8 Memorable First Bosses In Final Fantasy, Ranked
With so many games in the Final Fantasy series, only a few of the first bosses stand out.
The bosses in the Final Fantasy games are well-known for how great they are. Even though there are so many games in the Final Fantasy series, there have been some amazing boss fights that players may remember.
In RPGs, boss fights are often difficult, and a big room is never a good sign for players who want to avoid a fight. But the first boss fights in the mentioned Final Fantasy games are memorable for more than one reason.
Ymir (Final Fantasy 6)
In Final Fantasy 6, Ymir is the first boss. The boss is not very interesting to look at because it looks like a big snail with a fancy shell. It’s the things that happen around this boss that make the fight stand out. The game starts with a dramatic walk through the snow with graphics that are much better than what the SNES could do at the time.
Then, players get to use a mech to wipe out enemies in the town, which all leads up to this boss fight. It also teaches players that sometimes it’s best to wait to attack enemies who are in protective positions.
Ifrit (Final Fantasy 8)
Ifrit is a Summon from the series that changes from one game to the next. At this point in the series, it was rare to fight Summons, so starting Final Fantasy 8 with this first boss battle was kind of scary.This was the first thing Squall had to do when he woke up in the hospital after a bad fight with Seifer.
For Squall to pass his test, he had to fight Ifrit, get his power, and go back to school. The boss is not very hard or interesting, but it is a different way to start a game in this series, so it makes the cut.
Plant Brain (Final Fantasy 9)
In Final Fantasy 9, there are a lot of bosses before the Plant Brain. Technically, the first boss could be the Bomb onstage with the play or the Plant Cages in the woods. All of these encounters do teach you something and are easy to beat, so they feel more like mini-bosses.
The Plant Brain at the end of the forest feels like the first real test of skill for players who are new to this world. It also has one of the coolest and saddest chase scenes in the whole series, which helps fans remember it forever.
Garland (Final Fantasy)
Garland is not only the first boss in the first FF game, but also the first boss in the whole series. The players form a group, and then they have to beat Garland, who used to be a brave soldier for the kingdom. After you beat him and go back to the country, you see the game’s title card and a scroll of text that sets up the rest of the story.
It’s a guaranteed way to set the tone for a role-playing game. It went against what people expected from an RPG in 1990 in the West or 1987 in Japan, which seems crazy to say now since the game seems so old.
Chaos (Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin)
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a new spinoff that tries to tell the same story as the first game by setting it up as a prequel.All of the parts don’t quite fit together, but to say more would be to give away the plot. The point is that the game starts out like the first FF, with a boss fight against Chaos, who looks like Garland dressed as a knight.
As soon as this video came out, the word “Chaos” became a meme, and the full game did not disappoint. Even though Jack can’t help but talk about Chaos almost all the time, the boss fight is still fun.
Morbol (Final Fantasy 16)
Malboro is a classic monster in this game, and most players are scared of him. That’s because its attacks can often lower your stats in ways that can be annoying or even deadly. Like Ifrit in FF8, one of these things has never been the first major fight in a game.
In Doodle Baseball, Malboro is now called Morbol, but it looks the same, though it is scary. It’s a good first boss because it shows a younger Clive trying to prove himself in a village that has been destroyed.
Cuchulainn The Impure (Final Fantasy Tactics)
The boss fights in Final Fantasy Tactics are not like the ones in the other games in the series. There are maps with stronger enemies, but with the right strategies, these human forces in the Ivalice series are still easy to take out. So it was a big surprise when Cuchulainn The Impure brought the first real big boss fight.
The main point of the story was that corrupt church leaders turned into devils when they touched the Zodiac Stones. Cardinal Delacroix, for instance, puts the Scorpio Zodiac Stone in his body to turn into Cuchulainn, a monster. The Impure, like Malboro, can cause some very bad damage to your stats.
Guard Scorpion (Final Fantasy 7 Remake)
In Final Fantasy 7, the Guard Scorpion was a notable boss fight because it started with a daring escape from an exploding reactor. In the remake, that escape scene is still cool, but the boss fight is even better. It’s also hard because the Guard Scorpion has a lot more energy and phases than before.
It will be interesting to see if Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has a better first boss than the Guard Scorpion. If the Midgar Zolom is in the game, it could. For now, the Guard Scorpion from the remake will stay a great boss in the history of FF, remake or not.
