10 More Disturbing 16-bit Video Game Bosses
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ส.ค. 2022
- We had so much fun dredging through the depths of 16-bit depravity in our previous list that we decided to take another dive. We dusted off our cartridges and AV cables, probed our memories, and trawled through even more unnerving video game sequences, all in the hopes of providing another host of retro horrors worthy of your attention. Here are 10 More Disturbing 16-bit Video Game Bosses!
VO: Peter Austin (@ThatPeterAustin)
Script: Simon Pike (@Sim198k)
Video Editor: Anthony Hambling (@anthambling)
#FinalFantasy #SonicTheHedgehog #PhantasyStar
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Ecco the Dolphin also has the implication that at the time he finds out what happened to his family they were already devoured by the Vortex Queen, needing to use time travel to rescue them.
An implication that was supposed to be answered in the third game that got canceled, sadly.
And of course the biggest and most horrifying part of Ecco the Dolphin's final boss... if you get eaten, you have to do the 5 minute autoscroller level before her again. It's a literal fate worse than death, since death would respawn you in her chamber. And remember, the final two phases involve attacking her jaw and then her exposed visage.
*ABSOLUTE TRUTH DETECTED*
amen
I was sure the game was glitched. The whole thing just seemed to be me getting eaten and vanishing lol
Ah yes. The autoscroller where enemies who hit you didn't give you invincibility so they could drain all your health near instantly. That was a time.
Most terrifying is if you use cheats the game freezes and you're stuck with that music...looking at that face and 11 year old me was terrified for a long time.
Ya, just knew Ecco would be the final one. To this day I've never beaten the game haha.
As a Sonic Spinball fan I can confirm that the Scorpius is quite unsettling at first glance, but when you replay Spinball, he just becomes funny spider boss tbh.
and he goes REEEEE
i think he goes YOUREEEEEEEEEIING
I always thought Scorpius was saying "HEEEYYY" in a deep distorted voice, which I found to be amusing since I was a kid. XD
I think Hellga- I mean Roboiler, the boss from Lava Powerhouse is even scarier, it looks like a Hellgate with 4 of Robotnik's evil ancestors trying to escape. (& Sonic sends them back to Hell)
I totally agree with Vortex Queen, and that was a shocking surprise on the Sega CD version as it has improved sound. Great list. It seems Sega scored big here.
That thumbnail just reminded me of my biggest AVGN letdown. James reviewed Ecco and he didn't even get to the Vortex Queen. I can't be the only one who was looking forward to his reaction to that monster
Even though him shitting through the dolphins blowhole was definitely unforgettable lmfao
My biggest AVGN letdown is that he exists
@@Dr170 oh, edgy.
@@Dr170 L
@@Dr170 sounds like something your parents would say about you
When I saw the first video on this topic I was already thinking "Hey, but what about the Vortex Queen from Ecco the Dolphin".
Glad to see that it did not only make it to the follow up video but is even the number 1 entry.
Imagine something like this roaming the depths of our oceans.
Not thanks, I'm already afraid of bigfin squids
imagine this game remake on ps5. How atmospheric and scary could it be!
@@razorblade413 It would probably end up like Defender of the Future unless you mean like 2D Ecco game, but I think the chances for that are very slim even if the original producer owns the right to the franchise again.
"The Phantasy Star games haven't shied away from a cosmic horror or two."
Cue Phantasy Star 2, that has mutant decaying rabbits that attack you with their mandible-equipped intestines.
the decaying zombies in Motavia from the first instalment were rather disgusting too
@@ArtaiTakahashi Sounds about right, but I'll have to take your word for it. I have beaten the first game before, but not in a long time, and overall I'm less familiar with it. I mostly know 2, 4, Online, and Universe.
....
......
........
So noted. 😟
My name here is XNFLG, which is Xanafalgue without vowels. Those who’ve played Phantasy Star IV know!
The entire Phantasy Star saga was completely and fully about the Dark Scifi Cosmic Horror.
The first game ropes you in with the “it’s like fantasy meets sci-fi” with the swords and magic combined with space travel and such.
Then pops out some horrific creatures here and there until you meet the final baddy(after you beat what you think was the final baddy, bejng a human wizard) which ends being a truly cosmic horror entity.
That theme never went away with the later installments and it’s part of what gave it so much charm.
Really wish they remade the 3rd and especially 4th game(4 is my fave) but they just remade the first two and even then they didn’t come to the west..
Final bosses meeting in heaven be like
- I'am Exdeath/NeoExdeath, I made my protagonists rely on legendary power to kill me.
- I'am Lavos. I got killed by a group of time travelling warriors.
- I'am Giygas. I got killed by kids with psychic powers.
- I'am Vortex Mother.
- And what killed you?
- I don't wanna talk about this.
- C'mon speak up! It can't be that bad, right guys?
- Yeah!
- So... what killed you.
- A dolphin.
Echo the Dolphins end boss was the best 16 bit swerve at that point, before that boss there was no point where you thought "I'm gonna fight the hive queen from Aliens at the end of this". On the opposite end, the 3rd level boss from Splatter House 3 was pretty goddamn memorable😁
Game could've at least given us a dolphin mech suit to fight her. Wouldn't have been any weirder than the rest of the game would it?
Parents buying it for their kids in the 90s: aww you play as a cute little dolphin!
Any kid lucky enough to make it as far as the Vortex Queen: what they hell is that!!
You can tell cuphead got massive inspiration for the Werner Werman fight from the batman cheshire cat fight, thats pretty cool
The Devil fight also reminds me a lot of Loki, since they both fight while sitting on their thrones
A different boss from actraiser 2 actually gave me nightmares as a kid. Jealousy it’s a sunken city/ temple and this boss is floating in windows following you. It doesn’t look all that scary now but as a kid the music atmosphere spooky castle all added this sense of dread I dreamed about floating skulls outside my window and the house being underwater it was terrifying
Sometimes less detail is more... gives your brain room to fill in gaps with what scares, thrills, or excites you the most.
Echo scared the shit out of me as a kid. Never forget beating that boss
The Vortex Queen scared the shit out of me as an adult lol. I just have a thing for being utterly terrified of giant monsters in water and the Vortex Queen might be the first video game boss to ever channel that fear. Almost certainly is the first such boss in gaming.
@@zeroattentiongaming820 same, the ocean freaks me the fuck out
@@zeroattentiongaming820 Be glad that The Vortex Don't Have Face Huggers Like the Xenomorphs from Aliens.
I never made it to Vortex in Ecco, but I saw a pic of it in a gaming magazine from back in the day and was pretty surprised THAT was in a cutesy game like that. That was before I played Earthbound and dealt with that psychological horror at the end of it. I can see why Vortex would have haunted many people after encountering it for the first time.
The main boss(es) from Kid Kameleon scared me as a kid(!). The flying, somewhat realistic looking heads attached to each other that spew out green balls that is.
Yeah, they were super weird! Really though, the scariest "boss" from that game was that awful driller wall that insta-killed you if you touched it! 😱
Heck yeah Phantasy Star getting some recognition!
Profound Darkness truly was something so unique to this day.
From its first two forms being so grotesque, to its final feminine form being beautifulally disturbing
Funny, by that point you had already fought Dark Force several times who was just as disturbing (if not more so) such that the Profound Darkness-I just thought it looked rad!
I'm glad Echo was so hard that I couldn't pass the first levels as a kid. Otherwise the Vortex Queen would definitely have given me nightmares, and I played Splatterhouse back then.
Take your pick on the things Samus Arans gotta go up against in Super Metroid. Crocomire would fit in well with a sequel. Just by the audacity it has by trying to come back at the end of the fight like a horror monster at the end of a movie. Mother Brain was scary as hell too 😆
Also Yoshi’s Island for being accidentally terrifying during the big fight with Super Bowser Jr. it’s like fighting Godzilla as he creeps closer and closer to the front of the screen. As if to say “I am inevitable doom”
I have watched your vid without noticing the phantasy star tag, but I kept expecting a mention of Dark Force/Profound Darkness until it happened. Kudos! And as everyone confirmed already, Ecco's final boss is a real nightmare that fits in such an absurd plot.
5:14 I lay personal claim to this entry given I spoke of it in the last video. Thank you for including it!
That 80s/90s Fantasy/Horror aesthetic lends itself so well to making 16 bit games unsettling. Bringing to life the heavy lines & shading of the covers of those novels. The dragons, monsters, castles, dungeons, scantily clad damsels in distress, bloodshot eyes peering from beneath a mass of bandages/scar tissue, & heroes with an aversion to carbs.
All those things that appealed to (mostly) boys between the ages of 10 and 16.
Think of the way you felt the first time you picked up a Goosebumps book.
The feeling of victory after defeating X-Deth is glorious, tough you killed it by tossing all your money at it!! Such are classic FF =)
Maybe you could've made a small exception and included Nightmare from Metroid Fusion. The GBA's graphics are very close to what 16bit systems were putting out.
Ecco’s final boss was so terrifying for me, my sister and my cousins that I never forgot about it even though I last saw it two decades ago! I mean, wtf is that? Hideous like the Alien from that movie.
And the rest of the game was one of the most beautiful gaming experiences someone like me could have back in the day
The Alien you're talking about in the Alien Movies is called the Xenomorphs. At least The Vortex doesn't have the Face Huggers.
@@there4you19 my ex had arachnophobia. I loved the first 3 movies of the franchise, so I ask her to watch with me. Although they are old now, I dont think I have ever seen her more disgusted and scared in any other movie. Mostly because of the face huggers, but that thing manages to be super ugly and disgusting throughout all of their lifecycle
I think the Roboiler is a scarier boss in Sonic Spinball, distorted vomiting Robotnik faces growing out of the walls of the boiler
I completely agree. I was thinking that same thing.
The backgrounds low-key add so much to these bosses. I like that you went in depth at the Actraiser 2 insect boss, and mentioning that Loki never even LEAVES the background in his fight.
And then there's Vortex Queen, for whom there IS no background, and you're left wondering how BIG this thing actually is, and where the Hell you've actually gotten to where there's no end of the room in sight.
Love these lists! Always get the idea for another game to play, this time I really wanna play that Alien Soldier! It looks totally badass! There were a couple of more I want to play for the first time or again too thanks to this list. Playing Hallow Knight now thanks to another of your top tens! Love your channel!
When I saw the first one I thought “that alien from Echo. Gotta be” and then a was really impressed that it wasn’t on the list at all… oh well.
A good game for this type of list is Bio-Hazard Battle for the Sega genesis/mega drive. All but the final 2 bosses are really creepy especially the level 3 boss
Patiently awaiting for another golden age of 16 bit with games like these.
Low key feel like 16 bit offer more than 3d games anymore.
Nice to see another one of these. Glad Ecco was included. Can't say I agree about the brusselsprouts. I love them.
Trust me when I say, green beans are actually a lot scarier than brussel sprouts, especially if you taste them! XP
If you haven't done an episode of most disturbing normal enemies in 8-bit video games. Then Sweet Home for the Famicom gives you SO many to choose from.
Honestly, I gotta say that the bouler boss in Sonic Spinball was probably a tad more freaky than the scorpion. Whenever I think of Scorpius I just remember how satisfying it was landing underneath the tail and ripping it to shreds. Though I guess any boss could be made unsettling with that staticy music in the background.
Scorpius (Scorpion Robotnik) : EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
What makes Crawler from Demon's Crest even scarier, is the fact that he's so goddamn TOUGH.
For being a sloughing, rotting pile of fatty meat, He's a lightning-fast tank with infinite ammo...
And the AMMO WALKS
That brought back memories, the way the vortex queen is lingering in the pitch black darkness so not all of it is visible is even worse somehow 😖
The contrast against the blackness def amps up the terror by a lot
Echo was a massive game for the time. I could spend hours just messing around. I did beat that boss eventuly. It was a tuff boss battle, but considering my first game was Simon's Quest, it was a walk in the park.
Ecco. I loooove the game despite never getting far in it. It was so weird and frustrating, but loving dolphins, I still kept the darn game.
Speaking of Profound Darkness, blending distinctive female forms with monstrosity is quite usual thing for Japanese games, like in Contra too.
Did not expect to see the Vortex Queen in the rank that I saw it... but am very happy she is where she is on this ranked list :)
As a semi hideous eldritch abomination, I can confirm that dabbling in the destruction of all existence is in fact mildly enjoyable. I also like making homemade tortillas.
The Vortex Queen in Tides of Time is also terrifying, especially as it seems to eat the level as you fight it. Medusa is also nightmare inducing, but more because of the stage itself rather than simply the design of the boss.
If you’re afraid of whales and big fish ( me!) Ecco is a nightmare. I played it, but I had to have it muted and the radio playing. And my dog with me.
That boss from Alien Soldier has a face on it's "appendage." lol
TBH, I always found Sonic Spinball unsettling for the boss music (that I now love as an adult). The faces, he "eeee!" screams, the music only intensified all of that experience.
Didn't expect Phantasy Star 4 to make an appearance on this list.
Imagine after when you saw and fight disturbing Queen in Ecco, you find out that there exist 3d Ecco with those aliens in water. Now you can feel something like you are playing Subnautica
Very nice video, great narration too.
Just a small correction. I believe Seiken Densetsu 3 is a prequel, set 1000 years before the SoM.
The box from Ecco is hell on earth.
I remember NeoExdeath - All those demons wrapped around him, and very high HP - he was the boss that kept on giving.
That thumbnail is triggering to my PTSD from my childhood
Great video! I have played over a 100 SNES games and most of these monstrosities were new to me..
From: 2:56 ..hilarious!!
Question however: What is this great background music called ? you play throughout this video.
It’s a crime that you didn’t play the music from Batman and Robin, that shit slaps.
Hilarious about Sonic Spinball since I just watched the boss rush recently. I think Robotnick’s screams are hilarious
Alien Soldier looks like a badass game. idk how I missed it when Contra Hard Corps was one of my fave games
Sonic Spinball was so good
The Crawler used to give me nightmares. My SNES used to be in my the basement on the big TV, and half the room was just pitch blackness. I just knew it was going to squelch out of the shadows and get me one dark night.
I know someone else had mentioned this already but yeah I sadly not just a thumbnail but seeing the boss again at the end of the video made me think of how disappointing the Ecco the dolphin episode for AVGN was. Definitely one of his worst episodes. I'm sorry but like granted I only watched my older brother play Ecco the dolphin back in the 90s I didn't really play it myself, but like I think it's pretty much common knowledge that the final boss is that terrifying alien head and it would have been incredible to hear the reaction from James when he sees it. I mean when it came to the earthbound episode he had so much to say including having so much to say about just the final boss alone. It would be really awesome to see his reaction to that scary alien head in Ecco the dolphin but he didn't even bother to even get that far in the game.
I appreciate the content. It takes me back to playing ff 5 and introduced me to other awesome games.
Btw what's the name of the chill music in the background?
I remember reaching Loki for the first time in 1991 when I was 10 years old and I thought it was just a arm shorting lasers but when I ran to the left of the screen that's when my heart skipped a beat.
“Put on their action hero glasses and said…..timber” oh man that was both funny and bad ass sounding
The giant from Mr. Nutz is far and away the most disturbing boss ever committed to a video game. What the developers were thinking there I've no idea.
Gynoug 's boss make me chills !
I’m pretty
Pumped two of my fav games made it on this list. I never knew how hard Ecco was until I was older. I always enjoyed just playing the low levels.
That's it, you have done it now. I came in here to see grotesque monsters and maybe a bit of the macabre....but no, you gave us an atrocity. Brussel sprouts were the bane of my existence as a child, a true boss fight that must be contended with at the end of dinner. A monster so vile that even my run button wouldn't save me. You sir, are a monster. ;)
Addendum- What I can't understand is what happened to Phantasy Star IV? It is roughly the same length as the first three games but took two years to come here. Further, the 90 dollar asking price flat doesn't make sense...at all. If anything it should have been in the 40 dollar range as it was an in-house Sega title. Before anyone says "the extra memory needed for the game necessitated the higher cost..." should go compare the size of Phantasy Star IV to Super Street Fighter 2. It is almost double (40 megs) the size that Phantasy Star IV (24 megs) was and came out one year earlier while costing significantly less. That is but one example...there are more.
The Vortex Queen scared the living hell out of me when i was a kid. Another Disturbing Boss who was not mentioned is The Toy Factory Mid-Boss in Dinosaurs For Hire. Hes got a scary looking face , and he drops parasites out of his ear.
To be Honest That Vortex Queen and the Vortex almost look like The Xenomorphs from Aliens.
@@there4you19 They do!
@@TheConejitabunny Yeah I can tell By their Elongated Heads and the Mouths.
@@there4you19 you're right! I never noticed that.
@@TheConejitabunny Be Thankful that the Vortex Aliens nor the Queen Don't Have Face Huggers. We don't want that in a Game Like Ecco the Dolphin.
Fun fact about Ecco. The game has an infinite energy cheat. You can take damage indefinitely and, although the screen flashes red, you never die.
One of the queen's main attacks is to try to inhale and eat Ecco. This rapidly removes Ecco's energy resulting in death
With the cheat on, Ecco can still be eaten but can never die. You end up on an infinitely flashing red screen, with a dark uncontrollable shadow of ECCO infinitely taking damage - basically a living death until you restart the console. The most chilling softlock out there.
The Super Famicom version of Trial of Mana was released outside of Japan in 2019 as part of the Collection of Mana.
Sheez, that Vortex Queen is a thalassophobics worst nightmare....
Love the vids you make
I remember getting to the final boss of Ecco on the Game Gear version...and yeah it was kind of horrific. Until she suddenly dies because you're kind of OP as fuck at that point.
...I'm stuck on like the second level in the Genesis version I bought off the 3DS eShop a few months ago though.
I don't know if I'm too de-sensitized or something but none of these creatures really scare me in any way. Some of them are really creative as concepts though.
I still remember the first time I got to face the Vortex Queen. I turned off the console and thought 'f**k that'
Still scares me now
Boss n°8 (Cheshire Cat) and its attack pattern (and maybe even its face, which falls off in the end) remind me of the final phase of the mouse boss in Cuphead.
Maybe the creators took inspiration from this old Batman and Robin game...
Man getting past that octopus in echo when I was a little kid was so fuckin hard. Took me many attempts to figure put that puzzle
That middle head in the Secret of Mana looks for all the world like Rita Repulsa.
Poor little Arthur.... Loki is just a regular sized person
9:55 so Babylon 5 shadows were first encountered in a 16bit RPG? 😅
Look into Shadow of the Beast 2 on Mega Drive. The whole game is terrifying.
Final Fantasy V wasn’t released on SNES. It was a Super Famicom-only title. SNES got FF IV (released as FF II) and FF VI (as FF III). When FF VII came out for PS1, they finally decided to just make the numbers match going forward. Eventually, they did make the Japanese versions of II, III, and V available to western gamers.
had to admit 2d sprites were well made at its time
Oh! There he is! Profound Darkness..!
Neo Exdeath is such a good final boss. Very challenging without some good grinding for X-fight and mastered Mystics
Alien Soldier is FULL of body horror, and it is absolutely one of the best games on Genesis. Worth playing
I think Alisia Dragoon deserves honorable mention. A 1992 sega genesis studio GAINAX release. Yes the very same people that did the legendary 1990's anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion! You play as a red headed sorcereress blasting away lovecraftian monstrosities with bolts of lightning as you try to prevent a floating priest dressed in white and his cult of techno fanatics from awakening a Dark God that fell from the sky.
3:14 - if Francis Bacon painted videogame bosses...
6:13 Reminiscent of 'The Deadly Spawn' (see also the Splatterhouse original trilogy).
16:26 Dune '84 style!
14:22
Years later, Final Fantasy XIV’s Stormblood expansion saw Exdeath return in it’s sorcerous knight guise as the fourth encounter(Out of 12) of it’s raid boss series, Omega. Fought in Deltascape 4.0, the demonic tree would test Warriors of Light that rose to challenge it, and in the Savage version of the battle, those Warriors of Light that manage to make it far enough(Which isn’t too difficult if you’re doing the fight unsynced) are treated(?) to an arguably equally unsettling full 3D rendition of Neo Exdeath. Nothing our intrepid heroes can’t handle, granted, but worth mentioning regardless. (In a similar vein, the Savage versions of the 8th and 12th encounters in Omega eventually see our heroes facing off against God Kefka and a freaky biomechanical nightmare version of Omega itself, respectively)
I'm surprised you still haven't mentioned Demnogonis, the first boss from Mutant Chronicles Doom Troopers.
Is there some reason that the end boss of EVO: Search for Eden isn't on either of these lists?
Well i guess Ograoum Papas from Mr Nutz definitely deserves a worthy mention.
That background music was beautiful.
You actually finished Alien Solidier, nice!
I remember that Sonic pinball game!
I see that Loki graduated from the Emperor Mavro Academy of Supreme Villainy.
Though at least Arthur is less robotic than Mavro's foe, despite what his armor may make you think.
Anything Metroid made me hyper uneasy as kid, great list x
Ograum Papas from Mr Nutz is another disturbing 16 bit boss that not many will know about
i feel like it could be argued that some of the bosses in sonic 3 and knuckles are pretty freaky, with their giant red eyes
We (America) did kinda get Trials of Mana in its 16-Bit form as part of Collection of Mana (2019), which contained the first three Mana Games - Final Fantasy Adventure, Secret of Mana, and the aforementioned game - all in their original formats. The original Zable Fahr battle was creepy, but in the remake - once the boss was defeated - the female head gives this God-awful shriek.
Speaking of the Mana Series, I'm surprised that Thanatos / Dark Lich didn't make it on this list. BTW, Trials of Mana had their own Dark Lich, but it was a different character.
cheshire cat seems goofy, rather than disturbing, but to each their own.