What makes a Boss Battle, Epic...fun...interesting? Options

[amaro57]

For my current project, I've already planned out all the boss fights in advance before developing them. I recently started thinking that maybe the player wouldn't like my idea of a fun boss battle.

Thus leading to this thread. What are your ideas of fun and epic boss battles? Be it small touches and details or completely new twists.

In my opinion, I always like a bit of thinking involved in some fights. Not just a straight forward hack and slash but a boss that requires you to find a weakness of some sort and utilize it to an extent. Persona 3 comes to mind here for me. Even a simple or complex puzzle is welcoming and fun for me. For example, in a nutshell, one of my planned "fights" is for the player to hit all the switches while the environment is constantly changing using acquired abilities.

[merrill]

I've always thought the Persona series handles boss battles wonderfully. They aren't a dull grind where you spend 30 minutes cutting down essentially any other enemy except bigger and with 5x the HP, they are dangerous do-or-die situations with unique gimmicks that keep you on your toes and require well thought out tactics.

Party banter is an unfortunately underused factor for making bosses interesting as well. Assuming you have well realized and well written characters, relevant back-and-forth quips can amuse players throughout the battle and even be used to give hints concerning possible weaknesses and strategies.