The Best Final Bosses In Games (2024)

Bosses are one of those staple things in gaming that's been around from the beginning. The big bad that's usually the final challenge that's halting your progress in your journey, bosses make some of the most iconic moments in gaming.

Considering how classic a staple they are, there are quite a few to choose from, new and old. Sometimes the best battles are against someone who has a deep connection to the protagonist, or maybe you're just the only person who can put an end to them. Sometimes it can even be more abstract, but what matters most is how memorable they are.

Updated on August 6, 2024, by Hilton Webster: Final boss fights are a form of catharsis. No matter how a game has gone, good or bad, sometimes a strong finale is all you need to bring you back on board. Thankfully, there is no shortage of stellar final bosses in gaming, from some of the oldest games in the industry to the latest.

Pokemon - Red

Pokemon is a complicated series to talk about. It's massive, spanning countless entries, and is one of the most ubiquitous brands in the world. Many of those games are also very, very broken under unsustainable development cycles. But when you have such a powerful cultural cache, anything can and must sell.

Part of that selling power comes from its characters, and who is more popular than Red, the earliest face of the franchise? The protagonist of the original game, he became a secret boss atop Mt. Silver in the Gen 2 games, and even appeared again as an adult in Sun & Moon. He also never talks, because he's technically the player. That he's so powerful is a compliment, really.

Very few games get to be as openly *gasp* political as Metal Gear Solid does. Oh, you can bet there are politics in all your games, Metal Gear just doesn't want you to miss them. Previous entries dealt with a hypothetical future though, Metal Gear Solid 3 went all-in on real-world history. What better place for tension and espionage than the literal Cold War?

And what better symbolism of a pointless war than being forced to kill your own parental figure? The Boss raised Snake, betrayed him, but never stopped loving him. And in trying to save the world, was killed by him amongst the Stars of Bethlehem. Having Snake Eater blare in your years during these final moments just makes the moment all the more bitter.

Resident Evil Village - Mother Miranda

The Resident Evil games have always suffered from less-than-stellar final bosses. That's not to say they're terrible (though some are indeed of questionable quality) but that they frequently pale in comparison to even earlier bosses in the same game. Resident Evil Village thankfully rectifies that.

Village features a swathe of varied bosses, and Mother Miranda somehow manages to avoid the fate of the majority of them by staying roughly humanoid in her final encounter. She changes forms, plays with your visions, and taunts you. Despite her limited appearances, she feels more personal. She also doesn't have glowing bits to shoot either.

Xenoblade Chronicles - Zanza

Though a series now much larger than what it started as, the original Xenoblade Chronicles still holds a special place in the hearts of many. With a voice-acting direction uncommon still to this day and a keen understanding of the philosophical ideals it examines, it is a game as defined by its sheer scale as by the ideas it explores.

Which is why when you fight literal god at the end, it feels less like the result of power-scaling ambitions, but an intentional point of its own literary critique. That gods are an idea made by man, and ones they need not be beholden to. Birth the new world you desire, even if a god would try to deny it.

Transistor - Royce

Supergiant Games has gone from strength to strength with each of its releases, from the humble Bastion to the world-renowned Hades. Nestled in between all those major releases is Transistor, a work of sci-fi and silenced voices.

In Transistor, you can freeze the game to plan ahead your attacks, an ability seemingly only you have. Until you meet Royce. He quickly turns the tables on you, able to stall time to enact his own attacks against you, utilising many of the same abilities you wield. He is exhilarating to fight, giving you a taste of what your own enemies faced throughout the game.

Pyre - Oralech

Pyre often goes unrecognised as one of Supergiant's greatest games. It's not simply their best game, but one of the best games ever. It really is a testament to gaming as an art form where every choice and every character is organic yet feeds into itself. This highlights itself tremendously through Oralech, the otherwise invisible antagonist, until the game's waning hours.

Betrayed by the people he wished to help, he became a vengeful demon wandering the Downside. With heightened stakes, the final match against him is as much an intentional choice as it is your own ability. Will you lose to set him free and doom your own people to the Downside? Or keep him locked away for your own freedom, reducing the chance of a bloodless revolution?

Tears Of The Kingdom - The Demon King

After a long break since the days of Twilight Princess, Ganondorf finally made his triumphant return in Tears of the Kingdom, full-bodied and hydrated enough to quench your thirst. For the majority of the game, he is more of an ominous presence, his crippled body ascended to areas unknown. The visions of the past make up the most of his appearances.

This changes once you hit the end. Ganondorf rejuvenates himself, fighting you one-on-one in the deepest Depths of Hyrule. Ah, but one stage is not enough. He awakens his latent power, summoning phantoms to keep you at bay. Yet even more power is needed. The Secret Stone is consumed, and he becomes the Demon Dragon. A dance across the skies of Hyrule finally spells the end of the Demon King's rule.

Metroid Dread - Raven Beak

With the proliferation of the Metroidvania genre, it's hard to say exactly what defines a Metroid game anymore. In many ways, Metroid Dread played to the tried-and-true strengths of previous games, but played enough with mobility and storytelling to carve out its own new direction, something we attest to in our own review. And while Metroid games have never faltered in bosses, Dread takes them to the next level.

The fight against Raven Beak is potent. You can anticipate from the very beginning that he will be your final encounter, but that doesn't take away from its power. He has multiple stages, each testing your skills. Massive lasers, cinematic camera angles, dynamic backgrounds, all of it keeping Samus on the move. And it all culminates in a moment that sets new implications for Samus as a character.

Resident Evil 5 - The Boulder (And Wesker)

Unlike many of the other entries in this list, Resident Evil isn't a series renowned for its boss fights. Sure, there are some fun or inventive ones every now and then, but plenty of them devolve into 'shoot the glowing spot,' making most regular enemies a more thrilling encounter. With Resident Evil 5 though, the series effectively became a full action game.

It also released around the height of quick time events. Now, Resident Evil 5 has quite a lot of flaws, but you can't deny it's cultural impact. Battling in a massive volcano, traversing gaps to avoid a superheated death, all to encounter your true rival, one only Chris Redfield could defeat - The Boulder. Yet with effective QTEs, Chris demolishes the boulder to dust. Wesker is there too, somewhere.

The Wonderful 101 - Jergingha

You might have noticed at this stage that PlatinumGames has quite a few entries in this list. In their defence, it's hard not to make a standout final boss when your combat system is already so rewarding by merit of its systems, and Platinum are masters at that. The Wonderful 101 was a game that missed many people due to its initial Wii U exclusivity and isometric camera in a character-action game.

The thing is though, the Wonderful 101 is one of the most joyous, unique games out there. Every battle is a pure spectacle, but the grand finale against Jergingha is something to remember. It's packed to the brim with minigames, slapstick dialogue, mechs, QTEs and just about anything else you could think of cramming into it. It's the pinnacle of hype gaming moments, and one that never takes itself too seriously either.

Mario - Bowser

For as much as Mario's smug face deserves to be pummeled, he is sadly the protagonist of the self-serving franchise after which he is named. Mario has an unsettling large media empire that spans so many mediums, but it always comes back around to his rivalry with Bowser.

It's a wonderful trifecta — Mario, in love with Peach and saving her. Bowser, also in love with Peach so much he kidnaps her. And Peach, who simply wants to be left alone. So for as much as Mario and Bowser end up fighting at the end of most games, they really should just kiss and make up.

Minecraft - The Ender Dragon

Minecraft came from wonderfully humble beginnings, a simple pleasure of surviving the night and building whatever your mind could imagine. Such a game getting a story was far from the first thing one would've expected for it, and yet it has since spawned multiple media projects that, yep, sure do have a story.

Well, the game has a (admittedly simple) story of its own, too, that culminates in a humorously good final boss. After travelling to the aptly named End, you are met across the void with the Ender Dragon. After a climatic battle against the giant beast, she drops an egg and you get to see the credits. And people say Minecraft is endless.

Dragon's Dogma - Grigori And The Seneschal

Dragon's Dogma is a game unlike most others. Excluding its own sequel, obviously, yet even that has a different focus than the original. Blending character action game elements with RPGs and a good ol' tabletop party system unique to every player means no one has the same playthrough, and also that every fight is a tactile feast. Having your own custom party member at your side during the grand finale is something so few can claim, and to have done so well especially.

After chasing down the titular dragon, Grigori, he offers many revelations about the world (such as who you're in love with). Taking him down is no easy feat, taking place across a massive, constantly shifting arena. Yet it doesn't end there, as Grigori's defeat leads to a post-game story that results in you fighting the Seneschal, caretaker of the world. This is a great experience in and of itself, but it's actually in a New Game Plus when the Seneschal is another player (or even you yourself) that the thematic weight truly hits.

Fallout - The Master

Fallout is pretty hard to divorce from its modern vision now, a cynical icon turned into a piece of merchandise and a mascot that likely doesn't quite understand its own themes and aesthetics, but the original set a standard. Released back in 1997, the original Fallout was isometric and jam-packed with writing that was more than a bit critical of its many inspirations.

Of course, it was also the game that helped revive RPGs in the West, and it exemplified that with its final Boss, The Master. Calling them a boss is interesting because it almost implies you have to fight them. That's an option, sure, but you can just as easily use your silver tongue to simply convince them that their whole plan is wrong, actually, and doomed to fail. And really, when was the last time a game gave you the option to talk a boss to death?

Okami - Yami

Have you ever thought about the fact that there are so few games that have actually attempted to recreate a Zelda-like experience, and how even fewer have succeeded? Okami is the answer to that, paying great homage to its inspirations while blazing a gorgeous trail of its own. The beautiful art of the game is enough to immortalize its legacy.

The final boss feels like the perfect way of showing it all. Unlike most other bosses in the game, they're more technological than folkloric, yet all the more threatening. Yami, in terms of pure mechanics, isn't actually the greatest boss in the game. It's how the whole world rallies around you in defeating them, how it demands you use all your powers, the same powers that are strengthened by the very people who praise you. It even manages to make Issun likable for a single scene.

Mortal Kombat - Shao Kahn

Mortal Kombat, despite being one of the goriest games ever in its earlier entries and leading to mass controversies, is also one of the most successful fighting games ever. It's a massive franchise with storytelling that's probably a lot better than you give it credit for. Yet most of the games share one common factor.

Shao Kahn. Despite only being introduced in the second game and serving as the final boss only periodically, he's practically the face of the series. He has appeared as the final boss more than any other character and is known for being absurdly brutal. It was and still is a massive achievement to beat him, considering he spends any moment where he's not attacking you, ridiculing you instead.

Hades - Hades

Roguelikes and roguelites have been around since, well, after the release of Rogue in 1980. The premise is simple but demanding: you lose portions of your progress, or all of it, upon death. It's a genre that's given birth to plenty of difficult games, but Supergiant wove the genre into an incredible storytelling tool.

Hades has plenty to love, from the too-attractive gods, to the seemingly endless dialogue. No game like this is complete without some good bosses to test your build and skills, and fighting actual Hades at the end feels great. Sometimes he'll fall to your abilities with ease, other times he'll have you thrown back down the Styx. He's always a welcome challenge.

Metroid - Mother Brain

Metroid is a funny franchise, having begun back in 1986, yet some of its side-scrolling entries are soft reboots and remakes of the very first game. It's a testament to a strong foundation but also the endless allure of the open-ended nature of the games.

With most of the games sharing so much, one then must acknowledge that the final boss is typically the same too: Mother Brain. In the original, Mother Brain is fought in a contained room with very accurate lasers, and then in Super Metroid gains a new form that is defeated with the help of the Baby Metroid. They feel like family with how much you have to see them, but at least it all ends with a good ol' timed base escape.

Hollow Knight - The Hollow Knight And The Radiance

Hollow Knight took the world by storm upon its release. It has fantastic hand-drawn art, a fantastical melodious soundtrack, and a truly endearing set of characters. It's styled like a Metroidvania and brings plenty of new aspects to the genre too. It's also noted, however, for its challenging combat.

While many called Hollow Knight a Soulslike for that difficulty, the comparison truly shows in how it develops its world. For example, the final fight against the Hollow Knight is incredible, but the true grief of the battle only shows through understanding. Better yet, that understanding is what can lead you to the true final boss: The Radiance. They're no bonus reward, but a truly terrifying final encounter unlike anything else in the game.

Bayonetta - Jubileus

Character action games have always had a penchant for flashy battles. The early beginnings in Devil May Cry and its iconic bosses like Phantom, the pantheon of God of War, and of course the many gigantic angels of Bayonetta. Bayonetta in particular loves being more than a bit over-the-top, and its final boss lives up to the reputation.

Jubileus, the Creator is gargantuan, a deity befitting her stature. Her fight is no simple act of beating away at her face and limbs while standing on a single platform like many others would do it. Instead, you're trapped inside a great dome, dashing about onto changing chunks of land while beating away at Jubileus. It actually makes her feel to scale, like her size actually matters. Even across the many entries of the series, none have topped the absurdity of Jubileus.