History SNKBoss / MidwayGames

Creator/MidwayGames and its SpiritualSuccessor Creator/NetherrealmStudios certainly have a fair share of tough and unfair bosses. There's a reason, after all, PerfectPlayAI used to be called "MK Walker".

-->-- '''[[Characters/MortalKombatShaoKahn Shao Kahn]]''' (making a promise he'll sure as hell keep)

The ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' series is notorious for its SNK-like sub-bosses, starting with ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1''[='=]s Goro and ending with ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance''[='=]s Moloch. Not only are they super-powerful, but they're unthrowable, unjuggleable (for the most part) and - with later games - immune to projectile attacks. There's a reason PerfectPlayAI used to be called MK Walker.
* In ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'', we had Goro and Shang Tsung.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/MortalKombatII https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shao_kahn.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Indeed they will. Several times over, in fact!]]

* ''VideoGame/MortalKombat4'' didn't really offer much, but ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance'' gave us Moloch, a [[RedOniBlueOni blue oni that acts like a red oni]], with three GlowingEyesOfDoom and a ball-'n-chain strapped to his hand. He takes roughly half-normal damage, and has ridiculous attacks such as a non-telegraphed bum-rush. The worst thing about Moloch is if you win one round against him, he just stands there and roars. If you want the satisfaction of seeing him fall, you need to win the match. Or you could just spend the whole fight circling round him towards the arm with the iron ball.

** First up is [[BewareTheSuperman Regime!]]{{ComicBook/Superman}} in Classic Battle mode, who takes only half damage of whatever you throw at him (Meaning if you character has a Character Trait that gives you a damage boost, turn it on before using a super move, you'll do 100% of the damage for the move), constantly will spam his special moves or combos (Yes, even at Medium). And the real kicker, not only does his character trait (Which makes his attacks ignore armored hits and inflict increased damage for a short period of time) runs out slower than normal, but after it runs out, it ''immediately fills back up.'' It doesn't help that ''regular'' Superman is considered a top-tier GameBreaker ''to begin with''.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJPLDR8DWmI Mutilator]] from ''VideoGame/BIOFreaks''. It's a bit like fighting [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Metal Gear Rex]], only it's a FightingGame. And the arena is [[DownTheDrain flooded]]. And the water is full of [[EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks sharks]].[[note]]And most of all in terms of factors, the camera and controls [[FakeDifficulty are utterly awful.]][[/note]]Maximilian Dood [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3cAwjjnWiQ did a Boss Rage of the game with his friends]], attempting to beat it on its hardest mode (as all Boss Rages tend to be). Such usual "Rage" attempts, at their hardest, tend to top out at 50-70 tries (ie, restarting after a game over) to reach and defeat whatever boss they are attempting. BIOFreaks took them '''195''' tries, with 88 of those tries just GETTING to Mutilator.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJPLDR8DWmI Mutilator]] from ''VideoGame/BIOFreaks''. It's a bit like fighting [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Metal Gear Rex]], only it's a FightingGame. And the arena is [[DownTheDrain flooded]]. And the water is full of [[EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks sharks]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJPLDR8DWmI Mutilator]] from ''Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.'' It's a bit like fighting [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Metal Gear Rex]], only it's a FightingGame. And the arena is [[DownTheDrain flooded]]. And the water is full of [[EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks sharks]].

* Shao Kahn retakes the throne as of ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9''. The main thing that makes him a pain in the butt is that every single one of his attacks gives him SuperArmor - and they tend to come out really quickly, meaning that going toe-to-toe with him a straight fight is an exercise in futility. He has a hammer throw attack that is unblockable and stuns you on hit - and if he keeps using it while you're already stunned, it will hit you three times before MercyInvincibility kicks in and you can move again. And God help you if his X-Ray attack hits you since it does 54% damage. Oh and all the damage he takes is reduced by 50%, effectively doubling his lifebar. And things are even worse in the Challenge Tower, where you fight him a bunch of times. Some are just straight one-on-one matches (though you don't get to choose your character), but most stack things against you even further, such as making you go solo against Shao Kahn and two other opponents, or go solo against [[UpToEleven three Shao Kahns on one lifebar.]]

-->-- '''Shao Kahn''' (making a promise he'll sure as hell keep)

* The VideoGame/Ready2RumbleBoxing series had Damien Black and Rumbleman as final bosses for the first and second games, respectively. However, Rumbleman, unlike Damien, not only hits all 3 factors of being an SNK boss (Damien is only fought on the Gold class in the first game), but is '''not''' nerfed at all for regular play. Here are a few reasons why most tournament players ban him:

* ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception'' introduced Onaga, the mighty Dragon King, and he lives up to his name. The game foreshadows Onaga's immunity to projectiles in the opening cutscene: he walks through sustained fire from Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, ''and'' Raiden at the same time. First off, he's bigger than Goro, Kintaro, Motaro, and Moloch combined. Secondly, he breathes fire that causes massive hitstun. Third, he's immune to projectile attacks, and while he can't crouch, his guard is both high and low at the same time. Fourth, he can use his wings (which are even '''BIGGER''' than his body) to backdash away from combos, while doing some of his own. And fifth, his throw is really powerful, and cuts off about 40-50% of your health. And if that wasn't enough, the stage where you fight against him has a Death Trap (the spikes surrounding the arena) which you can't knock Onaga into, but ''he'' can knock '''you''' into it. Your only saving grace is that his weakness is spread across the arena, and if you take down a kamidogu, he becomes immobilized and much weaker.

The ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' series is notorious for its SNK-like sub-bosses, starting with ''VideoGame/MortalKombat''[='=]s Goro and ending with ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance''[='=]s Moloch. Not only are they super-powerful, but they're unthrowable, unjuggleable (for the most part) and - with later games - immune to projectile attacks. There's a reason PerfectPlayAI used to be called MK Walker.
* In ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'', we had Goro and Shang Tsung.

* ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' introduces Shinnok's mother and mistress of time, Kronika. Her fights only last one round, but she throws everything, the kitchen sink and a few things that aren't even hers at the player. Grapples, certain specials and fatal blows do very literally ''nothing'' to her, where Shao Kahn and corrupted Shinnok could mercifully be affected by X-rays. On top of that, she summons in a, thankfully very weak (defensively) substitute fighter at two thirds and one third health, changes the stage once you kill them ''and gains a new ability with each shift,'' and can call down as many charging dinosaurs and meteor strikes as she desires. Her normal specials are actually even worse, summoning multiple homing projectiles, surrounding herself with a barrier of three sand balls and her most annoying ability, an [[Main/ThatOneAttack unblockable, extraordinarily fast laser]] that, should it connect, heavily damages your fighter, rewinds time for them, resulting in you being unable to attack and leaves you frozen in the air for a few additional seconds just for good measure. And while they're being put through the wringer, Kronika can take all the time in the world to [[Main/TeleportSpam warp around]], pulling off combos while you're completely helpless to do anything.

** However, if you don't mind cheesing your way to victory, you can jump all the way back into the corner as soon as the round starts and immediately block low. Kahn will shoulder charge you which will put you into blockstun and take off a chunk of your lifebar. However, you will recover faster than Kahn does, so uppercut him, which will take off more of his lifebar than he took from you. Repeat until you win. Note that this does not work on the arcade version of MK II.

* ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' introduces Shinnok's mother and mistress of time, Kronika. Her fights only last one round, but she throws everything, the kitchen sink and a few things that aren't even hers at the player. Grapples, certain specials and fatal blows do very literally ''nothing'' to her, where Shao Kahn and corrupted Shinnok could mercifully be effected by X-rays. On top of that, she summons in a, thankfully very weak (defensively) substitute fighter at two thirds and one third health, changes the stage once you kill them ''and gains a new ability with each shift,'' and can call down as many charging dinosaurs and meteor strikes as she desires. Her normal specials are actually even worse, summoning multiple homing projectiles, surrounding herself with a barrier of three sand balls and her most annoying ability, an [[Main/ThatOneAttack unblockable, extraordinarily fast laser]] that, should it connect, heavily damages your fighter, rewinds time for them, resulting in you being unable to attack and leaves you frozen in the air for a few additional seconds just for good measure. And while they're being put through the wringer, Kronika can take all the time in the world to [[Main/TeleportSpam warp around]], pulling off combos while you're completely helpless to do anything.

* ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' sees the return of Shinnok as the game's final boss. Though unplayable normally, he is a secret character who can be unlocked by completing Story Mode. As that implies, just as in MK 4 he appears to be an anti-climax...until you beat him and he transforms into '''Corrupted Shinnok''', AKA his demon form from ''VideoGame/MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero''. This version of Shinnok, much like the bosses in MK 9, has super armor on most of his moves and deals higher damage than you, but that's not the worst of it. The worst part about Corrupted Shinnok is that he has a ''very fast, instantaneous, '''full-screen''''' laser which you can't jump over (The hitbox is too big and even if you get lucky and jump as soon as he starts it, it lasts long enough to catch you when you drop), deals massive chip damage if blocked and he likes to spam over and over. Said laser also has an EX version, which makes it even ''bigger'' and goes through your blocks, ensuring that it hits you and deals massive damage regardless of doing any blocks.., which is especially annoying in story mode since at that point, you're forced to fight him as Cassie Cage, a character with no teleports like Raiden or Liu Kang have at their disposal.

-->''"You '''will''' die, mortal!"''
--->--'''Shao Kahn''', making a promise he'll sure as hell keep

* ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' introduces Shinnok's mother and mistress of time, Kronika. Her fights only last one round, but she throws everything, the kitchen sink and a few things that aren't even hers at the player. Grapples, certain specials and fatal blows do very literally ''nothing'' to her, where Shao Kahn and corrupted Shinnok could mercifully be effected by X-rays. On top of that, she summons in a, thankfully very weak (defensively) substitute fighter at two thirds and one third health, changes the stage once you kill them ''and gains a new ability with each shift,'' and can call down as many charging dinosaurs and meteor strikes as she desires. Her normal specials are actually even worse, summoning multiple homing projectiles, surrounding herself with a barrier of three sand balls and her most annoying ability, an [[Main/ThatOneAttack unblockable, extraordinarily fast laser]] that, should it connect, heavily damages your fighter, rewinds time for them, resulting in you being unable to attack and leaves you frozen in the air for a few additional seconds just for good measure. And while they're being put through the wringer, Kronika can take all the time in the world to [[Main/TeleportSpam warp around]], pulling of combos while you're completely helpless to do anything.

* ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' introduces Shinnok's mother and mistress of time, Kronika. Her fights only last one round, but she throws everything, the kitchen sink and a few things that aren't even hers at the player. Grapples, certain specials and fatal blows do very literally ''nothing'' to her, where Shao Kahn and corrupted Shinnok could mercifully be effected by X-rays. On top of that, she summons in a, thankfully very weak (defensively) substitute fighter at two thirds and one third health, changes the stage once you kill them ''and gains a new ability with each shift,'' and can call down as many changing dinosaurs and meteor strikes as she desires. Her normal specials are actually even worse, summoning multiple homing projectiles, surrounding herself with a barrier of three sand balls and her most annoying ability, an [[Main/ThatOneAttack unblockable, extraordinarily fast laser]] that, should it connect, heavily damages your fighter, rewinds time for them, resulting in you being unable to attack and leaves you frozen in the air for a few additional seconds just for good measure. And while they're being put through the wringer, Kronika can take all the time in the world to [[Main/TeleportSpam warp around]], pulling of combos while you're completely helpless to do anything.

** Then there's Lex Luthor in some of the S.T.A.R. Labs missions. He gains a shield for a couple seconds during the match that not only protects him, but rebounds the damage you inflicted onto him ''back to you''. And not only that, Lex will go special move crazy sometimes with and without the shield, killing you easily, making the gamer wanna slam the controller down to the ground, especially in the mission where you play as Black Adam.

** Then there's Lex Luthor in some of the S.T.A.R. Labs missions. May not sound as bad as it does. You're wrong. He gains a shield for a couple seconds during the match that not only protects him, but rebounds the damage you inflicted onto him ''back to you''. And not only that, Lex will go special move crazy sometimes with and without the shield, killing you easily, making the gamer wanna slam the controller down to the ground, especially in the mission where you play as Black Adam.