15 Most Infuriating Video Game Boss Battles Of The 2000s

15. Murai - Ninja Gaiden

There are two types of people in this world; those who react to "It's insanely hard, like stupidly impossibly hard, I gave up" with pure "We'll see about that"-determination, and the rest who turn tail and run like little pansy-girls. For Ninja Gaiden and the first 3D instalment in the franchise, Team Ninja elected to create a 3D action adventure with the lightning-quick stylings of Dead or Alive, except set in a world where you could get sliced to pieces from from all angles. Understandably then, it was first boss Murai who came to be the digital embodiment of my opening sentence for this entry. You'd either get pummelled by him and give up in a whirlwind of controller-tossing shame, or reconcile yourself to a Rocky-like training regimen until his albino behind was firmly on the ground. The process to get there was unbelievably arduous and rewarding for as long as it then took to come across that second bridge boss, but while it lasted, taking down Murai in a blaze of sword-based glory remains one of the 2000s finest moments.