Boss fights offer some of the more memorable moments in gaming for me. Off the top of my head, I usually crown Resident Evil 4 for have plently of amazing bosses to contend with, whether you're narrowly dodging El Gigante swinging a huge ****ing tree at you, or knife fighting with Krauser, there was this cinimatic flair added to those fights that made most of them stick with me. There are plenty of other games with memorable encounters, but off the top of my head...
- Take anything from the God of War series. At the very least, they make an incredible first impression (Hydra and the Collossus of Rhodes spring to mind). One of my personal favorites would be the Barbarian King in GoW2.
Coming back from the dead, and looking for revenge, he puts up a hell of a fight. A multi-tiered boss fight where you have to knock him off his horse, fight him one on one, deal with his summoned souls and a larger version of him before you rip that hammer out of his hands and brutally smack him down deader than he was before. Then you get a weapon that I found to be really useless, but that's besides the point. Honerable mentions go to Hades and Hercules as they're easily the best of the bunch for me in GoW3.
- Xemnas from Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix. Originally known as the Enigmatic Man, or something similar, this guy made his first appearance as an optional boss in the first game (Japanese version only, unfortunately), throwing a bunch of cryptic phrases at Sora that foreshadowed some of the events to follow in the second game. I think one of the main things that really stuck out to me was the music, this ominous, quick-tempo cello theme. Oh, and he was remarkably difficulty, throwing a variety of timed laser bolts, while darting around the room slashing you with... I guess I'd call them lightsabers. Everything did heavy damage on their own, and if that weren't enough, he could lock out your attack menu and turn it into a roulette game of some sort, completely disabling you from attacking and dealing heavy damage to boot. It's one of my personal favorite boss fights, and helped to really hype me up for KH2. It's just too bad this guy really got neutered in the second game.
- Fighting Vergil in Devil May Cry 3 and the Jeanne fights in Bayonetta (fourth battle is amazing). Fight them multiple times, and they get more difficult each time. I love rival-like battles, and these two would be near the top of my list.
- I'll finish up saying that pretty much all the boss fights in Demon's Souls are pretty damn great. Very challenging, and very rewarding when you get past them, and all them feeling very unique from one another. The boss fight in 2-3 is a no brainer for me, since I really wasn't expecting anything like that, but there are a few non-conventional bosses that stand out to me. Mainly the Maiden of Astraea and the game's final boss.
[spoiler] The fact that she doesn't bother to attack you and asks to be left in piece doesn't even paint her as a enemy, but she will have her bodyguard, Garl, defend her if you approach to closely. Defeat him and she'll kill herself, knowing she can't stand up to you, but she has this regretfull tone that just makes me feel like such a bastard after that fight. The final boss, on the other hand, King Allant, is one of the easiest enemies in the game to fight. I think it's showing how much his lust for souls led him to such dispicable state, assuming he knows what's best for Boletaria in such a manner. I don't know, the game doesn't have much a of a story to begin with, but the minimalist way it's told combined with the game's environments made the story have much more impact, including the bosses. I could be overthinking it, though. [/spoiler]
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