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WIP Page: That One Boss: Monster Hunter

In the savage, Nintendo Hard world of Monster Hunter, there are plenty of powerful creatures that'll keep you on your toes. Then there are these: ferocious creatures that can cart you with a single blow, move so fast that you can barely hit them, will drag out a fight and force a loss via time out, or in some cases, all of these at once. You better have stocked up on healing items, because you're gonna need them.

First Generation (Monster Hunter and Monster Hunter Freedom)

 * Almost every single boss from the first game could arguably count due to the sheer amount of bullshit thrown at you: really janky and awful hitboxes, attacks that come out with no windup or tells, and plenty of overly aggressive small monster enemies to batter you around and help the monster you're hunting stunlock you to death... even diehard, longtime fans of the series will agree that the first game was a very rough outing.
 * As far as specific examples go, Plesioth is often considered to be the patron saint of hard Monster Hunter battles. Just one look at its dorky sharklike face is enough to throw longtime fans of the series into a frothing rage, and it's because of one little word: hipcheck. It doesn't matter if you're in front of the attack, behind it, in front of the monster itself, behind the monster itself, the monster's entire body and a good distance around it become a giant hitbox. So once it goes in for the hipcheck, you're getting hit. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. It loves spamming this attack too, so have fun dealing with that!
 * Another annoying aspect of Plesioth's fight is that if there's a body of water nearby, it will jump in and swim around, sniping you with water beams while it's completely safe from retribution. If you forgot to bring Sonic Bombs or god forbid, ran out of them, you're not going to force Plesioth out of the water. It'll come back to shore whenever it feels like it, making it not just possible, but downright probable for you to lose by timing out.
 * The series' posterboy himself, Rathalos. Not because he's hard-hitting, but because of the dreaded "Rathalos World Tour" maneuver. Any time during his fight, he can randomly abandon ship and fly all over the map. And by all over the map, we mean all over the map. He can fly to any number of locations, only to leave as quickly as he arrived, find a new location, and repeat the process ad nauseum. If you're fighting a Rathalos that's in the mood to spam this, that flexible 50 minute time limit suddenly becomes a lot stricter... Thankfully, later entries would make this less of an issue and make him more of a moderately irritating, but otherwise manageable boss.
 * Khezu is not only a literal dickhead for its phallic appearance, but a figurative one for being such a pain in the ass! It's built to last, and will make sure you never get to attack it by frequently generating an electric aura that will knock you on your butt if you hit it while it's up. Its slow movements also give way to surprisingly fast attacks, its neck-stretch attack hits you from weird angles, and if you fight it in a cave, it'll cling to the ceiling and rain electric balls on you from above. And when its enraged, it goes from sluggish to spastic, and has a really nasty electrified charge attack that comes out with very little warning, and will usually one-shot you unless you've got a ton of electric resistance. Another issue (that was thankfully rectified in later games) is that because it technically can't "see" you because of its lack of eyes, you don't have the option to lock onto it, or more importantly abuse invincibility frames by running away and using a Superman Dive to tank its attacks. Thankfully, Monster Hunter Rise would give it a long-awaited beating with the nerf stick, but even a High Rank Khezu can still put up a good fight.
 * Take a goofy, mostly-nonthreatening Yian Kut-Ku and a moderately difficult Rathian, toss them into a blender, and throw in some meth and crack for good measure. The result is the Yian Garuga, a ferocious, rabid monster that fights like both, and is far stronger than the two of them combined. Its attacks do ridiculous damage, they come out fast and with very little warning, and when it's frenzied, it loves to bowl you over by spamming its powerful charge attacks. Surprisingly, while most first and second gen monsters would get better in later entries, Yian Garuga got worse.

Second Generation (Dos and Freedom Unite)

 * Tigrex. Unlike most of the series' mascots it doesn't have any fancy gimmicks: no elemental breath, no tail spikes, none of that. It's just a ferocious beast that overwhelms you with pure speed and strength alone. This T. Rex-headed terror loves to rush you down with a powerful charging attack, and if you dodge it? It whips its head around and tries to run you over again and again. Don't think you can cheese it by staying away from the head and whaling at its tail and limbs, because it has a full-body spin attack that has very little windup and will send you flying. And once you finally get up, you're likely to be sent flying again when it decides to go on another charging frenzy. Keep in mind that this is how Tigrex is on a good day: once you've pissed it off, you're introduced to a truly devastating rage mode where it's even faster and more aggressive than before and can chain its charges into spin attacks or a powerful pounce. The silver lining is that it's a lot more fragile in this state, but... well, do you want to be up close and personal with a pissed off Tigrex?
 * Tigrex has several cousins that are just as strong and fast, but with nasty gimmicks of their own. And Nargacuga is the first of these cousins: it has a lot more finesse than its savage relative, and will leap and dash all over the place while you're trying to swat it. It can also fight very effectively at range by slinging tail spikes at you from far away, or by smacking you with its ridiculously long bullwhip tail for massive damage. Oh, and if you thought Tigrex's spin attack was fast? Nargacuga's is even faster.
 * Blangonga. It's relatively low on the monster totem pole, so why is it so fast? Why does it hit so hard?! Why can it summon packs of Blangos to help it out?! It almost comes off as a tutorial for the insanely powerful Rajang, but it's even more of a spaz and can immobilize you with its snowman-inducing ice balls before going in for a big hit. Its Blango minions are also way bulkier than the minions summoned by the -Drome bosses, and they'll happily smack you around with icy projectiles and leave you a sitting duck for big boss Blangonga to maul you to death.
 * Just looking at it, you can tell Rajang is not a monster you want to fuck with. It's a huge horned monkey with scary red eyes, making it look like some kind of simian demon. And once the hunt is on, it fights like one too. It leaps around like a Blangonga on crack, and its charge attack is surprisingly hard to dodge since it hops around in a zig-zag pattern. When it isn't trying to maul you to death with its flurry of punches or slam attacks, it's trying to fry you with powerful electric attacks such as a massive ball and a thunder beam that's likely to cart you if it connects. And once you've really pissed it off? It goes Super Saiyan, and even its weakest attacks will take off most of your health with a single blow. Go into a Rajang hunt with anything less than top-tier gear, and prepare to be on the receiving end of some Hot Rajang Dick.
 * Akantor is called the Black God for a reason. With bites that inflict Defense Down status, attacks that generate massive lava explosions all over the battlefield, and ridiculous strength, this demonic-looking wyvern is a foe to be feared. But even those attacks pale in comparison to its infamous charge attack. Despite being a sluggish Mighty Glacier, Akantor is so damned huge that it's still incredibly hard to keep it from trampling you. And even Superman diving through it isn't a safe bet, because its massive size makes it likely that you'll get up, lose your invincibility frames, and get squashed anyway because it hadn't completely passed over you yet.

Third Generation (Tri, Portable 3rd, and Tri Ultimate)

 * Take a Tyrannosaurus Rex, splice in some Godzilla DNA, and give it an appetite capable of wiping out entire ecosystems. That's the Deviljho in a nutshell, and it's exactly as difficult to kill as you would expect. This thing is stupidly huge, but a lot quicker on its feet than it has any right to be. Thanks to its corrosive drool, its bite attacks inflict you with a nasty Defense Down debuff which is exactly the last thing you need when fighting a monster that hits like a nuke by default. And if you try to keep your distance, it'll fire off a sweeping breath attack that will inflict you with Dragonblight and nullify the elemental properties of your weapon. That would be scary on its own, but the reason why Deviljho is infamous among the community is due to it invading otherwise normal hunting quests long before you'll be ready for it. If you can't kill your target before running out of the Dung Bombs needed to keep this beast at bay, an otherwise unremarkable hunt may have just become completely unsalvageable.
 * Deviljho's That One Boss status also leads to the Qurupeco counting as this by association. It's hardly a powerful opponent by itself, but its ability to summon a Deviljho with its mimicked roars will turn hunts against one into a desperate rush to shut them up before they attract one's attention.
 * This generation marks the debut of Barioth, a tundra-dwelling cousin of the Tigrex and Nargacuga with the face of a smilodon. Not only is it every bit as fast and aggressive as you'd expect a creature of its pedigree to be, but it has a nasty trick to make it stand out from the pack: it breathes huge ice tornadoes at you, and getting hit will result in you being frozen solid and helpless against whatever attack it uses next.