Top 10 Hardest Video Game Bosses

The Top Ten
1 Sans - Undertale Sans or Sans the Skeleton is a character in the 2015 RPG Undertale created by Toby Fox. He is a lazy, pun-loving skeleton who is a supporting protagonist in the "pacifist" and "neutral" routes of Undertale, and a heroic antagonist/final boss of the "genocide" route. He is known for his incredibly difficult boss fight, bad puns, and the phrases "geeetttt dunked on!!!" and "you're gonna have a bad time."... read more

The most challenging part of the game is defeating him. In order to unlock the genocide ending, you are required to eliminate every friend you have made, including Sans. Deep down, you don't actually want him to die. He has the ability to make you feel guilty before, during, and after his defeat. His final words can bring tears to your eyes. If you don't feel remorseful when you defeat Sans, then either you played the genocide route first or there is something seriously wrong with you.

P.S.

It's intriguing how in the pacifist mode, I strongly desired Flowey's demise, but in the genocide route, there is a sense of remorse for killing him.

P.P.S.

Flowey is also an extremely challenging boss and deserves a place on this list.

Sans is a god. He can stop time, teleport, control gravity, and deal a ton of poison damage. Sans is also very intelligent. Throughout the whole game, he keeps an eye on you and is secretly the strongest. He knows all about the save and reset button. He holds back when he fights you. It is almost like the "Protagonist" (Frisk/Chara) was fooled the whole time. Nevertheless, he knows he can't defeat you, so he gives you the chance to "spare you" and reevaluate your actions. Point made.

2 Queen Larsa - Mushihimesama Futari

Although she's no slouch either in the Black Label edition of the game, the original Ultra difficulty of this boss is so much harder that it's ridiculous. Hey, nice small hitbox you have there. But I have an entire health bar, you know that? Oh, and here are your bullets, have fun. And it just gets worse when she goes into the hidden second phase of the fight, which requires you to go through all stages before fighting Larsa, without dying. I will repeat that in synonymous words: NO MISS, PERFECT, NO DEATHS, NO EXCEPTIONS! And it gets even better. True! Larsa has all the more bullet hell to rain on you, and an entire health bar for her final attack! Jesus, this boss deserves first place, but you people should check out Inbachi from DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou, she's much harder. Oh, and that game is made by the same company that made this game. So yeah, have fun!

Tabuu was pretty tough, but Larsa makes him look like a walk in the park. She will paint the screen in 3 colors: purple (the millions of bullets she unleashes on you), red (the blood that explodes from your body when you get hit), and clear (the tears you shed after losing once again for the umpteenth time). This is a boss where it's not a matter of if you get hit, but when. Unless you're Neo, expect to lose days of your time trying to win against this one.

3 Mike Tyson - Punch Out!

This isn't even close. Although I never grew up with the original game, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! might be the game I'm most proud of completing. There are several difficult fights in the game, but they're NOTHING compared to Iron Mike. Scratch that, no other video game boss compares.

You literally need to be PERFECT to beat Tyson, and sometimes perfection isn't even enough. If you make a single mistake, such as a mistimed dodge or a misplaced punch, you're done. Tyson's punches literally send you to the floor every time. If this happens three times, you're out, and even if you get knocked down once, it's very unlikely that you'll win after that.

Beating Mike Tyson in this game is like trying to beat the REAL Mike Tyson in his prime. You need near-perfection, in addition to a TON of practice and a little bit of luck. Fortunately, this game's password system allowed me to get a lot of practice against Iron Mike, and eventually, I finally beat him.

I've beaten him a handful of other times after beating him for the first time, but he's still the hardest boss I've ever faced. But with that status, the victories against him are some of my proudest moments as a gamer, especially beating him in one continuous run without using passwords. That's why the Tyson fight is so great despite its insane difficulty. The feeling of satisfaction and pride when you beat him is second to none.

4 Sephiroth - Kingdom Hearts Sephiroth is a fictional character and main antagonist in the role-playing video game Final Fantasy VII developed by Square.

Sin Harvest and his weapon Masamune can kill you. If you do get a few hits on him before he casts Sin Harvest, heal up fast before he rushes to you, and you're dead if you don't do it. If he repeats, repeat my process too. All-out attack him with your best if he doesn't repeat his strike chain.

Holy wow, this guy is insane! I feel very proud of myself for beating him, even though it tortured my soul. Just keep trying, guys, and you will feel a great deal of accomplishment when he is defeated.

When I first fought him at level 30, he instant KO'd me. Then I fought him at level 50, when I was about to beat the game, and he kills me in 2 hits! I beat him in Kingdom Hearts 2 but in that one, he is easier. I lost the game, but if I find it, he is going down!

5 Tabuu - Super Smash Bros. Brawl

People who say this boss isn't hard are either lying or have already played the game so much that it's second nature to them. Which can be said about any video game boss if you play the game enough times. On intense difficulty, this boss is ridiculous.

It took me 5 weeks to beat this one guy! I kept trying and trying, and within 5 weeks, I found and unlocked him, and then in 5 more weeks, I finally beat this guy! This guy is seriously hard to beat. By the way, when I won, I used Kirby and Zelda the most because Sonic was a little weak.

He has two instant kill attacks on intense (Normal mode and higher)! And one of them is near impossible to avoid if you're not experienced with the game. Not to mention that his attacks are varied and dish out a lot of damage.

6 Absolute Virtue - Final Fantasy XI

This boss had to be patched because it caused major health problems for people, since it took more than an entire day to defeat without rest. Whoever thought it was a good idea to make a boss that takes more than 24 hours to defeat nonstop is either a sadistic monster or an idiot with no regard for basic human health.

How is this not #1?! An average encounter with it is around 28hr - 30hr long! That's not including the amount of times you'll be dying to him because he can destroy your entire party in 1 attack.

7 Orphan of Kos - Bloodborne

How is this guy below Tabuu?! Really?! A guy that has an insane pool of health, is the most aggressive thing you've ever seen, hits like a nuclear warhead, is hard to dodge, and can clear the arena in seconds, is easier than a guy whose only threatening attack is when he spreads his wings and uses a nearly unavoidable AoE attack? Really!? Unbelievable.

Well, he's voted to be the hardest boss in the entire Dark Souls Bloodborne franchise by the community. Yup, even harder than Ornstein and Smough. Nigh on undodgeable lightning storm, relentless combos, bombards the entire map with explosives. A boss that goes from 0 to 60mph in 2 seconds and never slows down. Should be at least top 5 in this list.

How is the Nameless King higher than the Orphan? The only reason the Nameless King is hard is because of the camera. The Orphan is aggressive and gives you no breathing space.

8 The Shadow Queen - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door The Shadow Queen is the overarching antagonist and final boss of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. She is widely considered one of the most difficult bosses in the Paper Mario series.

The devil's reincarnation in video games is this monster. She has a ton of deadly attacks and grows hands that can kill you. Plus, she has a huge arsenal of attacks and has two forms. Altogether, she has 300 HP! The second form is invincible for a few turns. Agh! I hate this creep!

With all the attacks she has, she stumped me for a long time. Her having health-absorbing hands didn't help.

9 Shao Kahn - Mortal Kombat Trilogy

Might be the only reason I didn't sell my PS3 yet. I can't accept that I am so close to beating the game, but I just can't beat the final boss. I can beat him 1 time once in a while, but not in a best 2 out of 3.

This man is cheap. He won't give you a chance to fight, and his attacks do like 900% damage. Plus, he has high damage resistance, meaning he's harder to kill than others. Not to mention, he taunts you during the fight, so your ego also dies!

Shao Khan should be much higher here. He was strong, powerful, and almost unbeatable. I said "almost" because I beat him 3 times in MK 2 using Kitana, Mileena, and Scorpion. It looked like a real holiday because he seemed so strong.

10 Ornstein and Smough - Dark Souls

Jesus. These two complement each other perfectly. Pack a friend, or die.

Any casual that thinks your average video game boss is hard, battle these gankers.

This is the hardest video game boss I've ever faced. Think Sephiroth is hard (he kinda is)? I know we have different opinions, but even if you summoned, you are a champion for beating these two.

All my hardest video game bosses come from the Soulsborne series (yes, Soulsborne, I'm not a casual for saying Soulsborne).

The Newcomers

? Uber 'Mech - MechAssault
? Yoda - Soul Calibur 4 (Xbox 360 Version)
The Contenders
11 Marx Soul - Kirby Super Star Ultra

Hard and right after Galacta Knight as well, so if you fail, you go all the way back to the start of the true arena. And there is very limited healing supplies, so it's even harder to get back to where you were.

Sure, he is as disturbing as heck, and yeah, I agree GK is hard, but I gotta say I completely see why people think he's hard. He has a ton of attacks, his health is high, if you don't have your favorite ability (mine is stone) then you can easily die! Plus, your health is low after the Galacta Knight battle. In conclusion, he's hard but not as much as GK.

Not to mention, there is the part where he splits in half, where you can't damage him. Plus, the raining paint attack is super annoying.

12 Emerald Weapon - Final Fantasy VII

Seriously?! This is only #64?! It should at least be #10!

13 Isshin - Sekiro
14 Skolas - Destiny
15 Bonetail - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

This is a bit like Marx Soul, but it depends on your level. Marx Soul depends on your ability and skill with it.

If you die in this fight, you have to restart the Pit of Trials all over again.

16 The Death Egg - Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Strangely enough, Silver Sonic is the only difficult part of this stage once you get the hang of it (with Sonic at least). The Death Egg Robot always has a strategy for beating it.

1. He will try to crush you with his robot head. Move to the right corner of the area, then spin dash to the left when the target starts flashing faster.
2. He will attempt to shoot at you with his arms. Go to the far left of the arena, and they will be out of range.
3. Part 1 is repeated, but this time, when he lands, he will instead walk towards you. Jump almost right after he lands at the cockpit, then run to the left until he flies up again. (Repeat)

My first game was Sonic Classic Collection. It took me a while to get to the Death Egg Zone, but I had no idea what I was in for. It took me about six months to actually beat this guy. Once you memorize how to attack him, it's easy. I can now beat the whole stage in under 1:40.

What makes him so hard is that he does instant-kill attacks. One moment of bad aim, and you have to fight him all over again.

17 Cackletta - Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga Cackletta is a witch from the Beanbean Kingdom, and the main antagonist of Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. Her name is a pun on the word "cackle".

You start with 1HP, and Cackletta attacks first. Her attacks are very hard to dodge, so you can lose without even getting the chance to attack!

Realistically, Cackletta's Soul would be harder than many of the people up there.

Queen Larsa IS harder, but this should be 2.

18 Nameless King - Dark Souls III

How is this number 128? First, he flies at you with a dragon, where his only weakness is its head. If you lock on to him, you will not see a thing. The camera is your worst enemy! Not only that, if you stay under the dragon too long, it will go up in the air and breathe fire to the ground.

And it gets worse in the 2nd phase! He buffs himself like Ornstein and Smough. All his attacks might be delayed, but they're extremely difficult to dodge. And if you get hit once, get up and dodge fast and be lucky, or he'll stunlock you to death.

19 Inbachi - DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou

Inbachi is what I consider to be one of the hardest, if not the hardest boss in video game history. Her attacks are nearly impossible to dodge, making most hardcore veterans have to use multiple continues just to beat her. I'm actually surprised that we have a boss even harder than Queen Larsa (Mushihimesama Futari).

By comparison, it is (barely) possible to beat Queen Larsa without any misses (and maybe bombs used).

So, we all know that Tabuu (Super Smash Bros. Brawl) is like an easy opponent in comparison with Queen Larsa. Well, Queen Larsa is just like a tricky opponent in comparison with an insane boss known as Inbachi.

So, if Queen Larsa is extremely difficult, if not almost impossible to beat, then Inbachi is very close to being impossible to beat, which is why I consider her to be (one of) the hardest boss(es) in video game history.

Difficulty: Nearly Impossible

Inbachi and many other bosses from DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou are nearly impossible. And many shooter hell games are, well, a gamer's hell. Inbachi, Queen Larssa, Zatsuza are to me the hardest bosses of all time. But I vote Inbachi because I want to help her beat some of the others higher on this list.

20 The HAG 1 - Banjo-Tooie

Tough and long fight. Had to get the comb regenerator ability to be able to beat this thing. Took me lots of tries as well.

21 Zatsuza - DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu
22 Red Falcon's Brain - Contra 3
23 Galacta Knight - Kirby Super Star Ultra
24 The 3 Final Bosses - Ninja Gaiden

The Jaquio was absolutely ridiculous. Jashin is also challenging, and if you die on either of them you need to go all the way back to 6-1!

25 Smithy - Super Mario RPG
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