One of the major evolutions that occurred with action games was the development of random pattern design. The greater development of “random pattern” combat is something that every action game designer needs to understand. While still on the basic side compared to what’s to come, all three titles created bosses that you couldn’t just go on autopilot to fight.
What these games did was introduce bosses with larger random patterns. My personal top three favorite action games of all time are Ninja Gaiden Black, Devil May Cry 3, and Godhand. It wasn’t until the early 2000s when action game designers began to step things up in a way that would be further defined by Demon’s Souls. The souls series has elevated what people expect from boss encounters For FPS that did have puzzle fights, it could be hard to figure out why a boss was not dying after you filled them full of rocket launcher ammo.
You can only do damage when the boss is able to take it, and it can often be confusing as to how to hurt these enemies.įor many FPS, boss fights were often just a larger enemy that you need to put more lead into to defeat them. The important element of these fights is that as the player you are not really “fighting” these enemies. Despite lots of sword-swinging, the 3D Zelda games all had puzzle boss-like design, and the slew of 3D platformers - from Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and many more.