8 Video Games Where You Are The Final Boss
Welcome to Tues Your Own Adventure! Join Jules and James as they take look at games where you are the final boss!! It was in you all along.
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00:00 Hello all of you little demons, Jules here for WhatCulture.com, back again with another
00:04 episode of the awesomely named and awfully hosted Choose Your Own Adventure, the weekly
00:09 medieval themed format where I, the crown jewels of WhatCulture.com, take a list chosen
00:13 by you, yes you, the person who knows their bike is not on the wall and is throwing out
00:18 this shot.
00:19 It's really bothering me, I can see the recording over here.
00:21 It's bothering me, this negative space.
00:23 So we're going to turn this into positive space.
00:25 James, if you would please, that's just going to be there so that I don't freak
00:32 out too much.
00:33 Enjoy!
00:34 Yes, you get to decide what list I don't mount to you each and every week.
00:37 And this week we have none other to thank than Lemming of Doom for their suggestion
00:43 of boss battles where you are the final boss.
00:47 Because this is the thing, as you may well know from watching WhatCulture over the many,
00:51 many years that we've been around, we do love ourselves a good boss battle.
00:55 However, even though most of them are tests of our skills learned up until that point
01:00 or brand new experiences, there is sometimes a rogue element that developers love to throw
01:04 in there and that rogue element is you.
01:07 Because today we're going to be talking about times where you, yes you my friend,
01:10 were the final boss.
01:12 And you know the drill by now, say hi to me here in the live chat and put your suggestions
01:15 for next week's episode down in the comments section below.
01:18 But with that in mind, let's get on with this list, shall we?
01:21 Ow, my ear.
01:22 Number 8.
01:23 Evolve.
01:24 Now in all honesty, you could really have put any asymmetrical multiplayer title into
01:29 the mix here because yes, it's, well, you are the final boss that every other player
01:33 is trying to kill, but I thought that we'd give a special shout out to the rather dubious
01:38 Evolve title today because that was really the first game to put that idea of one versus
01:44 everyone onto the map, or into the mainstream at least.
01:47 Here we find a team of players taking up the role of hunters, tasked with just one mission
01:52 and that is to bring down a gargantuan monster that is controlled by another player, and
01:56 also to stay as a group which for some reason is constantly ignored by at least one member
02:01 of the team, usually leading to a party wipe later on.
02:04 I'm not bitter, I swear, I'm not.
02:07 Seriously though, f***ing Charles, thanks for that every single time we played.
02:11 Thanks mate.
02:12 Now while all of this infighting is going on, the other player who is draped in their
02:16 best Scooby Doo robes is off hunting the wildlife in order to evolve into an even more powerful
02:22 being.
02:23 Oh I just got that, that's like the title.
02:25 Ah, clever.
02:26 Likely doing all of this while chuckling "THIS ISN'T EVEN MY FINAL FORM"
02:31 And as such, it's a game where you create your own villain arc, moving from a relative
02:35 weakling with a grudge to an all powerful world ending entity.
02:39 And trust me, there is no purer pleasure than dropping onto the hunters with a fully beefed
02:43 up super squid, nailing them with special attacks, separating each member and then devouring
02:48 them whole.
02:49 In their eyes, you are most definitely the final boss to their multiplayer experience,
02:54 and to be honest, that is a role that many players were more than happy to step into.
02:58 7.
02:59 Double Dragon Arcade
03:00 Now you know the expression "you can't choose your family, but you can choose your
03:04 friends"?
03:05 Well thanks to the Double Dragon Arcade experience, that is somewhat altered too.
03:09 You can't choose your family, but you can definitely choose your frenemies, because
03:14 that, hoo boy, when it came to the end of that game, talk about a rug pull.
03:18 While protagonist brothers Jimmy and Billy Lee, also known as Bimmy thanks to a hilariously
03:23 brilliant mistranslation, have been as thick as thieves throughout the base game, and have
03:28 kicked evil in the face so many times that it's developed a foot fetish.
03:32 But when it comes to the closing moments of the title, it turns out that the only defeat
03:36 that Bimmy is interested in licking in is defeat of his brother's girlfriend Marion,
03:41 as in a shocking turn of events, he challenges his brother to a fight to the death for her
03:46 affections.
03:47 Because that's what all women want, isn't it?
03:49 For some absolute scrub to just step up and beat the piss out of his brother, and win
03:53 you like a trophy.
03:54 It was a very different time.
03:56 In these moments, blood being thicker than water is thrown out of the window, as now
03:59 the only blood on show here is splattering against the floor as the two players square
04:04 off against each other.
04:05 That's right, it's you versus the person who you've been working with all this time
04:09 on the couch next to you.
04:10 Suddenly the tension is ratcheted up to the extreme, with all camaraderie being replaced
04:14 with ganradgery (it's a northern thing, don't worry about it) and you'll need
04:18 to bait your supposed friend into whiffing attacks in order to land that killing blow
04:22 and reign as either a brother forced to knock some sense into his sibling, or a dirtbag
04:27 who literally tried to steal his brother's partner just because he felt like having a
04:31 long live the king moment.
04:33 6.
04:34 Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy
04:35 Now when you load up the utterly barmy Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy, you might well
04:40 assume that the "final boss" involved in this game is either going to be the massive
04:44 mountain in front of you, or the absolutely heinous control scheme as both are going to
04:48 take a lot of effort to overcome.
04:50 Side note, I hear that swearing loudly at both definitely helps.
04:53 However upon beginning your uphill climb, you'll soon start to realise something,
04:58 likely aided by the voice of Mr. Foddy himself, that it's not actually the mountain that's
05:02 the final hurdle, but your perceptions about perseverance and never giving up.
05:07 In a tangible sense, yes, the mountain is the object to climb, but you are the climber,
05:12 and as such will experience setbacks, moments of frustration, and the ability to learn and
05:16 recognise patterns in order to overcome them, making it a perfect visual metaphor for life
05:22 itself.
05:23 Sometimes we will be faced with situations so utterly overwhelming it will feel like
05:27 we will never "get over" them, and sometimes, as with the controls, you're not often best
05:32 equipped with the right tools to make the job any easier.
05:35 However, it's through learning to work with your body, your mind, and your outlook that
05:39 you will come to see that you have the ability to achieve any goal and cross any milestone
05:44 if you just keep working at it and learning from your mistakes.
05:47 You see, in this situation, you are the final boss here, but I want to clarify something,
05:52 you are not a final boss to be defeated.
05:55 There's nothing wrong with you that needs to be outwardly changed in the sense that
05:58 you need to conquer yourself.
06:00 But here, you actually get the most out of this game when you learn to work with what
06:04 the game presents to you as mechanics, and also free yourself from anger and resentment
06:08 to try and enjoy the experience.
06:10 And then you'll realise that there really is no mountain that you can't overcome.
06:14 5.
06:15 Metal Gear Solid
06:16 Right, okay, so every single time that I have to talk about a Metal Gear game I start to
06:20 perspire, I start to sweat more than Fat Man being told that no sir, you can't have a
06:26 stick of lard in your soda because A) it's not on the menu and B) we are a solicitor's
06:31 firm.
06:32 And that's because with plots as complex and interweaving as those presented in this
06:35 franchise, it's easy to get lost and make mistakes that diehards will call you out on.
06:40 For example, even talking about Metal Gear Solid's final boss Liquid Snake is tough,
06:45 because while he is most definitely Solid Snake's evil twin and most definitely qualifies
06:49 for this list, technically you're both evil twins as you were both made through the cloning
06:54 of Big Boss.
06:55 Plus, there's the insinuation that of the two, Solid Snake is the more evil of the pair,
07:00 with Psycho Mantis even calling you 'true evil' during your encounter.
07:04 Plus, several of your allies also comment on how Solid Snake seems to enjoy war and
07:09 killing.
07:10 And to add even more insane petrol onto our burning brains, as you're a clone who has
07:15 most definitely got a fair share of skeletons in the closet, that means that during the
07:19 original NEYES game, Metal Gear, when you take on Outer Heaven and reveal Big Boss to
07:24 be its leader, it means that to him, you're the evil invader coming in and messing up
07:29 his plans as you're the evil clone.
07:31 Oh, yeah, that's right, my brain is just leaking out of my ear.
07:35 Fantastic, thanks for that.
07:36 So yeah, the next time you play as Solid Snake, just remember that you're playing as a pretty
07:40 horrific and evil clone, and no amount of sick skateboarding tricks should ever make
07:45 you forget that.
07:46 4.
07:47 Mass Effect 3 - The Citadel
07:49 So Mass Effect 3's The Citadel DLC may well be one of my most favourite video game expansions
07:54 ever.
07:55 Now, while some may see it as little more than paid fan service, to many it was a love
08:00 letter to the series that actually felt better connected to the source than much of the vanilla
08:04 experience.
08:05 Here was a tightly crafted and personal story that doled out emotional beats and some delicious
08:10 action that always felt complementary to the situation, rather than being just placed in
08:14 to pad out the runtime.
08:16 Plus, it contained some deliriously cheesy moments that are just too good to hate.
08:21 And by that I mean that it introduced you to the final boss of this experience, and
08:25 that was... you.
08:27 And by that I mean, a clone of you.
08:29 Yes, that's right, this evil Commander Shepard was created by Cerberus as a backup, but who
08:34 has now broken loose and is looking to steal your identity.
08:37 As you might expect, this twists and turns through moments of betrayal and people questioning
08:42 your intentions, and culminates in a boss battle with the clone who actually uses your
08:46 chosen build to inform its attacks.
08:49 Which itself is just an absolute chef kiss of a touch to this experience.
08:54 In fact, that's how I'd sum up the entire expansion as a whole, with a mighty... put
08:59 that in the box.
09:00 3.
09:01 Waxworks 1992
09:02 Now, while most entries on this list focus on the idea of you either battling your clone,
09:07 or the person sitting next to you as making you become the final boss, when it comes to
09:12 1992's horror survival game Waxworks, well they took that concept and ran with it, some
09:18 would say into the very ground.
09:20 Because Waxworks presents the player with a family under a rather nasty curse, and not
09:25 the type of curse that makes you devilishly handsome and speak with dulcet tones in exchange
09:29 for your hair follicles, but a curse that always affects your entire bloodline.
09:33 Because here, every single time that one of the family would give birth to twins, one
09:37 of them would always turn evil in order to serve Beelzeblob.
09:40 Dammit, I meant to say Beelzebub and now he's...
09:44 Oh, here he is.
09:45 Just, alright mate, haven't seen you in a while.
09:47 To be honest, I'm pretty sick of this guy, but I do have a way of getting rid of him.
09:50 Beef Gates!
09:51 Right, that's it, he's done.
09:54 He's been poochied.
09:55 Thanks, mate, by the way, I really appreciate that note.
10:00 Beelzeblob's gone.
10:02 Now, as you can imagine, this makes family reunions pretty bloody awkward indeed, yet
10:07 this is exactly the task that is given to the player, to travel through time and eliminate
10:12 these evil twins, thus breaking the curse.
10:14 So far, so very weird, but it all culminates with you travelling back in time to the moment
10:20 of your family's cursing and killing the witch before she can ruin so many generations
10:24 and birthday parties.
10:25 However, of course, there's a twist, because this is a horror game after all, and upon
10:30 killing the witch, you then travel back to the present time, only to find out that in
10:34 her dying moments, she actually cursed you, not the entire family, just you to become
10:40 a demon, and then you and your brother just leave the museum that you were in, and that's
10:45 it.
10:46 But you have become the evil twin now, and therefore you are most definitely the final
10:50 boss.
10:51 2.
10:52 F-Zero GX
10:53 Now here we come to the curious case of F-Zero GX, which if you're to listen to the hushed
10:58 circles of gamers that crowd around, I dunno, like bin fires, under bridges sometimes, you'll
11:04 hear them whisper of this game, of how absolutely amazing it is, how utterly ridiculous the
11:10 speed is, how tight the controls are, and how lamentable it is that Nintendo seems to
11:14 quash any idea of it ever coming back.
11:17 That's probably why they hang around there, because they're worried that big ninty's
11:20 just gonna arrive there and just stamp them out of existence.
11:22 But still, it is a fantastic game.
11:25 But the reason why this is a curious entry on this list is because while F-Zero X introduced
11:31 us to your typical clone-gone rogue in the form of Bloodhawk, and that said shadowy racer
11:35 was unlocked after beating every challenger that game had to offer on its highest difficulty,
11:40 in GX there is no way this pretender to the throne could ever be counted as the game's
11:45 final boss.
11:46 I say that because the true final test of this game's story mode is a one-on-one race
11:51 with one of the game's designers, as you must battle a staff ghost and race perfectly
11:55 on a track without any walls whatsoever, meaning that you'll be sipping on a delicious cocktail
12:00 of pain and humility for days to come.
12:02 So yes, we have this weird situation now where if you were the game developer on F-Zero GX
12:08 that put in that staff ghost race timer, then technically you are the final boss and play
12:12 against yourself.
12:13 So technically, I'm right and it does qualify for this list.
12:16 And if not, if you've got a problem with that, then just remember this.
12:20 Evil finger temple of doom.
12:21 I can do what I like, as long as I'm doing this.
12:24 At number one, Dark Seed 2.
12:26 Oh, Dark Seed 2, you are so incredibly weird, but I love you so much.
12:31 Seemingly acting like the lovechild of H.R. Giger and Mortal Kombat's live-action capture
12:36 technology, Dark Seed 1 and 2 are a trip into insanity that will make you question many,
12:41 many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many things.
12:44 For you see, while it first appears that luckless loser Mike Dawson is once again on a quest
12:49 to stop a parallel dimension from invading his own, things take a turn for the twin peaks
12:53 in the final moments of this sequel.
12:55 Here Mike has, somehow, defeated a giant monster using only his wits and his "why yes I do
13:01 have my porn collection" alphabetised stash, and is now chatting with his pal Jack, who
13:05 so desperately wants to be the Fonz that it's likely that he's got a tattoo of Henry Winkler's
13:09 face on his tongue.
13:14 Jack reveals, in a rather well-laid twist I have to admit, that you and he are actually
13:18 the same person, and that he's actually the Mike Dawson from the parallel universe,
13:22 only clearly cooler and with the ability to turn into a bloody demon.
13:26 As you might expect, turning into a bloody demon vs Mike's ability to wear sports coats
13:32 doesn't work out well for this Mike.
13:37 And so now lays dead on the floor.
13:39 Having stolen our identity, Jack now rides off into the, uh, gloom set of the other world?
13:45 You can't call that a sunset, I'll tell you that for much.
13:47 Clearly preferring to go home over living our reality.
13:50 Which is all well and good until you start to question, wait a minute, what?
13:53 What was the point of trying to merge the realities if you're just gonna go back and
13:56 live in yours?
13:57 What's the point?
13:58 I- I- What's the point of this game?
14:01 And there we have it my friends, those were 8 video games where you are the final boss.
14:05 I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in
14:08 the comment section below.
14:10 As always I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter @RetroJ but the O is a
14:14 zero, and the same handle for Instagram if you wanna go and check out the silly stuff
14:18 that I'm doing over there like painting my models.
14:20 Oh yes indeed, and don't forget to give James Downs some love as well, he's probably
14:24 put some weird meme up over here that he- that- I- I never understand what half of them
14:29 are, I'm too old, I'm too out of the loop.
14:31 But I enjoy that he enjoys them.
14:34 But before I go I just wanna say one thing, as I explained in the Bennett Foddy example,
14:38 sometimes we can see ourselves as a final boss, a hurdle to overcome, but I just want
14:43 to really encourage you to be kind to yourself.
14:46 Try not to stand in your own way by seeing yourself as an enemy, because trust me, you
14:50 are a great person, you deserve love, happiness and success, and trust me on that one, you
14:55 do, everybody does, alright?
14:57 So if you need some help, if you feel like you're standing in your own way, then try
15:01 and step back from situations that are causing you extreme stress, and remember, it is more
15:05 than okay to ask for help sometimes.
15:07 In fact I totally encourage that you do so, alright?
15:11 Because at the end of the day I just want you to live a healthy and happy life.
15:14 Big love to you my friend, now go out there and smash it.
15:17 As always I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak
15:21 to you soon.