Arcade game bosses that would intimidate/frighten you

[Syzygy1]

On 7/14/2015 at 9:34 PM, Syzygy1 said:

"HAVE A NICE DAY, OR DIE!"

Grid: "Have a nice day."

 

(sorry to bump the thread but I had to.)

[Cynicaster]

Coco Savege from Mat Mania would always strike fear into my 11 year-old soul. 

 

Now, I can beat his ass blindfolded though. 

 

 

[Tempest]

7 minutes ago, Cynicaster said:

Coco Savege from Mat Mania would always strike fear into my 11 year-old soul. 

 

Now, I can beat his ass blindfolded though. 

 

 

Once you learn the trick to beating him, he's pathetically easy.  But until you learn not to stand directly in front of him he's impossible.  There's definitely too large of a difficulty spike there, except it's really just one cheap move that probably should have been nerfed a bit.

[Cynicaster]

2 minutes ago, Tempest said:

Once you learn the trick to beating him, he's pathetically easy.  But until you learn not to stand directly in front of him he's impossible.  There's definitely too large of a difficulty spike there, except it's really just one cheap move that probably should have been nerfed a bit.

 

Pretty much.  Hence the blindfold statement. 

 

That's the shame of Mat Mania.  Using the shoulder block and exploiting the "let the opponent hit you" trick to prevent reversals makes the game readily marathonable (is that a word?)  The game has a special spot in my heart for being such a favorite when I was a kid, but it's broken.  You pretty much have 2 choices: 1) use cheap/cheesy exploits; and 2) get pinned. 

 

This is particularly the case with Coco.  You absolutely cannot let him gain control of the match or it's probably game over.   

 

 

[Zoyous]

Mandara from Shinobi... specifically the SMS version (I don't think I ever made it this far in the arcade version back in the day). This wall of multiple columns of statues relentlessly, slowly approaches you. Each statue takes multiple hits; you gradually destroy one statue at a time, with the upper statues falling down to replace the ones you destroy. If you back up too far, you're electrocuted. You have to shoot and then jump-and-shoot to hit multiple statues; you can't just focus on the bottom-most, nearest statue. Your shots have to be timed perfectly because, as the statues rotate, it's possible to hit them without incurring damage. If you can somehow keep your cool and perfectly execute this, destroying all the statues, THEN you face the actual boss, a giant, grotesque robotic face that rises and falls and spits bouncing fireballs at you. Despite the calming blue decor in Mandara's chamber, a mixture of fear and despair accompanies this boss for me.

[retrorussell]

2 hours ago, Zoyous said:

Mandara from Shinobi... specifically the SMS version (I don't think I ever made it this far in the arcade version back in the day). This wall of multiple columns of statues relentlessly, slowly approaches you. Each statue takes multiple hits; you gradually destroy one statue at a time, with the upper statues falling down to replace the ones you destroy. If you back up too far, you're electrocuted. You have to shoot and then jump-and-shoot to hit multiple statues; you can't just focus on the bottom-most, nearest statue. Your shots have to be timed perfectly because, as the statues rotate, it's possible to hit them without incurring damage. If you can somehow keep your cool and perfectly execute this, destroying all the statues, THEN you face the actual boss, a giant, grotesque robotic face that rises and falls and spits bouncing fireballs at you. Despite the calming blue decor in Mandara's chamber, a mixture of fear and despair accompanies this boss for me.

Here's a trick to make the arcade Mandara stage a breeze:

Get real close to the statues, almost touching them.  Use your magic (a bunch of Shinobis flying around the screen) so this puts you inside the rotating statues (they will continue to advance with the magic going on).  This bumps you back to the right and in front of the thing with the red sensor on its head.  Quickly shoot enough stars in the sensor and you'll beat him without dealing with any of the rotating statues!  I don't know if this works on the SMS version.

[Zoyous]

1 hour ago, retrorussell said:

Here's a trick to make the arcade Mandara stage a breeze:

Get real close to the statues, almost touching them.  Use your magic (a bunch of Shinobis flying around the screen) so this puts you inside the rotating statues (they will continue to advance with the magic going on).  This bumps you back to the right and in front of the thing with the red sensor on its head.  Quickly shoot enough stars in the sensor and you'll beat him without dealing with any of the rotating statues!  I don't know if this works on the SMS version.

Oh man, seriously? I've got to try that. Thanks!

[retrorussell]

On 1/7/2020 at 5:05 PM, Zoyous said:

Oh man, seriously? I've got to try that. Thanks!

You're welcome!

Here's a video of my review on the game.  The Mandara stage (with the trick) starts at about 13:35.

 

[davyK]

Scarface boss in Smash TV. Just could never get master him....always ruined my 1 credit attempts at that game.

[schuwalker]

Mine would have to be the stage 4 boss (magician) from Kungfu Master (arcade)

I’ve been playing this game since’84; I consider myself a pretty good player... after all these years I still haven’t found a sure fire pattern to beat him. My best is four dragons on this game - all lives lost on stage 4 and the boss himself.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tempest]

1 hour ago, schuwalker said:

Mine would have to be the stage 4 boss (magician) from Kungfu Master (arcade)

I’ve been playing this game since’84; I consider myself a pretty good player... after all these years I still haven’t found a sure fire pattern to beat him. My best is four dragons on this game - all lives lost on stage 4 and the boss himself.

Yeah he's an odd one.  Sometimes I can run right up to him and duck/punch him to death before he even hits me, other times I die three times on him.  Like you said, I can't find a good pattern for him.  I think the NES version is easier though as I usually don't have any problems with him until the second time through.

[retrorussell]

Ugh.. I remember the ONE time I was about to beat him in the arcade.  I was slugging him in the gut and his energy was almost zero.  The game FROZE.  Don't know how it happened.  But I was pissed.  I've since beaten him on MAME.  He's still a pain, though.

[Crimefighter]

On 1/6/2020 at 10:56 AM, Cynicaster said:

 

Pretty much.  Hence the blindfold statement. 

 

That's the shame of Mat Mania.  Using the shoulder block and exploiting the "let the opponent hit you" trick to prevent reversals makes the game readily marathonable (is that a word?)  The game has a special spot in my heart for being such a favorite when I was a kid, but it's broken.  You pretty much have 2 choices: 1) use cheap/cheesy exploits; and 2) get pinned. 

 

This is particularly the case with Coco.  You absolutely cannot let him gain control of the match or it's probably game over.   

 

 

Well...someone did max out the score last year, however...it was done like 35 years after release.  And it was done at Galloping Ghost Arcade in about 12 hours.

[BassGuitari]

X-Men: Wendigo.

 

???

[negative1]

Akira, and Dural on Virtua Fighter 2. You could cheese your way through the

game to beat them. But actually beating them normally, was one of the

hardest bosses I've ever played in a fighting game up to that point.

 

later

-1

[CreeB]

Not so sure if this would count,,, but ALL MY FRIENDS were scared of the SPACE FURY guy,, they said if you looked into his eye it'd kill you like RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK type shit.. being the savage i was i LOOKED STRAIGHT INTO HIS EYE everytime i played it with friends.. i was never scared of him btw.. he was a bit offputting but not terrifying..

 

Now i do admit to being scared of the green guy from ROLLING THUNDER but only because of how the game over screen would go.. after you lost your last life,, GAME OVER would appear on a black background,,, then suddenly it'd just CUT to the green guy.. i wasn't as scared of him as my brother was though.. he'd have to have been like 5 at the time.. but the way my brother was scared of him reminded me of my friends fearing the SPACE FURY guy.. good thing they never played ZEKTOR..