10 Best Skill-Check Bosses In Gaming History

Metal Gear Rising is many things. One of the best action games of the past fifteen years; a fountain of memes ("NANOMACHINES, SON!"); and the the answer to the question posed by the first Metal Gear Solid: "Do you think love can bloom, even on a battlefield?"

Turns out the answer to that question is an emphatic "Yes!", as long as the object of that love is a robotic dog with a chainsaw on its back.

Blade Wolf makes his debut as an early boss, and despite his diminutive stature he offers a stern test for the player. He's the first boss with attacks that are simply too fast to dodge, ensuring you need to master Metal Gear Rising's best-in-class parry system in order to beat him and move on with the game. Given that later bosses are literally impossible to beat if you can't parry their attacks, you'll be glad the cybernetic canine gave you a crash course on the subject.

Even better, once you've beaten Blade Wolf he joins the good guys and becomes one of the game's best sources of humour. Frankly, it's hard not to fall in love with a robot dog who responds to franchise chew toy Raiden's pitiful jokes with "I understand your attempts at humour. I just don't find them entertaining".

Speak your truth, Blade Wolf. Speak your truth.