View Full Version : First game with a boss battle?
Cornelius
10-12-2009, 10:16 AM
What's the first game with a boss battle?
I know that it really is going to come down to how you define 'boss battle'. For example, Donkey Kong could be viewed as one big boss battle, but since that is the entirety of the gameplay, I'd eliminate it. Now for Super Mario Bros. the actual 'fight' is almost nil, but the end of level build-up and castle setting makes it work for me.
So let's hear it. What's the earliest game you consider to have a boss battle.
p.s. I did a brief search, but if I missed a previous version of this thread, please point me there!
I would guess, some arcade game.
I know of Phoenix
understatement
10-12-2009, 10:52 AM
I would have to say the earliest I know of is the three dragons from Adventure for the 2600 but since they were the only enemies that might not count.
PC-ENGINE HELL
10-12-2009, 11:09 AM
If I remember right it was the dragon on dnd on the Plato computer system. This was way back in the mid 70's I think when people were making games on that damn thing.
vivaeljason
10-12-2009, 11:17 AM
If I remember right it was the dragon on dnd on the Plato computer system. This was way back in the mid 70's I think when people were making games on that damn thing.
I was going to mention the Gold Dragon from dnd. I'm pretty sure we're not going farther back than that.
TonyTheTiger
10-12-2009, 01:02 PM
Define "boss battle." Because I'm certain there were lots of older text based adventure games where you had to type "use sword" or "kill bear" at some point.
chrisbid
10-12-2009, 01:35 PM
AD&D Cloudy Mountain on the Intellivision had winged dragons that required three shots to kill in the final dungeon
Tron Deadly Discs had Recognizers
Demon Attack on the Intellivision had the 'Demon Base' stage
Pheonix had a mothership
GORF also had a mothership
Rickstilwell1
10-12-2009, 02:41 PM
Ah and Wizard of Wor had the wizard after all the other enemies were defeated.
It's also not the first as D&D is older.
j_factor
10-12-2009, 03:06 PM
I think Zaxxon might be the first game with a "real" boss. Some of the other ones mentioned don't really seem like boss fights to me.
BetaWolf47
10-12-2009, 03:23 PM
I would guess, some arcade game.
I know of Phoenix
I was going to mention that. Phoenix had a few firsts.
Rob2600
10-13-2009, 12:41 AM
Vanguard on the Atari 2600 was the first game I remember playng that had a boss. (In this case, Gond.)
123►Genei-Jin
10-13-2009, 01:06 AM
Vanguard on the Atari 2600 was the first game I remember playng that had a boss. (In this case, Gond.)
Vanguard was originally an Arcade game (by SNK)
Rob2600
10-13-2009, 01:57 AM
Vanguard was originally an Arcade game (by SNK)
Yes, but growing up, I only played the Atari 2600 version.