Surprisingly, King of Fighters '95 doesn't weaken its boss characters once you unlock them, so Rugal's Genocide Cutter is still insanely powerful even when he's playable in that game.

I always found it hilarious that Ryo flat out tells Geese that he thinks his methods are honestly pretty cool, I've never seen a hero give props to the villain like that, not in a fighting game. It'd be like Ken randomly complimenting M. Bison's drip.

SNK's bosses were so notorious back in the day that it coined the phrase "SNK Boss Syndrome", which outlined pretty much everything you mentioned in this video.

Two more: many bosses simply don't take knockback or hitstun from most moves, which is common enough as to be expected. However, some bosses also have the ability to teleport or dodge mid-combo, while they should be taking hitstun, instantly stopping any combo and forcing you to fight for position again. Devil Kazumi from Tekken 7, for example, uses this frequently.

I'm surprised "screen filling attacks" wasn't a section unto itself. Once Gill showed up I was sure we'd get a segment devoted just to how teeth grindingly evil Seraphic Wing was.

I think the funniest part of KoF is that Krizalid from '99 was supposedly an attempt at making a _balanced_ final boss. Can't really say how that panned out since I was on the Capcom side of the fence back in the day.

What’s interesting is, you can actually use the screen filling version of Bison’s Psycho Crusher, but only with a special, secret version of the character. Like Shin Akuma with the double air fireballs.

The final boss of skullgirls, didn't suffer hitstun and honestly felt more like a platform game boss but without the benefit of platform game controls to fight her with

That Richard Branson joke is pure comedic gold

Ah, another of Andy's fighting game lists, he has an entire mine of salt built up from all the sweat and tears he's spent on the genre apparently lol

There's also bosses that you cannot unlock and you're left with suffering. For example, in Tekken 7, there's a chance to play against Devil Kazumi, which is very hard to attack, but it's not available in the game after you beat her.

What about when the boss is immune to special moves, or worse, your supers? Kronika basically having armor made her immune to any moves that involved knock back, knock down, or any kind of special animation, such as grab attacks. And not being able to finish her with my character’s Fatal Blow like I could with Shao Kahn and Shinnok pissed me off so much.

The infinite super meter thing is why Goddess Athena in SNK vs. Capcom Chaos is nearly impossible to beat without learning exploits, her mermaid tail super can just wipe your health bar instantly if every hit lands and she does it over and over.

The final boss in Skullgirls that's just...constantly levitating higher then you are tall

Oddly enough, a lot of SNK bosses have the same weakness: leg sweeps. The AI barely knows how to defend against just getting it's leg swept out from under it over and over again.

Getting a powerup after losing a round, making them even more resistant and dealing more damage, like Dio drinking Joseph's blood 6:11 oh yeah that fight was insane

Nothing like being disrespected by a sprite. If I wanted to be embarrassed I would play a Souls game.

Regarsing Galactus: MvC 3 has the advancing guard mechanic which allows you to spam guard your way out of the instant kill lazers. Of course, you need to guard it first however

"A bowling shoe who got a job modeling for romance book covers" is such a brutal and accurate burn. 😂

So if we play as Mike.... We can never actually go Full Mike. 😖

It's not always a boss, but the "MK Walker" is a notoriously difficult computer-controlled fighting game adversary, named for its prominence in old Mortal Kombat games. Not only does this specimen read your button inputs, but it fights safely and oppressively (the name comes from the fact that it just walks at you instead of jumping in or using advancing attacks, so that it can keep its defenses up and respond to anything you do).

Omg. Unfair bosses can be such a pain, right? Like Lu Bu from the Dynasty Warriors Series, who's even a cheap fighter before hitting Chaos Mode. He's getting every buff the game has to offer, a horse that's incredibly tall and fast, and such fast Musou Charge, he can almost spam his Super with only seconds for you t get out of the way.

The worst part about old school fighting games (Mortal Kombat II had it) is when it seems like the game in the code can determine what move your going to do and react to it without a second thought, it can pull moves that a player can't with their reaction time and it can do it way faster than you

It's been a while since any major fighting game did this but I remember some fighting games had short characters; characters so short your basic attacks just didn't hit them. I still remember fighting that a penguin in Bloody Roar (don't ask) and all my punches just wooshed right over its head

Y'know, it's a real testament for SNK to have multiple entries about final bosses.

I knew what the last 2 entries were going to be right from the start. Back when I was a kid playing street fighter 2 on my SNES i experienced all of this. And it's not just Bison. Guile can do flash kicks and sonic booms instantly and on repeat, but they decided that players wouldn't be able to do that. Sometimes I found that if I purposefully lost round 2 really badly, the boss a.i. would have its difficulty turned down in round 3, making it much easier to win than struggling in round 2 and losing ultimately.

I've got another one: only getting one chance to fight them, the most infamous example is Omega Rugal in KoF 2002 UM, if you lose, you can't try again until you complete arcade mode again.

The final boss of the Samurai Shodown reboot starts the second round of battle by firing a giant laser at you the second the fight starts.

Be aware, for every Genocide Cutter Rugal says, you can hear somebody in the distance shout “GODDAMMIT!”

Game Companies: Let's cheat to make boss battles unfair and difficult! Me with a Game Genie, Game Shark, Action Replay: Oh, ... I see you like to play dirty too!

I don’t know if this counts But in Super Smash Bros Ultimate, I think a trick Galeem and Darkhan does that is kinda dirty is sending out extra fighters to try to kill your character and after a minute or so of the fighters they create they will explode possibly dealing even more damage and possibly launching you to your doom

As far as I know this is something of a one off thing, but in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax the final boss, Hi-No Kagutsuchi doesn't have a health bar. That and it's kind of hard to tell what attacks are actually affecting him so you'll either beat him in seconds or get your ass handed to you

That chest-face-flame-breath wasn't even the worst thing about Jinpachi - it was the incredibly quick stomp attack that stuns you, putting you in a position where you can't even dodge whatever comes next. Which, yes, might well be the flame-breath. Deep sigh.

You get a bit more powerful version of pyscho crusher in sfz3 if you use Xmode instead of default Z

Seth from Street Fighter IV just kinda derps around and does a few annoying but punishable moves, but once you get a round on him, he has you “Witness his limitless power” and goes nuts. He even teleports two or three times in a row after knocking you down to make you guess which way he’s going to attack you from.

Vega from SF2 would do this thing where he climbs the fence in the background, becoming invulnerable, and then just hang out there until you let your guard down. Then he would do a big dive at you that was incredibly difficult to block without lots of practice. That temporary invulnerability has got to be a trend, right?

IIRC Galactus' instant kill is very, very rare. However, both he and Unknown from Tekken Tag Tournament 2 have moves that "snapback" (force you to change your active character), forcing you to change to another fighter, and erasing all of that character's recoverable health. Unknown's also takes off about 90% of the health of the character snapped back, so if she does it twice, all that health is lost.

I knew that Jinpachi would be in this list - you have to do the stupid crab walk sidestep to avoid his laser attack.

How about when the boss has a mechanic that keeps them in check, like Nagoriyuki's blood rage meter in guilty gear strive, which causes him to lose half his health if he over extends, which the boss version just doesn't have to worry about

I feel like Outside Xbox has done like 5 of these "cheapest fighting game bosses" videos but there's so many examples that they could fill a dozen more lists with them.

8:12 Love when Andy says "Buck Wild" 😆 Something about how he says it makes it sound so funny and cool all at once 😎

A final boss of Gears of Destiny had an odd mechanic that you could "NO U" to win. She started off somewhat weak, slightly harder than a normal fight. After you beat her, she fully heals and becomes immune to stun, and just a menace to deal with... but the biggest problem, it happens within the same round timer. So if you fight her normally, you'll most likely lose to a timer, because you took damage, while she recovered it. But you can just hit her a bunch and then chill in the safe distance until timer reaches 0. Then, she will lose by the same timer, never entering her awakened mode.

1:37 "You look like a bowling shoe got a job modeling for romance novel covers" has to be one of the sickest burns I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. Too bad it only applies in this very specific situation. Also, "strongerst" (7:01), lol.

I will make a correction here real quick: Even if when unlocked, being on the "power gauge rule to all", ALL BOSSES of NESTS ERA from KOF Still are OP as F. XD

"...after he's arrested for your murder." LOL

Apparently another thing Orochi does to win, is by trying to give the *player* a seizure with rapid flashing lights @ 2:15 :X

Speaking of SNK boss syndrome white from fatal fury real bout makes you think that you won the match but then he throws a projectile and if you don't jump it, you instantly lose

Perhaps a future list needs Otoma=Raga from KOFXV. Infinite meter, regeneration, screen-filling nonsense, they've got all the SNK boss tricks. Or Seth in the 2nd round from USFIV. Or Annie (all rounds) from Skullgirls. Or Unlimited Rachel from Blazblue Calamity Trigger. But good luck with that last one. Now where is my GG I-No...

Having permanent Hyper Armor is another pain in the butt. Hyper Armor is a state where your attacks can't be interrupted. Some moves can be empowered to have this in a few fighting games, but once the move is done you lose it. Shao Khan from Mortal Kombat 9 has permanent Hyper Armor meaning his attacks will hit you if they're started and you're in range. And since bosses tend to deal more damage while also taking less... Yeah, it's annoying.

A couple of extras for the inevitable commenter's edition: -bringing a sword to a fist fight (chief offender: Hyo Imawano from Rival Schools) -fighting two people at the same time (chief offender: Juli and Juni from SF Alpha 3) -having access to two supers when characters are normally restricted to one (chief offender: Gill from SF 3: Third Strike, although Akuma will always have multiple supers, so it's not as cheap)

I love Andys fighting game lists. I don't really play any but I like hearing about how weird or unfair they are

so glad you mentioned Bison. That was basically like can i survive two of these pyscho things in 3 rounds fo fighting

I'm honestly amazed every time how many of those lists Andy can squeeze out of that particular genre. Not complaining though, keep at it!

Another big one I've seen is not even being allowed to fight them in the first place unless you play REALLY well, such as Akuma in Street Fighter 2 and Giga Bowser in Super Smash Bros Melee.

The Taboo fight in Super Smash Bros Wii is just full of everything on this list, especially that annoying unblockable, undodgeable, uninterruptable full-screen insta-kill. And if I recall correctly he can do that whenever the hell he wants after he's been reduced to 50% HP, in one fight (pretty sure the one that made me rage quit and never play Subspace Emissary again) I had him do that on me three times in a row, literally, and just destroying all three of my fighters instantly. I'd honestly rather fight a Deviljho IRL than to do that fight again...

Neat, kinda fun analysis video! Thanks for uploading!

Fun Fact: The name for bosses that you fight that are cheap to fight against but weak when you play them is called BUF-BUG. Which stands for "Boss You Fight, Boss You Get". I know what you're thinking "shouldn't it be BYF-BYG?". Well it was... for a very brief moment, until some stoner use lazy speak(not leet) & replaced the Y's with U's. It was gonna be corrected until someone noticed the genius in it. For you see the BUF fits perfectly with cheap bosses as they feel buffed & the BUG fits with bosses you play/use as they feel bugged as if the dev's didn't fixed it. So it was settled & the rest was history. I call any raid pokemon i captured BUFBUG if their stats are OP & bullsh!t to fight but crap to use. I've been doing this since Gen 8. But this ultimately applies to fighting games primarily. Now you know.

All I can hear in my head watching this video is Arin from Game Grumps screaming *"UNAVOIDABLE CHIN MOVE!!!!!"* X'D

Bushido Blade, where everyone fights with melee weapons, except that one guy with a gun.

That Geese line was GOLD!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Feral Chaos from Dissidia 012 comes to mind, Tiny arena, takes up 2/3 of floor space, moves that can hit anywhere on stage regardless of positioning and with a summon that, in normal game play, gives a random effect. But in his repeated use, is rolling the dice with only benefical results to him.

There are bosses who can't be beat by knocking down their health bar. For example: if I remember right, Death in Time Killers has no health; you can only win by decapitation. The boss of Eternal Champions did have health, but if you knock him down to 0, he just transforms into something stronger with full health. You have to hit him till he has less health than you, then try not to get hit as you run out the clock.

This is really well made with classifications. Appreciated. ✨

Meta Ridley from Smash Brawl is definitely dirty. He has an ability where he can basically remove the stage underneath you for a second.

God.. the PTSD is real.. I have faced some of these especially the PsycoCrusher from hell.. although i played enough to tell when he will do it.. but the moment his super meter fills up.. i lose all composure until i successfully block it (which still takes quite a chunk) or die instantly from it due to some of the hits he gave me while charging his super.. Edit: oh and if you lose, there is no continue.. you get his ending... where he puts you in a machine and uses your energy to destroy the world..

The fact that when Mai is defeated she cries out Andy Bogard’s name and it’s Andy narrating is so funny to me

I'm surprised Andy didn't mention SF3 SI's Akuma in the power up segment, he starts as regular Akuma but switches to Shin Akuma upon losing the first round

Pretty much everything about The General from Kaiser Knuckle (pretty sure that's the game). He's bugger-near impossible to beat without exploiting glitches, turning your arcade fighter into a Bethesda game.

Yay I love when you guys talk fighting games!! 😍

Andy: I can see why he's called Geese, cause he's foul (fowl) Me: Boo! XD

If memory serves correctly, the only fighting game series that doesn't have these cheap ways to "make the game more challenging" was Bloody Roar. That series was amazing!

Not bosses but AI characters in general-- in Mortal Kombat games, they're able to pull off certain moves on a dime that would require a human player to input a long button sequence (or hold down a button for 5 seconds). It's especially egregious when they use these moves as counters. There are other instances in the MK series where rules that apply to humans don't apply to computer-controlled fighters, but this is for me the most notable example.

Can I say that I'm just happy someone actually did this list. It's like no one wanted to bring up the nonstop bs snk games put us through.

6:45 I thought was going to be another Psycho Mantis moment... "Andy, you are the host of this... KZfaq video."

Solid list, and SNK bosses are notorious for almost every single entry haha. The Bison example for actually being weak is the right character, but wrong example. The reason you can't do the screen-filling Psycho Crusher is because it belongs to Shin Bison, who is a different version of the character. When you play as Bison in the game you're just playing the normal version that has the weaker Psycho Crusher, but you can actually unlock Shin Bison and do the screen-filling one in some versions of the game. Why Bison does belong on this list is because the CPU version does a lot of things you just can't do like ignoring charging for his moves, and when you use him you realize how much having to charge nerfs him. The CPU is so effective because he's always on the move, and when you're playing him it's impossible to move like that and also be able to use his specials. SNK bosses are also notorious for the initial "weak" versions of bosses that turn around and beat the crap out of you in the 2nd round haha.

What about invulnerability frames, immunity to hit stun, and immunity to ring outs?

Jinpachi had a even more annoying move the the chest fireball, his stomp witch would cancel any attack you did, even if you where MID AIR, and render you stunned, and it was unblockeble OFC. I don't know of a more busted boss move that that.

Well... There's a reason the term "SNK Boss Syndrome" exists. Many reasons, in fact.

“You look like a bowling shoe got a job modelling for romance novel covers!” Put it on a shirt Farrant! Might need to be a big shirt or teeny tiny font but i need this dammit

I love Skullgirls to death, but absolutely hate the boss version of Marie. Unlike a regular fight, Marie is completely immune to being combo’d, as she just floats there ominously, taking your attacks without so much as flinching, while peppering you with more projectiles that you can count. Well, you probably could count them, but you’ll be too busy being impaled, shot, and smacked in the face the whole time. Though, on the bright side, I can say “boss version of Marie” now, which is nice. Hopefully the coming soon player version of Marie isn’t as annoying!

Another cheap thing I hate about fighting bosses is when they don't let you rematch (which is sorta fair if it's a secret bonus boss I guess).

Parace L’sia of Arcana Heart fame: existing. From fast projectile normals (some of which are lows and overheads), to a nearly unstoppable healing super, to absurd meter gain and combos; the only reason you have a chance is her abysmal health (barely helpful) and unlimited continues in Score Attack (with each continue taking a portion of her starting health… which with everything else in her lack of pockets is a very small concession in the long run)

Gaoh from samurai showdown had that mode where he would eat every attack so I had to stay away and jump to avoid his crazy chip plus had a grab that did tons, Zankorou in samurai showdown read outputs as well, king lion in kizuna encounter ridiculous counter move

8:03 It's basically like the "Rubber band AI", which we usually see in racing games.

You guys should do this for RPG bosses too. There's quite a selection. The final boss of Legend of the Dragoon comes to mind. He's essentially four entire boss battles in one, his basic attacks do mega damage, at least half of them inflict status effects, several affect your entire party, some incapacitate a character for several turns before usually outright killing them unless their health was at max, and several are unavoidable instant death no matter what you do.

0:26 Recharging health. Gill from Street Fighter 3 & Unlimited Hazama from Continuum Shift are in this category

3:16 THATS SOOOOO COOL!!!!! This new st is off the charts, they really wanted to do their best game ever

I'm not sure I remembered right, but I think Gaoh from Samurai Shodown V will turns invincible for quite a while after he takes some damage.

There’s White from Real Bout Fatal Fury Special who after you beat him, he sneakily shoots at you with his gun cane. It’s unblockable and an instant kill!

I can think of a couple of bastards who stay low to the ground most the fight, or are just half the size of any of the other fighters, so you end up being unable to use many of your moves. Yoda and Voldo in Soulcalibur in particular.

The majority of this list is about how Capcom hates you and how they deal with it. Lol great video legends. Keep it up.

6:05 I still can't understand why in Mortal Kombat, you block with a separate button, when in nearly every other series you block by simply holding the control stick back. (and in some games you can even block in mid-air)😕

Mortal Kombat. The remake in general. Spent most of my time learning combos to be good at the game while the leader of Outerworld decides spamming me with his charge and hammer are the only two moves he needs to know. Felt like playing at the arcades and losing to a kid who just tripped me the whole match.

I feel seen that Jinpachi was in this video. Thank you...and screw that guy 😂. I always spent half the battle strafing in the side until I could get close enough to attack, and even then, he could close or widen the distance, making things a massive pain.

Another big one is bosses who cannot be grabbed or knocked down, meaning if you're playing a grappler or a character who's gameplan revolves around oki you're essentially nerfed.

Can you do a video titled 7 times your best friend or friend was a boss or the final boss? Eight suggestions for this list is Riku from Kingdom Hearts, Pixy from Ace Combat 0 The Belkan War, any Undertale character, Gunther from Fire Emblem Fates Revelation, Weatly from portal 2, Faize from Star Ocean: The Last Hope, Volo from Pokémon Legends Arceus, and Edelgard,Dimitri, and/or Claude (depending on the route you choice) from Fire Emblem Three Houses.

Touhou 15.5 - Antinomy of Common Flowers is a fighting game where everyone is flying, it's a spinoff of the Touhou series which are mainly bullet hell shooter games. This one has the Yorigami sisters, Shion and Jyoon, as the final boss of most story mode stories. The game has a Master/Slave tag system and basically all story mode opponents already cheat by having a barrier that greatly reduces damage taken and flying around while shooting as many projectiles as they want before switching to their Slave who will proceed to do the same, the barrier only taking damage when the Slave is out, thankfully if the barrier is broken then they'll get stunned (The player gets three healthbars and is expected to survive on just that throughout the entire story mode) Jyoon as the final boss has Shion as her "Slave" and actually uses a completely different system than everyone else, in addition to them already doing what everyone else is doing, their final phase in most is to use the spell card Possession Exchange "Absolute Loser" where Jyoon turn invincible for a bit, flies to the center of the screen, then unleashes an undodgable wave that changes your Slave into Shion, Jyoon will now proceed with her bullet barrage with her partner being the Slave who have been with you throughout the rest of the story now under her control with the only command being to shoot you dead, Shion is going to be peppering you with bullets every now and then to add to the chaos, and you can't use the Slave Tag because Shion is not going to cooperate with you... On the last story, you play as Yukari with Reimu as the Slave, immediately starting by fighting the Yorigami sisters, the fight is rather normal until they break out Absolute Loser, at which point Yukari uses her power to make Shion and Reimu Masters, rendering the final fight between Shion and Reimu. Players would probably think this is a good thing as Shion is a Poverty Goddess and thus has luck so bad that she always loses so the player will win without trying, instead Shion starts her fight by having a Super Armor (Fighting game term for when a character cannot be flinched) and start flying around to shoot bullets everywhere, after you deplete some of her health bar, she'll flinch, go invincible for a bit, and proceeds to fly around again with more bullets, after one more time of this, Shion will play the lose animation (Exploding into light like everyone else), yay, you win, right? Nope, a bunch of Shion's bullets (Which are most likely made from curse energy) flood the center of the stage and transport you to a new realm where Shion is staring at you as the background and shoots at you from everywhere in the arena, survive that and you get a cheat of your own, your Spell Card bar (Basically the Super bar) will recharge incredibly fast, something you'd need as Shion will do what she does in her first phase but with absurdly increased amount of bullets, as in it's enough bullets to cover the whole arena if you let it, this time the bullets are tougher than all of Reimu's normal and special bullets, meaning you can't cancel them with your own bullets, normal guarding in this game only minimizes damage, there's a barrier guard but that eats the special bar which are also used when you use your special attacks or shoot, so your option is to shoot Shion's bullets and unleash the only thing Reimu has with the power to go through Shion's bullet and hitting properly, her Spell Card Spirit Sign "Fantasy Seal", fail enough in any of these, you go back to Shion's phase 1

Hazama from BlazBlue Continuum Shift: Steals your life when entering his Circle, filling up his own HP. Automatically filling up his Meter for Distortion Drives and gaining even more when in his Circle, blocking his Attacks or getting hit by them. Ridiculously enhanced Distortion Drives + an Extra Distortion Drive, which is a Grab and yes, you will loose extra life from being in his Circle during all of this, healing him for a good amount of HP. Can use 3 of his Moves, that normally require to use a Stance Move first, instantly. Setting you up for any Combo. Faster Movements and greater Hitboxes for his Ouroboros-Drive. Input-Reading. So… yeah… I had a great time. Especially on Hell Difficulty…

Dural from Virtua Fighter having all the other players' moves, you could be close to victory so Dural then utilises Wolf Hawkfield's grab-spin throw that takes off half a bar of energy, or worse throws you out of the ring for an instant loss.

Bosses with many forms or minions - such as the Eternal Champion and Dark Champion from the Eternal Champions series, or Kronika from Mortal Kombat 11 - that will suddenly regenerate their health all over again _and_ give them an entirely different fighting style to grapple with.