What a letdown.
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00:00 A great boss fight isn't just entertaining. If done right, it can be the highlight of a game
00:05 and a cherished memory. Of course, there's the other side of the coin though. Sometimes a boss
00:10 fight can be so underwhelming, they can ruin the entire experience, even if the rest of the game
00:15 is great. Whatever the reason, these inadequate bosses were the only flaw in their otherwise
00:20 perfect games. I'm Jess from WhatCulture and here are 10 boss fights that stopped video games being
00:26 perfect. Number 10, Aurora Unit 313, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption. Not only do the games have a vast
00:33 array of creative bosses, each title concludes with an epic brawl. Fighting Samus Aran's evil
00:39 twin, Dark Samus, in the climax of Metroid Prime 2 Echoes was a huge moment for any fan of the
00:44 series. So when it was announced Metroid Prime 3 Corruption would conclude the trilogy, at least for
00:50 the time being, fans expected the showdown to be one for the ages. Instead, the last encounter is
00:56 against a robot tentacle thingy. The enemy is so forgettable, most Metroid fans can't remember its
01:02 name, appearance, origin or fighting pattern. What's more frustrating is this problem could
01:07 have been easily fixed. Instead of battling whatever the hell this is, the final boss could
01:13 have been Ridley, who Samus fought earlier in the game. Considering the cybernetic pterosaur killed
01:18 Samus' parents, it would have made more sense for Ridley to serve as the Corruption's final
01:23 antagonist rather than some random machine. 9. Neo Cortex - Crash Bandicoot 2
01:29 Like most follow-ups, Crash Bandicoot 2 Cortex Strikes Back enhanced everything which made its
01:35 predecessor special. More challenging levels, more hilarious bosses, more freaking crystals
01:40 to collect. Even though everything seemed to be going swimmingly in Crash 2, the whole thing falls
01:45 apart at the end. In the last level, our Aussie hero dons a jetpack to chase Neo Cortex through
01:51 a tunnel in outer space. After thwacking the mad scientist three times, the game suddenly draws to
01:57 a close. This confrontation is so suspiciously brief, it feels like the developers ran out of
02:02 time and cobbled this section together to secure a mandated deadline. The little scrimmage between
02:08 Crash and Cortex is so disappointing, you half expected Naughty Dog to replace it with a more
02:13 impressive showdown in the remake. Sadly, the reboot's finale is just as mediocre as the original.
02:19 8. Ursula - Kingdom Hearts 2 Throughout Kingdom Hearts, Sora and his
02:24 companions will have their adventure hindered by many iconic Disney villains, including Cerberus,
02:29 the Queen of Hearts, and Jafar. And in the Little Mermaid section, it's no surprise when you're
02:34 challenged by Ariel's nemesis, Ursula. By harnessing the power of Triton's trident,
02:39 the wicked antagonist grows to gargantuan size and summons lightning and combustible
02:45 bubbles to defeat Sora. As a concept, there should be nothing wrong with this altercation
02:50 with Ursula. The Grinning Witch's strategies are tough but fair, giving the player the right amount
02:55 of challenge. However, this encounter is reviled amongst players since Ursula soaks up damage like
03:00 some sort of obese sponge. Considering you face the Sorceress of the Sea reasonably early in the
03:06 game, there's no reason why she has so much health. What's worse is that there's no real
03:11 technique to beat her. All you have to do is wail on her for ages, which quickly becomes repetitive,
03:16 especially since the swimming controls aren't great. For such an iconic Disney villain,
03:21 it's a pity the developers made the fight with Ursula so tedious.
03:25 7. Rodrigo Borgia - Assassin's Creed 2 One reason why Assassin's Creed 2's legacy
03:31 has endured is because of how personal the story feels. The villain, Pope Rodrigo Borgia,
03:36 isn't just the leader of the Italian sect of the Templar. He oversaw the execution of Ezio's family,
03:41 which drove our hero to follow the Assassin Brotherhood. Exterminating Rodrigo is no easy
03:47 task, since the malevolent maestro is armed with the Staff of Eden, an artifact that endows the
03:53 wielder with the power of invisibility, super strength, telekinesis, and telepathy. Because
03:58 of this godlike artifact, the player assumes the final battle will be an epic showdown involving
04:03 Rodrigo harnessing his supernatural might. Instead, the Templar leader decides to fight the
04:09 man who was sent to kill him... with his fists. Now, there's no question Rodrigo Borgia was a
04:14 force to be reckoned with during the Renaissance, but when it comes to a fist fight, a master
04:19 assassin like Ezio won't have any difficulty beating a chubby middle-aged man. Just to make
04:24 this fight more anticlimactic, Ezio lets the man who murdered his family live. Because the story
04:31 concludes with Ezio failing to avenge his family, you can't help being dissatisfied when you watch
04:36 Rodrigo live to see another day. Number 6. Shao Kahn - Mortal Kombat 9
04:41 Now, it's no secret Mortal Kombat has its fair share of unfair bosses. Kintaro's teleport stomp
04:47 is unblockable, Mataro is immune to projectiles, but Kahn in MK9 is a terrible boss for two reasons.
04:54 Firstly, the Skull Masked Combatant can stunlock you while you're performing almost any move,
04:59 leaving you open to his vicious attacks. This technique is so annoying most players don't
05:04 bother fighting Kahn in a straight battle. Instead, they spam the Outworld Emperor from
05:08 afar with projectiles. And that's the other problem. If you keep your distance while
05:13 shooting fireballs, you can beat the final boss without breaking a sweat. This method is so easy
05:18 to implement, some players have won the game having never fought Shao Kahn fairly.
05:22 Number 5. Bowser - Super Mario Galaxy 2 In the final level, the titular plumber
05:28 must face off against Bowser. I know, totally original concept. During this scrap, the King
05:32 of Koopas will assault Mario with a flurry of punches, meteorites, and shockwaves,
05:37 while Nintendo's mustachioed mascot is standing on a small planetoid. Sure enough, when the duel
05:43 seemingly concludes, Mario's arch-nemesis will grow massively in size, kicking off the true
05:48 final battle, which has Bowser chasing Mario through space. But all you have to do is ground
05:53 pound four meteorites into the overgrown turtle to finish him off. Because you have access to an
05:58 unlimited amount of coins, you can regenerate your health whenever you want, taking out any
06:03 possible challenge. Even though Bowser is terrifyingly big and the choral music sounds
06:08 epic, the whole bout will be over in about 30 seconds.
06:11 Number 4. Nemesis - Resident Evil 3 Remake Even though Resident Evil made a name for
06:16 itself for popularizing horror in gaming, the third outing dialed the fear factor up to 11,
06:22 with the introduction of Nemesis. Due to his ferocious speed, devastating attacks,
06:28 and apparent immortality, you can't help feeling dread when you hear this monster trudging towards
06:33 you. But another element which helped Nemesis stand out is how the player is often given a
06:38 choice with how to take him on. Will you jump off a bridge to evade the colossal zombie,
06:42 or shove him off? Will you stand and fight or seek shelter in a nearby building? This was a
06:47 neat idea since it encouraged multiple playthroughs, so players could experience every aspect of the
06:53 game. Sadly, this element took a step backwards in Resi 3 Remake. Even though Nemesis had never
06:58 looked more badass, every encounter with the zombie powerhouse is just a straightforward battle.
07:04 Because fans already got the same experience with fighting Mr. X in Resi 2 Remake,
07:09 you'd assume the developers would have given the Nemesis fights more variety.
07:12 Instead, all we got was a Mr. X reskin.
07:16 3. Necron - Final Fantasy IX
07:19 The feather-haired sorceress Kuja serves as the antagonist of Final Fantasy IX.
07:24 The insidious genome hopes to seize control of a great power to use it to rule all of Gaia.
07:30 But after defeating Kuja, our hero Zidane learns there's another villain called Necron,
07:35 who's been behind everything this whole time. It's so out of left field, the player didn't know
07:40 Necron's name or what he looked like until five seconds before he attacks you. Weirdly,
07:45 this change-up would have been fine if the developers stuck with the original plan.
07:49 Until the last minute, the final boss was meant to be Hades,
07:52 who was eventually reassigned as a secret super-boss. Since Hades is mentioned in the
07:57 opening, his reveal as the Big Bad wouldn't have come across as arbitrary. You could forgive Final
08:02 Fantasy IX a little if Necron was an interesting foe, but considering his motivation is to destroy
08:08 all of existence, there's nothing appealing about him, save for his cool design.
08:12 2. Every Boss Apart From Gott - The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask
08:17 In every other Legend of Zelda entry, entering the last dungeon room is an invigorating moment,
08:22 since the player knows they'll need to pull out all the stops to stand a chance against the final
08:27 boss. But not only are the antagonists in Majora's Mask surprisingly easy, you can defeat most of
08:33 them by hacking and slashing, including the titular villain. Even though Ocarina of Time
08:38 had some pretty easy foes like Gohma and Dodongo, you still need to strategize to beat them. But
08:44 here, you can emerge victorious by just flailing your sword around. What's more bizarre is that
08:48 sub-bosses like Wart and Wizzrobe require far more strategy and precision. This issue was so
08:54 apparent, all the bosses were revised when Majora's Mask was ported to the 3DS.
08:58 1. Frank Fontaine - Bioshock Bioshock abandoned certain gaming
09:03 tropes like boss battles so it could focus more on character development and narrative-driven
09:08 gameplay. This decision was sensible, since squaring off against screen-filling assailants
09:13 would have dampened the slow, eerie atmosphere and philosophical undertones of this masterful
09:18 shooter. But because 2K Games' title would have been pretty anticlimactic if it didn't end with
09:24 something resembling a final boss, Bioshock concludes with our hero going head-to-head
09:28 against Frank Fontaine. While dodging your foe's generic attacks, the scuffle seemingly concludes
09:34 after the player injects Fontaine with an antidote four times. Because of how abrupt this encounter
09:40 is, most players assume this is merely the first phase and the true fight is about to begin.
09:45 But no, that's it. Bioshock's final showdown is over in a minute. By comparison,
09:51 the big daddies in the earlier stages gave the player far more trouble.
09:55 If you saw this utterly underwhelming tussle out of context, you'd assume you were watching
10:00 a generic shooter rather than one of the greatest narratively-driven games ever.
10:04 This confrontation has become so infamous the game's creator Ken Levine has apologized for
10:09 ending Bioshock with a quote "naked Atlas boss battle". That's the end of our list,
10:14 but do let me know down in the comments if you can think of any other boss fights that
10:19 stopped video games from being perfect. As always, I've been Jess from WhatCulture,
10:24 thank you so much for hanging out with me. If you like it, you can come say hi to me on my
10:28 Twitter account where I'm @JessMcDonald, but make sure you stay tuned to us here for
10:32 plenty more gaming goodness.