The Hardest Video Game Bosses

Ten reasons controllers have warranty exclusions.

Entries
10
Category
Games
Updated
  1. A gray beach at dusk with a fishing village behind, a lantern and a broken cleaver in the wet sand.

    10. Bloodborne: Orphan of Kos

    FromSoftware · 2015

    The final boss of The Old Hunters DLC, a newborn horror on a beach who swings its own placenta as a weapon and somehow gets faster in phase two. It's often called the hardest fight in the game. The art direction is also hard, for different reasons.

  2. A Greek coliseum arena with a giant key-shaped sword and a single black feather on the sand.

    09. Kingdom Hearts: Sephiroth

    Square · 2002

    The optional fight in Olympus Coliseum, where a Final Fantasy villain wipes out a kid with a giant key. One move drops you to 1 HP and drains your magic before he follows up. Disney fans signed up for Goofy and Donald. They got a one-winged angel instead.

  3. A glowing white sky temple with a cracked bug-sized nail sword on the floor and moths circling a light.

    08. Hollow Knight: Absolute Radiance

    Team Cherry · 2017

    The final fight of the Pantheon of Hallownest, which you only reach after dozens of boss rematches in a row with no saves in between. One mistake late in the run sends you back to the beginning. A beautiful bug game that is mostly about suffering in a dignified way.

  4. The ocean floor with a submarine resting in the sand beside a giant glowing green crystal and an hourglass.

    07. Final Fantasy VII: Emerald Weapon

    Square · 1997

    An optional underwater superboss with a 20-minute time limit unless you carry the Underwater materia. Its Aire Tam Storm does damage per materia you have equipped, punishing you for preparing. The ocean floor of the PlayStation's biggest RPG, guarded by a math problem.

  5. A laboratory chamber with yellow blocks scattered across the floor and one large glowing eye-shaped lens on a pedestal.

    06. Mega Man: Yellow Devil

    Capcom · 1987

    A blob boss that breaks into pieces and flies across the screen, block by block, which you have to jump through perfectly before its eye opens for a split second. Players beat it with a pause-button glitch that makes one shot hit over and over. Even the cheat took practice.

  6. A golden hallway with stained-glass windows and a blue hoodie draped over a bottle of ketchup on the floor.

    05. Undertale: Sans

    Toby Fox · 2015

    Only on the route where you kill everything does the joking skeleton fight back, dodging every attack while bullet-hell patterns and karma damage chip you away. The easiest enemy in the game, as long as you were nice. You were not nice. That's on you.

  7. A grand cathedral hall with a lion-shaped spear helmet and a giant hammer lying side by side on the marble floor.

    04. Dark Souls: Ornstein and Smough

    FromSoftware · 2011

    A fast spear knight and a huge hammer brute in the Anor Londo cathedral, at once. Kill one and the other absorbs his power and heals to full. The camera fights you too. Generations of players learned the word duo as a threat.

  8. A boxing ring under bright arena lights, a tiny pair of green gloves on the canvas and a championship belt on the ropes.

    03. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!: Mike Tyson

    Nintendo · 1987

    The last fight of the NES classic, where Tyson's uppercuts knock Little Mac down in one hit for most of the first round. Plenty of kids never saw him without the passcode. The passcode 007 373 5963 skipped straight to him, which was its own kind of punishment.

  9. A field of tall pampas grass under a storm sky, with a katana, a spear and a matchlock gun stuck into the ground.

    02. Sekiro: Sword Saint Isshin

    FromSoftware · 2019

    The final boss is a four-phase gauntlet that starts with the previous boss and ends with an old swordsman who has also brought a spear and a gun. Sekiro won Game of the Year at The Game Awards anyway. Respecting your elders has never cost so many retries.

  10. A field of red flowers at the foot of a giant golden tree, a winged helmet and a curved sword lying among the petals.

    01. Elden Ring: Malenia

    FromSoftware · 2022

    An optional boss whose Waterfowl Dance shreds you in midair and whose second phase is worse. By March 2023 she'd been attempted 329 million times, killing about 10 players a second. One volunteer, Let Me Solo Her, beat her for strangers thousands of times in a pot helmet.

Honorable mentions

  • A dense jungle with a sniper rifle on a tree stump, a moss-covered rocking chair and a parrot's perch.

    Metal Gear Solid 3: The End

    Konami · 2004

    A century-old sniper in a huge forest, and a long, hard stealth duel. Or save during the fight, wait about a week, reload, and he has died of old age. The only boss in gaming you can beat by going on vacation. Hard or easy, your choice.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A ruined stone arena with a massive war hammer and a spiked iron helmet resting on a throne.

    Mortal Kombat 3: Shao Kahn

    Midway · 1995

    The final boss is huge, has armor-like resistance, and was widely accused of reading your button presses and countering them before you finished. The arcades ate a lot of quarters on this guy. Hard is one thing. Telepathy is cheating.

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