Few things in video games are more exhilarating than a good boss fight. Big baddies serve as a test of the player’s skill up to that point and an opportunity to show the opposition that you aren’t messing around.
Bayonetta has fought a boss or two in her timeline, each one just as thrilling as the next. A good boss should be challenging as well as fun while also having a fair amount of stakes or context behind each. The implications of those stakes governed by the outcome of the fight. Bosses aren’t your normal grunts and should be viewed as such. The title of ‘boss’ is earned, not given. So, this list will look at who the top dogs in the Bayonetta series really are.
10 10. Aesir
The final boss of Bayonetta 2. Overall, the humanoid bosses in the second game aren’t all that great due to the abuse of in-game mechanics needed to even touch them sometimes. Even so, Aesir is a nicely put together fight for the fate of the human race’s future.
Get ready to put your reactions to the test against this boss, especially in his second phase, as witch time or umbran climax is basically a requirement to get hits on him. It’ll be worth it at the very end when he’s in a weakened state, letting Bayonetta and Balder wail on him with no punishment before summoning Omne to dropkick his soul straight into a Gomorrah summoning from Jeanne.
9 9. Fortitudo
The first real boss Bayonetta faces in the series. Out of all the Cardinal Virtues, Fortitudo appears the most in full before the real confrontation with him occurs, making for a nice amount of lead-up before the fight.
The battle against him is a solid first boss fight. Fortitudo uses every limb he has available to him as well as his control over fire to take out Bayonetta. The best thing about this boss fight is that it sets the stage for how all future boss fights of this nature will go. Plenty of climax sequences that often end in the dismemberment of the boss in slow but oh-so-satisfying succession until they’re nothing but a mutilated husk. Beautiful.
8 8. Iustitia
One of the grosser bosses on this list, Iustitia doesn’t have much of a formal introduction in the way of a pre-fight conversation. His presence is seen and felt before the direct confrontation with Bayonetta though. His tentacles appear numerous times in levels attempting to halt her progress.
Iustitia is simply a giant ball with faces and tentacles. Each face sports a tongue with a child’s face at the very end. Iustitia uses its tongues in tandem with its poison-spewing tentacles as a means to harm Bayonetta. So, what does Bayonetta do? Cut off the tongues of course before squeezing him so hard that he explodes under the pressure.
7 7. Temperantia
The Cardinal Virtue of Temperance and the second boss of the first game. Temperantia, like all the other Cardinal Virtues, wants Bayonetta as a sacrifice to bring back the creator. Although, he seems to have a certain infatuation with Bayonetta’s eyes. To the point where it’s almost kind of creepy.
As a huge torso with arms, Temperantia attacks with mostly brute force supported by the power of wind. He has fingertips that shoot missiles and an electrified punch attack that can destroy the platforms Bayonetta stands on. It’s only right then that Bayonetta rids him of those pesky arms before punching his face to a pulp.
6 6. Sapientia
The last Cardinal Virtue. Sapientia’s fight is one of the most dynamic out of all the bosses in the first game. Bayonetta isn’t limited to standing on a platform and her range of movement isn’t hindered by any sort of elemental hazards either.
Instead, Bayonetta surfs across the water, doing damage to each of Sapientia’s legs before charging him straight into an infernal demon summon for big armor breaking damage. This then transitions the fight into a giant whirlpool where Bayonetta will attempt to make her way toward Sapientia while he sends all sorts of hazards her way. While not the toughest boss on this list, Sapientia has some of the better sequences in the first game that even managed to make their way into the second.
5 5. Alraune
The demon who took Jeanne’s soul for herself in Inferno. Alraune takes issue with both Bayonetta for disturbing her home and the demon she has a contract with, Madame Butterfly, the latter of which she has an intense hatred for. A simple but nonetheless amusing set-up with the fate of Jeanne’s soul at stake.
Alraune is unique in that she comes in two forms and not just phases. A humanoid form and a much more monstrous one. Her first form is fairly simple as like any other humanoid boss. Her second form calls for a few scripted events leading up to the release of Jeanne’s soul from the beast itself. This fight rewards you with one of the best weapons in Bayonetta 2; Alruna.
4 4. Gomorrah
Gomorrah is a special boss. An infernal demon that Bayonetta summons quite commonly throughout the first game. Gomorrah is an otherwise trusted ally that suddenly turns on Bayonetta at the very beginning of the second game. This sends a big message to the player that you ain’t just fighting angels this time.
As a boss, Gomorrah immediately shows its power by outright killing Jeanne, banishing her soul to Inferno. It then scales a skyscraper allowing Bayonetta to show off her newly acquired power of flight. Remember all those platforms you had to stand on when fighting bosses in the first game? Yeah, you can forget about them now. It’s a great first boss in both context and gameplay.
3 3. Jubileus
The final boss of the first game. The Creator, as she is often referred to throughout the game, is a figure you only hear about after defeating every big baddie in the game. It makes for some pretty good build-up as a final boss, however simple it may be.
Thematically, Jubileus embodies every obstacle that Bayonetta has faced throughout the game. While she isn’t exactly the most difficult boss on this list, Jubileus puts every skill and piece of knowledge the player has picked up to the test. She’s able to change the battleground itself at will, while also having an insta-kill move and the ability to revert Bayonetta into a child. This fight makes it all worth it when Bayonetta summons the Queen of Inferno to punch Jubileus’s soul straight into the sun.
2 2. Jeanne
Specifically, the last encounter with her in the first game. Bayonetta fights Jeanne numerous times throughout the story both in the past and present. Bayonetta is unsure of her role the entire time and just knows they have some kind of connection.
Jeanne is arguably one of the toughest bosses in the first game. Unlike the large, slow and lumbering Cardinal Virtues, Jeanne is just as fast and agile as Bayonetta herself, throwing a huge monkey wrench in how the player approaches this kind of boss in the game. Witch time isn’t as dependable against her and a fair share of her attacks have very short start-up, making them harder to react to than other bosses in the game.
1 1. Father Balder
The penultimate boss of Bayonetta. It was Balder’s idea to resurrect Jubileus and he needs Bayonetta to do so.
As a humanoid boss, Balder isn’t the toughest on this list and he has several scripted events. The skirmishes with Jeanne prepare the player better for the fight against Balder. The transition from Jeanne to Balder feels like a perfect one that rewards the player for having learned how to manage Jeanne herself. And to cap it all off, after beating him, you get to guide a lipstick bullet straight into the guy’s forehead.