). If we HAVE to choose a game then my vote goes to MM3.

Evil Otto is something the group should decide. Yes, he's a hurry up mechanism. Yes, he's invincible. He's also a constant threat and forces an amazing priority switch in terms of gameplay. He is a boss of a boss, IMO.

To contextualize, this category isn't so much about the best antagonist (or the nominees would have been very different), but the best boss fight (stage/gimmick/setting/mechanics). King's absolutely out, and Wily's going to need a specific encounter to count.

I'm happy to let the group chime in on Otto, but I'd personally lean towards disqualifying him.

There's a completely different great category hidden in this discussion, though! Games where you never actually face off against the "main" antagonist.

[VictorViper]

Yeah that's my bad not paying more attention to the "fight" in this case. I chased a theme.

Anyway, MM3 for Wily.

[Kong Wen]

If there are no more thoughts on these, I've updated the Revenge of Shinobi and Mega Man 3 entries, and I'm inclined to remove Evil Otto.

[The Shoemaker]

I'm fine with that decision