This Old Neon Forum

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?

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

Kong Wen wrote: ↑01 Apr 2019 20:30

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

Sharecrow wrote: ↑01 Apr 2019 20:55 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

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.

VictorViper wrote: ↑01 Apr 2019 21:40 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.

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

Anyway, MM3 for Wily.

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.

I'm fine with that decision