(Surprise! Another double-up weekend! These ‘Remembering The…‘ articles aren’t too hard to write, so I figured doubling-up a few of these weeks could help spice up the fun!)
I can’t help it, friends. Video games have all sorts of amazing boss fights in them, I just have to spend time talking about them on occasion! So although this is our third time around now, we’ve got another slew of ten amazing fights. I’ll also include links to the battles, for your viewing pleasure!
Let’s get into it!
10) Wako Tako ~ Astro Bot (FIGHT)
In most platformers, there isn’t a lot to boss fights (typically, all you’ll get is the ol’ ‘Three Hit Rule‘). So maybe I’m just easily pleased, but when a platformer boss goes above and beyond, it always sticks out to me. Wako Tako, despite being only the second boss, is easily Astro Bot‘s best and most involved encounter. Each round of the first phase requires you to do something different in order to damage him, then he hits you with a surprise second phase platforming test, followed by a third phase on top of that! It’s so much spectacle and effort for only the second boss in the game, and it’s very appreciated by me!
9) Giga Mermaid ~ Shantae: Half Genie Hero (FIGHT)
Despite being only the second boss in the game, Giga Mermaid puts in a really good showing across more than one phase to make her the most memorable clash (hey, this is sounding a little similar to Wako Tako). You start by busting her out of the chains she’s locked up in, all while she blindly attacks in a rage, and then even once free her fury still isn’t contained as she gets up-close-and-personal for phase two. It’s a boss with enough gimmicks to keep it fresh, and it even slightly relies on your animal transformations, which no other boss does for some reason. It definitely makes a great statement to cap off what is also probably the best world in the game.
8) Egg Viper ~ Sonic Adventure (FIGHT)
This is one of my favorite clashes in the whole Sonic series, so it’s a little sad that this fight tends to be forgotten by many, it seems. It’s also one of the hardest, though admittedly it’s gotten a lot easier to me over time since I first played this game as a young’un. Still, the Egg Viper is the most technically demanding showdown in the game, with a whopping health bar and a plethora of attacks that demand you keep up, especially as during the second phase each mistake you make destroys another platform, to the point where you’ll eventually fall to your death! And, of course, who could forget Eggman’s desperate final blow after you’ve depleted his health, a sneak attack that can instant-kill you if you don’t dive out of the way at the last possible second!
7) Amazon Pandora ~ Kid Icarus Uprising (FIGHT)
Despite, in the grand scheme of things, being little more than a filler fight right before the climax of the adventure, Amazon Pandora is a whole lot of fun. You’ll notice a running trend here with this list, because a big reason why I like Amazon Pandora so much is because of her multiple phases. She starts in her old Pandora form, before quickly shifting into this new form that makes her a thousand times more nimble and deadly. Then, she plays dead halfway through the fight, only to hit you with a sneak attack for one more chaotic phase. It’s a blast, and since this is Kid Icarus Uprising, the voice-acted smack-talking during the bout is only the icing on the cake!
(Alas, the linked video was the only real clip I could find, which is a shame, because the player is on a lower intensity setting, which means Amazon Pandora goes down in a flash like a chump.)
6) Bouldergeist ~ Super Mario Galaxy (FIGHT)
This boss was my absolute nightmare when I was younger, a boss who filled me with rage like no other. And that was even for his normal form, because I was just not good at video games at that young age! So color me horrified when I found out you also have to tackle this rocky behemoth under the threatening Daredevil Comet condition, which insta-kills you if you take even a single hit! And Bouldergeist is a lengthy fight, involving swinging bombs into his rocky exterior while avoiding a plethora of attacks and flying fists. Doing it all without making even a single mistake is one of the absolute hardest challenges in the entirety of Super Mario Galaxy, no question. At least the music is awesome, which can keep you going after you die, die, and die again.
5) Final Ghirahim ~ Skyward Sword (FIGHT)
Though he gets upstaged as the actual final boss, Ghirahim is still Skyward Sword‘s main villain, thus he was deserving of a suitably epic climactic confrontation. And while we can debate the exact ‘epicness‘ of waggling around a Wiimote with Skyward Sword‘s infamous motion controls, the fight is at least super fun! It’s three phases, Ghirahim pulls out all the stops, and the music is fantastic. It always feels amazing to duel against this psycho sword-spirit, and the stakes in this conclusive clash are very memorable. A little bit challenging to, which is nice, given the track record of many Zelda bosses being overall quite easy. It’s also just very cathartic to see the façade of this ‘above-it-all‘ manipulator finally crack as he gets desperate to land a blow on you. What a great villain.
4) Pontiff Sulyvahn ~ Dark Souls 3 (FIGHT)
Once you learn the cool behind-the-scenes tidbit that this man was meant to be the game’s main villain in the original draft, this unforgettable bout becomes much more understandable! I mean, most of the in-game lore sets him up as the big baddie already, but then you stroll into his boss arena and find yourself facing off against perhaps the stiffest difficulty-bump in the entire series! Pontiff is no joke, and he’ll wipe the floor with you with his unrelenting pursuit and extremely long attack combos (he’s practically the prototype of the sort of nonsense we get nowadays in Elden Ring). Add in a second phase where he summons a ghost clone to double-up the pain, and sprinkle in some typically fantastic boss music, and this is one of the best bouts in the entire Souls series.
3) Excavallion ~ Granblue Fantasy Relink (FIGHT)
It is exceptionally difficult to create a truly compelling boss battle against a gargantuan foe, to the point where most games don’t attempt it, and many that do often fail. And yet, I’m super glad that Granblue Fantasy Relink went for it, because the showdown in the desert against Excavallion is fantastic! From zipping around across the sand dunes to dodge its attacks, to taking out the generators around its ankles to stun it, to scaling up its massive hands, to sliding down its explosive arms while dodging a hail of fireballs, to outsmarting the final defense gate around its core, Excavallion is a thrill-ride of titanic proportions from start-to-finish, an incredible send-off to what was already my favorite level in the game even before this boss! And do I even need to say at this point that the music is incredible?
2) Nameless Puppet ~ Lies of P (FIGHT)
For all the pomp and grandeur of certain showdowns in this game, I was ecstatic to find that the final clash is a tense, difficult, but simple and fair showdown between you and your similar-sized foe. I’ve always said that the best fights in Souls-like games are those that pit you against a similar sized foe with reasonable but very tricky attacks, and the Nameless Puppet is just that. It’s hard, for sure, but there’s an inherent feeling of fairness throughout both phases of this final boss fight that really elevate the clash. I don’t feel cheated when I die, I acknowledge my own mistake and vow to do better.
So yeah, it’s not super flashy or anything, and nowhere near as cinematic as the boss the proceeded it (a boss I rather dislike, owing to the screen-wide magic explosions that do feel unfair), but this is a boss much more my speed. Just you, your corrupted puppet friend, and a small circular room with which to tango in. Plus, the boss seems well designed around accommodating multiple playstyles, so whatever techniques you rock up with, you can rest assured knowing your own skill is all that stands between you and letting him have it!
1) Phantylia ~ Honkai Star Rail (FIGHT)
I hardly know where to begin with a fight this grand in scope! I suppose it’s fairly accurate to say that this fight is a summation of everything that has come before it on this list of mine. It’s a narratively satisfying clash that ties of the third story arc of Honkai Star Rail quite wonderfully. It’s got a fantastic visual and mechanical design that grows in complexity across multiple phases. It’s got fantastic music (honestly my favorite song in the game, which is saying something given how phenomenal the whole game’s soundtrack is). And, it’s just the right amount of challenge.
Turn-based RPGs can be difficult to construct battles for, especially bosses. How do you make them special, just give the boss more health and damage? Well, Honkai Star Rail tackles this through prickly flower summons that Phantylia can create, that either damage you or sap you of skill points. But, of course, the fight only ends once she goes down. So, do you prioritize the flowers (which do give bonuses if you kill them), or do you just go straight for her? Adding in Honkai Star Rail‘s inherent strength in team-building and a plethora of strategies at your disposal, and every player can make this fight their own.
And I really can’t understate both the cinematic scale of this fight, and also the world-class soundtrack. On your first playthrough, these three phases can feel like a monumental struggle, and yet you’ve got powerful allies, narrative determination, and the invigorating music to keep you going and persevering! It’s wonderfully amazing, and definitely one of the highest-highs in a phenomenal game already stacked with unforgettable moments!
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
The Contrarian Corner 