10 Video Game Bosses That Take Absolutely AGES To Beat

6. The End - Metal Gear 3: Snake Eater

The End is arguably the greatest boss in the Metal Gear franchise, and certainly the most innovative.

The End is a legendarily old sniper who doesn't actually seek to kill Naked Snake - he fires tranquilliser darts at the player, enough of which will cause Snake to be returned to jail, forcing the encounter to start again.

It's a boss fight that's totally unlike anything else in the game (or the series) up to this point and caught everyone off-guard on their first attempt, which surely took them several hours.

Even if you're not constantly being tranq'd and sent back to jail, just tracking and attacking The End is a challenge, requiring efficient use of Snake's various gadgets to get a bead on him.

If you forgot to pick up the thermal goggles by this point, it proves an especially long-winded battle.

There are of course a few workarounds: you can snipe The End during a cut-scene earlier in the game or you could set your PS2 clock forward a week to make him die of old age.

But by far the smartest way to take down The End is to use the thermal goggles (if you have them) to track his footprints and catch him unawares.

It may have been a frustrating battle the first time you played it, but in retrospect its epic length is one of the many reasons why it's considered an all-timer boss fight.