/vr/ - Retro Games

Don't blink.

This bitch right here. She killed everything in Citadel Station and turned it into a cyborg or a mutant, and she spends the entirety of the game talking shit, calling you an insect and telling you how futile it is to try to stop her.

But you basically just shoot the upgraded pulser (that they give you immediately before the battle) over and over again without any regard to your own safety, and then before you even realize you're winning, you get this abrupt "YOU WIN AND LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. THE END." Not even any last words from the shit-talkingest antagonist ever.

Slick at the end of River City Ransom. By the time you get to him, you're powered up as hell, and the boss fight preceding his is the hardest in the game.

Shredder on the first Ninja Turtles game on the NES.

Getting to the Technodhrome and surviving that whole corridor of death is already hard enough, so I guess they took pity on the player by the end of the game.

Dracula in Castlevania Rondo of Blood is pretty dissapointing compared to the other bosses in this game. His attacks are rather easy to dodge and his second form, while huge, is the same way.

I'm not too fond of the PSP remake, but by far the best aspect of this game is how they improved the final battle. After you beat his second form he kneels like in the original, but then turns into a third form which is actually challenging.

>>1645760
I pistol started its map and he still went down like a bitch.

Crusader of Centy's final boss. Throw Dodo, equip the lion, throw repeatedly, GOTO 10.

Shame, some of the bosses in this game were pretty good.

>>1645810
The Dracula fights often feel kind of weak to me in those games.

>>1645810
It's even easier in Super Castlevania IV.

One of the most emotional and intense scenes in an RPG ever preceding the battle. The hero coming at God himself against all odds after he kills all his friends and laughs. Amazing buildup that just sets you up for an epic battle of cosmic proportions.

Then Deathevn proceeds to be a fairly unremarkable final boss that puts up token resistance and is way easier than the penultimate boss before him.

>>1645830
Definitely. The metal sonic race earlier in the game was cooler
this thing was so unintimidating it could have been the first level's boss
Sonic 3 and Knuckles at least had cool final bosses

Contra. Just move all the way right, shoot out the bottom spider nests, and you can't get hit. Way too easy relative to some of the other bosses.

>>1645795
Agree. If you let the Twins get up, you're pretty much dead.

>>1645881
Thinking about this more, if the spiders (or whatever they are) could run in the opposite direction when they land, that would have made this final boss much more worthy.

>>1645760
>so as long as you have a BFG and some cells (and I can't think of any reason you wouldn't, if you're not intentionally pistol starting to be a hardass)

All the BFGs in E3 were in secret areas.

Furthermore it wasn't common knowledge at the time how the BFG functioned, so players wouldn't know to get as close as possible to the Spider Mastermind to fire. She's also the first hitscanner that isn't a weakling and fires at chaingun speed so it was still pretty hard to fight her.

IMO the Icon of Sin was a much bigger letdown, even though the fight was more hectic, because it based the entire fight off of engine limitations. The fight is only difficult because you can't aim up or down without an enemy in los and the boss is just a textured wall.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DisappointingLastLevel

>Developers know full well that reviewers often won't be able to play the full game, and even normal players often won't finish it. As a result, they often focus most of their development, playtesting, content, and other efforts on the early parts of the game (which more people will see and which the game is more likely to be critically judged by); while the final level or two, which fewer people will reach, gets correspondingly less attention.

>>1645881
Super C's final boss is kind of sad too. Just run right up to it and you can't get hurt.

>>1645854

It's easy, but I'd say Dracula on Rondo is even easier, especially his final form.
On IV I thought it was not really anti-climatic, I love the second half of the battle when Simon's Theme starts playing (any game that plays the main/first level song on the final boss gets extra points by me).

the remake of Rondo on PSP adds a new 3rd final form for Dracula which is actually challenging

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNUNLh2YF9Q

>Nightmare Creatures 2
Walk around, calmly setting up bombs while the huge squid thing just sits there not attacking you.

>Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Same as the second boss battle, only now there's multiple tiers to the battleground. Just chase him and hit him before he hits you, 3 whole fucking times...

>Castlevania: SOTN
Sure, drac takes a lot of damage, but it can take less than a minute to kill him, and you mostly just stand there and slash at him.

>Resident Evil
huge ass tyrant jumps out at you, looking all menacing and shit. Shoot him 4-6 times with the magnum, get rocket launcher, end him. Pretty weak when you can finish off the final monster without needing to reload or heal yourself more than maybe once,

>RE2
Huge mutated William Berkin attacks you, seems like a hopeless fight until...
You shoot him with any weapon like 6-8 times (max) and he melts...

>RE4 (I know, not retro, but worth mentioning anyway)
Toss a grenade, Press X in QTE to stab his face, toss a grenade, QTE, blow up barrel, QTE, set off the preset booby-traps, QTE, ect. Ada tosses you a rocket launcher, game over. Fucking pathetic, even by RE standards, yet still not as bad as:

>RE5
Wesker can be felled with one rocket at the start of the final stage of the fight. Witch wouldn't be so bad if the rest of the fight wasn't just a chase scene of sorts where damage dealt is meaningless. But at least you get to uppercut a boulder into a volcano!

>Every modern game ever
huge, 10-20 minute long gun battle with fucktons of high powered, random soldier types followed by a 30 second QTE where you kill the villain. So fucking cinematic, ermuhgehrd...

(before anyone's ass starts bleeding from the epic butthurt, that last one is meant as a joke. Take it easy u gais. srsly)

>>1645943
>Resident Evil
>huge ass tyrant jumps out at you, looking all menacing and shit. Shoot him 4-6 times with the magnum, get rocket launcher, end him. Pretty weak when you can finish off the final monster without needing to reload or heal yourself more than maybe once,

You don't know the best part about the Tyrant in RE1 : his lab version can die in around 12-13 Beretta shots (that is to say, less than one clip of the basic first weapon of the game). Few people know this because they never thought of trying.
That's right, all those times you saved that magnum or rocket launcher ammo for that fight, that was for nothing.
The funniest part is that the devs who made the PC port of the game added a hidden Beretta clip at the other side of that lab room. It can't be seen, but if you press the action button in the shadow near the entrance door you'll find one (again, only in the PC version). Even fewer people know this. I'd really like to know what came into the mind of the people who did this, was it a clue to how it could die so easily or was it to 'help' people who'd be stuck in that room with no more ammo?

>>1645896
E3M5 has a non-secret BFG, behind the blue key door. E3M4's BFG is secret, but only as secret as "open a door, fall into hole". It's not even a hidden door.

>>1645769
He was pretty fierce if you didn't bloodsword him, iirc.

Maybe it's just because I couldn't stop using cure on him. Even without using cure he still doesn't hit that hard

I always thought it was weird how his allies had biological weapons, giant robots and time warping powers, and all he did was fly around shooting a ray gun.

The final bosses in pretty much all of the Gradius family of games.

>>1646580
That music, though. Best final boss theme, ever.

>>1646706
Except for the final boss in Salamander 2, that one was legitimately challenging,

>>1646727
I'M GOING TO SPAM YOU LIKE NEVER BEFORE

>>1646580
Holy fuck, is this Final Fantasy Mystic Quest?
The only FF I've beaten.

>>1646849
Heh, how curious... Mystic quest is the only retro FF I've not beaten.

>>1646860
Hehe, oh well I usually was loosing interest or the saves.

I'm sure they do it on purpose

>>1646914
The brain boss in Gradius is more of an "off switch" for the empire. The final boss is the last stage itself.

All of the final bosses in Link's Awakening. The nightmares themselves weren't that bad, but the last form was disappointing. I've wanted to try my hand at remaking them for a while.

Quake's Shub-Niggurath is definitely one. Nothing more than a downgraded Icon of Sin, completely inert, and doesn't even spawn its minions directly. They just appear in the level. Killing it takes no effort, you just wait for the spike ball to pass through it, take a teleporter and that's that. At least hurting the IoS was difficult.

Easy as hell, and it becomes painfully obvious how to defeat him after his first jump. Talk about an anti-climax to an awesome game.

>>1645948
Even then you can kill him in about 25 knife strikes.

>>1646036
He's downright impossible if you dual-wielded the entire game and got your HP into the 7000-8000-9000 range. Since his attacks are % based and also absorb, your excessive health and major offensive power turns him into probably the hardest FF boss in the entire fucking series.

>>1648963
That's basically every Miyamoto game honestly. I don't know what he has against satisfying final challenges. The original Super Mario Bros. is probably the only one.

>>1648982
>Even then you can kill him in about 25 knife strikes.

Yes but, knifing the Tyrant (especially if you play a version of the game with no auto aim, which yes, does make a huge difference here) is actually challenging since Tyrant; actually using the knife is the only way to make the fight feel like a true boss fight. However, you'd kind of expect that since Tyrant tears you apart at close range, but you just wouldn't expect him to die in that few Beretta bullets.

Chris was right, Tyrant's a failure alright.

>>1645896
I didn't have the BFG the first time I got to the spiderboss. Ended up using the central building for cover and firing bursts of plasma. It was pretty hectic because this was 1994 and I was using the default keyboard setup, so not very maneuverable... Heck, I even beat Heretic with that way. Wasn't until a couple years later that I heard about people using the mouse and keyboard together. So I think for the time period, the boss was fine. Now it seems like a weakling because the entire games has been analyzed and disected for the past 20 years, along with players getting much more skilled in general (from lots of practice, and also general knowledge and lore about the game). Actually I don't really like that last aspect. When you know too much about a game, it loses some of its charm...

Oh, and the Jaguar Doom port uses Fortress of Mystery (the secret E2 level in DOS version) as E3M8. So the final boss battle there actually is quite challenging! I mean, so long as you haven't already played that map countless times in the DOS version and learned all about infighting, and how to not be afraid of barons, etc. Again, that goes back to my previous point... Just remember, back in 1994, the E1 boss battle was very scary stuff! I've heard accounts of people saving up their rockets for several levels prior just so they could have enough to take on those bad ass mofos...

>>1648959
It was basically a puzzle, something different from the previous episode bosses. I liked the weird vibe anyway.

Zophar at the end of Lunar 2 SCD version. Even Ruby comments that 'Borgan was tougher than him!'
Also, just what's so frightening about an extradimensional tranny? Zophar was a joke with a manicure.

This thing. I don't even know why it is there. Although technically Deus was the real "final boss"

>>1648959
As much as I love old FPS, I think in general most of them have shit bosses. On top of my head I can't name a single really good FPS boss.

>>1650153
>On top of my head I can't name a single really good FPS boss.
Really now? Come on dude.

>>1650164
I'm not the guy you're replying to, but that's about the only one coming to my mind.

>>1645943
OP here; Kain was going to be my next mention before I had to leave the thread for the evening. It's a shame they had to change the ending to leave it open for a sequel and rush it out the door at the last minute. I wonder if it would have been more of a challenge to actually kill Kain and then sound the pipes at the pinnacle of the Silenced Cathedral.

>>1650164
spamming rockets is a good boss fight? ok
All fps have shit bosses. Circle strafe = win

>>1650164
It's pretty weak as a boss fight, one type of attack from the boss which kills you instantly in most cases and tons of health. Usually old FPS bosses are usually like that, or they are simple "puzzle" fights which are more annoying and unfair than fun.

>>1650268
>shmup
>"spamming lasers is a good boss fight? ok"
>RPG
>"spamming party attacks is a good boss fight? ok"
>platformer
>"spamming telegraphed jumps and projectiles is a good boss fight? ok"
Cyberdemon might not have a big palette of attacks, but is imposing, scary (ok ok I know that you beat him with a pistol the 5th time you've played the game, who didn't) and practically taught every FPS player the virtue of circlestrafing.

>>1650245
Well then you've also had guys like the Cycloid Emperor or the bosses from Unreal.

>>1650289
>one type of attack from the boss which kills you instantly in most cases and tons of health.
Those two kind of go hand in hand pretty well, don't you think? What more do you want from an FPS boss except for maybe better AI.

>>1645760

I still remember my disappointment at the end fight in Ultima 7 (Black Gate). I mean, hell, this is Ultima, and ever since 4, you might have a tough dungeon, but you didn't really have a tough endfight, but you see all the big baddies of the fellowship arrayed against you and..... bam, I hit "c" to start combat and they're dead in seconds. I didn't even have time to figure out what spell I wanted to throw. That random Paladin in the dungeon leading up to them is far tougher.

>>1650309
Well again, back in 1994, that cyberdemon was shit-your-pants scary stuff. I mean, just think, back it was common for players to physically dodge in their chair from imp fireballs. So now you're a Knee Deep in the Dead veteran. You somehow beat those two badasses who were running that Phobos joint and you somehow scrape through the Shores of Hell and find yourself in this small room with barons crucified on all the walls. WTF does that mean? Player's agitation intensifies... You hit some of them switches and peek out the room only to find a lost soul hanging around. Nothing a few rounds from chaingun can't handle... No problem!... And then all of sudden that overpowering roar that shakes the entire level. No monster has made a sound like that before... And it only gets worse when you come face-to-face with the thing, or maybe you encounter one of his rockets first. Circle strafe? What's that.... we're puttering around with just the keyboard here, or at least most players are, cause we ain't got Internet or any frame of reference about this game other than some close friends. So your ass gets smeared a few (dozen) times by this (litteral) monster of a boss until you figure out a strategy. And remember, if you were physically dodging imp fireballs easlier, now youre almost jumping out of the chair in terror, and your keyboard is dripping from your sweat. Because before this boss, it was all child's play. No other game that came before had this level of intensity. Sure shoot'em ups were hard, but they weren't virtual reality, you know what I'm saying? In 1994, this was YOU in that fucking game. And when you talk about these boss battles, you have to always put them in their historical context. Sure, nowadays, everyone's saying it's no big deal. But travel your ass back 20 years and forget everything that happened since, and I fucking guarantee you're be singing a differnet tune...

>>1650584
Yeah that's a good point.

Nowadays, we're all jaded by all the features added with mods. Nowadays we have super-complex enemies with decorate scripting, and the vanilla enemies seem really simplistic... but back then, the cyberdemon was terrifying.

Cyberdemon wasn't a boss though.

>>1651786
wut

Before anyone says Mother Brain:

The original NES Mother Brain might not have been the hardest boss in the world, but it was a really unique concept for the time. Think about how in most NES games, the final boss is usually like a dragon, or a demon lord, or wizard, something that's actually monstrous and threatening.

When the Metroid manual mentions "Mother Brain," most kids probably thought it was some kind of space witch, or a mad scientist or something. But then... literally just a brain in a tank that doesn't even have any attacks. True, there are gun turrets and those flying rings you have to watch out for, but those are just automated defense systems. The brain itself has no defenses of its own.

Then in Zero Mission they went and ruined it by giving M.B. a beam attack.

I know it's more my fault than anything for succumbing to the desire to use utterly broken shit, but once you get the Alucard Shield and pair it with the Shield Rod, NOTHING can stop you. The final boss went down in about 5 seconds. Hell, that giant motherfucker that's supposed to be the hardest boss in the game didn't last much longer.

After so many hours spent struggling through the game, after figuring out the Shield Rod, to call the last stretch easy would be a massive understatement.

>>1651830
To be fair, I don't even know how is it possible to beat Galamoth without the shield rod combo.

>>1651830

Two crissaegrims are good enough.

Hell, one is.

>>1652030

A little thing called the Beryl Circlet, hidden off of the first water room in the Castle Corridor. Lightning attacks heal you when it's on.

Or, be hardcore like me and beat him without it...you just have to be ready to go into mist form at a moment's notice.

>>1649026
Original SMB's final boss was the same boss as every other world, except he threw hammers, right?

>>1652518
And jumped, and breathed flames more. The bosses in each world add a bit more each time.

>>1652518
he throws hammers in worlds 6 and 7 too.

>>1645896
When I played Doom through the first time, I didn't know how the BFG scanned or where to find secrets and I still had no issue.

>>1645830
That final boss was awful. After beating it my first thought was "right that's the shitty penultimate boss done, now for the final boss".

>>1645810
That's why we had Vampire's Kiss.

>>1652771
It's funny you say that, it WAS going to be the penultimate boss. Pic related was going to be the final boss, but it got scrapped due to deadlines.

The Taxman port was gonna restore it, but Sega didn't allow it for some reason.

>>1645862
yeah. barubary was definitely way harder

>>1650153
>>1650268
hello

>>1649026
the one in 3D Land was good.

>>1645865
S3&K isn't the best sonic game for no reason.

>>1646862
>>1646860
>Hehe
This is what I thought of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZv6khWtMF8

>>1654690

Holy shit 3D world though.

Cat-bowser tower of power is seriously one of the most satisfying things I've played in several years.

Duke 3D Cycloid Emperor sucks because it's just spam Devastator for a few seconds and then it's gone, same for Overlord. Battlelord was a lot better. Also Rise of the Triad has El Oscuro, who is a waiting boss and then a pretty easy boss, nowhere near as good as the NME. Vissuluth in Magic Carpet 2 is totally non-threatening because of how dying works and is plain annoying to fight. And no list would be complete without wobble jelly Shub Niggurath.

>>1652243
Mist form is just as broken.

>>1656861
The Battlelord takes even less time to die using a devastator. The thing is, no devastator is provided in ep1.

The problem with the bosses in duke3D is the terrain isn't very interesting to fight them. Big empty rooms. Some usermaps made those boss fights more interesting.

For example, one of the bossmap of the fan made episode Metropolitan Mayhem (SHAMELESS SELF ADVERTISING) has the Cycloid Emperor in the middle of buildings and you have to go around the Emperor, jumping from building to building picking up ammo little by little while avoiding his rockets and killing a few aliens on the way.

>>1656962
The lack of Devastator is part of it. But he's also got hitscan weapons making him much more deadly than the other two. Overlord is woefully easy to dodge, Cycloid is only a little tougher. Also that's a fair point about the levels.