The Craziest Most Bizarre NES Boss Fights (Nintendo Entertainment System)

[@EpicLebaneseNerd]

I swear this dude is like that 1 guy in the friends group who is the heart and soul of the entourage, u know him, that guy that no road trip, gathering, sleep over or any group activity is complete if he doesn't show up. Honestly this is now the best Nes channel for me, it beats the ''u know who'' channel that now reviews bottom of the barrel stuff. Great job James, hope u get 1,000,000 subs one day since ur tha man.

[@RappingNinja]

I don’t know who “u know who” is, but I am really happy I found this one

[@Boogie_the_cat]

​@@RappingNinjaNinja Rap by Vanilla Ice: Go ninja go ninja go ! Did u know Vanilla Ice's real name is Robert Van Winkle ? It's true.

[@Boogie_the_cat]

It's weird that you would be comparing an apple with a dishwasher, but you're allowed to do that. But generally, in movie reviews, the reviewer doesn't compare Spy Kids with Flesh Eater 7: The Bloodening Continues It's not the same target audience, and the only thing they have in common is they are movies where a group of protags foils the evil antagonist. Unless I missed the part in Spy Kids where the stoned teenagers having sex in the back of a Volvo get their faces chewed off, it's hard to compare the two. Was there a Spy Kids directors cut ? The "other channel" isn't a NES channel anyways.

[@KatyParker7140]

Who're you talking about, SNES Drunk? Koei games aren't bottom of the barrel tier. There's worse he's done videos on.

[@EpicLebaneseNerd]

@@Boogie_the_cat jim carry made me know that in his spoof track, and remember, nothjing rhymes with winkle.

[@mtgpackrat7945]

Legendary Wings. The boss with multiple eyes that shoots brains at you. That one always freaked me out a bit.

[@ColdPants89]

Totally Rad was one of my favorite games growing up! I don’t think this game gets enough love, so I’m always grateful to see it talked about!

[@RinaRetro]

*Aww your wife looks so sweet! She’s a lucky Girl* 💙

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah she is! ;)

[@RichCale]

That first boss had me thinking of Scylla in Greek Mythology.

[@Demoncradle]

It probably is that

[@MyVengenceEndsNow]

3:57 I'm VERY happy someone else loved Astayanax the same way I used did.

[@stagedlink1251]

I always love the way you describe things in a call-it-like-you-see sort of way. I don’t care what the official names of these bosses are. Your descriptions are now canon.

[@carlcouture1023]

When you consider that the NES was built to the specs of "Make it play Donkey Kong pretty well" it's pretty wild how far developers were able to push it. And yes the MMC3 is to thank most of the time, but you still need to be really good to make bosses on par with what KID was doing.

[@HylianFox3]

I know right? I swear the NES has by far the most eclectic mix of games released for any system.

[@BigOleWords]

KID rules!!!

[@xenos_n.]

So many of these games I've never even heard of. The NES had a huge library.

[@frankiesalatino547]

If I worked on something for months and then my job told me "nevermind, we're scrapping the whole thing" I would be f*cking pissed.

[@MasterZebulin]

Go-ing pos-tal! Go-ing pos-tal! Go-ing pos-tal!

[@maltheopia]

Protip: don't get into sales, engineering (especially mechanical or electrical, especially especially computer), or project management if you are going to TAP INTO AN ANCESTRAL, NAY APOCALYPTIC RAGE THAT WILL REND THE HEAVENS everytime a project you've sweat blood for on gets a 'lol nm'.

[@HylianFox3]

Just ask the guys who made 'Coyote vs. Acme' But yeah, this happens way more often than you'd think, in pretty much any industry. But it especially sucks when something truly awesome is canned, while a bunch of crap gets released. Oh, well...

[@frankiesalatino547]

@@maltheopia uh ya I'm a career waiter because I went to college for Technical Writing lol.

[@BigOleWords]

For real! Especially a almost complete and amazing game like Time Diver

[@cajampa]

OK I thought I knew the nes library. But you proved to me that I am just a simple casual. Because I have only played one of those. And they all look amazing.

[@tenebrousoul9368]

I checked this shit out

[@fat.E]

Hey, Me too man!

[@frankf684]

I shit this check out,think I did it wrong

[@BigDaddyCola]

Great video. Just stumbled on your channel. You got some really deep cuts here which is refreshing. You actually managed to showcase a game i dont remember ever hearing about with eon man. I was an avid nintendo power reader and it still evaded my memory. When you showed the issue i straight up remembered the pages even. Great stuff!

[@BlueEXEVideos]

Totally rad video dude!

[@alessandrobaggi6129]

4:34 "Krang meets Kwato" must be the best description here. 🤣👍😉

[@mightyfilm]

"SAKI! Open your MIND!"

[@BigOleWords]

Don…start the reactor!

[@Boogie_the_cat]

Klaatu barada nikto

[@iwillquietlyresist6922]

I just recently came across your channel while looking for some new stuff to watch to get away from the depressing news of the world, and your videos have been exactly what i needed. Love your stuff!

[@collinmichaelkahn3918]

Right?!? Same here. We found them for pretty much the exact same reasons. Guessing you were a late 80’s/early 90’s kid like me as well. Something about watching our peers make such thoughtful work cataloguing and digging into the lore about so many games I missed has me *this* close to buying one of those nt mini things I’m always hearing about.

[@iwillquietlyresist6922]

@collinmichaelkahn3918 fortunately for me, I actually have two NES that are still in working order - me and my wife both still have our systems from when we were kids! 😄

[@FlipWilson78]

"Medusa of Liberty! New band name, I called it!" - Andy Dwyer (probably)

[@JohnRiggs]

Kickmaster probably has my favorite NES graphics if any game. Especially through a CRT

[@BigOleWords]

I think we all have that one game we recommend too much and bring up too often and for me that is definitely ol’ Kick Master!

[@mikemurphy5898]

Yoo! Two of the greats on this -channel- err, platform.

[@chrisd6287]

This surprise day off honestly keeps getting better by the second. Hell Yea!!

[@paulcampbell8696]

Dang. I have never played totally rad more than 30 seconds because I was so put off by the dialogue and the play control of the main character that I assumed nobody put any thought or effort into it. You have inspired me to check it out when I get home tonight.

[@mattsweeney3790]

Once you get the "magic maintenance " down it's a pretty cool game. No item drops, so what you start with is what you got. You can change into 3 other "suits" and they can be pretty helpfull. Go for it!

[@BigOleWords]

It’s actually really good

[@TrevorAWilliams]

Great video! And hopefully Atlanta United can continue their upset streak. I would like to see my Loons versus the Five Stripes in MLS Cup.

[@BigOleWords]

Oh snap thanks! And yeah that’d be very unlikely but amazing!

[@dary0097]

1:50 How on earth did I didn't know about this Awesome Game !

[@TrevinAdams]

This was a great video idea and as usual, your descriptions are money!

[@eelobrian6727]

'"Bone Throne" wins gold for best double entendre ever.

[@mattsweeney3790]

Plasticman is BEST superhero 100%

[@eelobrian6727]

@mattsweeney3790 Thanks! I have had many adventures :)

[@mattsweeney3790]

Like the time you were in millions of pieces on the bottom of the ocean and it took thousands of years to be put back together.....Plas is deep

[@eelobrian6727]

@mattsweeney3790 That was tough. When I'm in the water, I prefer to be a surfboard.

[@mattsweeney3790]

@@eelobrian6727 like in the plasticman adventure comedy show!?!?! Horrible half ape and The Clam!!!!!

[@mulderman5562]

Little Samson is also a treasure trove of amazing bosses on the NES. From the giant cyclops from stage 1 to the dragon from the volcano stage. Absolutely mind-blowing they got them to look as good as they did on the NES. Next to no slowdown or sprite flicker either. Compare the dragon fight to the Mecha Dragon from Mega Man 2 for example.

[@BigOleWords]

That was definitely on the extended list! My favorite isn’t a boss but that giant crab guy.

[@NorrinRaddIITurbo]

Great video! I really like the boss at the end of Monster in My Pocket. Just when you think the game is over, you have to fight a glitched out TV screen.

[@101iswhatsup]

That collection is impressive. Blessings to you and your wife.

[@HighFiveGhost50]

That horse was workin’ it.

[@Ascendingstorm]

Excellent video man! Loved it. I gotta play a few of these!

[@gridly.todd.h]

Great list! Maybe TGL, abadox, blaster master, and life force for next cycle?

[@nickparsons337]

Excellent choices

[@joeszymanski3540]

Abadox was crazy.

[@gridly.todd.h]

@@joeszymanski3540 natsume!

[@joeszymanski3540]

@gridly.todd.h Yes! Still remember that creepy intro.

[@danbauer3669]

How about every boss in Monster Party?

[@BigOleWords]

I think I decided that would pair better for a more wtf boss video

[@HylianFox3]

This entire list could have been Monster Party, lol

[@genewildershair81]

The game that let me fight a literal onion ring.

[@mattsweeney3790]

Uh-mazing perler, fantastic video, best video ideas for nes ever from you, Bames. I made a longer comment but my phones been wonky, so doesn't look like it made the jump to light speed. Zen in space at the end is extremely memorable.

[@BainesMkII]

Time Diver probably did the giant hand the same way that SNES Turtles did the Foot soldier screen splat. It wasn't a Mode7 trick; it was just a bunch of sprites grouped together.

[@andrewhunter9119]

Randomly just stumbled across your video for the first time...big fan. Cant believe my algorithm failed to get this to me WAY sooner. Reminds me of AVGN...back when he had passion for it. Keep it up dude.

[@BigOleWords]

Thanks man, glad you like it!

[@AirZonkWorldChamp]

I thought Wrath of the Black Manta bosses would make the list too, they are just too weird with their lack of animation.

[@BigOleWords]

Another game I haven’t spent much time on. I’ll check it out!

[@dendroleon]

his name is tiny but he's REAL big

[@GertrudesD]

Aye Yo! I just got out of prison and imma binge watch your channel today! Glad to see you kept up with the vids while I was doing time. Thanks bro!

[@inc2000glw]

Welcome home . U didn't miss much. Just government crap

[@BigOleWords]

Oh snap for real?! Sorry to hear that but congrats on freedom bud!

[@lvclix]

You don’t even know what he did. What if you’re big up’n a chomo or wife killer? Rapist? Ask for that paperwork before welcoming the big homie home.

[@GertrudesD]

@lvclix what if I was joking?

[@Boogie_the_cat]

This is the content i ❤ Also, "codpiece" is the best word to come out of the middle ages. I wish codpieces would come back. We never pull nostalgia from the deeper wells. Also, Turtles in Time does not use Mode 7 for the foot clan throwing. Mode 7 is only scaling and rotation of a background or foreground layer, and does not apply to sprites. Konami simply drew larger sprites to make it appear as if the foot soldiers are coming towards the screen. That is why it appears much more choppy than actual hardware sprite scaling.

[@EX7RUD1CON]

Conquest of the crystal palace is awesome, one of my favourites, I loved how you could control the dog

[@doordashdriver]

blaster master and fester's quest had some crazy bosses. both sunsoft games

[@eelobrian6727]

@@doordashdriver if you look closely, they are the same game.

[@JB-mm5ff]

Crabullus!

[@turbokiller]

My favorites are the ones from KICK MASTER

[@SirRosser]

Heh, as soon as I saw the thumbnail, I knew that Astyanax would make the cut.

[@BigOleWords]

The best!

[@萌子ディリバルト]

Hey. Loved the video, Journey to Silous has some pretty nice boss battles👍

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah it does!

[@josephbradshaw6985]

Well Bionic Commando had Hitler, which was nuts. Mother Brain was pretty scary when I was young, but that might be too mainstream. 🙂

[@Stratelier]

Minor correction for clarity, the Shredder boss from TMNT: Turtles in Time was NOT an actual Mode 7 effect -- just custom sprite assets for throwing Foot Soldiers "into the screen" (which you could do during any stage).

[@RaposaCadela]

WOW, these bosses really were crazy, I didn't know most of them

[@MyNegaJay]

Totally Rad was one of my favorite NES games to rent. Beat is several times back in the day. Cool bosses. The real end boss is inside the knight.

[@opaljk4835]

Crisis Force has awesome bosses multi segmented bosses. Not sure if you’ve covered that already, but it’s one of my fave games for the console.

[@BigOleWords]

Yknow that’s a game I’ve been meaning to get to…

[@ItalNico]

Love seeing stuff like this from more obscure games that never crossed my radar. The Skull boss from Life Force is the one that I always remember as being weird and freaky. Then there's Stinger...giant watermelon boss FTW. :)

[@ggbetz]

I havent even heard of all these games (that time diver game), and the rest I've never seen with my own eyes, except tmnt tournament fighters. Clearly, I've mostly played commons. Great video! All these games are on my list to play tho.

[@olserknam]

I think 16-bit is where big scary bosses truly shined, you already covered most of the weird ones from NES. But if you want to keep your follow-up strictly 8-bit, Alien Syndrome is a must. It has some pretty grotesque and disturbing bosses even by today's standards.

[@BigOleWords]

Y’know that’s a game I completely neglected! I’ll have to try it again

[@nesaaliyah4821]

Great video, amazing channel!

[@ShockerTopper]

Good video. I grew up with NES, but only from 5-8, and when SNES came out, I played it a bit less. I'd say I wished I had grown up with it more, but I'm fine being born in the mid 80's. I'm content with when I grew up for sure.

[@esotericcorporation7058]

8:30 Did we have to talk about and zoom in on the horse butt? That was funny as hell

[@BigOleWords]

Yes, yes we did

[@LuwiigiMaster]

An interesting thing here is that three of these games are related in some way - Kick Master, Isolated Warrior, and Zombie Nation. The first two were made by a company called "Kindle Imagine Develop", or KID, while the last was made by KAZe. Here's where it gets interesting - Norio Nakagata composed for Isolated Warrior and Zombie Nation, and Zombie Nation uses a sound driver that KID later used for Recca, Doki Doki Yuuenchi, and Kick Master.

[@cmfort2696]

I like the poster in the background.

[@fattdamon1980]

So happy to see Bucky O'Hare on here, my favorite game as a kid.

[@romusz]

Everything in Abadox was pretty freaky looking. Body horror in a living planet, good stuff! Even stranger was how Milton Bradley published the US version and its still nothing but gore.

[@YeOldeBelmont]

Great narration, top notch jokes. Subbed.

[@BigOleWords]

Hey thanks for saying that!

[@bedwablackburn]

Yoooo! Zen Intergalactic Ninja ALERT!

[@billyhorn7886]

The zen boss looks like something out of Gwar

[@dendroleon]

the human race will die, and we'll just shrug

[@subdynoman]

FANTASTIC VID!!! Game recognized game!! Wow! You are lucky to have your player 2. This was a fun and entertaining vid, i got to get my hands on some of these titles. I hope us oldskoolers get a chance to bring back true 8bit development, i see there is a few that are still creating and using the original consol for play. I would love to make a game, as i always wanted as a kid...my fav game is still The Guardian Legend, with #2 being Blaster Master.

[@jeffm5056]

I remember Tiny in Wrath of the Black Manta. He took up the entire screen.

[@diablojones]

What? No Abbadox?!?

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah that game is nuts

[@kevin12567]

@@BigOleWordsEspecially the vertically scrolling section where the music fades out, replaced by a heartbeat as you pass this giant lamprey-looking thing, before the boss theme finally comes in and you see an eye on its tail. Unsettling!

[@TheL1arL1ar]

You take me back to the time when NES was pretty much the only household name…

[@Ultrapub]

While not exactly an NES game, your final opponent in “Sin and Punishment” (N64) is an entire copy of planet Earth. You’re literally shooting at a giant enemy planet, trying to deflect back all its attacks, as it shoots directly at the original Earth itself!

[@nerdcraftercoley7305]

So glad Astyanax was on here besides the titular Mario games and Contra its the one game I've played over and over. Contra has some great bosses that are cool.

[@CarniviusPrime]

That Kick Master Perler Bead pic is awesome. Also your wife is a looker too. Have a good day!

[@benwhite5452]

"NES game called 'Kick Master' being good" is so unlikely, but there it is

[@FFVison]

Yeah, they had a lot of those on the NES. I am kind of surprised that the end boss of Ninja Gaiden didn't make this list. Got ninjas, then statues, and then a weird shrimp thing? Pretty strange. Anywho, anyone else feel like the tune playing at the end of this video (13:19) sounds like a chiptunes version of a song inspired by the song they played at the Blue Oyster Bar from Police Academy?

[@brianjl7477]

That zombie head game IS totally wild! I've never seen that one.

[@MrCaotico666]

Many of those games I have never even seen, and oh boy I DID look everywhere Guess I was wrong about knowing about the whole NES library. Well, subscribed! I would definitely suggest Astyanax' bosses, specially the first miniboss, but you did it! If I may, I'd suggest looking at so many cool bosses from Little Samsom, Jakie Chan's last boss who turns into the (very realistic) spider, Kid Dracula's cloud-surfer-deities, and the NES splatterhouse game's Vampire MJ. Cheers y'all!

[@shawnio]

you picked like 6 of my childhood games, I literally drooled on my self reminiscing lol totally rad was an amazing game for sure.

[@shawnio]

should of at least mentioned mega man 2's silly big bosses

[@cdavis7249]

I love your show sir it makes me happy

[@darktetsuya]

first off loved the perler beads story! wish I was 1/10th that talented I could barely manage a pac-man the last time I tried to do it, haha. I'm glad you mentioned astyanax! definitely my #1 as far as crazy boss designs go, someone at jaleco/icom really had a knack for great boss designs. I'm sure they also worked on totally rad so including that one tracks as well.

[@Kylora2112]

My mind immediately went to Blaster Master. Those were the first crazy boss fights most NES-playing kids got to see...if they were good enough to get there.

[@rockk9753]

Some of those arcade and nes bosses used to look terrifying, later games only mortal kombat, resident evil, and silent hill scared me

[@alexh2790]

What a rad channel! I was just the right age when I got exposed to the NES ( we called it Regular Nintendo) and that sh!t was magic to me. As good as the SNES was, the NES had a weird juxtaposition of abstraction and refinement (and sometimes obtuseness) that really tickled my young imagination. I blame the NES for my lifelong drawing facination.

[@joeszymanski3540]

Wait, is the Statue of Liberty Medusa shooting pigeons out of her eyes?? 😂😂

[@BigOleWords]

Haha is that what those are?!?

[@joeszymanski3540]

@BigOleWords I think so! 😂

[@intel386DX]

Little Samson and Journey to Silius have crazy bosses as well

[@arvinrunstein5707]

Bruh that macaroni art is sick.

[@MrWendell6702]

Had never even heard of any of these games. Great stuff.

[@UrielManX7]

I'll add to this that all these bosses were possible because they all use the background graphics, that's why all of them are in a black background. It was the trick they had to use to make big bosses.

[@Drumboardist]

Man, if you haven't played "Little Samson", one of THE last games released on the NES, y'gotta. The boss fights are incredible.

[@Nobody-sp7ug]

I have never heard of a single one of these games on this list. I dont think this has ever happened before.

[@BigOleWords]

That’s what I’m here for! ;)

[@SatoshiMatrix1]

9:11 The hands of the boss are sprites whereas the rest of the boss is the background. A sprite is a 8x8 (or 8x16 depending on the mode) three color object that can move totally independently of he background. In terms of the NES, since the screen resolution is 256x240, almost always multiple sprites are combined together to create a larger character than 8 pixels tall by 8 pixels wide. Even small Mario in Super Mario Bros. consists of four sprites! Although the NES hardware was built to handle sprites easily, it nevertheless has certain limitations with sprites. One eight sprites can be drawn her horizontal scanline Any after are simply not drawn. Programmers could account for this by turning off other sprites on alternating frames creating a "flickering" effect to make it look as if there are more than 8 sprites per scanline when there are not. The other limitation is that the NES can only draw 64 sprites in total to the screen at a time. Given these limitations, this boss fight in Time Diver Eon Man consists of large vertical sprites as to not be concerned with the 8 sprites per scanline cap and then uses almost all sprite slots for the hands. It's clever.

[@dwest84]

Totally Rad was one of my favorites, haha. Still got my copy.

[@TysonBegford]

Thanks for covering Time Diver Eon. I don’t think I’ve played it yet (rare for me to come across an 8bit game I haven’t). Will have to fire up the everdrive this evening.

[@BigOleWords]

If there's a ever a game that makes since no one's played it, it's an unreleased one ;)

[@TysonBegford]

@@BigOleWords turns out it was going to be a sequel to wrath of the black manta. Neat!

[@Scythemantis]

"Wolfrider" is obviously Scylla! She's not just riding or commanding them, in the original myth the pack of wolves are her actual lower body! Like a mermaid, but instead of a fish tail it's like 20 wolves.

[@BigOleWords]

How do they breath underwater?!

[@thedrunkmonkshow]

I'd have to run each of these games through a debugger to be 100% sure but usually with 8-Bit games the bosses will be static background art that stays in place surrounded by a solid color, usually black, then they will scroll the level around but keep the player sprite anchored in relation to it's location on the display of the screen sort of like a HUD display to give the illusion that the boss has movement. Although, I think in the case of Eon Man's last boss, the body of the boss is static background art while the moving hands and sword are sprites. A feature the NES has that's rarely used is to double the size of sprites from 8x8/8x16 to 16x16/16x32. Normally you can only have 64 sprites at a time but if the sprites are double-mode then they can cover more space on screen than the normal sizes without breaking the PPU's 8 sprite-per-scanline limitation leading to flicker. The only two games that come to mind besides Eon to use doubled sprites are the boss explosions in GI Joe Atlantis Factor and Level 4/Giant World in SMB3. 😀

[@BigOleWords]

Very cool, thanks for sharing that!

[@DrossRotzank]

I loved this video.

[@BigOleWords]

Hey thanks for saying that!

[@clockworkengine]

The kickmaster wolfrider boss has a massive phallic aspect. Is that a love for Shannon Hoon I hear in the title card?

[@BigOleWords]

Nope, but I’ve been obsessed with that song “Skinned”!

[@Spagyr]

Never seen or heard of kickmaster. I would have been enthralled.

[@Andres33AU]

Totally Rad is a totally rad game, and I remember being wowed by the size of the bosses back in the day. I played Time Diver: Eon Man a few years ago on an emulator (am I allowed to say that? Haha) and I very much enjoyed it, it's a shame it never got released.

[@datoneguy825]

I remember Streetfighter 2010 had some crazy bosses and definitely Monster Party

[@esotericcorporation7058]

There were clearly a ton of good NES games that didn't get the love they deserved. For every Mario 3, Castevania and Metroid, there are 30 games you didn't hear about it. As someone who has been gaming for 30 years, I am still finding hidden gems on the NES.

[@jaredanderson5826]

Lmao i laughed so hard when you said the itd all just be megamans lmao i felt that moment of the video in my soul lmao

[@the-engneer]

Low G Man had some trippy boss fights. The whole game was trippy and i think its awesome and doesn't get talked about enough

[@MichaelTaylor-qp2xf]

No bosses from Blaster Master!? Snubbed!!

[@miasma82]

Have never played any of these games. These boss fights are amazing!

[@Greenade-nh2nw]

2:21 Thanks for reminding me of a game I had after 19 years or so