Unnamed Podcast With Me n Craig Episode 2

We discuss our favorite anime heroes and villains. Listen here!

Why the Super Metroid Ridley Fight is Boss Perfection

For the fan of action and adventure games, boss battles typically provide some of the most memorable and enjoyable moments. When talking about Twilight Princess, people won’t typically mention a particularly well-designed puzzle in the Arbiter’s Grounds, but rather their first time riding rails on the spinner trying to smash into the floating demon head of Stallord. Fewer people discuss the mundane encounters of admittedly challenging scrubs in Dark Souls than folks that mention the time they finally beat that one Fat Guy and his Quick Buddy (I’ve never played Dark Souls). For a game to truly leave a strong impression, it’s gotta have good bosses. But what makes for a good boss fight? We can explore that through what I believe to be the perfect case study: the Super Metroid Ridley fight. 

Can you get him to drop the Metroid? I've never been able to.

Bosses are frequently just crazy-looking monsters that are no more than mere obstacles in the player’s path. Remarkable bosses, on the other hand, establish themselves as hateworthy before they challenge the player to combat. One of the (innumerable) strengths of Super Metroid is its seamless blending of an in-universe story and a narrative that the players themselves write when they subjectively experience the game. Samus straddles (heh) the line between character and avatar in a way that very few video game protagonists can match. When Samus (and the player) are first exploring the Ceres Space Colony and encounter Ridley as the first enemy in the game, it makes an impression on the player (and Samus, by extension…do you see what I’m getting at here?) when he handily kicks her/the player’s ass and runs off with the last Metroid. The objective of the game, recovering the Metroid, has been laid out, and it’s clear that this path will ultimately go through Ridley. This creates motivation not only for the heroine of the game, but also for the player - it becomes personal. This results in greater anticipation when he finally appears to fight Samus, and greater catharsis after victory. This ultimately results in a stronger impression.

Boss fights are also periodic tests of skill. There are no better example than Zelda bosses, who often reside at the end of dungeons, and who require use of the most recently-acquired item to defeat. Bosses toward the end of a game, therefore, should require that the player use most, if not all, of their acquired skills when fighting them. Let’s put a flag in this concept, as it intertwines with the final, and perhaps, strongest feature of the Ridley fight.

No matter the design of the enemy or environment, a boss fight will only be as good as the actual battle itself. Unfortunately, bosses seem to too often fall into a boring formula. The boss attacks a few times, and then will show a temporary opening of an obvious weak spot. The player attacks, and then the enemy will resume this pattern, maybe with a few new variations, until they are eventually defeated. To me, this takes all of the tension out of the fight for a couple of reasons. First, instead of a desperate struggle, the fight just boils down to pattern recognition (the lowest form of intelligence, I might add) and waiting. Once the sequence has been figured out, it’s difficult to lose the fight. This turns the battle into a glorified cut scene that only serves as a break from normal gameplay, not a truly challenging moment to be conquered. Secondly, I find this enemy behavior to be unrealistic, which destroys my suspension of disbelief. If some great enemy has several attacks at their disposal, but only one of them makes them vulnerable to counterattack, why would they ever use that particular attack against the player? This destroys the illusion that the player is fighting a formidable opponent, and makes it feel more like they’re following a pre-determined course. 

The entire fight is pretty much this intense.

Which brings us back to Ridley. Ridley avoids these common pitfalls by going all-out right from the beginning. Ridley is always vulnerable; none of the attacks in his arsenal render him any more or less vulnerable, and there’s never any pauses in his assault. He goes all out, and it’s up to the player to dodge his attacks and find their own windows for offense. This ties back to the previous concept: you’ll need every skill you’ve gained to beat Ridley. Again, this is done in an organic and realistic way. There’s no obvious tentacles that need to be cut with a boomerang (really picking on Zelda today…sorry!). You have all of your tools, and it’s up to you to figure out how to use them to fight Ridley. Do you patiently charge up your Plasma Beam for more damage output per shot? Do you spam missiles? Do you use Super Missiles early or late in the fight? Are Power Bombs best used to do damage, or should they be reserved for an emergency Crystal Flash if you get low on health? How good are your Space Jump skills, and how much of the fight should you do while airborne as opposed to on the platform? The game, and Ridley’s actions, don’t spoon feed you the answer. You fight the battle your way, which parallels Samus fighting the battle her way.

The Ridley fight from Super Metroid doesn’t fall into gamey tropes. It’s a totally believable display of what a fight between Ridley and Samus would look like if both characters existed in the real world. Ridley goes all out, not giving Samus/the player any unnecessary tactical advantage and requiring that Samus/the player use every tool at their disposal - in their own way - to defeat him. And because he has been established from the beginning as an enemy worthy of being conquered, the fight establishes real stakes and interest that elevate it to a brilliant example of Boss Fight Done Right! Rhyming bonus activate.

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My top 10 favorite Fire Emblem Heroes units right now

Apparently I'm getting better at blogging, because I've been doing more analytical content and less cheap top 10s. Let's break the streak.

These are my 10 favorite units in Fire Emblem Heroes right now. When making this list, I considered how much I like the source character, the art design of the particular unit in-game, and their overall utility. I've included screenshots of my current builds of these characters for you to check out as well if that interests you. I also won't be repeating different versions of individual characters (for example, I use multiple Hectors, Lyns, and Camillas, but I'll only pick my favorite of each to avoid redundancy).

10. Marissa

I kind of forgot that Marissa was a character in my original playthrough of FE8, but her design is just superb. I've got a good all-around kit for her, which focuses on attack priority, accelerated special cooldown w/ increased special damage, and debuffs.

9. Leo

Leo is one of the most difficult characters to summon in the game, so he's one of my many units I'm #blessed to be able to use. His art style fits him perfectly. My Leo is designed to only be run on a cavalry team. His blade tome makes the most of cavalry buffs, while he provides them himself. Reposition is on all of my cavalry units for increased mobility. Quick Riposte is built into his kit and helps make up for his low speed, and Deflect Missile protects him from being nuked (get it?) by arrows.

8. Xander

Xander was one of the first powerful units I had access to, and his build is a bit antiquated as a result. His sword allows for distant counter, which is always useful. He has the standard cavalry buff and Reposition. Brash Assault was an experiment by me, but now that I think about it, I should try to get him a Quick Riposte. I don't have a seal on him either...maybe I'll give him Deflect Magic, which could help him survive magic attacks, his biggest weakness.

Edit: In the time between drafting and publishing this post, I followed my own advice and made the above changes. I also replaced Death Blow with Fury. You may notice that he's now Ally Support Rank A with Brave Lyn now, too.

7. L'Arachel

One of the two superb characters from FE8 (standby for the other), I was so thrilled when they finally dropped L'Arachel and even more stoked when I summoned her. Her kit focuses on buffing her already-good stats. Her unique weapon gives her defense, attack, and speed buffs; Swift Sparrow buffs attack and speed further; and she's usually the recipient of a cavalry buff or two. I bumped her speed up a wee bit more with a seal, and B Tomebreaker is basically Reinhardt insurance.

6. Joshua

Almost all of my favorite Fire Emblem characters were available at Heroes' launch, but Joshua (and every FE8 character sans Eirika and Ephraim) was noticeably absent. He was my most-desired character for most of the game, and he hasn't disappointed since appearing as a Tempest Trial reward. Incredibly tanky for an infantry swordsman, I currently have him in a defensive build taking full advantage of his Close Def skill, stacking that with an additional Close Def seal. If I ever get access to another Distant Counter skill, however, I'll probably re-work him.

5. Setsuna

One of my all-time favorite waifus, Setsuna was my first high-investment project in this game. The build uses her top-tier speed to mitigate her poor attack, using a Brave Bow + to allow for 4 hits (with a guaranteed activation of Luna) on almost every unit in the game. Reciprocal Aid has the potential to put her in Desperation range, allowing her to hit all four times without being counter-attacked once. Even with this game's power creep, that's typically enough to take out most units in the game.

4. Cherche

My favorite Awakening waifu, Cherche is my best player-phase unit in the game. Brave Axe + with Death Blow maximizes her attack potential and nullifies her poor speed. Luna and flier buffs are icing on the cake. She can be quite defensive as well, and Iote's Shield protects her from archers. Magic of any color will make quick work of her, though. She's best friends (i.e. Ally Support) with #2 on this list, and the two of them make a strong case for the deadliest duo in my FEH lineup.

3. Lyn (Love Abounds)

There's no question in my mind that this Lyn is my best overall unit in the game. Her armor status gives her exceptional mixed bulk, and Guard keeps her from being blown up by specials. Armor March is the cornerstone of any Armor Emblem build, and allows Lyn to pair up with my #1 unit to wreck the battlefield. Her attack is below average, but armor buffs, a seal, and an owl tome buff the heck out of all her stats, and the game's overall lack of high-res characters mitigates her lack of attack as well. The crown jewel on the kit is Close Counter, which means there's no good way for enemies to approach her without severe punishment. And man, that watercolor-style art is so, so bomb.

2. Camilla (Happy New Year!)

You'll notice the background of the above screenshot is different, and that's because this Cami is (Borat voice) mai waifu! in Heroes, and I don't think that will change. I have well-documented crush on this Nohrian Princess, and I love her look here. Instead of her usual dominatrix outfit, Camilla goes for a classier, prettier look with the kimono. With Summoner Support, Ally Support (with Cherche, who always flies with her), and flier buffs, her attack soars to ridiculous levels. If her attack is higher than her opponent's (which it basically always is), her seal will decrease her special cooldown for each blow exchanged from either unit. This allows her to activate Luna on almost every encounter, which basically guarantees her victory. Blue mages who hit hard (like Delthea) and archers are the only units that have a chance to beat her, but with Reposition and Cherche watching her back, she'll probably be able to kill them before they have a chance to attack.

1. Hector (Love Abounds)

Summoning the standard Hector was one of my favorite moments in Heroes, but you can imagine how #blessed I was when a special Hector was dropped and I was fortunate enough to get him too. This Armads accelerates special cooldown and adds a Wo Dao-like special bonus as well. The rest of his build is identical to standard Hector, with the deadly Vantage and Distant Counter combo and an armor buff. The original Armads has a built-in Quick Riposte that's missing now, but I made up for this with a Quick Riposte seal. The end result is a Hector that's even better looking and more powerful than the original. I shipped him with Love Abounds Lyn, and it looks like the two of them will lead me to the long-awaited Tier 19.

This was fun; hope you enjoyed as well. If you have any suggestions for alternative builds or skills for any of these characters, HMU on Twitter.