The final boss of a video game is meant to be the ultimate test for the player. It is the culmination of everything that the player has learned and upgraded throughout the game and usually offers the biggest challenge to beat.
Some games take a slightly different approach however, and actually make players face their toughest battles much earlier in the game, or as secret optional encounters to be unlocked. The final bosses of these games may also be incredibly difficult, but they paled in comparison to what else players could face.
Fighting Krauser, Resident Evil 4
Krauser is one of the recurring secondary antagonists of the classic Resident Evil 4. A former special agent who has a history with protagonist Leon Kennedy, Krauser offers arguably the toughest fight of the game, as well as being one of the hardest bosses in the Resident Evil series. The first stage of Krauser's fight is not terribly difficult, but he is very fast and can take a lot of damage.
His second phase sees him growing a bullet-proof arm that only leaves him open to counterattacks. If his attack lands it will do significant damage and have a chance of knocking Leon off the very small rooftop arena of the fight. The time limit, which continues to count down even after Krauser is defeated, is what really makes this battle stand out even against that of Krauser's boss at the end.
Tyrant's Lash, Mad Max
Avalanche's Mad Max game is one of the best movie tie-in games of recent memory. One of its core gameplay loops is destroying the numerous camps set up around the Wasteland, the toughest of which are led by sub-bosses referred to as Top Dogs. By far the most difficult of these camps is Tyrant's Lash.
The camp is protected by incredibly heavy defenses that will have players retreating to fix their car multiple times, and even once they finally make it inside, players will be greeted by massive hordes of some of the toughest enemies in the game. It is a brutal gauntlet that will make even the game's ultimate vehicular showdown seem tame.
Water Temple, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Ocarina of Time may have gone down in history as one of the greatest games ever made, but it still had its fair share of frustrating moments, most notably among them, the Water Temple. The Water Temple is well known among players for its difficulty, mostly due to the labyrinthian layout of the dungeon.
The temple is made up of multiple levels that can require players to raise and lower the water, float or sink to new areas, and backtrack multiple times to retrieve keys or other important items. Not to mention it features a tough boss fight in the form of Shadow Link at the end.
The Atlantis of the Sands, Uncharted 3
Each of the first three Uncharted games features a major tonal shift into supernatural territory in their third acts, to somewhat polarizing opinions of fans. By far the most irritating of these occurs in the penultimate chapter of Uncharted 3. After drinking tainted water, Nathan Drake begins to hallucinate that the enemies he is fighting are hostile Djinn demons.
These Djinn can absorb massive amounts of damage, throw instant kill projectiles, and can teleport directly to Nathan or around to flank him. There are more enemies and less cover with each encounter with the Djinn. It is one of the few encounters that can make the climactic knife fight seem relaxing.
The Valkyries, God of War
The mere mention of the Valkyries is probably enough to send shivers down the spine of most fans of 2018's immaculate God of War. Throughout the story, players can find hidden rooms that each contain one of the nine Valkyries, which have been corrupted and imprisoned by Odin. Fighting each one is entirely optional, but if players choose to attack them, the Valkyries are far beyond any other opponent in the game.
Each has a new special attack, and all of them are brutal fights. Once the main Valkyries have been defeated, the player then must fight the Queen Valkyrie, which can use every attack of the others and has several times the amount of health. Final boss Baldur may have them beat on spectacle, but nothing can surpass them in terms of sheer difficulty.
Rome Level 1, Asterix and Obelix XXL
Asterix and Obelix XXL is a blast of a game that is fun for the whole family. The first level of its Rome section, however, is a brutal difficulty spike that few were prepared for. As soon as players enter they are dropped into a fight where they must defeat 1000 Roman enemies before progressing. After this, they are put through a gauntlet of combat cages culminating in another 1500 enemies standing in their way.
There is no point to save through the entire section, meaning that it all has to be done in one sitting. The fight was so difficult that it was even made easier for the remaster, but it is still a brutal challenge; one that is significantly harder than the two war machines at the end of the game.
Turbo Tunnel, Battletoads
Most gaming fans at this point have probably heard the legends of the infamous Turbo Tunnel section from Battletoads. Battletoads is widely considered to be one of the hardest games to beat, mostly due to its near-impossible tunnel level.
The early level is a devilishly fast vehicle section where players must maneuver their speeder bikes around obstacles and over jumps at breakneck speeds. Obstacles will appear with little to no warning, and it will take lightning-fast reflexes and a perfect run to even have a chance of making it to the other side. While the final boss The Dark Queen is no cakewalk, many players likely never even saw her due to this section.
Deathstroke, Batman: Arkham Origins
Deathstroke is an incredibly dangerous foe in the DC universe, so when he showed as an assassin after Batman in Arkham Origins, players knew they were in for a tough fight. What they probably were not expecting was just how difficult. As only the second boss in the game, players likely have not leveled up very much before they take him on.
Players must carefully watch Deathstroke for openings in which they can attack, or he will counter with a devastating blow. Countering his attacks and striking back requires almost perfect timing, and he only gets stronger as the fight goes on. For such an early boss, Deathstroke can easily stand against the Joker or the equally difficult Bane.
The Tutorial, Driver
Driver is another game with an infamously difficult early section, this time at the very beginning of the game. Iconic for all the wrong reasons, Driver's opening section forces players to complete an entire list of tricks to do with their car in an unforgivingly short time limit. If players fail to complete a single one of these moves, they fail the mission and must start over.
The game also gives no indication of what some of these moves even are, much less how to do them. The brutal time limit, tiny space, and long list make the tutorial a nearly impossible task, especially for people who have never played the game. Driver's final mission is also a tough one, but few players even know, as many never made it out of the parking garage.
Ornstein and Smough, Dark Souls
Even in a game with notoriously hard bosses like Dark Souls, Ornstein and Smough stand out as the toughest of the tough. Forcing players to fight both bosses at the same time, it is essentially two boss fights in one.
Both Ornstein and Smough are incredibly fast and deal enough damage to one-shot some players. Once players have brought down one of them, the other will absorb the power of their fallen comrade and become even more lethal. The fight is famous for its unforgiving difficulty, and compared to these two, the final boss Lord Gwyn seems almost merciful.