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[s0]

Well, how do you define procedurally-generated attacks?

Artificial intelligence 

A dynamic pattern is a pattern too. We haven't yet arrived at AI that actually deserves the name.

[Geeze]

Seth from SSF4   

[TacoBell_Lord]

every Megaman series bosses were no joke...Megaman Zero almost caused me to commit homicide

[vinheim3]

I recommend looking at this FAQ of attack patterns from Final Fantasy X-2. There are some really well-thought out patterns:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/562386-final-fantasy-x-2/faqs/31807

One of the monsters has this pattern:

Code:

- Monster's Attacks:
Magic Up- increases Magic 2 levels
Absorb- absorb HP and MP and uses 3 MP (type: special magic) (damage constant:
8)
Berserk- cause berserk (status effect chance: 75)
Flare- damage one character uses 54 MP (type: magic) (damage constant: 55)
Ultima- damage all characters and uses 90 MP (type: magic) (damage constant:
70)

- Monster's Oversoul Attacks:
Firaga- damage one character with fire element (type: magic) (damage
constant: 21)
Blizzaga- damage one character with ice element (type: magic) (damage
constant: 21)
Thundaga- damage one character with lightning element (type: magic) (damage
constant: 21)
Waterga- damage one character with water element (type: magic) (damage
constant: 21)
Ultima- damage all characters (type: magic) (damage constant: 70)
Regen- cause Regen (status effect chance: infinite)
Full Cure- cures all HP of one character (up to 9999) and cures
petrification, sleep, silence, darkness, poison, confusion, berserk, curse,
pointless, itchy, slow, and stop

- Attacking Pattern:
Basic Pattern:
(1) Action 1*, (2) Action 1*, (3) Magic Up (after using Magic Up 5 times,
Action 1*), (4) back to step (1)
* Are there any characters that aren't berserked?
Yes - 1/2 chance - Flare
1/4 chance - Berserk on character who isn't berserked
1/4 chance - Ultima
No - 2/3 chance - Flare
1/3 chance - Ultima
Remaining HP Pattern:
when it has less than 1/3 of its max HP, 1/4 chance - Absorb on character
with highest remaining HP

- Oversoul Attacking Pattern: (when enough of a monster's species is killed by your party, this monster will go into Oversoul)
Basic Pattern:
1/5 chance - Firaga on all characters
1/5 chance - Blizzaga on all characters
1/5 chance - Thundaga on all characters
1/5 chance - Waterga on all characters
1/5 chance - Ultima
Remaining HP Pattern:
when it has less than 1/2 of its max HP and hasn't used Full Cure, Full Cure
on itself
Random Pattern:
when it isn't regened, 1/4 chance - Regen on itself

and some bosses use "Action Count":

Code:

- Monster's Attacks:
Normal Attack- damage one character (type: physical) (damage constant: 16
[can break damage limit])
Meteor Strike- damage one character (type: magic) (damage constant: 25 [can
break damage limit])
Hellfire- damage all characters with fire element (type: magic) (damage
constant: 24 [can break damage limit])
Firaga- damage one character with fire element and use 24 MP (type: magic)
(damage constant: 19 [can break damage limit])

- Attacking Pattern:
Basic Pattern:
2/3 chance - Normal Attack
1/3 chance - Firaga on all characters
Action Count Pattern:
the following shows what it does when its Action Count reaches a certain
point.  if it performs an attack, Action Count increases by 7, if it gets
hit by an attack, Action Count increases by 5
Action Count is 100 or higher - go to zero and Hellfire
Action Count is 30 or higher - Meteor Strike on character furthest away
Action Count is 60 or higher - Meteor Strike on character furthest away
Action Count is 90 or higher - Meteor Strike on character furthest away

and there's a lot more interesting stuff down there

[draven]

I liked a lot the idea, more than the execution, of the three-way battle at the end of Bloodrayne 1. It's you (Rayne) against a growing demon (Beliar) and a fast-moving nazi-mutant-cyber-soldier (Wulf). You must defeat both of them to finish the game, and they fight among themselves too, but if Beliar grows enough to occupy the whole room, you get the bad ending, so there's also a variable time-limit (Beliar only grows if you're not attacking it). All this created one of the most chaotic and probably unbalanced boss battles I've played, but also a very memorable one.

[AshfordPride]

I always felt that Monster Hunter had some pretty great boss fights.  I would guess that Monster Hunter is based around a dissatisfaction with Zelda bosses, where a boss does his thing and then stops.  You know, they throw a fit, and then it's time to open the big ol' eye on the center of their head and stop moving for a second.

Monster Hunter presents a rather unpredictable lot of moves for you to deal with from a monster.  You know that a monster is capable of doing A, B, and C, but beyond a tell prior to that move you don't really know what they are going to do.  A monster may not even attack the player, it might just run around for a bit or do a move at nothing.  It leaves the player always hoping that the monster isn't going to do the ONE move that would really fuck them up right now.  When attack the face you hope they don't charge, when attacking the tail you hope they don't wag their tail, etc.  It's not a guessing game either, it's more of a huge risk and reward system that punishes greedy and poor play and rewards careful and considerate actions based on a knowledge of both of what yourself and the enemy you are fighting is capable.  It sets up every boss as a real mountain to climb, where every monster is so imposing and unbeatable until you work out how it thinks and moves and adjust your own playing accordingly.  Coupled with how devastating even a single attack from one of these monsters is, a very tense and thrilling encounter is guaranteed for almost every fight.

I almost can't bring myself to enjoy a Zelda style fight anymore.  It seems so boring and predictable.  Speeding things up after I hit the monster the fourth time or doubling the amount of projectiles the boss shoots just doesn't get me off anymore.  Zelda creates bosses that really only test the player twice: Can you avoid this monster and then discern how to attack him when he stops, and can you avoid this monster now that he is going faster and then discern how to attack him when he stops (HINT: ITS THE PART YOU LOCK ON TO).  I also feel like Zelda gives the player too many weapons.  It makes lots of puzzles and fights into put the round peg into the round hole. 

[AshfordPride]

Okay, can we agree that this is the worst kind of bossfight?

The one where you CAN continue to damage them but suddenly they are invincible.  Thinking Metal Gear Solid here, where you will blast a shotgun in some douches face, they will fall over, but the next five shots will do nothing as he dashes away for more punchy bullshit.  Why not just have all those shots do reduced damage?  Why do I have to learn when it's time to back off so I don't waste ammo so the fight can go on long enough to not just be a ten second volley of shotgun shells.

On the other hand, I remember that this one boss in Timesplitters 2 could be beaten with a single clip before he even finishes he pre-fight line. 

[gunswordfist]

Best boss fight in the franchise and I love how the boss is defeated with platforming.

[Derakon]

I always found that fight to be tedious -- there's absolutely nothing you can do to speed it up. Hell, if Robotnik hadn't tossed those spiked balls into the lava there's no way you could win -- he could just keep tilting things back and forth until you screwed up the jumps one too many times.

I have to agree with Samtagonist that random "Whoops, I'm invulnerable now" phases are annoying. I can accept bosses snapping out of hitstun (after all, otherwise they'd just be stunlocked until death) but choosing to then make them invincible besides is lame. It's just enforcing turn-based combat. In a realtime game.

I'll have to check out Monster Hunter sometime. If it's anything like what it sounds like (which is the bosses from Devil May Cry 1, scaled up) then it should be pretty awesome.

[AshfordPride]

Best boss fight in the franchise and I love how the boss is defeated with platforming.

You linked to an example where some completely bends that boss fight over their knee with a fire shield.  I've never had to fight that boss without the fire shield, so I can't say I earnestly find it exciting.

All the bosses in S3&K are also kind of really easy if you know how to use the istashield move.  As a kid I always played as Knuckles, but I did a full Sonic run a while ago and being able to use that shield just makes things too simple.  Lots of the bosses in S3&K seemed really easy, there always seemed to be one way to just get around the hardest parts of the fight.  There was always one shield that would allow you to move in a way that makes me think that shields were never intended for boss fights.

Another boss that annoyed me from Sonic was the boss to Metropolis Zone.  The first hit on him was always nerve-wracking.  I could never be sure if I was going to get him!  Then the boss fight just drags on as it becomes easier and easier to hit him.  All the dread is just gone.   The boss to Launch Base Zone, if you're playing S3&K and not just Sonic 3, is also the same way.  It's like reverse Zelda!  Instead of getting harder as the fight goes on things just get easier, it makes the fight so boring once you get those first hits in.

[DavidCaruso]

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is a great game, but I remember it more for its extravagant, varied, and expansive level design than for the boss fights. A few really cool ones stick out in my mind (Hydrocity 1&2, Marble Garden 2, Lava Reef 2, final bosses), but the rest ranged from pretty decent to sometimes just plain retarded (Sandopolis "keep moving left until he jumps into quicksand" Act 1, Death Egg "why the fuck is this teleporter so slow" Act 2).

My favorite boss in the series has to be Sonic 2's final boss, just thanks to the scale and the tension which came from having no ring safety net; last time I played 2 a few months ago the entire game up until Wing Fortress didn't do much at all for me, but the final level was almost enough to save it. 3&K tried to one-up and expand on it (like with almost every other half-decent concept from Sonic 2, even ones which didn't make it into the final game), and they did visually/aurally at least, but by the time you got there you had like 80 rings so it wasn't nearly as epic a fight. Wish they would have made an entire no-ring zone for the finale (or at least one full act.)

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I'm watching my friend play through The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and it's got me thinking about boss battles. The Zelda series has established a pretty classic formula for boss fights:

Attack Pattern A- Pause, allow for strike- After 3 times, move on to Pattern B, C, etc.

These boss battles are usually in an enclosed arena, with two or three planes at most.

What I'm interested in, is what boss battles have you seen that break the mold from typical videogame fights? What ideas would you like to see?

that's actually a more recent pattern, not a classic pattern. boss battles in zelda1, 2, and most bosses in 3 don't follow that pattern, that pattern only became established with zelda4 (link's awakening).

[Geeze]

I'm watching my friend play through The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and it's got me thinking about boss battles. The Zelda series has established a pretty classic formula for boss fights:

Attack Pattern A- Pause, allow for strike- After 3 times, move on to Pattern B, C, etc.

These boss battles are usually in an enclosed arena, with two or three planes at most.

What I'm interested in, is what boss battles have you seen that break the mold from typical videogame fights? What ideas would you like to see?

that's actually a more recent pattern, not a classic pattern. boss battles in zelda1, 2, and most bosses in 3 don't follow that pattern, that pattern only became established with zelda4 (link's awakening).

Yeah zelda 3 bosses usually don't have "I hit you hit" patterns, but I still was disappointed at Ganon, because that boss is just too easy.
Hithithithit avoid fork hithithithithit go farther go closer hithit avoid firebirds hithithithit.
Ganon starts jumping and breaking floor until there's no floor beside walls.
Move to where he's teleporting, hithit, repeatrepeatrepeat.
Ganon starts using darkness.
Firerod twice to light place. Hit bow hit bow. Repeat until Ganon dies.

I was disappointed.

[Derakon]

Oddly enough you could have made Link to the Past's Ganon reasonably more difficult simply by speeding him up a bit; he's mostly easy because his attacks are largely trivial to dodge; the only one that's especially challenging is when he spirals the firebats out and then back in, and once you know that's coming you just stay outside the maximum radius of the spiral. But if you sped up his trident and his "shoot bats at you" attacks, and left less vulnerable time between attacks, he'd be significantly harder without being annoying. At least that's my supposition.

[Mittens]

Last year I...
 ...if you want to try kill the boss you can play my little game in browser here (unity3d) http://www.kingdomscollide.com/annihilon_game/WebPlayer.html

This is entirely off topic, but your game is just unfairly difficult. Most people are not unfamiliar with the concept of "attack him in mid-attack," that's a common boss trope. The difficulty in your game comes from expecting your players to be able to curve an axe in three-dimensional space through a two-dimensional monitor in a time limit. It took me countless tries just to hit the fire behind the ice wall, and without depth perception nobody can be expected to not overshoot the weak spot. Or, in my case, even get close, because he always finished his attack before my axe even came close.

I applaud you trying to make a boss fight that was unique, but if the player's controls are awkward, people won't even want to stick around to try out what you made.

Ok, that's some good feedback that i haden't got from anyone before, I didn't really get enough people to test it before i had to finish work on it to discover this kind of stuff. I had to asume what the problems where from the little I did see.
I guess I asumed the way I did just because I personaly find the axe curving mechanic easy enough to use, but I made the dam thing and I've had far more practice than any new player, so I really aught to have looked into that more
Always good to know these things for the next game