10 of The Hardest Boss Battles That Make People Rage Quit

The concept of the “video game boss” really came into its own during the third console generation on the NES, which marks it as no coincidence that Nintendo’s grey box is home to some of the toughest final encounters in the medium. As video games grew and evolved, becoming ever more cinematic and offering up expansive worlds and greater emphasis on player agency, the reliance on an ultimate challenge to cap off the experience waned. That is, until FromSoftware came along with Dark Souls and reminded us that great video game bosses aren’t just a stumbling block to get past — they’re the highlight. No surprise, then, that the studio has crafted its fair share of some of the hardest boss battles.

Now that supremely challenging encounters are back in style, we’ve seen a rise in tough boss battles that push players to their limits and can make them throw up their hands in frustration. Thankfully, controllers in the modern era are so expensive that we’re seeing fewer instances of them being thrown or smashed, but that’s done little to deter players from rage quitting against these big bads after 10, 20, or even 50 unsuccessful attempts. Each of the boss battles on this list is as notorious for its challenge as it is for sometimes feeling downright unfair, like the developer was trying to rub salt in the wound of our failures.

The first Mega Man is already hard enough, so that it caps things off with a gauntlet as challenging as Dr. Wily’s fortress seems downright diabolical. Even more so when you finally get to the Yellow Devil at the end of the fortress’ first stage. The Yellow Devil is appropriately named, putting players through hell just to try and topple his substantial frame and requiring pinpoint precision to even successfully deal a bit of damage using his one weakness — Elec Man’s weapon, the Thunder Beam.

After landing a single hit, the Yellow Devil breaks into pieces and flies at Mega Man, forcing you to complete a platforming challenge as his body reassembles on the opposite side of the screen. Get in one successful hit and he does it all over again, making the Yellow Devil one of the few Mega Man bosses that’s a battle of attrition.

• Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (NES; 1989)

Death, or the Grim Reaper in his original Castlevania appearance, is Dracula’s right-hand man, and is surprisingly tougher in each game he appears than the final battle against the vampire lord. The toughest fight against Death of them all, though, is the one from Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse. Without the ability to cheese through the fight like you can in the original Castlevania, Simon’s slow movement and tough-to-land jump make effectively dodging Death’s flying sickles almost impossible. Then, if you manage to get him down to zero health, Castlevania III‘s Death is the first in the series to morph into a more dangerous second phase, causing plenty of dread for those of us who just barely scraped by the first.

• Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! (NES; 1987)

Capping off our trio of some of the hardest bosses from an older, bygone era of gaming is Iron Mike himself, Mike Tyson from Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!. Should you manage to defeat Super Macho Man and make it to the game’s namesake (unless you’re playing the rebranded Punch-Out!! version featuring Mr. Dream), your reward is one of the most challenging fights in all of gaming. Mike Tyson is incredibly fast and hits like a dump truck (much like in real life), meaning one false move or mistake is all it takes to derail the fight and have Little Mac on the ropes. It’s a bit more manageable once you get his pattern down (like all other fights in Punch-Out!!), but the bout against Mike Tyson is still one of the few old-school video game bosses capable of putting fear in the hearts of anyone who’s ever faced him.

• Dark Souls (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360; 2011)

Now we’re getting into the good (bad?) stuff. FromSoftware had been a studio for a long time before the release of Demon’s Souls, but that 2009 classic established the framework that would see it become one of the most important and popular developers working today with its spiritual successor, Dark Souls. Dark Souls is challenging enough to where there are no less than 15 boss fights that could go on a list like this. Still, anyone who’s spent considerable time in Lordran knows that the dynamic duo of Ornstein and Smough is a pivotal fight separating the two halves of the game.

While Ornstein and Smough are definitely challenging, what makes this fight so special among others in the FromSoftware catalog is how perfectly balanced it is as a duo fight (otherwise known as a “gank boss”). Ornstein is fast and seemingly the primary threat to take out, but doing so results in Smough gaining considerable power and the player losing out on one of the best possible rewards from the fight. Figuring out how to whittle both of their health bars down while trying to time their demise as close to one another as possible is all part of the challenge, and what makes the fight against Ornstein and Smough one of Dark Souls‘ most memorable.

• Bloodborne (PlayStation 4; 2015)

Those familiar with the studio’s games will have it come as no surprise to see the top half of this list dominated by a litany of FromSoftware bosses. When it comes to Bloodborne, though, choosing just one was hard. There are the main game bosses that pose an incredible challenge ( Ebrietas, Blood-Starved Beast), the notorious DLC bosses (Ludwig, Lady Maria, Orphan of Kos), and then the devious foes dwelling within the Chalice Dungeons. For our pick of the hardest boss battle in Bloodborne, we’ve got to give it to one of those Chalice Dungeon bosses, the Pthumerian Descendant.

The Pthumerian Descendant is a fight made all the more challenging by the size and layout of the arena, forcing the player to keep just the right amount of distance to be able to parry his attacks while also steering clear of the insane damage he can put out from his abilities. He’s fast, he’s incredibly creepy, and he has a really cool connection to the overarching lore of Bloodborne, making his place as one of the final tests before fighting Yarnham, Pthumerian Queen feel well-earned.

• Elden Ring (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S; 2022)

It might be surprising to see the infamous Malenia, Blade of Miquella so far down a list of the hardest boss battles, but the truth is that there are far harder FromSoftware bosses. That’s not to say she’s easy, though, not by a long shot. Just getting to Malenia is a challenge in and of itself, navigating through the precarious Haligtree area while fighting incredibly tough enemies and mini-bosses, and trying not to die to the perilous platforming challenges awaiting you therein. Once you make it to the bottom of the Haligtree and face Malenia, you’re in for a wicked two-phase boss fight complete with a devastating combo of vampirism and scarlet rot. Yay?

Getting the timing down of dodging Malenia’s Waterfowl Dance attack is the most important advantage you can have going into the fight, but even then, it’s still important to make sure to constantly press the attack. Blocking hits can still see Malenia restore her health thanks to the aforementioned vampirism ability, and once the second phase starts, she has several one-hit kill attacks up her sleeve that, even if they don’t hit you directly, can quickly proc scarlet rot. As far as the base game of Elden Ring goes, Malenia is arguably its apex challenge.

• Nine Sols (PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S; 2024)

RedCandleGames’ Nine Sols is one of the best Soulslike Metroidvanias this side of Hollow Knight, and it stands out from the crowd by borrowing more from Sekiro than from Dark Souls. The Sekiro influence shines through in Nine Sols‘ incredible parry and deflection-based combat, which culminates in a final boss battle that rivals the toughest encounters in all of gaming. Eigong is built up to be this incredible warrior right from the beginning of Nine Sols‘ intro, and seeing her in action is nothing short of intimidating. The fight itself consists of a three-phase gauntlet where each phase adds new attacks and moves to get the parry timing down, and if you can meet the challenge, it’s also one of the best boss battles of any 2D game.

• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One; 2019)

Prior to the release of Elden Ring‘s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, Isshin, Sword Saint had a strong claim to being the hardest boss ever designed by FromSoftware. In many ways, he still is, as Sekiro forces you to simply master the tools you’re given rather than giving you the freedom to craft a build that could potentially make its toughest encounters a cakewalk. Isshin is the culmination of everything the player has learned up until that point in Sekiro, challenging you to put all your skills to the test in a fateful 1v1 encounter that requires precise timing, nimble footwork, and the occasional trick or two (hint: bring firecrackers) to emerge victorious. But should you manage to best Isshin, that sense of victory and accomplishment is not one felt often in gaming.

• Final Fantasy XI (PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360; 2002)

Let’s talk about Absolute Virtue. This Final Fantasy XI boss is the epitome of “unfair”, specifically tuned by the devs to be unbeatable, and adjusted according to the successful strategies that Final Fantasy XI players would discover to bring him down. The fact of the matter is, Absolute Virtue is supposed to be an invincible foe that players simply cannot overcome, and Final Fantasy XI‘s faithful kept figuring out how to force Square Enix to take matters into its hands and ratchet up the difficulty accordingly. Nowadays, players can routinely rout Absolute Virtue in both Final Fantasy XI and its appearance in Final Fantasy XIV, but there was a time when simply attempting was locking you in for a 20-hour or more boss battle in a futile attempt at victory.

• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S; 2024)

Before the nerf that made him more manageable, it’s hard to think of a more difficult and rage-inducing boss battle than the one against Promised Consort Radhan in Elden Ring‘s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. Shadow of the Erdtree is full to bursting with some nail-biting boss battles, but none could prepare you for the onslaught that Radhan unleashes as soon as the fight begins, zooming around the arena and effortlessly locking on to you with devastating attacks that can easily wipe you out in just a few hits. And that’s just the first phase.

Should you manage to get Radhan’s first phase down, the spectral apparition of Miquella appears on his shoulders and adds holy damage to each of his attacks, along with a small handful of insta-kill AoE blasts that make the first part of the fight seem easy by comparison. A lot of the hardest boss battles have at least some component to them that’s fun or rewarding, but after beating Radhan once in Shadow of the Erdtree, there’s almost no incentive to do it again given how challenging it is.