History AwesomeBosses / Castlevania

* The first Lord Of Shadow: Cornell, Warrior-King Of The Lycans. In the first stage, he is quite tough with quick movements and deadly swings of his war-hammer. But at the second stage of the fight, he transforms into his monstruous Lycan form, and is now ''very'' fast and ''very'' tough. You will likely die a few times to him, but the almost dance-like way you have to dodge his attacks before countering them is very fun. [[DropTheHammer The way]] you [[HoistByHisOwnPetard finish him is really satisfying as well]].

** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines Bloodlines]]'': First his basic form, then a sort of fireball-throwing magician, and then a demon with a face on his torso, Manga/{{Devilman}}-style. This "second form" isn't actually Drac; it's really his WickedWitch [[TheDragon Dragon]] (well, for ''Bloodlines'', anyway). The English version erroneously labeled this separate character as Dracula. Same thing in that game with the Dark Lord's [[DaddysLittleVillain niece]], [[DarkChick Elizabeth Bartley]], who [[SummonMagic summons]] Medusa but doesn't actually ''become'' her.

* Legion. Any incarnation. ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Aria of Sorrow]]'' especially. Fighting Legion in full 3D in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness Curse of Darkness]]'' was pure awesome.

[[AC: [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Aria of Sorrow]] ]]

[[AC: [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Dawn of Sorrow]] ]]

* Just like ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'''s Ridley, Death in ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' manages to be ThatOneBoss and BestBossEver in many of the games he's in.

* Despite how [[BreatherBoss easy]] and cheesable he is, Dimitri is considered to be one of the most memorable fights in the series. The main reason is that his shtick is his ability to copy powers - and the Developers [[DevelopersForesight thought of almost everything]]. As demonstrated in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTRrCkIzb_4 this]] video, Dimitri is able to copy a ''lot'' of powers - most of which you can't actually use when you fight him and are only available in a NewGamePlus. Despite the amount of ArtificialStupidity at play, he can [[ArtificialBrilliance make a few powers dangerous]]

* [[spoiler:Richter Belmont]]. For the first time in the series, you're fighting against a [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIBelmontsRevenge playable]] Belmont]], and he has all of the moves he would have if you were [[spoiler:fighting ''as'' him]] - and is not afraid to use them!

* [[spoiler:Julius Belmont]] in the good ending. He knows every single [[spoiler:Belmont]] trick, does not hesitate to use said tricks, and is nightmarishly difficult--and then starts using subweapons! Far more satisfying than the final boss. And he has [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic awesome]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiSo9yL59Pw theme music]].
** And look closely when he's [[spoiler:performing [[LimitBreak Grand Cross]]]]. The might of the attack is so powerful that it not only draws in Soma like a mini black hole, but when unleashed, it causes the castle in the background to start ''crumbling''.

* Fighting, of all things, [[spoiler:[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Chaos]]]] in the true ending. In that same vein, [[spoiler:Graham]] has the same effect.

* [[spoiler:Dark Lord Soma]] in Julius Mode is pure, classic Dracula. And the fight is accompanied by [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Illusionary Dance]]. Except he surprises you by [[spoiler:pulling out a Gaibon familiar and Great Axe Armor's attack rather than Dracula's traditional fireballs. Then when he transforms into the monster from Rondo of Blood/Symphony of the Night, he gets a Harpy familiar, then will use Aguni, Larva and Abbadon.]]

* Fighting [[spoiler:Barlowe]]. Probably partly for the [[spoiler:Treacherous Advisor part of it]]...
-->[[spoiler:HOW DARE YOU... EVEN FORGETTING... WHO RAISED YOU... YOU... STUPID DISCIPLE!]]

* [[spoiler:Albus]], who is probably the only guy in the series besides Soma and Henry to use a gun, making this fight unique and interesting. In fact, it gets even better when you fight him as [[spoiler:Albus]]... And the boss uses the same quotes, which make it hilarious when you realise he's addressing the ''wrong person'', but when you discover that the flaming kick attack is his weakness, flaming kick duels ensue. Think [[Manga/OnePiece Sanji]] fighting himself with his legs on fire. Awesome.

* Fighting [[spoiler:the Whip's Memory, aka the essence of Richter Belmont inside of the Vampire Killer]]. Little breathing room. [[DuelBoss Jonathan only]]. The boss can and ''will'' hand your ass, but it's a wildly satisfying battle from start to finish. [[spoiler:And just imagine if it was the ''real'' Richter, who was widely touted as the greatest of the Belmonts.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFvTqdKvf74 The music]] [[spoiler:(a remix of "Divine Bloodlines", which is more or less Richter's theme)]] only plays up the intensity of the fight. Made even better when you realize what his weakness is: [[spoiler:The Cream Pie, a hidden subweapon found all the way back in the first painting. The Memory is weak to the darkness element, which the Cream Pie inexplicably has. The Pie also has the benefit of being extremely light on MP consumption. The result is that one of the easiest ways to beat the Memory is to throw ''infinite amounts of pie at him'' until he dies]].

* ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]'' has the final fight with Dracula and Alucard. It's not really the difficulty of the fight so much as the preceding [[IHateYouVampireDad dialogue between father and son]] and the rather heartbreaking WhatHaveIDone by Dracula after he's defeated. Also worth noting is that, contrary to poplar belief, ''this'' is the first Metroidvania-style Castlevania where Dracula does not go OneWingedAngel. Look closely at his battle sprite and you'll see it's not a transformation at all -- Dracula is sitting on a ''giant, demonic, pimped-out throne'' made out of flesh.

* ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]'' has the final fight with Dracula and Alucard. It's not really the difficulty of the fight so much as the preceding [[IHateYouVampireDad dialogue between father and son]] and the rather heartbreaking WhatHaveIDone by Dracula after he's defeated.

* [[spoiler:Richter Belmont]]. For the first time in the series, you're fighting against a [[spoiler:Belmont]], and he has all of the moves he would have if you were [[spoiler:fighting ''as'' him]] - and is not afraid to use them!

[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Beelzebub_Castlevania_6646.gif]]
[[caption-width-right:330:A giant rotting corpse hanging by massive hooks, and supported by flies the size of minivans. ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]'' is AWESOME!!!]]

* [[spoiler:Albus]], who is probably the only guy in the series besides Soma to use a gun, making this fight unique and interesting. In fact, it gets even better when you fight him as [[spoiler:Albus]]... And the boss uses the same quotes, which make it hilarious when you realise he's addressing the ''wrong person'', but when you discover that the flaming kick attack is his weakness, flaming kick duels ensue. Think [[Manga/OnePiece Sanji]] fighting himself with his legs on fire. Awesome.

* Also the battles against [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness Isaac]], [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome especially the first one thanks to the music.]]

* [[spoiler:Dark Lord Soma]] in Julius Mode is pure, classic Dracula. And the fight is accompanied by [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome Illusionary Dance]]. Except he surprises you by [[spoiler:pulling out a Gaibon familiar and Great Axe Armor's attack rather than Dracula's traditional fireballs. Then when he transforms into the monster from Rondo of Blood/Symphony of the Night, he gets a Harpy familiar, then will use Aguni, Larva and Abbadon.]]

* [[spoiler:Julius Belmont]] in the good ending. He knows every single [[spoiler:Belmont]] trick, does not hesitate to use said tricks, and is nightmarishly difficult--and then starts using subweapons! Far more satisfying than the final boss. And he has [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome awesome]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiSo9yL59Pw theme music]].

[[AC: [[VideoGame/Castlevania64 Castlevania 64]] and [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLegacyOfDarkness Legacy of Darkness]] ]]
* The aforementioned 3-part battle with Dracula. Reinhardt and Carrie face three Draculas. The first one fights in standard Dracula fashion, but if you've achieved the conditions to earn the Good ending, you'll face the TRUE Dracula, as the earlier one was an impostor. Beat him, and you're transported to another dimension where Dracula shows you his giant Dragon/Centipede form and wastes no time in bombarding you from all sides with homing fire dragons, physical attacks, a flamethrower attack and proves he's a ''Mushroom Cloud-laying Drac'' by blasting you with ''atomic'' explosions.

** And the dialogue after the fight implies ''he was holding himself back the whole time.''

* The Dracula battle is pretty awesome... if just because he's ThatOneBoss ''without ever going OneWingedAngel,'' unlike almost every other game in the series and every {{Metroidvania}} ever. The very fact that Dracula begins stomping around the room in a MenacingStroll is pure MundaneMadeAwesome.

** ''VideoGame/Castlevania64'' has Dracula's servant fought the classic way. If you get teh good ending, you then fight a much [[BishonenLine handsomer]] real Dracula who uses homing magic. Conquering that will have him bust out his real form, a 65-foot dragon/scorpion thing who attacks using homing fire pillars and huge explosions.

** Oh and ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin Portrait of Ruin]]''. "Boy, Dracula sure will be much easier since I have two characters to fight him this ti-... DEATH? AT THE ... SAME... TIME...." Made even more awesome by the fact that, like you, they have several Combination Attacks and, when one of them's low on health, ''Death lets Dracula use Soul Steal on him, resulting in a fusion of the two.'' Even better; ''they have {{Combination Attack}}s'', including a version of Dracula's [[ThatOneAttack hellishly destructive]] Demonic Meggido where Drac ''turns Death into a [[SinisterScythe scythe]] and slams him into the ground, creating a massive wave of ruination''. Holy...

** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse Dracula's Curse]]'': Your first fight him as himself, he switches into a giant, floating, disembodied, many-faced BRAIN (that drips acid, to boot!), and finally a huge laser-spewing demon.

* Legion. Any incarnation. ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Aria of Sorrow]]'' especially.
** Fighting Legion in full 3D in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness Curse of Darkness]]'' was pure awesome.

* In the PSP port, just before when Maria gives you the Holy Glasses, she fights Alucard to prove he's capable of beating Richter. While it's not particularly challenging, she can use several attacks from Rondo of Blood and demonstrates a new Item Crash when you've fought her down to her last HP. Again, it's not the difficulty, but the fact that you're fighting a powerful player character especially if you've not seen it coming.

* Fighting, of all things, [[spoiler:[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Chaos]]]] in the true ending.
** In that same vein, [[spoiler:Graham]] has the same effect.

* Gergoth. A giant mutant dinosaur like boss, that slowly plods around the top of the Condemned Tower, jumping, shooting lasers, and blasting poison gas. Halfway through the battle, it smashes through the floor of the tower, and you fall all the way back to the ground floor where you started the level. And NOW it's gained speed!
** Though they originally [[DummiedOut showed him as an]] AdvancingWallOfDoom [[TrailersAlwaysLie in the trailer]]...

* [[spoiler:Dark Lord Soma]] in Julius Mode is pure, classic Dracula. And the fight is accompanied by [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome Illusionary Dance]].
** Except he surprises you by [[spoiler:pulling out a Gaibon familiar and Great Axe Armor's attack rather than Dracula's traditional fireballs. Then when he transforms into the monster from Rondo of Blood/Symphony of the Night, he gets a Harpy familiar, then will use Aguni, Larva and Abbadon.]]

** [[spoiler:HOW DARE YOU... EVEN FORGETTING... WHO RAISED YOU... YOU... STUPID DISCIPLE!]]

* The GiantEnemyCrab should deserve a mention -- how many other games let you smash a crab with an ''elevator''? Coupled with that boss being a major WakeUpCallBoss to a degree, it makes the ending soooo much more satisfying.
** What Shanoa says makes that ending even MORE satisfying. [[PreMortemOneLiner "Go to hell."]]

* Fighting [[spoiler:the Whip's Memory, aka the essence of Richter Belmont inside of the Vampire Killer]]. Little breathing room. [[DuelBoss Jonathan only]]. The boss can and ''will'' hand your ass, but it's a wildly satisfying battle from start to finish. [[spoiler:And just imagine if it was the ''real'' Richter, who was widely touted as the greatest of the Belmonts.]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFvTqdKvf74 The music]] [[spoiler:(a remix of "Divine Bloodlines", which is more or less Richter's theme)]] only plays up the intensity of the fight.
** Made even better when you realize what his weakness is: [[spoiler:The Cream Pie, a hidden subweapon found all the way back in the first painting. The Memory is weak to the darkness element, which the Cream Pie inexplicably has. The Pie also has the benefit of being extremely light on MP consumption. The result is that one of the easiest ways to beat the Memory is to throw ''infinite amounts of pie at him'' until he dies]].