chempop wrote:Destructible pieces, see garegga/batrider, etc.
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Let the player decide if they're going to go for all the pieces or just go for a quick kill, or something in between.
I personally don't like it when the weakpoint/core is really weak and is just really hard to hit to balance it out, it's almost always frustrating and annoying to me. If you make the boss tanky, though, don't forget to change up its patterns and behavior every now and then so the player doesn't get bored dodging the same patterns for the entire battle.
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Have parts you can take out for a big score, but changes up the attack patterns as a result. So you can pick it apart or just take out the body for a quicker kill but lower score bonus. Giga Wing does it quite well, with some timed phases to get 100% destruction.
I've definitely come to prefer boss fights with destructible parts (I'm sensing a pattern in these replies, here...). Failing that, bosses with significant (and challenging) scoring potential, so that the boss isn't just a pure survival-based barrier to the next stage. Other things like Psikyo games' Technical Bonus are interesting, but I haven't played those games enough to reach an educated opinion on how those work out in practice.
I'll throw my hat in the ring for destructible bosses as well, though traditional "shoot them until they die" bosses are fine, too. I prefer something that either has a lifebar, or some kind of indication that you're actually doing damage. Bosses that take forever to die and a million hits, when it only takes you one, I find rather annoying. The exception to that would be a boss rush type of game, like Chaos Field, or Warning Forever. Since it's basically all bosses, the challenge is in finding the strategy specific to beating that boss. When you've played a long level, and then the boss takes twice as long to die and throws everything but the kitchen sink at you, that tends to get on my nerves.
chempop wrote:Destructible pieces, see garegga/batrider, etc.
^^This. But, I'd like to add that they should be manageable for survival only, so you're not destroyed completely on first approach unless you try to no-bomb them. Like Ketsui's bosses, they are really fun to engage when you know nothing about them (I will never forget my first time against the stage 2 boss - OH SHIT!!! lol) When you master the patterns, you can start picking them apart and they're even more fun. Extra points for boss fight music that get's better over time.
Even more than bosses made up of many parts I like boss-fights that involve many different enemies, like the cannons/turrets in many Compile games. Or one big boss with several smaller enemies at his side, like in the second level of Rapid Hero.
As another example see Dragon Blaze or Strikers 3/1999. In those games you can either just shoot the boss till it dies, or if you wait a while a weakpoint will reveal for a 1-shot kill. This is usually timed to a particually difficult pattern to make pulling it off harder, but is more rewarding if you can do it.
It depends on the game, but generally bosses with glaring weaknesses feel a bit lame. The Gradius games generally work because you're much less powerful at minimum strength compared to with full Options + Laser. The challenge is often in simply reaching the bosses at full firepower, and even then you often have multiple of the bosses to face in a row. Even still, it's fun fighting bosses with a lot of health or a lot of parts to break off.
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