Ouroboros-Armageddon

Yeah, a bit overdue but whatever. At some point, I decided to take a break from the internet due to internal stress and other things (such as exams and life changes). Suffice to say, that break was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Why? I can tell you, it's because it allowed me to do all the other things I put aside when the Internet had it's grip on me. 
During my freedom, I've taken up drawing again as well as reading the books I had. I reread A Series of Unfortunate Events (except the Grim Grotto because it was the first time I read it) and it was a great experience. I've also started using the Playstation 2 again and it still worked. Suffice to say, I'm glad that I've gotten to play such classics such as Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. I've also taken up work experience in an archive, which will really tip the scales in my favour.

But with all the sentiments out of the way, it's time to get to the main point: things will be changing here. This account (as well as the internet) will no longer be a main priority. As such, most of my time will be spent in the real world because I came to realise that the real world isn't as bad as I thought it was, even with all it's flaws. Spending a lot of my time on the internet only ever fed into my personal problems and kept me enslaved to a Pandora's Box that only gave me short term happiness and misery. After my departure, my computer was on death's door, much like a disgraced deity and I had to wait before I could get a new one. As such, the new one will be used mostly for work purposes (and ideally, will used as a tool and nothing more).

As such, I'll be off. See you all whenever.

Also, an extra section that's not all that important. The plans no longer mean anything to me but I'm sure that writing them here would be a good idea.
Tentative Plans
Art
 A Monarch's Dream
- Chrysilion Manor
- Tower of Eternal Dreams (final dungeon)
GameLogs
GameLog #10: First Impressions Are King (First Impressions)
Game Log #11: Meaningful or Meaningless (Decisions in Gaming)
Top 5 Lists
-Top 5 Hardest Bosses
-Top 5 Easiest Bosses
-Top 5 Worst Characters
-Top 5 Best Characters

For every good boss encounter, you're always going to plagued with a few stinkers. Before I state the rules and actually start the list, allow me to give you a short but helpful Key List:
 = Boss
  = Final Boss
 = Bonus Bosses 
And now for the actual rules...
Rules
I must have actually fought this boss. 
One boss per game or franchise. Dishonourable Mentions are exempt from this rule.
The boss must be terrible in some way. It doesn't have to be limited to bad design but can also encompass other aspects as well.
No "All of the bosses". It's lazy even if it's technically true.
Any kind of boss is eligible for this list.


 #1 Zeena (Sonic Lost World 3DS)
Good lord, this boss. Don't get me wrong, Sonic Lost World 3DS is a smorgasbord of bad game design and terrible boss fights. However, Zeena reigns queen of all the bosses in terms of badness. In contrast to her easy fight in the Wii U version, her 3DS one is hard for all the wrong reasons. The fight has her positioned on top of a snowman with Zeena herself out of your grasp. To deal damage to her, you have to use the Ivory Wisp to target the snowmen she sends out so they'll fly upward and you can use them to target her. Sounds really easy, doesn't it? Nope. Aiming at the snowmen is hard to do (because they're small targets) and when you actually do manage to get them upward, the Ivory Wisp's finicky targeting system will proceed to frustrate you as you try in vain to attack Zeena. A lot of the fight with her will consist of you trying in increasing exasperation to destroy the snowmen, and using the Ivory Wisp to get a hit in. This is course is all on the game's default difficulty; the game's Hard Mode is the same with 1 ring, a purple backdrop and Zeena having more HP.
It doesn't help that you have to fight her again on Lava Mountain, though the boss after her is easier (even with the 3DS's motion controls) and you don't have to start from Zeena if Zor manages to kill you.  Then again, at least the final boss is fun and probably one of the 3DS version's few good qualities.

 #2 Apollo Flame V3 (MegaMan Star Force 3)
Though Sirius is this game's superboss, Apollo Flame makes it on this list because he's more frustrating. It's bad enough that you have to spend time finding the V3 bosses just to fight them and it's even worse when they steamroll you to death with their attacks. However, Apollo Flame V3 is among the worst of them. Unlike the other bosses, he has a barrier that must be taken down periodically. This only serves to make the player suffer while he hits you hard with his attacks. He's got a giant fireball which can't be blocked and must either be countered or dodged to the side (before he uses it), a fast hitting meteor attack that must be dodged, fiery tornados that must be shielded against (and if you have Reflect equipped, can be used to take down his barrier) and worst of all, he can summon flame serpents. 
While Apollo Flame is making you rage with his hard hitting arsenal of attacks, these loathsome flame serpents will proceed to screw you over. Unlike all the other bosses, you can't use a Cipher Code to get his V3 Code. No, no, no. You have to get it the hard way and it's much worse if you didn't get his V2 Card by killing his V2 self with a high ranking.
If you didn't hate his guts already, just remember that he originated from MegaMan Star Force 2, a game plagued with bad writing and terrible game design. He was that game's superboss and the dungeon he appeared will anger you with it's high enemy encounter rate and boss fights that aren't fun at all.

#3 The Source [2nd Form] (Scurge Hive)
Compared to the previous two forms, the final form is quite a let down. Though it takes place in Jenosa's head, the boss doesn't really do much with that premise. All it does it rotate around the player while firing bullets and occasionally creating clones of the player. It's deadliest attack can be stopped by simply killing off one of the clones and if it does hit, it only ever shaves off a good chunk of your HP. In addition, it has 9 health meters which means you'll be shooting at it for quite some time. You've also got music that sounds eerie at first but just drones on and annoys you as you wear down the Source's health. All of this has a blank white backdrop which isn't really easy of the eyes. The worst part about all of this? If you die, you have to start from your last save and fight through the first two forms all over again before you get another shot at this boss.
To put this all in context, here's how the first two forms play out: The first form is a frantic fight where you have to switch weapons often to defeat enemies while using the opposite one against the boss. However, the boss only stays in place for a limited time before it switches faces, which only adds to the frantic feel of this battle.
The second form requires you to destroy two sacs in order to open up the machine containing a clone of your character. You've also have to avoid laser beams (and destroy enemies). Once you open up the machine, you have to fire bombs at the clone before the machine closes and you have to repeat the process until the boss is dead.

In other words, the Source is utterly pathetic in comparison. Though it may have been the point (ala Yu Yevon), it doesn't change how frustrating it is to die on one of the boss's forms and be forced to start all over again. It would have been better if the battle went like this: You fight the Source with your weapons before it loses half of it's health, with the background changing to each planet you've been to every time the Source loses a health meter. After this, the Source rises up and steals all of your weaponry. However all is not lost, Jenosa uses her imagination to create a weapons stronger than her equipment and charges at the Source, ready to take it out. The Source changes colour, the music changes to the Ending Theme (which I think is more suited to this battle than the ending scene) and the boss starts combing it's own attacks with the powers of your equipment. This I think, would have been a much more engaging battle than what actually appeared in the game.

#4 King Bob-Omb (Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros)
Unlike every other portrayal of the character, Paper Jam's version of the rotund, mustachioed monarch is a suicide bomber. The ensuing battle against him ties into this characterisation by forcing a time limit on you. Now, the Mario & Luigi series is no stranger to time limit bosses: The Koopalings in Superstar Saga forced you to defeat them in a set amount of turns or the Timer Bob-Omb would blow up and give you a game over. Elder Shrooboid gave you a few turns to defeat it or the Shroob UFO above the boss would kill your party. The Fawful Express had the player defeat it before it reached the end (with Bowser falling into a ravine if he failed). Pil'lodium doesn't really count because it's self destruct only activated at low HP and could be dealt with easily. 

Now we get to this guy. You're given 4 minutes to take him down. Doesn't sound so bad right? Nope. King Bob-Omb wears a crown which renders some your Bros Attacks useless because you take damage from jumping on spiked enemies. He also has an attack where he kicks a red bomb at one of your Bros (and he doesn't do it too often) which you have deflect back if you want to increase your time during the fight. Oh and the punishment for failure? He self destructs and there's nothing you can do about it. Emergency Guard can't protect you since the self destruct deals so much damage and barriers won't protect you either since this move ignores your barrier's invulnerability effect. The battle is even worse in the Battle Ring because he's stronger and the time limit is only 3 minutes. Yeah, you're gonna need that Timer Card if you plan on taking on the Battle Medley.

 #5 Heavy Press (Cave Story)
Cave Story is known for it's cult following, if not for it's influence on the game industry. Of course, it's not immune to criticism. Out of all the bosses in the game, I consider Heavy Press to be the worst of them. Why? There are several factors: you have to go through Bloodstained Sanctuary (the game's hardest level) just to get to it, which wouldn't be so bad if it weren't just a bigger version of the Press enemy. If you didn't level up your Missile Launcher (or Super Missile Launcher), you're not going to get far since the battle will just drag on longer. Once you've slain it, you can't leave it to heal up, you have to kill Ballos, the boss you actually came here to kill. In addition to being beleaguered with it's electric attacks, you have to kill Butes and avoid discs that move around the arena. The Butes are easily the worst part of the battle because they just keep appearing (though they do drop hearts/missiles), which only serves to distract you from the discs and the Heavy Press's attack. Oh and if you die? No checkpoints. Back to the beginning, and you're forced to deal with the level all over again just to get another crack at this boss.

#6 Admiral Razorbeard [2nd Phase] (Rayman 2 Revolution)
You've done quite a lot in order to liberate the Glade of Dreams from Razorbeard's tyranny and caused some havoc on his ship, now you have to take the fight to the mechanical monster himself. Razorbeard attacks you with his battlemech, the Grolgoth. The first phase is pretty good, if rather easy; you're fighting head on against this battlemech while firing it's own bombs back to damage it. The second phase despite the buildup is rather disappointing. You basically go around and fetch a power-up to turn your fists gold and hit Razorbeard so he'll fall into the lava. You're more likely to die by hitting the lava while trying to turn than getting killed by Razorbeard himself. While the PS1 version may have been polarising, Razorbeard's second phase in that version was much better. You actually fought Razorbeard head on in a tunnel while dodging his attacks and striking him at the right time. It's much more engaging and much less frustrating and also feels like a better continuation of his first phase.

#7 Demyx (Kingdom Hearts II)
Though infamous for his water gimmick, Demyx only ranks low on the list because that's the worst part about him. Aside from that, he's as hard hitting as the other Organization XIII members. Demyx's claim to infamy comes in the form of this phrase: "Dance water dance", in which the player on has a limited amount of time to get rid of all of his water clones. This wouldn't be so bad if the consequence for failure was just taking a lot of damage or even having your HP reduced to 1, but nope, you fail to kill the clones and you die. The game doesn't even show you being killed by the remaining clones or Demyx himself. You just get a Game Over. That's it. It doesn't help that Demyx starts the battle with this attack and can use it whenever he likes.

#8 Poo Tycoon (Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow)
The funny thing about this boss is that it's a pile of crap, both literally and figuratively; what isn't funny is the actual battle itself. The boss isn't all that bad since it's attacks are predictable and it's a stronger version of a boss you fought already. What makes it terrible is that it's attacks can stun you (and your party members) or knock you over; this gets worse later on when it can do the latter and effectively stunlock you to death. While some of the other bosses can be infuriating to deal with (such as Mistwalker's attacks inflicting confusion, Raging King Destroy's Mow Down attack or some of the Door Bosses combo attacks), that's because they're actually difficult to take down. Poo Tycoon on the other hand is an easy boss who happens to be annoying due to it's ability to kill you through stunlocking.

#9 Thunder Keeper (The Denpa Men 3: Rise of Digitoll)
You'd think with a cool name like Thunder Keeper that it'll be more challenging. It's really not. Before the game's final bosses, you navigate your way through the Shock Temple in order to gain the Thunder Idol and free Crystal from her captors. Within reason, you'd go and slay the enemies in there to get stronger and  arm your Denpa crew in order to strike it's weakness in order to prepare yourself for a tough fight. However, any attacks it throws at you matters little because it goes down so easily. It's rather anticlimatic because every boss before it was tougher (and the Denpa Men series is known for it's old school RPG challenge), though the final boss (Aflama and Malignus) is challenging as you expect it to be. In addition, the post-game challenges are suitably challenging and the battle with Master Squelch/Self-Made King is one of my favourite battles in the game.

#10 Holo Defence API (Kirby Planet Robobot)
While the boss isn't terrible, it's probably my least favourite in what I consider to be one of the best Kirby games. It's difficulty is pitifully easy and kind of a letdown considering that we already got Clanky Woods, one of the best incarnations of Whispy Woods. Another thing about is the execution of it's concept: A hybrid of Pix (Kirby 64) and Ado/Adoleine (Kirby's Dreamland 3/Kirby 64) sounds good on paper but the boss itself isn't all that interesting. Three of the boss holograms it summons, were already from the more recent Kirby titles, two of which (Kracko and Coily Rattler) were literally from the game before it. The only interesting boss it summons is Ice Dragon (Kirby Dreamland 2) and even then, that's not enough to save this boss. It's not a bad boss fight but it does suffer from being easier than the boss before and being rather uninteresting in execution. For what it's worth though, it's reappearance during the Access Ark levels actually does reuse the bosses in an interesting fashion since you get to clobber them with the Robobot.

Dishonorable Mentions
 Charizard [2nd Time] (Pokemon Ranger)
You'd think that Charizard would be easier because you can now use Water Assists, right? Nope. Charizard is still as hard hitting and a pain to capture than ever. It's attacks tend to give little space for you to capture it and it takes 15 loops to capture. Even if you captured every Water Pokemon in the area, you're still gonna have trouble with it. However, you can't spend too long on capturing it, otherwise it'll flee from the fight and you'll have to start again. At least it's not as bad as trying to capture Metagross in the same game, that encounter is nothing short of nightmarish.

 Dry Bowser (New Super Mario Bros 2)
Truth be told, the battle with Dry Bowser in this game was a disappointment. It's merely a rehash of the battle with Bowser (which in turn is a rehash of the Bowser fight from New Super Mario Bros Wii) but slightly harder. The second phase is the same as the Giant Bowser fight but with thinner platforms. Yeah. It took until Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam Bros until we got a Dry Bowser battle that was more than just a harder version of Bowser.

 Boobeam Trap (MegaMan 2)
MegaMan 2 is challenging but fair. Every time you die, you keep trying until you succeed (or Game Over). Even some of the more notorious moments (i.e the Yoku Blocks in HeatMan's stage can be bypassed with Item No.2 and the lasers in QuickMan's stage can be slowed with the Flash Stopper) can be made manageable by learning the game's mechanics and using what you've been given. However, one boss and one boss only gets my ire here. Yes, the Boobeam Trap. The premise is simple but very frustrating. You have to defeat the boss with only the Crash Bombs. You can't afford to mess this up or you'll have to kill yourself, refill your Weapon Energy for the Crash Grenades and hope that you'll win this time. The final boss isn't that bad in that regard since the Wily Machine can attacked with any weapon and the Wily Alien only has one attack that's easy to dodge. The Boobeam Trap's bullets are harder to dodge due to the maze-like structure of the boss itself.

 Imperator Ix [Final Phase] (Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood)
After the first three battles with the Imperator, he somehow uses the Master Emerald to become his pre-mechanical self. Aside from the utter disconnect between Ix's two designs, the fight itself is utterly pathetic. You'd think that Super Sonic going up against a newly rejuvanted Ix would be challenging and epic, right? Wrong. The fight is nothing but quick time events in order to avoid Ix's attack and pull off your own. If you can't kill him (and defeating him is easy), he'll just regenerate his HP until either you or Ix go down. For a game riddled with some lackluster game design choices and a lacklustre soundtrack, you would think that surely this last fight could redeem this game. Mecha Sonic used the Master Emerald several years before Ix and that boss fight was much better. 
The fight against Ix could be been like this: Ix uses the Master Emerald and takes on a golden colour, much like Mecha Sonic before him. Sonic calls Tails and Knuckles to join him as the trio use the Chaos Emeralds to activate their Super forms. Super Imperator Ix challenges the trio to battle and instead of a pitiful quick time fest, you get one last challenging battle that rounds off the game.