Favorite final boss battles in shmups? (SPOILERS)

[xxx1993]

I've been playing the heck out of Sol Cresta lately ever since getting it for Christmas, mainly been playing the Dramatic Mode. But man, is the final battle with Mandler really epic. It even goes the same route as Ether Vapor and DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou by giving you a new power to match the final boss!

[Lander]

R-Type Final / Stage F-A

Launching the force pod at the final boss - something done as a matter of course - causes it to be eaten, shattering the UI, blowing out your wave cannon limiters, and triggering an endless bombardment of force clones.
The player's only recourse is to grit their teeth, dodge through the barrage, and charge up the mother of all shots to finish the job and close out the series.

It certainly isn't as flashy in its design as a lot of notable TLBs, but it nails the R-Type thematics, as well as the swan-song tone of the game itself.
In particular, I love the way it turns the UI into a pseudo-diagetic element to reflect the fact that your super fancy starfighter just broke.

[xxx1993]

Though they still made R-Type Final 2 and there's going to be an R-Type Final 3 Evolved sometime soon. Not to mention there were alternate endings which had either you facing off against an R-9 Arrowhead as a Bydo fighter or fighting your way to the future. Oh, Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga had some good final bosses too, to the point where the final battle in Top Gun: Maverick pretty much paid homage to it by having Maverick dodge the final boss without any weapons. Also, the aforementioned final battle with Mandler in Sol Cresta felt like it paid homage to Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga since the Dramatic Mode has you trying to dodge Mandler's attacks while the dialogue is going on in the background.

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

I'm personally fond of the final boss of Rezon.

Really makes you think.

[xxx1993]

Gigantic Bite from Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours is yet another good one. One of the best Darius bosses.

[Lander]

Though they still made R-Type Final 2 and there's going to be an R-Type Final 3 Evolved sometime soon. Not to mention there were alternate endings which had either you facing off against an R-9 Arrowhead as a Bydo fighter or fighting your way to the future.

Aye, so they did. I opt not to let future entries erode past ones (a solid rule for media in general, given how little is sacred these days), so I keep my nostalgia selective for the sake of remembering it as a cool on-tone moment.

I think the Bydo ending is also canon, since it closes the stable time loop that begins when you see the Bydo System Alpha buzz past you in stage 1. There's wiggle room based on whether you assume each playthrough is a separate ship in the same op, or its own separate one-ship-only timeline.

And the future ending is just fluff - you get to 2501AD, then it rolls credits while blasting loud breakbeat at you.

[Leandro]

The Baby from Guwange

[SuperDeadite]

Shoutout to Midgarts (X68000 ver). After your dragon dies you go full-on Peter Pan, fly through space and fight god. Who is just an angry old man in a chair that attacks by shaking his walking stick at you.

[Aceskies]

+1 to R-Rype Delta final boss and Ikaruga final boss. They were quite impactful to me in so many ways. I felt like the game was talking to me. It was very special.

[To Far Away Times]

R-Type Final / Stage F-A

Launching the force pod at the final boss - something done as a matter of course - causes it to be eaten, shattering the UI, blowing out your wave cannon limiters, and triggering an endless bombardment of force clones.
The player's only recourse is to grit their teeth, dodge through the barrage, and charge up the mother of all shots to finish the job and close out the series.

It certainly isn't as flashy in its design as a lot of notable TLBs, but it nails the R-Type thematics, as well as the swan-song tone of the game itself.
In particular, I love the way it turns the UI into a pseudo-diagetic element to reflect the fact that your super fancy starfighter just broke.

That background though...

Final A is really cool in R-Type Final. One of the best levels.

+1 to R-Rype Delta final boss and Ikaruga final boss. They were quite impactful to me in so many ways. I felt like the game was talking to me. It was very special.

These two are both great. I like the change of pace wirh an easier final level in R-Type Delta compared to the rather difficult levels 4 - 6. I like to think of the final stage as a victory lap, or almost like a playable cutscene. The real challenge is the levels leading up to it.

[xxx1993]

How about the Stage 6C/6D boss in Border Down? That’s another fun final boss battle for me.

[cj iwakura]

Shintaro Kuga from Shikigami 2, uses all the attacks of the different characters against you, and unlike 1/3's final bosses, no unavoidable BS moves or endurance trials. You just outplay him and blow him away.

[Stevens]

Double D's

Despair from Zero Ranger and Dead End from Under Defeat.

[Lander]

That background though...

Final A is really cool in R-Type Final. One of the best levels.

Ha, yeah. Not to mention certain enemy wave compositions - the whole stage is saturated with Irem-signature conception symbolism from top to tail. Really goes for the theme that humanity created their own nemesis by trying their best to kill it.

[xxx1993]

Dead End from Under Defeat.

I didn't know the final boss of Under Defeat had a name. I just called it "gigantic fortress tank of doom" because that's what it literally looked like. Also, oddly enough, it's the only boss to have its own theme music in the New Order version, considering it's the final boss after all.

[DMC]

I like

evil dolls with lazer eyes

Spoiler

unnatural six-winged angels

Spoiler

big ancient faces with reversible shots

Spoiler

and sci-fi assailants who move like Ultraman

Spoiler

[Samildanach]

Yeah I was very impressed with Under Defeat New Order's final boss. The music is absolutely god-tier and the moment when it's huge turret slowly rotates revealing the mother of all cannons is only beaten when it fires its nuclear warhead. It flies off screen and you think you're good then you are hit from behind with an super-fast, almost bullet-hell spray from the nuclear-fallout. One of the best.

Another older favourite is Thunder Force IV's super computer. After blasting into the final base the music quietens before the biggest baddest motherfucker fills most of the screen, blasting off into the launch tube to the sound of an epic grating rock track that sits at the pinnacle of what the Megadrive can produce. It might be a little too easy compared to what came before, and the legs that appear in phase 2 look a bit goofy (would have been much better ending in points like those of a giant arachnid) but those don't stop it from being fecking awesome.

I also have a soft spot for Soldner X-2's true final boss. The main game's original final boss at the end of stage 7 was rather average, but the dlc added 3 more stages which arguably were the game's best and the final boss had more changes than a one-man-show. You finally beat him and the usual end of level scores appear before the fucker smashes them out the way to give you one final phase. Love it!

Evacaneer Doom also is undeniably legendary along with Battle Garegga's crazy final boss (was it Black Heart?). Final nod goes to Gun Frontier's last duel. So fitting for the western based shmup.

Now at the other end of the spectrum what is the worst shmup final boss?
Saint Dragon's pitiful excuse for a 'final boss' wins the wooden crown for me. The music is shit and the boss is recycled from just a bit of debris that appeared in the last phase of the 2nd boss and moves in an uninventive way. Just to top it all you see a cool looking golden metal dragon in the background that you think you will need to fight, but it is just a static picture. The third boss in that game would have made a much better final boss, but Saint Dragon is absolutely a game where they front load the quality before dropping off significantly as you progress.

Great topic by the way xxx1993!

[xxx1993]

Yeah I was very impressed with Under Defeat New Order's final boss. The music is absolutely god-tier and the moment when it's huge turret slowly rotates revealing the mother of all cannons is only beaten when it fires its nuclear warhead. It flies off screen and you think you're good then you are hit from behind with an super-fast, almost bullet-hell spray from the nuclear-fallout. One of the best.

Another older favourite is Thunder Force IV's super computer. After blasting into the final base the music quietens before the biggest baddest motherfucker fills most of the screen, blasting off into the launch tube to the sound of an epic grating rock track that sits at the pinnacle of what the Megadrive can produce. It might be a little too easy compared to what came before, and the legs that appear in phase 2 look a bit goofy (would have been much better ending in points like those of a giant arachnid) but those don't stop it from being fecking awesome.

I also have a soft spot for Soldner X-2's true final boss. The main game's original final boss at the end of stage 7 was rather average, but the dlc added 3 more stages which arguably were the game's best and the final boss had more changes than a one-man-show. You finally beat him and the usual end of level scores appear before the fucker smashes them out the way to give you one final phase. Love it!

Evacaneer Doom also is undeniably legendary along with Battle Garegga's crazy final boss (was it Black Heart?). Final nod goes to Gun Frontier's last duel. So fitting for the western based shmup.

Now at the other end of the spectrum what is the worst shmup final boss?
Saint Dragon's pitiful excuse for a 'final boss' wins the wooden crown for me. The music is shit and the boss is recycled from just a bit of debris that appeared in the last phase of the 2nd boss and moves in an uninventive way. Just to top it all you see a cool looking golden metal dragon in the background that you think you will need to fight, but it is just a static picture. The third boss in that game would have made a much better final boss, but Saint Dragon is absolutely a game where they front load the quality before dropping off significantly as you progress.

Great topic by the way xxx1993!

Thanks. By the way, every battle with Hibachi in the DonPachi franchise is awesome. As for Battle Garegga's final boss, that's actually Glow Squid. Though Black Heart is the most well known boss.

[xxx1993]

Hyperion from Einhander is another great one. I intentionally prolong the battle due to the sheer amount of epicness the boss exposes me to, especially with its constantly rotating camera, and I quickly finish it off before it fires its final laser.

[XoPachi]

Super Nintendo STG's had some really strong moments for me. SuperNova, Axelay, and R-Type III had really wonderful ending set pieces that felt like an adventure closing out.

[xxx1993]

Super Nintendo STG's had some really strong moments for me. SuperNova, Axelay, and R-Type III had really wonderful ending set pieces that felt like an adventure closing out.

I thought Veinion was a pretty cool final boss. I just wish they had the boss music start playing the minute you reach it instead of having the stage's theme continue onto the boss, and I feel like Veinion should have had a better death animation instead of just flying into the explosion upon defeat.

[Lander]

Another older favourite is Thunder Force IV's super computer. After blasting into the final base the music quietens before the biggest baddest motherfucker fills most of the screen, blasting off into the launch tube to the sound of an epic grating rock track that sits at the pinnacle of what the Megadrive can produce. It might be a little too easy compared to what came before, and the legs that appear in phase 2 look a bit goofy (would have been much better ending in points like those of a giant arachnid) but those don't stop it from being fecking awesome.

The mid-game setpiece before you get the Thunder Sword is worth a mention too - a whole army of the TFIII player ship getting wasted by the new big bad to establish power levels and get the Rynex over as humanity's only hope.

[xxx1993]

Not a shmup, but I really enjoy fighting the final boss of Lethal Enforcers, a heavily armed Apache attack helicopter. I tend to take my time when fighting it, focusing on one part at a time. Hey, at least it makes a much better final boss than Joe Fang in Virtua Cop 1 and 2.