The rabbit bosses from Odyssey are pretty good. They hold to all the elements that can make them boring or confusing, but there are like 4-5 different opportunities to hit them that aren't obvious. It makes a relatively easy boss more fun by hitting them in their more threatening cycles and attacks.
I’d say the rabbits get better the longer the game goes on, their early renditions are a little too easy but I agree they have around 5 different ways to speed up their fights if you know what to look for
Also, most bosses in odyssey build on top of the gimmicks introduced in the levels through use of the captures (mecha wiggler using sherms, broodal mech using pokios, etc)
The koopalings could be better if they utilized their koopa cars. So instead of an arena, they can be chased through a stylized level similar to the world they occupy, and use the environment against the player
In Yoshi's Safari, the Koopalings were each given their own crazy vehicles for their boss fights. I think that's as far as Nintendo went to making them distinct from each other.
I really think changing the environment could work. Have the arena be larger with more obstacles and traps. And whenever the player hits them they’ll quickly move to the next spot in their shells.
The bossfights are a big reason why I got into mega man. (most) Bosses in Mega Man have a learnable pattern, but they still have some level of difficulty because: 1. Even if you learn the pattern it's still difficult to dodge the attacks 2. There's some randomness in the pattern to change things up, so the bosses aren't as predictable as Boom Boom. Some Mega Man bosses even react to your inputs, which is a good idea to me, because it feels like the bosses can think and react to your attacks, just like you, the player.
same bides by Hollow Knight (or i just have HK brainrot), because some of the bosses follow the unique mechanics of the area prior like the Soul Master (teleporting fireball shooting enemies in Soul Sanctum) and Troupe Master Grimm/Nightmare King Grimm (Grimmkin attacks are usually similar to their attacks + you have the handicap of 2 charm slots for Grimmchild) and can be defeated through fun mechanics and gimmicks (like Dung Defender who will suffer immensely if you use Desolate Dive on him, or most of the bosses by simply the philosophy of Git Gud)
Megaman has almost awesome boss fights, making the bosses feel like they have soul and that they're trying to destroy you, tho', sadly not every boss fight is like that, but games like megaman 4-11, Megaman X1 and X2 and Megaman Zero games have some really good boss fights.
@@byzantine5761 Hollow Knight bosses almost entirely do away with one of the main problems presented in the video: waiting. There is no dodging phase, “weak point exposed!” phase and recovery phase. Battles are dynamic and relentless. The boss does not wait for you and you do not wait for the boss. Bosses are vulnerable at all times and you can land as many hits as you want, so long as you can get close enough to do so without getting fucked. How long it takes to defeat a boss depends entirely on how good you are. There are only a handful of exceptions. Most notably Uumuu. Which is why no one likes Uumuu. Hollow Knight combat is amazing and has honestly destroyed my standards for boss fights in platformers. I just can’t deal with the Mario boss formula anymore.
Its 100% facts though. 2D platformers can have good bosses that can be a cool diversion but they are rarely anything special upon inspection or analysis (and many are bad). I won't talk about 3D platformers due to not playing many but I see the bar is low there as well. Metroidvanias and action platformers tend to have significantly superior bosses on average, even if a lot of them are still weak. Metroid has probably some of the very best bosses out of any Nintendo franchise though.
this is why I love Galaxy. tbh it's a tragedy that SMG2 was lost with the wii. both were amazing games, though i never got to finish Galaxy 2 before my wii broke. the Bowser fight of Galaxy 1 also feels like an actual final boss, worthy of such an amazing game. hell, every bowser fight had me jumping out of my seat, and it felt like an actual accomplishment to beat him. thank god it got ported to the switch
so glad you gave galaxy the boss fight recognition it deserves. when you said "nintendo HAS made some great mario boss fights" i immediately thought of a few of the fights in the galaxy games, which are up there with my favorite games Ever of All Time. and yeah, Bouldergeist is a GREAT pick. i occasionally replay through the galaxy games for nostalgias sake, and i always look forward to fighting him. even as a younger kid he always stood out to me as.. the least mario-boss mario boss in the game, and i love him for that. just the sheer fact he takes like a minimum of EIGHT hits to kill really makes him feel more like the much younger cousin of a dark souls fight or something.
I personally really don't like SMG's bosses. To me, they're unfair, frustrating, and extremely unfun. You can like them if you want, but to me, they are some of the worst bosses ever.
Another game series that expands on mechanics introduced are the portal games. They're pretty formulaic: introduce a mechanic, use the mechanic in a different way, combine with previous mechanics. However, it creates a natural progression and that progression applies to the bosses as well. In Portal 1, you bait missle shots to hit GLaDOS, pick up the core that drops using different mechanics with the portals, and then drop them into an incinerator. This comes after you use momentum from falling to launch yourself, incinerate your companion cube, and bait missiles to destroy glass. And in Portal 2, you learn about how to use gels and bombs in a similar way.
Huge wall of text ahead, but read if you’re interested The final boss (Ogura) in his rematch in the final phase in Densetsu no Stafy 2 follows the flaw of waiting heavily than in the first game. For the uninitiated, in order to defeat Ogura in both games, Starfy (the main character) has to attack Ogura’s weak spot, which are his eyes. Ogura will use attacks every so often to try and prevent Starfy from getting to his eyes. Ogura has 5 health, like every other boss. In order to actually damage him, you have to hit his eyes 5 times. That’s the general rundown of how to beat him. In the first game, the boss is very generous to do this, but the fight gets somewhat harder with Ogura using new attacks like repeatedly slamming his hands to the ground causing spikes to fall from above and trying to crush Starfy by summoning two hands which if successful, the player has to mash to escape. After Ogura takes damage past the second hit, he becomes enraged, disappears, fires giant fireballs at Starfy at a fast rate although these can be avoided with ease by swimming away from them. Then Ogura returns to the arena and is vulnerable to be hit again. This is slightly harder because of Ogura’s new attacks in his arsenal, but it’s pretty intense and fun. Although in the second game, the final phase’s rematch is a NIGHTMARE to fight! Ogura has a total of 6 attacks including the giant fireball attack from the previous game. The fight has the same premise, but he has 2 hands that he actually uses in this fight. Each hand has a different attack with the left shooting fireballs in a circle-like pattern and the right summons 8 icicles in a circle formation and home in on Starfy’s position after a few seconds pass by. However, each hand can be temporarily destroyed if Starfy hits them 8 times. For every time they respawn, they only take 4. This essentially makes getting around the arena easier as Starfy gets knocked back if he touches the hands making some attacks especially in corners hard to maneuver around. But the real pain in the butt is the attacks that don’t come from his hands. He has a laser attack where he stops moving and two small lasers come out of his eyes, then a laser flies to either the top or bottom half of the arena followed by a giant laser. The attack itself isn’t too hard to dodge if you look at where the small laser is going. Then there’s the bomb attack where he spits out 8 bombs from his mouth that fly upwards, then fall on Starfy’s position. These bombs hurt Starfy regardless if they were spat out or they’re falling. Then there’s the swallow attack where he stops moving and tries to swallow and spit out Starfy by sucking him in which is very easy to dodge by holding the A button and moving away from where he’s pulling you in. It’s also indicated by his hands flashing a purple/pink color but may be slightly harder to tell if his hands have been destroyed. All the non-hand attacks I mentioned make his eyes invulnerable which drags the fight even longer and the swallow attack makes his hands invulnerable. The worst part is that he can do these attacks in succession with one another dragging the fight REALLLY long if he wants to. And remember that fireball attack from the previous game? Everytime he takes damage he uses it but he fires the projectiles at a slower rate but they are also bigger and have a huge hitbox meaning you have to move even more carefully. But that’s not the end of the road, fellas. Cuz Ogura’s got one last surprise to make this a real nightmare. After he reaches 1 health, after using the fireball attack, he will attempt to heal back to 2 HP, which can only be stopped by destroying his hands which can be very difficult to do when he performs the move. This is mostly why destroying his hands is near necessary to end the fight, but constant use of the swallow attack plus his other attacks make this a chore as his hands can regenerate if he stalls for long enough meaning that he will try to heal at EVERY opportunity he gets. All this really shows how Ogura’s rematch is not fun in the second game as all he does is stall 24/7 and no matter how well you play and wait, you will most likely take damage. I can’t see myself actually beating Ogura damage-less in years no matter how good I get.
There are many bosses in Mario Odyssey that do the same thing as many of the Mario Galaxy bosses. For example the Mechabroode buids on the mechanics of the Pokios encountered earlier in Bowser's Kingdom. As a bonus, there are many ways to speed up the boss fight if you're skilled enough. There are lots of other examples as well, but that one is just my favorite.
kirby boss fights are really well designed. bosses have health bars rather than taking a set amount of hits, and your copy abilities allow you to damage the boss at any time. so the challenge comes from learning how to avoid and take advantage of the boss's attack patterns, which are usually quite varied.
The bosses are also super intimidating too. When I played planet robobot and first fought cleanly woods I had no clue what to do but when I figured it out it was such a cool fight.
I really like Celeste's boss design philosophy, where each boss is basically a level mechanic that is integrated into the design of still platforming-focused levels. Instead of dropping the game's strengths to create a boss encounter, it has bosses that work as part of its strengths.
Celeste “bosses” (oshiro, badeline) probably don’t have the limitations of standard fights, since they are really just normal screens I’d say the real Celeste “bosses” are the longer screens near the end of every chapter (most notably Farewell’s final room, but it’s in other chapters and even subchapters for longer chapters or mods). It has a difficulty spike and an additional focus on endurance that is less present in other parts of the game, but it is still the same game, so it isn’t as jarring as the standard fights in boxed arenas. Note that some mods do implement traditional fights, e.g. Monika’s 6D (has a closed arena fight against Badeline in one room), Conqueror’s Peak (vs the conqueror in the final fight). They usually don’t overstay their welcome
I am a fairly frequent Super Mario Maker 2 player, but an even more avid SMM2 Level Creator. Ive been attempting to make an entire super world of traditional levels meant to feel like an actual mario game (with a pinch of extra difficulty of course), and one of the most important things about this to me is the Bosses in each world. Hearing this criticism on how traditional bosses function is actually really helpful, and most of all encouraging, because i realize that I have so far managed to build off of the negative parts of Mario Bosses and do what the originals did not. So simply, Thank You :>
As a kid, I remember the challenge in fights like the king boo example (3:59) being attempting to figure out how the fight works. I think that's the intention; give you platforming challenges (dodging the attacks) as you try to figure out how to beat this thing. Like a puzzle. I agree it doesn't always land though, and it is generally a weird disconnect from the mechanics of the level leading up to it.
There was a game that made Bosses on Plattformers really good. I don't know the name, but it was a Prince of Persia for the PSP. I remember that it was some kind of plattforming puzzle where the enemy shot you to knock you off. I spent days trying to land the correct jumps and avoiding his shots until I managed to hit him. I felt that it was pretty cool.
Bouldergheist has been my favourite mario boss from the entire series since I first fought him. He even used to be my pfp for quite a while. It's hard to explain why he is such a cool character. I guess the perfect blend between a cool and silly boss, and it of course being a ghost that isn't just a boo.
I personally couldn't get attached to Super Mario Sunshine, although I do admit it has one of the greatest boss fights in Mario history: Manta Storm. You are tasked to clean up the electric goo that's spread on the resort, until you get attacked. The mechanics are self explanatory: just spray the manta ray and it splits up in two. This makes a fight against one enemy with more health transition to a one vs. many fight with less health to a one vs. a lot of agressive enemies with a single hit point. Plus you got the environment which is still partly covered in electric goo that damages you when you touch it. You just learned how to get rid of it, but now you have to focus on your enemies as well. For me this fight is easily the highlight of the entire game.
The phantamanta is a fantastic boss fight with its free form nature, minimal waiting, and you get the entirety of the beach as your battlefield. Definitely a highlight!
Bosses have always been the absolute highlight of every platformer I have ever played and I thought everyone felt the same. It's weird to me that someone would like a normal level more than a boss.
I think that the main problem that the 2D Mario and 3D World bosses face is that you usually only have 2 hits max before you die with no way to recover that health unlike the 3D games, also given the fact that you usually restart from the checkpoint if you die and not from the boss fight makes me believe that Nintendo usually makes the boss fights super easy and formulaic in order to prevent you from replaying through a decent chunk of the level everytime you die
Rayman 2 and 3 have some brilliant bosses that utilize core mechanics pretty well with the odd boss that's different but not hard to figure out. The character battles from sonic adventure 2 deserve a mention too as they're symmetrical to the player character and they play out way differently from normal 3d platformer bosses.
Harriet and Topper from Odyssey are also genius boss designs; u can skip phases of the fight by hitting Harriet’s bombs back at her while she’s flying in her hat. U can also make the Topper fight go faster bc u can jump over his hats and stomp him while he’s spinning on the ground.
I only partly agree with waiting. Waiting is actually one of the most important aspects of a lot of boss fights, but I agree with the fact that it is incredibly underutilized, not regarding the amount of waiting, but regarding what you wait for, and how you wait. It also highly depends on the difficulty of the boss. If you're dealing with a very hard boss, where you have to wait for it to do a certain move to expose its weakness, or if you wait for the boss to do a specific attack so you can get closer for more damage, that's fine. The problem with Mario resides in how easy the bosses are. While you're waiting, there is absolutely no tension at all in almost every single boss fight in Mario games. The only very prominent exceptions, that actaully use waiting well, are the following: Bouldergeist, Kamella (Deep dark), Final bowser fight in SMBW, and final bowser fight in Super Mario Galaxy. While the latter does involve a lot of waiting, at least Bowser constantly throws something new at you, so it doesn't feel dragged out. Bouldergeist has almost minimal waiting, and its premise is actually amazing, and the SMBW bowser fight makes you wait for fireballs to break the wall, but it's expertly done. Anyways, what I was trying to say, is that waiting is only a bad thing, if the boss design is too predictable and easy, and if the waiting in question doesn't have a prominent role, instead of just making the player "Wait just for waiting sake."
I’d argue that Fury Bowser does this amazingly. You spend the entirety of both 3D World and Bowser’s Fury getting used to the abilities of the cat suit, and you’re able to attack him at any point so you have to make your own opportunities to attack. It’s just a drag out brawl and it’s great.
Seriously, that rock boss on the thumbnail bro... holy shit.... when I was trying to 100% SMG, I needed to complete the bossfight without taking any damage because of the Daredevil Comet, and seriously, i think I spent easily 4 hours on it.
I just finished new super Mario bros 1 where you have to think and wait in a really small arena, bowser jr is chasing you and throwing shells and bowser shoots fireballs that track you. I found that one pretty fun
The "classic" games and 3D games seem to have totally different design philosophies, and these problems mostly just relate to the "classic" ones (basically, 2D games, 3D Land and 3D World), and I agree with it, although there are ways to speed up some of those boring koopaling fights, too, for example jumping on them right after they come out of the shell before they even have a chance to attack, and also using ground pound on the first hit to deal double damage. 64, Sunshine, Galaxy 1-2 and Odyssey are much better in this regard. Yes even Sunshine. For Petey Piranha if you aim properly you can fill his belly in one go. For the best boss, the Manta Storm you are completely on the offense, and are free to be cautious or agressive with a wide variety of strategies. The giant wiggler can also be defeated fast if you strategically target the sandcastles in front of him. Even for Bowser you can go slowly to get around his attacks fast, or use the rocket to fly around and reach your targets fast. But gotta agree with the Bouldergeist fight being awesome.
The manta is definitely the best boss in sunshine it’s such a cool idea to turn an entire level into the arena. I will say Sunshine has some really poor bosses that kinda balance the good like cleaning the teeth of the Eel or all the times you have to fight that paint piranha
@@SlightlyInDepthGaming Yeah, that one sucked for sure. What I was try to say, whether the individual bosses were good or not, they mostly follow a better design philosphy, similar to Galaxy (and also SM64) where you are on the offence, or at the very least, can easily trigger the enemy's attack. Sunshine is more janky and unpolished than most Mario games, it was rushed, and it shows. It's amazing at its best, but downright broken at its worst.
“How would you know to throw the pepper” If only Mario had some sort of sidekick which would tell him how his enemies might react to things! Thatd be cool!
This is why I believe most bosses from a Hat in Time are an exception to this problems, they have spectacle, buildup throughout the levels and are just varied enough within the mechanics and presentation, that never feels like a downside to the game. Mario could learn a couple of things from that game.
Mario Galaxy truly did have amazing bosses. I feel like the quality of a game is largely dependent on its boss design. Kirby is a fantastic example of this. In fact, the bosses are often the most fun part of the series for me. Blowout Blast -- Kirby in a 3D space for the first time -- takes it to a whole new level. But with Mario, bosses tend to be too quick, too annoying, too easy, and/or too awkward. Bouldergeist really is the pinnacle of this design -- even if you've nailed the fight, there's still a challenge, there's still fun to be had. It's not just jump, step away for a bit, jump, step away for a bit. Really good analysis here! Loved the vid :)
“Platformer bosses have never really been the highlights of their game” Shovel Knight, Cuphead, Cave Story, Kirby, Castlevania, Mega Man, Hollow Knight, and more all staring you down like: 🤨
Nintendo has 2 franchises full of great, hard bosses in Zelda and Metroid, both of which follow your boss design philosophy. Now, those bosses are often a lot harder than what's in Mario (Metroid Dread excruciatingly so), but the philosophy can be followed without the amped difficulty.
You definitely bring up some good points here. I also get kind of sick of all the Mario bosses, especially in the 2D games, being a boring waiting game a lot of the time and just not feeling very inspired in general. I hadn't really thought about how well designed a lot of the Mario Galaxy bosses are. They actually feel like highlights of the game, rather than just being tacked on for the sake of having a boss fights in the game.
Star Fox 64 had some awesome bosses and sometimes more than one choice of boss per level or even the option to skip them via a warp or the outcome of the fight with them determine which planet you go to next. They weren't predictable either - I don't like the idea that an entire level should prepare you for the boss - an unexpected horror at the end that you don't know how to defeat makes for a good boss too!
Oh yeah I’m not saying the boss at the end of the level has to be completely thematically appropriate, just if it uses mechanics from the level before in its boss design to make it more engaging
I kinda agree but the series still has some good and fun bosses though. The final boss fight against Wario in Super Mario Land 2 where he uses some of the power ups against you is really cool. Like you said, Galaxy has some great bosses but so does Galaxy 2 and Odyssey. Bowser's Fury has 2 of the best boss battles in the series, the final one being my favorite in the series. And, what's interesting about Bowser's Fury and Mollusque-Lanceur from Odyssey is that they use the whole level as the boss areana, which is really cool. And, although they're technically not boss fights, the spectacle of the final battles in New Super Mario Bros Wii and Super Mario 3D World make them somewhat cool, albeit a bit easy
I agree with you the Mario series does do bosses well at certain times, it’s really just the 2D series that struggle immensely. The final boss of NSMB wii is one of the best bosses in the series because it’s barely a boss. It’s a platforming gauntlet with an extremely memorable gimmick
The reason why mario bosses are so simple is... well simple. It's because Shigeru Miyamoto heavily favors simplicity in his game design. He's a very shrewd man to deal with so no one wants to tell him otherwise
Mario has the best bosses ever none of what you say actually matters. boom boom is overused sure but other than that Mario has some incredibly creative bosses mecha bowser, cookatiel, peetey piranha in 3d and 2d, every 3d bowser, new supe u and wii's final bowsers and every one from galaxy 1. Just to name a few. YOU ARE MAKING NO SENSE!! Also don't let mayor see this video
@@SlightlyInDepthGaming You mean the spinning invulnerability after each stomp? Definitely, but it helps some of the more unique Koopalings have a chance at hitting players (Lemmy, Wendy, Roy for instance).
The biggest issue with a Mario boss fight comes from the fact that in most Mario games, Mario has no offensive moves that aren't tied to his health. If you want to throw fireballs, you can't take a hit. The moment Mario takes damage, he has no way to deal damage. So, all bosses must either be vulnerable to being jumped upon, which makes them really easy, but ties in to the core mechanic of Mario: jumping, or a boss must provide the weapon you need to defeat it, which necessitates waiting for the boss's attack pattern to get to the point where it gives you your weapon. In the 3D Mario games, Mario has some attack options regardless of his health, so those boss fights tend to be more proactive, where Mario needs to find an opening and attack. In the 2D games, Mario has to either jump on their head, or wait for them to give him a weapon. If Bowser didn't stand on bridges that can be collapsed by an axe, he would have won already.
I could never put a finger on why I liked Bouldergeist more than Squizzard, a somewhat similar boss in Galaxy 2, but now I understand. You have to wait for Squizzard to open his mouth before you can damage him by throwing fireballs into it. He also gets stunned by this attack, meaning that you can just spam with no threat of counterattack as long as you're not on the quicksand.
I liked the bosses in odyssey a lot. Some weren’t about just jumping on them 3 times (maybe you had to shoot them as a tank or climb their mechanical body)
Tbh I love kingfin, bouldergeist, and firey dino piranha because they add tiny additions to the fight like firey igniting itself to make u time attacks, kingfin summoning bonefin to gank mario, and bouldergeist getting more defensive with summoning hands and more rock spikes. These are bosses and additions I love as they have u use mechanics ether used in their signature galaxies (bouldergeist) or in previous galaxies (firey and kingfin)
I give mario 64 a pass because it was when the 3d platforming genre was just starting. Plus, the bowser throws were a genius idea. Also, I think waiting for a weak point or opening is fine as long as you are not sitting there doing nothing.
I've always thought waiting in a boss is fine as long as the "waiting" is more so surviving. The time between damaging the boss needs difficulty to occupy the player, make them feel engaged with the fight itself even if the window for damaging said boss are on a timer. A good example is something like Undertale perhaps. You can only attack or act after an enemy's turn but throughout their turn you're constantly dodging projectiles.
I wish Nintendo would take a slightly different approach to the 2D games. A tower with a mini-bosd suited to the world like in the original NSMB, then the castle at the end of the world with its own gimmick which you then need to use to beat the Koopaling. Would make the game as a whole more dynamic.
![The WORST Boss Battle In Every Mario Game EVER! [52 Games!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0OzUbIQe56c/mqdefault.jpg)
"He doesn't like spicy things because he's white" is the best part of the video
Fludd was truly onto something
Made me chuckle
@@SlightlyInDepthGaming definitely
@@Just_a_rathalos151 As a white guy, I found that joke hilarious.
I burst out laughing
The rabbit bosses from Odyssey are pretty good. They hold to all the elements that can make them boring or confusing, but there are like 4-5 different opportunities to hit them that aren't obvious.
It makes a relatively easy boss more fun by hitting them in their more threatening cycles and attacks.
I’d say the rabbits get better the longer the game goes on, their early renditions are a little too easy but I agree they have around 5 different ways to speed up their fights if you know what to look for
@@SlightlyInDepthGaming The fact that the first Topper fight was only TWO hits made me go "...what?! Why is it even less than 3? That's TOO easy."
Also, most bosses in odyssey build on top of the gimmicks introduced in the levels through use of the captures (mecha wiggler using sherms, broodal mech using pokios, etc)
They aren’t fun tbh, the only one that was good was when they all form into that giant robot and that made it more creative
Miniature Flowerkind it’s so satisfying to complete mecha-broodal birdless
I enjoy Boom Boom fights because I can catch up on my sleep fighting him :)
you mean catch up on like 10 seconds of sleep lmao
@@BabyMatiny sleep is sleep
baby go Boom Boom
Heheheh
@@BabyMatiny i mean, that's my average sleep period
The koopalings could be better if they utilized their koopa cars. So instead of an arena, they can be chased through a stylized level similar to the world they occupy, and use the environment against the player
That would be great!
In Yoshi's Safari, the Koopalings were each given their own crazy vehicles for their boss fights. I think that's as far as Nintendo went to making them distinct from each other.
I really think changing the environment could work. Have the arena be larger with more obstacles and traps. And whenever the player hits them they’ll quickly move to the next spot in their shells.
The music in super mario galaxy 1's final fight is also crazy good, idk why they don't use such epic music for their final bosses anymore.
I love the huge orchestra sound they used for Galaxy, it really captures the essence of space
I'd say Mega Man and Metroid, being more combat focused have fun bosses most of the time.
Megaman has some fantastic fights especially the ones where the boss weakness doesn’t one shot them
The bossfights are a big reason why I got into mega man.
(most) Bosses in Mega Man have a learnable pattern, but they still have some level of difficulty because:
1. Even if you learn the pattern it's still difficult to dodge the attacks
2. There's some randomness in the pattern to change things up, so the bosses aren't as predictable as Boom Boom.
Some Mega Man bosses even react to your inputs, which is a good idea to me, because it feels like the bosses can think and react to your attacks, just like you, the player.
same bides by Hollow Knight (or i just have HK brainrot), because some of the bosses follow the unique mechanics of the area prior like the Soul Master (teleporting fireball shooting enemies in Soul Sanctum) and Troupe Master Grimm/Nightmare King Grimm (Grimmkin attacks are usually similar to their attacks + you have the handicap of 2 charm slots for Grimmchild) and can be defeated through fun mechanics and gimmicks (like Dung Defender who will suffer immensely if you use Desolate Dive on him, or most of the bosses by simply the philosophy of Git Gud)
Megaman has almost awesome boss fights, making the bosses feel like they have soul and that they're trying to destroy you, tho', sadly not every boss fight is like that, but games like megaman 4-11, Megaman X1 and X2 and Megaman Zero games have some really good boss fights.
@@byzantine5761 Hollow Knight bosses almost entirely do away with one of the main problems presented in the video: waiting. There is no dodging phase, “weak point exposed!” phase and recovery phase. Battles are dynamic and relentless. The boss does not wait for you and you do not wait for the boss. Bosses are vulnerable at all times and you can land as many hits as you want, so long as you can get close enough to do so without getting fucked. How long it takes to defeat a boss depends entirely on how good you are.
There are only a handful of exceptions. Most notably Uumuu. Which is why no one likes Uumuu.
Hollow Knight combat is amazing and has honestly destroyed my standards for boss fights in platformers. I just can’t deal with the Mario boss formula anymore.
_"Platformer bosses have never really been the highlights of their game"_
That's...a bold opening to a video, my friend.
Wait omg you’re the guy who made the Metroid Fusion video right?? I’m a huge fan of that video it’s super cool that you watched my video
@@SlightlyInDepthGaming Thanks a lot! Yeah great content, keep it up!
Its 100% facts though. 2D platformers can have good bosses that can be a cool diversion but they are rarely anything special upon inspection or analysis (and many are bad).
I won't talk about 3D platformers due to not playing many but I see the bar is low there as well.
Metroidvanias and action platformers tend to have significantly superior bosses on average, even if a lot of them are still weak. Metroid has probably some of the very best bosses out of any Nintendo franchise though.
@@panthekirb7561 Castlevania had some very difficult boss fights
this is why I love Galaxy. tbh it's a tragedy that SMG2 was lost with the wii. both were amazing games, though i never got to finish Galaxy 2 before my wii broke. the Bowser fight of Galaxy 1 also feels like an actual final boss, worthy of such an amazing game. hell, every bowser fight had me jumping out of my seat, and it felt like an actual accomplishment to beat him. thank god it got ported to the switch
“Boss fights in platformers are usually not the highlight of the game”
Sonic frontiers:
Literally every Mega Man game:
I thought the fight against Bouldergeist was slow and stressful, but the boss himself is such an amazing design!
He freaked me out as a kid but now I realized that was just pure good game design
You’re a really funny channel! I especially liked the joke about king boo
Thanks man!
Ive been a bouldergeist stan since day 1 and I can say Im very happy to see him get the praise he deserves
We stan bouldergeist in this household absolutely
Pizza tower is a fantastic platformer with fantastic bosses. It came out way after this video came out but still! Felt like it was worth a mention
so glad you gave galaxy the boss fight recognition it deserves. when you said "nintendo HAS made some great mario boss fights" i immediately thought of a few of the fights in the galaxy games, which are up there with my favorite games Ever of All Time. and yeah, Bouldergeist is a GREAT pick. i occasionally replay through the galaxy games for nostalgias sake, and i always look forward to fighting him. even as a younger kid he always stood out to me as.. the least mario-boss mario boss in the game, and i love him for that. just the sheer fact he takes like a minimum of EIGHT hits to kill really makes him feel more like the much younger cousin of a dark souls fight or something.
Both Bouldergeist and his prankster comet are some of the most memorable stars in the game
I personally really don't like SMG's bosses.
To me, they're unfair, frustrating, and extremely unfun.
You can like them if you want, but to me, they are some of the worst bosses ever.
@@superdean9966 do you have a single reason for saying that, or do you just get sexual gratification from being a contrarian online?
@@MrBoingus No.
I just get crippling anxiety from people saying something that I don't like :)
@@MrBoingus destroyed him like a boss
Ok the joke at 3:39 actually 100% sold this video for me. Great work!
Thanks for watching!
Wario bosses are Chad tier.
I still think the super mario galaxy bosses were the most fun because the locations were so unique and the background had a lot
Galaxy is the best mario game's the art direction is so amazing
Another game series that expands on mechanics introduced are the portal games. They're pretty formulaic: introduce a mechanic, use the mechanic in a different way, combine with previous mechanics. However, it creates a natural progression and that progression applies to the bosses as well. In Portal 1, you bait missle shots to hit GLaDOS, pick up the core that drops using different mechanics with the portals, and then drop them into an incinerator. This comes after you use momentum from falling to launch yourself, incinerate your companion cube, and bait missiles to destroy glass. And in Portal 2, you learn about how to use gels and bombs in a similar way.
Portal is one of those games that I absolutely need to play but I keep pushing it further into my backlog
Huge wall of text ahead, but read if you’re interested
The final boss (Ogura) in his rematch in the final phase in Densetsu no Stafy 2 follows the flaw of waiting heavily than in the first game. For the uninitiated, in order to defeat Ogura in both games, Starfy (the main character) has to attack Ogura’s weak spot, which are his eyes. Ogura will use attacks every so often to try and prevent Starfy from getting to his eyes. Ogura has 5 health, like every other boss. In order to actually damage him, you have to hit his eyes 5 times. That’s the general rundown of how to beat him. In the first game, the boss is very generous to do this, but the fight gets somewhat harder with Ogura using new attacks like repeatedly slamming his hands to the ground causing spikes to fall from above and trying to crush Starfy by summoning two hands which if successful, the player has to mash to escape. After Ogura takes damage past the second hit, he becomes enraged, disappears, fires giant fireballs at Starfy at a fast rate although these can be avoided with ease by swimming away from them. Then Ogura returns to the arena and is vulnerable to be hit again. This is slightly harder because of Ogura’s new attacks in his arsenal, but it’s pretty intense and fun. Although in the second game, the final phase’s rematch is a NIGHTMARE to fight! Ogura has a total of 6 attacks including the giant fireball attack from the previous game. The fight has the same premise, but he has 2 hands that he actually uses in this fight. Each hand has a different attack with the left shooting fireballs in a circle-like pattern and the right summons 8 icicles in a circle formation and home in on Starfy’s position after a few seconds pass by. However, each hand can be temporarily destroyed if Starfy hits them 8 times. For every time they respawn, they only take 4. This essentially makes getting around the arena easier as Starfy gets knocked back if he touches the hands making some attacks especially in corners hard to maneuver around. But the real pain in the butt is the attacks that don’t come from his hands. He has a laser attack where he stops moving and two small lasers come out of his eyes, then a laser flies to either the top or bottom half of the arena followed by a giant laser. The attack itself isn’t too hard to dodge if you look at where the small laser is going. Then there’s the bomb attack where he spits out 8 bombs from his mouth that fly upwards, then fall on Starfy’s position. These bombs hurt Starfy regardless if they were spat out or they’re falling. Then there’s the swallow attack where he stops moving and tries to swallow and spit out Starfy by sucking him in which is very easy to dodge by holding the A button and moving away from where he’s pulling you in. It’s also indicated by his hands flashing a purple/pink color but may be slightly harder to tell if his hands have been destroyed. All the non-hand attacks I mentioned make his eyes invulnerable which drags the fight even longer and the swallow attack makes his hands invulnerable.
The worst part is that he can do these attacks in succession with one another dragging the fight REALLLY long if he wants to. And remember that fireball attack from the previous game? Everytime he takes damage he uses it but he fires the projectiles at a slower rate but they are also bigger and have a huge hitbox meaning you have to move even more carefully. But that’s not the end of the road, fellas. Cuz Ogura’s got one last surprise to make this a real nightmare. After he reaches 1 health, after using the fireball attack, he will attempt to heal back to 2 HP, which can only be stopped by destroying his hands which can be very difficult to do when he performs the move. This is mostly why destroying his hands is near necessary to end the fight, but constant use of the swallow attack plus his other attacks make this a chore as his hands can regenerate if he stalls for long enough meaning that he will try to heal at EVERY opportunity he gets. All this really shows how Ogura’s rematch is not fun in the second game as all he does is stall 24/7 and no matter how well you play and wait, you will most likely take damage. I can’t see myself actually beating Ogura damage-less in years no matter how good I get.
I never played a Starfy game, but this is a great writeup!
I’ve had fun with many platformer bosses. I think hack and slashes are more of the culprit for “wait too long” bosses.
Waiting is just a general culprit in a lot of genres
There are many bosses in Mario Odyssey that do the same thing as many of the Mario Galaxy bosses. For example the Mechabroode buids on the mechanics of the Pokios encountered earlier in Bowser's Kingdom. As a bonus, there are many ways to speed up the boss fight if you're skilled enough. There are lots of other examples as well, but that one is just my favorite.
kirby boss fights are really well designed. bosses have health bars rather than taking a set amount of hits, and your copy abilities allow you to damage the boss at any time. so the challenge comes from learning how to avoid and take advantage of the boss's attack patterns, which are usually quite varied.
I loved Magalor in Return to Dreamland and Queen Sectonia in Triple Deluxe
@@SlightlyInDepthGaming kirby final bosses are straight up art
The bosses are also super intimidating too. When I played planet robobot and first fought cleanly woods I had no clue what to do but when I figured it out it was such a cool fight.
I really like Celeste's boss design philosophy, where each boss is basically a level mechanic that is integrated into the design of still platforming-focused levels. Instead of dropping the game's strengths to create a boss encounter, it has bosses that work as part of its strengths.
I mean Celeste really only has one boss in Badeline (I guess Oshiro too) but I love that boss to death so I have to agree
Celeste “bosses” (oshiro, badeline) probably don’t have the limitations of standard fights, since they are really just normal screens
I’d say the real Celeste “bosses” are the longer screens near the end of every chapter (most notably Farewell’s final room, but it’s in other chapters and even subchapters for longer chapters or mods). It has a difficulty spike and an additional focus on endurance that is less present in other parts of the game, but it is still the same game, so it isn’t as jarring as the standard fights in boxed arenas.
Note that some mods do implement traditional fights, e.g. Monika’s 6D (has a closed arena fight against Badeline in one room), Conqueror’s Peak (vs the conqueror in the final fight). They usually don’t overstay their welcome
I am a fairly frequent Super Mario Maker 2 player, but an even more avid SMM2 Level Creator. Ive been attempting to make an entire super world of traditional levels meant to feel like an actual mario game (with a pinch of extra difficulty of course), and one of the most important things about this to me is the Bosses in each world. Hearing this criticism on how traditional bosses function is actually really helpful, and most of all encouraging, because i realize that I have so far managed to build off of the negative parts of Mario Bosses and do what the originals did not. So simply, Thank You :>
Hey no problem and good luck on your level building journey!
As a kid, I remember the challenge in fights like the king boo example (3:59) being attempting to figure out how the fight works.
I think that's the intention; give you platforming challenges (dodging the attacks) as you try to figure out how to beat this thing. Like a puzzle.
I agree it doesn't always land though, and it is generally a weird disconnect from the mechanics of the level leading up to it.
There was a game that made Bosses on Plattformers really good.
I don't know the name, but it was a Prince of Persia for the PSP.
I remember that it was some kind of plattforming puzzle where the enemy shot you to knock you off. I spent days trying to land the correct jumps and avoiding his shots until I managed to hit him. I felt that it was pretty cool.
Bouldergeist was one of my favorite bosses playing through Mario Galaxy
Pizza Tower Bosses: Allow us to introduce ourselves
Bouldergheist has been my favourite mario boss from the entire series since I first fought him. He even used to be my pfp for quite a while. It's hard to explain why he is such a cool character. I guess the perfect blend between a cool and silly boss, and it of course being a ghost that isn't just a boo.
I personally couldn't get attached to Super Mario Sunshine, although I do admit it has one of the greatest boss fights in Mario history: Manta Storm.
You are tasked to clean up the electric goo that's spread on the resort, until you get attacked. The mechanics are self explanatory: just spray the manta ray and it splits up in two. This makes a fight against one enemy with more health transition to a one vs. many fight with less health to a one vs. a lot of agressive enemies with a single hit point.
Plus you got the environment which is still partly covered in electric goo that damages you when you touch it. You just learned how to get rid of it, but now you have to focus on your enemies as well.
For me this fight is easily the highlight of the entire game.
The phantamanta is a fantastic boss fight with its free form nature, minimal waiting, and you get the entirety of the beach as your battlefield. Definitely a highlight!
bouldergeist reminds me of this one boss from luigis mansion 1
Hell yeah that's a good boss too
Bosses have always been the absolute highlight of every platformer I have ever played and I thought everyone felt the same. It's weird to me that someone would like a normal level more than a boss.
Normies when the example wasn't major borrows cuz hes in gusty:
How to commit genocide
I think that the main problem that the 2D Mario and 3D World bosses face is that you usually only have 2 hits max before you die with no way to recover that health unlike the 3D games, also given the fact that you usually restart from the checkpoint if you die and not from the boss fight makes me believe that Nintendo usually makes the boss fights super easy and formulaic in order to prevent you from replaying through a decent chunk of the level everytime you die
That’s fair enough. I’d advocate then for a harder boss fight with a checkpoint right before the boss
Rayman 2 and 3 have some brilliant bosses that utilize core mechanics pretty well with the odd boss that's different but not hard to figure out. The character battles from sonic adventure 2 deserve a mention too as they're symmetrical to the player character and they play out way differently from normal 3d platformer bosses.
I haven’t played Rayman 2 or 3 I’ve only completed Legends so I’d have to check that out!
Fighting yourself in Celeste is my favorite boss fight in a platformer.
Harriet and Topper from Odyssey are also genius boss designs; u can skip phases of the fight by hitting Harriet’s bombs back at her while she’s flying in her hat. U can also make the Topper fight go faster bc u can jump over his hats and stomp him while he’s spinning on the ground.
Bouldergeist was always my favorite boss in any Mario game.
I only partly agree with waiting. Waiting is actually one of the most important aspects of a lot of boss fights, but I agree with the fact that it is incredibly underutilized, not regarding the amount of waiting, but regarding what you wait for, and how you wait. It also highly depends on the difficulty of the boss. If you're dealing with a very hard boss, where you have to wait for it to do a certain move to expose its weakness, or if you wait for the boss to do a specific attack so you can get closer for more damage, that's fine. The problem with Mario resides in how easy the bosses are. While you're waiting, there is absolutely no tension at all in almost every single boss fight in Mario games. The only very prominent exceptions, that actaully use waiting well, are the following: Bouldergeist, Kamella (Deep dark), Final bowser fight in SMBW, and final bowser fight in Super Mario Galaxy. While the latter does involve a lot of waiting, at least Bowser constantly throws something new at you, so it doesn't feel dragged out. Bouldergeist has almost minimal waiting, and its premise is actually amazing, and the SMBW bowser fight makes you wait for fireballs to break the wall, but it's expertly done.
Anyways, what I was trying to say, is that waiting is only a bad thing, if the boss design is too predictable and easy, and if the waiting in question doesn't have a prominent role, instead of just making the player "Wait just for waiting sake."
I’d argue that Fury Bowser does this amazingly. You spend the entirety of both 3D World and Bowser’s Fury getting used to the abilities of the cat suit, and you’re able to attack him at any point so you have to make your own opportunities to attack. It’s just a drag out brawl and it’s great.
Seriously, that rock boss on the thumbnail bro... holy shit.... when I was trying to 100% SMG, I needed to complete the bossfight without taking any damage because of the Daredevil Comet, and seriously, i think I spent easily 4 hours on it.
Boo Fight made perfect sense to me as a kid, IDK where you coming from on that one.
So glad to see someone give rightful praise to the best Mario boss! Good video, haha.
I just finished new super Mario bros 1 where you have to think and wait in a really small arena, bowser jr is chasing you and throwing shells and bowser shoots fireballs that track you. I found that one pretty fun
so that's why I liked bouldergeist so much
not just because of the banger theme, but also because it was just a really well-designed fight
New Super Mario Bros. had such amazing bosses but they went back to koopalings after it and I have no clue why
Bro hard agree, start to finish. Good work putting all this in a good cohesive way
The "classic" games and 3D games seem to have totally different design philosophies, and these problems mostly just relate to the "classic" ones (basically, 2D games, 3D Land and 3D World), and I agree with it, although there are ways to speed up some of those boring koopaling fights, too, for example jumping on them right after they come out of the shell before they even have a chance to attack, and also using ground pound on the first hit to deal double damage.
64, Sunshine, Galaxy 1-2 and Odyssey are much better in this regard. Yes even Sunshine. For Petey Piranha if you aim properly you can fill his belly in one go. For the best boss, the Manta Storm you are completely on the offense, and are free to be cautious or agressive with a wide variety of strategies. The giant wiggler can also be defeated fast if you strategically target the sandcastles in front of him. Even for Bowser you can go slowly to get around his attacks fast, or use the rocket to fly around and reach your targets fast.
But gotta agree with the Bouldergeist fight being awesome.
The manta is definitely the best boss in sunshine it’s such a cool idea to turn an entire level into the arena. I will say Sunshine has some really poor bosses that kinda balance the good like cleaning the teeth of the Eel or all the times you have to fight that paint piranha
@@SlightlyInDepthGaming Yeah, that one sucked for sure.
What I was try to say, whether the individual bosses were good or not, they mostly follow a better design philosphy, similar to Galaxy (and also SM64) where you are on the offence, or at the very least, can easily trigger the enemy's attack.
Sunshine is more janky and unpolished than most Mario games, it was rushed, and it shows. It's amazing at its best, but downright broken at its worst.
"Platforming bosses aren't the best part of the game"
Cuphead: hold my milk
Cup head is more about bosses then platforming
“How would you know to throw the pepper” If only Mario had some sort of sidekick which would tell him how his enemies might react to things! Thatd be cool!
"Platformer bosses have never been the highlight of their games"
This man should play Mega Man Zero
This is why I believe most bosses from a Hat in Time are an exception to this problems, they have spectacle, buildup throughout the levels and are just varied enough within the mechanics and presentation, that never feels like a downside to the game. Mario could learn a couple of things from that game.
So glad to see this comment. A Hat in Time has such amazing boss fights. Especially the ones in Subcon Forest.
Bouldergiest was so fun and hard simply because it had more than 1 actual phase, and because of the 4th and 8th hits being very unique.
Even now, Bouldergeist was my favorite bossfight.
I remember spending days and days trying to do bouldergeist on daredevil mode. Good days
Hell yeah it took me forever as a kid
I agree! Although this boss right here 4:45 is such an interesting mechanic that I love
At least Mega Man bosses are/were thematically consistent and don't involve waiting for head bops.
Mega man does have some classics
@@SlightlyInDepthGaming Guts Man is one of them. Everybody knows Guts Man has one of the most practical boss designs in the Mega Man franchise.
Immediately went yes a you mentioned Galaxy, excited even more when you say Boulder-geist, he was a neat boss
"And this time, he's got hands."💀
One fight I remember well was the Ludwig fight in super mario bros wii, it was a unique stage design and genuinely a challenge.
“platformer bosses have never really been the highlight of the game”
Cup head:
Am I a joke to you?
HELL YEAH MARIO GALAXY LOVE. Best series of the franchise and needs another
It’s the best platformer in the series not even close
“Platformer Bosses have never really been the highlight of their game.”
Kirby games: *Allow me to introduce myself.*
Mario Galaxy truly did have amazing bosses. I feel like the quality of a game is largely dependent on its boss design. Kirby is a fantastic example of this. In fact, the bosses are often the most fun part of the series for me. Blowout Blast -- Kirby in a 3D space for the first time -- takes it to a whole new level.
But with Mario, bosses tend to be too quick, too annoying, too easy, and/or too awkward. Bouldergeist really is the pinnacle of this design -- even if you've nailed the fight, there's still a challenge, there's still fun to be had. It's not just jump, step away for a bit, jump, step away for a bit.
Really good analysis here! Loved the vid :)
“Platformer bosses have never really been the highlights of their game”
Shovel Knight, Cuphead, Cave Story, Kirby, Castlevania, Mega Man, Hollow Knight, and more all staring you down like: 🤨
Not actually mad btw, just thought that was a funny claim
Nintendo has 2 franchises full of great, hard bosses in Zelda and Metroid, both of which follow your boss design philosophy. Now, those bosses are often a lot harder than what's in Mario (Metroid Dread excruciatingly so), but the philosophy can be followed without the amped difficulty.
You definitely bring up some good points here. I also get kind of sick of all the Mario bosses, especially in the 2D games, being a boring waiting game a lot of the time and just not feeling very inspired in general.
I hadn't really thought about how well designed a lot of the Mario Galaxy bosses are. They actually feel like highlights of the game, rather than just being tacked on for the sake of having a boss fights in the game.
3:41 underrated joke, caught me off guard lmao.
Mario bosses when they get hit twice: 😡
Also mario bosses after geting hit again: 💀
It really is that simple
Star Fox 64 had some awesome bosses and sometimes more than one choice of boss per level or even the option to skip them via a warp or the outcome of the fight with them determine which planet you go to next. They weren't predictable either - I don't like the idea that an entire level should prepare you for the boss - an unexpected horror at the end that you don't know how to defeat makes for a good boss too!
Oh yeah I’m not saying the boss at the end of the level has to be completely thematically appropriate, just if it uses mechanics from the level before in its boss design to make it more engaging
I kinda agree but the series still has some good and fun bosses though. The final boss fight against Wario in Super Mario Land 2 where he uses some of the power ups against you is really cool. Like you said, Galaxy has some great bosses but so does Galaxy 2 and Odyssey. Bowser's Fury has 2 of the best boss battles in the series, the final one being my favorite in the series. And, what's interesting about Bowser's Fury and Mollusque-Lanceur from Odyssey is that they use the whole level as the boss areana, which is really cool. And, although they're technically not boss fights, the spectacle of the final battles in New Super Mario Bros Wii and Super Mario 3D World make them somewhat cool, albeit a bit easy
I agree with you the Mario series does do bosses well at certain times, it’s really just the 2D series that struggle immensely. The final boss of NSMB wii is one of the best bosses in the series because it’s barely a boss. It’s a platforming gauntlet with an extremely memorable gimmick
@@SlightlyInDepthGaming oh definitely. It was epic going the that gauntlet as a kid, especially with the music
Oh my god yes. The king boo fight in sunshine took me so long to figure out and it made me really frustrated.
3:40 cracked me up
All the footage of Bouldergeist, I kept thinking it's Bogmire lol
I had no idea you could spin to break those rock peaks!
Very easy to get them mixed up
Like Zelda games where you need to use your newly acquired gadget/weapon for boss fights?
Exactly Zelda has great intertwining level and boss design!
I agree, the Galaxies NAILED how boss integration should work
The reason why mario bosses are so simple is... well simple. It's because Shigeru Miyamoto heavily favors simplicity in his game design. He's a very shrewd man to deal with so no one wants to tell him otherwise
Mario has the best bosses ever none of what you say actually matters. boom boom is overused sure but other than that Mario has some incredibly creative bosses mecha bowser, cookatiel, peetey piranha in 3d and 2d, every 3d bowser, new supe u and wii's final bowsers and every one from galaxy 1. Just to name a few. YOU ARE MAKING NO SENSE!! Also don't let mayor see this video
Thinking about celeste and its approach to bosses (I love celeste and I think the battle against the part of her slaps)
Underrated video.
Well I’m glad you found it!
This is why the Mario & Luigi games have their best bosses
The GBA port of SMB3 had a E-Reader card that doubled the health of all bosses. It's the one time the Koopalings are actually challenging!
Hmm that could be interesting but I’d feel it would double the waiting time as well
@@SlightlyInDepthGaming You mean the spinning invulnerability after each stomp? Definitely, but it helps some of the more unique Koopalings have a chance at hitting players (Lemmy, Wendy, Roy for instance).
"He doesn't like spicy things because he's white."
Harsh, but fair.
The biggest issue with a Mario boss fight comes from the fact that in most Mario games, Mario has no offensive moves that aren't tied to his health. If you want to throw fireballs, you can't take a hit. The moment Mario takes damage, he has no way to deal damage. So, all bosses must either be vulnerable to being jumped upon, which makes them really easy, but ties in to the core mechanic of Mario: jumping, or a boss must provide the weapon you need to defeat it, which necessitates waiting for the boss's attack pattern to get to the point where it gives you your weapon. In the 3D Mario games, Mario has some attack options regardless of his health, so those boss fights tend to be more proactive, where Mario needs to find an opening and attack. In the 2D games, Mario has to either jump on their head, or wait for them to give him a weapon. If Bowser didn't stand on bridges that can be collapsed by an axe, he would have won already.
Bouldergiest is a good boss fight because he's the one I spent the most time on. I don't think any mario fights gotten me more riled up.
I spent multiple attempts on him as well!
Pizza Tower knew what they were doing lol
Pizza Tower bosses sucked tbh
I can think of only one Mario game that doesnt have bosses that take only 3 hits. And that is the Luigi's Mansion series
Opening with a HUGE pisstake
Gotta check out pizza tower those boss fights are a highlight of the game
Are we not going to talk about the Phantom Manta from sunshine? I thought that was an amazing boss fight
6:38 that was easy for me, for the star and for the prankster
I could never put a finger on why I liked Bouldergeist more than Squizzard, a somewhat similar boss in Galaxy 2, but now I understand. You have to wait for Squizzard to open his mouth before you can damage him by throwing fireballs into it. He also gets stunned by this attack, meaning that you can just spam with no threat of counterattack as long as you're not on the quicksand.
Yeah squizzard falls a little bit into the wait and attack cycle but Galaxy 2 also has some bangers
I always liked the final bowser bosses from the new super mario games, especially the wii final boss.
Mario is a game generally directed to kids. It's not supposed to be Elden Ring level boss fights
I liked the bosses in odyssey a lot. Some weren’t about just jumping on them 3 times (maybe you had to shoot them as a tank or climb their mechanical body)
True they used their transformations for most of the bosses which was a good change of pace!
What about the mario&luigi series bosses?
Tbh I love kingfin, bouldergeist, and firey dino piranha because they add tiny additions to the fight like firey igniting itself to make u time attacks, kingfin summoning bonefin to gank mario, and bouldergeist getting more defensive with summoning hands and more rock spikes.
These are bosses and additions I love as they have u use mechanics ether used in their signature galaxies (bouldergeist) or in previous galaxies (firey and kingfin)
Galaxy overall has some of the most solid boss design in the series!
@@SlightlyInDepthGaming agreed
I give mario 64 a pass because it was when the 3d platforming genre was just starting. Plus, the bowser throws were a genius idea.
Also, I think waiting for a weak point or opening is fine as long as you are not sitting there doing nothing.
Those bowser fights are iconic I will give 64 that
I've always thought waiting in a boss is fine as long as the "waiting" is more so surviving. The time between damaging the boss needs difficulty to occupy the player, make them feel engaged with the fight itself even if the window for damaging said boss are on a timer. A good example is something like Undertale perhaps. You can only attack or act after an enemy's turn but throughout their turn you're constantly dodging projectiles.
I wish Nintendo would take a slightly different approach to the 2D games. A tower with a mini-bosd suited to the world like in the original NSMB, then the castle at the end of the world with its own gimmick which you then need to use to beat the Koopaling. Would make the game as a whole more dynamic.