Many video games have optional side content, or extremely obscure secrets that are very difficult to uncover. The rewards for pursuing these bonus objectives vary, but some of my favorite “pots and the end of the rainbows” to find from bonus content is a secret optional boss fight. Not only does it feel satisfying to discover and overcome these challenges, but it makes you feel like you’re in some sort of elite club for even taking part in the optional content in the first place.
Anyway, here are my Top 10 Favorite Bonus/Optional/Secret Bosses.
10) Alien Mothership ~ Star Fox 64
To be fair, putting Star Fox 64 on this list is tantamount to cheating, considering that it is entirely up to the player’s agency to pursue their own path through this game’s selection of levels. Thus, technically any boss could be considered optional. I mean, since there are two different first and final bosses, even the one you didn’t pick between those options could be considered optional. Still, while I was reminiscing about bosses to put on this list, this one jumped into my mind and I couldn’t ignore it.
The Alien Mothership is fought in one of my favorite levels of the entire game, and the battle is basically one giant homage to Independence Day. Your only goal in the level is to take the mothership down before it levels an innocent city, but that’s easier said then done when hundreds of enemy battleships are pouring out of the mothership, and the mothership’s own missiles and lasers are raining down on you. It’s a chaotic experience to be sure, but a welcome one!
9) Mother’s Corners ~ Iconoclasts
Iconoclasts only has two optional boss fights, and one of them is located after the end of an extremely long and obtuse series of sidequests. Unfortunately, it’s a bit of an anticlimactic and annoying showdown. The fight against Mother’s Corners, on the other hand, is an incredible battle, and also a hair-pullingly difficult one. To find it, you simply need to follow the trail of bodies deeper and deeper into the woods.
This is a duo boss battle, and each Corner will spend time jumping in and out of the background, alternatively engaging with you. At least until the second phase, where they both attack you at once with overwhelmingly devastating combos and duo attacks. Their damage is insanely high, their speed is unmatched, and you have to be at the top of your game to take them down. It’s very satisfying to do so, and the battle is only helped even more by the high-energy, pumping soundtrack.
8) Monk Maz Koshia ~ Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Monk Maz Koshia is one of the very best boss reveals of all time. For the entirety of Breath of the Wild‘s runtime, you (as Link) explore Hyrule and find ancient shrines, where mummified remains of ancestral monks gift you with enchantments and special items to aid in your quest. Then, at the very end of the lengthy post-game sidequest, you approach another seemingly normal mummified monk, only for him to twitch his fingers, stand up, and challenge you to the duel to end all duels.
Maz Koshia isn’t the hardest boss in the world, as it’s incredibly easy to become nigh-unkillable in Breath of the Wild. Still, he’s a lengthy endurance fight with five phases, has a huge number of attacks and mix-ups, and has the best soundtrack in the game backing him up. You’ve got to use all the tools at your disposal to take him down, especially when he splits into a group of shadowy clones, grows to the size of a massive stomping giant, and when he blasts deadly lasers at your face. Your reward for beating him (a legit, straight-up motorcycle) is also incredible!
7) Priam’s Army ~ Fire Emblem Awakening
Fire Emblem Awakening actually has quite a few optional levels and bosses in it, which helps an already content-stuffed game feel even richer and more satisfying. Though I was tempted to put the spooky mirror-match showdown against Aversa on this list, I instead opted for the unforgettable, epic clash between your giant army of 20 units versus the legendary hero Priam and his massive band of 50 warriors.
This is meant to be the last battle in the game, and it shows. All 50 of the enemy units are beefy as all heck, and wield the toughest weapons and skills in the game. This is to say nothing of Priam, who is crazy difficult to take down and counters all attacks. Your own battalion of 20 troops need to be at peak condition to hope to win, and your strategy needs to be flawless…OR, you could have two units working together who are so unstoppable, they defeat the entire enemy army all on their own! Inigo and Morgan, I shall always remember your heroic exploits that day!
6) Darkeater Midir ~ Dark Souls 3
The Dark Souls series is no stranger to giant dragon fights, and there have been plenty across the series ranging between required and optional encounters. Kalameet, the dark dragon. Sinh, the slumbering dragon. The Dragon God (who hardly looks like a dragon at all). Lesser dragons are numerous as well, like the Guardian Dragon and the Ancient Wyvern. However, none of those massive scaly beasts can even hope to hold their own against Darkeater Midir.
Midir is one of the best bosses in the entire Soulsborne franchise, a franchise known for their incredible boss fights. He’s humongous, deals incredible damage, and has a gargantuan health bar…and yet, he’s also an incredibly fair, well-balanced, and clearly-telegraphed fight. If you hold your ground and stand by his head, bait and dodge his claw swipes and fearsome dark fire breath, then retaliate, you’ll taste victory in no time. The battle is a phenomenal spectacle from start to finish, and the barometer all “giant monster” bosses in gaming should strive for.
5) Culex ~ Super Mario RPG
The very last thing you’d expect from a Mario game is to stumble upon an eldritch demon straight out of the darkest fantasy RPGs, but that is exactly what you get in this oft-overlooked gem of a game. Hidden away in the securest corner of the overworld lies Culex, who will put Mario and his allies to the ultimate test in what is absolutely the hardest battle in the game.
Maybe it shouldn’t be such a surprise, considering this game was developed by the Final Fantasy creators. Culex certainly fits the bill for a late game superboss in a traditional RPG, as he’s got everything working on his side. Crazy high health and equally high damage? Check! Four elemental minions who buff his strength and debuff your own allies? Check! It’s a good thing you’ve got Peach on your side (she’s such an incredible party member, let me tell you what), or else this might’ve been game over for Mario and co.!
4) Anankos Soul ~ Fire Emblem Fates
You fight Anankos as the true final boss of the campaign in Fire Emblem Fates, but he comes back to star as the main antagonist in the alternate-universe shenanigans of the Heirs of Fate DLC. Heirs of Fate, by the way, is some of the best DLC content I’ve ever played in a game before, and it all comes to a head in this climactic final showdown that references the base game’s finale while also carving out its own identity.
Flanking Anankos are the possessed bodies of all of the parents your army of children has lost, and it’s heartbreaking to have to take them down even while they fight to break Anankos’ mind control. Anankos himself is no slouch either, bringing together a powerful and challenging three phase boss fight that stands out strong amongst the plethora of Fire Emblem dragon bosses. Also, to top it all off, my second favorite video game music track of all time is the backing to this showdown!
3) Bana the Betrayer ~ Xenoblade Chronicles
The Xenoblade series is no stranger to awesome sidequests, and though a later entry in the series may have pushed the envelope in this department, it all started here in the series’ first outing. From about the 30% point of the game’s story, your band of heroes catch wind of some suspicious goings-on in the village of the fluffy and adorable Nopon. After a massive chain of sidequests and investigating, you uncover and take down a criminal conspiracy and an illegal drug trade!
Then, just when it all seems resolved, the mastermind of the drug trade comes back for revenge! The adorable little Nopon, Bana, reveals all of the schemes and manipulations he’s been responsible for, declares his intent to kill the party, and then backs up that threat by summoning a giant dragon that YOU YOURSELF helped him hatch and train much earlier in the game. To the ludicrous tune of somber piano music, you battle! It’s ridiculous, unforgettable, and such a unique and rewarding ending to so much time investment.
2) Cynthia ~ Pokémon Black 2
It looked like just an ordinary house, didn’t it? There you were, wandering the wide world of Pokémon in the postgame to Pokémon Black 2, poking your nose into corners for all possible secrets, when you stumbled onto a seemingly normal house. As you so often do in Pokémon games, you barged into the house uninvited (probably to rob the owners of anything not glued down), only to instead bump into the most fearsome, terror-inducing character in the franchise: Champion Cynthia. It’s her house!
Without missing a beat, Cynthia challenges you to a Pokémon battle, and before you can even blink, you’re thrust into a showdown. Her climactic and incredible battle theme kicks in, and after a few moments, you’ll likely find yourself sobbing all the way to the Pokémon Center, because she is hard! She’s a Champion, after all, and the greatest there ever was and ever will be. You’ll need a perfect team at an extremely high level to even stand a chance of stopping her. I mean, you did break into her house, so can you blame her for not holding back?
1) Rexoskell ~ Xenoblade Chronicles X
The Xenoblade series is no stranger to awesome sidequests…wait, am I repeating myself? Anyway, this is the quest I was alluding to when saying that subsequent Xenoblade games manage to top even the first entry’s drug trade craziness. I’ve touched on this boss before in my review of Xenoblade Chronicles X, but the single biggest sidequest plotline involves the machinations of the sadistic shape-shifting alien species known as Definians. After well over thirty different quests and intersecting character stories, you finally reach the leader of the Definians deep in her stronghold, Emeroa. Boarding a giant mech, she launches into battle with you.
The fight against the Rexoskell is certainly an amazing battle, and it’s fought between two distinct and engaging phases. In the first, you battle on foot, and in the second you take to the skies in your flying Skell robots. It’s extremely hard and puts all of your knowledge of Xenoblade Chronicles X‘s intricate systems to the test. However, what truly makes this encounter stand out is in what it represents. It’s so satisfying to see this narrative thread through to its conclusion, and your reward for taking down the Rexoskell is the confirmation that there’s nothing you can’t handle in this hostile, beautiful alien world.
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
The Contrarian Corner 