Going Big: Celebrating Gaming’s Giant Monsters

This April 12, New Line Cinema will be releasing the movie adaptation of the classic Midway arcade game Rampage. For those who don’t know, it’s an old game where you control one of the three beasts -George the giant gorilla, Lizzie the giant lizard, and Ralph the giant wolfman- as you destroy cities to earn points. Hence, the title “Rampage”. 

We here at Bountie know our fair share of giant monsters and beasts, be it as bosses we have to fight off to characters you can control so you can run amuck and create havoc. Who wouldn’t want to be a giant badass saving the world, or destroying it? 

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With that, here are our picks of giant beasties in video games: 

Bowser – The Mario Series

Formerly King Koopa thanks to some mistranslation overseas, this giant turtle lizard hybrid is the sworn nemesis of plumber coin-grabbing superstar Mario. He loves to kidnap Princess Peach to the point where even her victim treats it as a regular Tuesday, and has a son who is just as devious -Bowser Jr. Oh and let’s not forget the Koopa kids from Super Mario Bros. 3; this makes him a single father looking for love. 

But what makes him memorable is that he can (a) create elaborate fortresses and castles to keep his nemesis away, (b) grow in many sizes, and (c) can even come back from the dead in the form of Drybones Bowser. Truly a worthy giant for players to fight against. 

Rathalos – Monster Hunter Series

With the most recent entry Monster Hunter World in the mix, we cannot ignore the poster beastchild of the series: the flying badass known as Rathalos. He/she/it is an apex predator that comes crashing down on your parade from the sky while attacking you and your Hunter team with poisonous claw attacks and fire breath. And for a big dragon, it’s pretty fast. 

When you get to kill one, however, you can use its hide to craft one of the more iconic armour sets in the series. So is it worth fighting? Yes, yes it is. Not only for the loot but for the sheer challenge of it. 

Super Geon – King of the Monsters 2

Want a revved-up Godzilla clone in video game form? You can’t go wrong with this tribute from SNK. Dig those awesome spines coming out from his back and top part of his head, all lined up in a nice row. 

Emerald Weapon – Final Fantasy VII

Perhaps the biggest reason why a lot of JRPG fans are high on caffeine back in 1997; they were up all night figuring out how to take down this optional big boss. This giant weapon of the earth is a byproduct of a vengeful coder and creature designer in Squaresoft; not only do you have to withstand its attacks but you have to defeat it within the time limit of 20 minutes before it runs off. 

20 minutes sound like a lot of time, until you realize that this boss has a million HP and has an attack that deals damage based on the number of Materias your characters are holding, times by 1,111. So if you have 9 Materia orbs on your hero, he or she is more or less dead. 

Have fun fighting! 

We at Bountie do love our Final Fantasy games. Head here to find out which of the main entries are the best ones. 

Ganon – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

What’s the best way to end one of the most highly-regarded action adventure games on the planet? Simple: cap it off with an epic boss fight. And what better way than with a giant version of Link’s nemesis Ganondorf? Players have to use all of their in-game knowledge and items to outwit this powerful boss. Witness how the fight plays out below: 

Kraid – Super Metroid

What do you call a 50-foot space pirate? A giant fat lizard alien thing called Kraid. If your name is Samus and you’re claded in space armour, you are attracting every manner of space fiends who are more than happy to rip you a new one. Kraid is one of the more memorable fights just because you don’t see big fights like this in the early 90s. Pity the actual fight is easier than it looks. 

Jubileus, The Creator – Bayonetta

Perhaps THE biggest boss fight ever in a hyper fighting action hack-and-slash game, From the epic pre-fight where your best friend rides up a giant rocket using a bike, all the way to the actual fight that spans different regions and involves you climbing up the boss’ towering figure, the devs at Platinum Games know how to end things on a very high note. 

Valus The Minotaur – Shadow of the Colossus

It’s hard to pick one of the 16 memorable giants in this PS2 masterpiece of an adventure game -now remastered for the PS4. Each of them has their own style of flying and fighting, as well as their own set of trials and different body shapes for our hero to climb on. In fact, one or two of these giants is a stage in itself. But we’ll go with the giant on the game’s cover: Valus The Minotaur. He is the one colossus that teaches gamers the basics of the game and a trial run for the other 15 giants you have to slay. 

That’s all we have for now; if you have a particular favourite video game giant you’d like to share, let us know on Facebook. We’ll add it to the list.