00:00There are moments in games where, after a massive build-up, the culminating boss fight is just a bit, well, crap.
00:08What about the complete opposite, though?
00:10Games that themselves aren't anything to write home about or were otherwise hated for a myriad of reasons,
00:15with major redeeming factors tied to boss fights.
00:19I'm Jess from WarCulture, and here are 9 incredible bosses in terrible video games.
00:249. Never Dead – Sangria
00:26Never Dead could have been so much more.
00:29Protagonist Bryce is immortal, with limbs that detach like a crash-test dummy.
00:35More so, they can be reattached in ridiculous ways, like rolling around as just a head with two arms, firing machine guns.
00:42A neat idea, terribly executed.
00:44Even the majority of its boss fights are boring, except for one.
00:48Sangria. No, not the fruity drink, but a jester.
00:51Sangria will hurl abuse and taunts, disappear out of sight, throw things, and tackle you to the point of exploding all your limbs.
00:58It can get frustrating as you carefully put Bryce back together, but that's part of the charm,
01:04leading to whatever combinations of limbs you need to deploy to gain the literal upper hand.
01:08Number 8. Metal Gear Survive – Seth
01:11Metal Gear Survive is a tragic waste of a franchise license, but Seth, bland as the name sounds, is a pleasant surprise amongst the muck.
01:20Survive's story is too dumb to condense here, but the gist is that Seth is one of the first to be whisked away into a mysterious portal that opens up.
01:28Retaining most of his autonomy, he becomes infected by the dread dust and sabotages proceedings for the player.
01:34The fight itself is pretty straightforward, capitalising on one of the best parts of MGS5, the combat, and putting it front and centre.
01:43Seth is just a big dude, covered in spikes, that needs taking out however you can.
01:48You'll lay down your best traps, fire off a bunch of weapons, and stay on top of dodging his charge attacks too.
01:53There's actually a tight back and forth to this encounter, and while it's nothing to write home about,
01:58seriously where Amazed Metal Gear Survive even happened, it's the only genuinely fun exchange in the whole game.
02:05Number 7. Ninja Gaiden 3 – T-Rex
02:08The first two rebooted Ninja Gaiden games are teeming with incredible boss fights.
02:13The third, though, not so much.
02:15In fact, it kinda killed the IP's momentum stone dead.
02:19Considering the reputation Ninja Gaiden had, it was a massive downgrade in almost every area.
02:24Every area except a body armour-wearing Tyrannosaurus Rex.
02:29It's such a cool fight because it seems so out of place.
02:33Yes, there's the fantastical element, something Ninja Gaiden is no stranger to,
02:37but it's a friggin' body armour-wearing T-Rex.
02:40Thankfully, this isn't as hard as armour from the first game,
02:42but there's a tactical edge in how to dismantle the armour before killing the creature.
02:47All round, this is a notably stylish fight, imbued with the spirit and fun of the earlier games.
02:52Number 6. Daymare 1998 – The Abomination
02:56Daymare 1998 sadly gets everything wrong.
03:00What could have hearkened back to the classic days of Resi 2 instead has bad character animations,
03:06flat visuals, and unmemorable boss fights.
03:09Bar 1 – The Abomination
03:11A classic homage to a Resident Evil boss, it's tough, large, and conveniently situated near some explosive tanks.
03:18It also does the Resi classic staple of being multi-staged, coming back to bite you when you least expect it.
03:25It's ironic the boss has called The Abomination, given that it's the only thing the game did right.
03:30Number 5. Devil May Cry 2 – Arias
03:33Devil May Cry 2 is not a great game.
03:36After the breakthrough of the first one, the sequel should have been so much better.
03:40The idea of running along and up walls while firing twin pistols was awesome on paper, but animation across the board just felt lifeless.
03:49Indicative of a messy development, we were glad to forget when part 3 finally arrived.
03:54And yet, DMC2 did have Arias, an eccentric antagonist at its helm.
03:59Fought in Dante's missions, Arias is the big bad behind the game's events.
04:03Coming at you in a manner similar to the antagonist of the first game, this time you'll be tasked with taking out some goons around the man himself.
04:11Once they're dispatched, though, it's taking out Arias that spices things up.
04:15He's quick and will catch you off guard by fighting faster than any other enemy.
04:19Besides Dante's new look, Arias is the sole highlight of Devil May Cry 2's entire runtime.
04:26Number 4. Hitman Absolution – Sanchez
04:29The term boss fight is not something synonymous with the Hitman series.
04:33There's targets, and there's achieving the best death whilst remaining unseen.
04:37Then there's Hitman Absolution, and more so, the fight against Sanchez.
04:43Absolution went for a more grindhouse look.
04:45Some of it stuck, other parts didn't.
04:48The story, for example, was just wacky.
04:50Killer nuns sharing a shooting range with Lynch from Kanan Lynch and Super Soldier programs.
04:55In the middle of this, Sanchez, Dexter's bodyguard.
04:58The big man looks like Danny Trejo if he ate bulking powder and all of the steroids.
05:04Oh, and he wrestles in cage matches, because of course he does.
05:07This fight can be avoided in typical Hitman fashion, but given that there's a challenge attached to it, why not?
05:13Agent 47 versus an oversized wrestler quickly became one of the images that tanked Absolution's reputation almost immediately.
05:21But the fight itself is great fun.
05:23Playing out mostly as a quick-time event, that's not the awesome part.
05:27No, the best bits of watching Agent 47, the nimble assassin, go all lucha libre and bust out a host of moves you never knew he had.
05:35And if you think about the likes of 47 playing the drums in the 2016 reboot or flapping his arms to fly away,
05:41the idea of 47 doing anything came into its own right here.
05:45As is often pointed out, Dark Souls 2 is the weakest of the Souls trilogy, let alone FromSoftware's catalogue.
05:55Granted, it's been patched and overhauled into the Scholar of the First Sin re-release,
05:59the one all fans will direct any newcomer towards.
06:03But that original version always had a mixed bag of bosses to break down.
06:07Some are generic, others are gimmicks, yet there's one that stands out above all the rest,
06:12with one of the coolest mechanics FromSoft would never bring back, the Looking Glass Knight,
06:17and the ability to not only summon NPCs into the field, but other players too.
06:22For the latter, you'd have to place down a specific summoning stone and kinda just hope for the best,
06:28then you could get to ruining someone's day.
06:30On the receiving end, suddenly having a formidable foe leap out of the mirror itself
06:34for a good old-fashioned PvP showdown was one hell of a trick.
06:38As any Souls veteran knows, being outflanked is an easy trap to fall into.
06:432. Shenmue 3 – Landi
06:45Shenmue 3, the highest crowdfunded game ever, is… disappointing.
06:51Let's not beat around the bush, after 20 years, the formula just hadn't moved with the times.
06:56Defenders will say that's a good thing, anyone else was hoping for some forward momentum.
07:01Regardless, what Shenmue 3 does get right is establish the revenge motives set out in the first one.
07:07Ryo Hazuki, in the politest terms, gets his arse handed to him in the first game by Landi.
07:13Then, because Shenmue plays the long game, quite literally, he's absent until the third game.
07:19After such a long wait, 20 years in fact, fortunately the fight delivers.
07:24Combining everything Ryo's learned over three games, once Landi's henchmen are out of the way,
07:30this kung fu battle is impressive.
07:32Well choreographed and with such a long wait behind every punch,
07:36the only drawback is that there's no real conclusion.
07:39Shenmue 3 yet again ends on an open note,
07:42despite creator Yu Suzuki saying immediately after that there are no concrete plans for Shenmue 4.
07:48For one of gaming's most diehard fanbases though,
07:51at least they got to take out some frustration on the man who killed Ryo's father.
07:561. Resident Evil 6 – Usternak
07:59Resident Evil 6 gets ragged on for a lot of things,
08:03one of them being its massive deviation from the horror part of survival horror.
08:08Granted, the fourth game ditched most of it, but it still had some horror elements.
08:12By comparison, Resi 6 is more action and, despite a campaign dedicated to aping that older feel,
08:20far less scares.
08:21But in that weird backhanded way, there's one action-packed boss fight
08:25that does evoke some of that terror the series had established.
08:28It comes from none other than the half-bioweapon,
08:31half-farmyard machinery mashup that is the Usternak.
08:34Like a nemesis that fell into a thresher and won,
08:37the Usternak is a relentless beast that forms part of Jake Muller's campaign.
08:42A multi-part fight, the main tenant is having to escape a few times
08:46before finally squaring off against it near the end.
08:49It's a bit annoying at first, as the game hoodwinks you into wasting ammo
08:53when it's not the final stage.
08:55But give Capcom the benefit of the doubt,
08:57and this was all to make the final showdown more satisfying.
09:01That's it for our list, but do let me know down in that comment section
09:04if you can think of any other incredible boss fights in just terrible video games.
09:10As always, I've been Jess from WhatCulture.
09:12Thank you so much for hanging out with me.
09:14If you're liking, come say hi to me on my Twitter account,
09:17where I'm at JessMcDonald.
09:19But make sure you stay tuned to us here for plenty more great gaming lists.
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