The Context: After meeting up with Meryl, a deadly sniper assassin named Sniper Wolf begins shooting her from afar in the abdomen. Meryl is fully aware that her injuries are being used as bait to lure Snake out into the open; nevertheless she insists to be left behind as Snake journeys back to the armoury in search of a rifle to fight back. The Fight: Truthfully speaking it is wholeheartedly annoying having to walk back over half the entire gameworld so far to get a weapon, followed by returning back to where you started again - it's probably the least fun moment in the entire game. The boss fight itself isn't exactly hard either; you just take some medicine to steady your aim and empty bullets into Sniper Wolf. With that said, it's relevance to the actual story mitigates the shortcomings in a huge way.
19. Vamp (Round 1) Metal Gear Solid 2
The Context: As Raiden attempts to rescue Otacon's sister and tech mastermind Emma he encounters Vamp in the water filtration chamber; in other words, he's all that stands in the way between a small mission objective victory. The Fight: Vamp is finally able to show off his acrobatic athleticism in gameplay as he hops around all the walls of the chamber while tossing his trademark knives. In addition to that he sometimes dives underwater, forcing the player to pay attention to where he will emerge. The fight itself isn't really hard and boils down to making good use of the grenade launcher, but seeing Vamp in action mechanically - and the fact that he is such an awesome character - elevates the fight to a fairly memorable status.
18. The Pain Metal Gear Solid 3
The Context: Relatively early on in the game Big Boss encounters this hornet-obsessed and hideous-looking freak in an underwater cave. Like most bosses in the game there isn't much to him narratively but he oozes personality. The Fight: This is such a memorable battle simply because of The Pain's unorthodox and imaginative methods of attacking which involve creating weapons out of hornets. Whether it's a tommy gun, grenade or shielding himself within a circle of bees, everything The Pain creates is unique; he's like The Green Lantern of the universe, only with disgusting bees in place of a ring. Damaging him is also an intense balancing act of diving off the central platform underwater to find some sanctuary from his hornets while simultaneously trying to shoot through the filthy insects swarming him.
