With new games like Bayonetta 3 and Pokémon Scarlet & Violet coming in late 2022, fans will likely be exploring many fantastic new boss battles for the very first time.
While boss battles are a huge part of video games, not all of them are as straightforward as fans have come to expect. Some bosses are visually unorthodox, some require strange methods to complete them, and some don't even feel like boss battles at all. Whatever the case, video games have come up with some truly bizarre boss fights over the years.
Negative Man
The Mother franchise didn't perform nearly as well in the west as it did in Japan, so most fans know Ness and the others from Smash Bros. The actual series is full of incredibly bizarre boss fights across the board, including Mother 3s Negative Man.
Negative Man has a ton of HP as a boss and not much else. His attack all do 1 HP. In fact, he usually doesn't even attack. The strange boss, a living yellow rectangle with a face, spends most of the "boss battle" hurling self-deprecating comments about himself. The fight takes a while due to his whopping HP stat, but it's almost impossible actually to lose the battle. That makes Negative Man both one of the oddest and easiest boss battles in video game history.
Titanic Toddler
Zombies Ate My Neighbors is an odd game from start to finish. The game features the titular zombies, but it is also home to a wide variety of other monsters. Ultimately, the "Titanic Toddler" takes the cake as the weirdest boss in the eclectic game.
Throughout the level, the player is chased by a giant toddler boss that can be surprisingly fast and difficult to take down. The adventurous background music is combined with the toddler's various noises and phrases to make the entire battle even more confusing. Once the player can defeat the toddler, who is accompanied by a pair of clowns for unknown reasons, they can advance to the next bizarre level in the cult classic game.
The End
Metal Gear Solid is a franchise that isn't afraid to take its story in a nonlinear direction. The choices the player makes can have an impact on the remainder of the narrative, and nowhere else is this more true than how Metal Gear Solid 3 handles The End.
Under most circumstances, The End is one of the series's best battles. The End, an ancient sniper known to be the best in the world, has one final battle with Snake before his death. It's a satisfying clash for the most part - unless the player saves in the middle of the fight. If the player waits for over a week with a save file in the middle of the fight with The End, the sniper will simply die of old age and leave Snake feeling empty over their lack of a contest.
Slot Machine
Star Fox protagonists Fox McCloud and Falco Lombardi are best known for their role in the Super Smash Bros series, both for the Smash Bros memes and general prowess of the characters. However, their own series is also full of great heroes and villains.
One of these great villains is not the intergalactic slot machine from the original Star Fox. The giant slot machine can be spun by hitting the attached lever, and the player can only defeat it by rolling three "7s" in a row. Any other combination will result in enemies or projectiles being released from the machine. Despite its absurdity, the boss is surprisingly well-loved by many Star Fox fans.
MegaSmith
MegaSmith is easily one of the strangest final bosses in gaming history. The final antagonist of The Matrix: Path of Neo isn't quite like the original Agent Smith that fans may remember from The Matrix.
The fight begins with a cutscene featuring digital avatars of the Wachowskis explaining the battle ahead. What the player is witness to a piling of debris and many agent smiths to form one giant "MegaSmith." The boss battle isn't so absurd in the actual game mechanics. However, the cutscene and concept are certainly a bizarre and off-theme experience for a Matrix game.
Psycho Mantis
Hideo Kojima games are certainly unique, and the original Metal Gear Solid is no exception. Arguably, none of the game's battles are as iconic as the Psycho Mantis boss fight.
The battle begins with Psycho Mantis using his mind control powers on Snake's ally Meryl. Before the second stage of the boss battle, Psycho Mantis gives Snake a true demonstration of his psychic powers. Mantis reads the player's memory card, repeating all his favorite games and playstyle before making the player's controller rumble as a final gesture.
The Great Mighty Poo
Conker's Bad Fur Day is one of the funniest video games out there. The game features an anthropomorphic red squirrel, Conker, with a drinking problem and a very bad attitude. Conker's ultimate goal is just to get home to his girlfriend Berri.
The game already has a lot of weird moments, but The Great Mighty Poo definitely takes the cake as the game's weirdest battle. The opera-singing sentient poo is weakened by throwing toilet paper projectiles throughout the battle. To end the battle, Conker literally flushes the boss down the toilet. The entire battle finds its conclusion with a Wizard of Oz reference to top it all off.
Bob The Killer Goldfish
Earthworm Jim is a strange game from start to finish, following the adventures of the titular protagonist on his journey to find Princess What's-Her-Name while avoiding the many antagonists who want to take his special suit.
One of the main antagonists of Earthworm Jim is Bob the Killer Goldfish, a goldfish in a bowl who mostly lets his minions fight for him. When it finally comes time for Earthworm Jim to battle this great nemesis, it turns out he can just grab the fish from the bowl and eat it. Some would call it anticlimatic, but it's perfect for a series like Earthworm Jim, best known for its strange plot and its odd "bad endings."
Giygas
EarthBound, also known as Mother 2, revolves around protagonist Ness and his parties' world-saving adventures. In their final mission, the group battle the Embodiment of Evil: Giygas.
During the final battle, Giygas turns into a bizarre and unidentifiable being. Giygas takes up the entire screen, launching unknown attacks at the player. There are only theories on what Giygas actually is or looks like outside of the strange screen covering patterns, making it arguably the most visually interesting and abstract boss in gaming.