Have you ever played a game that felt unbeatable when you were younger? Or even right now? Did you ever encounter a boss fight so difficult you powered off your system or threw your controller across the room in a fit of rage? I know I have. I remember running through the Mega Man games and seeing the door that precedes every boss room. Even when I knew what was coming, I got chills having to face a most likely inevitable loss. There’s nothing quite like vanquishing that one enemy who’s given you fits since you saw them in that unskippable opening cutscene.
But boss fights are integral parts of many games. They challenge the player to run through an epic climb coupled with upticks in difficulty and annoying mini-bosses, and closing with a legendary battle that sets apart the gamers from the casuals. The moment when your avatar walks into a room or enters the final stage, and the background music changes from ‘sunshine and rainbows’ to ‘doom and gloom’, you knew something was going down.
In this article, we will go through 25 bosses from Nintendo games that are incredibly hard to beat, along with how to beat them. You’ll probably see some familiar faces along the way, and maybe some of these didn’t bother you at all, but trust me, I’m sure at least one of them might induce a small dose of trauma. Also, while I do think that some of these games are harder than the others, just remember that some of these were aimed towards children.
25 For Iron Mike Pattern Recognition At Its Finest
Iron Mike is regarded as one of the most difficult bosses in video game history. In the first round, you can be knocked out in one punch. ONE. PUNCH. Imagine entering a boss fight knowing that their first attack will wipe you out before you can even retaliate. Yeah, this is that kind of fight.
The trick to beating Mike is to have quick reflexes and knowledge of his moveset.
The first round consists of Mike throwing out uppercuts, along with the one-hit KO uppercuts, so prepare yourself to quick-dodge them. At 1:30 into the first round, he begins to use jabs instead of uppercuts. In round 2, he jabs a lot, so focus on dodging and whittling down his stamina more so than trying to knock him out.
24 Culex Is The Secret Epic Battle Of Super Mario RPG
Culex is an optional boss, so while you don’t have to face the monster’s wrath, it proves to be a testament to your own ability if you defeat it. Upon entering Culex’s lair, you can feel the intensity in the air as the monster comes down from the skies, challenging you to a duel.
The thing about this fight is that Culex doesn’t show up alone.
The four elemental crystals accompanying the monster prove to be a real challenge, so the fight is made easier in defeating them first since their HP is lower than Culex’s. The ideal party would consist of Mario, Geno, and Peach. You definitely want to acquire the Lazy Shell equipment pieces, along with the Attack Scarf and Super Suit. I’d also suggest saving any rock candies and red essences, as they might save your butt in dire situations.
23 The Imprisoned Shames Gamers
Firstly, let me say that any boss fight that has more than two phases is an absolute pain, regardless of the game or difficulty. When you’re fighting The Imprisoned, it always seems like you’re gaining an edge with every attack. But, I suppose in typical ‘TLOZ’ fashion, the difficulty ramps up as the game goes on.
The second phase, and the final phase are the difficult parts. A trick for the second phase is to use the geysers to boost yourself up on top of the mountain, wait for the boss to show you its toes, then attack them. Once it’s pacified, hop onto its head and hit the spike. For the final phase, you can either use the geysers or fire yourself from the catapult onto its head to damage its spike. Either method works quite well.
22 Tabuu Is The True Evil Of Smash Bros.
In the world where Master Hand and Crazy Hand are known to rule, Tabuu comes in as a surprise to the Smash Brothers world. This installment of the franchise came out with an adventure mode called The Subspace Emissary that functioned like a platformer, and seems somewhat inspired by the Mario and Kirby games. At the end of the adventure is the final boss, Tabuu, the ruler of the Subspace Emissary. Tabuu proves to be a challenge, especially on intense mode.
There aren’t any special tricks to easily defeat Tabuu, but there are two key factors.
The first is to have a good knowledge of his moveset. It’s quite predictable to know what he’s doing, so mentally prepare yourself for the matchup. Secondly, take characters that are quick and hit fairly hard, such as Captain Falcon, Fox, Meta Knight, Marth, Sonic, etc.
21 Ganon Is The Power Of Evil
A Link To The Past is regarded as an installment that demands more skill out of their players, unlike Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker, so there’s no question that it would contain some difficult boss fights.
The boss fight against Ganon is a two-phase skirmish that might frustrate players who don’t have a working knowledge of the mechanics.
To beat Ganon, one strategy would be to use the magic cape in the first phase to easily evade Ganon’s attacks, and quickly whittle down his HP without taking hits. Of course, the use of this item is limited due to the magic meter, so try and attack him with your sword as many times as you can. In the second phase, use the Fire Rod to light the torches when they go out, then switch to the silver arrows to damage and stun him.
20 Mother Brain Causes So Many Failures
While Mother Brain might not be regarded as the prime antagonist in the Metroid series that everyone first thinks of, she is a familiar recurring character that has proved to be the bane of some gamers’ existence. Her first occurrence is in Metroid on the NES, and man is she scary.
Firstly, getting to her is no easy task, as you have to maneuver through a slew of automated cannons and obstacles. Once you do get to her, well, you still have to face even more automated cannons while trying to damage her with missiles. There are a few tricks you can pull off to make the fight easier. You can shoot the beams from the cannons to freeze them, or use a bomb or the screw attack to destroy them as they approach. Rinse and repeat, and the battle shouldn’t last longer than a minute.
19 Whitney’s Miltank Will Beat You
There’s no way any seasoned Pokémon player hasn’t experienced the displeasure of Whitney’s Miltank. First off, its Rollout attack seems to never miss; Attract just means your Pokémon is as good as gone, and when you think you’ve gotten ahead, it uses Milk Drink to undo all the damage. This is all coupled with the fact that you’re at such an early stage in the game that you might not have a Pokémon strong enough to beat it.
But, there are some ways to acquire an edge.
Try using a female Geodude, as it is immune to attract and resistant to Rollout. You can acquire Machop in the Goldenrod Department Store; Miltank’s only weakness is to Fighting-type moves. You can use Pidgey’s Sand-Attack to lower Miltank’s accuracy, which makes it harder for her to hit Rollout. You can also catch Drowzee and use Hypnosis to lull it to sleep.
18 Marx Soul Punishes You
Kirby Super Star Ultra is the Nintendo DS remake of the SNES classic of the same name, minus the “Ultra.” Marx is the primary antagonist in the Milky Way Wishes adventure in Kirby Super Star and its remake, though he appears as Marx Soul in the latter. He proves to be a worthy adversary as a final boss, and even more so in the remake, being equipped with a more sophisticated moveset coupled with more speed.
The best way to beat him is to have a working knowledge of his moveset.
Much like the previously mentioned entry about Tabuu, having a good understanding of what he’ll do next will make it easier for you to maneuver around his attacks. Secondly, there are several abilities that are viable, but I recommend the ‘Hammer’ ability. It boasts quick aerial and ground attacks, a large hitbox, and deals tons of damage.
17 Nightmare Is Neverending
Here’s a monster (named Nightmare) who lives up to his name, as he really did give me nightmares (pun somewhat intended) growing up. He proves to be one of the most difficult ones, particularly because of the limited space on the map, along with his movement patterns, which are annoying to say the least.
However, if you’re aggressive enough, you can beat him in a couple of minutes.
The first trick is to charge your beam and shoot at the weak point. Don’t worry about taking hits, because if you have enough health, you shouldn’t have to worry. In the second part, cling to the wall and shoot missiles at his face as fast as you can. Once he starts moving around, follow his movement pattern and stay ahead of him. It should bring him back into position for you to easily cling to the wall, and wipe him out.
16 Good Luck, Pilot... Aquarosa Is Tough
Star Fox Zero has a sophisticated yet arduous control scheme, wherein its creators attempted to maximize the potential of the Wii U Gamepad. While I praise this attempt at trying to make the game more unique and enjoyable, this doesn’t help the fact that it featured some boss fights that were extremely difficult without a mastery of the control scheme.
Enter Aquarosa, a boss that forces you to look at the gamepad and the TV screen, while simultaneously ruining your day. There’s also a time limit, which really pressures the player to beat it quickly. The trick to beating this boss? Shoot down its dishes as fast as you can. You should be able to take them down in one circle, or else you’ll face the dreaded EMP cycles. Also, save your bombs for the turrets in the second phase. Don’t use them on the dishes from the first phase.
15 Bonetail Crosses The Line For Kids
Bonetail is an optional boss more challenging than the final boss of this installment. While Bonetail may boast impressive stats that might scare even the most hardened players, he’s relatively simple due to his similar moveset of the first boss in the game, Hooktail. There are a number of strategies to defeat Bonetai. Firstly, use the special move Power Lift to boost Mario’s Attack and Defense. Secondly, have Vivian as your partner, and use either Fiery Jinx or Shade Fist as your primary attacks. They ignore defense, so they’ll always do max damage. When you get low on HP, use the special move Sweet Feast, barring you don’t run out of Star Power. Also, because Bonetail’s moves are easy to predict, you can always use the Superguard move, which completely nullifies all damage from incoming attacks. It’s a difficult yet extremely effective strategy if pulled off correctly.
14 Bouldergeist Is The Monster In Space
Bouldergeist is probably one of the game’s most difficult bosses, especially with the Daredevil Comet, wherein the player only has one health, so you can’t take any hits. He also has two phases, which is always a pain in the butt. The first phase isn’t particularly difficult, but the second phase might give you a run for your money.
The thing about this boss is that his moves are telegraphed, so you’ll always know what’s coming, but you have to pay attention because they come out relatively quick. When he’s throwing rocks, run in one direction until he stops, then run the other way, as he’ll use whichever fist you were running towards to attack you. After that, he’ll follow with his stalagmite attack, so keep moving and stay sharp. Of course, the only way to beat him is using the dark boos against him, so pick your moments and attack wisely.
13 Just Like Legends Say...
Castlevania is hard. Period. It’s a difficult game particularly because of its mechanics. You can’t move or jump as cleanly as you can in more modern games, but I suppose that’s the charm of the retro 2D adventure game.
Dracula is the final boss of this installment, and he proves to be quite difficult.
The fact that there’s two phases doesn’t make this easier. However, his movements are quite predictable. Dracula spawns and shoots projectiles out of his cape, then he goes invisible and teleports to a location. That location is usually right where you are, so if you keep moving, you should be able to position yourself to jump over the projectiles and whip him in the head. In the second phase, use a lot of holy water. It will nullify his attacks while also keeping him in place, allowing you to land as many hits as possible.
12 The Epic Poké Battle
Ah yes, the fabled dragon master from Red/Blue. He’s proven to be a challenge because he uses Dragon-type Pokémon, a type that has two weaknesses and boasts Pokémon that are way overpowered compared to other types.
The best way to make the fight easier is to acquire Lapras, Dewgong, or Shellder.
These Pokémon themselves aren’t that strong, but they’re the only Pokémon that can learn Ice Beam, one of the strongest Ice-type moves, by levelling up. I would suggest Lapras since it has the highest Special Attack stat out of the three. Dragonite is Dragon/Flying type, so he has a 4x weakness to Ice-type moves. He has three of them, so this should give you an advantage for at least half the battle. In terms of his other Pokémon, they’re weak to Electric-type moves. You can acquire Mareep in the beginning of the game, and evolve it to Ampharos, who can learn Thunderpunch.
11 An Oldie But A Goodie
The real antagonist of the Metroid series is Ridley. He always has been and always will be. That being said, players always look forward to the climactic battle against him. However, in Super Metroid, he’s an absolute pain to deal with, and might be a battle that some players dread. His movement patterns are unpredictable, and his attacks are hard to dodge.
There are a couple of tricks to beating Ridley. As soon as his sprite appears, you can start hitting him with super missiles. It takes 30 hits with super missiles to beat him, so make sure you have tons of ammunition. Also, because the map is so small, it’s tough to maneuver around his attacks. However, you can use the Screw Attack to nullify his attacks since you’re invincible when executing the move. When he uses his tail attack, use Morph Ball and maneuver around the attack.
10 Boost Guardian Is Harsh
The Metroid Prime trilogy brought in a new dynamic to the Metroid series, with the trilogy acting as a first-person adventure game, as opposed to being a 2D platformer/shooter like its predecessors. Given this change in gameplay mechanics, of course, we’d run into boss fights that challenge the way we usually play Metroid games.
Enter the Boost Guardian, who is heralded as one of the most difficult bosses in the trilogy.
Here are some tips to beat the beast. Firstly, remember that charged light beam is stronger than super missiles. Secondly, whenever a pillar is blown up, a yellow energy capsule appears, so use those to heal. Lastly, whenever the boss morphs into a ball, you should do so as well. This gives you a third-person view of the environment, which makes it easier for you to evade its attacks.
9 Hades’ Heart Beats
The stage in this boss fight looks like something out of a Bomberman game. Also, this game really downplays the ferocity and malevolence that is Hades, the god of the underworld. I get that it’s a game targeted towards kids, but still.
Hades’ Heart is a tricky boss, particularly because there are two of them, in which one is a clone, and the way they move around the map seems random. The most essential component to this fight is knowing how to dodge. When any of the hearts run toward you, you must dodge through it, not away from it. This allows you to gain a better position on the map. You should also note that when a heart does chase after you, it takes the shortest path possible, so try to predict its movement. Otherwise, attack from afar, perhaps using homing attacks, and just keep dodging.
8 Mastering The Master Core
To think that the Super Smash Bros. universe couldn’t get any crazier, Master Core shows up, and provides a new type of challenge to the series. Unlike the other bosses in the series, and probably unlike a lot of other bosses in any other game, the Master Core battle has six phases.
The fight begins with Master Hand and Crazy Hand, then the Master Giant, followed by the Master Beast, Master Edges, Master Shadow, and lastly, the Master Fortress. There aren’t really any special tricks to beating it, other than having a knowledge of his moveset. Being able to predict what’s coming is essential. Be patient, and pick your moments on when to strike. Also, I’d suggest taking someone who hits hard and is quick, such as Mario, Captain Falcon, Fox, Marth, or Zero Suit Samus.
7 Cackletta Is A Crazy Feat
Here is a boss that defies the usual routine of any Mario game. Bowser isn’t the final boss, which is strange, right? In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Cackletta is the final boss and proves to be much more terrifying than Bowser’s ever been.
Firstly, you have to beat Bowletta, which is the result of Cackletta’s spirit inhabiting Bowser’s body. Then, when you defeat Bowletta, you are left at 1 HP, and must face off against Cackletta without having a chance to recover. The trick to beating Cackletta is to have quick reflexes. The turn-based fighting style gives you opportunities to dodge attacks, and nullify damage. So, while offense isn’t a problem, defense proves to be tougher. Also, it helps to be at a high level, in which I recommend being above level 40.
6 Disciple Lorithia Goes Too Far
If you’ve played Xenoblade Chronicles, then you most likely hate Lorithia. Most people say that in their first playthrough, Lorithia was the toughest battle to face, particularly because you had to grind to even parallel her skill.
However, there are some things you can do to make the battle easier.
Firstly, have Melia on your team, and control her, since her AI isn’t competent enough to avoid the pools of ether. Melia’s skills and ether attacks are well-suited for this fight. Secondly, if you plan on using physical hits, take out the Wisp minions she summons, as they provide temporary resistances to physical damage. Lastly, pray to God that you have some luck on your side. Disciple Lorithia is huge, and can inadvertently push your characters into the ether pools just by moving around. If they are in the ether pool, use the “stop attacking” icon and they’ll run towards you.