Favorite Old-School Non-Boss Villain 1-4

[IrishCanadian25]

Long title? Bear with me.

In the next step in my Old School gamers movement, I am going to offer a little bit of appreciation to the old school, mid-card villains. These are the Dino Bravos and Blacktop Bully's of video games - original NES system villains and what made them so freaking awesome. Your job? Vote on a favorite and soak up the nostagia.

Also, when I say "non-boss," I mean not the boss of the game. You'll see the 3rd labrynth boss from Legend of Zelda here, but not Ganon.

I want to have pictures of each, so this will be a multi-thread activity.

Your first four choices:

Bald Bull from Mike Tyson's Punch-Out

Possibly the 2nd most famous opponent in Punch-Out history, this large, hard-chargin' Istanbully tried to terrorize Little Mac twice in the original Mike Tyson's Punch Out, first in the Major Circut and again in the World Circut. This, folks, is Charles Barkley in 10 years.

Axe Knight from Dragon Warrior

Okay, so this guy was BAD ASS. He guarded Erdrick's Armor in Hauksness behind the abandonned shopkeeper's stand. One of many MAJOR foes in this town, defeating him is a bitch, but the rewards are significant.

Manhandla from Legend of Zelda

This could be the easiest labyrnth boss, or one of the hardest. The fun part was trying to time the bomb to hit this sumbitch in its center, destroying it in one shot. But if you miss, you may cut off a few hands, but he got faster. And if he got down to one, he was nearly impossible to hit.

Mouser from Super Mario Brothers 2

The original uni-bomber, this guy was the first level boss you met. He hurled bombs at you, and you had to grab them and throw them back. Timing was everything, and it wasn't easy. Took 3 bombs the first time you met him, 5 the next time. He wears his sunglasses at night...
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So please vote and discuss your favorite of these 4. If you have original NES or Genesis villains you'd like to see me feature next week, PM me with them and I will oblige in most cases.

 

[Skullz Crack'Em]

My vote goes to Bald Bull from Punch-Out. The main reason being that he is the only one out of those four to still be included in the newer installments in his franchise. He came back in Super Punch-Out and even in the recently released Wii Punch-Out. His legacy continues while Manhandla wasn't featured in any of the prominent console versions of Zelda after the first one and Mouser is one of the more forgettable Semi-bosses in the Mario universe(when thinking of SMB2, Birdo comes to mind before Mouser). I am not familiar with Axe Knight since I haven't played any of the Dragon Warrior games, so I can't comment on him(I am guessing that he is similar to the Iron Knuckles/Darknuts in the LOZ series).

Bald Bull is also a very fun character to fight if you know how to beat him, I will never forget his signature move: the Bull Charge. If you get hit by it you are a goner, but if you punch him at the right time you will automatically knock him out, one of the most famous Counters in the Punch-Out series.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Great call, Skullz.

I am thinking this may end up one of the worst threads I've ever created, but let's try it.

I nominated Manhandala strictly because of the technique used most to beat him - the luck and timing it takes to place a bomb at exactly the right point to blow him up in one shot. Take into account the fact that if you fail and leave him with two or one hand left, he's damn near impossible to beat. He's just too fast at that point.

Axe Knight got a nod because of his role in the game. Most players run into him at a time when they are not prepared for him, and end up getting slaughtered. Similar to the Green Dragon. I had the same problem with both of them - I was wandering around at a time before there were walkthroughs and ended up fighting each of them without knowing why. I had my "oh shit" reaction and wound up losing half my gold for the loss. Brutal. But when you beat the Knight, you get the most powerful armor in the game.

Birdo, to me, got old REAL fast. You fight him at one of the sub-stages, and it's a big deal, but he's pretty easy to dispatch. When you reach levels 6 and 7, you have some stages with 3 or 4 Birdos, one of which spits fire instead of eggs. Blah.

Mouser is a demolitionish / pyro maniac with sunglesses on in a dungeon. He's gotta be a stoner. Loved it.

Bald Bull is a clear favorite. The Bull Charge was epic, and the comments he made about his barber between rounds were hilarious. Loved it.