The Best Boss Battle in Every Zelda Game

[Music] giant armored spiders ancient witches dark gods avocados from aquamentos through to dark beast ganon the zelda games have featured bosses of all shapes and sizes strengths weaknesses and difficulties finding the big key and heaving open a dungeon's boss door unaware of what lurks on the other side is what zelda is about having the courage to face any evil but not all zelda bosses are created equal many are absolutely fantastic others less so so today let's run through the entire zelda series in order of release and pick out my choice for the best boss battle in each it goes without saying that this list will be heavily opinion based i'm not ranking them on how tough they are to beat but on a multitude of factors that i think are important for a good zelda boss not just difficulty but their design music lore and just how much fun i think the battles against them are let's get into it [Music] being the first game in the series zelda one's bosses don't have a huge amount of depth to them and many have reused in later dungeons one of the most reused bosses is my absolute favorite however gliock appearing as a giant multi-headed green dragon gliac guards the triforce in level 4 shows up as a mini boss in level 6 and again serves as the main boss in level 8 gaining an extra head with each appearance it's fought by cutting its heads from its body which then fly around the room attacking link with fireballs until the last one is severed obviously the more heads there are the more difficult the fight becomes and the last fight against a four-headed gliock is pretty challenging it's a straightforward boss fight that doesn't rely on a gimmick like the use of a certain niche item to beat it the player needs to rely on just their sword and their ability to evade damage at the end of adventure of link's great palace link famously comes face to face with his own shadow the game's final boss and the final trial before he earns the triforce of courage is himself my favorite boss in the game though comes just before the thunderbird apparently created by the king of hyrule in order to protect the triforce piece the thunderbird is a bizarre winged creature resembling a statue or sarcophagus fittingly for the penultimate boss of the most difficult zelda game the thunderbird is no joke it's entirely invulnerable until weakened with the thunderspell which uses at least half of link's magic meter and rains down torrents of fireballs while floating around the room the fight is made a bit easier by using the reflect spell allowing link's shield to block the fire but the boss still requires incredibly precise jump attacks to defeat after collecting the three pendants and pulling the master sword link is cast into the dark world a sinister reflection of hyrule its first dungeon is the palace of darkness and as you'd expect for the first boss fought in this nightmarish new dimension the palace's maiden is guarded by a titanic monster the helmesaur king a giant version of the little helmetsaur enemy it attacks with fireballs and with its huge spiked tail the boss's special mechanic is simple but really satisfying its head is guarded by the helmet for which it is named which must be cracked with the hammer or bombs in order to damage its vulnerable face link must duck in and out of its attacks while chipping away at the mask link's awakening somehow managed to cram some really interesting bosses onto the game boy like slime eel or the evil eagle however my favorite boss in the game has to be its final challenge the shadow nightmares fought inside the wind fish's egg the nightmares are responsible for the gods endless slumber the nightmares are shadows that take multiple forms from link's past like moldorm and agonym it even has a ganon form who will throw a shadowy trident around the room the boss's final form death eye requires link to hop over its increasingly fast arm swings while taking shots at its eye which could be pretty difficult overall because of its different forms and difficulty it's my pick for link's awakening's best boss ocarina of time features a solid number of truly iconic bosses like volvagia and bongo bongo but my absolute favorite boss fight in the game is against the story's ultimate evil ganon i've talked before about just how much i love the game's final battle and it's almost entirely down to the fight's atmosphere after his defeat ganondorf uses the last of his power in a desperate attempt to kill the hero and the princess collapsing his tower while they stand atop it the pair narrowly escape but this isn't the end from the rubble and broken stonework the gerudo king rises into the air brandishing the triforce of power on the back of his hand now completely consumed by his lust for power ganondorf transforms taking on a terrible new form as the demon king ganon this fight is the only one in the game without a subtitle the screen simply reads ganon you know who this is ganon knocks the master sword from link's hand forcing him to rely on other items he's obtained throughout his adventure while the 3ds version of the game brightened up this final section in the original it's almost completely dark only ganon's silhouette can be seen as the sky flashes with the lightning the music isn't particularly epic or heroic instead it's serious and mournful perfectly capturing the feeling of being trapped with an insurmountable evil alone without the blade of evil's bane while the fight itself isn't very complicated link just needs to keep hitting the beast's vulnerable tale before delivering a final blow it's the perfect end to what is still perhaps link's greatest adventure and a perfect way to mark the birth of the boar demon ganon into the zelda storyline in ocarina of time the goron mask unlocks some hidden dialogue with certain characters in majora's mask it turns you into a powerhouse that can curl up into a spiked ball and roll around at max speed it's awesome in the limited places you can effectively use it so it's no surprise that an entire boss fight designed around it is by far the most fun battle in the game goat is the boss of the snow head temple it's a giant mechanical horned goat found frozen in a giant block of ice once thawed it will rampage around a huge room shaped like a track and link needs to chase it down using the goron mask the track is full of ramps and goat attacks by throwing lightning bolts and causing rocks to fall from the ceiling it can be damaged by smashing into it with a roll which eventually causes it to collapse though both versions of majora's mask have a few lackluster bosses goats absolutely isn't one of them it's great fun in both games oracle of ages ramrok is a four-phase showdown against an ancient stone golem at first it tries to punch link and by hitting its fists with the sword link can make it smack itself in the head next it swaps out the stone hands for two crushers and jumps around the room trying to mash link into a paste this second phase can be cleared by timing bomb throws as its crushers slam together ramrok then swaps out for two shields making it completely invulnerable to attack from the front and starts firing balls of energy and laser beams from its eyes as it moves around the room it can only be damaged by bouncing seed shots off of the back wall finally it pulls out two wrecking balls which it fires alternately which can be pulled back and flung into the golem to finish it off it's a pretty tough fight and makes use of a whole bunch of items link has collected throughout his adventure oracle of seasons began development as a remake of the original zelda game and so features redesigns of many of the first game's bosses this includes the return of gliock as the boss of the explorer's crypt at first the fight seems pretty much the same as the original link needs to sever its two heads which will fly around the room when cut off however there's a surprise second phase after its heads are destroyed the headless skeletal remains of the dragon will charge and jump around the room causing earthquakes which is just awesome four swords introduced the wind mage varti who kidnaps zelda and takes her to his palace in the sky link pulls the four sword and splits into four identical copies who would venture through hyrule until they finally reach vati in the palace of winds four swords doesn't have many bosses and the vati battle is by far the best of them phase one starts with a mage possessing a statue of himself then flying around the arena on a cyclone and the links need to use bombs to bring him down afterwards varty attacks in his true form and the main battle begins varti has multiple different attack phases there's a dead man's volley a zelda staple but with the added challenge that coloured balls must be hit by the link of the same colour summoning a ring of winged skulls and spinning its arms around before opening their petal-like ends showing the colours of the links that need to attack it next the hero of winds is somewhat notable because he isn't connected to the bloodline of the hero of time like twilight princesses link he's just a boy from a remote island on a quest to rescue his sister because of this the game's story focuses on this link proving himself worthy of the title of hiro a plot which comes to a head in the tower of the gods after collecting the three goddess pearls the tower rises from the depths of the great sea an ancient labyrinth designed to test potential heroes it has a strange technology theme which contrasts with the clearly ancient stone tower and the dungeon is filled with bmos armos and other automata its boss is the same godan the arbiter of the gods as link enters the boss's chamber what appears to be a statue on the far wall begins to speak offering one final challenge godan activates with pulses of blue light and floats towards link a disembodied head and two hands this isn't a unique boss design by any means not even unique to zelda games but i think that this is one of the best examples of it link needs to dodge its swipes and strike the eye on the palm of each hand with an arrow causing the head to open its eyes it then attacks by vomiting fireballs but if each eye is hit it will sink to the ground allowing link to damage it by placing a bomb in its mouth again it's not a unique boss design or battle but it's done very well it's fun to fight its design is strange but striking it's theme music alien but epic towards the end of the minish cap link takes to the cloud tops in search of the final element the palace of winds is suspended in the sky far above hyrule link fights and jumps through floating stone halls with precarious edges opening onto the empty sky but for the dungeon's boss fights he doesn't even have any ground to stand on the gyorg pair fly through the open air and link needs to jump between their backs to survive the boss is a pair of giant flying rays a small blue male and a large red female by cloning himself with his sword link can attack the eyes of the female and after it takes enough damage jump onto and fight the male by hopping over its tail and hitting its eye the fight gets progressively more difficult with each phase with fireballs and mini georg to dodge the gyorg pair is one of the most creative 2d zelda boss battles and my favorite in the minish cap by far the bosses of four swords adventures are recycled and reimagined from other games in the series namely a link to the past and the wind waker the main antagonist for most of the game though is varti and he's fought at the end but there's a twist it's revealed that ganon himself has been behind much of the game's events this ganon is an entirely new reincarnation of the demon king a massive wizard boar wielding the trident stolen from the desert the boss fight is somewhat similar to in a link to the past where he teleports around the room while throwing the tridents and even the music is the same he can throw bolts of lightning at the links though as well as send them to the dark worlds where they have to fight off stealthos to return after ganon takes some damage princess zelda joins the fight she'll summon an orb of light and must be defended against the demon's attacks while it charges there's no way to deal enough damage to kill ganon without it all the lynx can do is hold him off until zelda's magic is ready by timing a shot with a light arrow to pierce the orb of light the lynx can end the fight and imprison ganon within the four sword it's a great twist on the classic ganon fight from a link to the past and a fun boss to end the game with for twilight princess here's another boss i've talked about before stanlord of the arbiter's grounds it's a giant reanimated dragon skeleton fought while riding a beyblade it doesn't get much better than that the first phase of the boss fight takes place in a sandpit where stalloid is immobilized from the waist down link needs to avoid the beast's poison breath and the skeletons that crawl up from the sand in order to smash into stalor's spine eventually breaking it and collapsing its body the skull falls to the floor and the arena empties of sand only the boss's skull remains lifeless on the stone floor by turning a set of gears with a spinner link raises a central column completely changing the boss room and turns to find stalord reanimated once more a floating skull with glowing red eyes the second phase begins link rides the tracks in the outer wall and central pillar with the spinner jumping between the two to avoid its fireballs colliding with the stalloid skull causes it to drop to the ground where link can strike the scimitar that was used to resurrect it to end the fight stanlord's design and theme music are brilliant it's not a conventional boss at all and it makes great use of a criminally underutilized item in the spinner making it my favorite boss fight in the game phantom hourglasses muto's temple is a desert pyramid the ruins of an ancient civilization within a booby traps to deter outsiders like roller traps spiked floors and a giant mechanical stone golem the dungeon's boss eox is absolutely huge it takes up both screens and stomps around the room trying to punch link and firing arrows at him by jumping from springs around the room link can use the hammer to smash bolts on eox eventually collapsing his brickwork down to a wooden frame then to nothing only his head bouncing around firing out arrows with its weak spot exposed a crystal on the top of its head the boss of the sand temple the ancient demon skeldritch or cap bone as it's known in europe is similar in a lot of ways to stallord both fights are against skeletons standing in the middle of a pit of sand and are damaged by hitting their spine oh and both fights are amazing the skeldritch boss battle makes great use of the dungeon item the sand wand the boss throws boulders at link but these can be blocked by raised sand and directed onto catapults to be fired back at the boss each destroying a vertebrae of its spine and lowering it further into the sand the upper spine is armored at the front so link needs to load catapults then pull its attention away and trigger the throw with an arrow while it shoots laser beams out of its mouth at you once its spine has been completely destroyed the skull falls into the sand and its helmet comes off but just like stalord it's still not dead the skull charges around the pit but by immobilizing it with the sand wand link can reach the crystal on its back to end the fight colloctus is a possessed ancient god machine that you smash to pieces with its own giant scimitars there's not a lot else i can say it's just a brilliant boss link enters the chamber only to find girohim laughing at him the demon lord revives the automaton with dark magic and the machine built to defend the ancient system now hunts the hero at first koloktos is only an immobilized head and torso with multiple arms but after taking some damage we'll break free of the ground lock its weak spot behind a cage and pull out six massive golden scimitars by using the whip to pull at its joints link can grab hold of its great swords and use them to violently break apart the machine's chest making it one of the most satisfying boss fights in the whole series a link between worlds reimagines many of the bosses from a link to the past like how the helmesaur king returns as the gemisol king a beast covered in rupee all my favorite boss though is the reimagined blind stall blind the boss of the thieves hideout is a huge red skeleton wielding a great sword and shield at first it seems invulnerable to all damage it attacks by swinging its sword or vomiting shadows but its shield protects it against link's own blade however the flat face of its shield allows link to wall merge with it and jump out on the boss's weak rear to damage it it's such a creative use of the wall merge mechanic but then stelblind realizes this and throws the shield away it can now be damaged from the front but now it attacks faster and performs huge spin attacks enough hits will start the final phase stalbline's head starts floating around the room spewing darkness while its body violently hacks away with the sword it's a really fun boss with a great design you've probably noticed a trend by now big skeleton bosses are cool and triforce hero's style champion is no different it's the boss of the desert temple an egyptian themed undead warrior with a mace instead of a left hand it's fought by hitting it from behind until the skeleton collapses allowing the lynx to attack its heart with their hammers while its mace rolls around the arena trying to crush them after enough damage phase 2 begins style champion skull starts to float swallows its heart then starts to burn with a purple flame just like a bubble a classic zelda enemy the skull charges around the arena at the lynx and can be brought down by the boomerang it's not a difficult fight nor is it particularly creative but it's a fun fight against a big skeleton so it's on my list breath of the wild does a lot of things well exploration and movement environment and world building puzzles and dungeon design but one thing it didn't quite nail was its bosses they're far too few in number and are repeated far too often the overworld bosses are all great but that's only three bosses with multiple variants taluses hynox and molduga the bosses of the main dungeons the blight ganons are so similar in design that they feel like different phases of the same boss and the same is true for calamity ganon itself which combines elements from all four blights into an admittedly fun challenging battle and of course the less said about dark beast ganon the better which plays more like an interactive cutscene than an actual boss fight master koga is the only base game boss that isn't another variant of ganon and isn't repeated over and over admittedly the boss of the yiga clan is played for laughs and koga eventually ends up killing himself with a giant boulder but it's a fun fight nonetheless as the master makes use of different ancient chica techniques however having the bumbling clumsy koga as the only living example of a shika master was a little disappointing we know from hyrule's history that sheikha monks did once fight alongside the guardians and divine beasts and we could only wonder how powerful a serious shika master could be this was until the game's second dlc pack dropped the champion's ballot link is contacted by the mysterious maz koshia a sheikah monk who tests those who desire to pilot a divine beast link undergoes these trials until finally he stands before the monk's podium just like at the end of a regular shrine however instead of rewarding the hero with a spirit orb and fading away maskoshia's fossilized fingers begin to twitch and the ancient monk breaks his millennia-long meditation to stand up and challenge link to a final trial the fight itself takes place on a huge sheikah platform floating above hyrule there are three phases first the monk begins by fighting similarly to a yiga foot soldier by teleporting around and attacking with a guardian sword next he splits himself into multiple copies with only one vulnerable to damage finally maskoshia grows to a giant size and begins to use moves like firing guardian laser beams out of his face throwing spiked metal balls and trying to crush link it's the most difficult boss battle in the game made even better by the build up and circumstances surrounding the fight throughout the entire game link has been tested by sheikah machines puzzles and traps but for the final trial it couldn't have ended any other way than an ancient sheikah master personally challenging link to single combat thanks for watching this video if you liked it leave a like or subscribe if you haven't already for more zelda content what would your picks be for the best boss in each zelda game let me know in the comments cheers guys and i'll see you next time [Music] you

Channel: Zeltik

Views: 1,190,645

Keywords: Zelda

Id: W3z9OX_wUaI

Length: 22min 22sec (1342 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 31 2022