Most beloved video game enemy

[Lady B]

I can't believe Mini hasn't made this thread yet O_O

Anyway, it can be anything from a random encounter to a full-fledged boss, so long as it's something you could battle over and over and still look forward to beating.

For me, there's the usual sleuth of Legend of Zelda bosses. But if I had to pick some favourites, Stallord from Twilight Princess and Koloktos from Skyward Sword come to mind. They both feature imo excellent and original ways of fighting them, the latter by forcefully pulling the boss's weapons from it and using them against it.

Then there's games like Shadow of the Colossus and Monster Hunter that feature nothing but epic boss battles through the whole game. Avis praeda, or Avion, from SotC, and Lagiacrus from MH strike me as some of the most memorable from each game.

Then there's the Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and Champion in Pokémon. If I have to pick one battle from any Pokémon game against any of those mentioned before, I think I'd pick Cynthia, Champion of Sinnoh, in Platinum. Partially because she has a very diverse team that's a lot of fun to battle, and partially because she probably has the most epic battle theme of all time (when it comes to Pokémon, at least).

So, what are some of your favourite video game enemies?

 

[Cpt Toellner]

Every fight was a fucking battle.

 

[Razilin]

Zerglings

 

[dragonesper]

While a total S.O.B... Crossell from Star Ocean: Till the End of Time is the most memorable for me. I battled him by accident, under-levelled and feared death because I hadn't saved. The adrenaline and pure joy of defeating him... Priceless. Plus I got to ride him after the battle!
Still hate the bastard though, seriously, he was tough!

As for others... Pikachu in the recent games. "Pika pika... *faints*" Cracks me up every time.

 

[Jorick]

Darklurker from Dark Souls 2 is one of my favorite bosses of all time. It's a perfect example of how to use relatively simple concepts to make a fair but extremely challenging boss fight without the need for artificial difficulty spikes like unstoppable one hit kills or disgustingly huge health pools.

He's got a few basic melee attacks that are pretty easy to avoid or block, and AoE magic blast if you hang around him too long and can avoid by just moving away, a ranged attack that sends three sort of random fire blasts in your direction so you have to just look where they're going and avoid it, a homing magic attack that can be avoided by simply running or rolling away from it, a straight line shot that you can easily get away from by moving to the side, a channeled laser thing that slowly follows the player and can be avoided by staying in motion, and a teleport that moves him to somewhere else in the boss room. This is all dead simple to deal with. The little dungeon things you have to go through to get to the Darklurker fight are harder than the boss himself... until he makes a copy of himself at about 60% health. It's permanent and they share a health pool, so there's no shenanigans like needing to find the real one to do damage. It's just a plain and simple addition of another guy with the same exact move set. What was a super easy boss fight becomes a harrowing challenge because you have to keep track of two of the guy throwing different attacks at you at the same time.

Aside from that, I have a nostalgia-laden love-hate thing going on for this guy from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

He made me rage so hard as a young kid trying to play through the game. For those of you unfamiliar with it, he just runs around this platform thing and if he knocks you off the edge or into the hole in the middle of it then you get kicked out of the boss fight, have to go back up to him, and start it over from the beginning of the fight. Damage doesn't stay dealt to him: he heals up completely when you get bounced out, whereas any damage you took is still there. Pissed me off a LOT as a child, but nowadays he's a chump. He just became sort of an iconic boss fight to me because of how long I spent trying to get past him as a kid.

 

[Windsong]

Every fight was a fucking battle.

Whack whack whack watch out for his spell heavens forbid it's a fireball whack whack whack oh right the dragon whack whack whack. Oh neat 20% for everything my class-less character uses never gonna replace this mask.

Collecting those masks was a bitch.

Mine? Dragons. Not those sissy shit wyverns from Skyrim. Even Monster Hunter makes wyverns badass.

Spoiler

 

[Kestrel]

Maybe not for the best-of-the-best boss fights, but this guy is an icon (also if any of you played some of the Mario RPG's you'll know how this guy just shines every bit of spotlight he gets, I wish they made a Bowser-game).

 

[Minibit]

I rant sometimes T~T

I love Death Sword in Twilight Princess, and even though it's dead easy, I like valoo in The Wind Waker, too

I also like Mr Mime's faint animation in Pokemon X/Y

I also have fun with any horde enemy that dies easy and spawns by the hundred, like miniblins and little Heartless

 

[Lady B]

Oh, and how could I forget pretty much every Touhou character ever? My favourite character-wise might be the lovable idiot Cirno, who is never really as good as she tries to be.

Gameplay-wise, I'd say Futatsuiwa Mamizou. In my opinion she's insanely difficult to beat, but extremely fun nonetheless. As the commenter on the video below said, there's something very cathartic about blowing up animal danmaku.

And, since Dark Souls was mentioned earlier, who can forget Ornstein and Smough?

They're difficult to beat. The ridiculous, unforgiving kind of difficult. Like, yeah, why not make the player have to face two, very strong, separate opponents at the same time? Oh, and when one of them dies? Power up the one that's left! Dark Souls has some pretty bullshit moments, and that boss fight pretty much takes the cake. If it sounds like I'm complaining, I am, but the satisfaction of defeating those guys is equal to, if not greater than the grief they cause when they're alive, which is why I look forward to their battle every playthrough.

I can't help but feel like I've neglected some of the smaller guys... So, shout out to all the Pokémon that give a lot of EXP. I'm looking at you, Audino.

You da real MVP. Early game, at least.

 

[Brovo]

 

[Sole]

 

[Dervish]

Maybe not for the best-of-the-best boss fights, but this guy is an icon (also if any of you played some of the Mario RPG's you'll know how this guy just shines every bit of spotlight he gets, I wish they made a Bowser-game).

Almost all of the game is from Bower's perspective.

 

[Kestrel]

Almost all of the game is from Bower's perspective.

And it's fucking brilliant for it.

 

[MiraMirror]

Oh, and how could I forget pretty much every Touhou character ever? My favourite character-wise might be the lovable idiot Cirno, who is never really as good as she tries to be.

Gameplay-wise, I'd say Futatsuiwa Mamizou. In my opinion she's insanely difficult to beat, but extremely fun nonetheless. As the commenter on the video below said, there's something very cathartic about blowing up animal danmaku.

Much love for the Touhou. <3

I'd have to say Yuyuko Saigyouji wins that spot for me, as she's a memorable character, enemy, and has a very memorable character theme.

 

[Skyswimsky]

Cacti best. Slimes are in every (J)RPG but Ragnarok Online was the game that ruined most kind of grind in any mmo that came after it for me...but it has the nostalgia bonus going for it so I wouldn't mind playing it again.
And then there is this guy:

Best character.

 

[crankupthememes]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Also, Monsoon from Metal Gear Rising was fun as fuck.

 

[Razilin]

no love for Pyramid Head?

 

[Levusti]

And then there is this guy:

Best character.

SINE! COSINE! TANGENT!

Sohcahtoaaaa.

Dude, I totally worked hard and learned geometry in high school JUST TO SAY I was as badass as he was.

 

[Artorias]

I agree with Jack of Blades (I'm pretty sure that is who it is) Fable was the first M Rated game I ever played, behind my parents back, because we only owned Halo: Combat Evolved and Fable, but I enjoyed Jack and the entire game of Fable. Too bad Fable went to shit, but Jack will always be amazing.

 

[Brovo]

I agree with Jack of Blades (I'm pretty sure that is who it is) Fable was the first M Rated game I ever played, behind my parents back, because we only owned Halo: Combat Evolved and Fable, but I enjoyed Jack and the entire game of Fable. Too bad Fable went to shit, but Jack will always be amazing.

History Bonus: He's named "Jack" and has the knives & masks motiff because he was named after Jack the Ripper. Jack the Ripper is an IRL serial killer who slaughtered several prostitutes in London before disappearing mysteriously.

I'm replaying Fable too. I can't wait to hit this piece of childhood nostalgia knowing what I know now.