What makes a good boss to you? Someone with a flashy weak spot that you need to hit 3 times...

The best bosses is my opinion are not only a test of what you've learned but naturally takes the game's mechanics to their logical extremes. A few examples. In A Hat in Time, for most boss fights, your enemy needs to be blue to harm them. One of the bosses flat out refuses to turn blue because they understand that game mechanic, so you need to paint them blue with one of their own attacks, then you can attack them as much as you want. Rhythm Doctor is a game where you need to press space on the seventh beat of songs, and the very first boss takes this idea to it's logical extreme by ruining the hud because you don't need it to play the game, and fucking up the rhythm forcing you to count in your head. Sans wants to attack your heart in the genocide route of Undertale, and you're heart is also the cursor in the GUI, so Sans eventually starts attacking your GUI in the middle of your turns.

This kind of shit makes boss fights for me especially memorable.

-A character that is basically you but better and you simply need to master the combat system to beat them.
-a boss with a fight that has a unique and perfectly executed gimmick that you just don't find anywhere else in the game
-Multi phase bosses where each phase is radically different

Somebody with huge telegraphed attacks but also something that has quick moves with tells. The longer the fight goes, The more moves they start using. The boss must push the mechanics of the game to the limit and still feel fair.

no u

>Or just the narrative/context around the fight coupled with its music/visuals?
This matters the most for me because gameplay can be very different for any game so this has to at least be kino as a foundation

Good music, visuals, and fight rhyme. I never parried in the Souls series purely because it interrupted the latter.

>Ace Combat Zero
>final boss is your wingman
>the best way to beat him is to the equivalent of jousting with jets which fits the Arthurian motif the game has going on the entire time
>all while the most intense flamenco music in the world plays
youtube.com/watch?v=80XAJKqRU9k

pablito irritado

>Press circle and mash R1
>Good boss fight

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the level boss should be a culmination of everything in that level
the purpose of the rest of the level is buildup to that, it's like the keystone that holds the rest of the level together
the best bosses are those where you see them come up and you're like "oh, I get it now"
the worst bosses come out of nowhere with no subtext and seem placed for the sake of having a boss

>narrative/context around the fight coupled with its music/visuals
This guy was 10/10 in this department
youtube.com/watch?v=PqXPW0oBKgg

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Several factors that can be weighted differently:

>good music
if the music is shit, the fight can be amazing and it won't feel that way. Music makes the fight more often than not.
>strong plot relevance or fight appeal
A boss can be really good mechanically but if there's nothing to immerse me in the fight what's the point? I want a reason for fighting someone not just some boss that shows up out of literally no where and we're fighting now.
>organic weak points and fight progression
Just dodging around doing nothing until the boss decides to sit down and open his bright glowing red and green bullseye-shaped eye is fucking stupid. Weak points are great if they feel organic, and shit if they feel forced.
>no unfair gimmick/T&E "mechanics"
Nothing ruins a good boss fight like something that just comes out of left field and fucks you over. If something has the potential to instagib the player/party, it should be telegraphed in the fight or hinted at during the events leading up to the fight. If a boss just casts instant death on my whole party and the only way I'd know this is by fighting him and dying to it once, that can fuck right off. If the dungeon leading to the boss has peopled turned to statues and makes me think "hmm I should equip petrify resist" and the boss uses petrify, that's fucking awesome.

Who the fuck made Joe cry?
Which one of you fuckers did it? I'll beat you up.

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Not a weak spot per se, but opportunities to give yourself the upper hand in the fight, through things like turning the bosses abilities aginst them, or environmental hazards, something like that.

Also good context, with good soundtrack.

>If the dungeon leading to the boss has peopled turned to statues and makes me think "hmm I should equip petrify resist" and the boss uses petrify, that's fucking awesome.

i would ALWAYS unequip the resist gear before the boss

youtube.com/watch?v=4foetX8zbnk
here's a good boss fight example op

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Someone that forces me to use every skill possible in ways I never thought of

One Reborn should have been included here because killing him on my first try with no effort needed made me feel confident in my abilities for a solid 6 minutes

entire bossfight should be a couple of QTE's for maximum kino pleasure

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>Or just the narrative/context around the fight coupled with its music/visuals?
mostly this. the fight just needs to be competently assembled within the game's mechanics with a lot of narrative layered on top of it so I know WHY it's important I beat this guy

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Boss fights should be a test of everything you've lea--

Yeah what this guy said.

Kill yourself

Honestly the only boss I've ever enjoyed fighting is Sans.

I never WANT to hurt anyone. They're just trying to do the right thing... why do we have to fight?

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I don't really give a shit what it does or how to beat it. To me a good boss synthesizes all of the knowledge and strength you've gained up to that point in a way that truly tests the skills of the player. I think Zelda's bosses are a good example of this on a very basic level. You get the dungeon item, use it for the second half of the dungeon and learn more about its capabilites for combat and solving puzzles and then you fight a boss that takes what you learned about your new weapon and tests what you know. A good trait for bosses to have that I don't quite think is necessary to make a good boss but is still nice to have is multiple ways to kill it. You could go under Bowser and hop on the switch to drop the bridge from under him, or you could dodge his attacks and pelt him with fireballs at a safe distance. That kind of freedom is nice to have because it lets you come up with your own solution instead of feeling like you're railroaded into a definitive right answer to defeat the enemy.

>t.never beat a souls game
Kill yourself brainlet faggot

flashy weak spots are brainlet tier. giant health bars are brainlet tier. invulnerability phases are brainlet tier.

puzzle bosses with environmental weaknesses are kino.

The Mantis Lords are more or less a perfect boss fight
>Attacks are simple to understand, but tricky to avoid
>Can hit the boss at any point, the challenge involves trying to hit them without getting hit yourself
>Have a health bar large enough that the player can't cheese through them by abusing spells and post-hit invincibility, but modest enough that the fight doesn't drag on until it gets tedious
>Superb level design, with an entire themed area leading down to them, and manage to be intimidating simply by the way they move, look, and act towards the player.
>Lore is top-tier, with the essential being immediately obvious to the player (They are the leaders of the Mantis tribe the player has been fighting through this section), but much more in-depth lore being hinted at with the broken throne of the Traitor Lord on the far right without shoving it in the player's face
>Absolutely fantastic music worthy of a symphony orchestral performance
>The Mantis Lords and the entire fucking Mantis tribe bows to you in respect after you beat them and are no longer hostile, leaving the player with an incredible sense of satisfaction and accomplishment
I dare anyone to name a better boss fight than these motherfuckers

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>pressing buttons
Whoa it's almost like I'm playing a video game.

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hollow knight is kind of amazing in general