Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a beloved title. This is due to its incredible presentation, over-the-top story, and of course the fast-paced gameplay. Rising offers a true adrenaline rush with its aggressive and frantic combat, a perfect mix of precision and cutting loose, and this is showcased best in its memorable boss fights.
Metal Gear Rising’s boss fights are some of the best in gaming, each offering a show of pure spectacle while also offering interesting gameplay challenges. Each of them stands out for different reasons, whether it be a tough test of skill, a fascinating mechanic, a fantastic role in the story, or just sheer presentation with roaring music.
9 Grad
While the majority of Metal Gear Rising’s bosses are a memorable experience, there is one that stands out as horribly forgettable, and it happens to be the boss of the most forgettable chapter: the Grad. The Grad is a mechanized war-machine found deep in the Desperado labs, being the final challenge Raiden faces off against.
The Grad doesn’t really even feel like a true boss compared to the others as it lacks so much. It fails to really have any unique mechanics, just feeling like a bullet sponge version of enemies you’ve already faced. Not to mention it’s incredibly annoying with its first phase. In addition, it doesn’t hold any story purpose; you just fight it for no reason. It says a lot that it doesn’t even get a unique theme, just reusing Rules of Nature. This thing is utterly forgettable.
A first boss is something important to get right; your first boss will set the standard for everything going forward and the tone of the whole game, and despite ranking low, Metal Gear Ray does this perfectly. Ray is the first boss, coming back from Metal Gear Solid 2, to serve as a seemingly impossible foe that you end up taking down effortlessly.
Now, Ray isn’t exactly the most engaging boss in terms of gameplay, as its first phase is rather dull with just running back and forth to attack it, and the second is only a bit more interesting, but Ray excels in presentation — that running back and forth is completely eclipsed by the fact you catch and toss a Metal Gear into the air and chop it to pieces while the track Rules of Nature plays, serving as the perfect adrenaline boost. It’s not the best boss, but it sets the tone of the game perfectly.
7 Blade Wolf
Sometimes, bosses are held back a bit by what they need to do in terms of gameplay. Tutorial bosses will always have to be more basic than others, but it doesn’t mean they can’t be memorable like with Blade Wolf. Blade Wolf is the first true boss of Metal Gear Rising that sets the standard going forward — a robotic dog used by Desperado.
Blade Wolf exists to teach the player how to handle one-on-one fights with parrying, having simple attack patterns for players who want to take things slow and learn them, and the potential to utterly destroy the boss if you already know parrying. But, Blade Wolf’s fight is very short-lived due to this nature, without much complexity like later bosses.
6 Sundowner
Sometimes, a boss fight falls short not due to being simplistic or not having enough spectacle, but just due to being a little too easy and leaving us wanting more. Enter Sundowner. Sundowner is one of the more important villains of MGR who you finally face as the final Wind of Destruction, a violent warmonger with a mouth as big as his body count.
Sundowner starts off as one of the better bosses in the game, with fantastic ambiance and atmosphere with the arena and a brilliant mechanic of having to precisely strike to pick apart Sundowner’s shield, making for a wonderful slow progression. But, when he hits phase 2, you can kind of just tear through his health, and it’s over before it really even gets started, leaving the fight as a brilliant concept, but underwhelming in the end.
While Metal Gear Ray was a spectacle, it wasn’t really a true boss, so what would happen if the game took a similar concept but added real challenges and stakes? Well, you’d have the penultimate boss: Metal Gear Excelsus. Metal Gear Excelsus is even more of a spectacle than Ray, with massive blades and a bigger laser; it seems like an impossible foe.
You still get that same rush of tearing it apart, but this time it feels like you earn it as you endure the massive strikes this time, fighting against waves of enemies as a laser decimates the battlefield. It has an intimidation factor that Ray just didn’t have, making slashing it to pieces with its own blade all the more awesome.
4 Mistral
There’s a difference between the first boss and the first boss to let the game go wild — the boss that comes after introductions and tutorials to finally let the gameplay and challenge shine, and Mistral takes that role for MGR perfectly. Mistral is the first Wind of Destruction, a woman utilizing little robotic drones as her weaponry… quite literally in the form of a staff.
Mistral is the first solid multiphase fight that feels like a true battle and not just a playable cutscene, having to deal with the little drones around the arena along with Mistral’s own attacks. The fight can either be a nightmare to get through, with the little drones swarming a less aggressive player and keeping them locked down, or it can be a rush for an aggressive player, as you can leave Mistral defenseless if you keep up the hits, making for a perfect first test of skill.
3 Monsoon
Sometimes, all you need for a good boss fight isn’t spectacle but a pure challenge, and for Metal Gear Rising’s shift into true tests of skill, we have Monsoon. Monsoon is the second Wind of Destruction, a nihilistic man using magnetic abilities to be an expert killer. While having less screen time than other characters, he ends up being one of the most memorable through his fight alone.
Whereas Blade Wolf served to teach the player parrying, Monsoon acts as a wall where you have to master parrying if you want to get further in the game due to Monsoon’s complex combos. Combine that with excellent use of blade mode, a fascinating mechanic with Monsoon’s cut up magnetic body giving him invincibility and range, and a fantastic presentation still with the Stains of Time playing, and you have one of the best boss fights ever.
2 Jetstream Sam
When it comes to boss fights, there’s one type that is always a blast: the mirror match. Facing an opponent who is a copy of you that you can only win against through pure skill is what Jetstream Sam offers. Jetstream Sam is your rival throughout the game, and this Brazilian swordsman gets a whole chapter just for this duel.
Sam offers a duel with no gimmicks; there’s no mechanics to learn, just a fight that calls for perfect parrying and sword skills. Sam is evenly matched with you the whole way through, and it makes finally beating him feel uniquely satisfying — especially if you go the path of honor and fight with just your sword.
1 Senator Armstrong
In a perfect game, the final boss should always serve as the highest point for a game in terms of theming, memorability, and overall gameplay — Armstrong nails all of these aspects. Perhaps the most memorable part of MGR is this final battle against the Senator due to the goofy cutscenes, outstanding character, and the harshest challenge the game has shown yet.
After a good 10 minutes of gut-busting cutscenes, you get to actually face off against Armstrong, and he serves as the toughest fight in the game with double the health of all other bosses and the hardest hitting attacks in the game with arena covering fire, harsh combos, and unavoidable grabs. Each one tests every skill you’ve learned throughout the game, from movement, parrying, dodging, blade mode, and QTEs for a true final exam. Plus, the presentation is even better than Metal Gear Ray, taking place in a fiery arena, along with the theme ‘It Has To Be This Way’ wrapping up Metal Gear Rising’s story perfectly. Armstrong easily stands as not only the best boss in Rising, but one of the best villains in gaming as a whole.
