The Boss Fights Got Me: 5 Awesome Games I Haven’t Beaten Because of the Boss Fights

Aquaria is an indie underwater metroidvania that has been in my game collection for the better part of two decades. It’s a beautiful game with gorgeous visuals and music, but the boss fights can get you down. The bosses often require you to switch between your regular form and your Energy form, which can be a chore when you’re being relentlessly attacked. I’d love to review this game for my Weekly Indie Spotlight column someday, but I should probably learn to beat those bosses first.

3. Sunset Riders (SNES version)

This is one of my favorite arcade games of all time, but I’m still stuck on the final boss of the SNES version. Ironically, I have beaten the arcade version on MAME because the arcade version allows you to continue as long as you want if you keep inserting quarters. So on MAME, I just kept inserting virtual quarters. The SNES version, however, has no such luxury – in fact, it has limited continues. Even with save states, I still haven’t beaten the final boss.

4. Banjo-Tooie

The sequel to Banjo-Kazooie added a lot more features, but that also meant the boss fights were more difficult. Although I’ve beaten the first game, the sequel’s first boss got me. You have to use Kazooie as an egg-shooting gun in a first-person shooter style of gameplay. While that’s an awesome idea, avoiding the boss’s projectiles is a nightmare. Even though Nintendo Switch Online graciously offers save states, I’m still stuck on this boss. Maybe the new Nintendo 64 rewind feature will help me – I should go back to the game and see if it does.

5. Blaster Master

I’ve set out to beat the NES classic on Nintendo Switch Online. You explore an underground cavern in a jumping tank – what’s not to love? Since Nintendo Switch Online offers both save states and a rewind feature, it should be easy to beat, right? Wrong. While most of the exploration is done in the tank, there are also sections where you get out of the tank and go into Zelda-style dungeon crawling. Most of the boss fights are in these sections, and they are merciless, flinging bullets at you from every which-way. Still, with save states and rewinding, there’s really no excuse to not go back to it.

Conclusion

You’re probably reading this and thinking, “wow, she must be terrible at games.” No, I’m not terrible at games and I’ve conquered many bosses. Sometimes it’s hard to say exactly why certain boss fights get you down when others don’t, but I am a determined gamer. I have every intention of conquering all these boss fights and many more. I just need to find the time.