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What are the most difficult Nintendo boss battles?

Spring-Loaded

Spring-Loaded

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,904
Having finished Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion (the story of a young octoling's attempt to pass a series of tests in order to emigrate to the "promised land") and beating that DLC's ridiculously brutal secret boss (accessed after completing every challenge), I wondered whether there were any harder Nintendo boss fights full stop, let alone ones I'd faced myself.

So what others are really difficult? For anyone who fought the Octo Expansion secret boss, were there any that were harder?
 
Pascal

Pascal

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The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
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First one that comes to mind is Spider Guardian from Metroid Prime 2. It's more of a giant morph ball puzzle than a boss fight though.
 
Jimnymebob

Jimnymebob

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Oct 26, 2017
19,639
latest


Tabuu was dumb.
 
Kinsei

Kinsei

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Oct 25, 2017
20,555
9.0 Hades Heart in Kid Icarus Uprising. Imagine if you were an enemy in a Bomberman game and there was two Bombermen after you and you've got a good idea of what the fight is like.
 

kjtc1979

Member
Nov 27, 2017
326
Vaati in The Minish Cap was hellish, and especially surprising, given the easiness of the rest of the game:

 
Serebii

Serebii

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Oct 24, 2017
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Unless you plan ahead for it or are ridiculously overleveled

qCv2ah1.png


10+ levels above the previous boss you just faced, plus stat boost in each stat (which is already ridiculous). People who didn't know of it and didn't plan ahead get wiped
 
Hero-of-Time

Hero-of-Time

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Oct 27, 2017
440
If N64 era Rare games count then my vote goes to Mizar from Jet Force Gemini.

300

He had a fair few phases and there were no checkpoints. He took me ages to defeat.
 
Nephizz

Nephizz

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Jun 28, 2018
132
Mother Brain from Metroid. I don't know if the original on Nes is harder than the Zero Mission version.



Recently, Hedlock in Arms I guess...
 

Deleted member 2809

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If you include games with difficulty sliders there's plenty to choose. Bayonetta 2 for instance.
For games with just one difficulty... yeah some stuff in f-zero is stupid if that counts. Certainly not anything from a zelda game, unless you want to add some additional constraints like 3 heart runs etc.

Advance wars 1, hard campaign, last mission is a complete bitch iirc.
 
Pascal

Pascal

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The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
10,246
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I also remember a boss at the end of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn being really tough.

Talking about the fight with the Dragon King. I remember him being ridiculously strong. You had to have a certain skill on your attacking characters to even hope to stand a chance and the entire UI changed for that fight as well.
 
SonicRift

SonicRift

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Oct 27, 2017
456
Serebii said:
Unless you plan ahead for it or are ridiculously overleveled

qCv2ah1.png


10+ levels above the previous boss you just faced, plus stat boost in each stat (which is already ridiculous). People who didn't know of it and didn't plan ahead get wiped
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I had trouble with a bunch of the totem pokies. Especially early in the game without a proper team.
 
HBK

HBK

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Oct 30, 2017
7,989
Define difficult.

Hidden super-bosses in Xenoblade games (esp. 1 & X) are brutally hard unless you have some very specific setups which required hours of grinding to acquire. And by "hours" I mean dozens of them.
 

Deleted member 2809

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Found it, advance wars advanced campaign, final mission

2-18_1_map1.png


(second pic is in normal campaign)
Also it's in fog of war
 
Forkball

Forkball

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Oct 25, 2017
8,941
Serebii said:
Unless you plan ahead for it or are ridiculously overleveled

qCv2ah1.png


10+ levels above the previous boss you just faced, plus stat boost in each stat (which is already ridiculous). People who didn't know of it and didn't plan ahead get wiped
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Still nothing compared to the Queen of Wipes
360px-HeartGold_SoulSilver_Whitney.png

Whitney from Pokemon Gold/Silver for the uninitiated. Her Miltank is basically designed to completely wipe your team. Ironically I never had trouble with her as a kid and didn't really understand why she was so feared until I played HGSS and then the Rollouts wouldn't stop.

Though the real answer is the camera in the Ganon boss fight for Ocarina of Time.
eDNfopf.jpg
 

Deleted member 34949

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Pokemon's had no shortage of difficult in-game bosses (Totem Pokemon in Sun/Moon, Cynthia in Gen IV) but the Battle Frontier Brains in Pokemon Emerald are just completely on another level from anything else in the series, difficulty wise. Incidentally, looking up online for how to beat them was what eventually led me to discover the wonderful world of EV Training/Optimal Natures.

I remember the Shadow Queen in Paper Mario:TTYD being pretty rough, too.
 

Mhj

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Oct 30, 2017
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Metroid Prime is one of few games I never managed to beat after getting to the last boss. Also remember Donkey Kong TF for WiiU having a hard end boss, but did manage after a few tries.
 
out_of_touch

out_of_touch

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Oct 25, 2017
3,684
Kraid in Super Metroid

Really small room, spike pit, Kraid takes up most of the space and theres projectiles flying EVERYWHERE. >:(
 
MrBadger

MrBadger

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Oct 27, 2017
2,552
It's Antasma X in M&L Dream Team.



M&L's late bosses are always difficult because of how much health they have VS how much damage they do and how lengthy their attack sequences are, but the time limit is what makes this boss the hardest

Seven Force said:
I remember the Shadow Queen in Paper Mario:TTYD being pretty rough, too.
Click to expand...
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Shadow Queen would have been a hell of a lot easier if it weren't for that insanely long cutscene you have to re-watch every time you lose
 

Deleted member 25140

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Serebii said:
Unless you plan ahead for it or are ridiculously overleveled

qCv2ah1.png


10+ levels above the previous boss you just faced, plus stat boost in each stat (which is already ridiculous). People who didn't know of it and didn't plan ahead get wiped
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Definitely this, I had to cheese it with Toxic and a bunch of a revives
 
haotshy

haotshy

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Oct 27, 2017
1,577
Boost Ball Guardian gave me a good amount of trouble in Metroid Prime 2. Though they needed it in the Wii version, unfortunately. I was looking forward to seeing how I'd fare in that might several years later plus using the Wiimote.
 

Deleted member 2809

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haotshy said:
Boost Ball Guardian gave me a good amount of trouble in Metroid Prime 2. Though they needed it in the Wii version, unfortunately. I was looking forward to seeing how I'd fare in that might several years later plus using the Wiimote.
Click to expand...
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Some people got there before getting the dark suit which made it 10 times harder
 
Piston

Piston

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Oct 25, 2017
11,173
My first thoughts were immediately these:

- Shadow Queen in Paper Mario: TTYD
- Boost Ball Guardian in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
- F-Zero GX's entire story mode, especially past Normal difficulty
- Gruntilda in Banjo Kazooie
 
Ogodei

Ogodei

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Oct 25, 2017
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I'll second Wizpig, who I was never able to overcome (although I just kept renting that game and never owned it).
 
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