Top 10 Video Game Bosses That Play Dirty

“Mortal Kombat” (2011) The tyrannical emperor of Outworld didn’t become this game’s main villain by playing fair. Whenever Shao Kahn shows up in a boss battle he has a bad habit of making it unbearable. However, he takes being a cheap boss all the way up to eleven this time with his near-impenetrable defense, overly-aggressive attacks, and humongous health pool. Players have to survive his suffocating speed and continuous combos which can completely demolish you in no time. An X-ray move from him alone will make you lose more than half your health. If you decide to keep your distance while you whittle his health down, be on your toes because he loves to hurl hammers, spears, and infuriating insults.

“Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door” (2004) Like every battle in this flattened RPG, you face the crooked cutout dragon, Hooktail, in front of a packed audience. The crowd will either help you, harm you, or do nothing but this possible advantage is taken away from you entirely by Hooktail. When you start getting the better of this fire-breathing foe, she’ll offer you a few devious deals mid-battle so you’ll spare her. The rewards for accepting her bribes aren’t coins, badges, or suspicious services like she promises… but blindsiding chomps. In case you refuse Hooktail’s pleas, she’ll resort to more of her shifty tactics like gorging on half of your audience to restore a bit of her health.

“Bloodborne” (2015) Bloodborne is filled with grisly and brutish beings so when you first meet Father Gascoigne you might think that he’s a regular hunter, just like you. Nothing seems out of the ordinary with him, well, ‘ordinary’ for the city of Yharnam. Armed with a hunter’s ax and firearm, he challenges the player to a duel which seems pretty straightforward until he decides to pull the rug from under us. Not literally like the “Bed of Chaos” from “Dark Souls” and its collapsing floor but by transforming into a monstrous version of himself. In this form, he is way stronger and more durable, which is not cool and we’d call him out on it if he’d stop smashing us.

“Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga” (2003) It looks like Mario can’t catch a break from wily bosses. In this adventure, the two plumbers face off against a crafty witch named “Cackletta”. She steals Princess Peach’s voice and possesses Bowser’s body, so she’s already off to a treacherous start. After you manage to beat her a “Time Bob-omb” explodes beside the bros which reduces their HP to one. Cackletta takes advantage of this and inhales Mario and Luigi into her body for the final battle. Now they have to battle her very soul so she decides to tip the odds in her favor with a quick onslaught of everything she’s got. This forces players to act fast or else they’ll lose this battle it’s begun.

#6: Alpha-152

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Planet Alpha - Review

“Dead or Alive 4” (2005) An experiment conducted under “Project Alpha”, which used “Kasumi”s DNA, and managed to genetically engineer the most annoying antagonist in this game. The scientists really went all out when it comes to underhanded strategies like making Alpha-152 inhumanely quick and able to deal a ton of damage with her unstoppable combo attacks. Even seasoned players sweat a bit while fighting her since she can just teleport all over the stage and out of your attacks. With the strongest throw in the game and chained combos that can zap away almost 70% of your health, it’s not surprising that the most useful advice players get for this boss is to keep trying and hope for the best.

“Sonic the Hedgehog” (2006) Unlike most bosses in the series, Silver the Hedgehog prefers to use telekinesis to battle the blue blur. When you face off against him, he tends to spam his powers to lift you up and slam something against you or throw you against a wall. With no way of avoiding this unfair attack, players would end up losing all their coins and have to start over. Oddly enough, they were better off than the ones who got stuck in a painful cycle of losing all their coins except for one, collecting that one coin, and getting slammed into a wall over and over and over again.

“Tekken 6” (2007) When the fighting game boss nearly covers half the screen and you can barely see your own character, you know you’re in for a frustrating fight. Azazel is a crystalline creature and the final boss of Tekken 6. Finding an opening to attack this behemoth is beyond difficult since he can auto-block even while using special attacks. Players have to get used to his erratic movements, dastardly dashes, and being attacked almost every second. So yeah, he’s not remembered too fondly.

“Metal Gear Solid” (1998) This iconic adversary from Metal Gear Solid baffled players during his debut. Psycho Mantis is anything but straightforward, given his optic camouflage and psychic powers. Plus, he likes invading other people’s minds and dislikes fighting people face to face. Before he even reveals himself, he controls Meryl from the get-go and forces her to shoot you. This happens several times throughout the fight and it’s usually when you’re getting the upper hand over him. Lots of players couldn’t seem to do any damage to him as he effortlessly evaded everything. Little did they know that they had to use a few sneaky tricks of their own at their disposal. Controller port 2 for the win.

“Undertale” (2015) We have a bone to pick with this goofy fan-favorite. Even though he only fights you after you choose to go down the genocide route in Undertale and he is understandably furious, he cheats… like a lot. Sans ignores almost every turn-based RPG rule and tries to stop you by attacking you first instead of the other way around, he dodges your attacks rather than take damage when you land a hit, and attacks you while you use your menu during your turn. When all of this fails he tries something extra sly, he offers to spare you and then kills you when you let your guard down. Sans even tries to bore you into quitting when he realizes he can’t defeat you.

“South Park: The Fractured but Whole” (2017) A poorly drawn face on a child’s hand doesn’t seem very sinister but you have no idea how low Mitch Conner can go. This diabolical and downright dirty boss is a habitual rule-breaker. When you go toe-to-toe, or rather toe-to-finger, prepare for Mitch to just ignore some of your attacks, somehow deflect some back onto you, and apply random status effects that he totally didn’t just make up. Also, he can steal your turn sometimes. If things weren’t ridiculous enough already, towards the end of the game, a Mitch Conner from an alternate reality pops up and you have to find out which Mitch is good.