Fighting bosses has become a staple in video games; it’s a test of your abilities and what you’ve learned so far in the game. For most games, fighting and defeating a boss is crucial for you to progress further in the game. As a result, boss battles can often be incredibly frustrating and tricky. But that thrill of victory when this great obstacle you’ve faced is overcome is pretty incredible as well.
Nintendo has brought us a fair number of bosses to challenge, fight, and defeat. Some bosses have been creepy, some have been strange, some have been incredibly powerful and hard, and some... have been pretty weak. But throughout the history of Nintendo, there have been bosses that showed how appearances can be deceiving. These particular bosses initially look very powerful and intimidating, but soon proved to be incredibly weak. They got our hopes up before dashing them against their lackluster performance.
So here are 15 Nintendo bosses who may look powerful, but soon showed to be very weak. Keep in mind that this is my opinion, and that even though a boss may be weak, the battle itself may still be enjoyable.
Do you think I missed any bosses? Are there some you think that should be on this list? Let me know!
15 King Boo (Luigi’s Mansion)
Don’t get me wrong, Luigi’s Mansion is a great game with unique gameplay and a very unlikely protagonist. When we find out that it’s King Boo who has orchestrated this whole thing and has captured Mario, it’s another fun twist that also makes perfect sense. Who better to be behind the ghosts in this mansion than the original ghosts of the Mario franchise? When you end up facing King Boo in the final showdown, he seems a bit intimidating at first, especially with his giant robot Bowser suit.
However, despite the intimidating appearance this robotic Bowser puts on, he’s actually fairly easy to defeat. Dodging his attacks are pretty easy, and you can blow off his head with an exploding spike ball Bowser throws at you. After that, King Boo comes out of the body and all you have to do is start sucking him up with a vacuum.
King Boo gets points for style and having a pretty chilling introduction when you meet him, but when it comes to fighting, he proves to be pretty weak.
14 Demise (The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword)
The climax of Skyward Sword involves you going toe-to-toe with the source of all evil, the creature known as Demise. As Demise is finally released into the world, he shows his true form, which looks quite a bit like Ganondorf (which makes sense since Ganondorf is the reincarnation of Demise). As a result, Demise looks pretty intimidating. He’s a huge man with flaming hair, glowing eyes, and a menacing sword, who you fought right before. No matter how you look at it, Demise has a very intimidating presence.
Unfortunately, Demise in the final battle has left some things to be desired. The concept of fighting hand to hand combat is one that has been done before in previous Zelda games. And this battle is actually fairly easy to win. You simply use your shield to deflect Demise's sword, which makes him pause and then you can attack. Granted, the second phase is a bit harder as he gets more aggressive, but if you use the skyward strike on Demise, it stuns him, leaving him open to attack. Sorry Demise, you may look awesome, but your combat skills are terrible.
13 Bowser (Super Mario Sunshine)
Super Mario Sunshine is a bit unique to the Mario franchise with the use of a tricked-out water gun that helps you hover in the air. This game took platform jumping to a different level. The final boss ends up being Bowser and his son, Bowser Jr., who were behind the pollution of Isle Delfino, and they’ve kidnapped Princess Peach (again).
Unfortunately, the final battle is pretty anti-climactic. Granted, Bowser is a little intimidating since he’s huge and can do some damage. But the battle takes place as Bowser is soaking it up in some type of hot tub (weird). All you have to do is hit a few pound switches in the right places to destroy the hot tub and that’s pretty much it. The battle is short, not that impressive, and frankly, kind of lame. Bowser, despite his menacing appearance, hasn’t really had a track record for being particularly strong. Super Mario Sunshine showcases that.
12 King K. Rool (Donkey Kong Country)
King K. Rool is one of the main antagonists for most of the Donkey Kong games, and he’s usually done things like steal Donkey Kong's bananas or threaten his friends and family. At first look, King K. Rool in Donkey Kong Country could be seen as rather intimidating. He commands hordes of enemies to try to take out Donkey Kong, and he’s a pretty sinister looking reptile. He's a cross between a pirate and king, and has a pretty cool sense of style. This guy has a rather menacing presence.
But when you fight him, he’s not that difficult to beat. A lot of the battle is just you running around, avoiding his attacks and jumping on his head at the right moments. When it comes to combat, King K. Rool just doesn’t really deliver. He’s not that powerful and he gets defeated fairly quickly. But his crown does look pretty cool.
11 Ganondorf (The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
In most Zelda games, Ganondorf is usually a fairly formidable opponent. He does possess the Triforce of Power and usually he showcases that power rather well. Unfortunately, this isn’t quite the case in Twilight Princess.
This final battle in Twilight Princess does get props for having multiple stages and switching things up a bit. You go from fighting a possessed Zelda to fighting Ganon’s beast form to fighting him on horses to finally facing off against him in hand-to-hand combat. The first three of these stages are done fairly well.
However, it’s the last stage that shows that this Ganondorf just doesn’t have what it takes. The final battle where you’re fighting him one-on-one should have showcased Ganondorf’s combat skills, which have usually been impressive in past games. However, you can dodge his attacks pretty easily and do damage to him quickly. Unfortunately, this Ganondorf doesn’t quite live up to his previous versions.
10 King Coal (Banjo-Tooie)
Banjo-Tooie had all kinds of interesting villains to fight, ranging from silly to pretty cool. But some weren’t that impressive. One good example of this is King Coal. At first glance, he looks pretty intimidating. He’s basically a giant humanoid rock that looks like he can crush you with very little effort.
And yet, the actual battle with King Coal is pretty lackluster. He just stomps around with big movements that are easy to dodge. Defeating him is fairly easy since all you have to do is keep repeatedly hitting him anywhere, which then causes parts of his body soon start crumbling off. He doesn’t even have any weak points since his whole body is considered a weak point. All in all, while his design may look fairly powerful, this guy is weak.
9 Golem Boss (Chrono Trigger)
Golem Boss (also known as Golem Overlord) at first glance looks pretty strong. He’s a massive floating rock that has some pretty powerful magic. Now you’ve faced some villains similar to him in this game already, all of which were fairly powerful. So you’d think that fighting this guy would be pretty challenging, right?
Well, not so much. When you fight Golem Boss, you are on the Blackbird, a massive flying fortress. Normally when you fight a Golem, they count down to a massive attack that does a lot of damage. Golem Boss tries to do a similar countdown, but forgets partway through. And if you don’t defeat him fast enough, he runs away because he’s afraid of heights. Chrono Trigger is known for having some interesting and bizarre battles, but this one definitely takes the cake. This guy is just weak.
8 Armogohma (The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
There’s a good reason why you may think Armogohma would be a pretty powerful foe. For one thing, he (she? it?) is a giant spider. I will give this foe props for its introduction. When you first enter the room, you don’t see anything until you look up, and there it is. A huge spider is just crawling around on the ceiling. The design on Armogohma is very awesome and seriously creepy with its legs, hairy body, and a huge eyeball on its back (arachnophobes actually probably had a hard time with this boss).
But this boss is pretty easy to defeat. All you have to do is shoot it down from the ceiling, aiming for the eye, and then smash it by taking control of the nearby statues. Repeat this a few times, and you’ve defeated Armogohma. For it’s really awesome design, this boss was just too easy to defeat.
7 Parasite Queen (Metroid Prime)
To be fair, this is the first boss you fight in the game and first bosses are usually fairly easy. That being said, Parasite Queen does bring a lot of presence to the game, and I think it was smart to have her as the first boss. You come across the boss in an abandoned ship. The design on this creature is suitably creepy, with the creature looking like a giant mutated tick. But as creepy as she looks, she’s fairly easy to beat.
The parasite queen is partially trapped in a container that comes in sections and swivels around her. As such, her movement is rather limited. You have to run around this area, avoiding her attacks while shooting at her through the moving panels. Do that enough times and you defeat her. She’s pretty easy to avoid and defeat. That being said, I think the game’s creators were smart in putting a boss like this at the beginning. Parasite Queen was a striking villain that does put up a bit of a fight, but is easy enough to beat since you’re still getting used to the controls. It gives you a taste of what’s to come.
6 Ghoma (The Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker)
Like in Metroid Prime, this boss is the first one you face in Wind Waker, so it makes sense that it would be pretty easy to defeat. Ghoma is a type of fire insect that is tormenting the great dragon Valoo’s tail. When you first see it, it comes bursting out of this lava pit, and the design of it is pretty cool. Its armor, impressive pincers, and multiple legs make for an intimidating looking boss. Let’s not forget that this creature was pretty massive too.
But Ghoma turns out to be fairly weak. All you have to do is swing from Valoo’s tail a couple of times. This angers Valoo and causes a giant rock to fall down on Ghoma’s armor, cracking it. The armor eventually breaks, leaving Ghoma open for you to attack it at its eye—the weak point. While this boss does look impressive, its fighting abilities aren’t.
5 Baby Bowser (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island)
When you first battle Baby Bowser, the fight is not that great. But then Kamek the MagiKoopa comes along and decides to supersize Baby Bowser, because why not? The next part of the battle involves you going up against a huge infant Bowser. Sounds pretty cool, right? The battle itself shows this giant infant in the background, charging towards you. It’s a little freaky since you know that if he reaches you, he’ll collapse the ground you’re on and it’s game over. So initially, this final boss looks like he can do some damage.
Unfortunately, while the battle is unique and pretty fun, it ultimately doesn’t take much to take Baby Bowser out. All you have to do is throw giant eggs at him to keep him from advancing and after seven hits, he returns to his normal size. We will cut him some slack since he’s just a baby, but it still feels a little lame.
4 Fyrus (The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
Twilight Princess had a bit of a problem with bosses that looked really cool, but were too easy to defeat. Fyrus is no exception. With his design as a giant goron that seems to be possessed by fire, it’s such a shame that Fyrus turns out to be pretty easy to beat. Fyrus’s overall look is pretty incredible. The image of him chained up as you first come across him and as he breaks free of the of chains is quite striking. This giant creature that looks to be made of lava and rock is very visually appealing.
But he proves to be quite the pushover. The shining jewel in his forehead may as well be a painted target for you to shoot at with your arrows. Once he’s stunned, all you have to do is pull on the chains wrapped around his feet while wearing iron boots. This causes him to trip and fall forward, which allows you to attack his forehead.
3 Parasitis Core (Abadox)
Those that remember Abadox likely remember just how difficult that game was. The side-scrolling sci-fi shooter game was often criticized for being too difficult, having a one-hit-you-die gameplay mechanic and some rather frustrating bosses. When you came across the final boss, the Parasitis Core, you may think it will be the most difficult battle of all. The design of the boss is done creepily well and makes you think you’re in for a rough time.
But this boss is incredibly easy to defeat. All you have to do is shoot the Parasitis Core in its eyes for a short time. And that’s it; you’ve killed it. Some players rather liked that this boss was so easy to defeat since the rest of the game was such a headache, while others felt a little cheated out of a potentially good fight.
2 Black Baron (Mad World)
Mad World is a unique Nintendo game with its gritty tones and darker theme. The interesting style and tone contribute even more to the fact that this game often seems a little out of place with Nintendo’s normally family friendly games (though Nintendo has done darker stuff before). The last boss, Black Baron, contributes to this tone. His interesting style and big body physique make him look pretty intimidating and powerful.
But the battle with him proves otherwise. While the Black Baron’s moves are flashy, his attacks are pretty easy to avoid, leaving him open. All you have to do is slash away with your chainsaw sword and he’s finished pretty quickly. We happily give Black Baron points for style, but this guy just isn’t very impressive.
1 Ganon (The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time)
Before you all come at me with pitchforks, let me say that Ganon wins all the points for his introduction and design. Ganondorf’s transformation into Ganon is one of the most iconic moments in Zelda history, and it’s a moment that has stuck with me since I saw it as a kid. The battle itself is incredibly atmospheric. You’re fighting this huge humanoid monster on the ruins of Hyrule castle with lightning in the background and chilling music playing, so it’s a very enjoyable battle. Ganon also looks incredibly intimidating with his huge swords and giant presence.
Unfortunately, the battle isn’t that difficult. It’s fairly easy to get behind Ganon to attack his tail, eventually causing him to fall forward, which lets you hack away at his face. The battle is a bit harder in the beginning since Ganon knocked Master Sword from your hands where it landed behind a wall of fire. But even then, it’s not that difficult, especially if you have the Biggoron’s sword. It gets even easier as you use light arrows to temporarily stun Ganon. While the battle gets major points for atmosphere and it’s still pretty fun to play out, it does show Ganon to be not that difficult to fight.