What a letdown.
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00:00A great boss fight isn't just entertaining. If done right, it can be the highlight of a game
00:05and a cherished memory. Of course, there's the other side of the coin though. Sometimes a boss
00:10fight can be so underwhelming they can ruin the entire experience, even if the rest of the game
00:15is great. Whatever the reason, these inadequate bosses were the only flaw in their otherwise
00:20perfect games. I'm Jess from WhatCulture and here are 10 boss fights that stopped video games being
00:26perfect. Number 10. Aurora Unit 313. Metroid Prime 3 Corruption. Not only do the games have
00:33a vast array of creative bosses, each title concludes with an epic brawl. Fighting Samus
00:38Aran's evil twin, Dark Samus, in the climax of Metroid Prime 2 Echoes was a huge moment for any
00:44fan of the series. So when it was announced Metroid Prime 3 Corruption would conclude the
00:48trilogy, at least for the time being, fans expected the showdown to be one for the ages.
00:54Instead, the last encounter is against a robot tentacle thingy. The enemy is so forgettable most
01:01Metroid fans can't remember its name, appearance, origin or fighting pattern. What's more frustrating
01:06is this problem could have been easily fixed. Instead of battling whatever the hell this is,
01:12the final boss could have been Ridley, who Samus fought earlier in the game. Considering the
01:16cybernetic pterosaur killed Samus' parents, it would have made more sense for Ridley to serve
01:21as the Corruption's final antagonist rather than some random machine.
01:269. Neo Cortex – Crash Bandicoot 2. Like most follow-ups, Crash Bandicoot 2
01:31Cortex Strikes Back enhanced everything which made its predecessor special. More challenging
01:37levels, more hilarious bosses, more frickin' crystals to collect. Even though everything
01:42seemed to be going swimmingly in Crash 2, the whole thing falls apart at the end. In the last
01:47level, our Aussie hero dons a jetpack to chase Neo Cortex through a tunnel in outer space. After
01:53thwacking the mad scientist three times, the game suddenly draws to a close. This confrontation is
01:58so suspiciously brief it feels like the developers ran out of time and cobbled this section together
02:04to secure a mandated deadline. The little scrimmage between Crash and Cortex is so
02:09disappointing you half expected Naughty Dog to replace it with a more impressive showdown in
02:14the remake. Sadly, the reboot's finale is just as mediocre as the original.
02:198. Ursula – Kingdom Hearts 2. Throughout Kingdom Hearts, Sora and his
02:24companions will have their adventure hindered by many iconic Disney villains, including Cerberus,
02:29the Queen of Hearts, and Jafar. And in the Little Mermaid section, it's no surprise when you're
02:34challenged by Ariel's nemesis, Ursula. By harnessing the power of Triton's trident,
02:39the wicked antagonist grows to gargantuan size and summons lightning and combustible
02:45bubbles to defeat Sora. As a concept, there should be nothing wrong with this altercation
02:50with Ursula. The Grinning Witch's strategies are tough but fair, giving the player the right amount
02:55of challenge. However, this encounter is reviled amongst players since Ursula soaks up damage like
03:00some sort of obese sponge. Considering you face the Sorceress of the Sea reasonably early in the
03:06game, there's no reason why she has so much health. What's worse is that there's no real
03:11technique to beat her. All you have to do is wail on her for ages, which quickly becomes repetitive,
03:16especially since the swimming controls aren't great. For such an iconic Disney villain,
03:21it's a pity the developers made the fight with Ursula so tedious.
03:257. Rodrigo Borgia – Assassin's Creed 2. One reason why Assassin's Creed 2's legacy
03:31has endured is because of how personal the story feels. The villain, Pope Rodrigo Borgia,
03:36isn't just the leader of the Italian sect of the Templar. He oversaw the execution of Ezio's
03:41family, which drove our hero to follow the Assassin Brotherhood. Exterminating Rodrigo
03:46is no easy task, since the malevolent maestro is armed with the Staff of Eden, an artifact that
03:52endows the wielder with the power of invisibility, super strength, telekinesis, and telepathy.
03:58Because of this godlike artifact, the player assumes the final battle will be an epic
04:02showdown involving Rodrigo harnessing his supernatural might. Instead, the Templar
04:07leader decides to fight the man who was sent to kill him… with his fists. Now, there's no
04:13question Rodrigo Borgia was a force to be reckoned with during the Renaissance, but when it comes to
04:18a fist fight, a master assassin like Ezio won't have any difficulty beating a chubby middle-aged
04:23man. Just to make this fight more anticlimactic, Ezio lets the man who murdered his family live.
04:30Because the story concludes with Ezio failing to avenge his family,
04:34you can't help being dissatisfied when you watch Rodrigo live to see another day.
04:386. Shao Kahn – Mortal Kombat 9 Now, it's no secret Mortal Kombat has
04:43its fair share of unfair bosses. Kintaro's teleport stomp is unblockable, Mataro is
04:49immune to projectiles, but Kahn in MK9 is a terrible boss for two reasons. Firstly,
04:54the skull-masked combatant can stunlock you while you're performing almost any move,
04:59leaving you open to his vicious attacks. This technique is so annoying most players don't
05:04bother fighting Kahn in a straight battle. Instead, they spam the outworld emperor from
05:08afar with projectiles. And that's the other problem. If you keep your distance while shooting
05:13fireballs, you can beat the final boss without breaking a sweat. This method is so easy to
05:18implement, some players have won the game having never fought Shao Kahn fairly.
05:225. Bowser – Super Mario Galaxy 2 In the final level, the titular plumber
05:28must face off against Bowser. I know, totally original concept. During this scrap, the king
05:32of Koopas will assault Mario with a flurry of punches, meteorites, and shockwaves, while Nintendo's
05:38mustachioed mascot is standing on a small planetoid. Sure enough, when the duel seemingly concludes,
05:44Mario's arch-nemesis will grow massively in size, kicking off the true final battle,
05:49which has Bowser chasing Mario through space. But all you have to do is ground pound four
05:54meteorites into the overgrown turtle to finish him off. Because you have access to an unlimited
05:58amount of coins, you can regenerate your health whenever you want, taking out any possible
06:03challenge. Even though Bowser is terrifyingly big and the choral music sounds epic, the whole
06:09bout will be over in about 30 seconds. 4. Nemesis – Resident Evil 3 Remake
06:15Even though Resident Evil made a name for itself for popularizing horror in gaming,
06:19the third outing dialed the fear factor up to 11 with the introduction of Nemesis.
06:25Due to his ferocious speed, devastating attacks, and apparent immortality, you can't help feeling
06:31dread when you hear this monster trudging towards you. But another element which helped Nemesis
06:35stand out is how the player is often given a choice with how to take him on. Will you jump
06:40off a bridge to evade the colossal zombie, or chop him off? Will you stand and fight or seek
06:45shelter in a nearby building? This was a neat idea since it encouraged multiple playthroughs,
06:50so players could experience every aspect of the game. Sadly, this element took a step backwards
06:56in Resi 3 Remake. Even though Nemesis had never looked more badass, every encounter with the
07:01zombie powerhouse is just a straightforward battle. Because fans already got the same
07:05experience with fighting Mr. X in Resi 2 Remake, you'd assume the developers would have given the
07:10Nemesis fights more variety. Instead, all we got was a Mr. X reskin.
07:163. Necron – Final Fantasy IX The feather-haired sorceress Kuja serves
07:21as the antagonist of Final Fantasy IX. The insidious genome hopes to seize control of
07:27a great power to use it to rule all of Gaia. But after defeating Kuja, our hero Zidane learns
07:33there's another villain called Necron who's been behind everything this whole time.
07:38It's so out of left field, the player didn't know Necron's name or what he looked like until
07:42five seconds before he attacks you. Weirdly, this change-up would have been fine if the developers
07:47stuck with the original plan. Until the last minute, the final boss was meant to be Hades,
07:52who was eventually reassigned as the secret superboss. Since Hades is mentioned in the
07:57opening, his reveal as the Big Bad wouldn't have come across as arbitrary. You could forgive Final
08:02Fantasy IX a little if Necron was an interesting foe, but considering his motivation is to
08:07destroy all of existence, there's nothing appealing about him, save for his cool design.
08:122. Every Boss Apart From Gott – The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask
08:17In every other Legend of Zelda entry, entering the last dungeon room is an invigorating moment,
08:22since the player knows they'll need to pull out all the stops to stand a chance against the final
08:27boss. But not only are the antagonists in Majora's Mask surprisingly easy, you can defeat most of
08:33them by hacking and slashing, including the titular villain. Even though Ocarina of Time
08:38had some pretty easy foes like Goma and Dodongo, you still need to strategize to beat them. But
08:44here, you can emerge victorious by just flailing your sword around. What's more bizarre is that
08:48sub-bosses like Wart and Wizzrobe require far more strategy and precision. This issue was so
08:54apparent, all the bosses were revised when Majora's Mask was ported to the 3DS.
08:581. Frank Fontaine – Bioshock Bioshock abandoned certain gaming tropes
09:04like boss battles so it could focus more on character development and narrative-driven
09:08gameplay. This decision was sensible, since squaring off against screen-filling assailants
09:13would've dampened the slow, eerie atmosphere and philosophical undertones of this masterful shooter.
09:19But because 2K Games' title would've been pretty anticlimactic if it didn't end with something
09:24resembling a final boss, Bioshock concludes with our hero going head-to-head against Frank Fontaine.
09:30While dodging your foe's generic attacks, the scuffle seemingly concludes after the player
09:35injects Fontaine with an antidote four times. Because of how abrupt this encounter is,
09:40most players assume this is merely the first phase, and the true fight is about to begin.
09:46But no, that's it. Bioshock's final showdown is over in a minute. By comparison,
09:52the big daddies in the earlier stages gave the player far more trouble.
09:55If you saw this utterly underwhelming tussle out of context, you'd assume you were watching
10:00a generic shooter rather than one of the greatest narratively-driven games ever.
10:04This confrontation has become so infamous the game's creator Ken Levine has apologized for
10:09ending Bioshock with a quote, "'naked Atlas' boss battle." That's the end of our list, but do let me
10:15know down in the comments if you can think of any other boss fights that stopped video games from
10:20being perfect. As always, I've been Jess from WhatCulture, thank you so much for hanging out
10:25with me. If you like it, come say hi to me on my Twitter account where I'm at JessMcDonald,
10:30but make sure you stay tuned to us here for plenty more gaming goodness.