These blogs are all short, I don't want to read 2,000 words from a random stranger so I don't expect you to. Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat (2011) is cheap. I know this, you know this, but for some reason my wife didn't know this. So, last night I lay there trying to explain to her what a cheap moment was and why it was so annoying. I said, "Cheap is when you spend a whole game being told 'this is the way you play this game' and then you are presented with a situation where those rules no longer apply." And then she dropped the perceptive bombshell, "Yeah, that's just lazy and uncreative." As our scar-faced gangster, Omar says, "Oh, indeed."

I'd say that a few FF bosses are incredibly cheap, but you don't have to really change the way you play-you just have to do it more.
 I don't think Shao Kahn is lazy or uncreative. I think he's how the guys at Netherrealm wanted him to be. Nice Kill Bill avatar, by the way. I think.

Yeah, I think so. I believe good game design means the developers can create a challenge with the rules they set during the game. For a recent example, Portal 2. Every puzzle, and the final boss fight, can be solved with the rules you learn throughout the game. 

" These blogs are all short, I don't want to read 2,000 words from a random stranger so I don't expect you to.

i would say playing cheap would be making the enemies stronger than you are. i think boss fights are usually cheap because they make them stronger than you.

I think you forgot that during the 90s the majority of games were "cheap".  Super star wars for the SNES, TMNT for the NES, The Lion King's second level with the ostriches... Shao Khan is slightly below a typical SNK boss.

Sounds like a bunch of people have never played an MK game if they didn't see this coming. this is how every MK Boss has been.... ever, no exceptions. It's fun. For Old School gamers like me, I want my games and bosses fight hard/cheap as all fuck.

As always, I'd have to take this on a case-by-case basis.

when you finally conqueror something that feels like it was cheating. You feel accomplished, knowing the deck was stacked in the opponents favor and yet you prevailed like the dogs of war.

Wait until you have to fight three Shao Kahns in a row on the challenge tower.

" Wait until you have to fight three Shao Kahns in a row on the challenge tower. "

There are two sides. Sometimes it's bad game design when something cheap happens(Death, end of a level) but sometimes it's a tool to open up a game to inexperienced players. A good player playing a cheap character has little more chance than a weak playing using the same character. On the other hand a Good player using a tough character is more likely to do well. It's like a tutorial.

"  The Lion King's second level with the ostriches... "