Boost Guardian [Metroid Prime 2: Echoes]
An early battle in the Dark World left lots of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes players miserable. There’s a very good reason for that — while Samus is stuck in the Dark World, you’re constantly taking damage. Early in the game, you’ll also only have two or three Energy Tanks total. So you have to fight a boss while taking constant damage, and with only a few Energy Tanks worth of HP to keep you alive. Great.
As if all that wasn’t bad enough, the boss won’t cooperate. Most of the time, the boss has lengthy periods of invincibility frames. When it attacks, it attacks hard. When it doesn’t? You have to sit and wait while taking even more damage from the dark miasma stuff! What is with this boss? Why was it designed this way?! The entire Dark World concept isn’t fun! It’s aggravating!
Ornstein & Smough [Dark Souls]
Why did it have to be this way? The infamous battle got us all crying for mercy at the halfway point of Dark Souls. The worst part is, you’re stuck in the city of Anor Londo so you can’t even return to any of those awesome easy farming spots in other sections of the game. You just have to keep trying against these guys or restart the entire game.
After you’ve played this game 10 times, Ornstein and Smough really aren’t that bad. But for newcomers they’re a complete nightmare. They’re tough enemies that attack you at the same time, and after defeating one of them the other is enhanced with magic attack power — and a full health bar. That means you can’t even block their attacks anymore! Blocking is something newbies completely relied on in those early Souls games, even if dodging was all-around better.
Most of us had to use tricks to win. Smough could get stuck on the pillars, giving your undead hero valuable time to heal or poke the boss with a spear at a safe distance. Ornstein is the fast guy, so he’ll charge into battle, making him the default first guy you’ll kill usually. That’s actually a very good thing, as Ornstein is a way harder opponent in the second phase.
These guys are infamous for a reason. Once you’re prepared mentally for this fight, it’s actually a whole lot of fun! Before that? Pure torture.
That’s just 10 of the worst! There’s so much more to talk about — and this is a topic we might have to revisit in the future. Remember the Marines in Half-Life? Trying to pull down the Star Destroyer in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed? How about the snipers in Halo 2 on Legendary? Gaming has too many to count, so let us know which you think are the best below.
