Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’sbattle system means a lot for the game’s many bosses compared to how they played in the original 1997 release. The mixture of real-time elements with the ATB features that call back to the original title’s combat allows for more dynamic bouts and interactive setpieces.
The pacing also means once minor bosses feel bigger and more intense. Turning a slice of the original adventure into a full-length game means certain events are made into more notable story beats. It just goes to show that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth does so much more than simply add a coat of pain to a classic RPG.
7Terror Of The Deep
Bottomswell
The context around this boss is slightly changed in addition to the battle. In the original game you save a little girl and Cloud administers CPR to save her life. In Rebirth it is the first time the party meets Yuffie.
After the fight ends she is unconcious on the beach and Cloud is about to give her chest compressions before she wakes up. Both bosses have an ability that wraps a party member in a bubble. In Rebirth you have to attack the bubble to free the trapped party member.
6Jenova Emergent
Jenova Birth
The cargo ship the party uses to escape Junon is now a cruise. All the same, it is still attacked and the set piece concludes with a boss fight against Jenova. In the original game this is where we first see Sephiroth with our own eyes.
Jenova Emergent’s design is significantly more disturbing with the numerous hands potruding from its back. It still attacks with various lazers. The main difference is how the battlefield is transformed. The cargo hold of the ship is covered with a mysterious substance that looks a lot like whatever Jenova is made of.
5Dyne
Barrets Old Friend Comes Back
The first visit to the Gold Saurcer culminates with a boss fight against Dyne for the party to prove its innocence regarding the murders in the amusement park. In the remake, the battle still takes place in the desert and you still fight Dyne alone as Barret while the rest of the party waits.More than most other bosses in Rebirth, movement is a vital part of succeeding.
You have to carefully hide behind cover and dodge Dyne’s attacks constantly to stay alive. He then materializes a giant armthat looks like something out of Resident Evil 4. In the original game the boss fight can be quite challenging if you don’t optimize Barret’s materia loadout to compensate for him fighting the battle alone.
4The Turks
Recurring Bosses
In both games you fight the Turks multiple times. They are the closest to human boss fights in both games. Most other fights are against monsters or superhumans of some sort. You encounter the Turks more often in Rebirth than in the chunk of the PS1 game it covers. Most notably, you encounter Elena much earlier here and fight her multiple times.
In the original game, you don’t fight Elena until the second disc. Even then, the fight is completely optional. You run into the Turks during a part of the story and you’re able to choose not to fight them. If you skip this fight, you never fight Elena in the original Final Fantasy 7.
3Red Dragon
There’s A Dragon Here For No Particular Reason
The Temple of the Ancients is the last dungeon of the first disc and the last dungeon of Rebirth. As such, it is big and features multiple boss fights. The Red Dragon is the first one you encounter in both games.
Its appearance isn’t given much context in either, but the fight is more bombastic in Rebirth. It flies around the battlefield and occassionally blows fire on the whole party. As it ends, Tifa does an epic drop kick right to its head. The original, by comparison, just makes it look like a superpowered enemy.
2Demon’s Gate
A Common Final Fantasy Boss Fight
Demon’s Gate is the final boss in Temple of the Ancients before you get your hands on the Black Materia. It stranglely looks a lot like the Xenomorph from the Alien movies. The original Demon’s Gate is resistant to a lot of elemental damage. you will want to fight it with physical attacks.
In Rebirth, Demon’s Gate uses various elemental attacks and you need to counter it with the appropriate opposite elemental attack. Another Demon’s Gate shows up on the opposite wall later in the fight, forcing you to fight two at once.
The Demon Wall is something of a series staple, with similar bosses appearing in Final Fantasy 4, Final Fantasy 12, Final Fantasy 15, and in numerous spin-offs
1Jenova Lifeclinger
Jenova Life
Jenova Life is the last boss of the original game’s first disc. This is where Rebirth ends. Jenova Lifeclinger is the penultimate boss, but it is still a significantly bigger setpiece with several stages that involves the entire party coming together.
You have to make sure you balance out the materia well enough so that no one party composition is left without enough resources to fight. In both battles Aerith’s theme plays, with the juxtaposition of the somber theme against the hectic fight perfectly encapsulating the rage and sadness Cloud and the party feels after the dramatic events that just transpired.
