I like boss fights!

Well I told myself I would write in this thing everyday, so tonight I will do a quick write-up on a simple thing I love from videogames: BOSS FIGHTS!

Now this whole thing is gonna be in a bit "stream of consciousness" style as I have not actually thought any of it through. Hopefully it doesn't sound too much like a 5th grade essay on why I like things.

Here we see soup being used as a weapon.

A good boss battle will make use of the game's mechanics in order to pull you through a big fight. Take for example the best game nobody has played, Ristar. Ristar is your common Sega Genesis platformer. You walk right, you fight enemies, and you jump about. The main attack of titular character Ristar is his long arms which he uses to grab things. He swings from stuff, takes things from enemies, takes enemies themselves, and even swings from enemies. Now, Ristar has 2 boss battles for every world, and there are about 8 worlds if I remember correctly. EVERY SINGLE ONE of these boss fights makes a different use for Ristar's stretchy arms. It gives you a break from the grabbing stuff style gameplay while also using that same mechanic in new and fantastic ways. One of my favorite boss fights from Ristar is the main baddy from the Ice World. He is a big icy fellow, and the only way to defeat him is to grab and throw BOWLS OF HOT SOUP into his mouth. Being a big ice monster, he does not care for this, and goes berserk. This method of fighting doesn't become apparent to you at first, as the gameplay does not suggest it from any point previous. Until you utilize the soup, you will not be able to beat this guy. This may not sound very exciting, but Ristar was the first thing that came to mind as an example of gameplay being extended solely through a boss fight. Also I like talking about Ristar.

It's on graph paper. That makes it official.

I honestly can't think of more reasons I love boss fights, so I will write about a potential boss fight for the game we're making now. Basically the game is a platformer with unlimited jumps, where you fly around obstacles and hazards to get to your goal. I wanted to incorporate these elements into a boss fight like a good game should. So I designed a boss battle against a giant whale on stilts. The premise is the level is too narrow to get underneath the whale to get to it's stilts, so you must navigate a hazardous maze, and then you will get to attack the whale. But the whale is blocking the entry way, and in order to get through, you must get an icicle to drop on his head to daze him. This makes getting through the maze as fast as possible a priority, as you can only attack his stilts while he is woozy. Repeat for a second time for the other stilt and then you win.

I'm not really keen on designing levels, I could probably make a few interesting puzzles if I sat down and thought about them, but I really enjoy boss fights and trying to make them make sense within the confines of the gameplay. I've been thinking of another boss for the game but I won't go into that ever, unless of course he gets into the game and I have to start coding/designing it.

Thanks for reading again. This whole post was something I made up on the fly to say I did an entry today.