Replaying Ocarina of Time and re-experiencing how well done Ganondorf is done in this game has made me think about some other great final bosses. And I pose the question to all of you here on KJ: who is your pick or picks for best Video Game Final Boss?

For me, a top tier final boss must be someone who you want to beat, not so much someone who’s demise you want to witness, but rather someone you actually want to punch in the face, someone you personally want to beat and beat down in a fight. In other mediums, great villains have different criteria to making them all time greats.

In books it is all about the story of the villain and understanding the psyche underneath them or the psychological way they impact our heroes. This is what makes someone like Inspector Javert such a great villain. You understand both the core to who he is, what makes him tick. You also understand the psychological toll he takes on our hero Jean Valjean.

In movies, the medium of visual and auditory storytelling becomes so much more important, while still telling a story that unfolds in a passive manner. You are fully at the mercy of the storyteller here unlike in video games and even in books to some degree. This is where a villain like Darth Vader works so well. He immediately has an iconic look with his black space samurai cyborg look the right away tells you so much of who he is. This is then coupled with his trademark synthetic breathing that makes watching his story unfold such a cinematic experience.

Then there is video games where story telling takes an active approach where you are the storyteller playing in a storyteller’s world. You make the decisions that impact the story, if your hero fails or succeeds. And so the villain is then a challenge, a direct opposition to your own success. Therefore a villain that poses both a threat and this challenge is all the more important. Ganondorf in Ocarina of time fits this perfectly.

He the hardest boss, but he is both a challenge and an immediate threat that constantly challenges you throughout the story. More importantly, and what puts him over the edge to make him great, is that he constantly underestimates you, Link, throughout the unfolding narrative and constantly taunts you for your insufficiencies. Moreover, he is constantly right in his low opinion of Link’s capabilities. It makes him both a figure of someone you fear, but drives you to want to beat him, to prove him wrong.

The game begins right away, not with some grand exposition, but rather a nightmare, and what is the thing that haunts his sleepless nights? It is Ganondorf. The story starts right away with showing you both what you, Link, fear and what you must eventually overcome. And how is he portrayed at first? Confident, cocky, competent, and worse, successful in your demise. It is a lingering taunt that last throughout the game as the more you drive to finally beat him, the more he succeeds. At first it seems like you might get the better of him early own when you are collecting the three stones to unlock the Sacred Realm, only to find he was playing you the whole time. His greatest achievement is your greatest failure.

This all builds up to the final boss, the final showdown, and it takes all your allies to get him and what does he immediately do when you get to him (well after already capturing your closest ally in Shiel/Zelda) who forces you into a one on one duel. Not even your fairy companion who has been by your side the entire game is there anymore.

The battle begins with him floating in the shadows, looking down on you, confident in your demise, and it feels like he toying with you. The taunting continues. But with all the power you have accumulated and the skill you have mastered. You beat him.

Bitter and embarrassed, Ganondorf then destroys everything all you and him because he is unable to accept defeat. It is rewarding to see him change his demeanor and you and Zelda successfully escape. The batttle is over, and he has failed and suddenly he seems pathetic. But he has one last trick up his sleeve.

Ganondorf transforms into something beyond your nightmares: a towering monstrous demon, Ganon. The game does a fantastic job keeping the lighting dim and shadowy as to hide a good look at him, making him seem more scary. And this time as you fight him, it takes a team effort to not even succeed in taking him down, but to seal him away. It makes him seem impossible to defeat and your final plan as desperate. But you do prevail and manage to get the oh so gratifying final moments of Ganondorf as he curses you and Zelda as he vanishes into the Sacred Realm. To see this swap in a power dynamic is very satisfying and greatly resolves this arc between you, Link, and Ganondorf.

K Rool fight in DK64 is wildly over the top but is probably one of the best. I like the 2D fights with him too.

Wizpig races in Diddy Kong Racing

Grunty in Banjo Kazooie (I never finished the Tooie one as it was annoying and I was pissed at how much lamer the build up getting there was).

Wind Waker's fight sucks but I love the Ganon monologue and that it made me see his side that the supposed good guy gods drowning Hyrule and making it a shell of itself was a bullshit move.

Certainly not Prime Consort Radahn. Fuck that guy.

For me, final bosses are not a big part of why I love games. By nature, they come when I am burning out on the game and feel more tedious than fun most of the time. Never even made it to Ganon in Ocarina. That being said, these ones came to mind first.

Bowser in Super Mario World

Ash in Pokemon Silver

Ellie in Last of Us 2 - probably my winner but explaining why would require huge spoilers

Hades in Hades

Totally agree with you on all three Shack. Gruntilda is another one of those final bosses that taunts you and has a constant presence through the game. She is also very hard in what is an otherwise easy game. Very well done. Gruntilda and Ocarina Ganondorf both make my top five for sure.

Recently Tears of the Kingdom Ganondorf deserves a shoutout, great final boss, but the lack of focus for the game over all and his lack of presence through the game weakens him tremendously.

As for Swirch games I think Raven Beak is pretty easily the best final boss for this era. He is challenging and hits Samus at an emotional core. It is so satisfying beating him at the end, and the final escape segment is such a fun pay off after struggling to get past Raven Beak before this moment

Bowser in Super Mario 3. The rush of accomplishment I got when finally beating him as a 12 year old in 1990 has never been equaled by any other final boss.

Perhaps I have gotten older over the years, but Bowser has become less and less intimidating as a final boss. I remember as a kid how he felt like such a reward to defeat in Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World. I think while giving him a personality post Mario RPG did wonders to advance him as a character, his overall goofiness has weakened him a bit. One exception here is Mario Odyssey. That was a memorable final boss battle. Still Bowser in Mario 64, Subshine, and the two Galaxy games felt underwhelming. Frankly the boss fight itself is still underwhelming in Odyssey, but the twist of having to team up with him in the final escape mission was brilliant and serves to Bowsers strengths in a post Mario RPG era

No love for Mike Tyson?

Resident Evil was always good, metal gear too, but they had excellent side bosses too. Agree that Bowser is the OG

The Boss in MGS3 is a good choice.

The boxing match with K Rool in dk64 is another ridiculous one.

The Master Hand in Smash Bros.

Yeah Mike Tyson is a great pick as well. Particularly what is great about it is that it teaches you a real weakness to the actual Mike Tyson in that you just tire him out and he becomes much easier to take down. It is the perfect final boss for the game that rewards you for not only your patience, but puts to the test everything you had to learn up to that point. Definitely one of Nintendo’s hardest final bosses. Right up there with Raven Beak from Metroid Dread.

Gael in Dark Souls 3, its just you and him in the end, he has 3 phases but the fight is fair and epic as fuck.

Hitler in Wolfenstein 3D.

I don't know if he was a "Final Boss" as I'm not a game nerd but he was definitely a villain; Goro from Mortal Kombat. I remember playing that as a child and he was hard to beat.

There were also some big villains in the Resident Evil series that were solid as fuck to beat. And in Metal Gear Solid.

Didn’t play much Mortal Kombat, but did play Street Fighter and know the final boss there is M Bison