The surprising true story of gaming's first ever boss battle: "We’d be really, really rich now"

radiotimes.com:

Intro by Rob Leane, RadioTimes.com gaming editor: “When I first read Daryl Baxter’s new book, 50 Years of Boss Fights: Video Game Legends, its first chapter made a real impression on me. Rather than simply kicking things off with an obvious gaming boss like Bowser or Dr Robotnik, Baxter went all the way back to 1974 to get exclusive insight from the makers of gaming’s first ever boss. It’s from a game that younger readers may not have heard of, but it sent massive ramifications into the nascent gaming industry of the time, and its impact is still being felt today. In fact, it feels quite fun to be talking about this at the same time that present-day players are diving into Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, which you could call the pinnacle of boss battles (certainly in terms of difficulty, at least). The book goes on to touch on loads of memorable bosses from the decades that followed the idea’s inception, charting a progression from 1974 to 2024, one gruelling encounter at a time, with heaps of insight from the ingenious creators of the bosses. Read on to discover that first chapter for yourself!”

50 Years of Boss Fights by Daryl Baxter (White Owl, RRP £22)

Available at www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

In order to look at the memorable bosses in gaming, we need to look back at what is considered the first ever boss in a video game, while having its two creators tell the story of how it came to be.

In 1974, two individuals created a game inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, the massively popular tabletop role-playing game, with this virtual version able to be played on a PLATO computer system.

This game, known as simply DND, housed an event for the player that made them face a dragon — this was to unofficially be the first boss in a game, ever.

The game is in orange and black, a standard for the PLATO operating system, and there would be no music — this would be where your imagination would kick into action, helping you to form the sounds and images of just what this