Celebrating Boss Rushes: On the Verge of Becoming a Genre

"Boss rush" games stand at a really interesting crossroads right now. They're a recognizable trend that's been picking up steam the past few years, but they're not quite cohesive enough yet to be considered their own genre. Let's celebrate this time-tested side mode's day in the sun and look at how it's on the road to becoming an entity all of its own.

Games covered: Furi, Cuphead, Jotun, Titan Souls, and Shadow of the Colossus. Monster Hunter World and Bloodborne also make brief appearances.

Thought all that was cool? Well here are the resources I learned from, so now you can too!

Mark's video on puzzle design that I referenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsjC6fa_YBg

More videos by other smart internet people (including Mark) about bosses. I breezed through the whole boss fight appeal thing because these guys have already mined that topic in-depth:
Adam Millard's "Anatomy of a Bossfight": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BL0O7CL0N4
Mark Brown's "How Cuphead's Bosses (Try to) Kill You": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8T6Ul4aHTI
Turbo Button's "Devil May Cry 4 — Designing a Great Boss Fight": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vZCZh5cb6s

And some other sources where you can learn more about the games I highlighted:
Part one of Furi's four part making of series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ77Gq5y8G8
Jotun's making of series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfK9sHL3yZw&list=PLWGsXxTS5t8IdG3LQ6-B6VyRqp2L4l_YH
That Wired interview with Ueda I referenced: https://www.wired.com/2006/03/behind-the-shadow-fumito-ueda/
And the article where Moldenhauer talked about Cuphead's challenges trying to do everything they wanted to: https://www.gamesradar.com/we-quit-our-jobs-remortgaged-our-houses-how-relentless-passion-made-cuphead-a-reality/

And if you want to know more about me for whatever reason, you can find me at these various other places:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FirstFiveReview
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/firstfivereviews/
You can also check out my new Steam Curator page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33312443-First-Five-Review/

Music selections used in this video are:
6:24 by Danger (Furi)
Make this Right by The Toxic Avenger (Furi)
A Big Day by Kn1ght (Furi)
You Are the End by Waveshaper (Furi)
Inkwell Isle Three and Dramatic Fanatic by Kristofer Maddigan (Cuphead)
Yggdrasil by Max LL (Jotun)
Epilogue by Kou Otani (Shadow of the Colossus)
Brainfreeze by David Fenn (Titan Souls)

Видео Celebrating Boss Rushes: On the Verge of Becoming a Genre канала First Five