There are certain conventions that are a given in most video games: levels to complete, puzzles to solve, and bosses to defeat. With the latter, players that push through to the final act are usually greeted witha climatic clash against the big bad— the mastermind behind all the events that led them to this point. It’s an epic way to end a story, and often demands thatplayers use all the knowledgethey’ve gathered throughout the journey.
There’s no feeling quite like overcoming an all-powerful evil and saving the world, knowing that it’s takeneverything to reach this point, and finally seeing the end credits. However, there are some final bosses that, while epic in their own right, are also fairly easy to best. Whether this is by design or by accident, here’s a rundown of some great final bosses that are a little bit of a pushover.
After having Link run all across Hyrule (or Termina) gathering countless MacGuffins, solving puzzles, and conquering dungeons, players usually face Ganon (or some incarnation thereof) at the end of their adventure. And while this final clash echoes through the countless ages of Hyrule’s convoluted history, it’s rarely as challenging as it should be. A prime example is the fight against the green-skinned Gerudo king at the top of Hyrule Castle towards the end ofOcarina of Time.
The first phase is essentially a rematch against Phantom Ganon from the end of the Forest Temple (which does make sense). After playing the world’s most dangerous game of tennis for a while, Ganondorf transforms into the duel-wielding pig demon monster fans know and love. But even then, the fight is as simple as lobbing Light Arrows at him until players can retrieve the Master Sword to finish the job. The music, however, is phenomenal.
When it first released for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube back in 2005,Resident Evil 4was met with critical acclaim right out of the gate. Players guided special agent Leon S. Kennedy and his impeccable hair through a spooky Spanish village on a mission to rescue the main reason everyone hates escort quests: Ashley Graham, the President’s daughter. Standard action hero stuff, with mutating parasites thrown in for good measure.
At the end of this horrifying journey through the backwoods, Leon comes face-to-face with the mastermind of the Los Plagas plot: Saddler. While his design is fittingly grotesque,the fight itselfis a little underwhelming. There’s lots of space to move around and avoid attacks, while the version of Saddler Leon faces doesn’t really live up to the hype of his cutscenes. Nevertheless, players who conquered this mass of razor-sharp flesh were rewarded with a Jet Ski escape sequence that puts James Bond to shame.
“Would you kindly?” Those three words echo in the minds of every player who’s ever ventured beneath the waves to the underwater city of Rapture. These rusted and crumbling tubes filled with monstrosities and mutagenic sea slug juice harbor plenty of twists and turns, but none more so than the final reveal. The man behind all the events is not in fact the misguided visionary Andrew Ryan, buthis nemesis, Frank Fontaine.
Posing at first as a “kindly” Irish chap guiding the player through the submerged art deco labyrinth, Fontaine shows his true colors towards the end of the game’s final act — and they aren’t pretty. The primary one is the bright blue of his now plasmid-infused godlike form. The final fight, however, is decidedly less Biblical. Avoid his attacks and shoot him with the Chemical Thrower loaded up with Electric Gel. That’s all there is to it.
Creator of all things bright and beautiful, as her henchman Lars puts it, Natla is the smug, self-satisfied mastermind behind the events of the originalTomb Raider. With the remastered trilogy now available, revisiting the crumbling ruins as a fresh-faced Lara Croft feels exactly like it did the first time players picked up the twin pistols back in 1996. That includes the final boss fight againstAtlantis' erstwhile queen.
After reaching the Scion at the top of the final act’s massive golden pyramid, Natla appears and does the standard villain thing of revealing all — before plummeting to her supposed death and leaving Lara at the mercy of a terrifying mutant with no legs. After that horrific encounter, all that’s left to do now is escape, right? Wrong. Natla is in fact alive, now sporting bat wings in her true Atlantean form. While putting her down is a satisfying end to this first romp, the fight mainly consists of jumping around to avoid her attacks. That said, it brings the story full circle, and seeing Natla finally match the monstrosities she’s been creating makes this a poignant encounter.
At the end of a long journey, where love, loss, betrayal and revelation have dogged every step, the melancholy twinkle of “To Zanarkand” plays across the ruins of an ancient city. Reaching the end ofFinal Fantasy 10isan emotional roller coaster, especially considering the challenges Tidus and his band of morose misfits (except Rikku) had to conquer to get here. Now, at the end of the story, players come face-to-face with Sin, humanity’s eternal punishment for their hubris and misuse of Machina technology. Upon Sin’s defeat, the party ventures deeper inside the colossal magical whale monster to discover the truth.
Sin is basically just a suit of armor protecting the real antagonist, Yu Yevon. Players might have expected this final battle to be against a master Summoner in his prime, but instead they fight a weird beetle thing accompanied by two statues. To make things even easier, the party has a constant Auto-Life effect courtesy of the Fayth that prevents wiping, and Yu Yevon’s only attack is Gravija, which can’t KO anyone. Story-wise, it all makes sense. In terms of gameplay though, this climatic encounter pales in comparison to the threat originally posed by Sin itself. All the player needs to do is cast Zombie, and Yu Yevon will kill himself with Curaga.
The Chosen Undead’s long and arduous struggle against the horrors of Lordran culminates in one last duel with the big guy himself: Gwyn, Lord of Cinder. In the story, this lightning-imbued god was the impetus for all the events leading up to this point, and the fight serves as a poignant clash light, dark, and the inevitability of change. Humanity will prevail, and the Abyss of Man will swallow the world — unless players choose to link the Fire and start the whole cycle over again.
Stepping into the final boss arena feels epic. It’s an enormous, burnt-out kiln covered in ash, and the deranged Hollow form of Gwyn immediately charges forward. And then, here at the end of all things, it comes down to simply parrying him to death. His attacks are slow, well telegraphed, and predictable, making him one of theeasiest bosses to counter. But this design choice serves a purpose in the story: it’s supposed to be easy. The Lord of Sunlight is no more, his power is spent, and all that’s left is to put this shell of a god out of his misery.
