Matador (Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne)

About

Matador is an infamously difficult early-game boss fight in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne. Due to the character's skeletal design, outlandish personality and immense difficulty, he grew to become a meme for fans of the game, particularly around the game's 2021 HD rerelease on the Nintendo Switch.

Origin

Matador appears as a boss in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, originally released on February 20th, 2003, for the Playstation 2.^[1] In his fight, he spams the spell Red Capote to max out his agility and evasion, making him fast and difficult to hit. He also counters any of the player's debuff spells, making the fight difficult for players^[2] (Bossfight footage uploaded by YouTuber MasterLL shown below).

Spread

The character's difficulty made him infamous among the Shin Megami Tensei fandom, with some parodies appearing in the years following the game's original release (shown below).

The character's popularity increased following the July 20th, 2020, announcement of the 2021 HD Remaster of Shin Megami Tensei III for the Nintendo Switch. Following the announcement, the character began appearing in memes again. In particular, the character appeared in The Last Of Us 2 redraws (examples shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References