Shack Chat: Who's your favorite fighting game final boss?

This weekend, Combo Breaker 2024 is going down in Chicago, Illinois. With fighting games on the mind, we're looking back at the best final showdowns from our favorite fighting games.

Question: Who's your favorite fighting game final boss?

Whoever's Left Standing (Capcom vs. SNK 2) - Ozzie Mejia, Senior Challenger

Let's set up some context on this one. You have to earn a hidden boss fight in Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001. You have to have an epic Arcade Mode run and fulfill a handful of conditions, which I don't know off the top of my head and I'm not about to look up as I'm writing this.

If you fulfill all of the conditions, your Arcade Mode run will end with lightning striking on the victory cutscene. The scene will then shift to an epic battle between Akuma and Rugal, the two biggest bads of their respective publisher. You'll then face off against whoever's left standing. It could be Akuma. It could be Rugal. It could be Akuma killing and absorbing the power of Rugal, becoming Shin Akuma. Or it could be Rugal annihilating Akuma and absorbing his power to become God Rugal.

It isn't just that this fight is wildly cheap and hard as hell. It's all the extra steps you have to take to get to it and the fact that this game makes you feel like you've earned this moment. It's such a cool presentation. It's been almost 25 years and we haven't seen anything like it since. This is how you put the cap on a massive fight between two giant rosters.

Rugal Bernstein - TJ Denzer, NEWS EDITOR CUTTAH!!

Ozzie sums up what is arguably Rugal’s best appearance well. I love Capcom Vs SNK 2 and almost thought about picking God Rugal when this topic was decided, but the more I think about it, the more I just think he’s the best big bad in fighting games in general.

Rugal starts as the final boss of King of Fighters 94. There, he hosted the tournament and would reward the victor if they could beat him. But really, if he were to beat them, he planned to turn them into stone statues for his museum of fighters. He failed, but he didn’t go down without a tremendous fight that introduced players to the nightmarish Kaiser Wave, Genocide Cutter, Dark Barrier, and God Press.

Rugal’s first appearance was deamed so hard that it started SNK’s reputation for insane final boss difficulties. And his legend only grew. In KOF2002, Omega Rugal could be unlocked, prompting many to ban him from play. It’s actually a famous meme in Mexico where even former governor Jaime Rodríguez Calderón once famously warned against playing Rugal when playing KOF with friends. Rugal is a freak full of swagger with a history of devastating gameplay and lore to match. How could I choose any other?

Master Hand - Asif Khan, Shacknews CEO/EIC/EIEIO

While Super Smash Bros. Ultimate may not be in the best shape as a fighting game or esport in 2024, I still look back fondly at the World of Light game mode and its final boss the Master Hand. The giant white-gloved hand has been the big bad guy in the Smash Bros. series for quite some time, but there was nothing like watching Master Hand kill all of your favorite video game characters in that opening cinematic. Akuma and Shao Kahn are cool and all, but neither of them ever killed Mario in cold blood.

Alpha-152, Dead or Alive 4 - Sam Chandler, Lover not a fighter

I’m not much of a fighting game player, so put any final boss in front of me and I’ll struggle. But I did play a bunch of Dead or Alive 4 on the Xbox 360 back when the console first launched. As one of the few launch titles, I spent a fair amount of time smashing through the story with each character, but each time the final boss would rock my socks. Alpha-152 teleports, is extremely fast, and can annihilate your health. I think it like this one most because of the challenge but also because it looks like a Listerine version of Kasumi.

Brainiac, Injustice 2 - Donovan Erskine, Green Arrow Main

Injustice 2 is one of my favorite fighting games of all time, and the story is a major reason why. The final battle against Brainiac is an excellent culmination of two games worth of storytelling and caps off one of the better DC Comics adaptations over the past decade. Honestly, looking back on it just makes me sad that there still hasn’t been an announcement of Injustice 3. Sigh.

Master Hand, Super Smash Bros. - Steve Tyminski, Stevetendo show host, These hands!

What is my favorite fighting game final boss? I’m not the biggest fighting game fan but I’ll give it a shot. I think I’ll go with Master Hand from Super Smash Bros. I have always liked the idea of the game being played with toys. Having a hand as the final boss adds to that thinking that a kid is playing with these toys, having fun, and making up fights. Where else other than a kid's mind could you have Super Mario fight Pikachu, Link, and Samus? Later games added the likes of Mega Man and Banjo-Kazooie to the mix. I also really like the boss fight music Smash Bros has but I like all the music in Smash. I’m going with Master Hand for my favorite fighting game final boss

Those are our favorite final bosses in video games. Who are yours? Sound off in the Chatty! If you're watching Combo Breaker this weekend, you can keep up with the competition using our handy event guide.

Shack Staff

Shack Staff stories are a collective effort with multiple staff members contributing. Many of our lists often involve entires from several editors, and our weekly Shack Chat is something we all contribute to as a group.