Magus - Chrono Trigger (SNES, PS, DS)
This fight is memorable for a lot of reasons. There's a considerable amount of build up before you face of against Magus. You're given some back story on Frog and find out how he came to be. Why would one of the Guardia's most noble and skilled warriors choose to isolate himself from his kingdom? This is a combination of what Frog sees as his own failures and Magus. During a mission to take down Magus, Cyrus, Guardia's most powerful knight was struck down my Magus' magic right before Glenn's eyes. Upon a remark made by Ozzie that Glenn looked like an angry Toad, Magus used his magic to turn Glenn into a frog and cast him down the mountain upon which they were fighting. Glenn has been going by the name Frog ever since and has sworn to make Magus pay for killing Cyrus. So yeah, Frog has some pretty justifiable reasons for wanting to dull out some vengeance.
As his name implies, Magus is a very powerful spell caster and the toughest customer you'll come across at that point in the game. In addition to assaulting the party with a barrage of magic attacks, Magus has high resistance to physical attacks, but this defense can be cut through with Frog's Masamune. Magus has a barrier changing spell that alters his elemental weakness, which constantly keeps the those that are attacking with magic switching up their spells. During the second half if the match, he'll stop with the barrier spells, giving you a chance to lay into him. If anyone's HP is low, you'll probably want to heal them because once Magus drops the barrier, he begins charging up his ultimate attack, Dark Matter, a magic attack that's strong enough to kill any party member without sufficient HP.
You're always on your toes during this battle, changing your strategies. And when the fight is finally over, Frog is still denied his revenge duo to Lavos picking the wrong time to wake up. Oh and that music that plays during the fight? Hands down one of the best boss themes ever.
Ralph the Raven - Yoshi's Island (SNES, GBA)
Long before Mario was facing Bowser on small planet sized battle arenas in Super Mario Galaxy, as an infant, he and Yoshi faced off against a ferocious bird named Ralph the Raven. Growing super size thanks to Kamek's magic, Yoshi must use his ground pound technique to pound the stumps when Ralph is in the right position. Seeing as how Yoshi and Baby Mario are on a very small playing field they have to keep moving. Ralph is actually pretty nimble for an over-sized pigeon and the only thing that will halt his pursuit is being struck by a rising stump.
Final Zone - Sonic the Hedgehog (GEN)
Robotnik is one sick dude. He trapped all the land's animals into his Badniks and is bent on taking over the world. That's reason enough to take him out. But just when you reach him at the end of Scrap Brain Zone Act 2, he commits his most sinister act yet: dropping you into a watery maze that may as well be Labyrinth Zone Act 4. Now you're really gonna kill him. When you make it back to the surface, Robotnik decides to put that 300 IQ to good use with an elaborate death trap, which takes full advantage of the fact that you don't have rings. Your life support, your precious insurance, your rings are denied to you in this last battle, meaning one hit and you have to do the whole fight all over again. In the center of the room are four rising crushers but only two of them come up at a time and Eggman changes which crushers he's in each time they rise up from the floor. The safest place in the whole arena is the far right, but even after you've avoided being crushed to death, you've still got to watch out for the four electrical balls that materialize and try to shock you to death.
Mike Tyson - Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (NES)
Mr. Sandman. Super Machoman. Soadapopinski. Many of the opponents you faced in this game were ball bustingly hard but they all pale in comparison to Kid Dynamite. Like every other boxer in the game, Mike telegraphs his moves. But Mike moves so unbelievably fast. Everyone that has fought this guy on their first try got knocked out. Everyone. When the fight starts, Tyson's punches are so deadly that just one of them can lay you out on the mat. And even the punches that don't knock you out can drain so much of your energy. Speed and sharp eyes are the key to taking Mike down. If you haven't taken Peppy's advice the millisecond after Mike telegraphs his moves, one of two things are going to happen: you're going to lose a lot of energy or you're going to get knocked the eff out. It's that simple. This isn't a fight that you try to win. This is a fight that you try to survive and pray that you can land enough punches to send Tyson's back to the mat.
Mecha Bombers - Super Bomberman (SNES)
Four whole worlds have been building up to this big endurance battle. The story goes that the big bads have abducted Black Bomberman to use his advanced fighting capabilities to greatly enhance their own Meach Bombers, basically evil robot twins of Bomberman. Up until this point every boss you've faced has been much larger than our pint sized, squeaky heroes. When you get to level 5, you find yourself standing in a battle stadium and out walks your doppelgangers. It's quite the surprise and despite being the same size and possessing all of the abilities that Black and White can use, these robo clones can take a lot of damage before the topple. It's no longer about dropping your bombs around the large enemy that's slowly advancing around the room. You have to plant your bombs careful to trap you opponents and take into account that they can do everything you can do. All of level 5 is a boss rush against increasingly tougher Mecha Bombers in front of a live crowd that cheers when your evil counterparts fall.
Part I
Gorgeous!
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