What Makes A Good Secret Boss?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ส.ค. 2022
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Secret bosses aren't just optional bosses. The secret within every secret boss creates depth in game design and the possibility of even more to find. The path a game takes to create a secret boss is unique, and the huge variety of options will shape the type of experience that players will get out of the hunt for a secret boss. Let's talk about how to build a good secret boss, from the road to the destination.
Featuring:
Cuphead
Persona 4
Golden Sun
Persona 5
A Hat In Time
Final Fantasy IX
Kirby series
Dance Dance Revolution (I snuck it in there)
Deltarune
Street Fighter II
Super Smash Bros Melee
Kingdom Hearts
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Huh, this would actually be useful for me
All love. Are you able to play copyrighted music during the ads or does fair use still apply?
Minor thing: Deltarune is actually all about having no choices.
It's only when you don't play the game that it has problems and people start dying.
I've been enjoying videos a lot, however I noticed a pretty glaring omission: you haven't said anything on the decline and near-disappearance of RTS as a genre? Down from its dominant position in the early 00s?
I've yet to see a good video or longform article on it anywhere.
@@xMisterVx wait what's RTS
I like secret bosses that kill the final boss
Morpho Knight and Akuma for example.
It also come on a next level when the secret boss easily destroy the final boss if you can beat him (the secret boss) very fast.
Dragon Quest 6 can testify.
Bloodborne's Moon Presence does that.
Flowey/Asriel does it twice and does a fake out before the backer credits as a joke.
A&M’s/7$””$(/(
@@PlebNC I don’t count them as secret bosses because Omega Flowey you always fight when you first beat the game and then Flowey tells you to do a pacifist run. I wouldn’t call those two a secret boss but I would probably call Sans one:
Honestly I love the secret bosses in Pokemon Games. Red in the Johto games, Steven in Emerald, Cynthia in Unova. They always rewarded exploring or gave something to work towards in post game
Would you consider the blue/garry fight in red/blue where if you try and go to the indigo league before vermilion forrest to be a secret boss. Its fully optional but its barrier of discover is just walk the wrong way when you have 2 paths to follow. (Not sure if its hidden enough to be considered a secret)
But i definitely support anything that encurages and rewards exploration. (Cobalion in Black and White is in a plot irrelevant cave)
@@jasonreed7522 I would just say that gen 1 is surprisingly open compared to most other pokemon games. You're just not forced into doing the fight
Cynthia in particular is amazing by how little setup there is to her encounter. It's much more casual than fighting Red in Johto games, so much so that first time players often enter that house expecting next to nothing.
It's the equivalent of finding Sephiroth just hanging out somewhere
my fav pokemon secret boss was fighting red again in gold/silver/crystal too. I also loved getting to replay the whole kanto zone with my new jhoto pokemon too. i wish more games allowed multiple region play like that
@@PurplesttCoffee agreed, you litterally just stumble upon her only expecting an NPC to give some lore or hint about something to do near the town, and instead are greeted with PTSD. (My brother just beat brilliant diamond last night and i had to help him stategize how to kill the Garchomp)
The best secret bosses are often characters you've seen around the game in some capacity but now you get to see how badass they actually were the whole time
The shopkeeper in Hollow Knight. :D
@@jeffreystephens2658ol I came to comment one from another one of my top 3 games (who also Is a shopkeeper lol)
truly, a NEO concept
sans
Spamton G Spamton
I think Morpho Knight is a really well made secret boss, especially since the creators have been putting him in every game. He was there the whole entire time. He is also important to lore and not “so mysterious literally nothing is known about him. No, I’m serious, I don’t know what colour his clothes are” He’s mentioned a fair amount however just enough to still be mysterious
Same with Radiance in Hollow Knight. There are hints to the Light throughout Hallownest, but it only culminates once you meet the requirements to face it
i beat him without a powerup once. (on accident)
He also had the element of being an enigmatic figure known to the fanbase for years without them even realizing it.
When the 20th anniversary artbook released, there was a page dedicated to an evolution of Meta Knight’s design, and tucked away in the corner was a piece of art of a butterfly knight with absolutely no context. Fans thought for years that it was a rejected concept design for Meta Knight, and then all of a sudden in 2018 the design returns with a new sword and a fiery vengeance. Then in later artbooks it was revealed that Morpho was never an MK design, but a character from the cancelled GameCube title that was repurposed for Star Allies.
So not only does he have his origins in a game we still know very little about due to its cancellation, but he’d also been in the minds of Kirby fans for quite a while by that point, adding to the shock and surprise of seeing him return.
The first fight worked because we didn't know what was going on.
The second fight worked because we knew EXACTLY what was happening.
Fun fact about the secret bosses in the Kingdom Hearts series. The main game bosses are sort of "dialed down" for a more enjoyable user experience. However, Tetsuya Nomura has stated that the super bosses, such as the Data Organization, Sephiroth, Lingering Will, Yozora, etc. Are all dialed to the max to show how powerful they are in canon. Meaning every time you beat one of those bosses, you are just further proving how powerful Sora is canonically. Of all the headaches those bosses can cause, just absolutely obliterating one is such a rush that you only get to experience once per boss!
That's actually pretty neat. TIL
This was true for KH1 as well; defeating the Clocktower Phantom and the Desert paladin were phenomenal
@@keithtorgersen9664 Eh, those were more like gimmick fights. Phantom on a full magic setup isn't hard at all and doesn't feel that great either, while he's also pretty much impossible with low mp. Having to use stop on the clock is very cool but I wish he was vulnerable to damage a bit more, off-setting that with more offense of his own.
Grinding out the Sephiroth fights in KH I and II is an experience that hasn't left me over the last decade and a half. The first time in the game where I actually needed to adjust my skill setups and equipment from "yeah these are pretty cool and convenient i guess". Labbing all the different combo lengths and combo enders to maximize my DPS in every vulnerable window, kitting myself out with an inventory of only elixers...
I remember those fights fondly to this day.
@@NoobOfLore If you enjoy the grinding of the super bosses I recommend emulating KH2 and playing a plando, or "planned randomizer". I played one where it had a huge emphasis on magic and I had to fight Sephiroth with no guard in order to progress. It was tons of fun!
My favorite secret bossfight is the Shroobs from Bowser’s Inside Story. They aren’t super hard to reach (just a little bit of puzzle solving), but the route to them is at a critical, high-tension point in the game wherein a player might skip past them in their hurry to continue the storyline. They’re challenging, but not unfair, and give the player a powerful reward for taking the time to find and defeat them. Perhaps the best part is that the Shroobs are a callback to the previous Mario and Luigi game. They were the main antagonists in Partners in Time, and fans of the series would recognize them as an old enemy they thought they defeated long ago (the game dialogue alludes to this). Or, for players who don’t know who the Shroobs are, they’re a mysterious, never-before-seen alien species with a unique mystique around them. For me, the Shroobs are the gold standard of secret bosses.
THANK YOU!!! I just scrolled hoping to not be alone in this!
Amazing game and amazing hidden boss
Wonderful game with a wonderful secret boss. When I started fighting that boss I was blown away. I've never played Partners In Time, but I wish I could. I always watched videos of them and I never thought I would encounter them on Bowser's Inside Story! I do wish the fight was a little harder but I suppose the main thing that secret boss excels at is surprise, and if you're not a huge fan of the series, mystery.
* Solemnly places a rose on the grave of AlphaDream *
Obviously I like this ;)
By far, I absolutely love Minos Prime from ULTRAKILL as a secret boss. He has everything a secret boss should have. In the level 3-1, you can take an alternate secret path to find a large door with various slabs on it that just have the letter P on them. In order to open the door, you have to get a P rank (perfect rank) on every level in Act 1 to open the door. After it's open, a secret level is revealed, titled "Soul Survivor". You make your way down a long winding path and eventually find yourself face to face with two of the hardest bosses in the game. Yes. Two. You have to defeat the Flesh Prison, the construct made to imprison Minos, before you can even fight him.
also saying that when the update came out nobody was properly prepared to face him, I remember the discord going wild when the update dropped, and honestly im hyped as fuck for the second Prime sanctum
@@TheDJBrojo same
I can't wait for P-2 and what challenge awaits us.
YES
Also has some of the best music in the game, and a legendary voice actor behind it too!
I like how in Deltarune, the secret bosses are actually the most important part of the story, and you miss on the most interesting part of the game by not doing them
It gives you a real reason to search for them
It even has a secret boss that becomes a final boss
I don’t think a core part of a game should be hidden
@@grantcoolguy it's not. Deltarune is complete without the secrets. You just... miss some other clues about it and some of the intrigue is weakened.
The world revolving hits hard
@@grantcoolguy Spamton is also part of the main storyline as well - sort of.
Inner Agent 3 from Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion is my favorite secret bossfight. You have to beat every single stage without Marina's hacking assistance, which is already a very challenging task, only to face what is quite possibly the most unfair, grueling boss in the game. Inner Agent 3 is smaller than almost every other boss, can dodge roll, has autobombs that chase you around the tiny arena, can pull an unbelievable amount of specials out, has amazing aim, and if you die so much as once, you have to start back from the beginning and get through all 5 phases of the fight once again.
its a great fight to be sure. their aim isnt actually all that good tho, just better than the dumb octo ais lol. The challenge mostly comes from all the advantages 3 has with specials, fire rate, and unlimited ink
I still haven't beaten inner agent 3 ):
@@profl0g1c38 walk strafing kinda kills its aim lol
And the reward is a goddamn toothpick
@@teenageapple3788 for me the reward is the fight itself.
I honestly love the fight and have no need for the toothpick since I already have a pure of Special Charge in my headgear slot so I just play it cuz its fun.
You should try replaying the fight sometime!
In my first playthrough of Hollow Knight I decided to save Zote, and instantly regretted it.
When I found him the second time, I begrudgingly decided to save him again, because I might as well see where it goes.
Finding him in the Colosseum of Fools and fighting him as the "boss" of the first trail was a very fun conclusion, I thought.
Then I found Grey Prince Zote. And I could physically not contain my laughter. One of the best secret bosses in any game I've played.
The worst part is grey prince zote is actually difficult as well, despite the fact that his moves include running around swinging his sword randomly and then falling on his face
Completely agree
his boss theme also legitimately be my favorite track in the game.
@@jakeread9668 not only that but healing is near impossible even with shape of unn and quick focus
the difficulty likely comes from the shockwaves and the fact that he's fast
@Alex G. It's *just* behind Troupe Leader Grimm's theme for me, but still amazing!
What makes Spamton NEO so cool is what little context we had on the NEO suit. We had just enough bread crumbs to know it was powerful, but not how powerful it was. The sudden feeling of “the WHAT?” mixed with Spamton’s incredible character creates one of the greatest boss fights in video games.
facts
Isn't the neo suit also from Undertale?
@@Lagw1020 I mean, it's just a version of the Mettaton Neo form so yes.
this is a perfect example of why the deltarune community loves spamton
@@fireradfieritis8953 But better. Spamton emphasises this on the Snowgrave route by saying "Didn't you know NEO is famous for its high defence?", which is a reference to how Mettaton NEO's defences were abysmal back in Undertale.
While it’s not exactly a secret “boss”, I’ve always loved the secret end levels of many platformers like the star and rainbow worlds in Super Mario World and New SMB Wii/DS. These are always great ways for developers to create levels with truly unhinged game mechanics or ideas that may not be suitable or fit in well with regular gameplay/general audiences. Most of the time these levels are pretty easy, but you can tell they exist as distilled examples of how video games are meant to be fun before all else.
World Star from 3D World will always hold a special place in my heart personally
@@switchblade63DW demonstrates how bonus worlds should be handled in nintendo games, make the main game accesible to beat for casual players and have an extra 1/3 of the game as extra content for seasoned players.
What makes the Spamtom NEO fight so cool is that it changes based on your chosen path (standard vs Snowgrave), and by willfully choosing to ditch your allies and take a darker path, you end up fighting NEO all alone in a much more difficult battle. Though, not to spoil it, you finish the fight in unique ways in each path that highlight the choices you made. Very cool fight!
having just beaten his snowgrave form not too long ago, i find it interesting that normally, everything about your comment would be considered a spoiler already lol...but it actually doesnt reveal all that much.
I didn't like snowgrave spamton hes to similar
@@MagnificentMaimonides9797 that’s the whole point. It’s the same fight as the normal NEO but just you can only get hit 4 times before dying
Chapter 3 is gonna have peppa pig. I just know it.
@@obi1kenoB now’s your chance to a [bacon]
The best things about secret bosses are the difficulty and the music and I've gotta say Kirby consistently has banger secret boss themes
Wait a minute...
@@Derpyditto-2000 what are you insinuating? I'm not biased at all
@@marx_and_mags i see
Marx, my guy, you were REALLY creepy in Smash bros. Ultimate! 😆
@@KayzIdeas I was planned to be creepier before the games release but I had to tone it down otherwise the games rating would be for 15+
One of my favorite secret bosses are the Amon fights in the Yakuza series. You’re always in for one hell of a crazy fight, and it’s a tradition that goes to almost every project made by RGG Studios. They’re pretty simple to get to usually, just beat every other side quest
Was looking for this one
Was surprised there was no mention of Amon, with that nyakuza thing and all
>simple
The requirements are simple, but as a guy who's done it in every western-released Yakuza game that isn't Dead Souls, I can affirmatively tell you that simple is not *easy*, haha. But the fights are always worth it, no matter how many times I gotta grind and try.
For some weird thoughts, the only one I really straight gave up on was the Yakuza 4 remaster one -- I don't know why but Jiro Amon's regeneration trick is tied to the game's framerate, meaning Saejima can't outdamage his regen like in the original game because he's regenning twice or more as fast.
@@DetectiveGrey i just used a couple heat actions relatively close to each other and that basically skipped the phase, he took me 2 tries no cap, easiest amon and it was the remaster
@@dantetouchdown9030 See for me I couldn't land the right heat actions because his heat resistance was so high and I don't think I had the right gear for it. It was all the gear I took to the final boss which I know isn't really optimal for the amon fights. I'd probably have done better if I stacked two grip boost items and did essence of clotheslining more.
As seen but not commented the nameless king is a breathtaking fight that pays off a mayor mystery for the entire dark souls franchise, gwyn's first born son at heir to his name allied with the everlasting dragons, comes to you riding a dragon in an arena made of clouds, is just majestic and one of the most difficult fights when it comes to mechanics, the ost alone sends chills down your body
Clearly not a secret boss that’s an optional boss. No extra task or adventure it’s just a huge gate right next to the main story path
@@connorhancock2096 i think all optional bosses are secret by definition, some are more hidden than others, but they can be missed so you have to know what to look for
@connorhancock2096 I would say the path to get to him makes him a half-secret boss, given you have to go through multiple optional paths to get an emote, then know you have to use the emote in a specific spot to get to him
Some of my favourites are easily:
- Shin Akuma/Ultimate Rugal (Capcom vs SNK 2)
- Flemeth (Dragon Age: Origins)
- Cow King (Diablo II)
- Sephiroth (Kingdom Hearts)
- Red (Pokemon Gold and Silver)
What makes a good secret boss is the surprise of the discovery and/or when you know shit is about to go down, a though fight or a fight that's meaningful
Waits theres a secret boss in DAI???
*reinstalled*
@@SL4PSH0CK Origins, not Inquisition... ^^
Yeah Flemeth ! She wasn't super secret IIRC, you only had to cultivate your relationship with Morrigan to be able to fight her.
Fighting God Rugal in CVS2 and seeing him throw Akuma's body like it's yesterday trash is such an unforgettable sight
@@saiko_oro I still love how the whole idea behind those versions of God/Shin is one absorbing the other's signature power. Nothing makes you go "oh fuck" like seeing one secret boss ABSORBING THE OTHER SECRET BOSS' BULLSHIT
The poster child for a secret/true final boss is always going to be Ballos for me. It does everything: you have to go out of your way to get to him, which involves furthering various plotlines you may have otherwise left unresolved, he wraps up the story better, he adds to the lore, and he's really hard. Not to mention you have to fight a few other secret bosses to get there. Fantastic stuff, just like the rest of Cave Story
sorry but what is dis game i have never heard of
Cave story a really odd indie but a well respected gem with multiple endings
Was just about to comment about Ballos and accidentally clicked on this comment. Couldn’t say it any better myself
I really like Ballos. But I'll go even further than that. The Bloodstained Sanctuary is my favorite single segment out of any game. I LOVE that section in its entirety. The music, the lore and most of all, the gameplay. It just resembles what i consider thrill fast and skillful gameplay.
When I completed my first run I remember that my first thought was to play the game again and do it once more
Ayo, Cave Story Enjoyer! What you said is 100% on point. Though, I kinda wish there was more build up and hints to him at the end...
My favourite secret boss of all is still Spamton NEO. He simply reflects your own desires and choices and the struggle of Kris to break free of the player just like Spamton wants to break free from his strings. It's a pretty cool and meaningful boss after all.
I can do anything
But jevil say I can do anything not spam boi
[Thanks ] [[Little Buddy]]
Tbh jevil kinda has more lore
@@Skibble. not really
@@Breached18 how my guy
I love how the "Tales of" franchise always puts Cameo Battles, battles where we can fight with the protagonists of previous games. This is a great way to honor them and make the player curious about them, as well as a way to promote them.
They did that? This just give me another reason to try Tales of series
Cameo battles are always cool to me
Many people here mention Red from Pokemon 2nd gen, but if you count wild legendaries as well, I loved the 3 golems from Hoenn. How you need to dive deep into a ruin on a quite optional route, decipher the Braille writing and then onto solving the tasks in the newly opened caves spread through the whole region. As a kid, it was just fantastic.
Team Slacker in Bug Fables is another good one. These are probably the last guys you’d expect to fight due to the team name, but Stratos and Deliah really pack a punch.
Demifiend in DDS is the kind of secret boss that makes you feel weak even at the end of the game. The vibes are immaculate, the battle plays the standard encounter theme from SMT3, he is using mid tier skills and demons, you just encounter him in a room in a dungeon after NG+. Everything makes it looks like it's a random encounter but the funny thing is that you are the random encounter from his point of view. Demifiend has a bunch of attack that just flat out kill you like Mudoom or heals himself. And just like your jrpg protagonist, killing him gives you absolutely nothing except cash and it gives you the feel like what the fuck just happened. Also the average time for this fight is like 40 minutes.
Well technically you get The Amala Ring if you transfer your data to the sequel.
He is also inmune to everything except Earth, Gun and Almighty. This is:
A - A reference to Nocturnes Masakados Magatama that null everything in that game except Almighty
B - A 4th wall breaking detail since he is not inmune to the new elements introduce in DDS.
The DDS Demifiend fight just has a lot of small touches that makes it an awsome fight.
I’d have to give the spot of my favorite secret boss to Resourceful Rat from Enter the Gungeon. All the pieces are directly in front of the player, but putting it together and passing his labyrinth builds up to the fight against this ever present threat. And the fight is one of the hardest bosses in the game hands down, especially considering the only one that comes close is the last thing you’ll encounter, while this fight is in the middle of the game. Plus beating it unlocks several items, but requires you to beat him in a punch out fight(I’m serious) successfully. The whole thing is rewarding and so fun to do, even if it makes you rip your hair out.
Bonus points for the giant mech phase being called Metal Gear RAT in the files.
Honestly Enter the Gungeon could be on this list multiple times due to its secret bosses and areas.
Now Gungeon is one of my favorite games ever, and I completely agree with your comment! But!!! I HATE THAT RAT!!! That FUCKING SECOND PHASE MAN!!! I HATE IT!! But I managed finally, finally, get 3 keys and the Drill to unlock the last chest, and unlock all his items. That Payday synergy man. Just too good.
@@Jub-Blub second phase is fine. It’s the 3rd that sucks. At least you can’t die there
dang i didn't know you could fight the rat lol
I think Kirby's triple deluxe secret bosses are great. You don't expect them to appear and they give a challenge, one of them being a completely new fight. But the best thing is that they give a ton of lore and shows the true villain and history of the game.
Not just Triple Deluxe, many Kirby games (if not all).
From Shimomura's Dark Matter Trilogy (as these bosses are unlocked only when you get all rainbow drops/heart stars/crystal shards) to the Modern Kirby game's post-game mode.
@@ikagura Agreed. Planet Robobot’s are my personal favorite.
@@djroscurro9859 Planet Robobot’s my favorite Kirby game, but I’m gonna have to disagree on secret bosses. Half were bangers but the other half were kinda just meh.
The idea of the clones were awesome, and they started out amazing with the Dark Matter Swordsman, a character who’s last non-cameo appearance was in Dreamland 2 in nontraditional air combat. The fight was new and interesting. Then they went with Sectonia. The main villain of the last game? She literally has one new attack that is based off of the attack she uses as a phase changer. Admittedly, there aren’t many other sword users they could use (the only other one I can think of rn is Dark Meta Knight which would’ve also copied Triple Deluxe), but they could’ve just swapped “swords battle” to “battle with powerful opponents in general”. Like Daroach or Dark Mind or something. Older characters that hadn’t seen the spotlight in years. Galacta Knight is of course a lot more acceptable with their whole rival schtick they have, but the fight is again, the exact same as Return to Dreamland bar one new attack. Honestly, it felt a bit lazy.
I will say though, DMSwordsman and the Heart of Nova callback with Star Dream SoulOS were amazing.
@@captainblue5096 Sectonia was likely a "What if" moment since Meta Knight wasn't around during Triple Deluxe (for some reason) and to insert a tiny bit lore on the former. I do agree Galacta Knight Returns fight was meh.
@@captainblue5096 I never really played Triple Deluxe directly, (only seen lets plays of it) so that could play a factor in why Sectonia doesn’t really bother me, but I don’t think that’d be the case. Given Galacta Knight’s in the same boat, and I still love their boss fight.
I will say though, I definitely would’ve appreciated different attacks to shake things up for both of them. (I even remembered how to dodge everything Sectonia did from the lets plays.) And characters like daroach certainly would’ve been nice. So I can see what you mean.
Not secret the same way but the monk in botw is up there for me, the fact it plays on a known formula so well to draw you into a sense of safety and then flips the yiga clans joke aesthetic with similar attacks is just genius
One of my favorite secret bosses has to be Darkeater Midir from Dark Souls 3, encountering him at several points during the Ringed City DLC and eventually fighting him on a bridge, knocking him down and being able to find him for a final showdown where you’re treated to the best dragon fight in the series.
Fight was pretty mid as the name implies tbh. Placidusax from Elden Ring is a lot better in my opinion. Only forshadowing is a broken statue in the Godskin duo arena and his corpse stuck in the wall near the grace before Maliketh's fight.
I get that MIDir is a cool boss for people but it felt kind of disappointing and nothing special. Just a big hitbox with a massive healthbar
@lighttheme1133 I believe it was meant to be more of a spectacle on how strong the dragons really were. I mean previously you had fought some but they were all either weakened or kinda just, there. But midir is the last true great dragon and encompasses why they use to rule the world.
The secret final boss in Katana Zero is one of my personal favorites, it's heavily involved in the story, you basically just piss off your evil manipulative therapist so much that he takes a bunch of magic drugs and turns into a giant Akria-style monster which is extremely different to anything else in the game. the secret final boss in Dead Cells looks rad but I'm not gamer enough to have reached it yet, Hyper Light Drifter also has a secret boss and item exclusive to the Switch version of the game.
Was looking for a katana-zero mention here, very cool secret boss
I was thinking of hyper light drifter's horde arena for the entirety of this video lol
The psychologist is one of my favorites, and while the collector is really cool and drives the story that much further it's kind of famous and not much of a secret anymore
the psychologist is such a cool boss fight, and it also plays with the themes of Zero losing his sanity as the game progresses. when you finally kill him, it shows that you and the psychologist have both just been standing where you were before, with your sword in his skull. it really ties the ending together, imo. headhunter is a fun fight, but she doesn't feel final boss worthy.
One of my favorite secret bosses is the empress of light from terraria. I can't imagine what it's like going into the game/update blind, accidentally killing a sparkly butterfly, and suddenly being attacked by one of the hardest and most visually stunning bosses in the game
I also really enjoy the dev gnomes from Everhood, as the fight contains cool nods to the story of the game's development
I love empress of light, I did not expect a bullet hell after killing glowy butterfly. the funny thing about empress is that it has a secret within the secret with the daytime enraged version and the terrarprisma
Not sure if EoL would be considered a secret boss, more of an optional boss. Pretty much all of the bosses in terraria are ones you can just stumble into like that. Honestly duke fishron is more of a secret boss. Now daytime EoL may qualify as a secret boss…
i think a lot of terraria's bosses kind of stem from the idea of "what would happen if i do ____?" examples include, "what would happen if i use this eye?" "what would happen if i break these orbs/hearts?" "what would happen if i mine this flower?" "what would happen if i fish with this worm?" and so on. if you're playing the game for the first timez, you aren't really going to know what summons what and you might end up stumbling into a bossfight simply by playing the game, which is kind of how it's designed to be. if you know that they're there, you can prepare for them in every playthrough, but the sense of "hey, what does this do? oh sHIT WHAT IS THAT??" is always there for the unsuspecting player. i think the closest thing to a secret boss was duke fishron back when he was first introduced in 1.2.4, since at that point in time golem was the final "required" bossfight and only after you defeated him and plantera did you have access to what was, at the time, endgame gear from the hardmode dungeon and moon events, which remain to this day some of the most viable equipment to take on duke. however, you could still summon him at any point in hardmode, and if you didn't know what a truffle worm did, you might end up trying to use it as bait just to see what happens, only to end up using it in the wrong place and becoming fishron food. duke notoriety as a "secret boss" has died down since then since his method of summoning is now much more widely known, and the loot he drops is among the best available before tackling the lunatic cultist and lunar events. i do think that among terraria's many optional bosses, him and empress are probably the closest to ebign real "secret" bosses. i feel like a better example would be something like the adult eidolon wyrm from the calamity mod, since it's effectively a dungeon guardian for the abyss to prevent you from teleporting inside of it, but with the overpowered endgame equipment in the mod, it's possible to challenge it and actually take it down.
I never thought empress of light was a secret boss
I really love the Demi Fiend fight from Digital Devil Saga not just because its usually ranked the hardest RPG boss period, but that it implies the demi-fiend was killed and his soul is wandering the cosmos.
At the end of SMT Nocturne, Demi-fiend defeats Lucifer and goes with him to challenge God, so it also gets you wondering what’s out there in the universe that would be able to take out someone who can wipe the floor with an already god-level party
Demi-fiend is obv the cooler secret boss in dds, but I really like satan from 2 because of his callbacks to Shin Megami Tensei 2
11:36 "if you want to go for extreme challenge" *instantly shows the demi-fiend*
You can't play with my ptsd like that man
oh, I bet you'd love to see the text "Gaea Rage" again
Y’know I always love these videos on how games are designed and how to do them correctly. I wonder if any College Professors have approved of these vids…
If I knew people, I'd have to ask some of the people in the Game Design course at my school
I've actually shared some of his "good design, bad design" videos with my "User Design" professor and they showed a segment in class.
They may have for lectures
I wouldn't be surprised; the only reason I didn't choose game design as a major was because a current student said "if you watch GMTK you'll make it through all the classes pretty easily"
Ayyy it's Driggs
I love that there was a bug for the spamton neo fight that made it easier by spamming the charge shot, and instead of removing it, the devs made it so doing it triggers hard mode.
I love the eternal ordeal in Hollow Knight, it's so incredibly out-of-the-way, and it's a great time seeing how far you can get in the endless waves of Zotes. Plus, if you kill 57 (one for each precept of Zote), you unlock a new menu theme where the mightiest warrior of all time, Zote, sings the main theme with a golden statue of him in the background.
I love the Kirby secret fights. While the road that leads to them aren’t that secret, they lead to some of the most intense battles you’ll find in Nintendo’s line up. Add in the additional lore you can get from these fights and their quality skyrockets. The highlights definitely include Magalor Soul with the implications about the legendary Master Crown, Star Dream Soul OS with its BRUTAL difficulty even by True Arena standards and incredible callback to Super Star, and Void with its implications of the series’s past.
My favourite Kirby secret boss has to be Zero Two. Collect all the shards and you get an easy but intense and atmospheric fight.
the hardest mainline nintendo boss was inner agent 3
@@cindrblok7948 i dont they meant that it was 100% the hardest.. this is kinda irrelevant imo
What I love about secret bosses is that sometimes, the road to getting to them leads you to strange places not normally seen or expected in the game.
Take Starfox with the giant slot machine. Sure, we know about the awesome black hole and how trippy it is, but to get to the slot machine requires you to release a giant bird that WILL ram into you and take you to "Out of this Dimension", a level that's distorted with bizarre music and visuals that ends with a fight against a slot machine.
It's so strange and kind of scary when during the level briefing General Pepper freaks out wondering where you went and begs you to come back. Stuff like this can make secret bosses an absolute joy to find, and I'm sure there's other examples so I'll let any passing commenters share their experiences 😁
I think my favorite secret boss is Minos prime in ultrakill, it’s journey is getting a perfect rank on every level that came before minos’ secret perfect door. it’s such a good idea, and thankfully the boss we get is satisfying as hell to beat
The thing I like most about Kingdom Hearts secret bosses is how it highlights the escalating power and threat of the villains. Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts 1 is incredibly hard. In KH2 you have the tools to take him down much easier even though he uses a very similar move-set. Same for lingering will/terra-xehanort in KH2/BBS, and Young Xehanort in BBS/DDD.
And then comes Yozora and just reminds you how uterly powerless you are.
@@matt6870 and like clockwork KH4 is going to give Sora some cool new abilities to make that fight manageable.
The entirety of Kingdom Hearts has been an exorcize in adapting shonen manga power creep into gameplay.
Love the DDR inclusion. Been playing forever, and we always love seeing newer guys try the "boss songs"
I'm surprised they showed MAX300 but no meme regarding the many deaths it has caused
MAX300
@@NeviTheLettyFan Max 300 is such a classic. Me and friend tried for so long to FC that song on expert.
Personally, inner agent 3 from the splatoon 2 octo expansion is my favorite secret boss. After you've struggled through every single difficult challenge the game threw at you, it just goes "oh you thought THAT was hard?" and throws you a fight that absolutely doesn't hold back. The boss uses every tool in its moveset to its fullest extent, which makes the fight extremely challenging, but also super rewarding to beat. Couple that with the incredible music in the background and vague story significance with agent 8's character, and you get one of the most memorable and fun secret bosses around.
And you thought THAT secret boss was hard? Wait until you meet THIS: th-cam.com/video/5LZrWRSwDHQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=d57lQEEbQrIiWc1z
I do get how hard Inner agent 3 is though.
Before I get into my whole digression here, here's a question for the comments: do you prefer lore-relevant Secret Bosses, or 'giant space flea from nowhere' Secret Bosses? Working via examples within the video itself, Lingering Will is a lore-relevant option, whereas Ozma is a 'giant space flea from nowhere' type.
It's interesting you count Radiance and Izanami as secret bosses -- personally, I wouldn't count True Final Bosses as Secret Bosses? I feel like a Secret Boss is partially defined by 'may unlock bonus content when completed IF placed at the end of the game, but in and of themselves does not count as a full game route boss' -- otherwise, you're saying that things like Delirium and Dogma from The Binding of Isaac are secret bosses, which they... you *might* be able to make a case for that? But I'd argue there's only one Secret Boss™ in that game, and it's Mega Satan, who - uniquely among 'run-ending bosses' - doesn't have a floor associated with him. He's just kinda... there... as a boss, accessible via the Final Floor (which isn't the final floor, but that's details) which hosts a *real* Final Boss.
Basically, I feel like this works the same way Lingering Will does -- Mega Satan is a Secret Boss™because he requires an extraneous series of steps to access and story content locked behind beating him is accessory or cherry-on-top rather than part of the *main* story, the same way Kirby Arenas aren't actually technically canon.
(This does also mean that normal Spamton Neo is a Secret Boss, but Snowgrave!Spamton Neo isn't, because he's part of the mandatory content on that route? But I think that makes sense, even if the fights are almost identical, unless you count Snowgrave route as a 'secret route'. The process of accessing the Secret Boss is half the battle!)
Baaaasically my argument comes down to 'if this content is considered 'mandatory' to clear a route of the game, it's not a secret boss'... but that all comes down to 'how do you define a route / a secret route' anyways, I guess?
where would that put Hush? technically it has its own floor and beating it for the first time counts as an ending but every time after that its in between two others floors
Given the placement of the Radiance's clip in the video, I think it may have been intended as Absolute Radiance, the final boss of the Pantheon of Hallownest in the Godmaster DLC. That absolutely counts as a secret boss, considering the entire Godhome area is hidden away in an easily missed room.
I still feel like the Godhome stuff isn't 'secret bosses', personally, but I can definitely see how it could be considered that way!
I would say it's /not/ a secret boss the same way Mega Satan is, because you can continue playing your run after you fight Hush 100% (Mega Satan has a 50% chance of going to Delirium, but I digress). It's a hidden boss, but it's not a Secret Boss.
Base Radiance doesn't really feel like a secret boss, but Godhome in general seems like it should count.
I feel like Pure Vessel is the first real Secret Boss in Godhome, as opposed to just The Bosses You Already Fought, But You Have One Health Now.
A secret boss that I don't see mentioned a lot is the Psychiatrist from Katana Zero. The fight is super trippy and goes all in on weirdness in a game that already messes your head up.
The path to the boss is fun because you get to finally tell the psychiatrist to go fuck himself and also the boss is fun
That was a great secret boss, even the road to it, having to piss off the psychiatrist at every opportunity was a fun way to go about the story of it
I'm not sure if I would call the final postgame boss in Octopath Traveler a secret boss per se, but it is pretty far out of the way and does wonders for tying the story together. All eight playable characters have their own narratives that never really overlap. But at most character's Chapter 4 segments, the final story for that character, the game subtly hints that there's more going on behind the scenes. For example, Olberic's final boss toppling an entire kingdom in search for this world's gates to what is essentially hell, Cyrus's final boss taking place in hidden ruins that warn of a dark calamity that must never be released, Ophilia's final boss heading a cult that worships a fallen dark god, and Therion's final boss stealing relics said to lock away a mysterious and great power. It's a really climactic and satisfying way to tie together a bunch of narratives that seemed self-contained but were actually connected just under the surface the entire time.
Not to mention that it's incredibly hard and has a banger theme.
Oh, I hate that one. Tremendously. Great music, but you have to grind so hard to beat her.
Plus, the reward kind of sucks. All that lord payoff for… money. Yaaaaaaaaay…
@@dannyhargreaves1326 you don't have to grind at all, unless you completely skipped using half of your party, otherwise 5 minutes of planning your skills and classes should be enough to beat it
While the Galdera fight was definitely painful, I absolutely loved everything leading up to it. Hornburg's desolation and utter silence as you walk through it, the otherworldly feeling of the boss rush area beyond the Gate, the journals after each boss giving new insights to the interconnected stories, the ethereal music with the only use of synths in the game. It's beautiful. I love it.
@@Rislear It never felt like that way for me. It felt like Cloud of Darkness from FFIII. Annoying.
And I did use everyone.
One of my favorite secret bosses imo is in ultrakill. In 3-1 u can find a hidden door that has many symbols all which have a ‘P’ on it. To unlock the door u have to P-rank (perfect) every level from Act-I and the Prelude, after which the door opens. After some walking paired with ominous music for tension building u fight a boss called flesh prison, which has many attacks that have been seen in enemies before, but now it’s all those attacks at the same time. If u manage to make it thru that and beat flesh prison, ur not done, because a prison always has a prisoner. After that u fight Minos prime, which is a lot harder than anything u’ve seen so far. He has lightning fast attacks, lethal slams, and nuclear drop kicks. He is very hard to beat.
THANK YOU MORE PEOPLE BRINGING MINOS TO ATTENTION
My favorite secret bosses are always the ones that reward you with not only a great challenge and gameplay, but with some of the best story bits of the game as well. Toby Fox’s games and the Kirby games are some of the games I will always use as examples of the best secret bosses in gaming.
Another great game series for it’s secret bosses is the Yakuza games. They’re great because it’s always consistent on who it will be, and the further on the game series got the more story significant the secret bosses also got as well.
I liked the super boss in SMTV, they talk about him in some moments of the game and how he doesn't care about the throne because he's strong enough to destroy the universe anyways. Then you get to him and realise it's true, however, no one tells you he has an absolute banger of a boss theme that only plays when you fight him.
FUCK YEAH SHIVA
MegaTen games tend to have some of my favorite super bosses. The games already have a notoriety for being harder than the average rpg, so when they throw a super boss at you, it's gonna fuck shit up.
Really glad you included Deltarune's bosses in this. For a game whose story heavily relies on what freedom you have, having the secret bosses literally be about freedom is an awesome concept. Having them literally be tragic characters that lure you off the beaten path with questions and promises that there's more going on behind the scenes works so well, and I cannot wait for the rest of Deltarune to see where this goes.
not necessarily my favorite, but most surprising was the secret boss from double dragon. winning the game in 2 player mode means the actual final boss, is your friend. and the game suddenly turns from a beat em up into a fighting game.
Kind of similar to Bomberman 64 in that regard
Or Lego Star Wars on episode 3 kinda works too!
My all time favourite secret boss has to be the one from The World Ends With You. The journey to the boss is full of lore tidbits and the intrigue factor is further expanded upon when reading through the games optional secret reports, which contain information regarding the secret boss themselves. The boss is extremely challenging on higher difficulty settings, and actively encourages players to seek out the games additional lore.
Im so glad there are still people that remember this game
God the NEO secret boss was insane
@Sophie NEO did an absurd amount for revitalizing attention on the original, even moreso than the weird bonus chapter in Final Remix on Switch did
It's really such a great secret boss, especially since it reuses two earlier boss designs in a great way.
NTWEWY also has a nutty secret boss!
I think my favorite secret Boss is Galacta Knight or HR-D3 in Kirby's Return to Dreamland just because both of them come out of nowhere. For example Galacta Knight's existence was only teased by beating the hard Mode of the game and then you don't even know where he really is untill you run into him in the true Arena at round 13. And HR-D3 is just a literal out of nowhere Boss having never been shown anywhere in the game, but he just randomly appears as an extra fight for an existing fight from the base game in hard Mode, which is just awsome in my book.
Epic Battle Fantasy 5 has some absolutely insane secret boss fights. Each one changes the rules of the basic turn based RPG system in completely unique ways, and there are a few that are based on your party, usually taking their gimmick and cranking it up to 11. For example, the warrior type character's secret boss fight will periodically pull out healing items and eat them during the fight, so you might expect to have to outlast him until he runs out. But, once he does, he just starts eating your party, instead. Or your mage, who is so obsessive in her quest to purge undead that she'll turn the party undead just so she can smite them. While undead, healing hurts you, and you have to get creative with your skills and gear to try to figure out ways around it before you die. I recommend anyone who's interested in game design play that game, it's got some deceptively innovative design behind its simple appearance.
The rat from enter the gungeon is definitely my favorite secret boss ever. To find it you have to do Soo much weird and challenging but fun and rewarding stuff I won't go into details bc it's crazy but I highly and advice you to go look at it bc it's crazy. But the boss fight itself contains more cool secrets for example showing the back story of the rat or even changing the typical bullet hell fight to a fighting game style of battle.
Minos prime in ultrakill is such a cool boss. You need to p rank every level in the prelude and act 1 to get to him, and on top of that the level is 2 bosses back to back, being flesh prison then minos prime himself
Minos Prime is also a really cool boss because he requires you to use everything you learned through Act 1 in order to fight him: every tech, every weapon combo, every mechanic like projectile boosting, quickswap, Ultraricoshot and many more.
And you will need to use them because hot damn he's really hard. If I have to describe him, it would be having to face a Fighting game character in an FPS. Who can dropkick nuke you.
Also his theme goes hard af
Also a reminder that there will be 2 more P-Levels :)
Here is it officer, that's the ultrakill comment right there /j
Glad someone mentioned him my favorite boss
Also counterpoint, I actually really like the Velvet Twins as a secret boss compared to other Persona games' takes on "battle the velvet room attendant" fights since it's the only one you can easily attempt in a drastically underleveled form. Granted P4G let you technically do it to Margaret a la EXP Off in NG+, but that still took an entire game of being underleveled whereas here you can do it right after you clear the first palace
Margaret's unlocking condition was something I always disliked in P4, you have to play all the way up to the True Ending route of a NG+ and you need to have beaten every other optional boss. The Twins in P5 are available the first time you can access Mementos on NG+, though in practice you'll likely need to fight the Reaper a couple of times to be ready to fight them. (Which isn't too hard on NG+ due to Compendium personas and Mishima's Confidant bonuses carrying over)
Basically Margaret forced you to play the entire game twice, Elizabeth and the Twins just need to to play a little bit into NG+.
Lizzy is also available super early, the issue is just that, for better and worse, P3 didn't reset your level on NG+
@@syrelian And P3 not letting you choose inheritance and Elizabeth instakilling you for having immunities means it can take a while to fuse good Personas for her fight.
@@syrelian Elizabeth/Theodore is just an absolute pain of a fight that's just not worth doing. Like sure it's a solid test of your abilities, but with so many unspoken rules and requirements on top of P3's now outdated fusion mechanics it's just not worth the hassle
@@SapphireCarbuncle009 Oh yeah no Lizzy fucking sucks. not like Margaret and Twins don't have some of it too tho
Here's a weird one. The yakuza games. Through 0 to 6 you can kind of see a story develop between kiryu and the amon clan. Something that even continues into LaD and to a lesser extent the judgement games. And all these bosses love to throw the craziest attacks. Perfect for after doing all the sub stories.
I love the amon fights because the first time you EVER fight one without previous knowledge of em, you get pretty confused
I have two favorites. First, I love the slot machine secret level in star fox. It’s just so trippy and out of nowhere and it honestly creeps me out a little. My other favorite is Placidusax in Elden Ring. I accidentally found it and my mind was just blown when I first saw the thing levitating in the air when you enter the arena. It’s a great fight too, and I rarely like the dragon fights in elden ring
i think Red in gold and silver (even harder in the remakes) is a great secret boss, its basically YOU of the past.
Battling the previously playable characters is a trope I love.
@@ikagura Agreed
If you didn't have internet or a guide, it was an amazing moment to explore Mt Silver, expect a legendary like Mewtwo in the first game, or some other special item or reward, and walking up that cliff and seeing your own character from the previous game is one of the best surprises you can get.
I think music is a huge factor in this too. Red and Sephiroth in KH1 both felt so epic because the music is just so impactful in just the right way to make you go "Oh shit what did I just walk into."
A completion Secret Boss will always remind me of Mega Man Battle Network and Star Force. After you complete everything you get a super challenging final boss at the end of the game
Star Force having you fight EXE is such a great one as someone who was introduced to the Blue Bomber via his NetNavi incarnation.
Same but with the first megaman battlenetwork for me... The series did this quite a bit actually, always enjoyable.
Cannot wait to play the Battle Network remasters!
@@Triforce_of_Doom Star Force never makes you fight EXE
Operate Shooting Star, the bad BN1 remake, has Star Force Megaman as a scenario you're forced to fight, but SF1 just has EXE make a cameo
There is Super Bosses in SF and BN, but that ain't one of em
If we’re talking about MegaMan secret bosses, Omega from MegaMan ZX is a great one.
This is a bit more obscure, but the Dev Gnomes fight from Everhood is a really fun secret boss. I love how your reward for finding all the crystals and waiting for an rng statue to spawn is getting to fight the creators themselves who actually know up at other points in the game, though you don’t fight them until here. They also have a banger theme which in a music-based game is kinda important
I loved everhood, it was a great experience. The light being, dev nomes, and Cat God we’re phenomenal fights
I'm surprised you mentioned Yakuza without talking about the Amon Clan boss fights which required 100% completion in Y1 and Y2, then from Y3 to YK2 needed you to complete every substory and were all extremely hard. They're the sole reason I completed every substory in all the Yakuza game I've played
So glad someone mentioned Amon. Every single fight in each game is batshit insane. Can't believe he didn't mention it in this video.
amon ? is dis a jojo referance
@@abbys4365
they DO make a jojo reference in Yakuza 0.. since one of the Amons is quite literally named Jo Amon.
@@toxification NICE
I would like to give a little more spotlight to the Garden of Assemblage bosses from Kingdom Hearts. In KH2 Final Mix, you have to level up your Drive Forms to get through obstacles and fight through harder versions of enemies you can find elsewhere, and you're rewarded with being able to refight certain bosses (both story and optional) with more health. In KH3 Re:Mind, you only have to go through the new story, but the bosses are also revamped with new attacks, including the base game's final boss.
The Re:Mind bosses are incredible. Some of the most satisfying battles in the series. And that true secret boss...
I saw morpho knight and Immediately came. Pause.
Ayo
You came afyer seeing morpho knight 😳
That makes sense, morpho Knight kinda…
Bro same… pause
YOU WHAT!?
Henry from the original No More Heroes will always be one of my all-time favorite boss fights. While there is a requirement to fight him, it's a pretty easy one(Purchase every Beam Katana and upgrade), so he's not much of a secret boss, but he's a culmination of just about everything you've dealt with from other bosses. He has a long combo ending in an unblockable attack, which is also easy to Dark Step, homing projectiles, a counter, a "Get off me" attack to prevent players from getting too aggressive, a lunge to close distance, an instant kill, high speed and high damage and a pretty nice lore dump once beaten. Not to mention an amazing track, We Are Finally Cowboys
I really liked fighting Former in Control because his character was woven into the lore surrounding the board. the mystery of knowing that you’re not being told the whole truth about Former really makes you want to find out more.
from what game is dis
@@abbys4365 the game is called Control
Findind Red on top of Mount Silver in Pokemon is one of the strongest memories of gaming I have, back when I had no access to the internet finding the strongest battle in the game and being completely unprepared was amazing.
"Neat, another cave to explore. I wonder what Pokemon will...OMG it's me"
Back when social media didn't spoil everything before you reached it.
My favorite secret boss has to be Minos Prime from Ultrakill. First, you find a large door hidden in the penultimate level of Act 1, which can only be opened by getting a P rank on every level in the act. A P rank means S in time, kills and style without dying or resetting to a checkpoint. This is an amazing way to encourage players to replay levels and play with style. I know I didn't really care about style points until I found this door. And the reward? A secret level. The build-up is insane, going down the spinal staircase with torch in hand, and opening the large door beneath. Beyond it you find the Flesh Prison, a confusing, chaotic and frustrating boss that might take a while to figure out. And yet, once you defeat it, the level isn't over. It's only the beginning. The last remaining fragment of the soul of King Minos, a character mentioned all over the lore, comes out, has a speech vocie acted by the wonderful Stephen Weyte, and proceeds to destroy the player with explosive dropkicks. He's an insanely challenging boss, making Gabriel look like a joke. He's extremely fast and hits very hard. But he is also very predictable and has a learnable pattern. Due to his speed, he's still challenging once you've learned his moves, but he's extremely fun and an amazing reward for dedicated players.
Wait, *that's* what a P rank is?
...hm... I might be able to do that after all...
and not only that, its also a delightfull end for the act 1!
im looking forward about the other Prime boss, because this new levels were though as _hell_
probably the new prime soul would be sisyphus since he was being the one act 2 was "the hero"
One of my favourite secret bosses has to be Jo Amon and the rest of the Amon Clan from the Yakuza/Judgment series.
They gives me an excuse to play all of the Substories (side quests) and then gives you a pretty unfair and stupid fight (insta-kill lasers, copying your fighting style, stealing your pause & heal option, making clones of the hardest bosses, a lot of explosions, etc), but the stupidness of the fights always brings me back to them for some reason.
I've played through the entire series and managed to beat all but one of them, and that's only because I haven't reached the point in the game where I can fight him
As a HUGE Final Fantasy XII fan, unlocking and fighting Yiazmat with its *millions* of HP was an absolute highlight. I never beat the fight, but I did unlock it, and that in itself was already an achievement.
My favorite secret boss will always be Lingering Will, I loved KH2, then back in 2007 more or less I heard online that there was a Japanesse final mix version, so I looked for a way to play it, when I finally managed to get it I had to use guides to play the game in japanesse lol and then I saw the marker on Disney Castle.
That battle took me by surprise. I practiced it for a loong time and when I finally beat it, I felt one of the biggest sense of accomplishment of my life lol
I know it sounds exagerated, but I was a kid back then, and what that fight and all the effort I made just to play it made me feel, stuck with me to this day.
"Kirby Lore? Go look it up. It's worth it."
*Preparing to Hiiii intensifies*
One of my favorite ways of finding secret bosses is through side quests, my favorite secret boss, being The Demi-Fiend from SMTV's side quest
SMT IV's Fiends are handled pretty nicely.
When exploring the map of Tokyo after the alignment lock, you'll find an area called Minami Sunamichi, which isn't much. It just has the low-level demons from Naraku that have been replaced at this point. However, one NPC will tell you about the Fiend in Minami Sunamichi.
If you've been exposed to SMT at this point, you know what the Fiends are. You've probably heard the jokes about Matador wiping your party. Even if not, you may have participated in the Dance of the Dead sidequest early and gotten your ass handed to you by David.
But Pale Rider, the Fiend in question, is nowhere to be found.
The trick is that Pale Rider is only there 1/256 times you enter Minami Sunamichi.
You might enter and leave a few times, and then Burroughs warns you of a very dangerous demon, a level above the normal warning of an upcoming boss.
You decide to stay, and the game gives you an are you sure warning. You'll be fine though, right? This is the endgame, your demons are buff as hell, you've probably fused Shiva by now and are basking in the godlike power of Antichthon.
Pale Rider confronts you, unassuming with his small sprite like a normal opponent, not the full portrait view major threats like Minotaur get.
But then Pale Rider strikes first, and your confidence turns to horror as you look at the UI and see
*he has five turns.*
Pale Rider's design is pretty simple. He has an Elec weakness to exploit, will get pissy and Spam Megidolaon if too much of your party resists Deadly Wind, Luster Candy, Debilitate, the cancellers, and the Pandemic Bomb/Death's door gimmick you've probably already learned how to deal with if you've done enough sidequests.
What makes Pale Rider so dangerous is just that he has five turns. If you can manage that, he's just a bog-standard endgame boss.
So, with some learning, you beat Pale Rider and unlock him for Special Fusion, but you're missing a component. A level 88 demon.
A demon of the Fiend race.
This then prompts the search for the rest of the Fiends, sprinkled throughout Tokyo with Trumpeter chilling in Mikado like the class traitor he is.
The game lets you puzzle out how to get to them. You know Pale Rider is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, so you might think to look for the horseman of famine in Tennozu where it's implied the locals needed to resort to cannibalism to survive. Maybe the Horseman of Conquest is chilling out in Ginza where the strength-obsessed Ring of Gaea have set up shop and locked away certain areas accessible by the strength of your wallet. Maybe this square shelter on an island made by man might be a great hang for a Matador, who participates in a sport also invented by man.
One game I feel handled secret bosses really well was Live A Live. While a few of the chapters had some sort of boss that would give the character a weapon that would bust their attack stats wide open for that point in the game, the final chapter is more expansive in that regard. Alongside the dungeons that gave each protag their ultimate weapon (some being guarded by bosses with others being more puzzle focused. Depends on the vibe that character's chapter was going for), there are also 4 super secret bosses in the chapter that gave you the best defensive gear in the game for if you REALLY wanted to break the final fight open. One you find hidden away in one of the more maze like dungeons & he even gives you extra lore & hints towards some of the other secrets after you win, one is your "penalty" for taking to long in a different dungeon a la the Reaper in Persona 3 or 5, one you get from walking away from the final boss, & the other from fleeing ONE HUNDRED TIMES in the final chapter. It's a great take on how uniquely open Live A Live is & how it really feels like the devs thought of EVERYTHING the player might do.
One of my favorites is definitely Sirius from Bomberman 64. Sirius is your companion character throughout the entire game. He points you toward your story objectives right at the beginning of the game. He pops in to give you in-game tips and drops off power-ups for you to use. He's got beef with the same big bad of the game that you do. You piece together his story and you come to understand why you're on the same side.
Then, you collect all the gold cards in the game and fight the final boss again. Right after you win, Sirius interrupts the normal ending cutscene, flies in, and annihilates the guy. Then he tells you he's been using you the entire time to recover his lost strength and HE becomes the final big bad of the game. He flies off to his fortress that you have to fight through to confront him, but you can still find him anywhere you normally interacted with him in the game. Now, though, every interaction is different. Instead of telling you a fake sob story or offering you a tip, he simply tells you that it's useless to oppose him; that you should "lie down quietly and meet your end." The friendly training battle with Sirius you can engage in throughout the game is now a fight with a fake designed to gather data on you for your final confrontation.
The reveal of your closest companion as the true final boss (complete with his own full set of levels and mid-boss) is incredible. This game came out in 1997. No internet guides or walkthroughs back then. You had to find things out for yourself. My brothers and I played Bomberman 64 in the late 90s, but didn't actually get around to collecting all of the gold cards until the early 2010s. Imagine our surprise when the entire game changed over a decade after we'd first finished it!
Pokemon X and Y are games that are home to Lumiose City, a city which at the time was the largest city to ever exist in series history. Due to the city's large size, there was a taxi driver who was added, who would travel along various routes to assist with navigation. You payed a fee depending on the distance from your current location, completely fine and dandy. If for whatever reason you were short on change, however, he would force you into a battle for essentially stealing a ride. Not the toughest battle in the world, but he was no slouch either; the taxi driver is armed with a singular Krookodile, which has incredible stats and the Moxie ability, which boosts your attack stat after a KO. This was a very fun hidden boss to discover accidentally. :3
Secret boss in katana zero is one of my favorites and it really adds another layer to the story like you mentioned as well as providing a really fun challenge. The steps that it takes to get there are definitely a bit of a puzzle too.
I always love the secret bosses in the recent Kirby games! Some of my favorite moments are overcoming the odds, my average skill, and the urge to throw my controller (or 3DS) in rage, to finally pull out a win! Highlights:
- Beat Triple Deluxe's True Arena's Sectonia by cheesing with Archer Kirby's block, then dropped the ability after beating her... before finding out she had a Soul phase, where all the pressure finally came back 2-fold. Wound up beating it first try somehow.
- Managed to reach Planet Robobot's Soul OS twice, beat it the 2nd try (used amiibo to heal). Had the forethought to look it up first, and discovered it had an auto-triggering last-minute "fuck you" move that can insta-kill you if you're not looking. Never got me.
- In Forgotten Land, I managed to beat True Arena first try... after buffing all my stats first. And unlocking and upgrading Sword to Morpho Knight. Maybe that made it too easy?
- Star Allies' True Arena was painful to try to beat on Soul Melter, even with the best team I could muster, but I managed (just)... then they added an even HARDER difficulty. It roasted me.
honestly i think Morpho Sword is just a broken ability, and Kirby's dodge is probably the best dodge in any game i've played
I don't know if Forgotten Land just has an easier boss rush, or that the options the player has are just that good, not complaining though.
..also Robobot Soul OS can go screw itself.
im still trying to beat soul melter EX bc i keep on dying to void
thats what i get for trying to kill the astral birth with some random jester and an alien in a blue hood
Master Core in Super Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U was really cool for me! The first time I encountered Master Core creeped me out, but I also thought it was cool as heck because it was so unexpected AND it could seemingly shape itself into anything! I also really enjoy Kirby games mostly because I LOVE the references to previous secret bosses!
One of the best secret bosses is in ULTRAKILL imo, you have to perfect every stage in the game, and for that you get an insanely difficult secret boss in return, and its tied to the narrative aswell
JUDGEMENT.
PREPARE THYSELF!
My favorite secret boss is Stephen from SMT 4 Apocalypse. An iconic character that has been an ally to the player since SMT 1, and one of the greatest mysteries of the franchise, and now you finally get to fight him alongside all the other SMT protagonists. And he KICKS THEIR ASS. Like, the SMT 2 and 4A protags both defeated the literal Abrahamic God basically on their own, but this dude is way, way beyond that.
Sucks that the fight is locked behind DLC in a 3DS game you can't even buy anymore, but I hope they re-release the SMT 4 duology with the DLC so more people can experience the fight (and others like Masakado's Shadow).
Also I want to shout out the secret encounters in Digimon World Dawn/Dusk. They're not bosses by definition, but they ARE secret encounters and are really tough the first few times. If you beat the game and then go back to specific areas (I remember there was the mine in Dusk), there's certain rooms with a low encounter rate for level 80 Ultra tier Digimon -for reference you beat the game at around level 50 or so- and they hit HARD. Armageddemon especially takes anything you throw at it and has AOE attacks that *WILL* one-shot a final boss team. But find them enough times, and you can get them for yourself.
I'm not sure how "secret" it would be considered (As you do interact with Telethia through the storyline at least once, and there is the Squad Mission variant in Telethia Plume, provided you're playing online), but to me, aside from KH bosses, I think my favorite "secret boss" would be Telethia, The Endbringer in Xenoblade Chronicles X. It felt like a secret boss to me, anyway. You have to make your way up to the Divine Roost in Noctilum in order to fight it proper, and you already saw a taste of its power in seeing what a Telethia can do. Then when you see that it's non-aggressive, you can get as close as you want to observe it, and you can truly take it in while the ambiance of the area plays. You see its level card (Level 99 in a game where the player cap is 60) , you know it's going to be a threat if you engage it. But you absolutely don't have to, in order to appreciate it's majesty. For those who played XC1, it's a nice nod, and it's sure to get their interest when they run into it, in order to make them look for it specifically if they were already invested into the series and its lore. Heck, I know I did. For those who did not, because Telethia, the Endbringer is so strong, they may seek out guidance on how to beat it. And I imagine if X was their first game, there's the chance they'd search and find out that it refers to XC1. That may lead them to get into that game by proxy. Tie-ins like that are actually a good marketing tool to previous games just as much as they are for new installments to come. I think the best secret bosses add to the lore of the world, or reference a series' other installments, as those kinds of bosses are less "just a challenge" and more "A challenge for those who seek knowledge", and so have a double reward to the player for their clear investment into the game or greater series.
To be clear, I never beat Telethia the Endbringer, not because I couldn't, but because I didn't feel the need. Finding the thing and seeing it, gliding side by side with it, that was enough for me.
That game has some absolutely chilling secret bosses. Leva-el, Elvira, Pharsis... It really makes the planet feel alive and threatening, with world ending beings around every corner. Telethia is also my personal favorite, but Pharsis the Everqueen is just terrifying to look at, like some apocalyptic parasite that you really shouldn’t have awaken.
There's also the quest from the cricket people. A creature so majestic that beings from beyond the stars recognized it as a god!
@@marcoasturias8520 I'd nearly forgotten about that quest until I looked up telethia again. Truly is a wonder to behold, for sure.
@@nicolasparis4732 yeah, ironically I just revisited xenoblade x again, so the idea was fresh on my mind when I came across this vid. It was clear that the entire world of Mira was lovingly crafted including the fauna.
Did you beat Pharsis though? Because that thing is an evil menace according to lore.
Always happy to see XCX love
I love myself some secret bosses. For example Ys VIII had one where you had to go through an entire optional tough as nails underground dungeon to get to it, and also had a pair of secret final bosses that you could only get by basically doing all of the side quests in the game.
Mary Skelter has a secret boss and true ending that you can only get by, get this, BEATING MARY SKELTER 2 FIRST. That’s right, you need to beat a whole game, get some specific items, recruit a secret character, and then complete an entire new secret dungeon in order to get the true ending for this game. It was actually kind of fun to return to Mary Skelter 1 after beating 2 and going through that extremely challenging dungeon.
And of course, SMT games are no strangers to secret bosses. In Devil Survivor you can get various different bosses depending on your answers, but the real secret bosses come after beating the game and unlocking them using points the game gives you. In SMT V you can only fight the true final boss if you first battle with another demon who can only be accessed by first beating a specific boss in the story and then getting to level 80 (but you need to be like 100 to beat this demon man).
I could keep talking about secret bosses, but I think you get the idea. I like em.
sans from UT is actually considered a secret boss. They don't intend for the player to kill everyone, so they make a consequence for killing everyone. By turning the weakest thing into the incarnation of death, but for you.
Tales of Symphonia’s secret boss was pretty cool, having you collect cursed weapons from all over the world only to realise they sucked ass, so you give them to him because you’re sure as hell not gonna use them, only for him to go super saiyan and beat your party to a fine pulp with the weakest weapons in the game
And then there’s the secret boss in the sequel, which requires you to do several MISSABLE side quests culminating in an early encounter (which is quite hard already), then exploring the secret optional dungeon that appears WITHOUT ANY WARNING and ONLY IN NEW GAME PLUS, and the layout is RANDOMLY GENERATED EACH PLAYTHROUGH and only after all of that, the secret boss is 100 Levels higher than when you last saw him and primarily teleports around the battlefield calling you a “Piece of Crap” each time. To this day I’m still not sure if Tales of Symphonia 2 was a real game or if I made it up in a fever dream
"To this day I’m still not sure if Tales of Symphonia 2 was a real game or if I made it up in a fever dream" I mean, courage IS the magic that turns dreams into reality
Gotta say the secret final boss of Azure Striker Gunvolt is one of my favorites. You have to collect gems throughout the main 7 stages and make a necklace with them that you wear through the final stage. The final fight is super tough, but you also get to use some of your strongest abilities too. Honorable mention to the shovel knight fight in the sequel that's unlocked through the amiibo
That boss was great as a secret final boss
The boss gauntlet afterwards though....
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. forgot some of these. Great vid
One of my favorite “secret bosses” (I put in quotes because idk if it should count) is Bonetail in paper Mario thousand year Door. It’s pretty cool to see a hidden boss at the end of the pit of 100 trials with insanely high stats (for paper Mario standards at least) after you’ve gotten used to the gameplay loop of the pit it sounds throws a curveball at you by making you fight Bonetail. He has a massive 200HP and can use many different status effects that can be a nightmare to deal with if you’re not good a blocking and/or super guarding.
Much akin to Akuma, Ryo Sakazaki first appeared in the Fatal Fury series with Fatal Fury Special. It was considered a “dream match”, one that would otherwise not canonically happen. You get to it by not losing a single match.
And that’s (very basically) how King of Fighters was born.
My favorite is probably Dead Beard from the First Golden Sun, it was an amazing extra boss on a hidden island. An island full with challenging puzzles and boss enemies in front of the puzzle rooms.
I also love at the island that you can actually can reach it earlier by accident.
It's really Nice to know more about what the comunity likes in secret bosses, and really good for developers to get more ideas of how to suprise the players even more with them, i Lovee it.
I was hoping Ozma would get a mention! One of the most difficult fights I've ever done, but man oh man, that was a hell of a feeling when I beat it.
The ruby and emerald wepons from ff7 are 2 of my favorite secret bosses because they are super hard the first time you try to fight them but if you go in with a plan and know what you are doing you can utterly destroy them quickly.
I lost to ruby wepon several times, then I left and got w-summon and mastered a few materia like hades and mime, returned and absolutely crushed ruby wepon.
I mean, it's a square enix superboss, of course it's going to be hard af lmao
I remember reading guides about how to beat Emmy, and many of them were like, "Equip this long list of mastered materia," to which I mostly just thought, "If you've got all that materia, why are you having a problem?" It's like tips for beating the Midgar Zolom the first time you meet it that involves not getting Beta. Sure, it's a hard pseudo boss to defeat at that point in the game, but doing it that way means not getting the real prize.
@@AnotherDuck and of course, the whole point of Emerald is that it actively punishes you for loading up on OP materia. Its weakness is even Gravity which _never_ works on bosses. Though it's a better known fight now, people who didn't know the trick would have to do ridiculous amounts of prep, and thus, suggest doing so in a guide.
Nothing will ever top the hype of Lingering Will. Never mind the fact that KHII Final Mix did not make its way outside of Japan for several years, we had early internet and 240p videos to entice us into what might come next. Watching people go up against this insane boss was something else back in the day. When we finally did get our hands on it, you can bet that most KH fans felt like Lingering Will was a right of passage. The ultimate test. That music also will be found in every MP3 player I had growing up.
Glad Golden Sun is getting recognition! I always loved reexploring old areas as new psynergy was unlocked and finding the super bosses. The secret boss in that game is way harder than anything else but Golden Sun's intricate class system offered so many creative approaches to the fight. (unless you get djinn stormed but finding ways to dodge it is another challenge)
I stopped watching and didn’t want to come back until I found Cuphead DLC’s secret boss for myself. The image of the boss was already spoiled for me via a thumbnail, but the fact that I managed to figure it out felt so good combined with the amazing fight.
And hey, now that I’ve seen your vid second, I realized something! The answer to the puzzle is randomly generated! That’s so cool!
The secret final boss from the Legendary Starfy! That game just keeps on giving. After beating the boss rush mode within 15min, you unlock a secret time trial world. Then if you can beat each level there within times specified on a door in the last level, you unlock a super hard (pretty unfair) fight against one of the friendly npcs
As a lore guy, the Kingdom Hearts secret bosses are right up my alley. I've only recently had the opportunity to play 1.5, so battling the Unknown Figure was hell, but it felt great when I finally beat him, and I'm looking forward to the Lingering Will (although I also expect him to be 10x worse).
I made the mistake of attempting lingering will and getting distracted by other games. I still want to beat him, but now when I go back it will be like completely relearning the fight
@@ShadowChaosKrystal Yeah, that's definitely a thing about many secret bosses - take too long of a break and you'll be back at Square-1. When I need a break, I usually just take a short one with a completely different genre, which acts as the game equivalent of a "palate cleanser" and lets me get back in with a fresh perspective.
Lingering Will is significantly harder but much more fun, BBS MF fuckin sucks ass, and Yozora is on a whole nother level of fun and difficult.
I haven't done unknown figure as of typing this but i will say this. make sure you max out your drive forms for the extra movement abilities. you'll need it. I had to fight him over 200 times cause i didn't realize my glide stat wasn't maxed out. don't make my mistake
@@ShadowChaosKrystal I died 30 times to him before my first victory.
As someone heavily invested in all the theories and secrets in Undertale and Deltarune my favourite part of Spamton's storyline was talking to the Addisons after beating Spamton NEO and getting that one line about the phone. Absolute *chills*.
I think Red from Gen 2 of pokemon technically fits this description.
I also liked the whole process behind getting the Regies in gen 3.