10 Final Bosses That Utterly Ruined Their Video Games

Resilience, determination, concentration, patience, skill - getting all the way through a video game can require any number of virtues but, in order to see that final cutscene, developers will always put one last obstacle in your path. Sometimes it's a level that pushes you to breaking point, sometimes it's a challenge unlike those you've faced previously, but no two words instil as much ceremonial excitement in a player quite like "final boss". Some of the greatest games ever made owe their success to their final showdown and the opponents found therein.

After weaving the narrative in a way movies and novels can merely dream of, they put the fate of story directly in the hands of the player, challenging them to overcome one ultimate adversary and bring the events to their conclusion - an all or nothing battle of wits and reflexes that done right, wraps everything up perfectly. But its a fine art.

For all those final bosses that set your pulse racing and left you a sweaty and triumphant husk, there were others that were so wide of the mark, so out-of-keeping with what had come before them - and occasionally so downright awful - that they managed to ruin the entire game. You might think it's hard to undo all that hard work that was poured into the story, character and gameplay in one fell swoop, but these pillars of gaming misadventure somehow managed it.