10 Scrapped Video Game Boss Battles That Would've Been Incredible
1. Illusive Man - Mass Effect 3
Mass Effect 3's ending has long gone down in history as one of the most frustratingly anti-climactic in all of gaming, and one common complaint is the lack of a final boss battle. (Indeed, the final enemy you face is a bog-standard Marauder with a shield gauge, leading to the ME fandom jokingly declaring "Marauder Shields" as the final boss of the Mass Effect universe).
What's frustrating is they were so close to a fan-pleasing battle, but no-one on the development team realised it.
A little background - Mass Effect 2 had a terrific villain in Harbinger, a baritone-voiced Reaper (ME's primary antagonists) who could take over his minions at will by uttering the instantly memetic line "I am assuming direct control". So when concept art of the Illusive Man - Mass Effect's shadowy human villain - being controlled by a Reaper appeared, we were left wondering...
Why did nobody think to have Harbinger "assume direct control" over the Illusive Man?
Instead, the Illusive Man is taken down in a battle of words, putting a gun to his own head when the protagonist makes him realise the futility of his actions. And while that was fitting in its way, you can't tell us the fans wouldn't have rejoiced had the Illusive Man got back up while Harbinger declared "I am assuming direct control" one last time.
Oh well. In the words of John Greenleaf Whittier, "It might have been!"