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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00:00Hello all of you little demons, Jules here for WhatCulture.com, back again with another
00:04episode of the awesomely named and awfully hosted Choose Your Own Adventure, the weekly
00:09medieval themed format where I, the Crown Jules of WhatCulture.com, take a list chosen
00:13by you, yes you, the person who knows their bike is not on the wall and is throwing out
00:18this shot.
00:19It's really bothering me, I can see the recording over here, it's bothering me,
00:22this negative space.
00:23So we're going to turn this into positive space, James if you would please.
00:27That's just going to be there so that I don't freak out too much.
00:33Enjoy!
00:34Yes, you get to decide what list I dole out to you each and every week and this week we
00:38have none other to thank than Lemming of Doom for their suggestion of boss battles where
00:45you are the final boss.
00:47Because this is the thing, as you may well know from watching WhatCulture over the many
00:51many years that we've been around, we do love ourselves a good boss battle.
00:55However, even though most of them are tests of our skills learned up until that point
01:00or brand new experiences, there is sometimes a rogue element that developers love to throw
01:04in there and that rogue element is you.
01:07Because today we're going to be talking about times where you, yes you my friend,
01:10were the final boss.
01:11And you know the drill by now, say hi to me here in the live chat and put your suggestions
01:15for next week's episode down in the comments section below.
01:18But with that in mind, let's get on with this list shall we?
01:20Ow, my ear!
01:22Number 8, Evolve.
01:23Now in all honesty you could really have put any asymmetrical multiplayer title into the
01:29mix here because yes, it's, well, you are the final boss that every other player is
01:34trying to kill but I thought that we'd give a special shout out to the rather dubious
01:38Evolve title today because that was really the first game to put that idea of one versus
01:43everyone onto the map, or into the mainstream at least.
01:47Here we find a team of players taking up the role of hunters, tasked with just one
01:51mission and that is to bring down a gargantuan monster that is controlled by another player.
01:56Oh and also to stay as a group which for some reason is constantly ignored by at least one
02:00member of the team usually leading to a party wipe later on.
02:04I'm not bitter, I swear, I'm not.
02:07Seriously though, f***ing Charles, thanks for that every single time that we played.
02:11Thanks mate!
02:12Now while all of this infighting is going on, the other player who is draped in their
02:16best Scooby-Doo robes is off hunting the wildlife in order to evolve into an even more
02:21powerful being.
02:22Oh I just got that, that's like the title, ah, clever.
02:26Likely doing all of this while chuckling, this isn't even my final form!
02:31And as such, it's a game where you create your own villain arc, moving from a relative
02:35weakling with a grudge to an all-powerful world-ending entity.
02:39And trust me, there is no purer pleasure than dropping onto the hunters with a fully beefed
02:43up super squid, nailing them with special attacks, separating each member, and then
02:48devouring them whole.
02:49In their eyes, you are most definitely the final boss to their multiplayer experience,
02:54and to be honest, that is a role that many players were more than happy to step into.
02:587.
02:59Double Dragon Arcade
03:00Now you know the expression, you can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends?
03:05Well thanks to the Double Dragon Arcade experience, that is somewhat altered too.
03:09You can't choose your family, but you can definitely choose your frenemies, because
03:13that, hoo boy, when it came to the end of that game, talk about a rug pull.
03:18While protagonist brothers Jimmy and Billy Lee, also known as Bimmy thanks to a hilariously
03:23brilliant mistranslation, have been as thick as thieves throughout the base game, and have
03:28kicked evil in the face so many times that it's developed a foot fetish.
03:32But when it comes to the closing moments of the title, it turns out that the only defeat
03:36that Bimmy is interested in licking in is defeat of his brother's girlfriend Marion,
03:41as in a shocking turn of events, he challenges his brother to a fight to the death for her
03:46affections.
03:47Because that's what all women want, isn't it?
03:49For some absolute scrub to just step up and beat the piss out of his brother and win you
03:53like a trophy.
03:54It was a very different time.
03:56In these moments, blood being thicker than water is thrown out the window, as now the
04:00only blood on show here is splattering against the floor as the two players square off against
04:04each other.
04:05On the bright side, it's you versus the person who you've been working with all
04:08this time on the couch next to you.
04:10Suddenly the tension is ratcheted up to the extreme, with all camaraderie being replaced
04:14with ganragerie, and you'll need to bait your supposed friend into whiffing attacks
04:21in order to land that killing blow and reign as either a brother forced to knock some sense
04:25into his sibling, or a dirtbag who literally tried to steal his brother's partner just
04:29because he felt like having a long live the king moment.
04:336.
04:34Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy
04:35Now when you load up the utterly barmy Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy, you might well
04:40assume that the final boss involved in this game is either going to be the massive mountain
04:44in front of you, or the absolutely heinous control scheme as both are going to take a
04:48lot of effort to overcome.
04:50Side note, I hear that swearing loudly at both definitely helps.
04:53However, upon beginning your uphill climb, you'll soon start to realise something,
04:58likely aided by the voice of Mr. Foddy himself, that it's not actually the mountain that's
05:02the final hurdle, but your perceptions about perseverance and never giving up.
05:07In a tangible sense, yes, the mountain is the object to climb, but you are the climber,
05:12and as such will experience setbacks, moments of frustration, and the ability to learn and
05:16recognise patterns in order to overcome them, making it a perfect visual metaphor for life
05:22itself.
05:23Sometimes we will be faced with situations so utterly overwhelming it will feel like
05:27we will never get over them, and sometimes, as with the controls, you're not often best
05:32equipped with the right tools to make the job any easier.
05:35However, it's through learning to work with your body, your mind, and your outlook that
05:39you will come to see that you have the ability to achieve any goal and cross any milestone
05:44if you just keep working at it and learning from your mistakes.
05:47You see, in this situation, you are the final boss here, but I want to clarify something,
05:52you are not a final boss to be defeated, there's nothing wrong with you that needs to be outwardly
05:57changed in the sense that you need to conquer yourself, here, you actually get the most
06:02out of this game when you learn to work with what the game presents to you as mechanics,
06:06and also free yourself from anger and resentment to try and enjoy the experience, and then
06:10you'll realise that there really is no mountain that you can't overcome.
06:145.
06:15Metal Gear Solid
06:16Right, okay, so every single time that I have to talk about a Metal Gear game, I start to
06:20perspire, I start to sweat more than Fat Man being told that no sir, you can't have a
06:26stick of lard in your soda because A, it's not on the menu, and B, we are a solicitor's
06:31firm.
06:32That's because with plots as complex and interweaving as those presented in this franchise,
06:36it's easy to get lost and make mistakes that diehards will call you out on.
06:40For example, even talking about Metal Gear Solid's final boss, Liquid Snake, is tough,
06:45because while he is most definitely Solid Snake's evil twin and most definitely qualifies
06:49for this list, technically, you're both evil twins, as you were both made through the cloning
06:54of Big Boss.
06:55Plus, there's the insinuation that of the two, Solid Snake is the more evil of the pair,
07:00with Psycho Mantis even calling you true evil during your encounter.
07:04Plus, several of your allies also comment on how Solid Snake seems to enjoy war and
07:09killing.
07:10And to add even more insane petrol onto our burning brains, as you're a clone who has
07:15most definitely got a fair share of skeletons in the closet, that means that during the
07:19original NEYES game, Metal Gear, when you take on Outer Heaven and reveal Big Boss to
07:24be its leader, it means that to him, you're the evil invader coming in and messing up
07:29his plans as you're the evil clone.
07:31Oh, yeah, that's right, my brain is just leaking out of my ear, fantastic, thanks for
07:36that.
07:37So yeah, the next time that you play as Solid Snake, just remember that you're playing
07:40as a pretty horrific and evil clone, and no amount of sick skateboarding tricks should
07:44ever make you forget that.
07:464.
07:47Mass Effect 3 The Citadel
07:49So Mass Effect 3's The Citadel DLC may well be one of my most favourite video game expansions
07:54ever.
07:55So while some may see it as little more than paid fan service, to many it was a love letter
08:00to the series that actually felt better connected to the source than much of the vanilla experience.
08:05Here was a tightly crafted and personal story that doled out emotional beats and some delicious
08:10action that always felt complimentary to the situation, rather than being just placed in
08:14to pad out the runtime.
08:16Plus it contains some deliriously cheesy moments that are just too good to hate, and by that
08:21I mean that it introduced you to the final boss of this experience, and that was you.
08:27And by that I mean, a clone of you.
08:29Yes, that's right, this evil Commander Shepard was created by Cerberus as a backup, but who
08:34has now broken loose and is looking to steal your identity.
08:37As you might expect, this twists and turns through moments of betrayal and people questioning
08:42your intentions, and culminates in a boss battle with the clone who actually uses your
08:46chosen build to inform its attacks.
08:49Which itself is just an absolute chef kiss of a touch to this experience, in fact that's
08:54how I'd sum up the entire expansion as a whole, with a mighty MWAH, put that in the box.
09:003. Waxworks 1992
09:03While most entries on this list focus on the idea of you either battling your clone, or
09:07the person sitting next to you as making you become the final boss, when it comes to 1992's
09:13horror survival game Waxworks, they took that concept and ran with it.
09:18Someone would say, into the very ground.
09:20Because Waxworks presents the player with a family under a rather nasty curse, and not
09:25the type of curse that makes you devilishly handsome and speak with dulcet tones in exchange
09:29for your hair follicles, but a curse that always affects your entire bloodline.
09:33Because here every single time that one of the family would give birth to twins, one
09:37of them would always turn evil in order to serve Beelzeblob.
09:40Dammit, I meant to say Beelzebub, and now he- oh here he is.
09:45Just alright mate, haven't seen you in a while.
09:47To be honest, I'm pretty sick of this guy, but I do have a way of getting rid of him.
09:50Beef Gates!
09:51Right, that's it, he's done.
09:56He's been poochied.
09:57Thanks mate, I really appreciate that note.
09:59Beelzeblob's gone.
10:02Now as you can imagine, this makes family reunions pretty bloody awkward indeed, yet
10:07this is exactly the task that is given to the player, to travel through time and eliminate
10:12these evil twins, thus breaking the curse.
10:15So far, so very weird, but it all culminates with you travelling back in time to the moment
10:20of your family's cursing and killing the witch before she can ruin so many generations
10:24and birthday parties.
10:25However, of course, there's a twist, because this is a horror game after all, and upon
10:30killing the witch, you then travel back to the present time, only to find out that in
10:34her dying moments, she actually cursed you, not the entire family, just you to become
10:40a demon.
10:41You and your brother just leave the museum that you were in, and that's it.
10:46But you have become the evil twin now, and therefore you are most definitely the final
10:50boss.
10:512.
10:52F-Zero GX
10:53Now here we come to the curious case of F-Zero GX, which if you're to listen to the hushed
10:58circles of gamers that crowd around, I dunno, like bin fires, under bridges sometimes, you'll
11:04hear them whisper of this game, of how absolutely amazing it is, how utterly ridiculous the
11:10speed is, how tight the controls are, and how lamentable it is that Nintendo seems to
11:14quash any idea of it ever coming back.
11:17That's probably why they hang around there, because they're worried that big ninties
11:20just gonna arrive there and just stamp them out of existence, but still, it is a fantastic
11:25game.
11:26But the reason why this is a curious entry on this list is because while F-Zero X introduced
11:31us to your typical clone-gone rogue in the form of Bloodhawk, and that said shadowy racer
11:35was unlocked after beating every challenger that that game had to offer on its highest
11:39difficulty in GX, there is no way this pretender to the throne could ever be counted as the
11:45game's final boss.
11:46I say that because the true final test of this game's story mode is a one-on-one race
11:51with one of the game's designers, as you must battle a starved ghost and race perfectly
11:55on a track without any walls whatsoever, meaning that you'll be sipping on a delicious cocktail
12:00of pain and humility for days to come.
12:02So yes, we have this weird situation now where if you were the game developer on F-Zero GX
12:08to put in that starved ghost race timer, then technically you are the final boss and
12:12play against yourself, so technically I'm right and it does qualify for this list, and
12:16if not, if you've got a problem with that, then just remember this, Evil Finger Temple
12:20of Doom.
12:21I can do what I like, as long as I'm doing this.
12:231.
12:24Dark Seed 2
12:25Oh, Dark Seed 2, you are so incredibly weird, but I love you so much.
12:31Seemingly acting like the lovechild of HR Giger and Mortal Kombat's live-action capture
12:36technology, Dark Seed 1 and 2 are a trip into insanity that will make you question
12:41many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many things.
12:44For you see, while it first appears that luckless loser Mike Dawson is once again on a quest
12:49to stop a parallel dimension from invading his own, things take a turn for the Twin Peaks
12:53in the final moments of this sequel.
12:55Here, Mike has somehow defeated a giant monster using only his wits and his why-yes-I-do-have-my-porn-collection
13:02alphabetised stash, and is now chatting with his pal Jack, who so desperately wants to
13:07be the Fonz that it's likely he's got a tattoo of Henry Winkler's face on his tongue.
13:14Jack reveals, in a rather well-laid twist I have to admit, that you and he are actually
13:18the same person, and that he's actually the Mike Dawson from the parallel universe,
13:23only clearly cooler and with the ability to turn into a bloody demon.
13:26As you might expect, turning into a bloody demon versus Mike's ability to wear sports
13:32coats doesn't work out well for this Mike.
13:35Or this Mike that I've just hit.
13:37And so now lays dead on the floor.
13:39Having stolen our identity, Jack now rides off into the, uh, uh, gloom set of the other
13:44world?
13:45You can't call that a sunset, I'll tell you that for much.
13:47Clearly preferring to go home over living our reality.
13:50Which is all well and good, until you start to question, wait a minute, what?
13:53What was the point of trying to merge the realities if you're just going to go back
13:56and live in yours?
13:57What's the point?
13:58I, I...
13:59What's the point of this game?
14:01And there we have it, my friends.
14:02Those were eight video games where you are the final boss.
14:05I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in
14:08the comments section below.
14:10As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter at RetroJ, but the O is
14:14a zero, and the same handle for Instagram if you want to go and check out the silly
14:17stuff that I'm doing over there like painting my models.
14:20Oh, yes, indeed.
14:21And don't forget to give James Downs some love as well.
14:24He's probably put some weird meme up over here that he, but I never understand what
14:28half of them are.
14:29I'm too old.
14:30I'm too out of the loop.
14:31But I enjoy that he enjoys them.
14:34But before I go, I just want to say one thing.
14:36As I explained in the Bennett Foddy example, sometimes we can see ourselves as a final
14:40boss, a hurdle to overcome.
14:42But I just want to really encourage you to be kind to yourself.
14:46Try not to stand in your own way by seeing yourself as an enemy, because trust me, you
14:50are a great person.
14:51You deserve love, happiness, and success.
14:53And trust me on that one.
14:55You do.
14:56Everybody does.
14:57All right.
14:58So if you need some help, if you feel like you're standing in your own way, then try
15:01and step back from situations that are causing you extreme stress.
15:04And remember, it is more than OK to ask for help sometimes.
15:07In fact, I totally encourage that you do so.
15:10All right.
15:11Because at the end of the day, I just want you to live a healthy and happy life.
15:14Big love to you, my friend.
15:15Now, go out there and smash it.
15:17As always, I've been Jules.
15:18You have been awesome.
15:20Never forget that.
15:21I'll speak to you soon.
15:22Bye.