15 Most Influential Video Game Boss Battles Of All Time

3. The End - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

What It Did First: The longest boss fight in gaming history (designed to be two-three hours long.)

As mentioned earlier, Hideo Kojima is quite the outside-the-box thinker when it comes to boss designs. MGS 1 had the unique likes of Psycho Mantis and Grey Fox (who you had to fight hand-to-hand), but where MGS 2 mostly stripped things back, Snake Eater introduced The End, and the nearest thing to a 'proper' sniper duel we'll ever get in a video game.

By setting the encounter on three vast expanses of land filled with hiding spots, places to break line of sight and plenty of opportunities to wait it out and see if your opponent made a move first, it was an incredibly intense affair that regularly gets mentioned as one of the best battles of all time.

Kojima deliberately designed the encounter to take place across multiple hours, and would allow you to take out The End through other means including sniping him in an earlier cutscene, or setting your PS2's clock forward so much that he dies of old age.

If you were playing the way you were supposed to though, The End's showdown is the most intentionally long boss fight in gaming history.