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In a tradition stretching back to tabletop games, there’s a big boss to fight at the end of the path. It’s a widely held belief that boss fights should be a test of how well players have mastered the core mechanics. Typically, developers like to throw out a fight that can’t be won unless players use a specific skill they just learned or acquired.
However, sometimes these tests can be a lot more difficult than they need to be. Whether it was due to a poor tutorial, lack of testing, or just plain sadism, some early boss fights caused players a lot more heartache than expected. Some of the toughest first boss fights in gaming have tested players around the world.
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10 TimeSplitters 2 – The Mi-24 Hind
TimeSplitters 2 was a major improvement over its predecessor with a more polished story campaign that featured a similar difficulty-based mission structure as Rare’s Gold eye And Perfect dark. Inexplicably, the opening stage, Siberia, proves to be one of the toughest parts of the entire game.
Players must be careful not to be spotted by hidden cameras, beware of dangerous snipers, and make sure they don’t join the numerous undead soldiers that have plagued the enemy base. Even after completing all of these tasks, players will have to face off against a Mi-24 Hind and several soldiers before they can get through the portal.
9 Hades – Megaera the Fury
supergiants Hades was a rogue film praised for its phenomenal storytelling, presentation, and bosses. While death would mean starting from scratch, players would retain any helpful upgrades and abilities they had acquired – which is also good since the bosses posed a far greater threat than the generic henchman sent by the aforementioned deity.
On each playthrough, the damage taken from Megaera serves as a good indication of how well players will fare in the rest of the game. She has a lot of HP and her combos can prove particularly devastating even at full health.
8th Mega Man Zero – Aztec Falcon
Granted, Aztec Falcon by Mega Man Zero is not too difficult once players get used to the game’s core mechanics and combat. However, he definitely shouldn’t have been the game’s first boss. Zero follows the series tradition of giving players the ability to choose the order of the stages.
However, Zero must defeat the disposal center overseer before the game begins. As if stressing uninitiated players with a timer wasn’t bad enough, its electric bolts and three-way shots can make players throw away their bullets in frustration.
7 Illusion of Gaia – Castoth
The second part of the so-called “Quintent Trilogy” Illusion of Gaia was a top-down action role-playing game on the Super Nintendo. Castoth is an impressive creature with huge hands and many deadly projectiles. Players meet him towards the end of Larai Cliff. In any other game, a monstrosity like this would be the boss, but here it’s actually the first.
A popular strategy is to take out Castoth’s huge hands and then attack him from behind. However, players need to be careful as his hands will reappear after some time. If they successfully repeat this process, that creature too will meet its Creator.
6 Devil May Cry-Phantom
Hideki Kamiya’s first original IP changed the gaming landscape and paved the way for the hack and slash genre. Two aspects that made up the original Devil May Cry was his over the top presentation and brutal challenge. While the first few stages in the castle aren’t particularly difficult, the game really starts with the giant spider/scorpion hybrid Phantom.
Players’ first instinct will likely be to attack Phantom’s face directly. Whoever manages to do it, however, must be prepared to immediately dodge his rising lava attack. Additionally, Phantom’s announcement that he’s “going to step on you like an ant” is by no means an empty threat as he leaps across the stage.
5 Dark Souls – Asylum Demon
To this day, fans and critics disagree heavily about the asylum part at the beginning of the film Dark Souls. When players are introduced to the Asylum Demon, their first instinct may be to face it head-on. To the uninitiated, that’s suicide.
While it might be possible to gradually defeat the Asylum demon at the beginning, players are actually supposed to escape into a tunnel and learn the core mechanics. Eventually, players will get another chance to face this monster – only this time they have stronger equipment and a better understanding of the fight. Nevertheless, it will probably take several attempts before success is achieved.
4 Lost Odyssey – Grilgan
Lost Odyssey was a JRPG directed by final fantasy Creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and another attempt by Microsoft to attract Japanese gamers to the Xbox 360. While the combat mechanics were pretty clean, there were a few unique elements like the immortal party members.
When certain characters were knocked out in combat, they regained consciousness after a few turns. To compensate for this, boss fights have been made exponentially more difficult. The first major villain, a dragon named Grilgan, will surely mince players on the first game. Players need to beware of his down burst attack, which will likely kill all party members in one hit.
3 Bloodborne—Father Gascoigne
While players may encounter the Cleric Beast first, they can also contact Father Casciogne directly if they are interested. However, they would do well to level up their character beforehand and learn their dodge skills. Being a hunter himself, Casciogne will do his bit of dodging, shooting, and weapon swapping in the first stage.
Even if players manage to stay alive long enough to lose three quarters of Casciogne’s health, his beast form will make quick work of any unwary player. Different than before souls There is no shield in games that can save players from these monstrosities.
2 Ninja Gaiden-Murai
Murai might be the only example of a tutorial boss that caused problems for players. True to its 8-bit side-scrolling roots, Ninja Gaiden For the original Xbox, it was a hard-hitting action title. The game was designed to punish players who resorted to cheap tactics and simple button presses.
When fighting Murai, players must be careful not to get too close lest they be grabbed by him or vulnerable to his devastating triple combos. The usual strategy is to persuade him to use his torpedo attack, dodge, and then strike while he’s vulnerable.
1 Demon Souls – Vanguard
It seems fitting that the game that would introduce that souls Formula would contain the most devastating first boss. This is commonly believed by many demon souls Vanguard is unbeatable as players are transported to the Nexus after their crushing defeat. To make matters worse, players must defeat another boss before they can earn the other half of their health bar.
However, this optional boss can actually be defeated with enough dedication. Even if they manage to defeat the Vanguard, players will still end up in the Nexus after being killed by an even larger beast.