The greatest showdowns in video games.
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00:00Gods, aliens, robots, monsters, some of the best fight scenes gaming has to offer run
00:05the full gamut in inter-species fisticuffs.
00:08The further from human they are, the more bombastic a showdown is guaranteed to be.
00:12Yet you know what, sometimes we mere humans can put up a good fight as well.
00:16And that's what we're here to talk about today as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com
00:19and these are the 10 best fight scenes in gaming history.
00:2310.
00:24Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Sephiroth vs Genesis vs Angeal
00:28Bar none, Genesis is the worst Final Fantasy character Square Enix has ever created.
00:33The soldier member's repeated recitals of Loveless whenever Zack encounters him are
00:37eye-rollingly dull, but by word, can the man fight?
00:41His friendly, but not really, tussle with Sephiroth and Angeal atop Shinra's sister
00:45Rey represents one of Crisis Core's most memorable moments, despite not actually being
00:49playable.
00:50As you'll see through this video alone, Square is unmatched in the quantity of its
00:53cinematic gaming splendour, and the three-way training session between the three former
00:57heroes of Midgar is delectable, to say the least.
01:00Even now, it's the only proper depiction of Sephiroth in battle as the good guy before
01:05he discovers his heinous origin and devolves into madness.
01:08Not until the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake over a decade later would Jenova's
01:12unwitting offspring be granted a follow-up on-screen brawl to rival the gratuitousness
01:17of this clash, and it still holds up even today as one of the very best that games have
01:21to offer.
01:229.
01:23Assassin's Creed Revelation Ezio vs The Templars
01:28A fitting bookend to Ezio's crusade against the Templars for the murder of his family,
01:31Assassin's Creed Revelation is the last in the franchise to deliver anything approaching
01:35a worthwhile story.
01:37Ubisoft's saga went off into the deep end, with each subsequent instalment without Desmond
01:41serving as a universal anchor for all the historic escapades the players ascent on,
01:45the result being a newfound adherence to gameplay first, story later.
01:49But we're here to talk about Ezio, and how he's not just AC's shining star, but one
01:53of gaming's most charismatic creations full stop.
01:56The Italian playboy turned staunch defender of free will travels to his inherited ancestral
02:00home in Revelations following the events of Brotherhood, only to find some of those pesky
02:04Templars squatting in the fortress.
02:06And so, ever the optimist, Ezio takes it upon himself to drive out these unwelcome guests
02:11in a mesmerising, dance-like opening cinematic.
02:14Without so much as a line of spoken dialogue, the sequence tells us everything we need to
02:18know.
02:19Our hero lays waste to an entire posse of grunts with effortless grace before feigning
02:23defeat and allowing himself to be captured for easier access to their leader.
02:27TLDR, Ezio is the Middle Ages equivalent of John Wick.
02:318.
02:32Destiny 2 – Cayde-6 vs The Scorn
02:35Bungie deliberately plucked the lowest hanging fruit when it came to decide on a controversial
02:39sacrifice to coincide with Destiny 2's forsaken expansion.
02:44Obvious marketing tactic aside, the studio at least gave Cayde-6 a fitting send-off,
02:48delivering as promised, a genuinely emotional and badass end to the roguish protector of
02:53mankind.
02:54Is it believable?
02:55In the context of Cayde being an immortal guardian who can only truly die if his ghost
02:59is destroyed?
03:00Not really, but the cinematic serves as a farewell to Nathan Fillion's digital insert,
03:05and it hits a home run in every other regard.
03:07Bungie has always been the king of hype, just see any trailer for a Destiny 2 season or
03:12expansion, and seeing Cayde-6 single-handedly take on a horde of his would-be killers in
03:16a last-dance scenario surpasses even that reputation thanks to sublime movie-like quality
03:21when it comes to choreography and storyboarding.
03:24Years after the fact, fans have since learned that the Hunter vanguard, fortunately or annoyingly
03:28depending on your opinion of fiction with no finality, isn't dead.
03:31Surprise!
03:32And Fillion will be returning to voice Cayde in Destiny 2's upcoming Final Shape expansion,
03:36but who knows if he'll be sticking around.
03:397.
03:40Star Wars The Old Republic – Darth Malgus vs The Jedi Order
03:43Considering the direction that Disney has opted to take Star Wars in since it acquired
03:47the franchise, an all-out war between the Jedi and Sith playing out in live-action is
03:51an unlikely prospect.
03:53Thankfully, Bioware has already delivered exactly that over a decade ago.
03:57Star Wars The Old Republic is still going strong in 2024, and while its in-game visuals
04:01leave a lot to be desired by today's standards, major story expansions are always accompanied
04:05by sumptuous cinematics.
04:07It's the original 30-minute-long mini-movie preceding The Old Republic's initial launch
04:11in 2011 that still reigns supreme, however.
04:15Starring as an origin story for the Big Bad, Darth Malgus, the trailer explores how he
04:19came to be in the employ of the Dark Side, and ultimately how the manifestation of his
04:23hatred for the Jedi Order results in bloodshed.
04:26The key to making a lightsaber fight look good is choreography, and despite his missteps
04:30with the prequels, Lucas was keenly aware of that fact, as was Bioware, which delivered
04:34one hell of a force feast with Malgus' indiscriminate slaughter of, in his eyes, the heinous Jedi.
04:40That fans still consider that sequence to be some of the best Star Wars media available
04:44speaks volumes to Disney's slapdash handling of the IP, that's for sure.
04:496.
04:50Resident Evil 5 – Wesker vs Chris Redfield
04:52Look, Leon and Krause's infamous knife fight in Resident Evil 4 is great, but it's sorely
04:57lacking a special ingredient that elevates Resident Evil 5 to cult status, and that is
05:02a generous helping of cheese.
05:04Yes, Wesker is an all-powerful melting pot of god-knows-how-many-DNA-altering-viruses,
05:09but Capcom's decision to portray these abilities in the most excessive way possible is what
05:14makes his growth as a villain and portrayal in-game the definition of a popcorn movie.
05:18That's not even mentioning his nemesis Chris Redfield, who had apparently decided to fight
05:22fire with fire by undergoing a transformation of his own fuelled by TRT and steroids.
05:27The resulting nonsense whenever these two men meet is punctuated by endless posturing
05:31and angry punching from one aggressor, while the other is a middle-aged man behaving as
05:35if he's trying to seriously impress a band of teenagers who have just seen The Matrix
05:38for the first time.
05:40Each encounter is more bombastic than the last, culminating in a borderline slapstick
05:44confrontation aboard a stealth bomber where both dudes resort to tactics ranging from
05:48wrestling to gun-fu and contests of who can sound like they've been gargling more gravel.
05:53If this all sounds like a negative, be assured it is exactly the opposite.
05:57This is Resident Evil at its absolute best.
06:005.
06:01Devil May Cry 4 – Dante vs. Nero
06:04Capcom's biggest achievement with Devil May Cry 4 is expertly managing to sidestep triggering
06:08riots in the streets from angry fanboys.
06:11Gamers don't traditionally take well to beloved heroes being supplanted by no-name
06:15wannabes, just look at Metal Gear Solid 2, but Nero had the benefit of being introduced
06:19alongside his far more popular predecessor.
06:21As if to reassure all that Dante wasn't suddenly being sent to the farm, DMC4 kicks
06:26off immediately with a slick set piece between the two engaging in battle.
06:30The only casualty of this conflict is a deserted church that, by some miracle, is left standing
06:35after the action escalates beyond snarky one-liners and fist-fighting.
06:39Considering how often the format is present on this list, the decision by developers to
06:42splice cutscenes and gameplay is a winning formula able to deliver spectacle with the
06:47former and immersion with the latter.
06:49The only change that would improve this banger of an introduction would be to give players
06:53the choice between controlling either protagonist right off the bat.
06:56However, considering how the campaign is structured, it makes sense that Capcom would want to get
07:00folks in Nero's corner as fast as possible.
07:034.
07:04Final Fantasy VII Remake – Cloud vs Sephiroth
07:07We still have no idea what exactly Sephiroth was babbling on about when he asked Cloud
07:11to join him in a defying fate at the climax of Final Fantasy VII Remake.
07:15Truth be told, it wouldn't have mattered if the former soldier hero had started monologuing
07:19about how great his mum is or spilling the secrets of the universe, because all eyes
07:23were on the pair's dance from the word go.
07:25Square knows too damn well how to build tension with intent, and even though a cinematic clash
07:30between the two was inevitable, it's easy to picture a knowing smile on the collective
07:34studio's face as it made players persevere through a gauntlet of boss battles just to
07:38get their rewards.
07:39The endorphins crescendo when it becomes evident that an in-game struggle against Sephiroth
07:43immediately precedes Cloud's movie-quality last stand against Remake's big bad, and
07:48what a payoff it proves to be.
07:503.
07:51God of War – Kratos vs. Boulder
07:53Remember the mild concern when it emerged that Sony Santa Monica was going down the
07:57soft reboot route for God of War?
07:59Would this new story feature the same Kratos that we'd all grown attached to?
08:03Would he still be a badass, and more importantly, would he still be able to hold the title of
08:07angriest man by the end of it?
08:09It took an hour with the reimagined series' first instalment to learn the answer to all
08:13those burning questions was an emphatic yes.
08:16Following some brief exposition to establish the new world in which the ghost of Sparta
08:20has found himself in the circumstances of his relocation, Boulder comes a-knockin',
08:24and he's not here for a chinwag.
08:25Balls-to-the-wall fisticuffs soon follow, and to put it bluntly, the sense of raw power
08:30you're made to feel while beating the living daylights out of Odin's unruly son is intoxicating.
08:36The utterly brutal battle of attrition is felt in every breath Kratos takes, each intake
08:41of air more difficult than the last when Boulder refuses to concede victory even after being
08:46pummeled into submission.
08:47That the entire sequence is rendered in-engine is just outrageous.
08:512.
08:52Final Fantasy XVI – Clive vs. Every Icon
08:55It's unfair to label Final Fantasy XVI as a one-trick pony, because Clive's decade-spanning
09:01story is one of the best Square has ever delivered in a mainline series entry, but no matter
09:05how favourably the narrative is compared to the works of George RR Martin, it's the
09:10Icon encounters littering its runtime that are going to be remembered way longer after
09:14its release.
09:15The sense of spectacle when facing off against Garuda, Bahamut, Odin, and the rest of Final
09:19Fantasy's iconic summons is unparalleled.
09:21That's not hyperbole, either.
09:24The sheer amount of cheddar Square invested in bringing each of Clive and, by proxy, Ifrit's
09:29major skirmishes to life must have been astronomical, but you know what?
09:32It was money well spent.
09:34The highlight has to be during the midway point, where Clive finally gets to enact revenge
09:38on Titan's dominant Hugo Kupka.
09:40From beginning to end, the grudge match endures for well over an hour, deploying one outlandish
09:45set piece after another.
09:47It's impossible not to involuntarily grin in laugh and disbelief as the literal earth
09:51shattering entanglement refuses to end again and again, providing pure visceral and audiol
09:57ecstasy.
09:58The latter coming courtesy of Masayashi Soken's thumping soundtrack.
10:021.
10:03Tekken 8 – Jin vs. Kazuya
10:05Now it's no surprise that one half of fighting game royalty would ultimately take the top
10:10spot this time around.
10:12The eighth instalment in Bandai Namco and Akira's long-running Tekken series is utterly
10:16unhinged in the best way possible, primarily due to how the climax of its central conflict
10:21is depicted.
10:22Jin and Kazuya's father-and-son feud finally comes to a head following a decades-long power
10:27struggle in a no-holds-barred battle of attrition between the two angry, sweaty, devil-powered
10:32men.
10:33How did a franchise primarily about unremarkable global martial arts tournaments evolve into
10:39the ultimate face-off between good and evil, you might ask?
10:42Well, the seven predecessors to this crowning cinematic achievement can fill you in there,
10:46but suffice to say that escalation is real.
10:49Jin and Kazuya are more or less gods at this point, thanks to the devil gene.
10:53The final battle, which sees the pair attempt to resolve their family's squabbles in literal
10:56outer space atop a meteorite slowly descending to Earth, eventually comes full circle back
11:01to the series' roots by stripping them of their paranormal abilities and reaching a
11:05resolution with humble fists.
11:08The entire mini-saga is a splicing of cinematic sorcery and actual gameplay deserving of whatever
11:13the gaming equivalent of a Michelin star is.