That One Boss / Fighting

"YOU NOT WORTH MAH DISCUSS!"

— Geese Howard, SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos

By their very nature, most of these entries are also an SNK Boss, and may well be a Perfect Play A.I..

NOTE: Final Boss and Wake-Up Call Boss cannot be That One Boss without being overly hard by their standards. Please do not add them as examples. Superboss is completely banned due to being optional and having no standards.

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• Arcana Heart:
  • Mildred Avalon in Arcana Heart's Story Mode. As the final boss, she's capable of using every single Arcana super attack as her suite of regular attacks, and has an incredibly difficult-to-block screen-filling Limit Break that can deplete a large chunk of your life bar with one use. What's worse is that in the first phase of this battle, she hides inside a cocoon with two laser-shooting Attack Drones that must be defeated in one round. Sounds easy at first, but if you fail to beat her cocoon form, Millie's Super Meter is maxed out at the beginning of her next phase, allowing her to fire off her Limit Break attack almost at will.
  • And yet she is impossibly less difficult than Parace L'Sia of the sequels. She fires projectiles with reckless abandon, has absolute priority on all of her moves, regenerates damage, and most of her supers are a One-Hit Kill! One of her supers is a projectile that goes off five seconds after it hits you, suddenly dealing insane damage and putting you into hit-stun — even when you're in the middle of a combo or blocking a multi-hit attack. Just to make things worse, she continuously regenerates her super meter, and has another move where she goes into a cocoon to accelerate its regeneration. The cocoon move only ends when her super meter is completely filled (at nine stocks) or if you attack the cocoon enough times to break her out of it — and none of your attacks will do any damage during this time. And she's still regenerating her health. She goes well beyond a typical SNK boss and acts more like a overpowered horrible M.U.G.E.N character.
  • Arcana Heart 2 gives us the somewhat less frustrating Angelia. In arcade mode, she simply plays like a smart computer opponent (including her annoyingly effective but technically sound "Halo Dash > Halo Super" tactic) and doesn't seem to use her arcana at all... but she still doesn't seem to have charge her halo dash attack, since she can and does use it constantly (especially during attack clashes). In Story mode, on the other hand, she uses the same tactics, but her arcana (Mildred, incidentally) is always active, meaning Mildred launches attacks on her own pretty much independently. In addition Angelia also has a certain unavailable-to-players super where she... drops a building on you. Seriously. Needless to say, it's unblockable and does over half a health bar of damage, though she thankfully only uses it infrequently.
  • In Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2, players can use Angelia's building drop super.
  • Arcana Heart 3 tops it off with first having you fight mid-boss Scharlachrot, who plays like Hazama with robot tigers that fire beam spam cannons. To wit, she attacks really aggressively, her Arcana (said robot tiger) can interrupt your combo by shooting you in the middle of it and set her up to combo you (and it will happen often). One of the Arcana supers is to fire a super powerful bullet capable of wiping out nearly 50% of your health, and her Arcana Blaze is to fire a frigging huge beam that goes upwards and will take out 50% even in chip damage. Oh, and beat her on the first round and she goes to activate PERMANENT Super Mode with boosted attack and defense. And did we mention that her Arcana bar usually regenerates at an unusually fast rate so you'll find yourself often facing that near-50% health powerful bullet? Win against her? Then prepare to fight Ragnarok, a Humongous Mecha bent on destroying Japan, which plays differently from the rest of the game on a 3-tiered battlefield — if you do not understand how to fight bosses like Onslaught, you're pretty much done for, and his main offense consists of two annoying flying funnels that constantly fly around you and interrupt your acts, not to mention Bullet Hell galore or a beam rain unblockable. Much like Mildred, this is Do or Die — run out of time and Japan gets blown sky-high. In short, the final boss is essentially made (overly) difficult not by its moves or its strategy, but by the fact that it basically converts the game into a side-scrolling platformer, while you're still saddled with the control scheme of a fighting game. If the spam attacks don't get you, the clock will simply run out while you're trying to jump up and hit that last weak point.
• Curfue from Asura Blade. The game steals a LOT from both Guilty Gear and SNK. Curfue, however, steals from Capcom. He's essentially Cable with a few of Justice's moves, while the final boss, Geist, is Justice with a few sucky charges and NO beam cannon. However, note that he has many anti-air moves so it's a straight-on slugfest. Curfue will simply fill the screen with beamspams and grenades and cataclysmic explosions. Much like any other beam spammer in a fighting game, merely blocking the beams incurs serious damage. His throw involves him bayonetting you and then firing a fully charged blast at point-blank range. To a lesser extent, playable character Talos is somewhere between this and SNK Boss as he does ridiculous amounts of damage and has a huge range, due to him being pretty much a medieval version of the Marvel fighters' Sentinel, however unlike other SNK Bosses he has a long window for larger moves (but when they go off, they go off FAST!). In fact his normal fierce punch does about 70% damage!
• Bleach:
  • Bleach: Dark Souls has many unfair fights over the course of the nine times you have to beat Story Mode to beat it 100%, but one of the endings to Part C takes the cake. You fight three Menos Grande simultaneously, they all start with full spiritual pressure, and they will spam their lasers and teleport attacks.
  • Aizen in the Turn Back The Pendulum segment of Heat The Soul 6. You can't see any of his info, and one of the characters you're forced to use is one that you've never had the opportunity to use before. He's also one of the most broken characters in that game. Have fun.
  • Rank S Kisuke. Holy mother of Jesus, RANK S KISUKE. He starts with a full Special bar, his health regenerates (faster during his Power-Up), and he hits like a truck. Also, he has an infinite guard, but he can still shatter your guard in one shot. You're forced to use an Original Soul Code against him, and it's difficult to make a Code that doesn't seal off your abilities while still allowing you to hit harder. And once you've knocked him down, he revives with a quarter of his health. Did we mention that your Special bar will also drain over time?
  • Preceding Rank S Kisuke is Rank S Mayuri. You again have to use an Original Soul Code, but your opponent has a Soul Code that drains your health over time. It's impossible to make an OSC that allows for health regeneration, so it becomes a Timed Mission. If he uses his Specials and they connect, then you're basically screwed unless you can quickly turn the fight around.
  • Anybody equipped with any of the DLC Soul Codes become this. There are four, and their effects are: 1) Allowing infinite tag-outs and support attacks (Tech style), 2) Infinite Special bar (Speed style), 3) Two HP bars and more critical hits (Power style), and the grand-daddy of them all: THREE HP bars, ridiculous movement speed, and a full special bar (Speed style).
• BlazBlue:
  • There are several offenders, but the most notable are Unlimited Rachel, Unlimited Hakumen, Unlimited Nu-13, and Unlimited Ragna. ESPECIALLY the last two.
  • In the sequel/re-release, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, they add Unlimited Hazama to the mix. He is exceptionally difficult, with attacks that can only be called unfair.
  • Unlimited Tager. The original Tager couldn't dash, this one can — well, it's more like a jog, but it's still faster than his walk. Not to mention he's invincible for the duration of it. Also, his Electric gauge starts out full and is split in two, meaning he can use Spark Bolt, his only projectile and a strong one at that, twice at the beginning of a match. His magnetism is also stronger, to the point where he can hit you with a powerful punch that sends you flying to the wall even if you're on the other side of the screen. Additionally, his Distortion Drives hurt like hell.
• Kron, the final form of Syn, from the PSX game Cardinal Syn. Gigantic dragon in a fighting game full of human/humanoid characters? Check. Unblockable fire-related attacks? Check. Ability to fly out of the other character's reach? Check. One-hit-kill move (i.e. biting the other character in half) that she loves to attempt to perform quite frequently? Check. Can absorb a lot more damage than any other character? Check. Doesn't even have a timer on her stage, so it isn't possible to get a cheap win by hitting her a few times and running/dodging out of her way? Check.
• Castlevania: Judgment:
  • Death is almost always That One Boss in each Castlevania game, and his incarnation in Judgment is no exception. Well, except that he's a playable character in that game, so the honor instead goes to the similar-looking Time Reaper. Despite his lack of hitstun, most of his attacks can be easily blocked or evaded, until he busts out an unblockable sweeping Kamehame Hadoken that can take out your entire lifebar with one move if you aren't careful. At harder difficulty levels, he starts using two at once and starting them in different places. At the hardest difficulty, you have to dodge flying homing skulls at the same time. And if you can't lower his three lifebars quickly enough, he'll keep using them. Despite infinite continues, it can be difficult to beat him at the hardest level at all, and the game knows it: you receive a Cosmetic Award for every character that manages the feat.
  • Despite being a playable character, Dracula also counts, usually only appearing in boss-like matches and being hard as hell — yes, he walks slow as molasses, but he can teleport behind you in a flash, leave traps everywhere, and has insanely powerful projectiles that are even more deadly at close range. To top it all off, he has one of the highest defenses in the game (read: longest life bar), even unmodified. Easier versions will hand your ass to you until you get his tricks figured out. Harder ones will kill you even then.
• N. Boss in ClayFighter. Not only does it continually shoot white balls at you, giving you no time to attack, its design screams of lack of effort. It's two eyes over a ring of clay balls. That's it.
• In Def Jam: Fight for New York, Crack easily qualifies. He can take much more punishment than any other opponent before him, and can counter like no one else. His signature heavy grapple attack does a ton of damage, and almost guaranteed to leave the players stunned long enough for Crack to do it a second time. Not to mention the fight with him and Magic later on, with a heavily battered team-mate. ARGH!
  • Protip: As painful as it sounds, on that battle, you have to take Crack out first. Magic is a Submissions fighter, and although Blaze has half health, his limbs are at full strength. Blaze can last quite a while against him. Crack, on the other hand, is both a Wrestler and Street Fighter, and thus has two of the easiest ways to knock someone out.
  • Protip 2: Even though normally Def Jam rewards you (to an insane level) for favoring offense over defense, by far the easiest way to beat Crack is to block his punches, then counter when he when he goes for a grapple. (He's easy to grapple when he's recovering from this). If he does his leaping street fighter punch, just block, then either hit him back or grapple him.
  • Teck can also be one for some players.
• Dissidia Final Fantasy:
  • Jecht. The rest of Tidus's section is extremely easy, but Jecht will hammer you into a fine paste. He's also much harder than almost all of the other villain fights surrounding him. Part of the thing that makes him so difficult (asides from being a legitimately terrifying opponent) is that he has access to the Magic Pot summon. The Magic Pot summon will copy the opponent's Bravery once in the fight, which indicates that Jecht is either going to have a sufficiently higher bravery just before you break his. The dire threat to this fight is simply in the playstyle of Tidus, which, unless the player practiced sufficiently, is going to run into Jecht Block. Often. Even if the player has practiced with Tidus, it is unlikely at that stage in the game in which any of Tidus's counters have developed into the useful counter-chain Quick Hit, so he's got to use the HP attacks that are Jecht blocked.
  • Golbez in Shade Impulse as well. The A.I. will give you a very small taste of what a devastating Golbez main can really do. Each of his attacks are potential 1-chain breaks because almost EVERY bravery attack he uses chains into an HP attack, meaning, basically, that you cannot allow him to hit you, ever, if you want to live.
  • The sequel has Firion vs. Ultimecia. Ultimecia is Level 20 and Firion is 8 unless you wish to suffer a penalty. Ultimecia will keep to the air, so Firion must take to the air. The problem with this is that Firion's Air game, while improved from the first game, is not enough against an opponent who specializes in long range, aerial assaults.
• In Don King Presents Prizefighter, Chad Dawson is the 10th to last opponent and worth less money than each of the nine you face after him. On Contender level he isn't especially troublesome, but on Champion level he is by far the most difficult opponent in the game. He moves around a lot, has tremendous reach, hits like a bus, and recovers stamina three times as fast as normal. It will almost certainly take you at least three attempts to take him down. Terry Parkhurst, the world champion, is an absolute creampuff compared to him.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Android 18 in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 has two specials: Infinity Bullet (an incredibly annoying Beam Spam) and Destructo Disc (a double beam attack that is impossible to block). Most of the times you face her it is immediately after facing Android 17, who is notorious for draining your health levels to near-nil. One of the few times you don't, however, she goes from "incredibly annoying" to "snap the game disc in half". You face her with Hercule, in an arena that is an instant loss if you fall outside a very small space. Hercule cannot fly on his own. If his jetpack runs out of power, he will fall. You pretty much have to pray to the Random Number God that she doesn't just decide to fly outside the ring and start spamming Infinity Bullet. Or that she doesn't rush you right at the start before you can use False Courage (which makes Hercule more of a Lethal Joke Character). Or that she doesn't run outside the ring as you attack. Or that she doesn't Destructo Disc you before you attack. Or that False Courage doesn't wear off. Even if your health is full and hers is almost empty, you can still lose very easily and very quickly with the tiniest bit of bad luck.
    • And woe betide you if you're after 100% Completion, as it requires doing this particular fight twice. And just when you think it's over, you face Krillin, of all people, with the exact same character in the exact same arena - it's very nearly as much of a Luck-Based Mission.
  • Also in Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is Kid Buu, mostly due to the fact his first course of action will be to use his Rush attack, which will launch you across the arena, and it takes a while to get up... Which is enough time for him to charge it up and use it over and over, worse is that, unlike most Rush attacks, this one actually travels a fairly impressive distance.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 has, if you set the difficulty to Z3, pretty much every boss ever in Dragon Universe. If you're starting a new character at Level 1 are and trying to get him to level up faster, you will die in a matter of seconds. Basically, while you have three bars of health, the very first enemy of every DU story has seven bars of health, which is more than 233% of your health. If that isn't enough, he has about as high defense and attack power and can teleport out of anything.
  • Continuing the trend of Buu being an incredibly difficult opponent to fight, Dragon Ball Xenoverse has the Buu Buu! Majin Buu mission. The first stage isn't too bad, since it's a 2v3 and Goku does a good job of keeping at least one busy. It's once he leaves and the second stage begins that the whole thing becomes a nightmare. You are swarmed by six Mini-Buus (no, not Kid Buu, miniature versions of Fat Buu), all with the same annoying attack patterns as the bigger version and a still-impressive amount of health each, with no distractions to keep them off you. The end result is that the moment you try to do anything other than fly around the arena in circles at top speed to avoid getting beaten to death, you get at least two Mini-Buus interrupting whatever you were doing and laying down heavy damage. Actually defeating one just causes another to replace it, so that's no help in lessening the brutal beatings. You have to defeat about four or five before the stage will end. Even with an Earthling, which can at least recover ki while it's flying for its life, this is a hideously long and hard fight that will take patience and luck. After the nightmare of this fight, Super Buu, Kid Buu, and everything else afterward are, by comparison, mostly cathartic fights to let off the stress.
  • Speaking of Xenoverse, there's a mission in which you have to fight all the Saiyans. Most of it isn't too bad until you get to the end where you have to square off against the Son Family (Goku, Gohan and Goten). Never mind that you're probably weakened on the way here, but they will constantly spam their ultimate attacks. If you're not careful they will kill you in no time.
• Eternal Champions:
  • The Eternal Champion himself. He can use any of his moves regardless of his energy meter, does a ton of damage with every hit, can actually make himself invincible at any point in the match for a few seconds, and requires a lot of hits to take down. Oh, and there are FIVE FORMS, all of them with their own moves. And there's no continues once you reach him; lose, and it's game over. Yikes.
  • He's even worse in the sequel. While he doesn't cheat quite as blatantly, he's still ridiculously overpowered. And this time, he comes with NINE forms. And then you have to fight the Dark Champion, who not only has the same number of forms, but is even more powerful than the Eternal Champion. Oh, and unless you're on the lowest difficulty, there's still no continuing. So, that's a total of eighteen bosses you have to beat on one credit. If a fighting game is allowed to have a Marathon Boss, these two would be some of the clearest examples ever.
• Eternal Fighter Zero Memorial:
  • UNKNOWN. Her attacks have priority over practically everything, and she has a tendency to spam giant orbs of death all over the screen. And you can't recoil guard against her. At all.
  • Kanna, who not only deals bucketloads of damage, but has absolutely insane zoning, priority, and can combo you into the middle of next week. She also has an attack that homes in on you and a super move that fills the screen! Fun!
• Fatal Fury:
  • Geese Howard is usually the toughest boss in every game that has him, especially the Real Bout games, where his regular attacks are beefed up.
  • Raiden, the pro wrestler of the original game, could be considered That One Boss as well. Try to fight him at close range, and he'll grab you and choke you to death. Keep your distance, and he'll blast you with his breath attack.
• The final fight against Andre Bishop's rival Issac Frost in Fight Night Champion's story mode is infamously brutal and hard to beat. It's telling right from the get-go when your first objective given is just to survive the first two rounds of the fight. Frost hits like an absolute tank in the early rounds; just one flush haymaker from him is enough to cut Bishop's health in half. The conditions only get harder from there, having to land 75 power punches to Frost's body over the course of the next three rounds, to having to protect a cut opened up on Bishop's face for 2 rounds to prevent the fight from being stopped, and only then finally having the freedom to take the fight to Frost fully, and knocking him out is still a difficult task, requiring an expert combination of punches, blocking, and movement to finally put Frost down, who even in the late stages can still muster up enough power to destroy you in a few hits if you're not careful.
• Guilty Gear:
  • The original has Justice. Her Gamma Ray will chip you for massive damage even if you block it, and, in a twist, a mechanic available to all characters actually helps Justice even more: when a character is nearly dead, they get infinite supers. Guess what Justice does when she's nearly dead?
  • Expanding on Justice, she also has a move set that covers a great range of the screen, her Michael Sword covers basically the whole horizontal range of the screen, her Imperial Ray covers all the space in front of her and if it's done at point blank your health is screwed. Worse still is that it's a special in GG1 as opposed to an Overdrive, meaning she can abuse it all she wants. If she does it after a throw she can combo into it infinitely, her Valkyrie Arc has a good amount of invulnerability frames and can counter nigh on everything, she can improve the range of the moves by dashing while performing them, and her Gamma Ray overdrive dizzies you full stop should you get hit by it, and you can guess exactly what will happen if her health is low enough that she can fire it off repeatedly. Worse still is she's as fast as Chipp and hits like a lorry.
  • Justice appears again in Accent Core where she's still overpowered but it's at its worst in Venom's Story Mode, where she gets faster, stronger, and with regenerating health. Take the already overpowered character and make her more overpowered. Thanks, Arc System Works!
    • Guilty Gear X has Dizzy. There has been more than one incident where Boss Dizzy has won two rounds against the player before the guitar part of her theme tune has begun its first chord. Even if you don't die, she has a triple jump and double air dash. The two fastest characters in the game, Chipp and Millia, only have one of the two abilities mentioned above (3x jump and 2x AD respectively). In X2, Dizzy lost her triple jump.
    • Guilty Gear XX has I-No. Megalomania is a pain for newbies, though somewhat easy to avoid if you know the pattern. Thanks to the guard bar mechanic, as you block more hits, you take more damage (chipped or otherwise) and stun, while the inverse is true for taking damage. Megalomania hits too many times and will raise the guard bar to full before you know it, so if you do get tagged by the attack, you will take somewhere around the full unblocked damage unless you start holding Faultless Defence. What gets more experienced players though, is her air super where her hat screams and sends shockwaves, interrupting whatever you just tried due to the fast startup and invincibility frames, and because it's Boss I-No, the attack will take off about 80% despite the guard bar stepping in to intervene. Don't forget that I-No just loves to break out of any and all combos you have and instantly use Megalomania.
    • As one YouTube commenter puts it:
      I've never been more angry watching a girl take off her top.
      ...for the twelfth time.
    • Also, she has the annoying tendency to set up the warning screen for one of her Megalomania patterns, and then change it before firing. You might think you can be cheap and jump behind her if you're using an agile character, but for some bizarre reason, if you do this, or attack her while she's using Megalomania, it sets off as if the attack hit you and the orbs fill the screen murdering you. Granted, though, once you know how to avoid Megalomania by watching the warning patterns and acting accordingly it's easy to hit back.
    • And the PS2 version of X2 has Dizzy again in Story Mode, who just about matches her previous self, plus has an Instant Kill super that takes up the entire screen.
• Gundam Vs Series:
  • In NEXT PLUS, good luck surviving against the Wadom or any ranged boss with a melee heavy suit like Exia or Epyon. This trope found both of them frustrating to kill as the Wadom's walking is a melee in itself. Think of Exia or Epyon as two well armed swordsmen having to destroy two scythed chariots and you will get the Wadom fight.
  • Extreme Vs has Extreme Gundam Tachyon Phase, one of three possible forms for the Extreme Gundam. Very powerful melee combos, a quick shockwave attack that stuns you, a long-range dash that allows it to cross the battlefield in seconds, it can summon Sword Attack Drones, and it can extend its sword to massive lengths. Extreme's other two forms focus on long-range attacks, which, while just as powerful, are also much easier to dodge.
  • Also from Extreme Vs: the Rafflesia. Its tentacles are far longer than they should be, its beam attacks have incredible homing properties, nearly all of its attacks stun you for several seconds (thereby guaranteeing that you'll get stun-locked into massive damage), and it can attack in all directions... the Mobile Armor doesn't have a "front" or a "back", all sides are equally dangerous. It can even execute multiple attacks simultaneously, though thankfully it doesn't usually do this unless it's actually fighting multiple opponents at once.
• Superman and Regime Superman in the iOS version of Injustice: Gods Among Us take a hell ton of hits to even defeat and have terribly overpowered heat visions to one-hit any of your characters at their disposal.
• In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future, it's possible to effortlessly win nearly every fight in Jotaro's story by backing the enemy into a corner and spamming Star Platinum's jab. Then comes the final fight against High DIO. Long story short, High DIO's A.I. is remarkably intelligent compared to every fight before him; DIO will block and/or counter an excessive majority of Jotaro's attacks, while simultaneously dishing out fast and hard-hitting combos in the blink of an eye. It's jarring going from so many easily-broken matches only to end up facing an opponent that actually knows what they're doing.
• Jump Ultimate Stars can have annoying battles, especially due to the AI's intelligence to block everything. In the story mode however, the final battle against Dr. Mashirito, Frieza and Kid Buu, can take forever due to the timer and the stage being slippery. Add the fact the enemies will constantly use assists and laser attacks will force you into desperately trying to end the fight as quick as possible.
• Killer Instinct:
  • In the original arcade/SNES version, the final boss Eyedol is just absolutely awful. In the words of Maximilian Dood, "I press one button and he goes f**ing ballistic" — you try to attack, and he instantly retaliates with a massive combo that sends you sailing into the sky. While you soar, he repeatedly stomps his hoof to regain a good portion of any health he's previously lost. He also has a leaping dash move that instantly closes any distance and a fast-moving projectile, making it impossible to wait him out or spam projectiles on him.
  • Shadow Jago in the 2013 reboot of Killer Instinct takes up this helm yet again. First off, getting to the secret boss can be incredibly difficult (especially on the highest difficulty "Kyle") — you must first see all three endings of a character in Arcade Mode, regardless of difficulty. After doing that, that character (or any other character that has all three endings) must go through Arcade Mode again on at least Hard or higher difficulty. The player must not lose one fight, get two Supreme Victories, Ultra one opponent before facing the Rival character, and then Ultra the Rival. If the conditions are met, the final fight against Fulgore is skipped and Shadow Jago is fought in the Shadow Tiger's Lair instead. And when you fight Shadow Jago, boy you are in for a fight — no matter what difficulty you played Arcade Mode on, he's automatically shifted to Kyle difficulty. His skills with a Combo Breaker are insane, and usually he finishes you off with an Ultimate Combo (the only Ultimate Combo in the entire game) to rub salt in the wound.
• The King of Fighters:
  • Magaki, the final boss of XI, is considered to be the most annoying boss in the entire damn series, with '96 (and by proxy, '98UMs) Goenitz and 2001s Igniz second and third, respectively. He spams blue orbs that knock off a fourth of your health, pink orbs that can appear from anywhere on the screen, and a super that will hit you — it's full-screen. The pink orbs have some specifics: There are ones that can be fired and teleport, and there are the annoying ones that come out instantaneously, acting as a wall in front of Magaki... which tends to be used as you approach and strike. And as for the blue orbs, they don't disappear until they leave the screen. What's worse, Magaki can have two or three blue spheres moving in their predetermined paths AND perform other attacks afterwards, which tends to make the area downright congested.
  • Goenitz, meanwhile, has his wind pillar special will usually land right on top of you, forcing you to block, if not nullifying your projectile to prevent a fireball spam victory. It's for this same reason that jump-ins are impossible to do. On top of that, he doesn't even need a full super meter to pull of his powerful grab super: if that doesn't kill you right off, the wind pillar probably will.
  • Igniz is more of a standard SNK Boss... but for three words: "Brutal God Project". For those not in the know, his Super Desperation Move is a super inside of another super, dealing massive damage that is all but guaranteed to OHKO you if it connects. He also has an easy infinite with his QCF+P whip attack, which can easily set up — you guessed it — the aforementioned Brutal God Project.
  • Any and ALL incarnations of Rugal. If '94 Rugal isn't Genocide Cuttering you into pieces, '95 Omega Rugal is abusing KOF '95's already Nintendo Hard AI. If '98 Omega Rugal isn't having fun with Vanishing Rush and Gravity Smash, then 2002 Rugal is pinning you down with Kaiser Waves that come out in a mere milli second. You should be thankful his HSDM/MAX2 isn't very useful... except in 2002UM, wherein it can OTG you. Yay.
• Magical Battle Arena: Ruru, who hits fast, hits hard, and constantly interrupts your attacks if you're within her range. The general advice against her is to run like hell and spam Super Moves at her by taking out the surrounding Gadget Drones to fill your Charge Meter. It gets worse in Nowel's scenario where, for her final stage, Ruru is accompanied by non-handicapped versions of Kirara, Sarara, Nanoha, and Fate. And you thought being peppered by Gadget Drone shots was bad...
• Melty Blood has two:
  • Neko Arc (a friggin Joke Character), the boss before The Dragon. She is ridiculously overpowered for a Joke Character, has both short and long-ranged moves, and is too small for most long-range attacks to hit properly.
  • G-Akiha (Akiha turned mansion-sized). She is so giant that only her upper body shows, which makes her completely impossible to throw, trip, or stop in any way, while her attacks do ridiculous damage. As combos and specials are all but unusable, strategies generally stick to hiding in the corner and sniping, or (with certain non-ranged characters or in story mode) dashing forward to quickly peck at her health, then retreating as fast as possible. Rinse and repeat.
  • In the new installment Actress Again, we have the final boss of Arcade Mode "Dust of Osiris" which is basically an alternate version of Sion on a giant robo. It's a joke in Arcade Mode but in Boss Rush mode? Its Heat Gauge constantly fills until it can unleash its unblockable, undodgeable Arc Drive, usually resulting in death. Good luck to anyone using Akiha Vermilion!!
• Mortal Kombat:
  • Motaro in Mortal Kombat 3. Both his punch and kick alone can shave off a good quarter of your health and send you flying across the screen, invokes Teleport Spam and usually grabs when coming out of it. His sweep involves using his tail and it sweeps the entire floor and he can fire his damaging projectile attack in very quick succession, something you can't do while playing as him. Oh, and all projectiles bounce off of him and the Spear attacks go right through him. He's somehow even MORE broken in the N64 version of Trilogy as a playable character where you can actually kick WHILE MOVING.
  • Kintaro as well, to the point where gamers were pleading to Midway for help with him, since he's like a bigger, faster, and stronger version of Goro from the first game. Punches and kicks like a goddamn tank, his uppercut knocks you off screen, his projectile knocks you down, he can grab you while you're in midair, he has incredible range with both his basic attacks and his special attacks like his fireball which he loves to spam, and he's also the originator of the Teleport Stomp. Ouch.
    • MK Trilogy had Noob Saibot as a playable Game-Breaker character, but Elder Gods help you if you actually fought him on any level higher than "VERY Easy"...
  • Beat Motaro and you get the even worse Shao Kahn, but at least he's a final boss, so it was to be expected.
  • In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, all the hype surrounded the terrible worlds-threatening alliance between Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, and this duo is indeed the last fight (you have to win one round against each). The second to last fight? Some barely mentioned demon called Moloch... who hits like a tank, takes far less damage than anyone else, can throw you out of anything, and even has a guard break. (Onaga in Deception was pretty similar, but not nearly as brutal, and there's no one after him.)
• M.U.G.E.N:
  • There are certain characters known as "cheap characters". Light Yagami is a special case, as he kills in one hit, and the opponent needs super speed to be able to kill him. See here.
  • More specifically, any character that kills you instantly, with no chance of counter. Light Yagami is merciful... you get to move.
  • MUGEN has Omega Tom Hanks, a character so overpowered (one-hit-kill move & no hit boxes) that even Gogeta has to play keep-away to win.
  • The None's Giygas. Getting past the fact that he is possibly one of the creepiest and most frightening bosses one could face, fighting him is like facing a gauntlet of monsters. First off, his first form is nearly impossible to lose to, it's very easy. Then the second form pops up. He has everything from PK Rockin, to Half Life head crabs, to two grabs that can instant kill. The worst part? He's floating around the arena somewhere and blends in far too well.
• Even old school fighters weren't immune to this. Mutant Fighter (a.k.a. Death Brade) had the Doppelganger, which changed into whoever you were playing as. Just an ordinary mirror match, no biggie, right? Except that after a little while, it would look EXACTLY like whoever you were playing as, making it really hard to figure out which one you're controlling. Plus it had nearly airtight striking defense. And it would win at least 80% of its grapples no matter how quickly you mashed the buttons. On top of that, it could take lots of punishment. Lots... and lots... and lots of punishment. Nearly everyone took longer to beat it than the Demon or Archmage.
• Naruto:
  • Any time you have to fight Orochimaru in the story mode in Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 is tough, but the clincher was the first time you fight him, as The Third Hokage. It wouldn't be so bad if you weren't required to finish him off using a level 3 Secret Technique, which Orochimaru simply WILL NOT let you do. He blocks every head-on attempt at it, attacks you if he catches you charging up for it, and if you try to run away from him and charge up, he runs after you and smacks you before you get a chance to use it. And because a level 3 Secret Technique requires full Chakra, and getting knocked down in this game makes you lose Chakra, you spend most of the battle running around trying to get your Chakra full, all the while getting the crap kicked out of you by Orochimaru. Even using the Substitution Jutsu to get behind Orochimaru doesn't work, as that itself causes you to lose Chakra, meaning that even if you do get behind him, you won't have enough Chakra to use the move anyway. Plus, the initial attack that has to connect in order for the move to work is so slow that Orochimaru usually has plenty of time to notice you and block/counterattack no matter what you do. It's always been a matter of luck for this troper. Not to mention he really likes using this move called "Get out of my face!" which is an unavoidable (after the initial attack connects) move that sends your character flying. And since this is a stage where you can fall off the edge... It only makes you take a little damage, but it gives Orochimaru a chance to "camp" your respawn point and attack you as soon as you reappear. A chance which he often takes.
  • Here's a word of warning to those who have yet to play Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, but totally want to: You are going to hate Kakuzu.
    • In that game we also have Deidara during Sasuke vs. Deidara Round 2 from the story mode. He spends the entire fight riding on C2 Dragon, making him near impossible to attack should you get close, which is a feat in itself due to his constantly spamming his bombs from the opposite side of the battlefield. Hell, the only way to reliably attack him is with your fireball, which is difficult due to the aforementioned spamming stopping you as you attack. Regular Deidara is only slightly better due to at least being able to attack him if you get close enough.
  • And then there's Evil!Sage Mode Naruto. His version of Rasengan, Rasengan Barrage, is even faster than a normal Rasengan or Chidori and is perhaps the fastest jutsu in the game. His Ultimate Jutsu, a thrown Futon: Rasenshuriken, cuts through almost everything in the game and curves slightly. His chakra shuriken is not one, but two Fuma Shuriken that beat other chakra shuriken and deal good damage for shuriken. His grab, which also have cutscenes, sends out a clone that, like most grabs, have ridiculous priority; if you do hit him, you still might be grabbed. Oh yeah, if by some display of serious skill or sheer luck, you get his health down low enough, he can activate his Awakening. His awakening is his Six-Tailed Mini-Kyuubi form. He hits hard. His jutsu is now the Chakra Gun Volley; three rapid fire guard-breaking chakra shots that can hit you while you're on the ground. It easily can be timed to hit you as soon as you get back on your feet. Good luck. He also has a permanent boost that increases his defense, making your attacks hit for less damage.
  • Taka!Sasuke against Hachibi!Killer Bee. If you even consider using melee attacks, he will hurt you. Bad. Which means that your only method of attack is chakra shuriken and, if you run out of chakra, normal shuriken, both of which do minuscule damage due to him being Made of Iron. You could load chakra, if only he wouldn't spam his own distance attack, a blast of air that does a fair amount of damage and can be spammed when you're trying to get up. Ironically, if you manage to enter Awakening Mode, he becomes fairly easy to bet by spamming Amaterasu, which he almost never blocks and usually takes about 10% of his life bar. That said, actually entering Awakening Mode can be rather difficult as it requires you to not only have about 40-45% health left (yes, the battle requires you to lose health in order to win), have a full chakra bar, but also stand perfectly still and charge chakra for several seconds, making you a sitting duck for his spamming of aforementioned air blasts.
  • In Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2, Asuma. Will. Kill. You. It does not help you are playing as Kurenai, a new, but REALLY weak character; Kagura, when fighting Komachi and Towa, is arguably worse.
  • It is worse because you essentially are playing a Two-Man Squad battle with an already dead partner. Your opponents can regenerate health if they tag out, but you can't.
  • The last battle against Man Behind the Man Kabuto is especially difficult, because he seems to recover health after being hit much more quickly than ordinary characters do, and you have to finish him off with the Rasengan, although thankfully, you always use the Rasengan when you do a special move against him, regardless of how much health you have.
    • Seemed to? His health really does recover, even in his playable form, he's the biggest Game-Breaker in the game, thankfully, they Nerfed him in the sequel.
  • And the sequel topped it, apparently the final boss, Deidara, is given super armor and spams his bombs, and since you're playing as a rather Nerfed One-Tailed Naruto, you are going to be throwing your controllers across the room.
    • Lets not forget the fact that if he uses his bombs right, he can cause extreme damage or even OHKO at FULL HEALTH!
  • Fighting Chomei, the Seven Tailed Beast during the "Last Battle" from Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 story mode as Kyuubi Cloak Naruto due to the fact that he's pretty much constantly in the air, meaning you have to jump into the air to be able to attack him. And good luck with that, considering the camera refuses to be remotely helpful. And when you fail, you have to start back after defeating the first two bijuu, which also means you have to sit through the two flashbacks that appear during the section. And after all this is done, you still have to defeat Tobi, who hits hard and loves to spam Kamui to constantly dodge your attacks.
  • The fight between Son Goku and Chomei, while the former is fast and attacks hard while the latter spams projectiles.
• EVERY SINGLE DAMN BOSS in NeoGeo Battle Coliseum, brought to you by the same people behind The King of Fighters. Mizuchi is Orochi from KOF '97, inheriting Goenitz's gratuitous pillar spam habits, as he retains Orochi's Lightning Pillar move that hits at random spots. Only now he abuses it like a motherfucker, and can throw TWO of them out at any time, not to mention an unblockable grab super and another projectile that reflects your own projectiles. Neo Dio has a counter that causes him to teleport behind you and respond in any way he desires, and he's a total block whore. Shishioh/King Lion has a crazy amount of range and a counter that he can combo off of. What's more, THAT version of King Lion, called King Leo, is not usable, leaving you with a Nerfed King Lion to fight with. Goodman... well, when you consider that he puts all these other bosses to shame, the less said, the better.
• The original Power Stone has Valgas. Like the previous opponent and sub-boss Kraken, he'll prioritize getting the Power Stones when they appear and will often ignore items, not that he needs them anyway, since he already hits like a freight train. If he does get his hands on all the Power Stones and transforms, his Frickin' Laser Beams will punch holes through your health unless you keep on your toes. If you manage to beat him, he proceeds to go One-Winged Angel, at which point he will spam his homing energy bolts. He has other attacks, such as a Wave Motion Breath Weapon and toxic vomit, but his homing bolts are the biggest pain in the ass and the attack he will most often use.
• Punch-Out!!:
  • The NES game's version of Soda Popinski is one that can quite easily catch you off-guard. Not only is he the only southpaw in the game, which flips his patterns from the norm, but you start with very few stamina hearts. Just a few mistakes will render you too tired to fight back and dodge effectively.
  • NES Mr. Sandman, who, funnily is actually harder than the next boxer and World Champion, Super Macho Man. He has a ton of health and very few opportunities to gain stars, meaning that knocking him down is a total slog. And his signature move, the Dreamland Express, is a predictable barrage of uppercuts, but they come out so quickly that finding the right timing to dodge them all will leave you with many bruises. And don't think you can cheese the fight with a decision victory, either. He'll always win if the timer is run out, unlike most opponents, which also turns him into a Time-Limit Boss!
  • In the Wii version, you're likely to hit a wall against Aran Ryan, given that he constantly skitters around out of your reach, forcing you to rely on counter-punching him when he goes in for an attack if you want to land any combos or Star Punches. A simple strategy, but one that leaves you constantly flirting with the reaper. You may well end up going to decision the first time you face him.
  • New to the Wii version is Title Defense mode, which gives every opponent a fresh coat of paint and some new moves and patterns. Surprisingly, it can turn any boss into That One Boss, but none moreso than Bald Bull. He already comes with extremely fast and powerful attacks, but what really makes him stand out is the small fact that you can't knock him down with regular punches. He'll simply laugh at you, recover some health and come right back. Not even counter-punching the Bull Charge (itself a much dicier proposition than in Contender mode, given how fast it comes at you) will keep him down. The only way to make sure he actually goes down is with Star Punches, and getting stars either requires you to counter the aforementioned Bull Charge or land a couple more punches after knocking him out of a stun. And the timing is so strict on the latter that whether you get a star or not just feels random most of the time. The funny thing is that the two opponents after him, Super Macho Man and Mr. Sandman, are a cakewalk by comparison. And the latter is the Final Boss!
  • Another aggravatingly hard Title Defense battle is Soda Popinski (who, perhaps not coincidentally, comes right before the above-mentioned Bald Bull). This fight has the gimmick that each time you knock him out of a stun, you can punch him one more time on the next stun before knocking him out of it. You start by only being able to land two punches per stun, but if you keep avoiding his attacks and stunning him, you can land more and more... assuming you don't get hit, which resets your maximum combo back to two. And even without this limitation, as Soda Popinski gets closer to losing, he gets faster and faster, to the point that his punches come out so quickly you effectively have to dodge the instant you see him move a muscle and just pray that you haven't dodged in a way that allows him to still hit you. Insanely fast reflexes are a must here.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Metal Sonic is Sonic the Fighters' answer to Dural. Not only does his repertoire consist of attacks used by other characters, but also can (and will) unleash a beam cannon of complete and total annihilation from his stomach, which takes off a large chunk of life.
  • And in Sonic Battle, while Ultimate Emerl is annoying, you can just spam your specials with ease. The two Dr. Eggman fights before it are much more difficult as you can't auto-block any of his moves, and also because when you empty his health bar, he falls down and creates an explosion which has a huge range, counts as a One-Hit Kill, and is almost impossible to dodge.
• Soul Series:
  • Soulcalibur III had Hyle, a mid-boss of one stage in its Story Mode, due to his highly-damaging attacks and a defense so high he was almost invincible. He was actually harder than his stage's end boss. On the other hand, due to how much the computer just plain cheats, every character falls into this category when played by the CPU, down to being literally impossible in the most severe cases.
    • A few minibosses in Chronicles of the Sword have the same obscenely broken abilities: they have very high defense and are completely unaffected by attacks. They take damage (slightly), but they won't so much as flinch. This makes them impossible to throw, and they show a frightening tendency to walk you straight off a cliff. The only saving grace is that they take damage every time they attack, so you might be able to stall them out. Maybe. Astaroth fits this too in that mode. If you face him without a new game plus, he can one-hit you with some of his better moves.
  • Ende, a Boss in Mook Clothing, is fast enough that the only styles powerful enough to do noticeable damage to him get hammered without being able to touch him. Level 61 and 65 Astaroth and Siegfried did maybe a fifth of his health before dying horribly.
  • Strife is beyond ridiculous even by Final Boss standards. He starts with a ton of health and wields a weapon that not only lets him hit like a truck, but also grants lifesteal on top of that, allowing him to easily shrug off your attacks and heal back the health he lost. Said weapon also drains his health over time, but stalling him out isn't an option due to his massive health pool and the aforementioned lifesteal effect. And to top it off, just getting to him requires you to fight your way past a gauntlet of tough enemies, and due to the way the level is set up, you do not get to regenerate health between fights, and all character deaths in his stage are final, meaning that your party will likely be badly worn down when fighting him.
  • Kilik can be a nightmare, too, if you had the misfortune of running into him with a slower character. He has a number combos that he can use from a longer distance than most characters that score multiple hits and often either knock you down or launch you. It doesn't help that his stage is a fairly small butte.
  • The Dancing statue. Large enough that you're the size of its shins. Clearly, can't be rung out or thrown. many of the normal anti-A.I. or launcher moves miss completely. It has a ridiculous life bar and speed, lazers, and the kicker? Even if you do beat it, you have to run behind it as fast as you can, cause if it falls on you when it dies, it kills you instantly, before it dies, and you lose.
  • Soulcalibur IV has, somewhat expectantly, the Star Wars characters. Particularly ridiculous, as this entry in the series has introduced Algol, supposedly the most powerful character in the entire series, notable for dual-wielding the titular MacGuffin and its evil counterpart. Yet in Arcade Mode, it will be the lightsaber-wielders who will force the untrained to hit Retry seven million times. Guess Star Wars characters in the 16th century, and lightsabers in general, are just that awesome?
  • Arguably out of the two, Yoda is the bigger "That One Boss", since he's so small, all High attacks, and some Mid attacks will go right over his head! And you can't throw him. At all. But he can throw you, oh yes. He is, however, easier to Ring Out than usual.
  • But then again, The Apprentice plays perfectly. He will always have his block in place for any type of attack, sometimes even while he is still on the floor (your attack propels him to stand with his guard up). He has several unblockable moves which are all executed faster than normal. He breaks your throws with ridiculous ease, yet you can't seem to break out of his. It gets to the point where by the time you reach Algol, you will probably be thinking "At last I can breathe easy."
    • Think that's bad? Try doing floors 57-59 of the Tower of Souls mode, which when taken as a whole (the three floors must be cleared one after another as part of a single mission) could easily qualify as That One Boss. Let's do a quick run-down: you are faced with three tag-team battles with three opponents in each one, lose any battle and it's back to the first with you. All nine opponents are set to the highest difficulty (so they'll be pulling off insane combos and dodging/countering your attacks with superhuman precision) and feature a wide variety of fighting styles (fast, slow, close-range, long-range, etc). You, on the other hand, can only take two characters in with you and neither can regain health between each battle (aside from the slow health-regeneration you get when a character is tagged out, but your opponents get that too). The first battle takes place in a wall-less circle, so expect to see one (or both!) of your characters ringed-out right when you're on the verge of winning. The second battle takes place in a thankfully enclosed arena, but that doesn't stop the computer from juggling you against the wall. The third and final is another open-air fight, but by then your characters will likely have so little health left (if you even made it that far!) that they won't even live long enough to get pushed to the edge. Not enough for you? The computer abuses the HELL out of the tag-team mechanic, enabling your opponents to pull off juggle combos and stun-locks with all three jumping in and out like crazy that would be impossible for any individual fighter to do. That last fact alone makes 57-59 a NIGHTMARE (who, conveniently, is the boss of that mission). It's perhaps telling of the absurdity of this mission that the one immediately after it, Floor 60, which pits you against a ridiculously-overpowered version of the aforementioned Algol, is EASIER.
    • Floor 20 is just terrible, since you have to face a Taki knockoff with abilities that make a good percentage of her guards impacts, which damage you and heal her. Oh, and you can't throw her, so good luck pulling off an Unblockable in time.
    • The floor "King of The Physical Realm" is complete bull. Every character's defense is at maximum, meaning they take the same amount of damage as they would if they blocked an attack (which is less than a milimeter off their health bar). Not only that, they sidestep, counter, throw, and are beefed up with those nasty, unobtainable "S" abilities. Luckily, these floors can be conquered easily if the player is playing as Siegfried and spamming his crouching A+X. The computer makes no attempt to block this attack and it does normal damage, despite their maximum defense.
    • Let's elaborate on the aforementioned Algol fight on Floor 60. He has Auto Unblockable Attack S, meaning if he lands any hit on you, the next hit is unblockable, and before you ask... yes, landing an unblockable hit makes his next hit unblockable, etc. etc. He has Soul Gauge Boost S, meaning you can't just bludgeon away at his perfectly-timed guarding and Critical Finish him, he has Nullify Ring Out S, which means he's 100% immune to Ring Outs, and last but not least... HP Drain S, which gives him HP equal to 200% of the damage he deals to you. As if all this wasn't bad enough, he has TWO full health bars, your attacks inflict only 50% of their regular damage to him, he only takes full damage from throws, and he's downright psychic in how well he reads your moves. All this on top of a character who's already so powerful that he was banned at tournaments within a month of the game's release. While some people have reported that he's capable of ringing himself out if he leaps over you, this troper has always found that Nullify Ring Out S saves him from doing this. The only very effective way to beat him is with a team of 3 Astaroths or Apprentices, both of whom have high throw-damage, and just spam throws, because he thankfully almost never throw-breaks.
  • Soulcalibur V doesn't get quite as bad as some of the more ridiculous examples from previous entries, but you will be hard pressed to find anyone that considers the fight against Nightmare at the end of Arcade Mode anything more than an extremely frustrating chore. Most of Arcade Mode is pretty simple if you're playing on the difficulty setting that suits your skill level, but even on easy, Boss Nightmare will fuck you up with his his incredibly aggressive A.I., perfect spacing so that he's almost always in optimal range to clobber you without getting hit, and a tendency to use his Critical Edge to counter your attack, smash two thirds of your health bar into oblivion, and then kill you before you can get up again. On harder difficulties, letting Nightmare knock you down even once with his big sweeping attacks can be a death sentence. And then, of course, if that boss was too easy for you, there's Legendary Souls mode, where every character you fight is set to boss mode, making them a Perfect Play A.I. that reads your controllers and will tend to walk all over your every attempt to attack. And you have to beat our old friend Algol at the end of this to unlock him (or encounter in him Quick Battle and win there).
• Street Fighter:
  • Sagat in Street Fighter II. Formerly a final boss in the first game, where beating anyone is a Luck-Based Mission, he is still a formidable opponent. He will use a Tiger attack every time. Ryu and Ken are also hard to deal with thanks to their Hadoken and Shoryuken spamming. He might even be worse in the Alpha games. At least his voice is better in that game.
• Alpha from Super Cosplay War Ultra is a brutal combatant, definitely up there with most SNK Bosses. An almost-screen-filling projectile move he loves to spam, a ridiculously effective command throw that he can use to interrupt slightly-slow combos that can cancel into any of his supers, aforementioned supers that can very easily break your character in half, and a maximum of 5 super levels instead of 3, starting off with 4 levels instead of 2. He can very very tough to beat, if you don't know how to use your character's tricks to their fullest extent and understand Alpha's strategies enough to be able to circumvent them.
  • Also, Zenka. She also has the 5 super thing, the three-quarters-screen-hitting specials (not even supers), and a three-level super that is unblockable and almost completely undodgeable. Hatred.
• Super Smash Bros.:
  • Tabuu from Brawl. He features a smash attack that effectively delivers a one hit knockout to the entire screen. It's nearly impossible to recover from. Not so much as the final boss in Adventure Mode with six "lives" to use against him, but in Boss Battles, where it's only one chance. Tabuu's cheap attack can only be dodged by rolling (or sidestepping, or air-dodging) at exactly the right time. Three times in quick succession. Thankfully, at least on the lower difficulties in the Boss Battles mode, these attacks are toned down considerably. Fail to dodge one in the higher difficulties and you have to start all the way from the beginning.
  • Porky/Pokey, who not only has crazy damaging lasers and fatty-bombers, but hurts you by merely walking into you. And when he starts running, which he does with minimal warning^note He only does a small jump and vibration before the run attack, if he so much as touches you, you will most likely be sent flying off-screen. He also has a jump attack with no warning at all, and said crazy damaging lasers are tracking lasers, making them almost impossible to avoid.
  • Rayquaza, considering that he hits very hard and very fast, and this only gets worse when you damage him enough and he Turns Red, causing him to become even more vicious, as he now hits harder and moves faster than before. His attacks are all tricky to dodge, but his Thunder attack takes the cake, as it's nearly impossible to evade, and must be blocked with such precise timing that if you don't, it is guaranteed to hit you hard while you are dizzy from the attack, allowing Rayquaza to follow through with another free attack.
  • Giant Shadow Bug Diddy Kong. Takes up nearly the entire screen, hits like a goddamn elephant, and is every bit as fast as regular Diddy. Add in the fact that when you first have to fight him, you only have three of the lighter characters in the game. Not only is Giant Shadow Bug Diddy Kong more powerful than the game should reasonably allow for a mini-boss, but you have to deal with it by pushing it off the screen like regular fighters. For references' sake, most bosses die when you merely get their HP down to zero, but for Giant Shadow Bug Diddy Kong you have to get its percentage really high before you can even think of KOing it. Add in all that speed, power, and weight, and you have a guy that makes short work of your fighters before you can get close to KOing it.
    • Furthermore, you fight him on a stage with absolutely no pits whatsoever. In the Super Smash Bros. games, normally giant character fights are offset by the ease with which they're thrown down bottomless trenches. And unlike other boss characters, he can also pick up items which scale up to his size. Think you've got the bastard on the ropes? He picks up a beam sword which then promptly allows him to hit half of the screen with one swing.
    • To make matters even worse, Diddy likes to jump the gun sometimes, meaning he'll often get a free hit in on you before you're able to react. Watch here as he scores a double K.O. literally the second the match starts. And this is on Normal mode...
    • On top of that, you have to face him in order to get to Jigglypuff, who is hard as hell anyway to unlock, surprisingly enough.
  • Duon is a rather hectic boss to go up against as well. Both of its halves will rain bombs, lasers, and missiles at you when it's not slashing or pounding you flat into the ground, and it still manages to do all that faster than you can blink. Worse is that unlike other grounded bosses in the game that you can actually dash through (like Petey Piranha or Galleom) to leave you some maneuverability, Duon's torso wheels are completely solid and you must jump at a good height over it to actually dodge it once it dashes to the other side of the platform, as otherwise you'll find yourself cornered very quickly.
  • Meta-Ridley takes an odd position here. When you first encounter him in Adventure Mode, he's not that big of a deal, but his appearance in Boss Battles Mode (where there are no such thing as continues) is quite dangerous, due to the dangerous stage you fight on, and his ability to temporarily remove the ground under your feet... It doesn't take a very big mistake to get you KO'd against him.
    • Speaking of Meta-Ridley, attempting to capture him with a Trophy Stand is an absolute nightmare. First off, he's at the end of one of the longest, most frustrating stages in the whole game, meaning that if you accidentally defeat him, you have to go all the way back to the beginning (considering that lowering his health is an obligation, that just adds to the frustration). Second, he has two moves (one where he stomps the platform and another where he drags it down) that move the platform below the bottom blast line, eliminating any trophy stands that may be on the platform. Third, there's a two-minute time limit, meaning that if you take too long, you have to restart the battle and you have to lower his health all over again (at least you don't have to restart the whole level). Fourth, he can easily accidentally kill himself with a bomb or some other item that appears on the stage, once again forcing you to restart the level. Fifth, 95% of the time, he's flying over an abyss, meaning that even if you do manage to snag him, the trophy stand can fall into the pit (unless you manage to catch it, which is FAR easier said than done). Catching him doubles as a kill, again, forcing you to restart, and even when he's not above the abyss, the bastard shoots lots of crap and won't stay still. If you actually manage to obtain his Trophy, you deserve a real trophy.
  • Ness in the original can be surprisingly difficult the first time you fight him, due to his increased A.I. when fighting him compared to the other 3 unlockable characters and his annoying projectile attacks.
  • The Showdown event of Super Smash Bros. Melee was pretty brutal and the hardest opponents (Giga Bowser, Mewtwo, and Ganondorf) of that game without question.
  • Super Smash Bros. Brawl repeats Melee's Showdown with the FINAL final battle event, consisting of Sonic, Snake, and a Giga Bowser-sized Mario, which uses a completely different strategy, but it's somehow worse. At least in Melee, your three opponents are really slow characters (especially Giga Bowser), which is doubly noticeable since the A.I. in Melee never dashes (which has been addressed in Brawl), and none of them have any means of attacking you from afar (besides Mewtwo's Shadow Ball), so if you're quick on the move and keep your distance, you may stand a chance. In Brawl, you face off with literally the fastest character in the game, a character whose entire moveset consists of projectiles, and Giant Mario. The first two are pretty obnoxious on their own, but Giant Mario is the king of cheapness. At least Giga Bowser, the biggest threat in The Showdown, is about as fast as regular Bowser; Giant Mario is twice as fast as regular Mario and, being a giant character, has twice the strength and weight as he does as well. An just like Giant Shadow Bug Diddy Kong, he may accidentally kill you right as the match begins. And, while in Melee you had three chances at beating the event, in Brawl you only have TWO, which will quickly become one if you're unlucky.
  • The Master Hand and Crazy Hand team-up fight at the end of Classic Mode in Brawl can be really difficult. First off, unlike in Melee, you can no longer fight against the two on Normal difficulty — they have to be fought on Hard or higher, but you still have to make it to the last fight under nine minutes without continuing. In Melee, after you damage Master Hand enough, Crazy Hand appears at full health; in Brawl, both appear at the start of the fight. Both Hands have roughly the same attacks, but while both are alive, they have several combo attacks that will all but one-shot anyone they hit.
    • Master Hand and Crazy Hand can turn into this in Melee as a result of Fake Difficulty. Simple rule with Classic Mode's difficulty setting, the higher you set it, the more HP they have and the more frequently they attack. The problem is that in Melee's Classic Mode, you can't turn the timer off, and if it runs out, you lose automatically regardless of how many lives you have. Where this gets to is that even if you get good at dodging their attacks, the fact the sheer rate at which Crazy Hand alone attacks even on normal means that it's entirely likely that you'll lose just to running out of time as opposed to either of them killing you.
    • With the release of Smash Bros. for 3DS / Wii U, Crazy Hand leaves and Master Hand explodes into a very unique Final Boss: Master Core. Now, to start with, you have absolutely NO clue how much health this... thing has, as it joyfully plays an Interface Screw on the lower screen, obscuring its fighter panel from view. Couple that with ruthlessly fast attacks (especially from its Swords form, which is considered the hardest form by many people) where you need to be able to see 10 minutes into the future to dodge, and absolute power which will send anyone flying off screen in about two hits, and the fact that this boss can only be faced on difficulties above Intensity 5.0, and is compulsory to fight at Intensity 9.0 or Intensity 8.0 and above for PAL regions, and you have a boss that could only be the hellspawn of Sakurai's nightmares. To top it all off, if you take too long to defeat Master Core's true form, he'll make one last attempt to take you down with a One-Hit Kill move similar to Tabuu's Off Waves, only with *four* consecutive strikes instead of three.
    • And if you fight Master Core at 8.0 in the Wii U version, after defeating his Master Shadow form (the character clone), he will turn into Master Fortress, a form that takes almost just as long to defeat as all of his previous phases combined, so you better not have lost one of your two stocks beforehand. You have to destroy four cores scattered all around the fortress, and after the first two cores are destroyed you will be thrown back to the start point to look for the last two. Good luck actually lasting this long (especially on 9.0), because the only source of recovery is one Heart Container right before you enter the fortress, though if you didn't pick it up yet it will still be there after the first two cores are destroyed. As for the fortress itself, it's scattered with shadow versions of a few Smash Run enemies which are outright infuriating once you enter the deeper areas surrounded by acid walls and pools that instantly destroy your character at 100% damage, and most of their attacks are likely to launch you into those. Combine all of these issues with the measly two stocks you have to finish all of it, and you get a final boss that ends up being more unreasonably frustrating and time-consuming than it has any right to be for a Final Boss.
    • Master Hand and Crazy Hand once again manage to be this in Ultimate, especially on higher intensities. In previous games, Master Hand and Crazy Hand, while formidable as a duo, were fairly predictable and lacked enough HP to make the fight drag, and in For 3DS/Wii U, you never even had to finish the fight. In Ultimate, not only are they much more difficult to kill, but both Hands have had massive moveset overhauls that make them devastating and chaotic, racking up damage at an absurdly fast pace and sporting several potential kill moves. They are the most common final bosses in Classic Mode, so the options of picking someone who does not fight them are fairly slim. The only reprieve is that they can now be stunned by dealing enough damage.
  • Metal Mario from the original SSB. Good lord, where to begin? For one thing, he's even heavier than Giant DK (and a much smaller target to boot), so none of your attacks will even make him flinch. This makes fighting him at close range a losing prospect, since he can hit you a lot harder than you can hit him. You can try to keep your distance and hit him from afar, but even that's made difficult by the fact that you have to fight him on a tiny stage where there's barely any room to maneuver (and God help you if you chose DK or Captain Falcon, who don't have any ranged attacks). Granted, his massive weight makes it near-impossible for him to recover after being knocked off the stage, but you have to get his damage up to 150% at least before you can even dream of knocking him off. Hell, you need to get some serious damage in before you can even knock him down.
  • And then there is Metal Mario’s encounter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. While he appears as a spirit, he can also be battled in a non-spirit battle in Classic Mode, and if the difficulty is high enough, this can be much harder than his battle in the original SSB, especially if you plan to take him down on 9.9 intensity first for the completion of the challenge of clearing Classic Mode on 9.9 intensity. For starters, he can only be fought when player 1 is playing as Bowser, and even then, he doesn't appear from the get-go; instead, he has Mario go after Bowser first, and then after Mario is taken care of, Metal Mario himself drops down to finish the job. As well as him once again having super armor, he now has FLUDD, meaning that if the water torrent hits you while trying to recover, and you can't get to the ledge, time to start again if you want to clear Bowser's route on 9.9 intensity.
  • Rathalos is widely considered among the hardest boss battles, and in World of Light, he's this even more so than the bosses that come later in the Dark Realm, most notably Marx. The issue with Rathalos is that you might not have powerful Spirits coming up to his battle, and his attacks, compared to fellow Light Realm bosses Galleom and Giga Bowser, are faster and deal high knockback right off the bat. Unlike other bosses in the mode, he can also render himself unable to be damaged, as he either fires explosive fireballs that expand like a Smart Bomb, or swoops from the background to deal high damage and knockback. He can also feint some of his attacks and fly upwards, causing you to miss on precious damage if you were planning on punishing him with a move as he was coming at you. Speaking of his flight phase, his most reviled attacks consist of firing three consecutive fireballs that cause big damage and chain into the others as long as the first or second one hit, and a slashing swoop attack that causes Damage Over Time to your character, as if they had a flower but without the ability to get rid of its effect. Overall, do not expect Rathalos to fight fair. To rub more salt in the wound, you have to fight Rathalos before fighting the real final stages on Bowser or Hero's Classic Mode paths, meaning he can put an end to your run early.
  • Ganon can be this, especially for slower characters. Like in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, he only takes damage through his tail (or head when he is stunned), meaning that players will have to constantly jump over him or roll when close to him, which both can easily put players in the range of one of his attacks. Not helped is that Ganon turns and jumps near constantly, making it very difficult to get more than a hit or two on his tail at a time. Fortunately, Ganon's attacks are pretty well telegraphed and consistent, but the hard part is to safely dodge some of them where they are generally fast and have large hitboxes. Characters with teleport attacks, however, will have an easier time facing him due to the fact they can go through Ganon, which ensures an easier beatdown.
  • Dracula's moveset can be compared to that of Master Hand and Crazy Hand in its destructiveness and kill power, but he sports otherwise predictable attacks. The true difficulty in fighting Dracula is that, true to his origin game, he can only be damaged by attacking the head, which makes use of high-power damage options difficult with only such a small aerial hurtbox to work with. He also goes One-Winged Angel and transforms into his monster form upon losing all of his HP with no recovery in between (unlike Giga Bowser), meaning you have to slog it out in effectively two consecutive fights (though the HP of each form is relatively low). His monster form, while slower and more predictable, is no slouch either, boasting an arsenal of slow but deadly kill moves. The fight is considered easier in World of Light, though, due to the Spirits you can collect before the battle, and for all your troubles in said mode, he surrenders his Spirit, which becomes one of the most powerful in the game when enhanced at Lv. 99 and leveled up again.
  • Even for final boss standards, the final battle between Galeem and Dharkon fits the trope really well, especially on Hard. Predictably, the fight is incredibly tough, similarly to Tabuu and Master Core. Fighting Galeem and Dharkon at once means you have to dodge a lot of attacks at once, including both of their new attacks from their second fight. In addition, Galeem's Lens Flare attack in combination with one of Dharkon's harsher attacks (most infamously Tentacle Pierce) can cause you very heavy knockback and damage, making you lose quickly. As well, Dharkon's Temporal Rift will make dodging Galeem's other attacks very hard, especially if any of the two turned red before. Unlike their solo battles, you do have three characters on you, and Galeem and Dharkon attack each other (but only you can deal the final hit). Still, even with a very powerful legendary spirit that allows for easier dodging (such as Cutie J), it is a tough challenge and, on hard difficulty, the fight comes close to Bullet Hell. It doesn't help that you have to also do a Rise to the Challenge and a Boss Rush before the fight. That being said, the fight is actually liked for its difficulty and how spectacular it looks, as it brings a very satisfying conclusion to World of Light.
  • The Very Hard difficulty of the limited-time Sephiroth Challenge was this, too. It's a stamina battle where Sephiroth has 50 more HP than you (you have 150, he has 200), does double damage on all his attacks, and has an A.I. on par with, if not above a Level 50 amiibo's. If that wasn't enough, he also has access to his One-Winged Mode which he'll access once he's lost half of his HP. While the first two difficulties are fairly easy, unless you're very good at the game, Very Hard will tear you apart. It's actually a very fitting fight to introduce the One-Winged Angel himself.
  • Metal Kazuya can be this on the higher intensities, even if you are aiming to beat him on 9.9 Intensity. Like Metal Mario, Metal Kazuya can only be battled if Player 1 is playing as Kazuya, and like Metal Mario’s case, he sends in another Kazuya after you, and then dropping in once that is done. Not only does Metal Kazuya have super armor, but since Kazuya is a character with high ground offense, Metal Kazuya can do combos that hit like a truck, to the point that once he reaches his Rage Drive, getting hit by one of his Special Moves that deal more damage in Rage Drive is almost a guaranteed launch off the screen if your damage is high enough.
• Tekken:
  • NANCY-MI847J from Tekken 6. She has several unblockable attacks (nearly all of her attacks are) but can also TAKE THE FLOOR OUT FROM UNDER YOU FOR A RING OUT KO!
  • From a historic viewpoint, Heihachi and Kazuya in Tekken 2 always seemed tougher than Devil by a mile. The worst part was that you couldn't really punish certain moves like you can in later games (low parrying didn't exist, period, and Kazuya was prone to random tenstrings at the time when such a thing would destroy you, while Devil was prone to random flying lasers that allowed you to run under him and grab him from behind, usually turning the tables significantly).
• Touhou Project:
  • Touhou Suimusou ~ Immaterial and Missing Power brings us Yukari Yakumo, who serves as the next-to-last opponent in almost everyone else's scenario. All of her story mode spellcards can be difficult, but her fourth spellcard, "Infinite-Speed Flying Object", is by far the worst. Thick lasers will shoot across the screen at random heights (as many as three at a time), and cause high damage, have top priority, and are completely unblockable at higher difficulties. And they won't stop firing until you deplete her entire life bar, a feat that could be a pain to accomplish when she starts blocking a lot during this spellcard on higher difficulties.
  • Yukari returns in the second fighting game of the Touhou series, Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, with a whole new set of evil spellcards, including the ridiculous "Doppler Effect" spellcard. Meanwhile, Remilia Scarlet seems to have stolen those unblockable lasers for her "Remilia Stoker" spellcard.
    • What makes Yukari's Doppler effect really bad is the fact that the projectiles, while few in number, move in a pattern that is impossible to dodge, unless all you do is block and graze non stop, and each wave is timed to hit you at the precise moment you recover from the previous hit, meaning if you get hit once, you're done for. The easiest way to overcome it is to save up a powerful spell card and use it on her when Doppler effect is activated, but before she sends out the first wave, and pray it takes her out in one shot.
    • There IS a reliable way to dodge Doppler Effect — graze back and forth on the ground under her and switch directions every dash so you won't ever backdash. Since grazing the orbs does not drain spirit on the ground, you can do it indefinitely... in Remilia's, Reisen's and Iku's story mode, that is. At the end of Youmu's dash, she no longer counts as grazing, so she's still screwed.
  • Tenshi Hinanai, also from Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, has several incredibly irritating spellcards when you fight her in story mode. However, after you finally win, she pulls out one last spellcard, "Scarlet Weather Rhapsody of All Humankind." At the end of this card, she starts shooting Wave-Motion Guns at you, with very little time in between. It looks easy, but it really really isn't. Getting caught in one gives you almost no chance of getting out, letting her Beam Spam you to death while you can't do anything.
  • Iku Nagae, the other new entry in SWR, has a spellcard that makes her untouchable to about half the cast with only very brief moments of vulnerability.
• The dual Black Battlers from Umineko: Golden Fantasia. Not only does he start with 5 SP, but he begins with everyone's special effect. If he gets his meta special in, you'll be juggled in the corner until you lose.
• YuYu Hakusho: Dark Tournament had Young Toguro as a problem in the final round. While most of the game had you fighting enemies in less than optimal conditions such as lack of health or spirit energy but within reasonable limits against beatable opponents on a rising difficulty curve, Young Toguro suddenly steps up the difficulty a hundred levels spiking way beyond anything you've fought so far. He must be beaten in a time limit, one combo from him will end your health bar (and that can be literal on many occasions if he hits you with all the blows), and he has a second health bar hiding off screen. So it's essentially facing him in two rounds without healing. Not to mention the worst part is unlike everyone with realistic blows, the hit box for Young Toguro's attacks are almost a foot out from where he attacks. If you guard, he will throw you. If you attack, he will block and hit you during your recovery. If you use spirit energy, he will either take it head on and retaliate against your drained ass, or he'll block it and hit you with one of his own. it also doesn't help the combos for the game are ridiculous, so mastering the game is required. The worst part: after beating him you still have to defeat him again in "Dark Tournament Plus" mode except the difficulty is slightly ramped up at the beginning which means by the time you get to him... forget it.

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...KENNEDY!