"You might as well lie down and DIE!": The Hardest Bosses in Sonic

[Tara]

Any boss from Sonic Advance 2. I'm not a fan of running bosses in general, but they were at least tolerable in Unleashed, Colors, and Generations, having the boost at your disposal. ESPECIALLY the boss rush! What the hell, Dimps? You make me fight every single running boss in the game with no checkpoints? It's only tolerable with Cream, who makes mincemeat out of them, but it still feels long and tedious.

I'm actually in the exact opposite boat.  I love all the bosses from Advance 2 with the exception of one, which I'll get into in a minute.  I like the running aspect to a certain extent.  That is, I think it was done well here, but it's not an intrinsically good trait.  That being said, being a sore loser, I still get upset and frustrated because I'm terrible at the game, but I love the concept and the execution.

 

The only boss I didn't like was the Ice Paradise boss, namely because the constant upward slopes have no purpose but to throw off your aim and timing and are usually responsible for you getting hit everytime you take a stab at Eggman. =/ - I guess it's not so much hard as much as just annoying.  It didn't feel like you were overcoming an obstacle, rather it felt like you were overcoming the challenge of clearing the game while someone was shaking you from the shoulders.  I don't know, it's not fun.

Edited August 17, 2013 by Akito

[Chaos Incarnate]

I'm actually in the exact opposite boat.  I love all the bosses from Advance 2 with the exception of one, which I'll get into in a minute.  I like the running aspect to a certain extent.  That is, I think it was done well here, but it's not an intrinsically good trait.  That being said, being a sore loser, I still get upset and frustrated because I'm terrible at the game, but I love the concept and the execution.

 

The only boss I didn't like was the Ice Paradise boss, namely because the constant upward slopes have no purpose but to throw off your aim and timing and are usually responsible for you getting hit everytime you take a stab at Eggman. =/ - I guess it's not so much hard as much as just annoying.  It didn't feel like you were overcoming an obstacle, rather it felt like you were overcoming the challenge of clearing the game while someone shaking you from the shoulders.  I don't know, it's not fun.

Ha ha, that's actually pretty funny, because the Ice Paradise boss is probably the only one I get some level of enjoyment out of. It's easy to get hit, but I actually like bouncing off of his device that flips over to hit him.

Edited August 17, 2013 by Chaos Incarnate

[ChaosRay]

For me, I used to ragequit all the time on the Planet Wisp boss in Colors (DS version). His stupid healing power made me want to throw my DS against the wall and char the remains with a flamethrower......Until I figured out that you needed to DRILL! Under the stage and hit him -.- Does this even count, as it was difficult only to an extent? King Boom Boo in SA2 still annoys me. I don't do well under stress (Ex. Strict time limits) and I hate how he speeds up as you wear him down and have to come at him from the front. Maybe I just dont like how there are three parts to hitting him just once. It gets tedious very soon.

[Zavok the SpinningSilver]

Sonic 2's final boss. Even worse with Knuckles. Ugh.

 

Ah, the irony that is my life. I try to fight this boss as Sonic, and fail spectacularly. Still trying to beat it as Sonic, and I come dangerously close to doing so until I royally screw up.

 

I try to fight this boss as Knuckles, failed even harder 'cause the red thing can't jump high enough, and STILL beat it before I did with Sonic. It took around 50 something deaths before Knuckles finally destroyed it.

[Phoenix Flame]

I'm surprised more people don't mention this boss. Perhaps because the game is so horrendous they never make it to the boss. But fucking hell, is it awful.

 

 

Oh yeah! I went there! The final boss of Sonic and the Secret Rings.

 

How can I possibly go over all of the terrible design choices of this boss in one post?

 

Let's start off with how you attack him. You have to shake the wiimote, with some strength, in order to fill your 'rage' bar up. It's utterly stupid, and makes your arm go dead. While you are charging up your rage bar, the boss throws projectiles at you, which are incredibly hard to avoid because it's so vague as to where they are going. How could this be worse? Well, you dodge the projectiles by tilting the Wii Remote. 

 

Yes, you use the same control movement (tilting/shaking the wiimote) to dodge his projectiles that you use to charge your rage meter. Also keep in mind that the control for Secret Rings is downright hideous in normal levels. It's even more agonizing in such a badly designed boss.

 

He then slashes the screen, and since it isn't clear what he does or how to avoid it, you will almost certainly be killed on your first few goes in this one move. Keep in mind that when he does this, the very rare rings will usually pass you by. So, do you risk getting the rings, and probably get killed, or miss the rings and die when the controls eventually fuck you up?

 

Also, as the fight progresses, the screen slash move gets a bigger and bigger range, until you have this absurdly small amount of area you are allowed to stand in. The safe zone is literally only slightly bigger than Sonic himself.

 

The boss then throws a power blast at you, which can only be deflected by using a significant portion of your rage meter. If you don't have enough rage, tough luck, you lose rings or die. This is made even more annoying because Sahara will almost always say:

 

"You don't have enough rage! You are going to die"!

 

Even if you do have enough rage she tends to say it. Not only does it make you think you are doing the boss wrong, but it is also like the game is taunting you when you fuck up. 

 

You then speed up at the boss and whack him. And guess what!

 

You lose your entire Rage bar. Time to start shaking that wiiremote again!

 

Repeat this whole procedure three times, and if you die you have to start the whole boss from scratch, with your dead arm. Hooray.

 

Fuck this boss.

Edited August 22, 2013 by Phoenix Flame

[Emmett L. Brown]

The only time I ever got a gold on Alf Layla Wa Melmac I did it by shaking the Wiimote about like I was having a seizure each time I got into pummel range. I still can't figure what the game registers and what it doesn't. Sometimes Sonic would just stop mid-pummel for no reason despite no change in the way I was shaking the damned thing.

 

Yeah, fuck that boss. Also the main theme had been hammered into my head so many times by the menu screen that I barely even heard it when it got used for the final boss battle.

[Spidey3525]

I'm surprised more people don't mention this boss. Perhaps because the game is so horrendous they never make it to the boss. But fucking hell, is it awful.

 

 

Oh yeah! I went there! The final boss of Sonic and the Secret Rings.

 

How can I possibly go over all of the terrible design choices of this boss in one post?

 

Let's start off with how you attack him. You have to shake the wiimote, with some strength, in order to fill your 'rage' bar up. It's utterly stupid, and makes your arm go dead. While you are charging up your rage bar, the boss throws projectiles at you, which are incredibly hard to avoid because it's so vague as to where they are going. How could this be worse? Well, you dodge the projectiles by tilting the Wii Remote. 

 

Yes, you use the same control movement (tilting/shaking the wiimote) to dodge his projectiles that you use to charge your rage meter. Also keep in mind that the control for Secret Rings is downright hideous in normal levels. It's even more agonizing in such a badly designed boss.

 

He then slashes the screen, and since it isn't clear what he does or how to avoid it, you will almost certainly be killed on your first few goes in this one move. Keep in mind that when he does this, the very rare rings will usually pass you by. So, do you risk getting the rings, and probably get killed, or miss the rings and die when the controls eventually fuck you up?

 

Also, as the fight progresses, the screen slash move gets a bigger and bigger range, until you have this absurdly small amount of area you are allowed to stand in. The safe zone is literally only slightly bigger than Sonic himself.

 

The boss then throws a power blast at you, which can only be deflected by using a significant portion of your rage meter. If you don't have enough rage, tough luck, you lose rings or die. This is made even more annoying because Sahara will almost always say:

 

"You don't have enough rage! You are going to die"!

 

Even if you do have enough rage she tends to say it. Not only does it make you think you are doing the boss wrong, but it is also like the game is taunting you when you fuck up. 

 

You then speed up at the boss and whack him. And guess what!

 

You lose your entire Rage bar. Time to start shaking that wiiremote again!

 

Repeat this whole procedure three times, and if you die you have to start the whole boss from scratch, with your dead arm. Hooray.

 

Fuck this boss.

I only fought him once or twice before I stopped playing the game. Yeah, he was really annoying.

[Blacklightning]

Anyway, the difficulty here is that Lancelot's timing for the sword clashes is ridiculous, and I have no idea why, but there's an incredibly small margin for error on it. It must've taken me hours to actually beat him, and given that there's no rings or any sort way to recover, it was just a loop of restarts. Pretty irritating.

What you're experiencing is less to do with the timing involved, and more to do with a delay on clash swings that doesn't really have any reason to be there, and the astonishingly retarded programming for clashes. It's the wierdest thing to explain - it's as if the swing takes a moment to register ingame, but yet if you swing early to accomodate for the delay it doesn't register at all. So for some reason you have to swing right at the start of the prompt and hope that the swing delay doesn't carry you all the way through to the end of it. It's absolutely fucking maddening, and the main reason I can't stand most of BK's VS fights, nevermind Lancelot. That King Arthur's second fight actually exploits the usual need for such stupid timing by faking out and coaxing you to walk right into a counter without any indication whatsoever that he was actually countering you was just sickening on top of that.

 

It's really just further proof that the game was originally designed (and frankly, probably even tested) with buttons in mind, but some exec at Sega thought slapping waggle on it with the same buzzwords of "if you swing your arm, it swings ingame!" that stopped fooling everyone after Red Steel 1 tried it would somehow work better for them.

Edited August 23, 2013 by Blacklightning

[castell-neath]

Ok...here goes:

Anyone from the Master system / game gear era will remember that ALL bosses were "No ring" bosses, (in sonic 1 and 2) and when people moaned about the Sonic 2 final boss on the mega drive being a no rings boss  i remember thinking "hehe, welcome to my world!!" (I managed to clear that boss pretty well actually due to my "expeience" of no ring bosses on the m.s!)

 

Hardest bosses?

1) THE GAME GEAR (not master system) of the VERY FIRST BOSS in Sonic 2 (underground zone) Small screen meant that the bouncing balls were almost impossible to determine and made it the most difficult boss to play against as it was based on luck more than any particular strategy

 

2) Egg dragoon (in hard mode, chasing an S rank) in Generations "time for a change of pace!". An odd one, but the most tricky boss to play against I've had in a while.

 

3) Sonic 4's E.G.G station. Not for difficulty, but for shear boredom and repititiveness. i found it hard to "see it through" In fact the "can't touch this" trophey for this game is the only one I don't have because I simply cannot be bothered with it.

 

Um thats about that....unless you want me to put "Palmtree Panic's" boss up there at Number 1!! LOL

 

3)

Edited August 23, 2013 by castell-neath

[Silencer226]

I haven't found any of the modern bosses difficult to fight, though the classic bosses have always given me trouble.  The boss in Sonic CD with the spring on its arm, always gives me trouble.

[Blacklightning]

I honestly don't understand how people actually find that Palmtree Panic boss difficult. He leaves himself completely open during a charge not even a minute after the fight's started, and considering he only takes three hits you can finish him off entirely during it. Do... people not actually know he does this?

[Silencer226]

I honestly don't understand how people actually find that Palmtree Panic boss difficult. He leaves himself completely open during a charge not even a minute after the fight's started, and considering he only takes three hits you can finish him off entirely during it. Do... people not actually know he does this?

It's the palmtree panic boss? I don't think its that boss. I can't remember which one it was. That was my best description. Or maybe it was, I can't remember clearly.

Edited August 23, 2013 by Noel

[Blacklightning]

You mean this dude right? Only thing that comes to mind when you mention spring arms.

[Silencer226]

Yea him, I hate him. I kind of just caved on him.

[Kuzu]

.....That boss is so easy....like you just hit him twice, and he's dead.

[castell-neath]

I honestly don't understand how people actually find that Palmtree Panic boss difficult. He leaves himself completely open during a charge not even a minute after the fight's started, and considering he only takes three hits you can finish him off entirely during it. Do... people not actually know he does this?

 

in my case it was  a"tounge in cheek" sarcastic comment about the PP panic boss. Easiest boss ever. In fact ALL Sonic CDs bosses are easy.

[Silencer226]

.....That boss is so easy....like you just hit him twice, and he's dead.

Well excuse me for sucking ass at SIDESCROLLERS

[Speedmancer]

To reiterate what others have said, the Egg Robo at the end of Sonic 2 was always extremely difficult to beat. It took me years to be able to successfully complete that game because of him. It blows my mind that one of the hardest Sonic bosses I've ever faced can also be one of the easiest... (I'm looking at you Generations' Egg Robo)

 

Not-so-honorable mention: Metal Sonic in Sonic the Fighters. I used to play this game all the time at my local arcade and could eventually fly through the rest of the fights relatively easily. But that damn robot. He was so fast and relentless. Not to mention he basically had every other fighters main attacks. I intend to buy the XBLA re-release of Fighters to take my revenge.

[GOAT]

While on the topic of Sonic CD bosses, I used to get wrecked by the ending Metal Sonic part. For some reason I could not beat that to save my life.

[Jet Prower]

You mean this dude right? Only thing that comes to mind when you mention spring arms.

 

That boss is annoying. He's not exactly hard, but you hit the two springs so often that hitting him can be such a tricky experience. Patience is one of the biggest keys with him from what I've seen at least.

[Semi-colon e]

 Patience is one of the biggest keys with him from what I've seen at least.

 

I just take the hit personally. I want that sweet sweet 50k bonus for beating the level under 30 seconds.

 

I also sometimes do the same in Metallic Madness's final boss, just to make it end quicker as it's just flat out dull.

[PC the Hedgehog]

Dark Gaia from Unleashed PS360 is easily my hardest Sonic boss ever. Mercilessly slow colossus controls coupled with an unnecessarily frustrating Super Sonic segment (heck, half the time I can't even find those friggin' dragon head things) leads to one of the worst bosses in Sonic history. Even the Sonic running sections, which should be a blast, are hindered by the ridiculous time limits placed on them.

Never thought the Egg Robo in Sonic 2 was particularly hard. If you have trouble hitting him when he's moving, you can still get one or two good hits in while he's standing still between walking and flying.

Not trying to belittle anyone as much as brag about myself, but I can tear through the Palmtree Panic boss in virtually 3 seconds.

[TheOcelot]

You mean this dude right? Only thing that comes to mind when you mention spring arms.

 

Yeah it's quite straightforward, only three hits needed. It's more easy though if you take the invincibiitly box (which is located earlier in that boss act), and then when you get to the boss, run to the far right so that you are behind Eggman. Then you can jump up and destroy him in a few seconds.

 

 

 

A classic boss I both hate and admire because of the difficulty, is the Carnival Night boss in Sonic 3.

 

 

 

Eggman throws the electric ball to the ground and then tries to draw Sonic in using the magnetic pull from the electricity that is generated. To hit him, you either wait until Eggman moves down in order to pick up his green ball, or you try and hit him directly underneath while he is in the air. It is incredibly easy to take damage trying to hit Eggman. I hardly ever beat this boss without losing all my - hundreds of - rings.

Edited August 23, 2013 by -Bender- Wolverine

[Emmett L. Brown]

A classic boss I both hate and admire because of the difficulty, is the Carnival Night boss in Sonic 3.

 

 

 

Eggman throws the electric ball to the ground and then tries to draw Sonic in using the magnetic pull from the electricity that is generated. To hit him, you either wait until Eggman moves down in order to pick up his green ball, or you try and hit him directly underneath while he is in the air. It is incredibly easy to take damage trying to hit Eggman. I hardly ever beat this boss without losing all my - hundreds of - rings.

When playing as Tails it's the most annoying boss in the game, but as Sonic it was the boss that made me respect how tremendously useful the insta-shield is once you learn the timing for it.

[Tara]

Not-so-honorable mention: Metal Sonic in Sonic the Fighters. I used to play this game all the time at my local arcade and could eventually fly through the rest of the fights relatively easily. But that damn robot. He was so fast and relentless. Not to mention he basically had every other fighters main attacks. I intend to buy the XBLA re-release of Fighters to take my revenge.

OMG Sonic the Fighters Metal Sonic... that one is ridiculously difficult to beat.  His charge attack makes this topic title ("You might as well lie down and DIE!") all the more literal because you have pretty much nothing else you can do at that point. =/

Edited August 23, 2013 by Akito