Hmm, you're right. Some of the other bosses give me a Blaster Master vibe as well.
What a great game that was. Frustrating, but very evocative and interesting. I even had nightmares about its haunting visuals and unusual theme, and I can still relive my childhood awe at the strangely dreadful opening sequence while watching it today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb8b02474FMAnother thing that I always found scary/cool in old video games were the 'big brain' bosses that served as the final, largely ceremonial, boss fight to a lot of old shooter games. I
think this trend may have started with Gradius, as many Gradius games feature an incredibly weak, pathetic living computer as the final alien menace to be faced. Often said menace will put up very little of a fight, but still talk a big game. Here are some examples:
the final boss from Gradius 2Bacterion from Gradius 3The 'center of the universe' from Gradius 4Venom, from Gradius 5Other games did this too. Check out the final boss of the PC Engine game "Psychic Storm"; it's a group of three giant grumpy heads connected to a single brain that can't even fight back:
click here for heads!