Seven Gigantic End Bosses from the Last Decade of Gaming

UM writes: I like big bosses and I cannot lie. All you other gamers can’t deny. When a boss walks in with a human-sized waist, and a normal looking face, you get PISSED. Alright, I will stop rapping right now, so as to spare myself a public lashing, but I think my point was made. Ever since I was a kid and fought Loki on the Genesis version of Ghosts and Goblins, I have loved fighting humongous bosses. My adrenaline really starts pumping when I can hear it before I see it, or the ground shakes to announce something massive I will be forced to kill or get killed by.

[rodiabloalmeida]

Nothing beats Cronos on the "gigantic boss" matter. It' even bigger then the last Colossus on SotC.

[cannon8800]

It's also the most memorable. I always come back just to watch someone play the Cronos level in youtube.

[MaxXAttaxX]

Speaking of SotC. Why didn't it make it onto the list? It was released late 2005. Well within this past decade.

[EeJLP-]

That R2 pic isn't Daedalus the end boss, it's the Leviathan.

Daedalus:
http://media.giantbomb.com/...

He was still semi-big, but there were a bunch of bosses and enemies bigger than him in R2, including the Leviathan, Marauder, Mother Spinner, Goalith/Stalker, the Kraken, and the Swarm was probably even bigger than Daedalus.

[Bobertt]

Has no one played Asura's Wrath? Its awesome and the last boss is like 100 times bigger than entire galaxies!!!

[ABizzel1]

That's because that boss fight was faked. Asura's Wrath Wyzen boss was huge, as well as the DLC boss.

But Cronos was a full fledge "Stage" and boss to fight.

[Irishguy95]

Yeah but you actually have to climb the bosses in SotC. In God of war...it's huge, but the scale of the battle is very small. So, Sotc bosses battle are bigger. Kingdom Hearts also has some huge bosses. God of wars are big, but the size means absolutely nothing for the gameplay. Unlike SotC , or even Halo's Scarabs - and some bosses in KH

[Tontus]

Stop talking bullshit.

With Cronos you start at his hands, climb up his arm, climb onto his fingers, jump from his hand to his abdomen, climb up to the center of his stomach, fight on his hand, climb his other arm up to his shoulder, get eaten and climb down his throat, run up his arm and grapple onto his head then finish him. And between every segment of platforming & climbing you're either fighting off the enemies or avoiding, attacking and blinding Cronos.

The entire fight is interactive, all you do in SotC is climb up a tiny Colossi, hang on, climb up some more and stab it repeatedly, finish. I've never played Kingdom Hearts so no comment there, and really, a Scarab in Halo?... Not only are they small but they are incredibly boring, all you do is get on them and shoot at a control room thing and escape before it blows up.

Not a single huge boss fight in SotC or any other game comes close to the spectacle or execution of the Cronos fight and none other are as memorable. Don't even try to downplay it, Cronos is bloody awesome.

Also, I can't wait to see the huge fights in God of War: Ascension! The massive snake creature in the teaser looks like it could be absolutely massive! Even Charybdis looks huge, there's also a lot more fights we don't know about yet.

[shadowgeist00]

This must be your petty way of talking down on a PS3 exclusive.

Sad.

[levy]

@Tontus
While I understand your point and Cronos i indeed much larger. But what Irishguy95 is pointing at is the fact that the bosses in SotC isn't as hardscripted as the fight with Cronos. You indeed climb him and do various stuff. but it's not dynamic in the same way, please try to understand before leashing out.
The bosses in SotC is fully dynamic, albeit smaller and in many ways more simple than Cronos. It's just a different way of handling a boss fight, a scripted battlefield with a pretty background. During certain parts of the fight the entire body of Cronos isn't even present, just the part relevant to that "stage" of the boss fight.

[crXss]

if you think Cronos was big... wait till Ascension... :O

[ziggurcat]

chronos was pretty ****ing spectacular...

[Ryudo9]

Asrua's Wrath would like to have a word with you. One of the first bosses you fight is the size of Earth. makes Cronos look like Kratos does in that picture. Another on in AW the size of a solar system and hurls planets and stars at you to smash like rain.
Then there is Bayonetta who makes Cronos look tiny

[Riderz1337]

Oh man the scale during the Cronos fight was so well done. Just looking at that picture in the article. Kratos looks like an ant compared to his finger! Santa Monica are so fucking good I can't wait for Ascension.

[Ezz2013]

now look at the monster under water in ascension is as big or bigger than Cronos
i don't know how SSM do this

and not only that
did any one notice the HUGE snake tail that was moving in ascension SP trailer ?!
god of war ascension is going to be DAMN EPIC

[Riderz1337]

Yes I did notice it and it looked nothing short of amazing. Can't wait for the full reveal of the trailer, I'll be sure to wear no pants while watching it just in case.

[Blastoise]

^

Your avatar confused me. I thought you were having a conversation with yourself lol

[grailly]

those aren't end bosses, but they're really cool anyway.

I think asura's wrath should have been featured

[Hudahudahuda]

Asura wasnt that great of game and the buddha wasnt really a boss fight.

[Gamehard]

If it wasn't a boss fight, what was it? lol and the boss you are referring to isn't even the only huge fight in the game, or the biggest.

[Tontus]

The biggest boss in Asura's Wrath is just a trick of the camera, he's not really that big. Why do you think you never see the entire character model and Asura on screen at the same time? The part where he points at year for instance, you see him looking bigger than the Earth in one shot then the next it's you the ground and just a finger pointing at you whilst you mash buttons for QTE's. That isn't a boss fight and he isn't a truly big boss. Moat of the other big fights in the game are decent sized but nothing compared to the Colossus of Rhodes, Poseidon, or Cronos.

[ginsunuva]

Cronos and Hades were the best and most well-designed bosses ever.

[Ezz2013]

add hercules and poseidon fight

[MerkinMax]

smashing Hercules' face in was icing on the cake. so badass.

[TheFallenAngel]

Yes Hercules boss fight was the best.

[Reverent]

Screw it, every single boss fight in every single God of War game ever was just epic.

[Eyeco]

every boss in GOW 3 was amazing, I actually felt a bit sorry for them at end of the battle, sadistic

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

wheres the final boss from shadow of the colossus?!

[e-p-ayeaH]

that´s a scary looking mofo xD

[dirthurts]

Contra always had my favorite boss battles.

[e-p-ayeaH]

Metal Slug games deserve a mention.

[shotgun_ps3]

While Cronos is the largest in god of war my favorite boss in that series has to be Poseidon and everything in the intro of God of War 3. When you leap out of Guia and then straight into fighting Poseidon it's just amazing.

I'm surprised there's no mention of Azura's Wrath here. There's a boss in that game that grows, to what only can be described as, the size of the universe.

Plus, the lack of Shadows of the Colossus is pretty much a slap in the face to any gamer.

[rhap]

Lol. No SotC and Asura's Wrath. Seems like this guy only knows about overrated games.

[Hicken]

Those two games definitely deserve a spot on the list. But the other games aren't overrated. Still, there are quite a few from each of those games that could make the list.

[Blacklash93]

I don't like large bosses typically. It always feels like they're being lazy and stupid and overall just really half-assing the fight.

I know that's how it has to be so you can win (due to numerous gameplay/animation limitations), but still.

[smashcrashbash]

I don't understand what you mean. How is it half @$$ing the fight because they are gigantic? If you were fighting something that big in real life would you expect it to go zipping around the screen or dashing at you at full speed or jumping high in the air? The boss battle obviously would have to be done differently of you have something that is twenty times bigger then the character so it has to be crafted differently. You don't really except them to do it exactly how you would fight something your own size right?

[Blacklash93]

Many of the Colossi from SotC would be a good example. When you're trying to get onto them their ineptitude makes sense due to their size and slowness, but once you get on them... Could they try brushing their arm? Scraping you against a wall? Swatting you like an annoying fly? SotC would be impossible if the Colossi did this.

Or when you fight a Reaper in ME3. It just kind of stands in place in the backround lazily dragging a laser at you when it could just quickly, point-blank shoot at you directly and instantly kill you.

The point is they usually have to be stupid and predictable and not take common sense opportunities to kill you for you to concievably beat them. Because of that I don't feel like I'm fighting a creature, but a slow backround hazard running attack animations like clockwork.

[Vladplaya]

Painkiller(s) actually had few large bosses too.

[BanBrother]

At least they gave People Can Fly's other game a mention, Bulletstorm. I think if we were to be realistic, it would probably exclusively have Sotc and God Of War, as nothing comes close IMO.

I don't want to be 'that' guy, but why is the Brumak from Gears 2 mentioned? That was weak. The Leviathan was better, and even still it was just a shooting games boss.

[TheFallenAngel]

He got Resistance 2 wrong ahahaha. That's the levinthan? I dont know how to spell it but it's not daedalus.

[TheGOODKyle]

Leviathan

[ATi_Elite]

Back in the day the Boss Battles in Star Fox were pretty cool as they were always Huge and the end Boss Space Ship in Silpheed was Ginormous!

Those were some Battles and not a bunch of QTE's but an actual FIGHT between you and the Boss!

[r21]

What bout killzone 3. The boss fight against the MAWLR, that was intense IMO.

[Dwalls1171]

I here you guys cronos was amazing but honestly my favorite was in the beginning...when kratos and gia team up to take down posiden....that fight was soooo long and had so many parts to it...it blew my freaking mind like 5 minutes into the game

[Dwalls1171]

You know what...this isnt even fair....god of war basically beats the hell out of everything wen we talk about boss fights lol.... only thing we can do is compare god of war fights with one another

[cchum]

Eh...you can't forget the innovator of large bosses.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l...

Related video

[cchum]

My favorite big boss (spoilers?):

http://i65.photobucket.com/...

[black911]

Cant wait for Ascension. Just imagine what bosses that game will have.

[Chard]

Malus from SotC was huge, but I wish he'd walked around rather than stand still. Gaius was an awesome large, fully mobile and interactive boss that I'll never forget.

[tigertron]

Tidalwave from Transformers Armada. Daaaaamn he was a big boy. When playing as Optimus Prime I felt like an ant.

[urwifeminder]

Boss fights used to be so overused in games glad they are a little more rare these days.

[Kingdom Come]

Few of the lists selection are "End Bosses", the majority appear near the beginning for middle of the campaign...

[M1chl]

Where is the end boss from DMC4? In my opinion, this boss fight was up to GoW 3 "big boss" standards and I totaly loved it.

[capitanandi]

That boss from Bayonetta is called Iustitia, not Lustitia.

[Reverent]

Really.. -_-

[capitanandi]

What? I mean, it's not a big deal, but if the name is wrong the name is wrong. Just saying.