Video game bosses who defeated themselves.
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00:00 The video game boss has changed across generations.
00:02 Skill, strategy, health management and recognising attacks all play a role.
00:06 But from Bowser to Arkham Asylum's Joker, the idea is to test every lesson the game
00:11 hopes you've learned to that point.
00:13 However, what's more rarely talked about is death by cutscene.
00:16 Some go down in history, others not so much.
00:19 I'm Scott from RockCulture.com and these are 9 Video Game Bosses Defeated by a Cutscene.
00:28 Sonic Commando's 3D debut was met with very mediocre reviews, despite having one of the
00:32 coolest physics-based grappling hooks in gaming over a decade before they'd be everywhere
00:37 like right now.
00:38 The final boss sees Nathan "Rad" Spencer take the fight to his former comrade, Super
00:42 Joe Gibson.
00:43 After swinging around and dismantling several mechanical archangels, Spencer's revenge
00:47 on Joe is handled away from your controller.
00:50 At first, Gibson has Nathan crushed in an iron grip.
00:53 Then, to get on top, our hero violently headbutts his way into Joe's cockpit, finishing the
00:58 job by ripping out his power core.
01:00 While it may look visually impressive at first glance, the way Bionic Commando's climax
01:04 pans out is just as 6/10 as the rest of the game.
01:07 How did we not have a final boss mechanic themed around that titular Bionic arm?
01:13 The Prophet of Truth and the Gravemind - Halo 3
01:16 For the final entry in the Halo trilogy, two primary antagonists remain.
01:20 The first was the Prophet of Truth, who after backstabbing his fellow prophets, became the
01:24 Supreme Master of the Covenant Forces.
01:26 The second was the Gravemind, leader of the Flood and a big ol' fleshy mess intent on
01:30 consuming all organic life.
01:32 Rather than bringing back the wobbly boss fights from Halo 2, Bungie instead had the
01:36 Prophet killed in a cutscene.
01:37 It's a fitting story combination, as the Arbiter plunges his sword through the individual
01:41 who deceived and manipulated both himself and his whole race.
01:45 As for the Gravemind, though, it was killed offscreen, along with the eradication of the
01:49 Flood at the game's conclusion.
01:51 While players did briefly fight 343 Guilty Spark in the final moments, there was no similar
01:55 fight with these other long-form foes.
01:57 Halo 3 was a life-defining release, regardless of how everything wrapped up, and it's down
02:02 to you in the comments.
02:03 Would you rather have fought these two enemies, or were you happy with the way it went down?
02:08 The Elders - XCOM 2 XCOM Enemy Unknown had a final boss in the form
02:13 of the Uber Ethereal, the leader of the initial invasion.
02:16 With a higher health pool and psychic psionic attacks that rarely miss, it's a suitably
02:19 climactic battle to one of the best turn-based strategy games ever made.
02:24 Enter XCOM 2, a sequel that by many accounts just couldn't keep that momentum up.
02:28 Putting you up against three stand-in avatars for the big finish, one for each Elder alien,
02:33 once they were down, that was it.
02:34 A final cutscene shows you resisting and finally overcoming the Elder's own mind control
02:38 as you escape the base for good.
02:40 Considering how hard-fought a victory can be in any XCOM, let alone this much-hyped
02:44 sequel, the backlash was so substantial that Firaxis released the immaculate War of the
02:49 Chosen expansion, introducing three unique new opponents who could show up on missions.
02:53 The Assassin, the Hunter and the Warlock.
02:55 It's up for debate whether any of this would have even been created if the original game
02:59 had nailed its ending.
03:02 The Locust Queen - Gears of War 3 The Locust Queen is a consistent presence
03:06 throughout the Gears trilogy, often narrating why the Locust are your main enemies in the
03:10 first place.
03:11 After first seeing the Queen at the close of Gears 1, come Gears 3 it was time to kill
03:15 her and the Locust off for good.
03:17 For the final encounter, however, you'll be fighting the Queen's monstrous mount,
03:20 the Tempest.
03:21 Not exactly cut out for combat, downing the Tempest takes gameplay away as the Queen gets
03:26 stabbed by Marcus Fenix, using best friend Dom's knife.
03:29 It's a supremely sweet moment to watch as the Queen dies along with the Locust and the
03:34 Lambent, purging the planet Serra of all deadly threats, at least for that particular trilogy.
03:40 Atok Navarro - Uncharted Drake's Fortune Typically, Uncharted games rely on two main
03:45 antagonists, with the first game featuring Roman - a rival treasure hunter tipped off
03:49 by Nate's mentor Sully - and Atok Navarro, leader of a band of mercenaries and Roman's
03:54 right-hand man.
03:55 For most of the game, Atok hovers over Roman's shoulder, guiding him towards the El Dorado
03:59 treasure.
04:00 However, in the final moments, he tricks this explorer and takes the statue for himself.
04:05 Reaching Navarro's tanker, it's time for a showdown.
04:07 You fight your way through the most difficult enemies in the game, and reach the other end
04:10 for the climax.
04:11 However, after a weird cover system-based advance and a quick-time event, Navarro is
04:16 dragged into the ocean along with the El Dorado statue, as Nate's shoulder barges a helicopter
04:20 into the sea, killing him off in a cinematic.
04:24 Harley Quinn - Batman Arkham Asylum Thanks to Margot Robbie's portrayal across
04:28 the DCEU, it's easy to forget Tara Strong's iconic take across Batman animation, and specifically
04:34 the Arkham series.
04:35 Beginning with Arkham Asylum, she proves a major thorn in Batman's side, triggering
04:39 the Joker's takeover of the prison and kidnapping the warden, Quincy Sharp.
04:43 After being tracked to the main penitentiary, Harley is finally cornered in the control
04:47 room.
04:48 Quinn has never been a match for Batman in physical combat, so the cutscene that follows
04:52 is very fitting.
04:53 After taking out her goons, Harley flips towards the Caped Crusader for one final attack, only
04:57 to be immediately countered and subdued.
04:59 This would become a running gag across the Arkham trilogy, with Arkham Knight even having
05:03 Batman sling Harley over his shoulder, simply because she presents zero real threat.
05:09 Elliot Salem - Army of Two - The Devil's Cartel Of all the co-operative shooters that
05:13 try to get you and a friend on board, Army of Two was one of the first, putting players
05:18 in the shoes of Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem.
05:20 While it delivered a pretty unique feeling co-op experience, with dual emotes and lots
05:24 of team tactics, the end result never fully shook that lukewarm critical reception.
05:29 Army of Two ended up getting three main entries, which all settled into the AA space quite
05:33 nicely.
05:34 As former PMC operatives turned mercenaries tackled threats for the highest bidder, the
05:38 most well-received was Army of Two - The Fortieth Day, which saw Salem turn on his former partner.
05:43 Elliot ended up going insane after Tyson abandoned him in combat to save a hostage.
05:47 Thus, he becomes a main antagonist later on in Army of Two - The Devil's Cartel.
05:51 In one of the game's many disappointing elements, though, you don't even get to
05:54 battle Salem, as instead you fight through scores of foot soldiers instead.
05:59 With Salem wounded among some flaming wreckage, he ends up being hauled off by Mexico's
06:03 special forces, providing an anticlimactic end to both The Devil's Cartel and the series
06:08 as a whole.
06:12 In the original Ratchet & Clank, the duo went head-to-head with Chairman Drek, the corrupt
06:17 leader of the Blog who sought to construct a new settlement from the pieces of other
06:20 planets.
06:21 The final battle unfolded fittingly on Ratchet's home planet of Veldin.
06:25 Some 14 years later, though, the original game in the series got an updated facelift
06:29 for the PlayStation 4.
06:30 For this awesome 2016 remake, many changes were made to levels and story, with a narrative
06:35 voiceover approach that let Insomniac address the past while preparing for the future.
06:40 While he appears to be the main primary antagonist, Drek is now unceremoniously written out the
06:44 story when Dr. Nefarious turns him into a sheep and shoots him out an airlock.
06:49 While this twist may have landed well enough with younger audiences, long-term fans had
06:53 mixed reactions.
06:54 Abruptly swapping to supposed fan favourite Dr. Nefarious was fine enough, but the final
06:59 encounter felt rushed as hell.
07:05 While Aliens is an undisputed classic of sci-fi cinema, Gearbox's outsourcing development
07:10 of the much-anticipated Colonial Marines marked one of the most notoriously bad releases of
07:15 all time.
07:16 Misrepresented and misleading to the fanbase, it was a colossal disappointment.
07:20 The few ambitious moments this had were swamped by poor programming, atrocious AI and a supreme
07:25 lack of polish.
07:26 In addition, Colonial Marines focused far too much on battling generic Weyland-Yutani
07:30 mercenaries rather than the Xenomorphs.
07:32 Slogging your way through this disappointing game isn't even worth the effort, as the
07:36 climactic boss fight is pitiful too.
07:38 After battling your way through the ruined surface of LV-426, it's time to make an
07:43 escape.
07:44 Much like the 1986 movie, the Xenomorph Queen is right there to block your path.
07:48 Now you'd think a final encounter with the Queen would be a worthy showdown.
07:52 Maybe use a power rig to smash its gooey face in, but no.
07:55 Much like the rest of the game, it's hopelessly disappointing, letting you engage by just
07:59 hitting some switches.
08:01 Afterwards, the nastiest Xenomorph of them all is just taken care of by the commanding
08:05 officer instead.
08:07 And those were just nine video game bosses defeated by a cutscene.
08:10 Let me know your favourites or the ones you hate the most down in the comments below.
08:14 Also please subscribe to the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast as we have three shows a week with
08:17 myself, Josh Brown, James Douse and of course Jules Gill.
08:20 For now, I've been Scott from WhatCulture.com and I'll catch you soon.