Pokemon ZA Zygarde has been kicking my ass. Usually I’m the one who dies while my pokemon are just fine.
I played Minecraft for over a decade before I bothered going to beat the Ender Dragon
Not a boss per se, but the first Marauder fight in Doom Eternal made me rage quit for a good 6 months.
Still haven’t gotten past RoboPres in Destroy All Humans
Doc Ock in the OG Xbox Spiderman game… can’t exactly remember which one (probs for ps2 too). But if you beat it, you know exactly what I’m talking about. I couldn’t stand that fight
The orphan of Kos in Bloodborne. Could never quite get it right, got so close several times but even with help that crazy bastard is just soo fast and difficult to predict. I tried for like a week, 30 or more goes. It really annoys me because Bloodborne is my favourite souls game.
Ikaruga.
Not necessarily for any particular boss - but I enjoy shmups (Gradius, Thunder Force, Gaiares) and getting anything other than a “c” on a level is work. I’ve even seen videos of people 2 sticking the game (playing both players at once) and getting S on levels…
PS2 Shinobi. That game was brutally hard.
I’m parked about halfway through Returnal. It’s so punishing I just resent the time I need to put in to git gud.
I was also gonna say “Returnal”, maybe specifically the second boss. It took like 2 years or more of off-and-on playing to beat the game… it was oh so satisfying, but damn that game can be brutal
I looked up some tips and tricks that helped, but it really came down to “just be better”… I’ve gotten way better at this point, but the learning curve was steep and long
I’m playing Saros now (Returnal’s ‘spiritual sequel’), and it’s wayyy easier in comparison. Not in a bad way, cause it’s really fun… but after playing Returnal, I was already prepped for some bullet-hell dodging
Would highly recommend Saros, cause you’ll definitely be able to beat it and it may entice you to keep striving for that sweet, sweet Returnal end game
The jousting boss in Luigi 's Mansion 2. Guy was a jerk!
I’m going to say pretty much every fight in Sifu. People praise it as having some of the best fighting combat and claim that it just takes a while to learn, but I put weeks of time into that game and it never got any easier. I managed to get past the first two levels before hitting a wall I could just not get past.
Oh man, I loved Sifu! I’d recently finished Sekiro and thought “well it can’t be harder than that”. Ultimately, it wasn’t but it took a long time to get the hang of the different combat rhythm.
Malileth, the black blade in Eden Ring.
I eventually had to summon co-op players in and just sit in the corner and let them do the work. Fuck that boss…
Well that kinda takes the wind outta my sails for completing the game. I’m kinda stuck at the forge of the giants. And I’m so late that there’s hardly ever coop signs around
I think at a certain point, a break from the game is warranted before going back in to grind and be specced correctly for a difficult area/boss
The final T-Rex in “Chuck Rock”
I know most people weren’t thinking about webgames but I’ve never been able to beat this 10 level bullet hell boss rush game Obsolescence
Also this puzzle game Color Tiles is ridiculously hard because of the 2 minute timer. I cleared it once but it took me pretty much a month straight of attempts.
Final Fantasy X. Technically last boss has some auto-win thing to it, but the one before that is a tough challenge.
What killed it for me is, the one just before was very technical. There’s a shifting elemental stance that you can come up with counter strategies to, and it felt like a well thought victory.
But the final boss? WHAM, huge damage. And again, HUGE DAMAGE. It became a numbers check, and I didn’t feel like grinding to keep up, so I watched the ending on YouTube.
On the flip side, doing even just a couple of side quests will quickly over level you, making all the end bosses trivial.
Honestly, the hardest story boss is probably the Seymour fight on Mount Gagazet. You’re less likely to be overleveled at that point and it introduces some mechanics for the first time that you likely aren’t prepared for.
