Creating Good Bosses

When making a good boss, there are key things that you want to take into consideration in order to make a successful fight. There are multiple successes you want to obtain. You want to obtain the bosses "Popularity", and "Difficulty".

These two should coincide with each other.
My "Elemental Crystals is probably one of my notorious bosses when it comes to difficulty. Only one person has shown to be able to defeat them all. Since it doesn't really pertain to any subject, it's not really popular. It's been out since April 06, 2009 and has a sum of about 800+ votes.

My "Fat Ass Pikachu" battle is probably my easiest recent boss I've made. Since "Pikachu" is a popular subject and the word "Fat Ass" are used in title, it has a lot more votes. It has about tripple the votes then that of the Elemental Crystals.


With the above being stated, there are key things to making a successful boss.
They are:

Difficulty - There is a difference between difficult and challenging and over powered and boring. You can give a boss some-million HP and he'll be so boring the player might not want to complete the battle, unless you make it fun. To do so, you need to come up with a smart script. There is a difference between knowing how to script, and making an intelligence script. A few things I run by my self when making a boss is "what will the player do when I ...". I don't just have my boss act, and react. He also interacts with the party, at least I try to get that feeling that the boss has an AI instead of just a dull script. Do something that's never been done before.

Uniqueness - The uniqueness is what sets aside your boss from other creations, obviously. A good example are my "FF5 vs FF6" and "FF6 vs FF7" boss battles. I show a unique fight against the the characters of those battles. The reason they are popular is because in FF5, it shows the FF5 cast. FF6 vs FF7 has always been an argumentative topic, and this hack was meant to settle it which is best in your eyes.
FF5 vs FF6 = 27,669 Views
FF6 vs FF7 = 16,486 Views

Creativeness - This is more of a play on to "Uniqueness" but when adding custom features to your hack, that also makes it more interesting. I try and add more than just a new boss to my hacks for people to play. I usually try to add in custom spells with custom animations and new characters.

Artistic - This is another minor, and yet very major key to making a good boss. I hate to point fingers at which are bad (in my eyes only) and which are good but lets take a look at a boss on YouTube.
Sephiroth in FF6 is one example of an atrocious sprite. Don't even make me get the link for that Apple...
The background also doesn't help him, and the sprite is badly colored. Don't make his mistake, I have tutorials on how to fix this so if you don't know, please check them out. I have the utmost faith that all of you reading this know how to fix that by now.

Plot - The plot is what makes the battle enjoyable. Without it, it won't feel the same. You can never do a half ass job when making bosses. If you do, it'll show. I like to give my bosses the edited "Wrex Soul" introduction which I use in several of my hacks.
I.e, FF5 vs FF6, Crystals of Power, etc.



This isn't meant to be read as if I'm dictating what's right or wrong, or that I think I'm better than you. I'm simply writing this to help anyone who makes a boss become a greater boss creator.
I hope this gives some incite to you the readers.