5 games that have incredibly epic duels

My favorite type of boss fight in any video game is one in which the fight is fairly even, and by that I mean the boss isn't too overpowering or too weak, as in the protagonist and antagonist have nearly the same amount of powers, skills etc. A great duel makes you become perfectly in sync with the character you're controlling, like a race car driver controlling his vehicle. If you don't become the character you will often lose, because some duels don't give you a second to react, you simply have to be the character.

So for example, in Mario, Bowser always has a lot more abilities and powers then Mario, he can breathe fire, he's much bigger, he can throw axes etc. so that wouldn't count, but Mario Vs. a Koopa Kid would be the type of fight I'm talking about. Nothing in which the Boss is too big, powerful etc. Also I'm not including multiplayer, since most multiplayer games can be considered duels, and traditional fighting games are also out since fighting games are essentially duels.


Metal Gear Solid Series

The Metal Gear Solid series has some amazing duels. I've only played 1 & 2 unfortunately, but in those two alone there were tons of one on one's. Psycho Mantis, Fortune, Vamp, Revolver Ocelot etc.

Solid Snake and Raiden fight all kinds of villians having weird powers with as much variance as the X-Men. The Duels in the Metal Gear Solid Series are top notch, and worth a look.


                             Raiden VS Vamp (Metal Gear Solid 2)




                 Solid Snake VS Screaming Mantis (Metal Gear Solid 4)





Madworld

Mad world is possibly my favorite game on the Wii. In Madworld, the protagonist (if you can call him that), Jack, is basically on a TV show where the objective of the "game" is to be the number one tough guy in Vatican City. You rise through the ranks, picking off one contestant after another, until you've killed everyone in your way on your quest to #1.


                                Jack VS Jude the Dude (Madworld)



                            
Madworld is full of duels, every boss is a one on one with some sort of unique power or ability. Jack's ability? He has a chainsaw strapped to his arm, and he's a complete bada**. This is a game where I played the bosses over and over again, because amazing duels is what this game is all about.

Warning: This is the final boss of Madworld, if you intend on playing it, don't watch it, if you don't care, prepare for one of the coolest fights in gaming.

Final Fantasy: Dissidia

Yes, I know it's a fighting game, but I did say "traditional" fighting game, and Dissidia is far from that. Final Fantasy Dissidia is just pure gaming awesomeness. The duels are so engaging and fun that it gives you that "high and mighty" feeling when you win a hard battle. All of Final Fantasy's main protagonists and antagonists go head to head with all their powers to see what rules all; the light or the darkness.

With hundreds of equitable item, weapons, and clothing, and a huge synthesis system, the customization is endless when your creating the perfect fighter. With the fast paced incredible soundtrack, and speed of the battle, Dissidia will engage you in many many ways.

 I personally recorded these myself, since Dissidia makes it pretty easy to get replay videos off your PSP and onto your computer, if you've never seen any footage of Dissidia, now is the time to do it.


                                    Warrior of Light VS Garland



 The Warrior of Light Vs. Garland, both from the first Final Fantasy. The interesting thing about this fight is that I actually won with zero HP, Garland hit me right as I was doing my finisher and I somehow came out ahead.

                                            Cloud VS Ultimecia



Cloud, from Final Fantasy VII, VS Ultimecia, from Final Fantasy VIII. Ultimecia had me on the ropes the whole time, but in the end, I pulled ahead and beat her.


                                       Onion Knight VS Sephiroth



Onion Knight, from Final Fantasy III, VS Sephiroth, from Final Fantasy VII. Onion Knight is actually my favorite character, he has a ton of magical abilities, plus physical attacks, and he has 2 special moves, one as the "Ninja" class and the other as a Red Mage, which are both demonstrated in this video.



 Bomberman 64/ The Second Attack

Yes, Bomberman 64 again, I know I write about it a lot, but its just that good of a game. Bomberman 64/ The Second Attack isn't like any other Bomberman game out there. These two amazing platformers have an awesome story, great gameplay, and of course, adrenaline filled duels.

                         Bomberman VS Regulus (Bomberman 64)


                              Regulus' dash attack is a one hit KO


                            Bomberman VS Altair (Bomberman 64)


                                       "You wanna fight me?"


             Bomberman VS Zohina (Bomberman 64: The Second Attack)
Warning: Spoiler @ 3:00 in this video, if you've never played "The Second Attack" but you have played Bomberman 64, this will spoil something about the plot of the sequel.





Megaman Series

If you're a gamer you could have seen this coming from miles away. Of course, no game has greater duels than the Megaman series. The robot masters basically have every power under the sun (especially Solarman) and there are sure plenty of them. With well over 100 robot masters, Megaman is the perfect example of how a proper duel should be (but only if you use the Megabuster, of course).

                                       The Robot Masters from Megaman 1-9

                                           
                                         Megaman 2 Boss Run




                                       Megaman 9 Boss Run






So, any games I'm missing? I haven't played No More Hero's yet or I'm sure that would have made the list. Anyone have any games with awesome duels? Let me know in the comments.

Recent gaming

So I beat some games, and I started some new ones. Madworld is one of them, although I'm playing on hard now, not because it's much different (although you do unlock a double chainsaw and katana) but because the game is so damn incredible. The soundtrack, the style, atmosphere, story, gameplay, everything about Madworld is amazing. What other beat em' up do you get to fight thugs, ninja's, aliens, robots, zombies, giant robots, pimps, players and pain purveyors (lol), with countless weapons and countless ways to use them? The last boss fight is one of the most epic boss battles I've ever seen or played. The quick time events have you go fist to fist with the last boss, and it looks like something out of Dragon Ball Z, or some over exaggerated anime. I won't spoil who he is or I would have included a link to the fight in this blog, but the final boss is someone you wouldn't expect. It's a pretty awesome twist, and Madworld is filled with twists. If you own a Wii it's the best $12 you'll spend in awhile. It's definitely a must have, it's not something I'll forget about anytime soon.

I also beat Edge on my itouch this weekend, I was stuck on the last few levels for awhile. Edge is a one of a kind game, the type of game that you could label as art. It has a strangely spacey atmosphere, it's style is reminiscent of marble madness on the NES. If you have an iphone or itouch, I definitely recommend getting it. Mobigames is a great developer and Edge is one of the best games on the iphone/itouch.

Here's the trailer if you're interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_aB_ZkonGw

There are few other games I've played recently. I actually beat Sonic R on Sonic Gems Collection. I always thought that game is impossible but it's actually a lot of fun when you get the hang of it. I just don't understand how you can't walk backwards at all, I mean, a racing game without reverse? Unless you can reverse and somehow I just can't figure it out, either way I didn't need it to beat the game, but it is annoying. I haven't unlocked all the characters yet so I guess it's not a full complete. I don't know if I want to unlock that tails doll :P

So what am I playing now? Zack and Wiki, Elebits, Excitebots, and Sonic Triple Trouble. I guess that's about it, if anything else seems interesting in my gaming life I'll be sure to blog. Until then, "The Dude Abides".

Outrageous Duels & Boss Fights

I was playing Madworld again for a few hours today, and I love every moment of it. I'm not exactly one for gore or even horror movies or anything too graphic, but the style, music, and gameplay just suck you in no matter if you're into that sort of thing or not. I think probably the best thing about Madworld is the outrageous boss fights. I just beat Yokozuna, which is the 6th boss and I love how unrealistically blown out of proportion it is, but then again, so is the whole game.

So it got me thinking about how much I love crazy boss fights/duels. It reminds me of the Metal Gear Solid series and how crazy the boss fights get. Psycho Mantis is one of the coolest fights ever, so awesome that it actually goes beyond the television screen itself. He messes with the picture, "moves" your controller, reads your memory card and even makes you switch controller ports. The Metal Gear series is filled with outlandish villains such as Psycho Mantis, Vamp, and Ocelot. No More Heroes is another game that has strange yet satisfying boss fights as well, I haven't played it yet but it's on my list of games to get. I've seen most of the boss fights and it definitely looks like a great game.

The Megaman series is another with probably now hundreds of duels in which the robot masters have different powers. I'm pretty sure they have any power you can imagine. If Capcom has gone through so many powers that they basically have to recycle boss names there’s probably not much more you can think of. I mean, Heat man, Fire man, Flame man, Burner man, Torch man, Magma man? There are so many fire synonyms that Capcom must be solely responsible for global warming. No problem, we can just sent Chill man, Ice man, Cold man, Frost man, Blizzard man, and Freeze man on the case to end global warming. All kidding aside, as long as Capcom remains as good as they are, and continue to release good games, they can recycle powers all they want.

I don't understand how Sega can keep screwing up Sonic games after playing Madworld. Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Adventure were great games, and so were the Sonic Advance games. Maybe someday they'll get the whole 3d thing right. I do really like Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 but even they weren't perfect, and that was what, like 10 years ago?