Join Jules and James as they take look at more video game bosses that forced you to cheat! When bosses don't play fair.
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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 crowned Jules of WhatCulture.com, take a list chosen
00:14by you, yes you the person who has to apologise to James Dows, I'm very sorry mate, I'm giving
00:18this to you on a Monday to go out on Tuesday, but I've been off last week because I got
00:22the vid, yay!
00:24It sucks, erm, triple vaxxed and still managed to get it and it still kicked my ass, fantastic,
00:32so apologies if my delivery is a little bit off today, I'm still recovering, yes you get
00:36to decide what list I dole out to you each and every week, and this week we have, none
00:41other to thank than Jackson Loveless for their suggestion of 8 video game bosses that would
00:48absolutely make you crush your controller, now obviously I had to do a bit of YouTube tinkering
00:53and what I thought I'd do is do a sequel to a video that went out on our channel quite
00:57recently, which was video game bosses that were so unfair, tough and just downright
01:02shtinky that they forced you to cheat, but then condensed the title somewhat, so let's
01:07get on with it, as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com and these are 7 more video game bosses that forced
01:12you to cheat, and you know the drill by now, say hi to me here in the live chat and put your
01:16suggestions for next week's episode down in the comments section below, now let's get
01:20on with this rather shtinky list.
01:237. Total Nuclear Disarmament
01:25Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain
01:28Now while you might be expecting the Metal Gear portion of this list to be taken up by
01:33the likes of, I don't know, the internal clock manipulations seeing an end to the end, or
01:38the fact that you can put an auto-input to just punch Liquid Snake's face right off, those
01:43are indeed cheats in a way, but what we're going to be talking about today is an actually
01:48impossible boss that was only recently discovered in Metal Gear Solid V, and that was… Konami
01:53themselves.
01:54So to better explain, we need to discuss the secret Total Nuclear Disarmament ending of
01:59this game, and I use heavy quotations around the word secret because it was an ending that
02:04actually exposed itself by accident thanks to an update resetting game data causing it
02:08to trigger. Now normally this ending would only unlock if every single active player chose
02:13to remove nuclear warheads from their base, thus ensuring a peaceful future for humanity,
02:18and was done by Hideo Kojima and his team as a thumbing gesture to the world that this would
02:23likely never happen. Yet we gamers are a persistent sort, and so a massive collaboration
02:27of players grouped together to make this dream a reality. Yet they hit a snag recently when they
02:33realised that the ending could never actually be obtained legitimately thanks to a series of
02:37nukes not actually existing to any tangible player. You see, scores of warheads apparently
02:42existed in the game data but could never be removed, meaning that this feat was actually
02:47and quite literally impossible, which in turn led players to resort to the same tactics as
02:51the devs and cheated their way through to unlock the ending. Peace, it seems, was never
02:57an option. That's quite worrying, isn't it?
02:596. The Sandman
03:01Spider-Man for the nays
03:02Now when it comes to boss battles that force players to spam low kicks and punches over and
03:08over again as they hide in a corner, then many people are going to think of Shadow Link from
03:12The Legend of Zelda 2. But today we're actually going to go a little bit different. We're going
03:16to go to a different area of the NES library and talk about the absolute shin-stabbing actions
03:23that came when you battled the Sandman in Spider-Man for the nays. Now this was a title that while
03:29not being nays difficult was full of the jank that many had come to expect from the console's
03:34output. Iffy controls, enemies that start shooting at you off screen, and of course a run cycle that
03:40turned Peter Parker into a power walker rather than a superhero. Now the Sandman boss battle is
03:45normally a rather intense one, with the criminal merging into the floor and then appearing in front
03:49of you to turn you into today's special of awful served in spandex. However, if you do just well
03:55everything that Spider-Man would never do in this instance, aka just stand still, hold crouch and
04:00beat the piss out of Sandman's groin over and over, you'll be done in no time. It might not be heroic
04:05to smash somebody's plums over and over, but it definitely gets the job done, and while it might
04:11not be considered cheating by some because you don't need to put in any inputs, you are exploiting the
04:16game's AI considerably here by just standing and just hammering away on that groin. Come on,
04:22then ball back. He's just like, oh god. Number five, the Mimic Tear, Elden Ring. Now while I would
04:29love to freely address the rather FromSoft shaped elephant in the room and say that every boss that
04:36the developer made is very likely to want to make you cheat your way through or just grab a cheese
04:42platter and fromage your way through every single encounter, there is actually one recent example
04:48that I just found too hilarious that I just had to include. I'm speaking of course about the
04:52absolutely beautiful bastard that is the Mimic Tear mini-boss that you can find within the gargantuan
04:58thigh slapper known as Elden Ring. For, depending on how you approach this fight, it can be one of the
05:03hardest, or alternatively, also one so easy that it's almost laughable. For you see, dear Tarnished,
05:09the Mimic Tear is exactly that, a mimic that will copy your exact loadout, spells and all,
05:14and then use them against you with surprising aggression. Now if you've entered the fight
05:19with a ton of tanky armour and swords that utterly melt bosses, you're going to be on the rather spicy
05:24end this time around. But if you're a smart little cheater and start the fight absolutely naked,
05:29then you'll experience something entirely different. Spawning in with only a loincloth as
05:33protection, the Mimic Tear can easily be bested by quickly re-equipping your gear and then slamming it
05:38into the ground. Thus making this battle absolutely hilarious and turning what would be tears of
05:44frustration into tears of joy rolling down your cheek as you laugh at the poor old Mimic Tear just
05:49flailing against you with its fist. It's trying to do a Spider-Man against the Sandman, except this
05:53time, instead of made of sand, you're made of absolute beef. Oh god, I said it. Here he comes.
05:58Beef cage-
05:58Alright mate, haven't seen you in a while. You're attacking, somebody's not feeling very well.
06:04How does that make you feel?
06:05Number 4. Kromorax the Invincible Borderlands
06:08So after the rather disappointing final boss of the original Borderlands base experience,
06:13the fanbase was very keen for something to seek their teeth into. Or should that be for something
06:18to sink its teeth into them, who knows. And thus a petition went out for Gearbox to provide a real
06:23challenge. And boy howdy did they do that with the raid boss Kromorax the Invincible that appeared
06:29in the General Nox DLC, because this, well it made you feel very, very VINcible.
06:35However, as the well known and totally real saying goes, you're only as hard to kill as there are a
06:40number of hidden ledges in your boss area, and Kromorax truly fell foul of just such a hidden pocket
06:46of pain. Now normally, any fight against this beast would be one of blind panic, with only those tipping
06:51the level cap and with outrageous weaponry able to stand toe to claw. Yet thanks to a tiny little ledge
06:56to the left of the arena, players could both shoot at and not be hit by Kromorax's damaging projectiles.
07:02Thus it became a battle of attrition, and whether or not you'd actually brought enough bullets to
07:06the fight. They even referenced the power of the ledge in a subsequent Borderlands game,
07:10saying that it was the true hero of the battle, and I have to bloody well agree with them.
07:14And people wonder where I came up with the whole big ledge thing. It's not this by the way,
07:18but still, this is a big ledge indeed.
07:203. Lingering Will Kingdom Hearts 2
07:23For many, the battle against the Lingering Will in Kingdom Hearts 2 really did live up to its
07:29namesake, because boy howdy did this boss just stick around for absolutely bloody ever, and every
07:34time that it defeated you, it stole part of your soul. Now it might sound like hyperbole, but this
07:40boss really is the worst thing that Kingdom Hearts has ever spewed out, and for most gamers represented
07:45a point where the devs just went a little too far. With its insatiable appetite for ruining your day
07:50with meaty attacks, a sickening ability to heal itself, and for the entire battle to fall apart
07:55with just one or two hits being taken, Lingering Will might as well have been called Suspended
07:59Stink, as it was huffing up the place with its guffs no end. But you know what's even stinkier?
08:05This right bit of cheese that players found to make this boss an utter joke. By sinking in the time
08:09to beat Sephiroth and acquire slash equipping items that reduce the number of attacks per combo,
08:14meaning that you're always hitting with an aerial finisher, and then buffing that attack to
08:18Kingdom Come, you'll be able to stunlock the beast and rinse repeat until it's down to just a fraction
08:23of its starting health. This is by no means an elegant fight, and it can go wrong at a moment's
08:28notice, but still it is so impressive that this boss basically provided such a challenge that the
08:33community just said, right, no, enough of you, we're going to rewrite the game's data and basically
08:38scratch build an entire, entire build just to take down this one boss. Take that, mate.
08:442. The General, Kaiser Knuckle
08:47So when it comes to utter cheese lord fighting game final bosses, there are a few entries that
08:52immediately spring to mind. You've got the likes of Shao Kahn, you've got Jim Pachi, and of course
08:57you've got Gil, who I swear has done more irreparable damage to my family name than even
09:02Jack Hobo Stabber Gil, and that guy strangled dogs. However, all of those actually pale in comparison to
09:08the General from the off-forgotten title Kaiser Knuckle, although after facing off against
09:13this despot, you might see this as a moment of collective repression as nobody wants to
09:17remember the beatdowns that this guy doled out, because to put it bluntly, this guy cheats
09:22a lot.
09:23For a start, he's got all of the hallmarks of a horror show boss, teleportation, multiple
09:27ghost form attacks, instant grabs, and relentlessly punishing combos, and he wastes no time in putting
09:32all of these to good use. It's a struggle to last even 10 seconds with the General, let alone
09:37beat him, but if you are dedicated to finding victory, you're gonna have to pray that you're
09:41not lactose intolerant, because there is a whole load of cheese to scoff. Of the few that have
09:45actually bested this beast, the common thread seems to be working towards a stun lock as soon
09:50as possible, clipping the General with a jumping kick to low kick to uppercut, and then repeating
09:54ad nauseam.
09:55So I hear you asking, how is this actually cheating? Well, it's cheating in the sense that this is meant
09:59to be a fighting game where you learn the nuances of all your characters, but here, every single
10:03person has to do the same three-hit combo again and again and again in order to get through this.
10:08You have to cheat to get past the cheater, and it sucks.
10:111. Bendak Starkiller
10:13Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
10:16Now, good old Bendak here is what's known as a legend, having earned himself quite the reputation
10:22on Taris for his skills in the Jewel Ring, and by skills I mean shooting people in the face before
10:27they can mouth, oh hot damn. Now this is a true killer through and through, and has actually
10:32retired from competition because nobody even piqued his interest as a real challenge. That
10:36was until he started hearing rumours of a young whippersnapper that was as good with
10:40a vibro blade as a blaster. Oh, and by the way, that whippersnapper, that's you.
10:44Thus, after basically prodding him with a stick and saying,
10:47Come on, kill me!
10:50Star Killer begrudgingly returns to the ring for one last fight. Now, under normal circumstances,
10:56this would be the end of viewers. After all, this is right at the start of the game, and he is
11:00now shooting you with pinpoint accuracy from the other side of the ring. So I know what you're
11:05asking yourself, how do I beat this guy? Have you not got what this video is about? You cheat!
11:11You cheat!
11:11After surviving the initial grenade spam offered up by Star Killer, rush directly towards him.
11:16This would obviously seem like a death sentence, but as you get close, he'll put away his pistol
11:21and draw his blade. Yet instead of engaging him in a fair duel, just drop back again and shoot him
11:27from a distance, falling back every time he gets close. Now, after an admittedly very long time
11:33of running away and just firing just like three or four shots and then running away again, he finally
11:38will be defeated in what must have been the weirdest thing for people to watch. Imagine that. You've
11:43just realized that Star Killer's coming back out of retirement to do one last battle, and you're
11:47sitting there, you've paid him, I don't know, you have 50 million credits in order to get a front row
11:52ticket. And what you're doing is watching some nobody just go like, oh, oh, he's dead.
12:07Star Killer might have been a champion, but smart, he was not.
12:10And there we go, my friends. Those were seven more video game bosses who forced you to cheat. I hope
12:15that you enjoyed that. And again, I am very sorry if my delivery was a bit off today. I know
12:19the skits were quite low. The time constraints plus my illness, just not a great combination.
12:24But I hope that you enjoyed it nonetheless. And let me know what you thought about down in the
12:27comments section below, as well as your suggestions for next week's episode, because I'd love to read
12:31all of them and I'd love to make some more juicy content when I start feeling 100% again. But yes,
12:35massive thank you to James Dowse as well for the short turnaround of edit. Big love to you, mate.
12:40But if you want to chat to me further, you can do so over on Twitter at RetroJay with a zero,
12:44and you can follow James Dowse over here. James Dowse, an extra E because he is an absolutely
12:48big legend. I don't know where I was going with that one. My brain is still foggy.
12:52But before I go, I just want to say one thing. I hope you treat yourself with love and respect,
12:56my friend. Don't try and cheat yourself out of things in life because you deserve the time and
13:00effort and love putting into situations that grow you into a better person. Don't look for the
13:04shortcuts in life. Always try and knuckle down, work hard, because trust me, if you earn those skills,
13:10if you earn your place up the ladder and whichever goal that you're working towards,
13:14you will feel that reward so much more than just cutting your way to the front of the queue.
13:18No one likes that. Big love to you, though, my friend. Take care of yourself,
13:21and I will see you next week, my friends. Bye-bye. Now back to my crypt.