Summary
Boss battles are the ultimate test of a player’s strength in most games. However, some projects take this a step further and allow players the opportunity (or sometimes, don’t give them the choice) to fight a series of bosses in one go. Sometimes, they aren’t even given the chance to save or heal in between fights, making them that much more difficult.
Oftentimes, boss rushes revisit fights from earlier in the game, but other times they’ll feature brand-new bosses players haven’t encountered before. From platformers to JRPGs, the boss rush has been prevalent in gaming since its earliest days, to the plight of gamers nearing the end of their journey. Thesedifficult boss rushesare notable for really challenging players to their limits.
It becamea tradition forMega Mangamesto throw players into a gauntlet of the Robot Masters they previously conquered throughout the game. What makes this a worthy fight is that by this point, Mega Man has acquired all the power-ups from defeating stages the first time, meaning players can use the disadvantages of Robot Masters against them in sequential order.
While the firstMega Manhas six Robot Masters compared to the franchise’s typical eight, it also didn’t introduce a teleporter room to streamline players' choice of fighting them in order. In this game, players have to challenge Robot Masters at a time at the end of each Wily Stages 2 and 4, forcing them to overcome the game’s hardest platforming yet before the boss rushes.
Based on the iconic graphic novel,Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Gamewas originally released in 2010, retelling the narrative in a side-scrolling beat-‘em-up game. Its bosses included Ramona’s seven exes, as well assupporting characters like Envy Adamsand Super Fighting Robot. Players who complete the game can take on an additionalBoss Rush mode.
Although this mode was originally DLC for the base game, ported additions on current-day consoles come with Boss Rush already installed. With no access to healing items, players can take on every boss in order, even if they haven’t completed the main game or challenged the bosses there first.
The 3DS remake ofThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Timefeatures a lot of quality-of-life improvements on the iconic N64 game. One of which is a Boss Challenge mode, unlocked after players complete the Forest Temple and reunite with Sheik at the Temple of Time. By returning to the Kokiri Forest, players can rematch all the bosses they’ve defeated in the main story.
After completing the Shadow Templeand rematching each boss once, players will also unlock the Boss Gauntlet, forcing players into a boss rush with only five Heart Containers. In the end, players will be rewarded with treasure or ammunition, which can be a great way to stock up before the final battle against Ganon, though players get limited recovery options during this encounter.
Shovel Knightcertainly takes its cues fromMega Manby featuring eight members of the Order of No Quarter, who players must defeat at the end of each level. While adventuring through the Tower of Fate during the game’s final levels, Shovel Knight will be reunited with the eight knights, all dining together, and must defeat them all at once with limited health and in a random order.
Given the knights are fought in a randomized order, it can be a difficult section of the game to overcome if players keep dying. Players can get lucky and rid themselves of a late-game boss early on, or they could get stuck fighting a challenging boss with dwindling health. InPlague of Shadows, the same battle royale occurs from Plague Knight’s perspective.
There are 25 total chapters for players to completeKid Icarus: Uprising, but a total of 26 boss battles throughout the game. After finishing the game and defeating Hades, players will unlock one final chapter: Boss Battle. In this boss rush mode, players must face off against all the previous bosses they’ve already defeated with only one weapon loadout.
While players do get the chance to recover healthin between each boss battle, it’s still a monumental challenge to battle 26 bosses in one sequence. After completing it in Easy mode, players will also unlock the option to replay Boss Battle in both Normal and Hard modes, though they’ll hopefully come prepared for this devastating game mode.
3Bravely Default – Chapters 7 & 8
Bravely Repeating The Same Fights
Bravely Defaultwas a 3DS-exclusive RPG where players build up their typical party of four across only 9 chapters. However, in chapter 7, players will have the challenge of having to rematch four of the bosses they’ve previously encountered in dungeons: Orthros, Rusalka, Chaugmar, and Gigas Lich. To make matters worse, the bosses are boosted in power.
While this is a tough enough challenge for unequipped parties, chapter 8 pulls the rug out from beneath players by making them rematch the same four bossesagain. This time, however, players don’t get breaks in between each boss. It’s a fairly brutal challenge to place on parties after all they’ve been through, but hopefully, by this point, they’ve gotten the hang of it.
Near the end ofCapcom’s beat-‘em-upViewtiful Joe, players encounter a boss known as The Raging Stones, which are stone iterations of four of the already-fought bosses: Charles the Third, Hulk Davidson, Gran Bruce, and Another Joe. This serves as the game’s de facto boss rush mode, despite not including several of the other bosses throughout the game.
While the strategy to defeat each of these bosses is exactly the same as earlier inViewtiful Joe, they’ll be stronger and deal more damage to make fighting them all in succession harder. At the very least, the game doesn’t make you rematch some of the tougher boss battles, including the subsequent Fire Leo, as well as the final boss, King Blue.
WhileSuper Smash Bros.isn’t a franchise synonymous with boss battles, it’s had its fair share of boss characters, from the Twin Master and Crazy Hand tofeatured enemies from iconic Nintendo games. EvenSuper Smash Bros. Ultimatefeatures a semi-boss rush mode with Sephiroth’s Classic Mode, pitting players against the Adventure Mode bosses in one go.
However,Super Smash Bros. Brawlincludes one of the most challenging boss rush modes in Boss Battles. Unlocked after completing The Subspace Emissary, this All-Star mode pits players against the story mode’s various bosses, albeit offering them a rest area in between. Particularly, rematching the final boss Tabuu and others like Meta Ridley is frustrating on higher difficulties.
