Now, let it be known that I thought every single data battle was incredible, but some obviously soared above others in terms of enjoyment and difficulty. In my mind, harder does not always equal better, and I prefer a fight to be satisfying and well constructed than just relentlessly tough, although I do like hard fights. Overall, KH3's extra bosses are better than most of the superbosses in the series on average, especially Osaka's lackluster efforts in BBS and DDD.
I'll be ranking them from most enjoyable to least enjoyable and providing a sentence or three to explain my thoughts on the boss. Keep in mind that I fought all of these fights at Critical Level 50, so there wasn't a lot of wiggle room for surviving lots of hits.
Marluxia
Outstanding battle that is stylish, relentless, and gives a lot of respect to Marluxia as a character. The doom counter is much cooler in a DM than it is throughout an entire battle, and the giant skull is a really cool touch. Plenty of openings to punish, but has some awesome mix-ups in his final phase that'll throw you off guard if you're not paying attention.
Xemnas
The ultimate Xemnas fight. Lots of openings if you know where to look for them, and his DM is the best of all time-- His post-dm attacks give me nightmares.
Master Xehanort
This guy has so many moves and strings that he approaches Secret Boss territory. One of the hardest fights with the most to learn, and Christopher Lloyd's voice really adds a lot to it as well. I still haven't learned his entire DM pattern.
Young Master Xehanort
Probably the easiest of all the fights, and that's part of why I like it. He still feels cool and challenging to fight, but he serves as a very good introduction to the Limit Cut style of boss fights, with some unblockables, and some risk dodge patterns. It took Osaka almost a decade to turn this guy into a good boss fight.
Xion
People massively overrate her difficulty likely due to getting fooled by her pattern into thinking that guard spam is the viable strategy. While you do guard a lot, if you mix up the timing, you're likely to get hit by a volley of lasers that shred your HP, literally. Her DM phase is awesome because she's punishable throughout it by countering. Glad to have this fight in the game.
Saix
I was so worried that this fight would mirror the one from the main story, with Saix barely staggering and only taking hits from reprisals. Luckily, this is a very normal fight that is intimidating, relentless, and fun to memorize. Learning how to punish every attack in his berserk phase is challenging if you're not using guides.
Dark Riku
I hate this brat, this was the first fight I attempted and he filtered me very badly. Upon revisiting the fight, I'd say it's the most chaotic of the 13 data battles, and Riku will really do all sorts of different moves in different sequences, but through all the chaos and madness, it's still reactable and punishable. I think his DM is a little on the ridiculous side, if only because the bombs are a random element that makes it less fun to learn, but overall, this is one of the hardest fights in the entire game.
Larxene
Was there any doubt that Larxene would deliver a fun fight? She was more fun and challenging in 2FM, but the level of hectic energy she brings to the table in 3RM is unrivaled. Her moves LOOK scarier than they actually are, in reality. I got through her final DM by rolling and dashing like an idiot, and only got hit a couple times through it.
Xigbar
My favorite guy got a cool fight. Deflecting his attacks and chasing him around is fun, but he's actually open more often than most data battles, making him a little easy and exploitable. Showdown is awesome.
Vanitas
I like Vanitas more now than when I first fought him, but he'd be lower if you couldn't interrupt his ridiculous and frankly way too long DM. His pattern is simple but punishing if you fail. For some reason, his fireball sequence makes me laugh every time I fight him, with the slow fireball followed by the really fast one. It represents him perfectly-- an annoying crazy brat
Terra-Xehanort
I kinda forgot about this one. It's so weird to me that Terranort gets the guardian, and Ansem gets jack shit. Still, he's fairly punishable, and plays like a very simple but challenging Keyblade duel. This fight just didn't have a standout moment to make it memorable.
Ansem
Quick rant, WHY DIDN'T HE HAVE THE GUARDIAN. HE'S USED IT IN EVERY GAME. Unfortunately, Ansem's fight, while very stylish, is the most simple game of deflect, airstep, counter in all of these fights. He has a long and interesting DM you could learn... If he wasn't punishable for half of it, leading me to beat him before even seeing it all. Ansem is one of my favorite KH characters and I wish our final fight against him could have represented him better. Visuals still cool.
Luxord
Listen, I like it. Sora and Luxord are clearly pals now, they're even smiling at each other in the gimmicky time HUD on top of the screen. There's nothing awful about the fight, it's just.. His movepool is so small and easy to learn that I will never fail this fight again as long as I live. There's 0 reason to go back to it. Sora's auto-targeting the wrong card is also a little blech
Anyway, that's the thread, what was your favorite data fight? Did you play on Crit? Are you messing with Pro Codes? I recently beat Marluxia with all Pro Codes on and boy did that break me
I'll be ranking them from most enjoyable to least enjoyable and providing a sentence or three to explain my thoughts on the boss. Keep in mind that I fought all of these fights at Critical Level 50, so there wasn't a lot of wiggle room for surviving lots of hits.
Marluxia
Outstanding battle that is stylish, relentless, and gives a lot of respect to Marluxia as a character. The doom counter is much cooler in a DM than it is throughout an entire battle, and the giant skull is a really cool touch. Plenty of openings to punish, but has some awesome mix-ups in his final phase that'll throw you off guard if you're not paying attention.
Xemnas
The ultimate Xemnas fight. Lots of openings if you know where to look for them, and his DM is the best of all time-- His post-dm attacks give me nightmares.
Master Xehanort
This guy has so many moves and strings that he approaches Secret Boss territory. One of the hardest fights with the most to learn, and Christopher Lloyd's voice really adds a lot to it as well. I still haven't learned his entire DM pattern.
Young Master Xehanort
Probably the easiest of all the fights, and that's part of why I like it. He still feels cool and challenging to fight, but he serves as a very good introduction to the Limit Cut style of boss fights, with some unblockables, and some risk dodge patterns. It took Osaka almost a decade to turn this guy into a good boss fight.
Xion
People massively overrate her difficulty likely due to getting fooled by her pattern into thinking that guard spam is the viable strategy. While you do guard a lot, if you mix up the timing, you're likely to get hit by a volley of lasers that shred your HP, literally. Her DM phase is awesome because she's punishable throughout it by countering. Glad to have this fight in the game.
Saix
I was so worried that this fight would mirror the one from the main story, with Saix barely staggering and only taking hits from reprisals. Luckily, this is a very normal fight that is intimidating, relentless, and fun to memorize. Learning how to punish every attack in his berserk phase is challenging if you're not using guides.
Dark Riku
I hate this brat, this was the first fight I attempted and he filtered me very badly. Upon revisiting the fight, I'd say it's the most chaotic of the 13 data battles, and Riku will really do all sorts of different moves in different sequences, but through all the chaos and madness, it's still reactable and punishable. I think his DM is a little on the ridiculous side, if only because the bombs are a random element that makes it less fun to learn, but overall, this is one of the hardest fights in the entire game.
Larxene
Was there any doubt that Larxene would deliver a fun fight? She was more fun and challenging in 2FM, but the level of hectic energy she brings to the table in 3RM is unrivaled. Her moves LOOK scarier than they actually are, in reality. I got through her final DM by rolling and dashing like an idiot, and only got hit a couple times through it.
Xigbar
My favorite guy got a cool fight. Deflecting his attacks and chasing him around is fun, but he's actually open more often than most data battles, making him a little easy and exploitable. Showdown is awesome.
Vanitas
I like Vanitas more now than when I first fought him, but he'd be lower if you couldn't interrupt his ridiculous and frankly way too long DM. His pattern is simple but punishing if you fail. For some reason, his fireball sequence makes me laugh every time I fight him, with the slow fireball followed by the really fast one. It represents him perfectly-- an annoying crazy brat
Terra-Xehanort
I kinda forgot about this one. It's so weird to me that Terranort gets the guardian, and Ansem gets jack shit. Still, he's fairly punishable, and plays like a very simple but challenging Keyblade duel. This fight just didn't have a standout moment to make it memorable.
Ansem
Quick rant, WHY DIDN'T HE HAVE THE GUARDIAN. HE'S USED IT IN EVERY GAME. Unfortunately, Ansem's fight, while very stylish, is the most simple game of deflect, airstep, counter in all of these fights. He has a long and interesting DM you could learn... If he wasn't punishable for half of it, leading me to beat him before even seeing it all. Ansem is one of my favorite KH characters and I wish our final fight against him could have represented him better. Visuals still cool.
Luxord
Listen, I like it. Sora and Luxord are clearly pals now, they're even smiling at each other in the gimmicky time HUD on top of the screen. There's nothing awful about the fight, it's just.. His movepool is so small and easy to learn that I will never fail this fight again as long as I live. There's 0 reason to go back to it. Sora's auto-targeting the wrong card is also a little blech
Anyway, that's the thread, what was your favorite data fight? Did you play on Crit? Are you messing with Pro Codes? I recently beat Marluxia with all Pro Codes on and boy did that break me