Video games have no doubt evolved since the early days of Pong and Asteroids. As video games continue to become more and more advanced, the video game industry continues to grow and become bigger each year. There are thousands of video games out today, which all come out on various platforms, consoles, and even cell phones. While each game is unique in their own way, most video games have bosses or boss levels. Usually, these tough enemies come as players progress throughout the game, while their skills are gradually increasing. These bosses will sporadically come throughout the game’s story, but other times players will have to complete side missions in order to unlock a boss fight.
Many “hidden” bosses are actually quite easily found, but a player just has to go through a lot of extra work to unlock them. Other times, these bosses really are hidden and gamers have to spend hours just to find the location of the secret boss. Much like the overall difficulties of certain games, the bosses in games usually vary in difficulty. Sometimes hidden bosses will be incredibly easy to beat, while other times, these bosses will wipe the floor with gamers who challenge them. Here are 8 Hidden Video Game Bosses Way Weaker Than Fans Thought (And 17 Who Are Even Stronger).
Stronger: Flemeth - Dragon Age: Origins
The Dragon Age series is an ongoing fantasy RPG (role-playing game) that started in 2009. The first title in the series was Dragon Age: Origins. One of the optional bosses is Flemeth. At first, the character seems like a friend, but it is later revealed that she is indeed a villain who turns into a giant dragon if gamers choose to challenge her.
What makes her so challenging is that she seems resistant to damage and magic. Plus at this stage of the game when her side quest shows up, players probably won’t be leveled up enough to adequately fight her.
Stronger: God of War - Valkyries
Not only has God of War been crowned the Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2018, but it also won the awards for Best Game Direction, Best Action/Adventure Game, and was nominated for another five awards. The title was no doubt a winner among fans of the series, but players were often losers against one enemy in the game.
The optional bosses called Valkyries are present within the game and offers rare and epic-level loot. While the eight Valkyrie battles are hard enough, God of War included one final battle with the Valkyrie Queen that often gave gamers trouble if they weren’t adequately prepared.
Weaker: Red - Pokémon Gold And Silver
There have been many Pokémon sequels and spinoff games since the first game’s release in 1996, but Pokémon Gold and Silver is often considered one of the best. After gamers win against the Elite Four and finish all of the gyms, they have the option to battle the boss Red at Mt. Silver.
While the battle may be entertaining for fans of the series, the battle was surprisingly easy to beat since at this point in the game, since most players have already become a powerful trainer.
Stronger: Smoke - Mortal Kombat II
After the first Mortal Kombat game was released in 1992, it quickly became apparent that the series would involve many villains for heroes to battle, as well as lots and lots of violence. While most of these enemies come as gamers progress through the story, Smoke in Mortal Kombat II proved to be much harder to find.
In order to even fight the character, players had to pick up on obscure clues that would unlock a battle with an opponent with a high level of difficulty. Smoke is known for being incredibly fast and many gamers likely lost to him after the first battle, which then forced them to decipher his clues once again.
Stronger: Sephiroth - Kingdom Hearts
For most of the game, the difficulty in the original Kingdom Hearts rose as players progressed through the game. That being said, one of the toughest enemies in the game is the optional boss Sephiroth.
Sephiroth can be found in the Hercules challenge arena and anybody who challenged him was met with an opponent with fast attacks and a health bar that went down very slowly. Not only can Sephiroth teleport, but he can cast Ultima and attack players with a move that takes them down to 1 HP and 0 MP.
Weaker: Diablos - Final Fantasy VIII
There are many beloved entries in the Final Fantasy series, but Final Fantasy VIII is often overlooked. The game is host to an array of enemies, but one optional boss is Diablos. Gamers have to be careful not to sell their Magical Lamp, as this is actually the object that Diablos can be summoned with.
If summoned later on in the game, Diablos can be a real challenge to players, but the villain doesn’t really pose a big threat if battled early on. If gamers battle and win against Diablos, they can acquire it as a Guardian Force.
Stronger: Super Smash Bros. Melee - Giga Bowser
Anybody who has played a Mario game is familiar with Bowser. Bowser has proven himself to be Mario’s arch enemy in most Mario titles, but the Italian plumber was given an even tougher boss to battle in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
This hidden boss can only be accessed if players beat Bowser at the end of Adventure mode on a normal or higher difficulty in 18 minutes or less. As if fighting Bowser at the end of the game wasn’t tough enough, fans who got really good at the game had to do it all over again with an even more powerful version of Bowser.
Stronger: Baron Von Roolenstein - Donkey Kong Country 3
One of the older games on this list is Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!. Released in 1996, the game put players up against many foes including King K. Rool, who goes by the alias Baron Von Roolenstein. Once players collect all of the Cogs in Krematoa, gamers can unlock a fight against Baron K. Roolenstein.
When compared to the other battles in the game, the fight against Roolenstein is truly challenging since players not only have to avoid flying objects and laser beams, but also have to deal with the floor constantly moving.
Stronger: Adamantoise - Final Fantasy XV
One of the optional superbosses in Final Fantasy XV is Adamantoise. The character appears in an optional hunt called “Lonely Rumblings in Longwythe”. Adamantoise is disguised in the game as a giant mountain, which players of course have to battle in order to unlock the Tortoise Toppler trophy.
While the hunt can be activated ay any skill level, the battle will take longer the lower a player’s skill is. While Adamantoise isn’t necessarily the strongest enemy in the game, it did often take gamers several hours to beat him, which earns him a spot on this list.
Weaker: Slot Machine - Star Fox
Out of all of the bosses in the original Star Fox game, the Slot Machine was one of the strangest, but not the strongest. The Slot Machine can be found in the “Out of this Dimension” stage, which is often considered to be an alternate ending to the game. In order to activate the fight, players must shoot the arm of the slot machine.
Like any slot machine, this boss gives players a wide range of combinations but requires a player to get three 7’s in a row in order to win the duel. While the boss fight might be fondly remembered by fans, it isn’t a hard fight by any means.
Stronger: C’Thun - World of Warcraft
C’Thun is one of the four ancient creatures who ruled Azeroth. The character can be found during the final encounter in the Temple of Ahn’Qiraj. The Old God of madness and Chaos in World of Warcraft is basically a giant eye with tentacles, but it proved to be a formidable foe against attackers.
In fact, players had such a hard time beating this boss that a patch had to be created in order to fix the difficulty on the ancient creature. Beating C’Thun before the patch was essentially impossible, but that didn’t stop people from trying.
Stronger: Karstaag - Skyrim Dragonborn DLC
Gamers can put hours upon hours into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but one of the hardest bosses to beat is actually found in the Skyrim: Dragonborn DLC. The boss is called Karstaag; the ghost of a powerful frost giant. In order to summon Karstaag, players must travel to Glacial Cave and recover his skull.
The character will then appear with incredible strength and a resistance to almost all of the Dragon Shouts. Karstaag can also summon ice wraiths and use his frost cloak to protect himself. Once the boss is defeated, you can summon his ghost in future battles, but only on three occasions.
Weaker: Taskmaster - Spider-Man
Anybody who has played Marvel’s Spider-Man on the PlayStation 4 knows that the game features several of Spider-Man’s iconic villains. One villain that appears as an optional boss is Taskmaster. The character creates challenges for Spider-Man, which can be completed to collect tokens used for Spidey’s equipment and suits.
While the challenges can be pretty tough, the actual battles against Taskmaster himself are pretty easy. The character randomly appears a few occasions if the player completes enough challenges, but most gamers won’t have trouble beating him.
Stronger: Night Terror - Soulcalibur III
Night Terror is one of the optional bosses in the game Soulcaliber III. The road getting to the villain Night Terror is almost as hard as beating the character himself. In order to unlock the battle, gamers have to progress through the story mode using a specific path.
Once actually arriving at the duel, gamers are greeted with a character that is impervious to ring outs, can fly, and can shoot lasers from his eyes. Not only this, but Night Terror has all of the same abilities as the character Nightmare.
Stronger: Diablo II - Cow King
The Cow King is a boss that can be found in the Secret Cow Level in Diablo II. The level isn’t unlocked in the regular story mode, but can be found by combining Wirt’s Leg and a Tome of Town Portal in the Horadric Cube.
The Cow King himself is a formidable opponent, but what makes his level even more difficult is that once the portal to the Secret Cow Level is opened, it can’t be reopened. This means that if a gamer loses in the battle against the Cow King, they would have to replay the game on a different difficulty to unlock it again.
Weaker: Ice Titan - Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts is home to many challenging enemies, but the Ice Titan isn’t one of them. While the character may seem like a daunting battle at first, there is actually a foolproof way to beat him in the battle that makes him quite weak.
In order to beat the Ice Titan, a gamer just has to equip “Guard” and then bounce his ice shards back at him. This will knock the Titan down allowing the player to attack. This only has to be done a handful of times and the gamer will be victorious.
Stronger: Kangaxx - Baldur’s Gate II
Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn was an RPG from BioWare that was released 18 years ago in the year 2000. The gameplay was challenging for some, but one villain stands out above the rest; Kangaxx.
Players could battle this optional boss after they collected his body parts, but were greeted by a character with rapid health regeneration and a high defense. To make the situation even tougher, the developers made Kangaxx almost invulnerable to physical attacks that didn’t come from weapons with a +4 or higher enchantment.
Stronger: The Reaper - Persona 4 Golden
Persona 4 released in 2008 and allowed gamers to play as a high-school student who moves to the countryside. During the year the character is in the countryside, he begins to harness the power of summoning Persona.
During the course of the game, players can unlock a boss called The Reaper by unlocking 21 chests. The boss created an incredibly difficult challenge that could only be played during a second run through the game, but in Persona 4 Golden, players could challenge the character at any time.
Weaker: Iwajira - Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Heavily inspired by the famous monster Godzilla, Iwajira appears in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Iwajira regularly spawns at level 30, but will spawn at level 52 during True Vault Hunter Mode. While an unstrategic attack will surely lead to a gamer’s untimely demise, Iwajira can easily be defeated once his two primary attacks are figured out.
Since his two attacks, which consist of corrosive boulders and a long-range beam, are simply rotated until the beast is slain, he isn’t really considered that tough of an enemy in the game. Once he is slain, however, the beast will drop a ton of loot for players to collect.
Stronger: Morgan Freeman - South Park TBOW
Yes, Morgan Freeman is a beloved actor with a mesmerizing voice, but he was also a boss in the game South Park: The Fractured But Whole. This hidden boss can be found at his restaurant, Freeman’s Tacos, where he will give gamers advice and sell items.
All players have to do is step behind the counter and hit Freeman three times, and the boss battle will begin. Not only is Morgan Freeman considered one of the hardest battles in the game, but winning the battle will also unlock a rare trophy.
