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The Besties - Best Final Boss [Bracket Battle] (Patreon)

Published:
2024-02-15 15:14:02
Imported:
2026-06
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[Here's how to add your Besties/Resties subscription to your podcast app and/or Spotify]

To kick off our first Besties Bracket bonus episode, we're skipping to the end. That's right, it's time for a showdown of the best final bosses. From Bowser in Mario 64 to the Pope in Assassin's Creed 2, which baddie towers above the rest?

We're judging bosses on three metrics:

The fight itself (gameplay-wise)

The bosses' "cool factor" in terms of lore and design

And as a tie-breaker, which of any two bosses would win in a fight

The Besties boss bracket showdowns

Bowser in Super Mario 64 vs. Baby Bowser in Yoshi's Island

Baldur in God of War (2018) vs. The Pope in Assassin's Creed 2

Mother Brain in Super Metroid vs. The Radiance in Hollow Knight

Riven in Destiny 2: Forsaken vs. Wheatley in Portal 2

Hades in Hades vs. Isshin the Sword Saint in Sekiro

Ganondorf in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom vs. Malus in Shadow of the Colossus

Gigyas from Earthbound vs. Omega Flowey in Undertale

Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII vs. Solidus Snake in Metal Gear Solid II

Let us know your favorite final boss and how they would do with our judging criteria!

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Comments

GenericKito

Umm actually or I guess here is an intern correction the final boss in Yoshi’s island is not Bowser’s son but the baby form of King Koopa himself. So it would Bowser vs. his younger self.

Kyle Van Son

Bless you for including Wheatley, which is absolutely my favorite. Also need to give props to: Senator Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Ganondorf in Wind Waker Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts 2

Casey Francis Alger

At first with only a quick glance, I thought when the list referenced Riven that someone had brought up Gehn from the Myst franchise and was surprised. Hoping for an honorable mention of Gwyn from DS1. Excited to listen!

Chase!

There has to be an amount of money we can pay to get the cast to play Undertale and discuss it

Chase Wheatley

It's a stretch to call them a "final boss," but I loved fighting with MaxTac in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0. I would also shout out the Doc Ock boss battle from Spider-Man PS4. From this bracket, for me I think it would come down to Hades vs. Wheatley (no relation). Fights with Hades have such great emotional stakes, and you get to know the mechanics really well from the repetition, but the Big Moment in Wheatley's final battle is possibly one of my favorite moments in video games, ever.

Dustin Siegel

Just my 2 cents: I don't give a F**k about Sephiroth.

Jason Markins

I would have put the corrupt heart from slay the spire against the radiance in Hollow knight

setgendertono

Really loving the late night energy of this, I hope the other bonus eps have the same hilarious goofiness in the future!! Good luck on the Patreon!!

Myles Donohue

Haven’t listened yet but the answer HAS to be Isshin the Sword Saint. That mf beat my ass for 8 straight hours but when I finally cooked him I felt a Sense of Pride and Accomplishment only matched by purchasing Battlefront II microtransactions

Jody Anthony

Also YOU defeating giygas (as in you the player joining in the prayer) was such a cool moment

Kyle Starr

I recently played through all of the 2D Metroids (playing the remakes instead of originals), and absolutely think the Mother Brain fight holds up. Mechanically, meh, but that’s the whole game now. But cinematically, yes! Especially with the narrative through line that’s been gussied up with Zero Mission and Samus Returns.

Hila SketchCat Shats

the undertale/earthbound discussion was really interesting to me as a younger person, because the way plante talked about earthbound was my exact experience with undertale. I wasn't a kid more late teen but i didn't play a lot of games growing up and undertale was my first experience of oh video games can be THIS. I think it is worth mentioning the Asriel fight as a second phase of flowey (even if it is just the pacifist route, they are still the same person) and that also has the calling to your friends souls to help you out which sounds like a similar experience. But this definitely made me want to play earthbound!

Buck

No mention of how the pope fight ends with like a minute of just punching a helpless pope in the face over and over? That may be the best moment in video game history.

Thingsathirdman

So awesome guys. So glad to be able to support you directly after so long. My silly take away from this episode was that you were going to introduce a Patreon only New York Carafe. Serious take is that this episode was just the boss!

Logan Anderson Makis

Legit made a pattern to subscribe to y’all. So glad to still get the besties in all the forms through the years

ThanaThots

I think the lore of Sword Saint Isshin is pretty cool, and it’s built up to throughout the game. But like most FromSoft titles it takes some real digging to flesh out.

BucklingSwashes

One thing I think should've been a clearly defined part of the rubric is spectacle. It's a huge part of what makes boss fights memorable, even if the lore or mechanics aren't as impactful.

Maya Reter

Have any of the Besties fought Extreme Measures Hades? It turns an iconic boss fight up like 3 notches, it’s so wild. Normal hades can definitely be a “report card check” but EM Hades is both skill and strategy in such a fun way!

Alexander

To be fair in Hollow Knight we don’t ever see any human objects in Hollow Knight, this may be another planet/dimension where the bugs are human sized.

Ryan Sands

Justice for Starscourge Radahn

Kathryn

Haven’t finished the episode but have to stop and note that Chris Plante saying “pope stick” so matter of factly made me snort laugh

Max!

I feel like if the Radiance is tied to the dream realm or whatever and brains is where dreams happen then Radiance has a chance to really cream Mother Brain, but I don't know enough Hollow Knight lore to prove it

Nick Macaluso

For the record, it's not father and son, it's Bowser vs himself as a baby

Nick Macaluso

It's still really weird to me that Undertale didn't vibe that much with anyone on the Besties, but Griffin especially

Sagi

This was so fun and congrats on the Patreon launch!! I'm glad I listened while lounging at home because I got to periodically pause the episode to look up the fights on youtube for added enjoyment. (That got me thinking: What if for the brackets that have specific visual elements that can be encapsulated in a short video, links to youtube videos or something could be included in the ep description? I don't feel too strongly about this suggestion and can see where it would be trickier to implement, but just putting it out there).

Charlie Dalton

Loved the "sleepover" vibes and chaos of this, congrats on the launch guys. As for the list, my only regret is Mother Brain not getting binned sooner... very overrated, at least for me having first played Super Metroid in the last decade. Griff gave a great pitch for the Radiance and it deserved to win (easy top 3 of this whole list), so I was eating it up when my girl Riven got the brain next round. So happy she made it to the finals, you guys did justice to what a special boss fight she was.

bjorktribe

Solidus Snake for being confusing to look at with his wacky waving arms that he.... throws away? What even is this guy doing? Is that supposed to be threatening? My guess is Sephiroth walks away not wanting to deal with him. Victory by forfeit.

Dylan Hewitt

(BG3 slight spoiler?) I know it isn't a FINAL boss fight, but I think my favorite fight of all time may go to the Cazador fight in BG3, it's a final boss in terms of being the last mission in Astarion's storyline and has some of the most emotional moments of any fight that I can remember. Neil Newbon's acting really sells the fight, especially in the post-fight cutscene, and the narrative choice you have to make regarding Astarion after the fight is SO important to his character and how you play the game! Honestly one of my top 10 gaming moments.

Joel Castelli

Awesome ep guys, congrats on the Patreon launch!

IHaveARussFrushtickBodyPillow

I was on the fence about spending money since I never did patreon support before, but honestly you guys sold it pretty well on The Besties and this episode does not disappoint

AbalonePrime

Awesome episode, lads! Thank you for all the years of hard work and great entertainment. I'm stoked to have a way to support the art I love directly.

David Edgar

The final boss of Sekiro took me 24 hours worth of attempts. It's the angriest I've ever been at a game. Made me never want to play again. But I did beat him. For what it's worth, I never parry in any game. Sekiro was my kryptonite.

stormandozone

Loved the energy on this one! The riven fight remains one of my absolute most favored moments from games, and everything from the lore and world implications to the mechanics really spoke to my favorite bits of destiny, so hearing others (Griffin) being as stoked as me was awesome

Nic

Hi Besties, Been a big fan of the podcast for a while now. I’m a 41 year-old dude who got the NES for Christmas in 1986, which is to say I’ve been playing video games for most of my life. I say this not to pad any sort of gamer cred (of which I have none), but rather to provide context for saying thank you. Thank you, Besties for not only giving me permission, but also encouraging lowering the difficulty level of games if/when they wrong kind of difficult for me. Having cut my teeth on the Nintendo Entertainment System as a young child, I have been trained to accept that videos came be painfully frustrating and not fun…while still being fun. As I’ve gotten older and time and priorities changed, I no longer have the patience or willingness to push through the pain to finish games. You’ve opened my eyes and allowed me to find more fun in video games again. Keep on keeping on, Nic from Chicago. P.S. Justin and Griffin, great recommendation with Pranesi. I devoured it in 24 hours. It made for a beautiful companion piece to Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (highly recommend if you haven’t read it; first class world-building). P.P.S. How awesome and weird was Mystical Ninja 64? I think about that game all the time, despite not having played it in 25 years.

Stephen

To use one of my favorite Griffin phrases, this episode "absolutely rips ass." Fantastic vibe and energy and I had an absolute blast listening to it. I'm so excited for more ♥️

Brad MacDonald

The energy in these patreon pods just seem so much more enthusiastic. I love it.

rooster87

I’m not able to get these episodes added to Overcast or Spotify. I can only listen through the Patreon app. Is something not enabled yet?

Brandon Benjamin

I think they did a disservice in dismissing SS Isshin just because some people never beat him. I think that adds to the allure and it takes place in the first area where you lose and think the game is gonna crush you. That was special.

Will Metzler

Isshin is the clear winner overall in my heart. Also not sure how we can write off the number of players who beat him when a Destiny DLC boss moved on 🫠

solidsnakemg

I feel like they needed to include at least one final raid boss from WoW. Especially with the criteria of mechanics and lore. That's like all those bosses are.

Walker Weber

One of the best final boss fights of all time is the heart from Slay The Spire. He didn't exist when I first started playing and there was so much mystery when you completed runs but knew that wasn't the end. Plus the mechanics of his fight are so different from any other enemy and so smart how it makes you change your approach to building your deck. You have to plan for him differently than any other enemy.

Starboundfinch

I will preface this by admitting my bias because I have been a fromsoft lover for a decade, but I did 100% both games (twice in hades' case coz ps4 and 5 don't share trophies). Isshin sweeps the lore category because the game is predicated on Genichiro trying to steal the powers of immortality from the Young Lord in order to save the nation Ashina. When you clap his checks for the second time, he understands he is no match so he sacrifices himself to bring forth the loving embodiment of Ashina, Prime Isshin. Not only is it a younger version of you, but he also knows you as if he is still the old man you've conversed with and more or less befriended The concession I will make is that Fromsoft games have a tendency to effectively have their own unique language when it comes to lore and storytelling. If you know how to read into it, it's insanely satisfying lore, but meaningless if you don't, shown with Isshin being called "just a neck guy" lmao. As Justin and Griffin said though, the game gives a unique sense of satisfaction and pride after beating it. It is a monumental mythological story filled with many complex threads that blend folklore with reality. (And he isn't a boss you fight only while following the true ending as if there's a bunch if esoteric stuff to do along the way, he's the default final boss, two of the endings do require loads of esoteric and easily missed conversations, but thats beside the point)

apers

Don’t um. Don’t worry about how far back I scrolled to do this… “Boss Baby 1 or Boss Baby 2” really misses the ultimate Boss Baby: Boss Baby, from the Book. (The movies are based on a book by Marla Frazee.)