Re: Unexpected Final Bosses
I HAD NOT FINISHED FINAL FANTASY IX YET GOOD SIR AND NOW I WILL ASSAULT YOU WITH SEVERAL PAGES OF ANGER FOR SPOILING IT FOR ME actually the "unrelated final boss" scenario is well established in the Final Fantasy series (See Final Fantasy II) so it's not that big a deal.
Sometimes the unexpected final boss is cool and sometimes it's not. Advance Wars DS has an unexpected final mission (or so I've been told) and the way it happens is kind of cool.
Re: Unexpected Final Bosses
The first thing that came to my mind was having to fight my shadow at the end of Zelda 2. Didn't see that one coming! ;)
Re: Unexpected Final Bosses
I've come across this situation before. Usually, If there's an end-game boss and it wasn't signposted (the big bad throughout the game and the like), I've always suspected who it was. This time, however, I was pleasently surprised by the twist (not a boss battle, but I haven't finished the game yet, so maybe it will be). Allow me to give you a SPOILER-HEAVY example from Prince of Persia : Warrior Within.
You're looking for the Empress of Time so you can stop her from creating the Sands of Time and therefore avoid the nasty fate the Dahaka, the Guardian of the time-line, has in fate for you, since you opened those sands. Throughout your travel, you rescue Kaileena from another female warrior (both are needlesly scantily-clad, and most be frozen solid, but that's a rant for another time), and she warns you off from trying to see the Empress. I knew right there that she was the same, and lo and behold, the big twist came and... she was. Irritating boss battle it was, too - she kept blocking all my attacks. But anyway.
Also along your travels, you see this strange figure. He looks very much like the Dahaka, and when I first saw it, I thought 'That's obviously a young version of the Dahaka'. But it's not. The twist is... it's YOU. Being a game about time-travel, it all makes sense, and in a bizarre way, it's really nice to be able to go back to the moments when you see your pre-corrupted self and finally understand what's really going on.
Not an unexpected boss, as mentioned, but unexpected none-the-less.
EDIT: Finished the game. No such luck with fighting yourself, but you do have to let your previous self die. It's very complicated. And, if you collect all 9 life upgrades (as I did, believe me you need them) you get to fight the Dahaka, which is nice, seeing as he's been chasing you all the way through the game.
Re: Unexpected Final Bosses
Ditto to Shadowblazer. It was as unexpected as it was random. :p [J/K]
There was a boss in Aria Of Sorrow that, although wasn't a final boss, did manage to impress. In the Arena, the boss room has you walking a little bit in, you see countless bats hanging from the ceiling. As you walk in, the bats all converge together to form one giant bat. It flutters up toward the ceiling, then a giant hand quickly emerges from the background and squishes it. Much, much blood. Then the other hand comes out, followed by the Giant's face. Kinda hard boss. Those hands go everywhere! :shakeno: ... ... Then there's his magic fire-creating eye... Ugh.
Re: Unexpected Final Bosses
The Golden Sun TLA boss was a bit unexpected...
Re: Unexpected Final Bosses
Lunar on the Sega CD. After you beat Ghaleon the first time I shit my pants when I had to face him again. I died and then realized i needed to heal up before I head into the next room
Re: Unexpected Final Bosses
There's Star Fox 64, you're going through Venom2 and suddenly, "Play time is over, Star Fox." Holy shit! Where'd Star Wolf come from? Damned hard fight too.
Shadow Link was pretty surprising too, but thankfully he wasn't that hard.
I'd have to say FFX was pretty surprising. Just the entire final fight, you have to fight all your summons and can't possibly lose. I don't understand the point of that fight at all. Not a challenge, but it surprised me.
Re: Unexpected Final Bosses
SPOILER!!!
In Baten Kaitos, after all the dialogue (which is like 30 minutes), Geldoblame comes back, but instead of being retardedly strong he was really weak. I was like what the hell? What kind of final boss is this?
Re: Unexpected Final Bosses
well, the thread is probably going to have spoilers in it, so if you're not too keen on that, then.....stop reading? lol
Another surprise final boss as Mega Man X: Command Mission. I had a feeling that Redips, the general who sent me to Giga City was the one who masterminded the entire plot. But I was surprised that he had been playing me from the start as Spider. (get it? Spider = Redips backwards. har har) But yeah, it was nice to have a non-sigma final boss battle in the series.