What final boss battles in video games did you think were disappointing and why?
Super Mario Sunshine is the obvious one for me. The battle did at least match the game theme wise, but the way the game led up to it really didn't work very well. Take the whole flood thing. What the heck was the point of it when all it did was open a single door and vanish as soon as you entered Corona Mountain for the first time?
Then Corona Mountain itself was arguably a poorly designed level that didn't really do very much with the volcano theme or have any of the interesting level design from Mario 64 or Mario Galaxy's Bowser levels.
This was good back in the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjfhHfcAIdU
Not so much this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3amuWV3BXts
It's not the worst level ever, it's just that the former feels a lot more like a grand finale with proper atmosphere (seeing the ominous red/blue/purple clouds and creepy music) while the second felt like a short room with a few obstacles and pretty much no real enemies. It's a pity, since the real levels had so much more charm to them and actually felt like real places, while Corona Mountain felt like a half assed video game level in comparison. Maybe they should have you go through a longer final course that winded around the mountain and across the sky.
As for Bowser himself, I don't know why, but the fight felt lacklustre and lacking in any real 'emotional' impact. Never seemed much like a final boss fight and more like disturbing a family going on a nice holiday.
New Super Mario Bros is another example of a game I felt had a boring final boss. The last level? Pretty good. The boss? A fairly dull rehash of the SMB 1 Bowser battle. Bowser was bigger sure, but he fought pretty much the exact same way as in world 1 in NSMB. Bowser Jr was just a minor annoyance.
Finally, my final possible example, although it's not quite the very final boss (does roll the credits though), and that's the Elite Four in Pokemon Gold and Silver. They were way, way too easy and low level for an Elite Four, and if you weren't playing the remakes you never got an actually difficult refight with them. I admit it's probably because Kanto was meant to be more challenging, but so many other trainers were just more interesting to battle. Like Red (the arguably real final boss) or that trainer in Kanto with the other Johto starter Pokemon. Not to mention the Elite Four line up was quite poor, at least two of them (Koga and Bruno) posed no challenge whatsoever and Will was always easier to defeat that Lorelei... Not to mention with Lance as the champion, you never got to fight a well rounded, strategically decent team, just teams focused on one Pokemon type each.
What final bosses do you think were average/a let down/bad?
Super Mario Sunshine is the obvious one for me. The battle did at least match the game theme wise, but the way the game led up to it really didn't work very well. Take the whole flood thing. What the heck was the point of it when all it did was open a single door and vanish as soon as you entered Corona Mountain for the first time?
Then Corona Mountain itself was arguably a poorly designed level that didn't really do very much with the volcano theme or have any of the interesting level design from Mario 64 or Mario Galaxy's Bowser levels.
This was good back in the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjfhHfcAIdU
Not so much this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3amuWV3BXts
It's not the worst level ever, it's just that the former feels a lot more like a grand finale with proper atmosphere (seeing the ominous red/blue/purple clouds and creepy music) while the second felt like a short room with a few obstacles and pretty much no real enemies. It's a pity, since the real levels had so much more charm to them and actually felt like real places, while Corona Mountain felt like a half assed video game level in comparison. Maybe they should have you go through a longer final course that winded around the mountain and across the sky.
As for Bowser himself, I don't know why, but the fight felt lacklustre and lacking in any real 'emotional' impact. Never seemed much like a final boss fight and more like disturbing a family going on a nice holiday.
New Super Mario Bros is another example of a game I felt had a boring final boss. The last level? Pretty good. The boss? A fairly dull rehash of the SMB 1 Bowser battle. Bowser was bigger sure, but he fought pretty much the exact same way as in world 1 in NSMB. Bowser Jr was just a minor annoyance.
Finally, my final possible example, although it's not quite the very final boss (does roll the credits though), and that's the Elite Four in Pokemon Gold and Silver. They were way, way too easy and low level for an Elite Four, and if you weren't playing the remakes you never got an actually difficult refight with them. I admit it's probably because Kanto was meant to be more challenging, but so many other trainers were just more interesting to battle. Like Red (the arguably real final boss) or that trainer in Kanto with the other Johto starter Pokemon. Not to mention the Elite Four line up was quite poor, at least two of them (Koga and Bruno) posed no challenge whatsoever and Will was always easier to defeat that Lorelei... Not to mention with Lance as the champion, you never got to fight a well rounded, strategically decent team, just teams focused on one Pokemon type each.
What final bosses do you think were average/a let down/bad?
