THE CLASSIC ARCH-NEMESIS

Lots of games out there feature your typical hero, a damsel in distress or an artefact
that has been stolen, and the group of friends that aid the hero in his (or her) journey.
In some cases, there will be an enemy that you will see or face throughout various levels
in the game, and even will come into play in many games in a series. My examples below
outline what it takes to be your typical arch-nemesis boss character. The arch-nemesis
will very rarely ever actually die by your hands; instead they will probably manage to flee
upon their inevitable defeat. This is because it would be a shame to waste an awesome
character, or because it saves the developers having to think up a new one every game.
In a few cases the boss will actually win by cut scene default and throw you in a dungeon
or something, but usually theyll run away crying. Sometimes you will find these
terrifying, persistent boss characters involved in party games as an additional playable
character, often harmless and just some added fun.

DR. ROBOTNIK (EGGMAN)

Blue glasses with goggles

Although this funny shaped man

Huge moustache

may seem harmless and clown-like,

Egg-shaped body

he is in fact an evil genius. And

Red jacket
Recognisable outfit

clown-like. With a memorisable

appearance and lust for machinery,
Eggman is the arch-nemesis of
Sonic the Hedgehog and his gang of

personified animals. In the original Sonic games, at the

end of each dual-stage you would have to fight Eggman
in some form or another, dodging his machines and
weapons, eventually freeing a pile of fluffy cute
animals. In Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Eggman actually
acts as a playable protagonist, in the Dark story mode. This takes a step away from
tradition slightly because obviously, Eggmans a baddie, but dont worry, when you play
as Tails, your boss battles will be mainly against Eggman, and yes, hes in a mechanical
suit. Eggman is your typical evil genius. With an IQ of 300, he plans to overcome
humanity and rule the world. Simple.

BOWSER
Bowser, originally King Koopa, is the arch nemesis of Mario, and has featured as a final
boss and in-game troublemaker for many of the Super Mario games. He looks like a big,
bad dragon of sorts, but given the nature of the Mario games, is quite harmless. Bowser

kidnaps Marios love, Princess

Peach, your stereotypical
damsel in distress, and its

Horns on head
Big spikey armour

up to Mario, and often his

Leather chokers

friends, to save her and

Menacing stance

The world. In past games,

Bowsers appearance has

Monstrous

changed in terms of colours, but he is

normally yellow, green and red. He wears
badass spikes on his limbs, and has real
spikes on his impenetrable Koopa shell, so
you know hes up to no good. He also
breathes fire. His son, Bowser Jr., takes
after his dad, and is similarly mischievous. Bowser is the main boss in almost every game
that Mario features in, so is well known by any fans of the series. Also, he is quite a
common choice of character in spin-off party games, such as Mario Kart, and Super

Smash Bros.

GANON (GANONDORF)
Ganon is the arch nemesis of Link, a Hylian
living in Hyrule. Ganon, in most Legend of

Zelda games, manages to kidnap the Princess

Zelda, and Link sets off on his merry way to
save her, stopping Ganon in his path of domination in the process. Throughout the series
Ganon has managed to seek the Triforce,
meaning hes a fantastic boss to fight at the
end of each game, but of course, Link manages
to find a Master Sword, a magical weapon
shich is able to defeat Ganon. Ganon himself
looks pretty scary from the word go, with
tight, braided ginger hair and a strange grey/
green complexion, wearing menacing armour and
a face like a slapped arse. In Ocarina of Time,
Ganon appears in bestial form, resembling a
minotaur, wielding two large swords. There are
few spin-off games featuring Legend of Zelda
characters, but Ganon can be seen in Super Smash Bros., kicking some butt alongside
Bowser.