Behemoth (Final Fantasy II)

The Behemoth is encountered first when Firion and his party, along with Gordon, enter the Palamecian Colloseum in order to rescue the abducted Princess Hilda. They realize too late that it is a trap, and the Behemoth is unleashed on the heroes.

The Behemoth is a deadly foe, but a much simpler fight than the Red Lamia, which preceded it. He does not use any status-affecting spells, but prefers heavy brute force, backed by an impressive attack stat. He also boasts high HP and defense stats, which tend to lengthen the fight. Defeating him is very straightforward, just hack away at his HP with your strongest melee characters, and have your mages bombard him with high-level black magic, pausing to heal injured comrades as necessary. With its eventual defeat, the party will gain access to the Colloseum's dungeon, from which Princess Hilda may be rescued.

The Behemoth in the NES version is notable as being the first boss-type enemy that features the specialized "Battle Scene 2" music, setting him apart from previous enemies. In this sense, he could be considered the first real boss encounter of Final Fantasy II, though the revamped encounters featured in Final Fantasy Origins and Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls assign newly-composed battle themes to encounters preceding the Behemoth, thus depriving the battle of some of its original significance.