5 Signs Of A Badly Designed Gaming Boss Fight

A variation of the last entry, but no less irritating. This is when the challenge for a boss derives solely from one incredibly cheap move. Examples include any RPG boss who virtually wipes out your party with an impossible to avoid supermove (looking at you, Necron! Most overpowered naked blue git since Dr. Manhattan...) or a fighting game final boss who repeatedly spams the same overpowered move again and again and again until you want to sellotape the developer's fingers to the arcade cabinet and demand they beat the game using nothing but their tongue.

However, out of all the exemplars of this detestable practise, one sits atop his bastard throne made from the twisted remains of broken controllers and crystallized vitriol spewed by every gamer unfortunate enough to face him - Mizar, of Jet Force Gemini infamy. What should be a straightforward boss fight is made legendarily infuriating by his discount Palpatine attack - a continuous lightning blast that drains your health at a ridiculous rate if you don't psychically deduce the random movements of his arm. The ill will and hatred caused by this one move created such a karmic backlash that Rare, the game's developers, spent the next 20 years sinking into irrelevance until the release of Sea of Thieves, by which time the gaming public were ready to forgive.

But we will never forget.

Developers, please test each and every move your boss uses. You can judge its level of unfairness by counting the amount of money placed in the swear jar after testing.