For over three decades, Nintendo's Legend of Zelda franchise has defined the gaming industry with innovative gameplay design and narrative devices. These include dynamic and clever level design, a complex story marked by rich lore and compelling characters, and exceptionally well-constructed boss battles, many of which still stand today as examples of excellence in game development craftsmanship.
Some of these fights, however, fall short of the series' typical standard of excellence, serving primarily cinematic and narrative purposes. Other encounters rely on oversimplistic or repetitive gameplay mechanics, resulting in unusually easy battles. Though the series has never been defined by difficult gameplay, a handful of its bosses are laughably easy and feel closer to battles from Nintendo's simpler titles than the critically-acclaimed Legend of Zelda franchise.
Scaldera (Skyward Sword)
Skyward Sword's Scaldera features a tried-and-true boss mechanic from the Zelda franchise, namely dealing damage to an otherwise impervious enemy by throwing bombs into its open mouth. Once this dynamic is discovered, it becomes a matter of staying alive through increasingly challenging retaliations by the boss. With Scaldera, however, there is no genuine sense of escalation across the fight like there is in more memorable franchise bosses. It's a long and repetitive battle that leaves many players feeling like they're simply biding their time before they can attack.
Morpha (Ocarina of Time)
Despite being the boss of the intensely polarizing Water Temple -- one of the most underrated dungeons in the Legend of Zelda series -- Morpha easily ranks among the easiest bosses in the franchise due to a critical design flaw. To defeat this enemy, Link must Hookshot the nucleus-like membrane at the core of this enchanted amoeba and deal damage to it while it is out of its protective watery shell. What makes this so easy is the obtrusive barrier of spikes surrounding the boss arena. By positioning himself between the nucleus and the spikes, Link can corner Morpha and prevent it from returning to the water. In this manner, it's possible to defeat this boss in mere seconds.
Molgera (Wind Waker)
Set in the inexplicably sandy sanctum of Wind Waker's Wind Temple, the boss fight with Molgera draws from numerous fights across The Legend of Zelda's storied history without feeling like it ever comes into its own as an encounter. Indeed, this boss is so easy, that even inexperienced players can unintentionally exploit a "cheese" mechanic to this fight.
With easy-to-execute timing, Link can repeatedly use the Hookshot to snag Molgera's tongue and deal multiple rounds of damage in a quick sequence, even to the point of interrupting the boss's cycles of attacks. Though visually stark in contrast, in practice, this boss feels like Ocarina of Time's Morpha, and it's a shame that Molgera also falls victim to a common but unintended gameplay exploit.
Gohma (Ocarina of Time)
In some ways, it feels unfair to include Gohma on this list. As the first boss in Ocarina of Time, this insectoid enemy serves the invaluable function of teaching players how boss fights are conducted. It sets standards and expectations to or from which the developers can adhere or deviate as part of the game's overall narrative design -- something that helps the hardest boss fights in The Legend of Zelda shine by comparison. As such, Gohma is predictable with a small set of broadly telegraphed attacks and a glaringly obvious weak spot in her single glowing eye. After three bouts of attacks, Gohma falls, but her sacrifice is not in vain, setting players up for Ocarina of Time's later and far-better battles.
King Dodongo (Ocarina of Time)
The largest of the lizard-like Dodongos that inhabit Death Mountain, King Dodongo falls as easily as his subjects. Like Scaldera, this fight revolves around waiting until the boss's fanged maw is open and tossing a bomb inside, opening them up for a few slashes while it's stunned. In terms of its repertoire of attacks, King Dodongo features largely the same moves as the minor Dodongos. The boss will also roll around the arena, but he's so large and slow that it's hardly a challenge to dodge.
The Imprisoned (Skyward Sword)
Built-up over the course of the game with eerie and ominous foreshadowing, the encounter with The Imprisoned falls far short of its anticipated difficulty. In practice, The Imprisoned is more of an interactive cinematic than a boss fight, as Link fights to prevent this titan from reaching the Sealed Temple as much as he fights the creature itself.
Players battle this towering foe in three bouts, each of which adds a minor new mechanic to the otherwise identical and repetitive fight. Most oppressive about this encounter, though, is the repetitive quality of climbing, descending, and re-climbing the pit where the battle takes place, which feels like an artificial way of lengthening an otherwise breezy battle.
Tentalus (Skyward Sword)
To defeat this boss, players must first use the Skyward Strike ability to sever Tentalus' tentacles, causing the creature to rear its head and expose its weak spot -- a large glowing eye. From here, Link must use the Hero's Bow -- one of the most useful items in the Legend of Zelda series -- to strike the monster's eye, rendering it vulnerable to an up-close array of slashes. More tentacles appear in the interstitial stage each time players land a blow on the boss and some of them take on a snakelike appearance, but that's all this boss battle offers in terms of escalation of difficulty. It's eminently easy and, in concert with Tentalus' uniquely cartoonish design, makes this encounter from Skyward Sword feel like it belongs in a game like Super Mario Odyssey or Luigi's Mansion.
Goht (Majora's Mask)
The conceit for this boss fight is clever, but its one-note mechanics prevent it from joining the ranks of the Zelda series' better boss fights. In an enormous circular arena, players are intended to use the Goron Mask to race a giant mechanical creature named Goht, using Goron Link's spikes to inflict damage to the boss up close.
Once Link lands a strike, Goht speeds out of distance again, necessitating a rinse and repeat approach that feels dull by the second circuit around the arena. If Link runs out of the magic that fuels the Goron Mask, the fight also becomes exceedingly tedious, as the player must replenish their supply and wait for the boss to complete a lap before picking up the chase again.
Ganon (Ocarina of Time)
It's understandably disappointing to see a Ganon battle make this list, but this final confrontation with a character almost universally regarded as the best antagonist in the Zelda franchise is easily one of the easiest and most disappointing boss battles in the series. In this fight, Ganon is revealed in his true monstrous form, and Link is stripped of the Master Sword. This shouldn't slow players down at all, as they're able to roll between the beast's legs and fire arrows or bombs at his glowing tail.
At this point in the game, Link is powerful enough that even without his signature weapon, he's a powerhouse of damage output by the game's standards. The fight is remarkably cinematic, but it is unfortunate how mechanically lackluster it is as the final fight of the Zelda franchise's most beloved game.
Angler Fish (Link's Awakening)
Perhaps the easiest boss in the entire Zelda series, the Angler Fish has all of one attack -- an easy-to-dodge and blatantly telegraphed charge from one side of this 2D game's screen to the other. Small enemy fish appear, and some debris falls from overhead that Link must dodge or destroy, but by positioning themselves at the top of the screen and button-mashing, players can easily dispose of this boss before it even had a chance to attack.
2019's remake of Link's Awakening even took steps to up the difficulty of this boss, allowing it to strike in two directions instead of just one and giving the Angler Fish a small area-of-effect attack. It still isn't enough, however, to make this boss feel anything other than laughably easy.