From Wikipedia:
“In video games, a boss is a particularly large or challenging computer-controlled character who must be defeated at the end of a segment of a game, whether he/she/it be for a level, an episode, or the very end of the game itself (final boss). Bosses appear in many video games, particularly story or level-based first and third-person shooters, platform games, role-playing video games, and most shoot 'em ups. Most games feature multiple bosses, each often more difficult than the last.”
When I think back to games I’ve played in the past, the bosses always seem to stick out more than almost any other element. Sometimes it’s because of the buildup of tension leading into the battle: the swell of the musical score as the camera pans around the burning feudal mansion that threatens to engulf both combatants as they duel to the death. Sometimes it’s sheer awe, scale, and/or creativity of the foe. We clench the control stick of our R-9A fighter ship with whitened knuckles, staring down the bio-mechanical monstrosity tethered to the wall before us. Often times though, it’s because game bosses were total bastards designed to suck quarters from our pockets or hide the fact that the new game we paid $50 for only has 30 minutes of actual content.
I think that when well designed, bosses should act as a test of the abilities that the player has been practising up to that point. One thing that really bothers me is when boss fights throw all that out the window, and force the player to either learn new mechanics on the spot, or engage in a war of attrition by removing functionality. For example, fighting game bosses. Admittedly, I’m very much a scrub when it comes to fighting games. Sure, I can sling fire balls and dragon punches with decent efficiency, but anybody who plays more than once a week is taking me down. I’m not much of a competitive gamer, so I generally like to play through fighting games with each character to see the story bits and unlock things. It pisses me off to no end when I’m managing to hold my own, and then the next enemy is some giant dude that can’t be thrown, takes off 75% of your life bar in one hit, and is as easy to hit as a greased up Muhammad Ali.
Another thing I’ve gotten tired of is when a boss fight becomes a puzzle which it’s the player’s job to figure out and complete…how many times? Three. It’s always three. You know what I mean. Pull that lever to drop the explosive barrel, then lure the tentacle monster over to it, the shoot the barrel once it picks it up. Yeah, then do it two more times. Yawn. It’s not that I think having a boss battle as a separate logic test is a horrible idea, it’s just been done sooooooo many times. I’m actually surprised when a game only makes me do something once to a boss and calls it a day.
Oh, and if you put an unskippable cutscene right before a particularly challenging boss battle, please hand in your game dev card. Door’s that way.
So what are some of your most memorable moments of game bosses? What left a lasting positive impression and made you want more? What drove you insane and made you want to smash your controller?
What can we learn from existing boss designs, and what are effective ways to challenge the player?
