Doc Havock has been a devoted presence in the Southern California Electroni… Read Full Bio ↴Doc Havock has been a devoted presence in the Southern California Electronic Music scene. Utilizing elements from all types of music, he proudly brings you a unique feel for electronic music.

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Comments from YouTube:

Design Doc

2y↑602

Browser games! Play more than 500 original games on GXC, like Doodle Alive: https://opr.as/DesignDoc-DoodleAlive

ツPlatFormingames

2y↑3

Giant bosses where you run towards and chase the boss is good

Durgle

2y↑6

WHY DID YOU PUT THE WORST COLOSSAL BOSS IN THE THUMBNAIL OF A VIDEO ABOUT GOOD COLOSSAL BOSSES???? 😾😾😾😾😾😾😾😾

Cesar Hernandez

2y↑2

SoTC is art. That's it. No arguments. Beautiful art.

Fridge Gaming

2y↑2

@Cesar Hernandez there is a VR game called Jet Island you may enjoy

Cesar Hernandez

@Fridge Gaming Then I shall my good man!

13 More Replies...

FuravyOff

2y↑4.9K

Fighting as giant Bowser while flipping the DS on its side in Bowser's inside story has always be one of my absolute favorite boss fights ! It's must have years and years since I last played it, but everytime I think about it I have a residual feeling of how fun I found it

Julie Madelyne

2y↑41

YES!

bennitori4

2y↑195

I came up on that boss while in the car with my parents. The entire time they thought I was losing or upset because of how much child me was flipping my shit. That boss battle came right the hell out of nowhere and it was incredible.

MrLuigiBean

2y↑15

Lovely memories with that game :)

Soulstealer56

2y↑34

I used to have trouble with it as my ds had difficulty detecting my mic and blowing but it was fun.

MiiMoogle

2y↑54

Ohhh boy, just punching the hell out of that robot castle and just seeing it slowly break each phase is so satisfying.
And I love how each punch cause koopas and goombasto fly out.

32 More Replies...

Angelo

2y↑845

Omega Flowey is certainly creative, letting all that space where the fights usually happens free to the player and the enemy, an amazing fight

SillyGuy_555

2y↑71

And also a pretty good “unbeatable” boss how you need to convince the souls, his power sources to revolt and defeat him afterwards

Gru

1y↑7

@SillyGuy_555convince? You just pass them attacks to just they revolt against him and heal you

Kate Leese

1y↑5

it is certainly very creative! i really enjoyed fighting omega flowey

The Necromancer

49w↑3

Undertale's neutral ending is probably the most climactic out of all 3. The true villain of the game. He tricked you at your lowest, and you never saw him again, until the very end when he is the most powerful being in the universe. Maybe I'm bias because Finale is my favorite Undertale song, but the juxtaposition between the terror and hopelessness of "Your Best Nightmare" and the blood pumping excitement and exhilarating satisfaction of "Finale" is so incredible.

Spimbles

39w

@The Necromancer are we talking about the same ending here? isnt the pacifist ending the one with Omega Flowey and Asriel? been 8 years since i played but i couldve sworn it was just the pacifist route that had OF

2 More Replies...

Primary_Magic

2y↑427

Ultrakills 'corpse of king minos' boss is pretty amazing, it's seeing him looming in the distance in each stage leading up to the boss battle which makes it so cool.

Badwizard

2y↑31

THANK YOU. I was amazed when Ultrakill wasn’t mentioned in this

Drake Kennedy

2y↑6

That fight needed music and to get rid of the black hole. it took me maybe 5 tries before i just learned to parry his hand and Railgun if i got low hp

Misha gaming

1y↑22

@Drake Kennedy Just move away from the black hole, i agree with the part about the music though.

Collin Buckman

1y↑15

The fact that you can parry his punches is really what seals the deal for me.

L4

1y↑16

I personally think LEVIATHAN is even better. Is it foreshadowed less? Yes. But, instead of the invisible wall strategy Minos goes with, you can fucking grapple onto it and wail on it. That, combined with the big attacks and the _space program_, just make them feel so awesome.

14 More Replies...

FrozenNoob_

2y↑1.7K

Personally, Terraria and hollow knight come to mind. They aren’t like some of the games you mentioned but those games are super good with their bosses. Terraria allows you to shape the arena around the boss, the creativity it allows for is just great.

Acqusta

2y↑138

And with Calamity Mod the giant boss theme just goes crazy

Ive Harzing

2y↑143

Hollow Knight's bosses aren't THAT big though, all of them fully fit on screen, so there's no camera problems.

Ive Harzing

2y↑67

@Acqusta Oh yeah holy shit the Devourer of Gods, that shit scared me when I first saw it!

Acqusta

2y↑68

@Ive Harzing yeah it didn't only scare me, it also scared my 2009 laptop

Ethan Liang

2y↑34

VisualMT devourer of framerate

30 More Replies...

Communist-Elmo-1

2y↑151

I feel like Botw's Dark Beast Ganon fight was supposed to be more cinematic rather than actual gameplay, and the fight against Calamity Ganon was supposed to have the real gameplay in it. But I do agree that the fight against Dark Beast should have had a little bit more to offer gameplay wise

NCSGaming15

1y↑7

It’s obvious how it’s meant to be cinematic by the fact he will miss you with his lasers on purpose

Glitchy5885

1y↑3

Yeah tp defo did dark beast Ganon a lot better in terms of gameplay combining both regular and wolf link skills

Fraser Laidlaw

50w↑3

Even Ocarina of Time’s Ganon fight felt more ominous and epic, despite being developed for vastly inferior hardware compared to the switch. It’s a similar 2 phase fight, but in the case of OoT Ganondorf and Ganon both have great and intimidating character models, as opposed to the amorphous blobs with eyes and tentacles that you fight in BotW. In OoT you end up fighting Ganon on a dark field ringed with fire, and only really get a proper look at him when lightning strikes. BotW’s dark beast Ganon is just a big stationary pig that really doesn’t threaten the player in any way. Killing him doesn’t feel satisfying in the least. Here’s hoping that TotK has great boss fights.

Crowmeat

2y↑276

Divine Dragon from Sekiro will always stick in my mind as an excellent collossal boss. Probably the easiest in the whole game, but goddamn, when the music swells and you get hurled into the air to redirect lightning? Still gives me chills just to think about it.

Empty Warrior

2y↑15

Honestly one of the best colossal bosses ever. The snake was cool too.

SP Inc.

2y↑1

Just saw some gameplay and yeah that looks awesome! I need to play this game.

BanjoOwO

2y↑10

Sekiro is really on a league of its own

Kaj

@SP Inc. favorite game of all time. Definitely a must play.

Benny In Da Wall

1y↑4

The most cinematic fight in the game by far, well that’s if you don’t count anytime you do a lightning reversal😂

1 More Replies...

- ElThiccy -

2y↑3.9K

I always though that Calamity Ganon was super boring, especially compared to the other bosses. I hope there’s a better final boss for BOTW 2

Adam Greenway

2y↑1K

I always treated "phase 1" in the castle as the boss and "phase 2" as a victory lap.

Accidental Genius

2y↑94

Yeah calamity ganon worst version ganon ever

Damp

2y↑500

the calamity boar thing is not a boss, is just a power trip after you beat the final boss. It's a reward, not a challenge.

Chad Peterson

2y↑170

Yeah both phases had a problem

Phase 1: too many weaknesses to exploit and some of the attacks are super easy to avoid

Phase 2: anticlimactic and WAY TOO EASY.

Design Doc

2y↑570

@Damp It's a pretty lame power trip to be honest.

98 More Replies...

WoolGuide

1y↑38

I know Sonic Frontiers wasn't out at the time this video was released but Sonic Frontiers did really well with their colossal bosses. There some of my favourite bosses from any game

ExtremelyBored

50w↑2

Agreed. I clicked on this video hoping he would talk about at least one Sonic boss even if Frontiers wasn't even out.

The Necromancer

49w↑5

The game is really good at building up to the titan fight, where it all comes together, and my lord how worth it is. The way that Giganto absolutely floors you in your first encounter, and then when you tip the scales, Kellen Quinn shows up and knocks it out of the park so you can show Giganto who's the real boss. I also have always been such a massive fan of the fact that Wyvern flies around in the sky for the entire duration of the second island. It makes it so atmospheric, and it's a thousand times better when you're chasing Wyvern over the ENTIRE ISLAND. Then finally Knight, the final test of skill, where we're not learning how to be super sonic anymore, but we ARE super sonic. The end of the fight where sonic can use his cyloop to obtain Knight's very own sword, and SLASH HIM DOWN THE MIDDLE LIKE A GOSHDANG PROTAGONIST is such an excellently climactic moment.

Mr.Feather130

36w

Yeah sonic frontiers did great with the colossal bosses

ARTHUS MARIET

2y↑32

Hades and Medusa in Kid Icarus Uprising are two epic and long fights against an immense enemy that you have to beat by quite literally ranging them to find their weaknesses, dodging their minions and astonishing attacks.
Wonderful giga boss fights.

Kitsu

2y↑24

I think monster hunter does these really well, (besides maybe Zorah) because of the sheer power that the monsters emit. Creatures like Shara Ishvalda and Safi’jivahave such a massive attacks that give such a good feel for their strength.

James Schulte

50w↑2

Shara and Safi don't really count as colossal bosses. They're massive yeah but compared to truly colossal monsters like Zorah, Lao Shen Long, Dire Miralis, Dalamadur, Dah'ren and Jhen Moran, and Ceadeus they aren't big enough to qualify

TheAlmightyPotato

50w

One thing's for sure tho, Goss Harag is definitley not a colossal boss, not sure why they only included it there when Narwa and Ibushi are in the same game lol

Kenneth Animates

2y↑14

If there’s one big boss that failed miserably it’s Dark Beast Gabon, you just take the bow, you avoid the incredibly minor amounts of resistance, and you shoot the boss.

Treelord

2y↑248

I love hollow knights take on them. almost every boss is several times your size and you have to learn to weave through all their attacks. This can feel unfair sometimes but the game gives you so many movement options it balances it out. You can jump over a throwing attack, then midair dash to phase through the boss to hit them from the other side, double jump to avoid a secondary attack, use spells to keep you in the air longer, then hit them again to reset all your movement mechanics. It excels at making you feel small and forcing you to adapt to that

MidnightDrake

2y↑19

I was hoping there was gonna be someone talking about Hollow Knight. I completely agree with you on all of those points.

Chip Butty

2y↑35

Hollow knight doesn’t really have any collosal bosses though they’re all just big, love the combat though

Twisteds

2y↑9

They’re not that big really I wouldn’t call it a colossal boss

Treelord

2y↑10

@Twisteds yes and no, I agree that in most games they wouldn't be counted as colossal. However I would argue that In 2D games the colossal bosses are smaller than in 3D so relative to the game and the player size I would call at least at least a few of the bosses should be counted as colossal. :)

Chip Butty

2y↑4

@Treelord idk maybe radiance but radiance’s size really doesn’t play into the fight

7 More Replies...

matrix3509

2y↑1.9K

Metal Gear Rising is a great example of a game that simply refuses to compromise its amazing mechanics, no matter how big the bosses are. For its colossal bosses, something still has to be compromised though, so Platinum chose to compromise realism, which unironically makes the boss fights even more over the top and amazing. You better believe we're parrying this giant robot the size of Rhode Island!

Oricalu

2y↑255

And you cant forget metal gear excelsius, where raiden just rips off one of its massive swords and uses that to destroy it. Sacrificing realism really was the way to go. Like Max0r said, "every game is now just worse for not having this"

twilight

2y↑26

@Oricalu really wish that during excelsius once you get that sword you could do a little more though...

LandoCommando

2y↑25

I don’t talk to people that think Metal Gear Rising is anything less than a 9/10.

twilight

2y↑14

@LandoCommando oh it for sure is and honestly as a bias rating its a 10/10 on an enjoyment level for me

Mr.Lopiu

2y↑9

@twilight Like slamming it into Armstrong's face when he peeks out of the Excelsius

18 More Replies...

SpaceTaco048

2y↑77

I'm so super glad you mentioned Shadow of The Colossus. And saved it best for last too! That game was the greatest thing I didn't know I needed in my life.

Everything about that game makes it the most unique thing I've ever played and is really the first thing that got me into story based games. (Though I haven't played many games in my life)

Thor-Orion’s Abbreviated History of the World

Play Ico at some point. Totally different gameplay but the same style storytelling. Shadow of the Colossus is the prequel to Ico.

SpaceTaco048

@Thor-Orion’s Abbreviated History of the World isn't that game really old and unavailable to play cause it's an old portable game?

Thor-Orion’s Abbreviated History of the World

@SpaceTaco048 no, Ico was a PlayStation 1 game. You can play it on an emulator right now I think.

Thor-Orion’s Abbreviated History of the World

@SpaceTaco048 look at the name of the studio that did shadow of the colossus. Team ICO.

person

1y↑1

@Thor-Orion’s Abbreviated History of the World Its also ported in a collection to ps3 alongside SotC so you can play it on rpcs3 or real hardware

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『PURPLE HAZE』

2y↑27

Even though Moon Lord from Terraria is hardly in a "colossal" scale, I think he's a pretty good example that "bigger" does not always equate to "better".

AzraelGaming

50w↑1

If we count mods, calamity has much of that, for example, de DoG

The Necromancer

49w↑3

I've always been a little opposed to the calamity mod and other mods along those lines because of exactly that reason. Moon Lord is the final boss. Supreme Calamatis just feels like a bad edgy boss, especially with the quotes she says in the game's chat. If you were to ask my opinion on the calamity mod, I'd tell you that it shouldn't be a mod. Calamity should just be its own thing. I think it's pretty awesome but it doesn't fit into vanilla Terraria that great. The minute of waiting for the Moon Lord to show up is one of my favorite parts of the whole of Moon Lord. Most of the time, you're just standing there, just before the climax of the game where you're left in silence, but at the same time, it's so loud. It really leaves such a noticeable imprint on the boss saying "This is really it." What a joy the boss is too.

Jayden Rush

1y↑7

I absolutely love the end boss fight in doom eternal against the icon of sin. Not only do are you chipping away at the armor and the flesh, you have to take cover from its stage wide attacks and re-up on ammo, health and armor from the smaller enemies that spawn, giving a small twist on the game loop you grow to learn throughout the game. Such a fun boss fight to play over and over again.

Curi

2y↑13

Atahl Ka is the single best boss fight I’ve had the pleasure of challenging. It starts off with a normal fight against a bug before it constructs a giant mech that you have to dismantle by attacking the threads holding it together. Best boss fight and a perfect end to GU

Rigel

2y↑43

The new Nihilanth fight from Black Mesa Source was really amazing, a much needed upgrade to the original

Gamignman

2y↑1.5K

Personally I think another important part of a giant boss is the arena size. One of my least favorite boss fights was the giant robot from mgs5, partially because of one shots but mostly because of how much space there was to actually fight him. Most of the fight consisted of me running away to get more ammo (another issue with the fight).The reason giant bosses are so threatening is their presence, but if the area is also colossal they have much less of a presence. Fighting a somewhat large boss in a small room is a lot more intense than just upscaling everything dramatically.

Bruh Moment

2y↑38

O&S second stage from dark souls. They shrink down the room just to add more tension to an already incredible fight

Kyo Tanaka

2y↑65

I love the fight because of the map you fight him in. The bigger issue personally is it's bullet sponging nature. That fight in particular shouldn't have been Vemon Snake vs Metal Gear, but rather Diamond Dogs vs Metal Gear, with Diamond Dogs calling in support with helicopters and dropping power weapons far into the distance to ensure safe delivery. A boss so threatening it would take a literal army to take down. That could have been a revolutionary colossal boss fight, but it was squandered by a rushed development cycle.

Instead of an army fighting against a giant robot, you get a fight where people actively look to cheese because it takes FOREVER to do it normally that it straight up kills the novelty of a giant boss fight. We are actively encouraged to build up Mother Base, why the fuck can't we use it when it mattered most?

Xonarag

2y↑16

Idk when I think of shadows of the colossus the huge maps are part of what makes them epic

Gamignman

2y↑12

@Xonarag yeah but the proportions are still pretty normal. The colossus’s are WAY bigger than sahelanthropus and their arenas are also smaller.

Squidopedia

2y↑17

Meanwhile some of my favorite boss fights are from Metal Gear Rising, where the two metal gear fights are in fairly small arenas and follow mostly the same rules as every other enemy kn the game. Plus, it probably helps that you suplex the giant robots.

11 More Replies...

Emrick Azor

1y↑4

I feel like the Borderlands series nails the giant bosses perfectly. Crawmerax The Invincible for example. You take a HUGE elevator up to this enormous arena, and there in the center is a colossal Crab Worm. Unfun as that fight is, the framing is perfect. It focuses you on exactly what you should be looking at, the giant purple crustacean in the field of grey. Even more examples from Borderlands include Graveward from 3, you slide down into the arena and he pops up and you get a sense of his scale despite half of his body being outside or the arena, The Destroyer from Borderlands 1, you don't see that much of it, but what is there is large enough to show that it's a biiiiiig beast. The Sentinel from the Presequel.... Much as I hate Borderlands TPS, the end boss is well done, the way that you have to look up the whole fight, theway you're walking around him the whole time to avoid the hazards....

Another example I wanna point out is form a game I have yet to play, but the first boss of Hi-fi Rush, big robot dude on a ring around the edge of the arena. What a spectacular first boss, gives you a good idea of just how awesome the game is gonna be! I can't prove that it's awesome yet though...

Blitz

2y↑16

Elden Ring's Placidusax fight has become one of my favorite boss fights. Just wish some of the other dragon fights in that game were as good as him.

m e

2y↑30

Destiny 2 is also a pretty good use of colossal bosses. The Riven fight is great and you fight a huge boss in a cool way.

Davo

2y↑2

And oryx

Diego C J

1y↑1

Insurrection prime was big too (not as much as the others), and the tank usage gave it a lot more pressence.

m e

@Diego C J yeah true wish i could've fought it lol

The Legs of Rhulk

51w

Y'all forgot me

Country 13

2y↑3

I wished you would have talked about shadow of the colossus more. Shown how many things it did right that other games could have learned from. Gannon would have been epic if you had to climb him to find his weakness. (Like the rock enemies) Also having to use all of your abilities from the divine beasts to defeat him would have felt like more of an accomplishment and wrapping up everything you’ve gained and learned.

RedTheWeeb

2y↑16

Sonic, spyro, God of war, monster hunter. All of those have such memorable giant boss fights in my mind

Elijah Leonard`

2y↑1.3K

I keep thinking of Subnautica. Where it's less about fighting the collosal creatures and more about hiding and escaping. It introduces these monsters less as a enemy and more as a force of nature to be avoided at all cost. Like a game of cat and mouse. Except underwater and the cat is a gorgeous bioluminescent titan.
Specifically I'm talking about the giant dragon at the magma level. The other reapers are neat too but they have definite weaknesses to exploit.
The only other thing I wished you mentioned was sound design. The aesthetic to these fights can very easily be adjusted just with some super neat sound design. Naturally when we hear something that large it makes the fight much more intimidating and exciting. But maybe that's just me.

George Saffos

2y↑46

And when it comes to Subnautica, killing the big boys feels so good

KelIsMainCharacter

2y↑33

@George Saffos Ikr. Its like u dont gain anything from it, but pure satisfaction. It feels great

V1

2y↑7

I knew I'd find a subnautica fan down here

Funkie_Junkie

2y↑9

The abyss leviathan is literally impossible to kill so it's horryfying to run it o when you accidentally go into the abyss and all you see is this GIANT FUCKUNG BEAST charging at you when it decloaks

Alexander Delgado

2y↑9

@Funkie_Junkie Unless you mean in Below Zero, it is technically possible to kill the "Abyss" leviathans as they are just adult ghost leviathans.

13 More Replies...

Kumatora Haltmann Dreemurr

2y↑6

One thing that colossal bosses can invoke is fear in the player. Metal Gear Solid 2’s bosses are almost always humans with special weapons/abilities, then towards the end of the game you have to fight multiple Metal Gear RAYs all at once in a relatively claustrophobic arena. Playing this for the first time, I felt so underprepared that this boss fight legit terrified me more than a lot of horror games.

AroAce of Spades

1y↑3

I love how ori does giant bosses as escape sequences, sometimes with a short fight before or after. For example the Foul Pressence, Kwolok, and Sand Worm. Kwolok, The Howler, and The Shrieker are amazing examples of the actual boss portion of the fights, all displaying different types of fights. Kwolok is just a big hit box that can take alot of damage, but can deal out alot aswell. The Howler is a great first boss, introducing the combat system, you have to keep hitting him back to stop you from getting cornered and attacked. The Shrieker is an amazing boss from being to end. This is an example of a boss that's on the same plane as you, and one that is in the background. First phase is a standard, but fun, just hit them whenever you're able section. Second phase is an escape, running across a decaying, and broken spirit willow, through logs, and across long gaps. Phase 3 is a much harder version of the first phase. Phase 4 is the same as phase 3, but Shriek slowly destroys the platforms, and causes an endless rain of fireballs. Phase 5 the floor is just gone, and you have to bash off the fireballs to stay in the air, while dealing damage to the boss. So for example you might launch yourself downward so the fireball goes flying at Shriek, then immediately catch yourself and use your bash, launch, and glide to stay in the air long enough to bash off another fireball. It's overall an amazing series, and I highly recommend playing it, especially the 2nd one.

Jules

I wanted to mention Ori too! I think they did a really good job with big bosses. The last phase of Shriek fight is so unique and unforgettable

Jscon

2y↑5

Giga Bowser in Mario & Luigi Dream Team was my first Colossal Boss and I will never forget it. So difficult yet so friggin fun.

Ember the Fox

38w

I love when games have you on equal scale with a giant boss, whether that be from your character naturally being giant or some means to grow to their size. It's fun to get some Kaiju vs Kaiju action in to mix things up.

Negative

2y↑10

How is there not a single mention of the Darkeater Midir anywhere? Easily one of the best colossal boss fights in any videogame.

PKBeats

2y↑1.5K

Seeing the title paired with the thumbnail, my first thought was "That is NOT what makes a good colossal boss" lmao. Really hope BotW 2 does the idea better, if at all. My first thoughts for great examples were, of course, Shadow of the Colossus, as well as Metal Gear Solid Revengeance. It's such a cool concept, I really love when games flesh it out well. Great video!

Linkarlos64

2y↑24

Im sure Monolith soft are still helping and with the Torna final boss (im sure they learned what makes a final boss fight) i am Hyped

Shift Fire

2y↑83

The thing is, everything WAS going for that boss... Design, atmosphere, build-up, scale, music...Everything!

Except the battle itself. Because i honestly think it's one of the easiest bosses in the franchise's entire history. I wouldn't call it THE easiest (That goes to Link's Awakening Angler Fish), but it's definitely losing out to some very poor competition.

Nido Hime

2y↑59

To be honest Ganon was the weakest part of the game, his four minions are just clones of each other, and the fight agaisnt it felt too short for my taste.

Andrew Cox

2y↑58

BotW is sad because it DID get large boss fights right. Specifically I'm referring to Talus fights. You could also argue the process of accessing some of the divine beasts are large scale boss fights done right too. It's just a shame they seemed to rush over the development for Dark Beast, because it was obviously designed with Shadow of the Colossus in mind and had so much potential to be great.

A little death

2y↑14

@Nido Hime You can't be serious. Every single blight of Ganon has different mechanics.

16 More Replies...

astralVelocity

1y↑1

Aside from a very well made and informative video, you’ve also helped me remember the name of one the most memorable colossal boss games I’ve ever seen- Solar Ash! I’ve spent over 2 months trying to remember what it was called after seeing it over a year ago, thank you so much for letting me find it again

bread

2y↑3

one of the most memorable colossal bosses i've fought was definitely Riven. by far she's the biggest final boss in the destiny franchise. dropping into her chamber for the first time and seeing her dragon/whale/octopus body twisted around that central pillar was unforgettable, and at the end of such a great raid too. her mechanics are challenging, involving a lot of communication between shooting her mouth, tentacles, and the correct eyes, until she initiates her final stand and you output all the damage you can muster straight into her mouth and heart.

God of Squirrels

2y↑6

Monster Hunter’s final bosses are super good. A challenge with many hunts is the ability to hit a particular part of the monster. The final bosses on the other hand often boil down to ~~dodge big attacks, go in for big damage~~

DiTr

2y↑2

One game with fantastic colossal bosses is Returnal. They are massive creatures with crazy monstrous designs. And with you being able to see them in their entirety in their fights makes you really appreciate the aesthetic

arcabark

2y↑24

One of my favorite "Giant Boss Fights" is Malladus. It's nothing special, but the gimmicks it uses with Zelda and the amazing song to back it up makes it so memorable for me especially when playing that final Spirit Flute song

Cherry

omg i agree!! such a great battle

Magnabueno

38w

Something about Zelda's POV made him look more intimidating.

ThePaulineu

2y↑711

Fire emblem Three houses does something quite clever to make colossal monster fights work, by making it so that they take up more than one space on the grid, and having multiple health bars. It really helped represent the scale of it compared to the units that are all one square long, and making them tougher, without having to completely shift the gameplay to accommodate for it. It incentivises you to use battalions, which are attacks that can target multiple squares at a time but that you can only use once or twice per fight. Adds a strategy element: when does which character deploy their battalion? Just great design all around I think! :)

Jeremiah McDowell

2y↑72

The excursion into having enemies that take up 2x2 or even 3x3 tiles on the grid was a really natural place to expand for the series- a long time coming, even. And 3 Houses did it well, both with giving you something to use your massive sweeping batallion attacks on, and using their barriers to complicate and vary the strategies for approaching them (e.g, the giant wolves having weaker barriers that were more effectively broken up close, or the mechanical dolls's barriers completely negating magic).

SilverShadow E.

2y↑16

It really was an amazing move, especially for a grid based strategy.

Luis-Raul Diaz-Rios

2y↑5

It was my return toFire Emblem
I am so glad I got it!

Captain Falcon

2y↑8

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin has you fight most of the actual map layout in a really cool fortress siege.
Unfortunately, the enemy units you have to deal with as well, make this a lot less enjoyable than it could've been.

Am Shigar00

2y↑7

I kind of have mixed feelings about it to be honest. With actual bosses, it works great and makes a lot of sense. But when they try to do the same with "standard" enemies, it kind of just turned into a chore to deal with for me, with how many bloated health bars that came up and how much space they often all took up on the map.

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• LacyTheEspeon •

1y↑2

You have no idea how happy it makes me to see Solar Ash in here! It's one of my all time favorite games, and as soon as I saw this video, I thought of Solar Ash, and was thinking the whole time that after watching it I should comment about Solar Ash. And then it actually showed up!!!

itrashcant

50w

I’ve been watching a lot of writing and drawing tip videos and this one popped in my recommended. I thought it was gonna be about creating a big boss in a story or designing one, but this video was pretty good too. It gave me ideas of how my hero should slay the final boss in my story. This was interesting to watch 👍

902100101

2y↑2

One of the best that I can think of is the classic Lao Shan Lung from Monster Hunter. Early on (and maybe later unless you have good gear) it feels like a walking mountain and every time you hit it, it feels like you're chipping away at a mountain with a pocket knife. Eventually it leaves because you annoy it enough or kill it which is different from most of the other "relatively" sized monster (most of which fight you to the death rather than run away or leave because they're bored of you).

FlymanMS

Great video on a very interesting topic! Bed of Chaos from DS1 definitely comes up to mind as an example of infuriating colossal/environmental boss.

Dogetator

2y↑3

Riven of a thousand voices from Destiny 2 is most likely my favorite colossal boss. Being the final boss of a 6-man raid it features a lot of interesting mechanics the team has to overcome via good communication and good teamwork. The boss itself looks amazing, and at the start of the fight you really get to see the true size of this beast. Assuming the boss isn’t cheesed, it poses a proper and fun challenge for the team.

Scar Zero

2y↑551

Asura's Wrath, DMC, Nier Automata and Dante's Inferno are all great examples of incredible colossal bosses.

Memorable Man

2y↑44

Im so glad that Asura’s wrath is getting some spotlight in this video! Such an amazing game, with some of the best fights ive seen in a videogame..

Kai Hamilton

2y↑15

You get a MVP pass for mentioning Dante's Inferno

vitriolicAmaranth

2y↑9

I mean Asura's wrath is like an interactive action movie rather than an action game, so it can make anything that is emotionally impactful and/or visually appealing feel good, and I haven't played Dante's Inferno and barely even remember what it looked like, but I would argue for the others that they are EXCELLENT games but the colossal bosses in them totally suck. Same goes for Monster Hunter, Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma, hell, even Shadow of the Colossus, where the smaller colossi were the better ones. The only times colossal bosses work are when they're only colossal in-lore because you're assuming a larger form yourself to fight them, like getting in a mech or something.

That said, it's fun to have them for a setting. I like that Dalamadur is something that exists in MH's universe, and that at some point some hunters had to go stop it from rampaging even though it's like a mile long and they're like specks of dust to it. On paper "a tiny human slays a dragon as large as a mountain" sounds badass, but when you see the physical "reality" of it, it's just ridiculous and impossible to execute well.

BeThomsen

2y↑3

@vitriolicAmaranth i would say jhen moran is a fun exception

LostKaijuGaming

Monster hunter is also a pretty good example in most cases

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Jack James

1y↑2

I love to see Pikmin get some love. One of my favourite RTS games

Lolopouet

2y↑1

Thanks for mentionning Cross Code. The boss fights were indeed pretty well designed and the game has a good number of giant bosses. Excellent game !

Abandone all hope ye, who enter here

2y↑2

The spectacle of colossal bosses never ceases to amaze me it gives you the feeling of dread and awesomeness at the same time it amazing

happymago

2y↑2

I loved the Lost Planet giant bosses, what an amazing game series

Santa

2y↑3

Figthing the Profound Darkness in PSO2 is one of my favorite experiences ever, you have this ginormous monster made of pure evil trying to escape a hole and you try to push it back by attacking its arms and the tendrils it uses as support all the while an incredible soundtrack plays in the background
I'll never forget it

Mc1s 23

2y↑740

Horizon Zero Dawn’s world bosses were really fun to me. Large, highly damaging, and having a lot of moving parts that can not only be targeted and knocked off for extra damage, but can be used against them if picked up off the ground.

Bee

2y↑45

was gonna say this. HZD really set my expectations high, they perfected those big machine fights. Always fun fighting them even on the hardest setting.

Doom Slayer Dragon

2y↑23

There is no more fun activity in the game than fighting a Thunderjaw!

PhyreSpore

2y↑5

That sounds like a crazier version of Skyward Sword's Koloktos fight.

Any giant boss fight that lets you use the boss' own weapons against them is peak video gaming if you ask me.

Doom Slayer Dragon

2y↑12

@PhyreSpore imagine Koloktos but 4 times bigger, attacking like a feral animal and not giving you a second to breathe.

Cookie Craze

2y↑9

I always wondered how a fight with a titan class would go if it was framed like the fights with the Thunder Jaws or other 2 big Bois. I think a multi hour fight would be fun, with there being save points after every big hit for breaks, like blowing off a tentacle. It would like a game within a game.

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Toph Bei Fong

I love your content, Design Doc! I'm just a little nurse who loves to develop and world build in her free time but your videos always hit the interesting I've got nobody to talk about to and the examples you show are definitely inspiring! Thank you so much for making these ♥️

proxy

2y↑1

Tunic has a great example of a colossal boss called the siege engine. It really tests your skill, and requires you to get good.

drummr1313

2y↑2

Quadraxis from Metroid Prime 2 is my personal favorite colossal boss (outside of pretty much the entirety of Shadow of the Colossus), as it nails pretty much every aspect of what you talked about here; it has an amazing sense of scope while giving the player plenty of room to maneuver and avoid attacks, and with a litany of abilities and three completely separate phases utilizing almost every ability Samus has in her arsenal, it makes for a fantastic boss fight!

Murdock 1260

34w

I’m so glad crosscode was mentioned!

Spoilers below: if I did it right

I also believe the final boss did it better too: integrating the puzzle mechanics into it too!

Kitsutilo

2y↑5

Great, now i want to fight Ahtal-ka. Having a big monster , that can simply assemble a collossal metal-dragon-puppet-thing and controll it really was a surprise the first time and definetly a fun fight. Also a befitting end of mh classic as it combined your average big monster with their colossal bosses in the same fight.

nothing to see here

2y↑540

I think that Super Mario Odyssey’s Ruined Dragon boss is a good example of this, it has a very epic feel, is camera-friendly, and has good gameplay. Plus, you can even climb on the dragon after defeating it, giving you a sense of scale.

SIG7 Profficial

2y↑4

You don't have to defeat it to climb on it lol.

pete

2y↑8

I think both ruined dragon and Calamity beast ganon are some of the worst examples on how to make a colossal boss.

SIG7 Profficial

2y↑6

@pete Glad to hear your opinion.

The Cat Brat

2y↑4

@pete Glad to see that people have different opinions in this cruel world. It gives me hope for humanity.

Seymour Disapproves

@The Cat Brat are you new here?

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Fion3il

2y↑1

Calamity ganon (Not the giant pig) Is imo a very good big boss fight. The only problem I have with it is sometimes it can feel like a drag to get around, but this is solved by the boss going at you, instead of oyu having to run everywhere. The attacks have good scale and take advantage of the games mechanics.

MarioFaker

2y↑1

The Egg Dragoon from Sonic Generations comes to mind for me. The fact that it’s a giant boss that still moves almost as fast as you and the camera constantly being focused on the boss actually made it one of my favorite game bosses! I especially loved the part where you are falling down and you have to speed up your fall to hit it.

Griffin Kimball

30w

My only problem with it was length, it felt like the boss slightly outstayed it's welcome

TeKnoVKNG23

2y↑1

One of the best I've experienced was in Transformers War for Cybertron. On the Autobot campaign you wind up fighting Trypticon over like 2-3 stages where he's in his various massive forms and they did a really good job making the fight flow well with interesting mechanics.

ZETA Jai

2y↑1

Destiny often has really fun raid bosses with the largest ones of Riven and Oryx being some of the most memorable and difficult fights in the game. It’s crazy how destiny adapted traditional mmorpg raids into the fps style and I think they have finally gotten to the point where they have mastered the concept with the most recent boss of Rhulk

Midas

2y↑1

The calamity mod for terraria is amazing, Leviathan and Siren is a duo boss where Leviathan is around 200x your size yet is not too hard to hit and not too easy. it fits in with the other bosses and is most of the time a challenge.
Another Game that does this is Castle Crashers, pretty much most bosses are giant bosses and are hard and fun to play against with cool game mechanics

Corey Myers

2y↑594

Personally, I like bosses that feel like a final check of all of my skills. Make it colossal, and you could really show how well you are doing.

Harvey Custodio

2y↑5

In Bayonetta the Bosses that are Closer in Size or Smaller are the Hardest. Rodin, Alraune, Father Balder, Lumen Sage Balder, Loptr, Aesir and Jeanne are all bosses who have a low amount of Witch Time Available, Jeanne and Father Balder are an exception since their from Bayonetta 1. Aesir is larger than you, though not by much.

The Colossal Bosses like in Both Bayonetta 1 and 2 offer different ways in which you battle them, fighting on a floating platform, surfing, flying, falling and swimming underwater are some of they ways you can battle Colossal Bosses in those games.

Andre Lisboa

sword saint issin would like to talk to you

Yes Stephen

i beat vergil and it made me feel as good as beating a dark souls boss

Relic King

2y↑1

I think one of my favourite Giant Bosses falls under the Living Level type(that might also just be my favourite) is from Gears and it's the Worm you traverse the insides of using the Lancer to cut the hearts out

mywill2live

One boss that comes to mind that's relatively unique is the Mother Tyhrranoid from Ratchet and Clank 3. It's camera angle that it uses is a pretty rare sight and I don't think I've seen it used in other games.

Ryoko

The miasmic tumor boss from Genshin Impact was a unique experience for me. While you have to dodge the projectiles from the boss, you have to solve puzzles around the arena to weaken the boss and also collect certain shields to protect yourself from the environmental hazard.
Not to mention, when the boss is weakened, he isn’t just lying and taking the hits, but also shoots easier-to-dodge lasers.

Nikki Clarke

One I found interesting was Heldaf’s second phase in Tales of Zestiria. The fact that you have to essentially shoot each seraph at him one by one, and the difficulty of it.

Kim Williams

2y↑1

Two great examples are by Thunder Lotus - Jotun and Sundered. The bosses are all HUGE and the sense of scale is handled exceptionally well.

Little Profen

Glad to see someone mentioning Sundered

Lillian Goulston

2y↑212

The boss of the Ancient Cistern in Skyward Sword has always been one of my favorites. Being able to steal its colossal swords to use against it was really, really cool.

Little Hibiscus

2y↑7

I also like the child laughter after you beat it.

The Bacon Dragon

2y↑5

Are you talking about Koloktos?

Andrés Barrios

@The Bacon Dragon yes

Molten

2y↑5

I wouldn't really call Koloktos a COLOSSAL boss

SleepyWolf

2y↑2

The guy was three feet taller than Link. I don't think he counts. 😂

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The Necromancer

49w

The first thing that comes to mind when it comes to colossal bosses is Sonic Frontiers. What a climax to each island. They really are what the entire game revolves around.

Syrus Grove

1y↑2

My personal favorite type of Colossal boss fight is a battle like Evilized Kaos in Skylanders Swap Force you have multiple parts of the battle with each phase having you fight a different part of Kaos an example of what those phases could be could be something like 1. Fighting the hands. 2. Fighting the feet. 3. Fighting the head. And 4. Fighting the brain.

Agent Wilks-Caffarel

I like Tinker Knight's boss fight. The Tinker Tank is really cool, and is built around your game mechanics. They change things up in SoT though to fit the new moveset and make things harder to fit the easier character.

Wyre

1y↑1

I think one of the colossal boss fights From Software messed up was the ulcerated and putrid tree spirits from Elden Ring. The spaces they make you fight in make the camera move too fast and the fact that it moves so fast means at one point you'll be looking forward and you blink and now it's behind you.

De la art

2y↑223

I know many people are not the biggest fan, but one of my favorite colossal bosses are the ones in Twilight Princess, especially the fight against Stallord. All of the fights are pretty damn easy, but I always felt them very exciting since you’re eventually fighting giants with a sword, it gets even better when you manage to “expose” their weak spot and the fanfare starts to play, those bosses always felt so… epic.

Corey West

2y↑38

Stallord and Koloktos are definitely two of the best boss fights in Zelda history. Honorable mention for Twinmold from MM as a good giant boss fight. The fight against beast Ganon in TP is also great, especially the "beast against beast" part where you have to grapple and throw him as a wolf.

Homestuck Official

2y↑6

@Corey West Molgera too!

Alexandra McGinnis

2y↑9

Isn’t that the point of bosses and video games in general? Making you, the player, feel epic and awesome! I think easy bosses are okay, if it done in a way that make you feel awesome and incredible.

Valla

2y↑4

Although I agree that easy bosses are ok, I wish that some Zelda bosses were a little more mechanically difficulty. I mean they ARE the bosses, but bosses are mostly the easier part of the games; so easy, to the point of me feeling like it's a playable cutscene that will unlock more of the story.
I love Zelda, but yeah.... not so fond of the bosses.

Benjamin Fox

2y↑12

Twilight Princess absolutely nailed the bosses as well as the dungeons.

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Stench Sniffer

I think that a really good big boss is Placidusax in Elden Ring. It’s such a huge spectacle, and it’s really fun, while also being hard. The camera angles aren’t much of an issue unless you are specifically trying to put your camera inside of the boss. Another good one is that lightning dragon in GoW 2018. It’s such a fun fight, and it’s a great way to introduce the feature of lightning arrows. It uses the tactic of only having you fight the legs or something, but this time your attacking the feet, legs, and head.

Syogren

41w

I always appreciated that Sonic Generations' Perfect Chaos fight is more like another level than it is a pure boss fight, which allows it to seamlessly integrate into the standard gameplay while still feeling like a boss fight. I hope Sonic does more boss fights like that in the future, they're really fun!

Pixel Silzavon

For a VR version, definitely check out Jet Island. Its giant bosses are pretty fun, and only get bigger and bigger as the game goes on.

Moss grotto scavenger

2y↑2

In my opinion the best colossal boss i ever encountered was "The corpse of king Minos" in ULTRAKILL. He is kinda slow n' all but the fact that you can parry the punch shows how powerful you are. I felt awesome

Lucas X-S

Ultrakill has a pretty good colossal boss! Not only does it have a colossal mode, but it also has a secret player-sized fight you can unlock later.

LittleParade

2y↑332

I've always enjoyed Splatoon's campaign bosses! Like the Octobosses, Octo Oven comes to mind first! Takes up the whole center stage, no problems with camera control and movement, and you get to traverse its body three times with added hazards and difficulty each time! I think in general, people just don't know about Splatoon's campaigns, and I think that's such a shame, they're some of the best campaigns I've played!

nothing to see here

2y↑23

Totally agree, I love all the splatoon campaign bosses, and I think that even the final octo expansion boss, the giant laser-eyed statue, is actually quite clever, as it pushes your maneuverability and accuracy.

sparklingsora

2y↑9

oh absolutely! splatoon bosses are great fun, although i admit they make me very nervous, like most colossal bosses do... it took me like 15 minutes to beat octoshower my first time through because i kept missing my shots thanks to how much my hands were shaking. good times lmao

Reimon the lemon

2y↑7

It's a shame the marketing for Splatoon isn't the best. If it had better advertising im sure it would lure in newer players. The Splatoon campaign is popular but it mostly gets ignored, it's not as big as something like zelda or mario which makes sense since Splatoon is a much newer franchise but Nintendo really needs to push the marketing for Splatoon (specifically Splatoon 3.)

LittleParade

2y↑2

@Reimon the lemon I definitely agree, I think generally the surface appearance of Splatoon probably turns off a lot of people that would otherwise really enjoy the game and what it has to offer. On the outside, I'm sure it just looks like another bright and colorful kids game that has nothing for teens or adults, when in reality, it works really well as a game for everyone, with features I think all ages can appreciate! And I totally agree that they should put better marketing towards gaining new players, as I feel they've catered a lot towards existing Splatoon players in their advertising!

Huw Fairley

2y↑6

The splatoon bosses are perfect for the style of game. They incorporate nice traversal and are goofy but not so it makes the fight feel like a cartoon. Also the music slaps

Weston Stout

The Destroyer from Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon is another level-based boss. You fly around from one zone to another, smashing crystals that break off massive hunks of rock and expose new parts of the level. It incorporated the games movement mechanics and cooperative challenges well enough and I think it deserves some credit. Besides, it made you feel cool and that was more than enough for me as a kid.

Catgamer1000

One of my favorites was the Final Boss Smasher in After the Fall (a LFD style VR game made by the people who made Arizona Sunshine) it is a huge multi-story tall frozen zombie that is covered in Ivey armor covering weak points. Unlike the normal Smashers it has multiple phases compared to the quick smaller boss Smashers at the end of every level allowing it to crush your teammates

Inspectre Bakeneko

In a top down bullet hell, the different scaled sprites usually tell you how difficult they are. It makes things so much easier to nail the clinching shot too

Parsifal Kitty

I grew up playing Shadow of the Colossus and it is a staple in my mind for each fight and the music. Even with it's barren landscape the atmosphere was top notch.

Tanissa Case

50w

The part of the video where you talked about combining methods of designing giant enemy battles unlocked a memory of watching my little brother play Halo, & the awe of realizing you can go INSIDE the Scarab! Epic moment, lol!

AJ Waseskuk

2y↑142

Sonic Generations actually did a really good job in their remake of the Perfect Chaos fight from Sonic adventure. Turning the boss into less of a fight and more of a stage with boss-specific hazards. I honestly wish more Sonic bosses adopted this type of design.

grAyDHD

Another game I'm playing now with great giant bosses is Risk of Rain 2, the feeling when I first encountered a magma wyrm was really something special.

maurice_gaming

I think Corpse of King Minos from Ultrakill might be good. I mean the build up is insane and the boss fight is well made.

ShayRay87

Legend of Zelda as a franchise has many great examples of collosal bosses. Twilight Princess' many bosses are all collosal, or have giant phase. Though some are easy enough to destroy some of the tension, I found that every single one was so satisfying to fight and utilized the skills and abilities available to you very effectively. I think they worked around the camera issue very early on in Ocarina of Time by allowing the camera to zoom in and out while you're targeting enemies, allowing you full view of exactly what you need to see in order to be able to beat them.

Kell of Kells

2y↑2

I wish more developers of action games would embrace big bosses

SplinterForSale

Armoured Core has Arms Forts. It's, as the name implies, more a siege than anything else. I loved the battle against the Spirit of Motherwill. VOB into the fight dodging artillery followed up by close quarter cmbat against smaller mechs while still dodging point defences and an unholy amount of guided rockets? It's epic.

Arogustus

2y↑298

Darkest Dungeon has it's fair share of big boy bosses, ranging from big, to massive. Weirdly enough, it ends up being something of an advantage for the player, since the positioning based gameplay, where the position of your characters dictates what enemy positions they can hit, is removed by their giant sizes.

Take Swine King. He takes up three slots of the enemy position, with Wilbur, his spotter, taking up nimber four. No matter if you push Wilbur to the back or to the front, your characters will always be able to hit the Swine King no matter what (unless one of their attacks targets the front enemy position.)

Of course it's made up by the fact that these are bosses, and they're gonna hit very hard. Their giant size just acts as a boon for your characters, allowing for more characters to be able to hit them, and for you to experiment with character combos more liberally (at your own risk, of course.)

Even the game itself lampshades the size thing.
"Monstrous size has no intrinsic value. Unless inordinate exsanguination be considered a virtue."

DuskDaUmbreon

2y↑17

And don't forget the unstable flesh, a single boss that took up all FOUR slots...but was incredibly weak to AoE because of it.

Addimesorho

The scaramouche boss fight from genshin is cool too, they do a pretty good job with camera angles and perspective and the mechanics are what makes the boss fun. (And the boss has a shit ton of lore behind it which gives you something to talk about ig)

Jed Grahek

Glad you mentioned Sin & Punishment... both games in the series are as close as you can get to an "ultimate Treasure game", for me at least. Treasure in general is the king of making amazingly huge spectacle boss fights and general escalations in the scale of their games as you progress, at least in their heyday when they made Guardian Heroes through S&P 2.
You also make a really good point about this being one of the real strong suits of traditional JRPGs. Kefka is a great example, the way his final form takes up three screens worth of height and you scroll up after defeating the parts lower down, as it's this crazy amalgamation of all kinds of divine beings all twisted together to be his body and serve his will.

edit: One crazy example just came to mind: Vagrant Story's final boss. This is one that most people probably would say negative things about, but I this is actually great. It's so much bigger than anything else in the game, and moves so fast despite this, that it all throws you off a lot initially as to how you even hit it... and then on top of that disorientation, its stats are, essentially, especially if it's a first playthrough, just stupid to the point that all traditional methods of buffing/debuffing etc to deal damage, or any of the game's other mechanics for gaining enough of a stat advantage to deal more than 1 damage on a successful hit, become irrelevant. All your tools and knowledge are nullified...except the chain system. A lot of people never got very good at chaining and relied on other things to get them through the game, but the final boss is basically impossible to beat without getting good at chaining. It's actually a lot like how Gwyn functions in Dark Souls, forcing the player to learn to parry even if they've gone the rest of the game without doing so. I always enjoyed trying to be good at chaining, so this boss encounter always felt very rewarding to me, like the game was saying "good job, you really learned everything you needed to and because of that you have the tools to defeat this boss that seems completely unfair and impossible to a lot of players". I think it also has an attack that will almost certainly one-shot you if you don't use a defensive chain ability against it, which is the one part of the fight that is a little BS because learning the timing on a one-shot he only starts doing when you get his health down is a huge pain in the ass... but it is also akin to the "did you learn how to parry?" design so I'm still fine with it... especially as, I think if you really buff yourself and have put time into making strong armor, you can often barely survive it if you make sure to always be on full life... which I like because it's like a punishment for trying to use Raging Ache or whatever the Chain Attack is that deals damage based on your current vs. max HP, which is the only cheap tactic possible to deal big damage to him fast. I like that you can beat him being very defensive and using chain attacks that start at 1 or even 0 damage, and having to get all of your damage via building up super long chains that increase that 0 by 1 or 2 each chain sequence, so that eventually you're doing 25, 0, 27, 0, 29, 0, 31,... and you realize that every 3 hit sequences is 100 damage and you can really take him out like that. Of course having to immediately use risk reduction items to zero or else his one-shot will one-shot no matter what, but that shouldn't be a problem at that point in the game. It's always been one of the most purely satisfying bosses to defeat on a raw, animal level for me due to all that, to how plain nearly unfair it is no matter how well you did through the rest of the game, but truly it is extremely fair, and just a very harsh and thorough test of your skill at the game.

Cynthia Lohnes

The problem with QTEs is that I find myself so focused on timing the button prompts right that I miss the cinematic elements entirely. I think my favorite colossal bosses are the ones where you have to interact more with the environment than the enemy itself - like setting off explosives or luring it into a certain area. That way the urgency and spectacle are there, but you don't have to approach the boss directly and worry about camera issues and whatnot.

Hardos :T

I really like the final boss of Final Fantasy Tactics A2, it was very clever to turn the entire stage into one gigantic boss

Wesley S

Would love to apply some of these ideas to ttrpg fights like the Tarrasque

Draco Warrior

2y↑26

When it comes to Monster Hunters spectacle hunts in my opinion Dalamader is the gold standard. You have this giant snake coiled around a mountain and is never quite fully in frame. You must climb the terrain and it to hit weak points and break parts as it destroys parts of the stage and is actively attacking you. Honestly most of the other monsters of that scale just feels like you are fighting an actual mountain or boat.

EmblemBlade9

2y↑11

Dalamadur is phenomenal. Attacking its claws while they swipe you or its head shoots giant fireballs, and attacking its tail just hanging off the edge of a mountain, ready to turn and come barreling at you any time with a size and speed that makes it seem like a small building is being swung at you. Whatever hitbox you target, you still feel the pressure of the rest of its body on the other side of the map, feeling its giant size and making you wonder how much damage you’re even dealing to it.
And then there’s the meteors and wave motion breath attack. Really feels like you’re fighting a terrestrial deity.
When it finally snakes around the mountain so you can climb on its back and attack its head, stunning it as it collapses on the ground in what’s the only situation where it actually appears vulnerable…thrilling as hell.

Nova Hale

2y↑1

My favourite was the Nobunaga Golden Evil Statue fight at the end of Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny. The entire fight is you having to run away while trying to find the time to turn around and blast at him in your ultimate Oni forme that the entire game has been leading up to.

Stephnicole307

I’m surprised none of the Ratchet and Clank games were mentioned here. I just recently replayed some of the games I missed as a kid and the newest game Rift Apart. This series has frequently used Giant bosses and at least to me, I feel like they’re one of the few series that handles them beautifully. Plus the movement in those games (Insomniac games in general imo) always feel incredibly satisfying in a way I rarely experience in other games.