Secret Bosses

You've found it, the final boss type. These are exactly as they sound and they're probably the coolest type i've spoken about, except really good story bosses. But what makes a boss secret? Well, they aren't normally fought over the course of a game, to put it simply. There's a massive range of intricate ways for a secret boss to be summoned or encountered, from relatively simple and even instructed by the game to a nightmarishly devious sequence of hyperspecific actions.

Secret bosses can also range from 'oh huh that's a cool hidden secret' to 'OHHH THAT'S THE TRUE FINAL ULTRA GIGA HELL BOSS'. Although there's only a certain degree to which a secret boss can BE the true boss, otherwise i would argue that if their integrity to the plot means that the game feels unfinished WITHOUT beating them then they are a necessary part of the game and therefore not secret. A good example is Akuma in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, who is fought by defeating all but the final fighter (M. Bison) in the tournament without losing a round, within a certain time limit and while accumulating a certain amount of points. Satisfying all these requirements causes Akuma to burst in and bonk Bison on the bonce and challenge the player to MORTAL COMBA- sorry, i mean STREET FIGHTIN'. While this setup portrays Akuma as the true ultra hell boss, defeating Bison is the true canon ending to the plot of the game - he's the overarching antagonist of the series and boss of the international terrorist organisation. Whereas Akuma is a murder hobo with the most rectangular build i have ever seen. Because Akuma isn't a necessary fight to complete the story of the game, he's also tough as stale fruitcake. He's a boss for players who've mastered the game to truly test their skills against, rewarding dedicated players with one last challenge.

As alluded to in sentences previous, secret bosses allow fights that feel more experimental compared to main story bosses, as they're freed the constraints of having to make sense within the story. My favourite example of this is the therapist fight in Katana Zero, on the normal course of the story your therapist meets his end when Zero smashes his face in with a hefty paperweight, while suffering serious withdrawal symptoms. However, if you interrupt all of your therapist's dialogue, hang up on all his calls and ignore certain commands during missions, then you fight him in his FINAL FORM. This fight is insane. For a game where every enemy dies in a single clean sword hit, a 4 STAGE BOSSFIGHT is rather unusual. Additionally, his attacks are fittingly insane. While you've been dealing with pistols, bats and the occasional sword throughout the game, you're now up against a psychic mutant who summons massive hands, hadoukens and syringes. His 3rd phase is also particularly wacky, you've got to slash eyes that appear before they blow Zero's head up. Complicating this is that they make the screen go all screwy, flipping upside down, changing colour, distortion, leaving afterimages, it's confusing stuff. This is an awesome fight, but it could never happen in the regular game. It's way too far of a deviation from the standard gameplay loop to be required playing, which makes it a perfect candidate for a super graphic ultra modern secret boss.

Alright, that's 100% definitely the end now. Absolutely.