Why You (Probably) Hate Fighting Game Bosses

[@Stumblebee]

A few things to note: 1) There's a lot of stuff I left out of the final cut of this video. I wanted to talk about KI's Shadow Lords, Secret Bosses, and a few other topics. But between not being the best writer and just really wanting to get this video done, there's definitely still material I can use if I decide to go back to this topic in the future. 2) Thems Fightin Herds has a better soundtrack than I would have expected 3) Ad revenue from my channel in the month of June will be going towards minority-focused nonprofits and charities thanks for watching everyone

[@darkdoctor1915]

Moveset clone Characters or shotos is a video i need, When ever I search youtube I mostly come across smash bros only and not other fighting games

[@andrewbuchan6950]

It always really surprises me that you don't have more subs, love the content dude, keep it up! 😁

[@reapervegas]

If you wanna know who is the epitome of cheap bosses, look no further than the General in Kaiser Knuckle. He's so ungodly busted that you are REQUIRED to manipulate his AI to beat him. Oh, and most of the time it doesn't even work. If you do decide to take him on, be prepared for his laugh and win quotes to be ingrained in your memory ;)

[@massie_m]

Cool vid

[@haughtygarbage5848]

yo stumblebee the TFH OST is the stuff of legends, like it may be the biggest reason I'm labbing the game so much right now

[@TrueUnderDawgGaming]

For me personally, I especially hate when a boss fight plays nothing like the rest of the game. A boss should test the abilities you have mastered, but in fighting games the final boss is much stronger than you that you're basically forced to play super cheesy and mostly run away. Especially in the recent Mortal Kombat games. The bosses are armored on every attack and Kronika herself LITERALLY can't be comboed...makes no sense.

[@justint.2858]

Corrupted Shinnok and Kronika are the biggest cheese bosses in the recent years and they make playing towers very annoying.

[@mk-ul5tv]

Dude I remember, when I was younger I thought "damn, Shao khan has way too much armor, fuck" oh boy, if only I'd known how privileged I was, dear God, recent bosses are just plain stupid

[@prodigy10690]

reminds me of just about every single snk fighting game final boss and secret boss

[@guidomista5]

Also throws just wiff on Kronika, I tried throwing her multiple times fir nothing

[@skullknightyt]

Literally Azazel on Tekken 6.

[@KnightsDisillusion]

SNK final bosses are on a level of their own.

[@Freefork]

MUGEN Bosses?

[@DiegosBloodspray]

Unless it’s samurai Shodown V special

[@DiegosBloodspray]

Freefork in mugen every character is a boss

[@genericfencer]

magaki... *shudders*

[@numa2k147]

I hear Genocide Cutter at random times during the day sometimes

[@DustyLimes]

As a person with very little fighting game experience, your channel has been a major force in my increased interest and skill. Thank you for continuing to make wonderful content!

[@cosmocha6774]

Stumble and Core-A have been great, also recently been watching Sajam. Love to see all the beginner-friendly content on YT.

[@sirsmellybottom7480]

My personal favorite Fighting Game series is BLAZBLUE. From there CHRONOPHANTASMA is great and CENTRAL FICTION is the last game in the series and takes everything from the rest of the series and slaps it in one amazing game. I dont know how to feel about the games before those 2 because of how much cleaner the newest ones are. Other great ganes are Under Night in Birth, Persona 4 Arena, Melty Blood and Guilty Gear is good but its hard

[@Gamesta100]

Watch MaximillianDood. Watching him play a lot of fighting games has helped me improve at fighting games. I'm still not great at them but I am noticeably better at them because of watching max play them.

[@KirbyUber]

As well as our buy Stumble here, Leon Massey also has some good content, including a video on fighting games being for everyone, perfect for us newbies! For a game I would recommend Fantasy Strike on Steam, switch and playstation (not sure about xbox), it is simplified but that allows you to see the nitty gritty like spacing, what is safe, how to punish and all that. plus it's tutorial is decent with inbuilt videos on the basics of each character. Even better, it's free to jump in and play online with random players so if you don't like it, nothing lost ^^ Sry for the long post there haha, I've just been in a similar boat recently!

[@goronberry]

One of my favourite parts of this channel is you using lesser known fighting games as good examples of what you're trying to show, I think it's really cool how you show parts these forgotten games did well that could be used in modern games.

[@roreah]

When you mentioned that the best boss fight ever in a fighting game was "Fight Night Chamopion" I literally stud up to aplaud. I mean, this story mode teach you not only HOW to play the game, but how to BE GOOD in it. How to win! After finishing this game I became really good in managing stamina and drag the decision away, tiring and adversary - not only on this specific game, but also on UFC (I pratically mastered the game after just a few hours after getting my hand on it for the first time). In UFC 3 I like to play Andre vs Frost with the CPU damage at max just to emulate this epic fight. I know it'll sounds a bit off, but FNC helped me improve on Soulslike, Soccer and NBA aswell!

[@Stumblebee]

The entire story mode is brilliant in the way that it teaches you how to be an inside boxer, than an outside boxer, and then how to use your lead hand to set up opportunities for your power hand. Just brilliant.

[@keen7youtubeistoast796]

Imagine standing up and aplaud to a KZbin video.

[@htxflow]

@@keen7youtubeistoast796 When it hits, it HIT HARD! I completely understand the op

[@sirdogmen]

“I play them’s fightin’ herds for the net code.”

[@undeniablySomeGuy]

Ok but for real, that short hop tutorial and stuff makes me really wanna play it

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

@@undeniablySomeGuy Justdoit

[@isleep396]

Same

[@skunthundler]

I really wanna play this game, but like... *Y'know.*

[@unsuspiciousdweller8967]

@@skunthundler dont live your life based on other people's opinions. It's a good game, try it.

[@captaincold4202]

akuma isn’t street fighters final boss, daigo is

[@aetheros1890]

When he gets to half health, the announcer says, "rare footage of Daigo actually angry", and then he gets harder

[@jennytulls6369]

You can't even hit the son of a bitch, he just parry's your entire super

[@Stylez-13]

Daigo from rival schools?

[@RanmaruRei]

@@Stylez-13 Umehara.

[@FrameData1990]

This meme is more aids than the dude who beat up daigo as a kid

[@IPODsify]

1 sentence summary of why i hate them: they don't take hitstun

[@Grim_Bud]

worst is imo when its totally random sometimes hitstun kicks in and other time no also their attacks has armor. They literally bait you into hitting them just to fuck with you even though you've punish a slow move.

[@sandilekhoza798]

@@Grim_Bud Azazel from Tekken 6 was like that...brings back painful memories

[@abirneji]

@@sandilekhoza798 I never had too much trouble with azazel t5 jinpachi on the other hand was horrendous

[@pinkyik2719]

@The Phantom That sounds awful

[@Spit1990]

@@sandilekhoza798 Azrael? Azazel was a dude in Soul Calibur. Am I tripping?

[@posteriorpepperoni]

The Touhou fighting spinoffs have awesome story modes,and bosses just as well. They start as a regular fight,but after depleting the enemy's health,they begin to use these big shot patterns and moves,forcing you to dodge them until they lower their guard. And just like that,the fights start feeling a lot more like the mainline shmup games

[@uandresbrito5685]

I-no(Guilty Gear XX)'s Megalomania is also interesting in the fact that it's not very fighting game-like. It stops the fight completely and forces you to dodge her attack pattern or you take absurd damage. It's cool in concept, but she can activate it as many times as she likes(the AI doesn't seem to spam much, tho), during your own combos and is very long, so ultimately it just drags the fight. Could be expanded to be a very nice addition to a fighting game boss if with more careful execution.

[@lecorbak]

@@uandresbrito5685 I never managed to beat I-no in XX, and I tried, oh god I tried. touhou bosses in fghting games are pretty cool to fight.

[@uandresbrito5685]

@@lecorbak As long as you know how to dodge Megalomania it's one of the tamest fighting game bosses of that era because she doesn't cheat much besides having super high damage. And you can also get tension for free while she is readying the attack. Yeah, it's pretty cool.

[@hatsuneelissu5924]

This isnt a boss fight but............ The AI in mk11 when it got released! anyone remember that? how the AI could beat you even on easy? That it was so bad, nether realm had to lower the difficulity!

[@cherrychocolate1434]

Or the Smash Ultimate AI when you need to fight a character in order to unlock them. Now THAT was some maddening stuff right there that had to be patched and nerfed. Even pro players struggled to unlock certain fighters. Took me like 4 tries to unlock Corrin.

[@kevinwilson705]

@ThatGuyWithGlasses i think it must have been patched it use to be hard tho

[@Moplonn]

@ThatGuyWithGlasses it was patched like after the first week, I remember the new challengers getting stronger the further in they were unlocked. My final unlock was palutena and holy fucking shit I had to cheese the hell out of her because she was tossing me like a dog's chewtoy. Seriously their AI and reaction times made level 9 smash 4 CPUs look braindead.

[@notimeforcreativenamesjust3034]

Dont get me started on ssbu debut AI that could not just kill but STYLE on PRO players.

[@speedypichu6833]

I didn't find the ultimate challengers hard aside from chrom.

[@nellancaster]

Two things I want to mention: 1) Frame zero reaction time. *The exact reason* of my deep hatred for SNK bosses. God knows how many times I got hit by Grant's... DP... thing for doing a low-jumping light punch (Garou), getting punished by Zankuro for throwing a fireball (SS4) and _everything Sankuro does_ that son of a piece of crap (SS5). So yeah, on point with that one. 2) You know that trope about OP bosses got nerfed when they turn playable? Based on that Fight Night Champion example, I've come up with a similar boss idea; have the first round be the "normal" version of the boss, unreasonably high damage output and the likes, but when you win that round either by KO or timeout, the boss gets "weakened", turning them into the playable version.

[@CGoody564]

You wouldn't win the round by timeout when he's in that state; you'd most certainly lose the round. You can time him out to waste his stamina, but if you don't put him down for the count by the end of the 12th round, there's no chance in hell you're winning as long as he can keep his pace up through the 7th round. You'd be down on the scorecards. Getting through a round ≠ winning a round. You'd need to land more shots or get more knockdowns in a round to win it, which is extremely doubtful when in that early state.

[@maosama3695]

Both Last blade games did that. Hope snk brings back last blade.

[@-.DIO.-]

Goenitz is an actual pain in the ass to fight. *"KOKODESU KA? KOKODESU KA? KOKODESU KA? KOKODESU KA? SHINBATSU DESU"*

[@ZenoDovahkiin]

The bad thing about it is, it emulates anticipation on the computer's part. If you just force the computer to have human reaction speed, it becomes incompetent, unless you create a complex system to predict player behaviour that can be tricked in intuitive but challenging ways. Possible, but takes time and effort.

[@-.DIO.-]

@@ZenoDovahkiin That's like Dead or Alive level A.I.

[@thecakeofreason]

Lol you Jebaited me with that last one, but it was a good jebait so I can't be mad

[@CGoody564]

Did he? The only essential difference between tekken and fight night is the pacing. Replace each limb for a punch type with variations for each, 3d movement in a confined space... It is a fighting game when broken down to core elements, if only technically speaking.

[@Fyrverk]

Mike Tyson Punch Out. Survive some rounds first, then comeback

[@JonSmith-hk1bq]

@@Fyrverk Mike Tyson's Punch Out is basically one big boss rush.

[@justjabari6430]

Does anyone know the game at 0:45

[@kyokonull]

@@justjabari6430 im guessing you mean metal gear rising revengeance

[@Tony-nt9te]

Someone once asked, "is it possible to give a person PTSD from a song?" That same person never played Dead Rising. Those damn convicts

[@somedumb4450]

Oh dude, the song that plays when you fight guardians in botw and someone makes you listen to the song. It sucks.

[@jennytulls6369]

Sonic drowning theme Need I say more?

[@QuantemDeconstructor]

@@jennytulls6369 Cannon's Core was a bitch if you missed the necklace

[@lajenehuen260]

@@jennytulls6369 Sonic Unleashed battle theme

[@YeetZmeN]

I swear the Guardian theme from BOTW is ingrained in my mind and if I hear a single note that’s the same as the first note of that theme I nearly have a god damn heart attack

[@TheLevelOnePodcast]

the last boss was how Tyson was taken down by the unknown at the time Buster Douglas beat Tyson. look it up. some people knew Tyson could only last a few rounds due to his asthma. the cornermen were non-existant due to thinking this was gonna be a scrimmage. If Douglas didnt have these on his side including his size, and the inspiration of his parent dying, he couldnt of been able to even try to beat Tyson But he did

[@1sdani]

It's also how you beat Tyson in Punch Out, or at least that's what my brother says. He can beat Tyson without even trying.

[@CGoody564]

@@1sdani his asthma had very little to do with it. his lack of training was the culprit; he won going the distance at times during his career. His corner certainly wasn't prepared either. They didn't even have a steel no-swell with them in the ring. That Tyson definitely wasn't a final boss; that was the final boss from a few games ago making a disappointing cameo appearance

[@1sdani]

+Cory Goodman Why'd you tag me?

[@MultiBoxingKid]

I didn’t know Tyson had asthma, that is a surprise to me.

[@hoodedman6579]

@@1sdani Tyson does get easier in Punch Out over time, but its absurdly dramatic at the start because he spends 45 seconds of in-game time throwing instant kill uppercuts.

[@Offbeatcat]

I’m genuinely considering playing them’s fighting herds now. Well done

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

Justdoit

[@miguelcastillo3723]

Just wish it was on consoles

[@Thalanox]

Buy it. Play it. Spend time online. The characters have a lot more depth in their kits and combos than the average fighting game that has 30+ characters.

[@edgelord8337]

Snk is at a level were the bosses really got progressively more and more impossible. Rugal does a crapton of damage and shao khan from mk3 is impossible. If you are caught touching buttons he will shoulder charge spam you and he keeps on. It's truly hard to play these fighting games with these bosses.

[@stolensentience]

Shao kahn can be zoned and baited pretty easily as he likes to taunt a lot

[@Abbie-Apel]

Well rugal is a nightmare in the non canonical games

[@ahok1937]

Shao Khan is hard but i saw somewhere an interview of Ed Boon where he says you can escape the shoulder dash by ducking. Didn't try tho.

[@MintyParasol]

Ever heard of orochi and omega rugal?

[@Abbie-Apel]

Ram Vargas the rugal in the non canonical games thas 98 and 2002 are omega rugal

[@isaacsussman5632]

Ironically for what is probably one of the most infamous fighting game bosses ive always liked Gill the best. Specifically because a lot of my early practice in the genre came from fighting him. I used to just run in and mash but that wasnt gonna work. Thus i ended uo learning a bit of defense. I used to spam raw specials but that wasnt gonna work so i got into using combos to lead into one. The resurrection taught me careful use of resources like health and special meter. Pacient play and smarter descitions were expected and i had to learn that. Every time i learned something new Gill got a little easier. Gill taught me my fundamentals in a very archaic kinda way and ill always hold him in high regard for that.

[@naheemquattlebaum2267]

Facts. Gill is probably the best in terms of reminding you of how you got to him as a player.

[@x123Juancho123x]

For some reason Gill is sometimes incredibly hard, like next to impossible, but other times he's really easy. There's also a trick that works in some matches, you just DP as soon as he stands up and it always hits.

[@blaacksugar7714]

What's funny is that if you use Yang's mantis slashes, and stutter-step the third slash, you will always hit the computer even when they block the first two hits...except for Gill, whose normal moves outprioritizes your specials,

[@kaceejones2282]

If u can beat him then I most certainly think u beat a few SNK bosses like Igniz in King of Fighters 2001, Omega Rugal King of Fighters 2002/2002UM, Mukai King of Fighters 2003, Magaki King of Fighters 11 and Saiki King of Fighters 13.

[@kaceejones2282]

I remember my big bro struggling against the final boss of King of Fighters 2001. He is among one of the most cheapest and broken characters you'll ever find one of the most horrendous AI. If you're far from him he'll use his metal threads to juggle you constantly hardly leaving any room for u to hit the ground.

[@jeslucas2515]

The power stone: two-hitter quitters even on their weakest attacks The time stone: faster moves, no input lag, and perfect frame timing The mind stone: Knows what you will do without you even thinking about your moves (and no. Switching controller ports won't help) The reality stone: Having to face the fact that you will never beat them with logic, practice, or luck The soul stone: Has style while whooping you. Doing combos and moves you didn't even know existed. You just gotta say "WOW!" and "DAFUQ!!!" The space gem: having absolute power in the virtual world Infinity Gaunlet: complete. Coins, credit, and time immediately disappears. There is only one way to come out alive: find the cheesiest, most boring and unaccomplished way to exploit the AI for a loser's win.

[@BigBoy257]

Which game is this? Which boss? Thanos from Marvel Super Heroes?

[@jeslucas2515]

@@BigBoy257 More like all the hardest fighting game bosses. Albeit, I'm no fighting pro, but after hundreds of studying and learning lessons the hard way from the best of the best AI, eventually I become Cheddar Bob, the ultimate Packers fan and eat my pizza with extra cheese.

[@BigBoy257]

@@jeslucas2515 yeah, realized you were being general after I posted my comment

[@DeanPelton98]

I had a legit flashback when you mentioned fight night champion. It's one of my all time favorite games. The gameplay is so good and it doesn't get boring after the first few times you play it. The slow-mo shots are still amazing and overall it is such a good game. Thanks for reminding me of that game. That final boss fight took me forever but it felt great to beat.

[@AllStarJD]

Took me literal weeks to finally beat Frost

[@nayyarrashid4661]

It looks really good for a system at least 2 gen old since the next gen is almost here...

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

I want Stumblebee to play Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and see how he likes the boss fight against Senator Armstrong.

[@GamersUniteYT]

That boss is amazing that's my second favorite boss right next to metal gear ray

[@Mr.9]

Hello my mustache wearing friend

[@whotfisdami]

I P L A Y E D C O L L E G E B A L L Y O U K N O W

[@aphato2770]

WELL IF IT ISN'T SAUCY JACK

[@GeminiTasiri]

N A N O M A C H I N E S, S O N

[@Guyviroth]

"Why You (Probably) Hate Fighting Game Bosses " SNK. 'Nuff said.

[@DrEarthwormRobotnik]

*Laughs in Eternal Champion*

[@rogankane6901]

@@DrEarthwormRobotnik But still not bad as Motherfucking General from Kaiser Knuckles...

[@Stephen-fi9mw]

Rogan Kane does he have incredible reads, an almost unavoidable combo with a counter if you pass, and an attack that takes almost 1/4 of your health bar away that can also hit you in the air?

[@rogankane6901]

@@Stephen-fi9mw Yes

[@uandresbrito5685]

@@Stephen-fi9mw Bro, he can invincible teleport instagrab you, those things are just his bnb

[@SegaDisneyUniverse]

I just started playing Them's Fighting Herds for about a week now and currently having Velvet as my main! She is indeed a hard zoner boss, and I just managed to beat all the Ai on the hardest difficulty!

[@Thalanox]

Thank you for not just maining Tianhou like almost every other new player seems to do.

[@SegaDisneyUniverse]

@@Thalanox Lol, yeah, from what I've seen Arizona seems to be a popular pick as well.

[@SegaDisneyUniverse]

@Leandro Braga Wow, I guess it depends on your experience. I haven't gone online yet, I've just been watching Twitter combos and the majority I seen were Arizona and Pom.

[@Zaphkieru]

"You'll at least know how to avoid it the next time the boss decides to queue it up" Gill: *RESURRECTION*

[@hassanico9999]

I like the Touhou fighting games, with characters adapated from bullet hell games, which tend to have every fight/bosses alternate between rounds of normal fighting and rounds where they use planned out attacks that demand you use ingame dash mechanics and projectile cancelling to get through them, with heavy emphasis on dodging. The 3rd game in the series is the series was the first to actually use a giant boss that's not a player character, and only for one character's story mode, who happens to be the "get in your face high pressure melee" type. And then the 6th fighting game went even nuttier by having the final phase of the final fight only activate on the hardest difficulty mode wherein it just turns into a shmup using your character's projectiles and supers.

[@KBash]

That pony game's lookin pretty good...

[@supersnackbros2423]

That boxing game's lookin pretty good too...

[@Thalanox]

It always was good, and it's not a pony game. Trying out a thing and being surprised at how good it is is exactly how the MLP fandom started, so this is just history repeating itself.

[@Arkouchie]

Yep, "The characters, writing, and animation are really good though" becomes "the netcode, tutorial, fighting game fundimentals, and single player are really good, though."

[@RasenRendanX]

I beg of you dont sleep on it.

[@personaphantom5543]

Ah KBash the only KZbinr who talks about Soulcalibur.

[@jaydenyang7931]

I really love the idea of using the story mode as both an engaging tool of narrative AND becoming its own tutorial all on its own. It’s definitely something to note down!

[@RednekGamurz]

I think one of my favorite boss fights in a fighting game has to be from Pokken Tournament. Keep in mind, Pokken's story mode is pretty bad overall, but the build up to the final boss, and the boss itself is extremely well done. At specific points in the story, Shadow Mewtwo will show up and challenge you to a fight. These fights are very very hard to win, and you'll mostly likely lose most or all of them, but it's fine since they're just bonus fights. Their goal is to show you just how tough Shadow Mewtwo is, and maybe let you know where you need to improve. After a while, Shadow Mewtwo starts wrecking havoc everywhere, and you go off to train to prepare for the final battle. These training fights are pretty neat, as they're basically normal fights, but with different restrictions, like no assists, or no burst meter. Finally, you get to the fight itself. Round 1 is nothing too special, it's just a tough AI opponent with a lot of health, but despite that, he doesn't come across as cheap. Round 2 is where things get interesting, cause in this round, Shadow Mewtwo activates his burst mode, and keeps it for the entire round. Needless to say, but, just like those bonus fights, this round is basically impossible to win. Finally, in round 3, your allies finally finished working their magic, and now, you have unlimited burst mode for the final round along with Shadow Mewtwo. This final round is still pretty tough, but you can definitely feel the tables turning in your favor with unlimited burst mode, and a new, triumphant-sounding remix of the burst mode theme. It just feels great to finally beat the shit out of this opponent who's been beating the shit out of you throughout the story mode, and it feels hard, but fair.

[@RasenRendanX]

Im happy to see someone mention Pokken. When i beat shadow Mewtwo i felt like a champ.

[@KyleJordanGaming]

In layman's terms: "The computer be cheatin', yo..."

[@KuroNoTenno]

Or as we Tropers say, "Computer is a Cheating Bastard".

[@akisa7865]

Or as Einstein once said: The AI is pumping out attacks left and right, please nerf!

[@barbedbessie]

Every time Stumblebee mentions Them's Fightin' Herds I smile because I love that game. Also D-Mob from Def Jam Vendetta used to cheat omega hard back in the day.

[@Ruyi_Moonlight]

My favorite Boss Fight (and it's at least in the Top 5 in all of gaming) is definitely Rugal, specifically the fight from King of Fighters 98, basically because that encounter had a bit of lore of its own for me. I met Rugal (and the KOF franchise) when I was 12, and i went to an arcade where i ended up playing some random soccer game. When i finished, i saw a lot of people gathering around some guys playing KOF98, and they were pretty good. Three friends playing through the game, one of them used Robert, another used Terry and the last one played with Kyo. They advanced pretty well taking turns in the rotation so all of them played, and then they faced against Rugal. I remember how epic the little intro felt, with all that weird transmission giving a feel that that giant guy was dangerous and had to be stopped. And then it happened. Rugal being Rugal and destroying them, once and again and again. Years later i had the chance of fighting against Rugal myself, and when i finally defeated him for the first time, i felt powerful, because i could accomplish something those guys couldn't (i'm pretty sure that wasn't the case, and it's even possible they weren't even playing their mains, but that's how it felt back then).

[@uandresbrito5685]

Even with terrible boss battles, SNK's bosses are greatly built, from introduction, foreshadowing, atmosphere, looks and personality. Most of them are pretty memorable for one or more of these traits.

[@HenryXLII]

I really adore the fight against Master Core in Smash 4. Going in blind I wasn’t expecting much from yet another Masterhand fight, but I kept getting surprised by each phase. My favorite part is how it copies you in the final phase. It’s like you exhausted the boss of all it’s tricks so it’s resorting to copying you. It should be the easiest part, and usually is. But being worn out by the previous phases creates this great level of tension.

[@chefdunsparce4254]

I saw master hand on that last one and I was like "looks like he's gonna talk about smash bros" but I was skeptical because I didn't think master hand was that good of a boss and was waiting for the twist and what a twist was that

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

Smash Ult final boss pls.

[@marzipancutter8144]

Master hand fits exactly into the category of basic pattern recognition bosses, so I thought it was really weird to bring it up as a favourite after all he said before. He had me really confused for a second. The bait got me good.

[@EinDose]

I will say that Master Hand does teach you a lot of useful dodging patterns, and exactly what a good 'air game' looks like in Smash Bros. He's not completely useless as a training tool, at the very least.

[@N.i.E.M.O]

@@HighLanderPonyYT You mean Galeem and Dharkon? Totally lame. Great designs, but lame fights. Master Hand and Crazy Hand (together) are much more difficult and dynamic (although they still suck and are cheap as shit on the harder difficulty levels). The rest of the game's bosses also suck.

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

@@N.i.E.M.O Ok w/e.

[@phantomspaceman]

"The mark of my dignity shall scar thy DNA." That one is burned into my memory. In a game where every attack can be parried, let's give the boss an unparriable super and a resurrect with pushback.

[@phantasm1234]

Level 8 Hedlok fight in ARMS is an amazing fighting game boss... In general Hedlok adds a really interesting dynamic with so many attacks, but not impossible to analyze and overcome!

[@voidbg7017]

them fighting herds has one of the best stories from personal expirience like chapter 1 is about 4 and a half hours and that's just the first chapter

[@halodragonmaster]

Ah yes a boss fight. I remember those from my childhood. My favorite that comes to mind is: *IT'S NO USE!* The real favorite is The unnamed Boss fight in Katana Zero

[@csandreas]

I'm impressed you went this whole video without mentioning M Bison.

[@nayyarrashid4661]

There were people who can beat him easily and i am low skill but still i beat him easily in arcades back in the day and arcade difficulty was pretty standard during those days...

[@FFXIK]

To be brutally honest M. Bison/Vega isn't that difficult. Not compared to the fuckery employed by SNK and plethora of other fighting games.

[@uandresbrito5685]

AI is cheap as always, but Bison as a character isn't that cheap, even during boss battles. Besides his version from the EX Games(Shin, iirc), he was never actually a huge challenge like 99% of SNK bosses and every crossover boss besides maybe Abyss

[@samuffert]

Them's Fighting Herds aproach to boss fights reminds me of Touhou Scarlet Weather Rapsody and Hisoutensoku, since they have influences from the bullet hell genre so the neutral is centered around proyectiles and zoning, the single player fights have a normal fighting game phase and then it becomes somewhat closer to the bullet hell games, to the point they even recreate some of the more iconic attacks in a fighting game context, with that many proyectiles it would be impossible to survive in any other fighting game, however you have a key movement trick to help you out: dashing and flying, both invincible against bullets (but lose against melee attacks), however it is a resource that is shared with blocking and it will run out quickly so you need to not only be prepared to react to what the boss is going to throw at you and quickly find a path to safety before the dashing, if you block the attacks you will take chip damage but you risk getting your guard broken, and when that happens the flying meter gets one of its five units broken for a limited time and it's up to you to decide what to risk. Edit: Here is a video kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpKxoaNseNF7p9k

[@it_me_lui]

its also has an interesting spell deck system that lets you customize how to best approach those boss fights too.

[@Reydriel]

Props for the Soku shout out, but please format your sentences better lol

[@haughtygarbage5848]

@@Reydriel sentence*

[@ElHarmonyV]

Loved Hisoutensoku, from the gameplay, the the spell card system, and the characters, 10/10.

[@samuffert]

@@Reydriel Not being a native speaker and being half asleep is a bad combination lmao

[@goldensands2104]

I haven't played that many fighting games, I think I've played two or three fighting games, but I know damn well that Serious Mr. Karate from SVC Chaos is a different breed.

[@FatherTime89]

It's not a fighting game but one of my favorite boss fights does something I've never seen before or since and I think it might work well in a fighting game. It's the God of War 2 fight against Hercules. In the start of the fight he's wearing these giant metal gauntlets. Compared to you he's slow but hits like a truck whereas you're fast and don't do a lot of damage (relatively speaking). Eventually you tear the gauntlets off of him and start wearing them and suddenly the dynamic does a complete 180. Relatively speaking you are now slow and a heavy hitter while Hercules is fast, nimble and doesn't do a lot of damage. When you take the gauntlets your dodge move doesn't make you go as far as it used to and Hercules now bob and weaves a lot more. I think this kind of reversal would work well in a fighting game. Is your character a zoner, well in round 2 you can only rely on close ranged attacks while your opponent only has ranged attacks.

[@WickedKnightAlbel]

That _is_ a smart way to do it

[@kriosuranous3440]

Honestly I love the final boss from Divekick so much. It has all of the tropes you talked about, but something about it doesn’t let me hate it.

[@elitagle5818]

any fighting game boss: takes away half of my health bar with a single move me: •____•

[@TheOblomoff]

I loved skullgirls last boss - because even as a complete noob who can't string 3 attacks together I was feeling progress. As I was moving from losing on stage one to having half-beaten the third stage on my first day of playing the game.

[@davidiainmcmahon]

You could make a boss based entirely on mixup. They are set to guard all and switch but have a max number of times they will switch. I play DBFZ so in that game the concept would be like the boss will guard and you need to keep the blockstring going. They will block your first high/low but not your 2nd. As the fight goes on it will guard your first high/low and left/right but won't tech your next throw or following 50/50.

[@LINKchris87]

Kazuya/Devil in Tekken 2, Jun/Unknown in Tag 2 are fights that I really enjoy. They put everything you have learnt about the character to the test. Very interesting ideas on Fight Night about slowly wearing down a powerful opponent through multiple rounds.

[@mrozzdude]

Can we just agree, compared to other boss fights, Gill was tame. Look at god Rugal, mk11 brutal kronika, Guy in Sodoms alpha 3 arcade, akuma 2 turbo

[@CidGuerreiro1234]

Kronika is such a bullshit fight, it makes me miss Corrupted Shinnok. At least he wasn't immune to grab attacks, X-rays... You could actually use your skills against him. Kronika is a perfect example of poor boss design, difficult AND boring to fight against.

[@Ticketman99]

Magaki enters the chat

[@Cxrnelius]

Fight night: champion is definitely among the top 5 fighting game story modes I've ever played. That game holds a special place in my heart

[@Alienrun]

MK 6's final boss is also pretty memerable, as you have to break 6 emblems around the stage (the game is 3D) to weaken the boss so you can land a combo on him. He's tough but there is a charm and a sense of fun to the whole thing...

[@shardofkingdoms9816]

My favourite boss fight is the finale of Tekken 7 story mode, it just feels so badass and climactic. Especially as a long time Tekken fan

[@olioelnacho8935]

Oh my god the deadrising convicts. just hearing their boss song gives me so much ptsd. im glad to know you seem to have ptsd of them too lmao

[@Tr0lliPop]

When you were giving examples on how that boxing game boss taught you a real strategy, you failed to state probably the coolest example lol: THAT STRAT IS LITERALLY HOW MIKE TYSON WAS DEFEATED

[@fieryelf]

Remember "Unlimited Ragna" from Blazblue?! Yeah, that was one of those broken ass boss battle.

[@DarkSage861]

A complete nightmare dealing with him in Calamity Trigger and Continuum Shift

[@Violent_Wolfen]

I found Unlimited Hazama from Continuum Shift to be worse. That fucker turned your drive off unless you can hit and combo his ass.

[@thomasthecoolkid7228]

@@Violent_Wolfen Also, the life steal circle of death.

[@Violent_Wolfen]

@@thomasthecoolkid7228 What it did was steal health until yours equals his. Still a pain.

[@fenrirsrage4609]

I was fully hoping for a Boss Rage clip and I am glad you put in at least one

[@naniano]

Rugal ate all my quarters when i was a child, heroin adiction would have been cheaper smh

[@StuntmanPatOTC]

The fight against frost literally makes you better and more patient at fight night. On the previous versions I was a topped ranked player, but I noticed the competition was way tougher in champion. Then I played through the story mode and that fight against frost and I was like, 'oh...'

[@mikeferrer2342]

When I first found out about Them's Fighting Herds, I didn't think it was a game to be ashamed of playing. Still don't. Haven't really heard anyone saying it is either. So the jokes about TFH, had me confused

[@VoidRAZ]

Been following the game since the start, there are a lot of FGC people who will start insulting this game in comment sections as soon as they see how cartoony it is and/or notice the similarities leftover from My Little Pony. It's sad, but fairly common. The game might not have ever gotten a fair shake at getting a fanbase if Evo hadn't brought a spotlight to it.

[@blueyandicy]

lol it's a furry game with a style made for kids

[@ravenfrancis1476]

I think its just because its not a very traditionally masculine game, and any fighting game that lacks in traditional masculinity (unless it caters to the male gaze a la Skullgirls) usually faces a lot of derision from video game nerds in general, especially fighting game nerds specifically, mainly due to years and years of misogyny.

[@blueyandicy]

@@ravenfrancis1476 what the heck are YOU on? Smash Bros isn't masculine, and many of the characters don't even have muscles. Same thing with sailor moon, or sonic R.

[@mikeferrer2342]

@@blueyandicy so what if it's a "furry game" what's your point? I wouldn't even classify it as one in the first place. But calling it a furry game is irrelevant. & Who told you its style is "made for kids"? The "style" is also irrelevant. Because the key word is "game" why would anyone be ashamed of playing any type of video game in the first place. It's just a game.

[@augustgreig9420]

Man, big props for mentioning VF4's AI. I was just thinking about it the other day. It's the only real AI I've seen in a fighting game, and it's the only CPU I've ever fought that actually made me better at the game instead of worse. And the fact that you could train AI or have friends train them so you can practice against it was an amazing concept. The game also had the best tutorial. How many games actually teach you things like buffering option selects? None that I know of. You earned a sub with that good take. Cheers!

[@Freefork]

My two favorite bosses are Sissy from PI: Matrimelee and Grant from Garou. Sissy feels hard but fair once you realize how to hit her and Grant is just a honest character.

[@YadonTheCat]

I like how I-No feels impossible the first few times you face her, but she quickly becomes cake when you finally adapt to her AI-exclusive move

[@uandresbrito5685]

True. She is surprisingly imperfect on neutral, so it's possible to beat her consistently if you know how to dodge Megalomania

[@mattblaster2378]

To sum up this video it’s like fighting a level 50 amibo with a maxed Spirit in smash ultimate while you have a 50% handicap on your self

[@DelNiceBeto]

I feel so much joy when I hear others mention fight night champion

[@MaximumVolty]

The most accurate representation of hearing that Dead Rising music. Trauma inducing stuff, man.

[@ninorandazzo844]

I love how theres the turtles in time music in the back, as if this wasnt nostalgic enough

[@Heartnix95]

Everyone shouting "Rugal was so hard..." and here i am saying that Parace 'Lsia from Arcana Heart its the most nightmarish boos fight ever

[@Alienrun]

boos

[@zhaoyun255]

I hope you like Gold Slayer from GGAC+. High defense+High Damage+Blood suck every single hit+Health Regen+High Tension Gain.

[@shadowagent7361]

Brother here recognizing the true cheapness!

[@Mr2StepEntertainment]

@@zhaoyun255 this guy is spittin

[@DrEarthwormRobotnik]

Rugal isn’t even SNK’s worst boss. That would be Magaki.

[@moonraven6145]

"ooohhhhhhh".. oh god I feel your pain, damn Prison convicts were a nightmare when first playing Dead Rising.

[@Funkyent]

It is tradition now. What started as "Hoo hoo haha, gimmie all your quarters" now is "hoo hoo haha BREAK YOUR CONTROLLER IN RAGEEEEEEEE"

[@blindbeholder9713]

Hey now Gill was awesome. He's the only boss in fighting games I've encountered whose win quotes are encouraging to the player he beats. On the one hand, this works the scam a lot better as being told you have a chance by the guy who just beat you makes you want to keep putting in quarters until you win. On the other hand, it actually makes the player want to learn the game and stops players from getting comically pissed. So uh, framing is important?

[@mclainboyd5514]

When you’re playing Third Strike and you get to Gill. And are never ever ever able to beat him

[@justthere845]

I found his pretty easy(probably because I saw my brother floor him multiple times)

[@jayb8934]

Gill is ridiculous.

[@onehitwonders7729]

I was 6 when I beat him, and I never tried again. I might tho

[@XxWolfcastlexX]

Oh man you should try him in New Generation, he's somehow even harder than Third Strike

[@hyliandoctor]

HE CAN CHIP YOU OUT WITH NORMALS WHY

[@grantgarbour]

Bruh that fight now champion boss was insane, I forgot how much I used to love fight night games

[@Shinzogekai.]

ArcSys spat on this video after putting in GGST boss Nagoriyuki

[@WaffleAfterHours]

My all-time favorite boss was one I never actually fought against. It's Necrosan from Primal Rage 2. I'm sure he doesn't fight any differently from any other fighting game boss from the '90s, but it was his appearance, his impact on the story and the overarching mystery about the game that made that character stick in my mind.

[@brooklynballer2455]

I loved the latest samsho boss because she actually threw moves at you that you had to use a defensive mechanic to avoid it.

[@Trecherousbeast]

Ah! I want to play Them's Fighting Herds so bad! Hoping for a console release!

[@Jimmeeehhh]

One of my favorite style of boss fights is when you become a boss character yourself after beating it the first time. In BlazBlue Continuum Shift, you gotta fight the boss and beat him, then later in the story mode you gotta do it again, but just bring his HP to half, then you become a boss character yourself. Just have fun knowing the first two times you do that fight, you're missing a whole button for lore reasons, lol.

[@Sin606]

I'll say I really enjoyed in a twisted sense fighting some bosses. Geese Howard always has a special place in my heart as the supra competent boss. Excellent at all ranges and has various counters on top of that! If Geese isn't attacking then neither am I! Nine The Phantom is a pain in the ass but she's worth the years of build up. I loved and hated fighting her boss mode. In Guilty Gear I doubt you'd count Gold Sol (Mission mode 100 or 50 depending on which version of XX you play) I beat him after weeks maybe months of me and my friend getting good enough to even to do some of those insane challenges. Oh yeah so there's Parace L'sia (You know that lady you shown for a few seconds) Not the AH2 version the AH3 one. She's soo busted you can hit her once and if she allowed it. The game was nice enough to NOT restore her health. Sure it was like a hour or two but seeing that there's an end and you'll reach it eventually if she doesn't heal herself was special. In Street Fighter EX2 there was 3 M.Bison fights you can get and I think the White Suit (Shin Bison) was fun because you beat the game so bad that it needed to cheat...but you know you can win if I did right. Lastly Rugal from '02...UM. I haven't actually fought that version but I just think '02 UM is great! Stumblebee this vid was interesting and made me think about the boss fights even more. Next time I'm going to try to look even further to find the small pleasures in the punishment and mastery of my favorite genre.

[@CrocvsGator]

This is late, but it kind of reminds me from Pat of Best Friends play quote "the best boss is you but better!" But that mainly applied to character action games/some soulslikes.

[@Thepharcyde4ever]

My god that Dead Rising music hit me right in the gut LOL. I HATED fighting them

[@stizanley3987]

Thank you for putting some respect on Fight Night. One of the best fighting game series of all time.

[@SuperRvince]

Fun Fighting Games: (exists) SNK Bosses: Hippity hoppity, your character takes big boppity

[@Zenn_Chan]

you're 100% right about ppl who play story mode and then don't bother with pvp, cause that's me. FighterZ is the latest fighting game I've played, and the singleplayer *really* twisted my brain into thinking dashing near constantly was a good tactic.....and then I go into a multiplayer match where even people suck know the basic counter: Crouch heavy. I cannot win a multiplayer match, because my instincts have been trained to hammer that right trigger when I see an opening.

[@aymann7234]

"These fights are usually less frustrating than their regular sized counterparts." -shows SG Marie doubt.jpg

[@D0cSwiss]

Yeah, fighting Marie you just gotta find the cheese that works for your character

[@KingXOreo]

Thank you for shining light on Fight Night. Not enough people out here do that

[@RasenRendanX]

maybe this video can help show why thems fighin herds is more than just a pony game. its a really damn good game and im so happy its going to EVO

[@jaythan.221]

Sad....2020 happened

[@jorge2854119]

Touhou antimony of common flowers has a sick final boss for a fighting game based on a bullet hell

[@Shad809]

The problem with FG bosses is the fact that they simply aren’t bosses. They’re no different than playing against a regular character, which is why their arbitrary buffs are so annoying. Imagine if when you fight a friend, and they suddenly get a power boost for no reason.

[@notarealspy4090]

I feel the need to bring up Hisoutensoku, but I can wait for another time :'D

[@moonraven6145]

"And if you think that person doesn't exist" *coughs awkwardly regarding my own lack of fighting game skill*

[@KougaGal]

I felt called out too. Persona 4 Arena was the first fighting game I really got into after mostly playing turn based RPGs and anytime I ventured online it kinda destroyed what little confidence I'd built up

[@greko4217]

Fav fighting boss so far has to be the last battle with Lord Drakkon in BFTG. That fight made me go insane so many times.

[@mcqueenspartyisinhell2013]

"NOOOOO YOU CAN'T BEAT THE BOSS WITH JUST A LOW KICK SWEEP!!l!" "low kick goes sweep sweep hahaha"

[@froz5551]

For me, my favourite is Onaga from Mortal Kombat Unchained (that where I fought him, it's probably the same deal in Deception). I really like how this boss uses 3D space. In order to beat this Dragon King, you can just go and fight him, but his attacks are too strong and he takes so little damage. But there is another way to beat him: on edges of the arena there are 6 Kamidokus, that from lore point making Onaga stronger. If you touch a Kamidoku, it will be destroyed, Onaga will be stunned and you will deal more damage, so you need make sure that you have enough distance between you and the boss, so he wouldn't deal strong or knock out of the stage(while you are on the edge, while you are taking care of Kamidokus

[@superlol178]

Great topic! And some really solid points! (And you made a little interested in a poney game lol) But the video missed the opportunity of talking about the story angle a bit...At least for me, in a story perspective... the concept of a final boss fight is very outdated...Instead of this epic story that with dozens of characters that would be more fun to not know where things are going and anyone can be the final boss...The main boss is usually obvious. Not a big deal, I know...But in especially Netherealm games I can't unsee the missed potential there.

[@pn2294]

I honestly don’t know the concept of a final boss can ever be outdated It honestly just sounds like people who like fighting games are scared of story

[@Megalopros]

i like the epyon in gundam wing endless duel, it has an OP 200 move, and some input reading, but every individual attack is not 1-frame unblockable 50% knockdown, its moveset has weaknesses, it is just a moderately better character who still plays by the rules, and you can beat it by playing normally, its ai does commit before you do from time to time giving time to react so it is fair, and since you can play as this boss you come to respect it because mastering it takes quite some time, i may be biased since i have spent hundreds of hours in this game (also the BG and BGM are really good in this boss)

[@kaiserrino8774]

Alternative title of the video: Why the SNK syndrome will drive you insane.

[@cd31000]

I have to say I loved Onaga for MK Deception because you had the option to destroy the Kamidogu which would stun and weaken him, or try to take him on mono e mono and make the fight more challenging for yourself.

[@Alienrun]

touhou 7.5's last 3 bosses are pretty dope (When you play as Reimu). The first one ON EASY is annoying to get through, and you need to do it without continuing to unlock the other 2. Admitedly its a little bs, but mainly just ONE attack, your goal is basically to save your health to the last bs attack and then slowly give up health to try and land a few Ultra moves in order to finish her off... The second boss isn't much, but different enough from the previous bosses to not be boring. The last boss is just a spectacle honestly. Not hard at all but slowly the UI for the game starts to go away as you chip off more and more health during the last phase, as the final boss will just float in place as she shoots a bunch of projectiles in a set pattern that you have to dodge and then hit her by whatever means nessesary. The final boss is even more impressive when you compare it to what happens if you CHOOSE TO PLAY AS HER! You then fight everyone else IN THE EXACT SAME LOCATION and its pretty much a cake walk till have you have to fight...you guessed it...Reimu! And her final attack is the same as yours except WAY more bs! Tho its more fitting cause of what you had to go through earlier just to unlock her... Also the area looks pretty cool (and different from the rest of the game) and the music is good. Story is good for what it is too. Game might not seem like much nowadays but its story mode is surprisingly fun to play through for what it is...

[@smokeyjoe6059]

*Roy Jones Jr. in Fight Night Round 3.* Your coach gave you accurate advice [he preferred you to stay on the outside], but he would tell you to conserve punches if you were missing a lot, or to go downstairs. The advice was dynamic, and also advised you to perform differently based on your own faults, rather than just what the AI was doing.

[@smokeyjoe6059]

I loved the Isaac Frost fight, but it was mostly scripted (I thought 'Power Shots' meant using the power modifier on hooks and uppercuts. Dropped him, but didn't perform the required number of hits). You made a good point though, in regards to teaching the player a strategy that works against real people.

[@xavibun]

That thumbnail though LMAO.

[@smashster1787]

That woman wants to know the meaning of pain.

[@atari9477]

Akumas face always gets me

[@jonsampson3030]

I got so hyped when you brought up the Isaac Frost fight, Fight Night Champion kicks ass and doesn't get enough love imo 🥊

[@juanman2483]

This was a beautiful video, i'm usually some guy who doesn't have a problem with bullshit philosophy and breaking games, as a lot of their reputation and epicness comes from their hate, though, I agree with most of what you have said in the video. So you said that we can write in the comments of the video what boss can you fight? Some evil answers might come to you, specially some traumatic-inducing evil assholes I can think of (I know by first hand some terrifying names). I'd go for zero of kof 2000 if you are asking for favourite bosses, I just like his design. He cool.