15 Most Memorable First Boss Encounters In Gaming History

3. Guard Scorpion (Final Fantasy VII)

Final Fantasy VII begins rather abruptly, introducing the player to characters like Cloud and Barret quickly before tasking them with committing terrorism and destroying a power reactor - there's no gentle easing here. The boss of this first segment is the Guard Scorpion; a giant mechanical scorpion which Cloud and Barret must defeat to finish planting the bomb in the reactor. Funnily enough though, Guard Scorpion isn't memorable for being a challenging or well designed enemy. Instead, the battle is most fondly remembered for the hilariously awful dialogue sequence shared by Cloud and Barret, in which Cloud tells the player to "Attack while it's tail's up". In fact, this is a very bad idea - Guard Scorpion counters any attacks while it's tail is up; it's actually better to sit and wait. One simple translation error is all it took for this encounter to become infamous and it's a hilariously silly way to begin a game as brilliant as Final Fantasy VII. Guard Scorpion is still great for many reasons (the excellent Bombing Mission track plays throughout the fight, rather than the normal boss battle music) but that one throwaway line has turned it into a gaming legend.