Usually, boss battles make your heart race as the beads of sweat begin to gather on your brow, and your thumbs start cramping up from furiously dancing across your controller. But other times, it's your ribs that start cramping as you try to hold in your laughter at some hilariously pitiful or humorous bosses.
If you’ve been looking for a giggle recently, these bosses are sure to get tears of laughter flowing down your cheeks, they're the highlights of their respective games.
Updated April 26, 2023 By Ben Jessey: Boss battles are generally serious encounters, but they don't have to be. After all, there is no rule stating that a boss fight can't include plenty of comedy.
As such, there are several funny boss battles in gaming, and we put the most humorous ones in this collection. For this update, we decided to add several more comical ones that didn't make it into the list previously.
13 Professor Nakayama (Borderlands 2: Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt)
While Borderlands is a series known for its humor, a lot of the big fights are relatively serious. After all, you're usually going up against large and dangerous beasts. However, Professor Nakayama is an exception. You face this scrawny scientist during Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt DLC.
Prior to the battle, he gives a big speech bragging about his intelligence and the large weapon on his arm. Yet, he then hilariously falls down the holographic stairs. Along the way, his health bar gradually depletes with every hit he takes. Once he gets to the bottom, he's dead and the battle is over.
12 Paul (Saints Row 4)
The Saints Row series has contained a bit of wackiness from the start. Saints Row 4 takes the level of wackiness to the extreme, though. This is because so much of it is set in simulations where regular laws of the universe don't apply.
One example is Pierce's nightmare world, which you visit to save your friend. In this place, the main enemies are Saints-branded energy drinks come to life. The main one is a giant named Paul, who can fire lasers out of his eyes. Having a giant energy drink as an enemy is funny enough. But what makes it even more humorous is the fact you take control of a giant statue to make it an even fight.
11 Johnny Charisma (Batman: Arkham Knight)
There are many wonderful boss battles in the Arkham Series. Most of them are serious fights that pit the Dark Knight against dangerous foes. The series isn't devoid of humor, though, as evidenced by the encounter with Johnny Charisma in Arkham Knight.
It's not a traditional boss fight, as it's mostly about defusing bombs behind Johnny's back. That job is for Robin while Batman keeps the singer's attention. The comedy comes from the fact Batman sees The Joker instead of Johnny - he sees Joker in random places throughout the game. As such, The Joker is singing his heart out to Bats. And the song is about all their adventures together. It's very funny.
10 Papyrus (Undertale)
It’s hard to stay mad at Papyrus from Undertale, even when he’s trying to kill you. As weak as Papyrus’s attacks are, he is trying to capture you so he can become part of the Royal Guard and finally get some friends. But somewhere along the line, in a wholesome twist of fate, Papyrus starts to see you as one of his friends.
Papyrus is the only boss in the game whose attacks will never kill you. He would rather leave the player's health bar at one HP. Papyrus is really just a giant softie deep down. This makes him a much better person (or skeleton) than a boss.
9 Fawful (The Mario & Luigi Games)
Fawful is a long-running antagonist in the Mario & Luigi games. Unlike Papyrus, Fawful’s humor doesn’t come from his battles, and he can be quite the force to be reckoned with. Fawful’s humor is found mostly within his hilariously strange one-liners.
Most of the things that come out of Fawfuls mouth make little to no sense whatsoever. Some of his most valuable quotes contain the likes of “the mustard of your doom!” And “beef? I am lacking beef.” “Fawful is beefless.” If you’re confused by any or all of these quotes, don’t worry, you’re not the only one.
8 GLaDOS (Portal)
There are few games in existence with as much sarcastic humor as the Portal games, so it would be uncouth to not include the mastermind of said humor, GLaDOS. GLaDOS’ final fight is the culmination of all the snide remarks and comments made throughout the whole game, and hearing the panic of an evil AI mastermind start to bubble over hits even better in GLaDOS’ monochromatic voice.
The GLaDOS fight sees the player dealing with several of its cores, each with its own personality, which is just as humorous as the rest. But there is one in particular that is by far the funniest, and anyone who has ever played Portal knows exactly which one we mean.
7 Gogo (Final Fantasy 5)
Final Fantasy games aren’t the first that come to mind when thinking of hilarious boss battles, but Final Fantasy 5 is an exception. This is where the player gets the opportunity to meet Gogo, who is anything but traditional.
If you choose to take Gogo head-on, you will be met with a quick and painful death. Gogo’s moves hit hard and can easily one-shot any member of your party. Gogo is a unique boss who requires a unique fighting style.
If you want to beat Gogo, you have to do nothing. You read that right, nothing. Once you have done nothing for long enough, you will be congratulated on your win by none other than Gogo himself.
6 Psycho Mantis (Metal Gear Solid)
The Metal Gear Solid franchise has also been known to make use of interesting and unique ways to defeat its bosses, some of which break the fourth wall. One of the best examples of this is the battle against Psycho Mantis in Metal Gear Solid.
Psycho Mantis has the creative ability to read your memory card and will commentate on what games you have saved data for. The only way to beat him is by switching your controller to the player two port, so he can’t read your memory card data and predict the future.
5 The End (Metal Gear Solid 3)
Psycho Mantis is a wonderfully creative boss fight, but it's not the only one in the Metal Gear Solid series. Metal Gear Solid 3 also has its own hilariously creative final boss fight. Here, the player is offered one of two choices.
You can defeat the boss the hard way by engaging in an epic sniping battle. Or, if you prefer to take the easy way out, you could simply turn the clock on your console forward and watch the boss die of old age.
4 Morgan Freeman (South Park: The Fractured But Whole)
South Park: The Fractured But Whole having one of the most hilarious boss battles is surely no surprise to anyone. The entire game is hilarious, of course, but the hardest boss battle in the game really takes the cake.
The Fractured But Whole see the player fighting someone that no person with any ounce of respect would ever engage in combat with in real life. The boss in question is none other than the legendary Morgan Freeman himself. You almost don’t even want to beat him.
3 Jinroku (Ghost Of Tsushima)
Ghost of Tsushima is an epic game set in the feudal era of Japan. The game tells an awesome story of steel and blade. As a result, humor isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Ghost of Tsushima. But there is one battle in the game that truly is quite hilarious.
The scene takes place atop a dimly lit hillside. The sky is a waning shade of grey, and the mood is so tense you could cut the air with your samurai sword. The game truly sets the scene for an epic sword fight between the player and Jinroku. But instead, as soon as the battle begins, Jinroku throws down his sword and begins begging for your forgiveness in one of the most speedy surrenders in gaming history.
2 Bob The Killer Goldfish (Earthworm Jim)
The big bad in the Earthworm Jim franchise is neither big nor bad. Bob the Killer Goldfish has about as much strength as a Magikarp that hasn’t even learned splash yet. And thus, the final battle is rather anticlimactic.
Bob the Goldfish makes up for his complete inability to engage in any sort of combat by hiring a cast of minions to wipe Earthworm Jim off the map. But once you get through them, the best boss battle has to be the one where Earthworm Jim pops Bob the Killer Goldfish in his mouth and swallows him like a gumball. Bowl, and all.
1 The Great Mighty Poo (Conker's Bad Fur Day)
The Great Mighty Poo is among the individuals people think of first when they think of hilarious boss battles in gaming.
Conker's Bad Fur Day doesn’t just make you battle a great big mighty poo. That would be far too easy. Just in case toilet humor wasn’t funny enough, the developers also made it sing opera, of all things. If fighting The Great Big Mighty Poo doesn’t make you giggle at least once, we honestly don’t know what will.