Top 10 Epic Boss Battles of the 2000s

#10: The Boss “Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater” (2004)

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We’ve talked to death about how awesome and significant this character is, and on a list of the very best she serve as hell deserves a place. The Boss is quick on the draw and possess CQC skills that can easily counter your own, all the while the threat of an imminent bombing keeps the tension high. Throw in the amazing Snake Eater theme song and that heart-wrenching ending, and you have the makings of magnificent battle worthy of the name Boss. We also have to give a shout out to the battle with Liquid Ocelot, whose transitions between fighting mechanics was nothing short of an awesome nostalgia trip!

Whole originally thought to be dead after falling into a barrel of Dark Eco, this former commander of the Krimzon Guard was refitted and rebooted into a cyborg with only one mission in mind, crushing Jak and Daxter…and most of the world while he was at it. Piloting the fearsome Terraformer, players not only had to engage it in their vehicles but also on foot as they fought their way to the top of the mechanical beast. The size, scope and frantic nature of the fight was the biggest ever seen in the trilogy, and wholly satisfying final challenge for the pointy-eared duo.

#8: Metroid Prime “Metroid Prime” (2002)

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The Chozo prophesied that a great evil would come to poison their adopted homeworld, and unfortunately they were right. As Samus Aran, it is your job to blow it to hell! This battle has various stages that requires smarts as well as a trigger finger. In its exoskeleton form, the Metroid Prime is only vulnerable to a certain type of beam at one time, and while you’re trying to figure out which it will bombard you with minions and various projectiles to keep you on your toes. Cracking through its outer shell reveals its core form, a state that can only be damaged with the Phazon Beam. Requiring quick thinking and even quicker reactions, this titular antagonist did not disappoint.

They don’t call him the Emperor of Everlasting Darkness for nothing. The eternal enemy of the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, the final battle against this giant sphere of evil is a long and arduous one, but dripping in the visual art-style that Okami is famed for. After being stripped of all your Celestial Brush techniques, you have earn them back one by one while countering Yami’s assaults. As the damage piles on, he’ll continue to transform, ranging from a series of discs, a slot machine and a bipedal giant until you force his hand (quite literally) as he reveal his true form. It’s a classic of battle of good vs. evil portrayed in beautiful cel-shaded glory.

#6: Ugh-Zan III “Serious Sam: The First Encounter” (2001)

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You’ll definitely be doing a lot of running away if you want to survive your encounter with this hellish creature. This four-armed behemoth will slowly chase you down and either try to crush or incinerate you while you’re gunning down wave after wave of lesser enemies. The only way to take him out is to keep using larger and larger guns until you eventually get the chance to activate the overhanging spaceship’s laser to finally bring him to his knees. It may not be the deepest or most complex of battles but the thrill of the chase and subsequent victory are more than enough to ensure that gamers will have a blast with this boss fight.

#5: Tower Knight “Demon’s Souls” (2009)

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The precursor to Dark Souls certainly brought its own fair share of challenges, namely this guy! Not only are his widespread strikes hard to avoid, you have to deal with an entire courtyard filled with archers before you can even think about battling the knight himself. After dispatching the crossbow brigade, you’ll want to rely on quick blows to his ankles before retreating way back due to the range of his enchanted spear, but with enough diligence and patience he should eventual come crumbling down. Setting the stage for future bosses in later games, he was certainly one of the better enemies to stem from Dark Soul’s older incarnation.

#4: El Gigante “Resident Evil 4” (2005)

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We do not envy Leon S. Kennedy. Dealing with rampart, psychopathic villagers is one thing but then being cornered by one of these is just pushing it. The only way to kill it is to run for your life and cut away at the Las Plagas break out of its back in order to take it down. Though we would advise not breathing a sigh of relief too soon, though, since you’ll eventually face two simultaneously. Needless to say this game does a fantastic job of making us want to avoid Spain at all cost, bringing out the fear factor that Resident Evil was once known for.

After managing to take his place as a God of Olympus, it turns out that Kratos wasn’t very popular with Zeus, who formulated a plan to drain him of all his powers. Said plan involved bringing a giant statue to life with the sole purpose of tearing him apart. The Colossus relentlessly pursues the player even after getting its eye torn out. As the first boss in the game, not only did this battle throw you into the action straight away, but the sense of scale, sudden quick-time events and cinematic camera work upped the ante for the hack and slash genre, and gave a brief glimpse of what was to come in terms of the size of God of War’s future bosses!

One of the two sons of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, Vergil turned his back on his humanity unlike his brother Dante, pursuing the power of his demon heritage no matter the cost. As any true DMC fan will tell you, Vergil is as tough as they come in terms of challenge and will lay the smack down on any unprepared player on multiple occasion. Able to deflect gunfire, teleport all across the stage and even have access to his own Devil Trigger, should he manage to catch you in a chain combo you can kiss your ass goodbye. Despite the difficulty spike, the reward of claiming victory and the bittersweet ending that comes with it is worth all those inevitable losses! Before we reveal our number one pick, here are a few