One of the hallmarks of Zelda games are the intense, passionate, and sometimes frustrating boss fights. There have been many different challenging bosses across a host of games, and I am not going to even dare attempt to list them in any particular order! That said, I certainly have battles I have loved, and battles I have loathed, over my decades spent fighting Ganon’s minions.
Here, I’m putting together a few notes on the boss fights I recall the most, be it out of love, or hate! It should be noted that there will be plot spoilers ahead for various games, so bear that in mind.
Moldorm
This obnoxious worm still gives me anxiety, more than 30 years on from first fighting it. Moldorm guards the third and final pendant needed to secure the Master Sword in A Link to the Past, and out of all the pendant bosses, it’s by far the most frustrating. It doesn’t kill you in the conventional sense, but rather, keeps pushing you off the platform to the floor below, forcing you to head back up the stairs, whereupon it’s health has reset. The weak point is the end of the tail; any other strike will see Link be pushed back, so you have to time your attacks carefully.
What Moldorm doesn’t do is stay still. It moves rather erratically, and will get faster as it sustains more damage. The trick – if there is one – is to try and swipe at it whilst it’s on the left-side of the map, where its movements are more restricted.
You’ll encounter Moldorm again, as you scale Ganon’s Tower, but if you have gone grave-robbing (!) you’ll have the magic cloak, which renders you invisible, and you can slash it to death very quickly.
Blind the Thief
Easily one of the most intense battles, fighting Blind in the Dark World in A Link to the Past is a task that ramps up in difficulty. Having rescued a young woman from the dungeon, you take her to this room at her request, but exposure to light transforms her into a monstrosity that initially shoots laser beams at you, whilst pirouetting around the map. Just as you think she’s defeated, her disembodied head floats around shooting fireballs at you, whilst her body grows a new head. Rinse and repeat.
By the end, there’s three heads in total, all zipping around the screen, shooting stuff at you. Quick movements are needed, and it’s definitely wise to approach this battle at full health.
Koloktos
I don’t generally enjoy Skyward Sword, despite a few elements that are quite good. One of those elements is Koloktos, a multi-limbed, well-armed (heh) boss, found at the end of the Ancient Cistern.
A typical element of many Zelda boss battles is a two-staged affair, and to begin with, Koloktos is motionless, save for his sword-wielding arms. He’ll slash at you, in a variety of means, until a powerful melee strike leaves his sword momentarily stuck. You can use the dungeon’s special item (a whip) to yank apart his arms, and this will leave the core vulnerable to attack.
Do enough damage, and Koloktos decides he’s done being passive. He will pull himself out of the ground, and come at you directly. His basic attacks remain the same, only now you not only need to pull apart his arms, you’ll need to quickly grab one of his swords, and use that to break apart the metal grate that now protects his core. After a few rounds, you’ll have him down and out.
Phantom Ganon
This brute has become something of a regular in Zelda games, but it’s his first appearance, in Ocarina of Time, that sticks out for me. He guards the Forest Temple, and acts at the behest of Ganon himself. He rides a fearsome horse, and he moves in and out of paintings on the walls. Making this trickier is that there are false versions of him, all riding out of paintings toward you. You need to shoot the right one with your arrows, and do so enough times to knock him off his horse.
At this point, Phantom Ganon decides to play a particularly aggressive game of tennis. He’ll lob energy balls at you, which you can return by smacking them with your sword. There’ll be a few back and forths, and eventually he will mess up. Whilst stunned, slash away with your sword. Do this enough times to banish Phantom Ganon for good. It’s a satisfying experience, and it also tees up what to expect from Ganon himself.
Ghirahim
Sometimes, it’s the journey, not the destination, that determines a boss’s worth. As much as I can lament several elements of Skyward Sword, it does not lack for dramatic tension in key moments, and fighting through hordes of bokoblins and other enemies to reach the Demon Lord, Ghirahim, is an enormously fun and rewarding experience. However, finally putting this preening, arrogant prancer in his place is even more delightful.
Ghirahim is an opponent you will fight on three separate occasions, but it’s the final confrontation, as you bid to save Zelda from his clutches, that I enjoyed the most. He will send you and he up on a series of platforms, in the aim of sending you toppling to your doom. Instead, you’ll battle him to the edge of the platform, send him dropping off the edge, and slam your sword through him, until you reach the ground. At this point, an enraged Ghirahim will conjure a sword, and aim to protect his vulnerable midriff. Blocking his attacks and deflecting some of them back to him will stun him, and from there, you can exploit his weak spot.
It doesn’t end there. Ghirahim will then produce a massive blade, and you’ll have to hack through it to yet again expose his weak point. This part gets a bit frustrating, thanks to the controls for Skyward Sword, but you’ll relish watching Ghirahim realise that in the end, he has never had what it takes to beat you.
Trinexx
The guardian of Turtle Rock in A Link to the Past is also the guardian of Zelda herself. The last of the seven maidens Link needs to rescue has, perhaps predictably, one of the most difficult bosses, if you’re not careful.
Trinexx is a three-headed turtle, and attacks with a combination of ice and flame. You’ll want to have topped up your magic meter, and ideally have a potion spare, before fighting it. The ice rod will stun the fire head and the fire rod will stun the ice head, and the sword will destroy them, but don’t think that the fight is won at that stage, because of course it isn’t!
The turtle – if it can be called a turtle – then transforms into a serpent, and snakes around chasing you. It’s weak spot is a glowing section in the middle, and if you stay tight with it, you can defeat it without too much difficulty. It’s the first phase that is the true challenge, and what a challenge it can be!
Vaati
The final boss of the under-rated Gameboy Advance title The Minish Cap is the formidable Vaati. Vaati takes several forms over the course of the battle, and requires you to exploit all the key mechanics of the game. You’ll have to use special pads to clone yourself, and shrink down to destroy Vaati’s weapons from within. This is easily one of the most enjoyably frustrating final bosses in the franchise.
It could also be said that Vaati is among one of the most terrifying designs. Angry red eyes, persisting claws, and a rather sinister laugh all contribute to a particularly intimidating experience. Timing of attacks – particularly via the cloning method – is critical, yet rendered difficult due to Vaati’s own attacks. It is a challenge, but in the end quite a rewarding one.
Ganon
The first reference in this post to the ultimate evil in The Legend of Zelda is via Ocarina of Time, and the final showdown with Ganon comes after you’ve already endured fighting through his castle, overcoming all sorts of traps, before confronting Ganondorf as he menacingly plays an organ. Following an epic round of energy ball tennis, Ganondorf summons his last ounce of strength to send the castle crashing down around you, but you manage to escape with Zelda. Cue an enraged Ganondorf emerging from the wreckage, where he transforms himself into the monster Ganon.
This brings to an end an incredible journey, one that certainly felt emotional at the time. After hours spent across this amazing new 3D world, and discovering so many new ways to experience the Zelda universe, this battle felt like a do-or-die moment, with everything hinging on whether or not you could stop this beast. He would briefly separate you from the Master Sword, but some swift smashing of his tail would lower the enchantment stopping you from grabbing it, and from there it was a case of blinding him with arrows and slashing his tail some more, until he finally collapsed. Epic stuff!
Ganondorf
The Wind Waker is more or less a direct sequel to the events of Ocarina of Time, though tonally it has a very different look and feel, going for a unique cel-shaded cartoony look. There is nothing cartoony about the final battle with Ganondorf, which comes after a frustrating set of different forms for the villain. The reward for navigating those is an old-fashioned sword fight,one that pits you and Zelda against the would-be king.
Ganondorf is quite the skilled swordsman, though initially Zelda’s golden arrows keep him off-guard. Eventually he goes fed up with her interference, and knocks her out, leaving you to fight him one-on-one. After dishing out enough damage, you’ll leap into the air and plunge the Master Sword into his head, which will see him turn into a statue, frozen by the sword’s power.
Calamity Ganon
There’s much to love about Breath of the Wild, but the boss fights are not a highlight. The battles to cleanse the Divine Beasts are somewhat tame, but Calamity Ganon goes some way to make up for it. This strange cobbled-together entity embodies different forms of attack, and awakens following Zelda’s determined imprisonment of it after a hundred years, coinciding with your arrival to the great hall of Hyrule Castle. Together, you and Ganon plummet into the catacombs, and wage war.
If you’ve awoken all four Divine Beasts, their guardians will assist you by unleashing energy beams that will reduce Ganon’s health bar in half. This is quite the boon, though it would be unwise to take it easy against this huge, and erratic boss. He will swipe a fiery blade at you, shoot at you with a laser cannon, throw massive fireballs at you, and hurl gigantic ice cubes your way. Deflecting his energy attacks with a well-timed shield parry will hurt him, and leave him vulnerable to a counter-attack, but do this often enough and he’ll raise his armour, leaving him defenceless only as he attacks, or when he is stunned by a beam parry.
Eventually you’ll overcome him, and from there, he assumes one final form, that of an enormous, purple-flamed hog. This is Ganon at his purest, most rage-fuelled form, but this is a bit underwhelming. You ride around him, shooting at weak spots until he is finally defeated. It’s not the most exhilerating climax to a Zelda game.
Ganon: The Demon King
Recall what I said about the journey sometimes being more special than the destination? Tears of the Kingdom places equal emphasis on both, with a battle to end all battles, coming at the end of a spine-tingling descent into the murky depths under Hyrule Castle.
As you head deeper and deeper, you find yourself beset by various enemies, in tight spaces and difficult arenas. Navigating this drop includes knowing which foes to bypass, because you’ll need strength in reserve by the time you reach the Demon King’s lair. Confronted by hordes of his minions, you’ll inevitably take damage, but if you’ve awakened the new guardians, they’ll come to your aid. Believe me, you’ll want their help, especially for what comes next.
The Demon King is an incarnation of Ganon completely unlike Calamity Ganon. Whereas Calamity Ganon feels primal, the Demon King is a cold, calculating opponent, wielding swords, spears and a bow to do his work. He is powerful and relentless, and once you reach the second stage of the fight, his health bar becomes unfathomably long. Help from the guardians grants a little mercy against his shadow forms, but the work is ultimately down to you.
Defeat him, and your reward is to see the Demon King abandon any semblance of civilisation. He consumes his stolen secret stone, and transforms into a huge dragon, taking you to the skies, and losing his mind to his need to crush you.
You don’t fight him alone. Zelda – herself a dragon at this point – helps you to gain a good vantage point from which to leap onto Ganon and attack his weak points, before you drive the Master Sword through the stone, shattering it, and Ganon’s hold on power. He is once more destroyed, in one of the most truly stunning, beautiful finales to a Zelda game.
Ganon: The Prince of Darkness
It will not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me that my favourite Zelda boss fight is this one. The final confrontation in A Link to the Past is exciting, filled with tension, and concludes an epic story in what is, to this meerkat, the best video game ever made. After so many dungeons, and so many traps, tricks and bosses, it would have been easy for this fight to be underwhelming, but instead it gives you a fierce challenge, and a huge sense of satisfaction once you beat him.
At first, Ganon will twirl his staff, and launch it at you. Next, he’ll send fiery bats at you. Once you’ve struck him enough times, he will teleport across the screen, shooting more bats at you, and jumping up and down to collapse the outer edge of the arena. Next, the torches go out, and he is rendered invisible.
Lighting the torches will reveal him, and slashing him with the sword will freeze him, at which point you are to use the Golden Arrows (definitely make sure you have these!). Four arrows will destroy him, and allow you to claim the Triforce, which you’ll use to heal Hyrule.
My words can’t do justice to this battle. It’s the final chapter in an amazing quest, which gets the heart pumping and the adrenaline soaring. This really does feel like a huge fight for the soul of the Hyrule Kingdom, and it comes in the wake of an incredibly rich, beautiful adventure. Once again, I am reminded why A Link to the Past is my favourite video game of all time.
What about you? Do you have any thoughts on your favourite Zelda boss battles?
‘Kat Comments