I was lurking in the gb forums and saw some random topic about boss battles. I started to think about some of the awesome boss battles I've done, which then lead to the realization that boss battles are either not in most games or are insignificant. Think about it - where are all the memorable ones? Even if boss battles still exist in most games, they aren't as much a part of games as they used to be. When's the last time you beat a game when your friend beat it and you and they we're all like "Dude, Dark Matter was sooo epic, especially with the whole space setting and you get to fight him WITH Gooey!!! OMG!"  
 
I miss that...

Bayonneta is pretty good

*Points to the Crawmerax page*

I feel the opposite.  I appreciate the restraint some developers show in regards to boss battles.  If boss battles don't make sense in your game, or can't be done well with the mechanics, then who needs them?

" I feel the opposite.  I appreciate the restraint some developers show in regards to boss battles.  If boss battles don't make sense in your game, or can't be done well with the mechanics, then who needs them? "

There is still some, but I agree- Boss Battles are downplayed in many games these days due to games going for realism.
 
But ya, for the most part boss battles are less and less. I don't tend to play games that are "realistic" though so most games I play tend to have at least decent boss battles. The boss battles in Bulletstorm (while not particularly hard) are a good example of good boss battles in current gen.

I love me some great boss battles. These things really go missing from action games that go for the 'realism' thing. I hope STALKER2 takes advantage of the mutant aspect of the Zone and offers some nice boss battles in contrast to the previous games' hoard method.

Boss battles in shooters are bad, and most games are shooters now-a-days. 
Also, this guy before a few days ago. (Just kidding)

I wish more games had boss battles. I think they could even work in something "realistic" like CoD. Imagine going against a tank or big-ass helicopter or something, but with limited (or no) rocket launchers. It could work! 

Vanquish and Bayonetta have their fair share of boss battles.

In some cases it feels like boss battles are taking a backseat to atmosphere and story (like Dead Space 2) but there are plenty of games where Boss Battles are practically the only thing it leans on. No More Heroes (both games) are all about the boss battles with cool characters like Dr. Peace and Destroyman. There's also MadWorld (while having plenty of issues) the boss battles were pretty good.
 
Then, as someone mentioned before, Bayonetta turns boss battles into an art form. At one point you suplex a dragon many, many times larger than you and tear its heads off with your bare hands. In another fight, you headbutt an entire skyscraper back at a boss who threw it at you. It's all kinds of awesome.

I felt the bosses from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow were pretty epic for the most part, not exactly mega-challenging but a lot of fun to fight. 

Darksiders had some good ones. 
 
Edit: Dragon Age and Dragon Age 2 had memorable boss fights for all the wrong reasons. That god damn high dragon at the mine took me about 25 minutes to kill which, in a game like Dragon Age with auto-attack and the like was a boring 25 minutes.  

hate boss battles that have no  mechanics involved (Borderlands) or that are completely dependent on the mechanics and once you figure them out, it's ridiculously easy (Deadspace).

Stop playing shooters.

" *Points to the Crawmerax page* "

" Boss battles in shooters are bad, and most games are shooters now-a-days. 
Also, this guy before a few days ago. (Just kidding) "

I love me a good boss battle. Say what you want about comic jumper, the boss battles in that were pretty good. Seth in street fighter is a good boss, Galactus not so much. Prince of Persia always had pretty good bosses, well at least in the main trilogy. I especially appreciate boss battles in games you wouldn't expect them; splosion man, bit trip runner, super meat boy, warioware.

The problem is that modern designers can pack in awesome stuff every minute, so awesome boss battles get kind of lost. Back in the day, Bosses got a large percentage of the available resources, including money time and memory.
 
Not that there aren't some great boss battles, but its hard to make them stand out when some basic enemies are like 20 feet tall.

Bossfights are a videogame trope that I don't mind disappearing altogether. Most games these days are slowly trying to move forward and explore more and different aspects of storytelling and generally gameplay, and bossfights most of the time don't really fit anymore. Bossfights were used mostly to mark the end of a game world or a particular experience, or to cement in a particular (set of) gameplay mechanic(s), or as a way to make the end of a chapter or game a climactic experience, but these days there're more (cost-)effective and/or different ways to do so.
 
Still, I think there are still a few games that have fairly big bosses. Zelda will not likely change its formula like that, or a Mario game, even. And heck, maybe you'll even count Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest to be among those titles.

Well I still remember the giant vagina thing from Borderlands

The Lost Planets are great for boss battles. I loved the Dragon Age ones, too. That being said, I am a big fan of huge monster battles of attrition.

" I felt the bosses from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow were pretty epic for the most part, not exactly mega-challenging but a lot of fun to fight.  "

" Bossfights are a videogame trope that I don't mind disappearing altogether. Most games these days are slowly trying to move forward and explore more and different aspects of storytelling and generally gameplay, and bossfights most of the time don't really fit anymore. Bossfights were used mostly to mark the end of a game world or a particular experience, or to cement in a particular (set of) gameplay mechanic(s), or as a way to make the end of a chapter or game a climactic experience, but these days there're more (cost-)effective and/or different ways to do so.  Still, I think there are still a few games that have fairly big bosses. Zelda will not likely change its formula like that, or a Mario game, even. And heck, maybe you'll even count Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest to be among those titles. "

No More Heroes, son!

God of War?
 
lol, Vagina Face in Borderlands was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

I was a bit disappointed by the lack of boss battles in Dead Space 2. Sure, they were easy in the first game, but they were fun, and I would've liked to see them return.

"  @EvilTwin said: 

" I feel the opposite.  I appreciate the restraint some developers show in regards to boss battles.  If boss battles don't make sense in your game, or can't be done well with the mechanics, then who needs them? "

Actually, I very much agree with this. "

" Boss battles in shooters are bad, and most games are shooters now-a-days. "

Ocarina of Time is still the standard for me. So many bosses, and each one of them memorable. 
I can't think of many great boss fights in recent memory since Bayonetta, but considering the games I've played lately that might be a good thing. 
Not all games and genres benefit from boss battles.

More then 50% of boss battles suck, so I'm okay with have very little boss battles.

" I feel the opposite.  I appreciate the restraint some developers show in regards to boss battles.  If boss battles don't make sense in your game, or can't be done well with the mechanics, then who needs them? "

" I was lurking in the gb forums and saw some random topic about boss battles. I started to think about some of the awesome boss battles I've done, which then lead to the realization that boss battles are either not in most games or are insignificant. Think about it - where are all the memorable ones? Even if boss battles still exist in most games, they aren't as much a part of games as they used to be. When's the last time you beat a game when your friend beat it and you and they we're all like "Dude, Dark Matter was sooo epic, especially with the whole space setting and you get to fight him WITH Gooey!!! OMG!"   I miss that... "

You want boss battles? play  shadow of the colossus :D

" You want boss battles? play  shadow of the colossus :D "

Monster Hunter! 
 
Seriously, after the first 2 hours that game became nothing but 1000 hours of boss battles. I loved the shit out of it. Final Fantasy XIII had a beautifully abusable battle system that let you kill bosses significantly stronger than you if you had the right strategy and fast reflexes. Also GALACTUS!

Fight Night Champion had a pretty epic one at the end of the story mode.

I've always detested FPS "bosses".  They always tend to be: 
 
A short slo-mo scene 
 
An on rail scene (Back of a truck) 
 
A,"Take this thing out with that rocket launcher placed there just for the job!" 
 
It would be more interesting to see an FPS boss battle where a tank just breaks through a wall, and you have to avoid it for a while and try to find multiple ways to take it out...like getting to the hatch to throw a grenade in, destroying the tracks...

Yeah I guess most memorable boss fights are from games that center around them. No More Heroes 1 and 2 and Shadow of the Colossus. 
 
The games used them in the more traditional pacing would be Batman Arkham Asylum and Resident Evil 5. Batman and Resident Evil's bosses were fine but I definitely remember No More Heroes boss fights more fondly.

Boss battles themselves are still plentiful, Alpha Protocol, Mass Effect 2, Batman, etc. all have boss battles. What however has changed is the difficulty, boss battles are no longer a complete stopping block that requires dozens of retries to figure out a strategy. I can't really say that I mind that, as getting stuck on a boss battle was always annoying. What I however might mind is the lack of creativity in the boss battles, half the time it seems to be possible to just duck behind cover and fire away, without really doing anything to clever, old 2D boss bottles kept you a lot more dodging incoming attacks. But of course for that you have Bayonetta and God of War, who still seem to have plenty of creativity in boss design.

By "most games", I assume you're talking about first person shooters. It's hard to make an FPS boss. Case in point: all Borderlands boss fights suck. In terms of other games though, bosses are as prominent as ever. The bosses in Bayonetta and God of War represent easily the best moments in video games of the entire last year.

Oh, and that giant fish battle in Gears of War 2 was neat. "

Most boss battles started to get stale, just became a 20 min timed shoot/slash-a-thon. Glad they cut back on them a bit. There still there where needed tho.

I know this has already been mentioned several times but yeah, Bayonetta has some great bosses.

games need more boss battles even if its just dodge and shoot in back