FF: Rematch with the Four Fiends - Largely because it's unexpected, you're just walking along the Chaos Shrine and the BAM! Lich appears and he's stronger than before. Made the dungeon a bit more eerie as you never knew if that next random encounter was going to be a normal trash mob or a souped up Fiend.

FFII: Emperor Mateus - They did a great job making this fight feel like the final one. You're traveling through the Cyclone trying to stop the mad emperor and have this pretty cool battle against him and an entourage of monsters and soldiers while he pelts you with magic. Made it surprising when you get betrayed by Leon afterwards and even more so when the Emperor returns...

FFIII: Doga and Unei - One of the few battles that has a bit more bite to it in the DS version since guest characters would randomly appear to help you. Not only do you know how powerful they are, the sting of knowing you have to fight two people who really helped you out made this a surprisingly sentimental battle. Being a tough battle also helps.

FFIV: Golbez - This was actually a tough one to choose. My secondary choice was the rematch against the Four Archfiend and I even considered the Dark Elf as well, but Golbez edges them out by not only feeling like a hopeless battle at first, but bringing back fan favorite Rydia all grown up and cementing Summoners as the fan favorite class. This got taken up to eleven in the DS remake as Golbez is quite possibly one of the hardest fights in the game for me with his magic upgraded from Level 2 to 3, and his elemental barrier wall strategy. It made it nearly impossible to revive the party and instead ended up with Rydia playing to Golbez's game while Cecil did everything in his power to keep them both alive. The fact Cecil is not a great white mage made this fight way more tense than most FF battles.

FFV: Gilgamesh - I mean come on, it's hard fighting against a guy who makes you laugh who can also kick your ass if you go in unprepared. His first few battles are pretty tense, but his two outstanding encounters is when he pulls the iconic Excalipur on you after transforming into a kickass super form, as well as the final encounter with him against Necrofiend where he sacrifices his life to save the party. There is a reason he's such an iconic frenemy, and the archetype for future quirky underlings/side villains.

FFVI: Kefka (Narshe Mines) - This was another game with too many fun bosses, but I kind of have to give this to the first encounter with Kefka. Not only is the whole "protect the esper" scenario pretty groovy, but Kefka is also the first real boss in the game who will test how well you know your party. With that said, he's probably the easiest encounter on this list if you know what you're doing, but again, that requires either some trial and error or having a friend explain it to you. A team of Celes with your best hard hitting characters, likely Gau, Sabin, and Edgar will crush him, but if you try to challenge Kefka without Celes' Runic ability, you'll be in for a world of hurt as he uses Confusion to turn your party against each other and introduces Ice 2 to you.

FFVII: The Turks (Final) - There are several fun encounters in VII, but none stand out for me as much as the battles against Cloud's frenemy troupe The Turks. The best battle is against the last three active members underneath Midgard during the climax of Disc 2. Not only can they take and dish out some real damage, but it's fun delaying the battle in order to steal their rare items off of them. It was also cool to find out Elena is a pretty competent fighter after being a helpless NPC for most of the game.

FFVIII: Seifer -Nothing more fun than watching Squall duel his rival before taking on Edea. I kind of wish all of the battles with him had been setup this way cause Seifer never quite comes across as challenging after the first battle with him. He's a real test of how well you know the game's mechanics. Course it can be anti-climatic if you obtained Lionheart already...

FFIX: Steiner and the Big Bomb - Certainly one of the easier fights on this list but also one of the most satisfying after the fun cat and mouse chase in the game's rambunctious beginning.

FFX: Braska's Final Aeon - This one was tough cause I don't really care for the game, but the music and pageantry of this fight makes it stand out above the rest. It can be a bit anti-climatic if you bothered to do any of the side content before facing Sin, but I like to drag this fight out a bit so I can listen to Overworld more.

FFXII: Ultima The High Seraph - The Espers are some of the best fights, especially the optional ones that add conditions to crank up the challenge, but none will test your skill and ability to plan ahead like Ultima who has the ability to cycle through all of their conditions at a whim, making this the ultimate endurance match. Throw in the fact Holyja has the ability to inflict Reverse on you and you've got your hands full. No other battle in the game is as fulfilling to me as this one.

FFXIII: Proud Clod - Probably the only fight that gave me trouble until I realized what I was doing wrong, and not because I felt the game sort of just cheated me out of victory *cough* Barthandelus *Cough*. I initially went in with a SAB character like Fang and no SYN. Well XIII decided to be realistic and show that machines can't really have status ailments. I tried to keep her for DPS but honestly I ended up switching out Snow for Hope and used his SYN to finally give my team the edge needed to win pretty soundly after I stopped being stubborn about using him.

FFXV: Aranea - If XV has anything going for it with it's major boss battles it's that they all posses a bit of a cinematic flair. Before it all goes DBZ with the Leviathan fight, one of the coolest battles is against Dragoon Mercenary Aranea who uses the trademark Jump ability to wreck havoc on the guys. Course this fight gets really interesting when Noctis remembers he can teleport spam and suddenly he's fighting her in the air as well in what feels like an epci duel and prelude for the final boss battle. Being one of the more fun characters also helps to cinch this fight for her.