10 Longest Boss Battles In Gaming History

5. Pandemonium Warden - Final Fantasy XI

I genuinely made an effort to get away from only including JRPGs on this list but it’s really tricky. Actually it was incredibly tricky just to get away from the Final Fantasy franchise, but if that’s where the long fights are that’s where we must follow so here’s the first in a good pile of brutal Final Fantasy encounters.

Final Fantasy XI has not one but two appearances on this list because there’s nothing that stokes the flames of long boss fights like the unholy trio of a JRPG, an MMO, and Final Fantasy. This nasty-looking guy is one of two High Notorious Monsters in the game and he was nigh-on unbeatable due to his ten different forms and tendency to summon even more dudes with 25,000 HP apiece that you also need to deal with.

One group tried to take him on for 18 straight hours and couldn’t defeat him and stories began circulating that players were actually vomiting and passing out trying to finish him off. Pandy Warden gave players such a hard time that Square Enix needed to nerf him and put a time limit on the battle so players weren’t physically endangering their health.

I don’t know what’s worse, getting sick from fighting one dude for almost a full day or making real progress only to lose to a time limit. Rough either way.