Final stages where you fight all the bosses again

[XYXZYZ]

You know those games where you get to the final stage, and you have to fight all the bosses again, usually just before the final boss? Sometimes they're scattered throughout the stage, sometimes they're one immediately after the other. And sometimes instead of playing boss music, it just keeps playing the normal level music. I always liked that. I remember it being somewhat common, but I cant' think of too many off the top of my head.

The Megaman series
Bad Dudes
Metal Storm

I know there's a lot more than that, help me out here guys...

[Scissors]

Off the top of my head:

Wonder Boy in Monster World
Bonk's Adventure and Bonk's Revenge
Fantasy Zone 1 and 2

[staxx]

Space Harrier
Soul Blazer
Strider

[Aussie2B]

I'm not a big fan of final stage boss rushes myself.

ActRaiser and Kendo Rage are a couple more, though.

[kupomogli]

I really can't think of many either.

Final Fantasy. You fight Lich, Kary, Kraken, and Tiamat in the Temple of Fiends 2000 years in the past in the floors before Chaos.
Castlevania series. While not at the end of the game, many of the Castlevania games after SotN allow you to play a boss rush mode once completing the game.

[Rickstilwell1]

Kirby's Dream Land makes you fight Whispy Woods, Lololo & Lalala, Kaboola, and Kracko over again before fighting King Dedede.

[wiggyx]

A lot of shooters do this.

Blazing Lazers and Guardian Legend come to mind and I KNOW there's plenty more along those lines.

[Superman]

Athena

I've never gotten that far, but I watched my friend play it...and die.

[Emperor Megas]

Yeah, like wiggyx said, lots of shooters have boss rushes.

Here's a list (http://www.giantbomb.com/boss-rush/92-1465/games/) of a bunch of games with boss rushes from Giant Bomb.

I few more that weren't mentioned were Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa and Gaiares.

[DigitalSpace]

The final world in Spanky's Quest (SNES) is nothing but boss fights. Sure, it's not a single stage, but continuing the game after you lose all of your lives puts you back at the first level of the world you were in, so it feels like one.

[Guyra]

The final boss of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening takes the form of most of the previous bosses before showing its final form.

[starchildskiss78]

I immediately thought of Streets of Rage (GEN) when I saw that topic. Checking that link posted in an earlier reply confirms both it and Streets of Rage 2 (GEN) are on the list. I always hated fighting those bosses again....especially the two girls. They are nearly impossible for me to beat and you get limited continues!

[Mayhem]

Viewtiful Joe

[Doonzmore]

Gunstar Heroes
Skyblazer

[Nebagram]

IIRC there's a level in Super Mario Galaxy 2 where you have to fight all the bosses... of Super Mario Galaxy 1. Fortunately they didn't tack a daredevil challenge onto that one.

[The_DZA]

In X-Men for the arcade (and now on PSN and XBox Arcade), you have to fight all the bosses before you fight Magneto.

[Ryudo]

Grandia
Grandia II
Xenoblade (but it's a breeze not even a fight really just wack a couple times)
Rayman Origins

[Scissors]

Soul Blazer

Hmm, you got me thinking about Illusion of Gaia. I'm fairly certain it happens in this game too.

[kaedesdisciple]

Totally happens in the X-Men arcade game too, as my friends and I remembered in a recent playthrough.

[Collector_Gaming]

if i remember right you have to do so in thundercade
http://www.joosworks.com/games/images/Thundercade.jpg

and i know you do in Star Tropics 2: Zoda's Revenge.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fd/Zodasrevenge_box.PNG/250px-Zodasrevenge_box.PNG

[jperryss]

Final Fantasy IV (FF2 in US) had this. Not at the very end but close, where you have to fight all four fiends consecutively.

All three of the TG16 Bonk games.

As already said above, the last stage of many shooters is a boss rush. The Guardian Legend one is interesting because you don't fight every single boss, just some of them.

[Steven]

Combatribes!

Sh!t drove me and my brother crazy back in the day, esp. whenever we played without using the 30 men cheat.

[Tron 2.0]

Viewpoint for the neo-geo if you can make that far in the game.

[Aussie2B]

Chrono Trigger has a boss rush, depending on how you choose to approach the final boss. Although it's more like the final boss being possessed by the previous bosses, so it's not quite the same as literally fighting the same enemies again.

[Clownzilla]

I think Golden Axe did this. IMHO I think boss rush designs are kind of a lazy way of making a boss fight. I do tend to like the boss fights where you fight a mirror image of yourself though.

[Collector_Gaming]

I think Golden Axe did this. IMHO I think boss rush designs are kind of a lazy way of making a boss fight. I do tend to like the boss fights where you fight a mirror image of yourself though.

like zelda where you face against a dark link?

Didn't Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles do a boss rush in the arcade game?

yep... heres the proof

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmrIDdSx0mo

[The 1 2 P]

Spider-Man on the Genesis has you fighting all the bosses on the last stage before facing The Kingpin.

[XYXZYZ]

like zelda where you face against a dark link?

Didn't Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles do a boss rush in the arcade game?

yep... heres the proof


Are you talking about the rematch with Bebop and Rocksteady, or Krang before Shredder? Either way I wouldn't consider that a boss rush. But speaking of Konomi beat 'em ups, Crime Fighters had a bonus stage after the last boss where you fight every boss in the game at the same time. And the X-Men game has already been pointed out.

[Haoie]

Not a fan of those, especially since usually they just show up again with no rhyme or reason.

[Rickstilwell1]

Oh yeah I forgot. Mole Mania for Game Boy also has one in World 8.

[Steven]

Majyuuou, AKA King of Demons

[cyberfluxor]

The House of the Dead 2 was annoying to play back through the bosses. The target patterns are straight forward and repeated, however it's easy to miss and lose a valuable life for going up against The Emperor.

[Jorpho]

The only one that springs to mind at the moment is Astro Boy GBA, for some reason.


The final boss of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening takes the form of most of the previous bosses before showing its final form.Not really. It only has six forms total (including the last one), two of which are original and two of which are from A Link to the Past.

[kedawa]

I immediately thought of Streets of Rage (GEN) when I saw that topic. Checking that link posted in an earlier reply confirms both it and Streets of Rage 2 (GEN) are on the list. I always hated fighting those bosses again....especially the two girls. They are nearly impossible for me to beat and you get limited continues!

Stand in the bottom corner, facing away from them, and just do your B+C attack when they get close. One will jump at you, while the other will just walk toward you. Once you get the timing down, you can beat them easily.

[Wraith Storm]

At the very end of Virtual Hydlide on the Saturn there is a boss rush.

Its a series of chambers where you fight a previous boss and then move to the next room and fight another etc. I just couldn't do it. I could beat most of them but would always run out of health before facing the end boss so I have no idea how it ends. :(

[sniperCCJVQ]

Vendetta (Arcade)


Here'S the stage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zJ4J3cIOwc

[Jorpho]

Didn't Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles do a boss rush in the arcade game?

yep... heres the proofWhere exactly is it in that 35-minute video? Flipping through quickly, I do not see it.

[Tokimemofan]

Lunar Eternal Blue has you fight the dragon fiends a second time just before the fight with Zophar.
Edit: This was only in the Sega CD version, neither the Playstation or Saturn versions had these battles at that point in the game.

[Collector_Gaming]

Where exactly is it in that 35-minute video? Flipping through quickly, I do not see it.

towards the end where you got 3 various bosses back to back pretty much

[Jorpho]

Well, that would be three new bosses, not "all" the bosses "again".

Did someone mention Primal Rage? Does that count?

[treismac]

Okami for both the Wii & PS2.

[Yago]

Renegade on the NES I believe. When you get to last room you have to fight everyone all over again. It's been a while so could be wrong.

[jperryss]

Y'know, what about the first Double Dragon? Right before the machine gun guy you fight two of every enemy in the game which does include the bosses.

[The 1 2 P]

I think you also have to fight all the bosses again near the end of Bad Dudes.

[djshok]

TMNT Hyperstone Heist makes you refight all the bosses, though IIRC it's in the stage right before the last one.

[Crocket]

King of the Monsters 2 had one. Also technically Magician Lord, but that was more of a mid-boss rush.

[Gunstar Hero]

In Kirby Super Star Ultra (DS) there is a mode where you literally have to go through almost every single boss in the game! Then when you complete that you have to go through even harder one's in a different mode. I'm not sure if it is the same for the SNES version. There are probably close to 20 you have to face with limited life regeneration.

[Jorpho]

Well, a lot of the Kirby games had an optional "boss rush" mode (and indeed, so did many other games). It's not really the same as forcing you to do it in order to reach the ending of the normal game.