History ThatOneBoss / SonicTheHedgehog

** For Sonic, the Graviton Mobile if not using Insta-Shield or Lightning Shield; Robotnik drops a large dark green ball, performs an electricity wall attack that sucks in the player, then comes down to pick up the ball--the only window of opportunity to hit him before waiting all over again. It has tendency to take a long time to defeat, right after what's also [[MarathonLevel the longest Act in the game]], leading to a lot of deaths when players ran out of time. Even worse, if you die to damage (due to desperately trying to win before Time Up), the timer is set to what it was when you crossed the last checkpoint (whereas it resets to 0:00 if killed by time).

* Its sequel, ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'', has the Death Egg's back-to-back boss fights: First you have to beat Sonic's doppelganger, Silver Sonic, [[OneHitPointWonder without any rings to spare]]. The Death Egg Robot follows right after, and defeating the robot requires very good timing (which is even harder when playing as Knuckles due to his poor jump height), dodging very fast attacks, and if you get stuck behind him, consider yourself stumped as you likely will have no room to avoid the subsequent shower of explosives. One single hit will send the player right back to Silver Sonic, which only adds to the aggravation.

* The Labyrinth Zone boss in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog''. Unlike the other bosses, the player must chase Dr. Robotnik through a dangerous, vertical passageway filled with moving spears and fire statues. If the player becomes submerged, there are no air bubbles on the route. Failing to reach the top of the passage, and you're as good as dead - and God help you if you die and have to try again without a single ring.

** The Egg Golem as Dr. Eggman. With Sonic it was easy, but could a bit irritating at times, but with Dr. Eggman it's a complete nightmare. The Egg Golem is malfunctioning after his fight with Sonic, and now it moves a lot faster, while you control Dr. Eggman who moves a lot slower and is a much bigger target. The worst part is unlike Sonic who can just pick up rings to survive his attacks, Dr. Eggman has a fixed health amount and can only take a couple of hits before he falls. It only gets harder when you realize that his attacks can easily knock you down to the quicksand pit area with small platforms, and unlike Sonic who can jump to escape the quicksand if need be, Dr. Eggman isn't so lucky and [[OneHitKO instantly sinks if he touches it.]]

* The Labyrinth Zone boss in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog''. Unlike the other bosses, the player must chase Dr. Robotnik through a dangerous, vertical passageway filled with moving spears and fire statues. If the player becomes submerged, [[SuperDrowningSkills there are no air bubbles on the route]]. Failing to reach the top of the passage, and you're as good as dead - and God help you if you die and have to try again without a single ring.

* The Labyrinth Zone boss in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'', Unlike the other bosses, the player must chase Dr. Robotnik through a dangerous, vertical passageway filled with moving spears and fire statues. If the player becomes submerged, [[SuperDrowningSkills there are no air bubbles on the route]]. Failing to reach the top of the passage, and you're as good as dead - and God help you if you die and have to try again without a single ring.

** The Egg Golem as Dr. Eggman. With Sonic it was easy, but could a bit irritating at times, but with Dr. Eggman it's a complete nightmare. The Egg Golem is malfunctioning after his fight with Sonic, and now it moves a lot faster, while you control Dr. Eggman who moves a lot slower and is a much bigger target. The worst part is unlike Sonic who can just pick up rings to survive his attacks, Dr. Eggman has a fixed health amount and can only take a couple of hits before he falls. [[ItGotWorse It only gets worse]] when you realize that his attacks can easily knock you down to the quicksand pit area with small platforms, and unlike Sonic who can jump to escape the quicksand if need be, Dr. Eggman isn't so lucky and [[OneHitKO instantly sinks if he touches it.]]

*** Sometimes they will teleport and end up in the middle of a row of rings. If you happen to be right at the start of that row, you can slam the button to perform a Light Dash, which nets you half a dozen rings ''and'' damages the other hedgehog when you runover their keister. If you time it right, it's possible to take them down using only this method as they will keep appearing in the ring rows. Also, it is very satisfying to hear the [[BuffySpeak damage taken, rings lost jingle]] being played for a character other than your own.
** The Biolizard. It's pretty grueling to fight as it is, but particularly in regard to trying to get the final hit. Shadow is stuck floating in mid-air in some weird bouncy wave pattern, having to go side to side dodging floating eggs that are individually launched and each trying to hit you (and since you cannot recover rings in mid-air, this means you can only take two hits at most before instant death, which brings you back to the beginning of this [[MarathonBoss long slog]]), all while attempting to get into the very center of those killer floating eggs to pull off a perfectly timed press of the A button. Too close? Take damage. Too far? Doesn't work.

* Fighting Silver as Sonic in VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 is (shockingly) a nightmare. You don't have much room to maneuver, the camera is completely unhelpful and leaves you to fend for yourself, the only time Silver's vulnerable is when he's about to throw something at you, and if he grabs you with his telekinesis, you're going to die and no amount of rings can save you. This is because he'll throw you a second time as you're reeling from the first attack - MercyInvincibility doesn't work. Especially brutal if you go into this battle for the first time, not knowing what to expect; you take one step forward and all of a sudden, you're thrown into the air and killed. He collapses in roughly four hits, if you can actually get the chance to do so. Expect to hear "[[MostAnnoyingSound IT'S NO USE!]]" a ''lot'' during his battle.

* While ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'' has pitifully easy bosses... and then you get to fight [[BigBad Zavok]]. The first fight with him is easy, but can be fustrating if you don't know you can land on the square platforms when the reticule for homing attacking breaks your chain. The second fight is a major case of GuideDangIt - in the third phase, you have to make the homing attack lock on to him several times in order to knock him off the edge - anything less, he blocks. The third fight in Lava Mountain Zone 3 is probably the worst - he grows to a giant size and [[AdvancingBossOfDoom chases Sonic up the tower while destroying all the platforms he comes across]]. You have to bounce onto red blocks scattered around the climb to hurt him. Problem is, he takes a lot of them before he keels over, and the climb has a top, so if you haven't beaten him by the time you get to the top, you will die.

* While ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD Sonic CD]]'' has pathetically easy bosses, [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Metal Sonic]]'s race falls under this category, Sonic must race with his robotic clone from start to finish, with several spikes throughout the path, and sections that hamper your speed if stumbled into. Metal Sonic can just plow through the spikes like nobody's business, and if you're ahead of him, he'll create a barrier around himself, and rush forward with breakneck speed, running through you and causing you to lose all your momentum if you aren't paying attention. If ''he's'' ahead of ''you'', then his movements slow to a crawl, but he also generates lightning around himself, which will also hurt you. Meanwhile, Robotnik is trailing behind you with a laser coming from his craft; if you fall too far behind and touch the laser, you die on the spot. He also accelerates for the duration of the race; if you stop suddenly near the end of the course, there's a very high chance that you'll get zapped by him before you can regain your speed. No pressure or anything!

** Egg Saucer from the same game has got to be a major contender for poster child of this trope. The vehicle is equipped with a laser gun that fires invisible laser with deadly aim, the major threat is a metal hand that can slap at the player from a distance. While the laser gun can be destroyed, it will also makes the hand (which, naturally, is ''invincible'') [[TurnsRed become faster and harder to dodge]]. Because of these two weapons and the constant spinning motion of the machine, the player can only damage Eggman from above. Now then, for the punchline: if the player destroy the laser and are pinned against the floor by the hand's long-range whirling attack, the player will ''die instantly'' even if the player has rings on the score. Run out of lives against this mech, and the player will sent back to Act 1 of an already long and frustrating zone.

** For Sonic, the Graviton Mobile if not using Insta-Shield or Lightning Shield, Robotnik drops a large dark green ball, performs an electricity wall attack that sucks the player, then comes down to pick up the ball, the only window of opportunity to hit him before waiting all over again. It has tendency to take a long time to defeat, right after what's also [[MarathonLevel the longest Act in the game]], leading to a lot of deaths when players ran out of time. Even worse, if you die to damage (due to desperately trying to win before Time Up), the timer is set to what it was when you crossed the last checkpoint (whereas it resets to 0:00 if killed by time).

** The Wing Fortress boss is very tricky. It's a laser gun in the ceiling, too high to hit without using the spiked platforms that move around, fast, in unpredictable paths. The gun is only vulnerable when it opens up. So you have to keep your eyes on the gun ''and'' the platforms, or you'll get hit by one or the other. And the small arena means it usually only takes a couple of hits before all your rings fall outside the lasers and you can't retrieve them.

** For Sonic, the Graviton Mobile if not using Insta-Shield or Lighting Shield, Robotnik drops a large dark green ball, performs an electricity wall attack that sucks the player, then comes down to pick up the ball, the only window of opportunity to hit him before waiting all over again. It has tendency to take a long time to defeat, right after what's also [[MarathonLevel the longest act in the game]], leading to a lot of deaths when players ran out of time. Even worse, if you die to damage (due to desperately trying to win before Time Up), the timer is set to what it was when you crossed the last checkpoint (whereas it resets to 0:00 if killed by time).

* The ant lion mech of Underground Zone, from the 8-bit version of ''Sonic 2'', is almost more infamous than the game itself. You can't damage it on your own, you can only win by dodging the barrage of boulders that come bouncing downhill from the other side of the screen to make it hit the boss. And since you don't get any rings, failing to dodge even one hit kills you. Did we mention that this is just the ''first'' boss?

* Egg Breaker from ''ShadowTheHedgehog'' pops up in three different places over the story and is predictably pathetic two of those times (the Iron Jungle battle can even be easily won in about 7 seconds). The Mad Matrix rematch, though is nothing to sneeze at - the mook bots you're supposed to get ammo from are flooding the stage with rocket launcher explosions, and backing away from Eggman to avoid his melee attacks provokes him into [[ThatOneAttack spamming]] [[MostAnnoyingSound an obnoxious]] [[MemeticMutation meme]] that fires giant projectiles across the stage in every direction. Constantly.

* VideoGame/SonicGenerations has two bosses: The Egg Dragoon and the Time Eater.

* Egg Spider from the first ''SonicAdvance'' game. Eggman pilots a drill machine which drills the ceiling to make stalactites fall, which you have to ascend to be able to reach him. Trouble is, you're fighting him underwater. And in this game, it doesn't take as long to drown as it did in previous titles, and your movement is significantly slowed down.

** Egg Saucer from the same game has got to be a major contender for poster child of this trope. The vehicle is equipped with a laser gun that fires invisible laser with deadly aim, the major threat is a metal hand that can slap at the player from a distance. While the laser gun can be destroyed, it will also makes the hand (which, naturally, is ''invincible'') [[TurnsRed become faster and harder to dodge]]. Because of these two weapons and the constant spinning motion of the machine, the window of opportunity to hit Eggman is very small. Now then, for the punchline: if the player destroy the laser and are pinned against the floor by the hand's long-range whirling attack, the player will ''die instantly'' even if the player has rings on the score. Run out of lives against this mech, and the player will sent back to Act 1 of an already long and frustrating zone.

* ''Sonic Advance 3''. As opposed to the bosses you can actually ''hit'', the Twinkle Snow Zone boss, Egg Chase, takes a bit of intuition. Its a climbing platform with a wrecking ball that shoots out at you. You can't hit it directly, but you can land on platforms and jump off to make them drop, which will hopefully fall on him to inflict damage. The problem is, if the wrecking ball should intercept you as you're jumping towards a platform, you will fall off the bottom and die, unless you can very quickly switch to flight. That requires a team where the lead character can fly on their own. That doesn't happen very often...
** Toy Kingdom's boss is nothing to sneeze at either. Located on a small platform surrounded by BottomlessPits, the boss is a big jack in the box containing Eggman and Gemerl, which you defeat by pushing the jack-in-the-boss off the stage on the right side. The only way to move the box is by hitting Eggman, who appears occasionally on the left side. Nothing too bad. But while you're waiting for Eggman to show his mug, you have to avoid the boss's attacks-aside from occasionally tossing out groups of toy Badniks that essentially cover a wide area of the stage, Gemerl is either launched as a rocket, which then without warning crashes down on the player's (then-)position (which creates a large explosion) or tossed out as a giant chained spiked ball. This ramps up the difficulty by having attacks that making it ''extremely'' easy for your players to get hit-and if you're not careful, you could easily end up dying because your lead player was knocked back into the nearby bottomless pit. And as if that wasn't enough, the boss (which, mind you, has to be moved off the stage in order to be defeated) is placed very close to the left end of the platform ''and'' occasionally edges back to it's original position if you haven't attacked it long enough. This ultimately leaves the player facing off against a boss that can not only make short work of your lives, but is also a drag to destroy.

* The Labyrinth Zone boss in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'', Unlike the other bosses, Robotnik has no means of attack, instead flies up through a dangerous, vertical passageway and the player have to give chase. If you're savvy, then yes, it's as deceptively easy as it sounds. It's a tight corridor jam-packed with spear traps, fire hazards, and constantly filling up with water to slow you down. Should the rising water overtake you, [[SuperDrowningSkills there are no stops anywhere to replenish air]]. Failing to hit the doctor, and you're as good as dead - and God help you if you die and have to try again without a single ring.
* Its sequel, ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'', has the Death Egg's back-to-back boss fights: First you have to beat Sonic's doppelganger, Silver Sonic, [[OneHitPointWonder without any rings to spare]]. The Death Egg Robot follows right after, and defeating the robot requires absolutely precise timing (which is even harder when playing as Knuckles due to his low jump height), dodging very fast attacks, and if you get stuck behind him, consider yourself stumped as you likely will have no room to avoid the subsequent shower of explosives. One single hit will send the player right back to Silver Sonic, which only adds to the aggravation.

** For Knuckles, the already aggravating Freezer Mobile becomes harder than Sonic or Tails: As it is, the boss sprays instantly freezing gas all over itself, and it's really hard to predict his patterns. But the worst part is that the platform you have to use to reach the boss isn't only under constant freeze gas, but it actually lifts up and down every second, meaning the timing of your attack must be dead on or you will be hit. And during his [[TurnsRed kamikaze run]], Knuckles can't jump over it, so you'll have to land the two last blows fast enough or be killed.

* The antlion boss of Underground Zone, from the 8-bit version of ''Sonic 2'', is almost more infamous than the game itself. You can't damage it on your own, you can only win by dodging the barrage of boulders that come bouncing downhill from the other side of the screen to make it hit the boss. And since you don't get any rings, failing to dodge even one hit kills you. Did we mention that this is just the ''first'' boss?

** Egg Saucer from the same game has got to be a major contender for poster child of this trope. It's equipped with a laser gun that fires invisible laser with deadly aim, the major threat is a metal hand that can slap at the player from a distance. While the laser gun can be destroyed, it will also makes the hand (which, naturally, is ''invincible'') [[TurnsRed become faster and harder to dodge]]. Because of these two weapons and the constant spinning motion of the machine, the window of opportunity to hit Eggman is very small. Now then, for the punchline: if the player destroy the laser and are pinned against the floor by the hand's long-range whirling attack, the player will ''die instantly'' even if the player has rings on the score. Run out of lives against this mech, and the player will sent back to Act 1 of an already long and frustrating zone.

* The first ''SonicAdvance'' had the boss of Ice Mountain Zone. Robotnik pilots a drill machine which drills the ceiling to make stalactites fall, which you have to ascend to be able to reach him. Trouble is, you're fighting him underwater. And in this game, it doesn't take as long to drown as it did in previous titles, and your movement is significantly slowed down.

* Fighting Silver as Sonic in VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 is (shockingly) a nightmare. You don't have much room to maneuver, the camera is completely unhelpful and leaves you to fend for yourself, the only time Silver's vulnerable is when he's about to throw something at you, and if he grabs you with his telekinesis, you're going to die and no amount of rings can save you. This is because he'll throw you a second time as you're reeling from the first attack - MercyInvincibility doesn't work. Especially brutal if you go into this battle for the first time, not knowing what to expect; you take one step forward and all of a sudden, you're thrown into the air and killed. He collapses in roughly four hits, if you can actually get the chance to do so. Expect to hear "IT'S NO USE!" a ''lot''.

* Death Egg Robot from ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4: Episode 1''. This time, the mech has 2 phases, and with much more hit points. The mech's second phase is barely open to attack. And finally, on its last hit, the machine will fly up and attempt to destroy the space station as an last attempt. If you get caught in this, you'll have to redo the fight from the start. It doesn't help either that [[ThatOneAchievement one of the achievements]] means completing E.G.G Station Zone (which is a boss rush level, all in their [[TurnsRed Pinch]] mode) [[NoDamageRun without being hit once.]]

* ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'' has pitifully easy bosses... and then you get to [[BigBad Zavok]]. The first fight with him is easy, but can be fustrating if you don't know you can land on the square platforms when the reticule for homing attacking breaks your chain. The second fight is a major case of GuideDangIt - in the third phase, you have to make the homing attack lock on to him several times in order to knock him off the edge - anything less, he blocks. The third fight in Lava Mountain Zone 3 is probably the worst - he grows to a giant size and [[AdvancingBossOfDoom chases Sonic up the tower while destroying all the platforms he comes across]]. You have to bounce onto red blocks scattered around the climb to hurt him. Problem is, he takes a lot of them before he keels over, and the climb has a top, so if you haven't beaten him by the time you get to the top, you will die.

* While ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD Sonic CD]]'' has pathetically easy bosses, [TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Metal Sonic]]'s race falls under this category, Sonic must race with his robotic clone from start to finish, with several spikes throughout the path, and sections that hamper your speed if stumbled into. Metal Sonic can just plow through the spikes like nobody's business, and if you're ahead of him, he'll create a barrier around himself, and rush forward with breakneck speed, running through you and causing you to lose all your momentum if you aren't paying attention. If ''he's'' ahead of ''you'', then his movements slow to a crawl, but he also generates lightning around himself, which will also hurt you. Meanwhile, Robotnik is trailing behind you with a laser coming from his craft; if you fall too far behind and touch the laser, you die on the spot. He also accelerates for the duration of the race; if you stop suddenly near the end of the course, there's a very high chance that you'll get zapped by him before you can regain your speed. No pressure or anything!

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD'', Stardust Speedway. You're racing [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Metal Sonic]], from start to finish (loser dies), with several spikes in your path, and sections that hamper your speed if stumbled into. Metal Sonic can just plow through the spikes like nobody's business, and if you're ahead of him, he'll create a barrier around himself, and rush forward with breakneck speed, running through you and causing you to lose all your momentum if you aren't paying attention. If ''he's'' ahead of ''you'', then his movements slow to a crawl, but he also generates lightning around himself, which will also hurt you. Meanwhile, Robotnik is trailing behind you with a laser coming from his craft; if you fall too far behind and touch the laser, you die on the spot. He also accelerates for the duration of the race; if you stop suddenly near the end of the course, there's a very high chance that you'll get zapped by him before you can regain your speed. No pressure or anything!

** Toy Kingdom's boss is nothing to sneeze at either. Located on a small platform surrounded by BottomlessPits, the boss is a big jack in the box containing Eggman and Gemerl, which you defeat by pushing the jack-in-the-boss off the stage on the right side. The only way to move the box is by hitting Eggman, who appears occasionally on the left side. Nothing too bad. But while you're waiting for Eggman to show his mug, you have to avoid the boss's attacks-aside from occasionally tossing out groups of toy badniks that essentially cover a wide area of the stage, Gemerl is either launched as a rocket, which then without warning crashes down on the player's (then-)position (which creates a large explosion) or tossed out as a giant chained spiked ball. This ramps up the difficulty by having attacks that making it ''extremely'' easy for your players to get hit-and if you're not careful, you could easily end up dying because your lead player was knocked back into the nearby bottomless pit. And as if that wasn't enough, the boss (which, mind you, has to be moved off the stage in order to be defeated) is placed very close to the left end of the platform ''and'' occasionally edges back to it's original position if you haven't attacked it long enough. This ultimately leaves the player facing off against a boss that can not only make short work of your lives, but is also a drag to destroy.

* The final boss from ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4: Episode 1''. Think of a redone version of Sonic 2's final boss, but with 2 phases, and with much more hit points. (8 hits? No. Try 31). His second phase is barely open to attack. And finally, after you think it's all over, he tries to [[KaizoTrap pull an]] [[LastDitchMove Egg Viper]]. If you get caught in this, you'll have to redo the fight from the start. It doesn't help either that [[ThatOneAchievement one of the achievements]] means defeating completeing this final stage (which has you essentially fighting every boss from the previous zones, all in their [[TurnsRed turned red]] mode) [[NoDamageRun without being hit once.]]

* The Labyrinth Zone boss in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'', instead of fighting the doctor, Eggman simply flies up through a dangerous, vertical passageway and the player have to give chase. If you're savvy, then yes, it's as deceptively easy as it sounds. It's a tight corridor jam-packed with spear traps, fire hazards, and constantly filling up with water to slow you down. Should the rising water overtake you, [[SuperDrowningSkills there are no stops anywhere to replenish air]]. One false move, and you're as good as dead - and God help you if you die and have to try again without a single ring.
* Its sequel, ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'', has the Death Egg's back-to-back boss fights: First you have to beat Sonic's doppelganger, Silver Sonic, [[OneHitPointWonder without any rings to spare]]. The Death Egg Robot follows right after, and defeating him requires absolutely precise timing (which is even tougher when playing as Knuckles due to his jump height), dodging very fast attacks, and if you get stuck behind him, consider yourself boned as you likely will have no room to avoid the subsequent shower of explosives. One single hit will send you right back to Silver Sonic, which only adds to the aggravation.

** For Knuckles, the already aggravating Freezer Mobile becomes merciless: As it is, the boss sprays instantly freezing gas all over itself, and it's really hard to predict his patterns. But the worst part is that the platform you have to use to reach the boss isn't only under constant freeze gas, but it actually lifts up and down every second, meaning the timing of your attack must be dead on or you will be hit. And during his [[TurnsRed kamikaze run]], Knuckles can't jump over it, so you'll have to land the two last blows fast enough or be killed.

* The final [[DuelBoss Tails vs. Eggman fight]] in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2''. Regardless of which one you're playing as, your opponent at various stages of their health will attack with their super attacks from the game's Vs. Mode [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard that you can't use regardless of who you're playing as]], including the dreaded [[WaveMotionGun Power Laser]], which is RIDICULOUSLY hard to dodge as your opponent is constantly turning in your direction while firing it. To top it all off, it's extremely hard to hit them with your missiles, you're much better off just using your standard pea shooter to get in hits; but since your pea shooter and homing missiles are tied to the same button, there's a chance you'll hit the respawning [[MadeOfExplodium floating green canister]] in the middle of the arena, which will likely do a ton of damage to you due to being in close proximity of it thanks to chasing your opponent everywhere. Oh, and one last thing... there are no rings. So if your health gets low, there's no way to refill it.

* The Egg Frog in VideoGame/{{Sonic Advance|Trilogy}} 2, because it's very fast and it can jump on the ceiling which make hitting it even harder without taking damage. Think of Gravity Man's boss fight in Mega Man 5, but while you're constantly running at Sonic the Hedgehog level speed.
** ''Advance 2'''s Egg Saucer has got to be a major contender for poster child of this trope. It's equipped with a laser gun that fires invisible laser that can be very hard to dodge at times, and a metal fist that can slap at the player from a distance. The player can destroy the gun, but that also makes the fist (which, naturally, is ''invincible'') [[TurnsRed become faster and harder to dodge]]. Because of these two weapons and the constant spinning motion of the machine, the window of opportunity to hit Eggman is very small. Now then, for the punchline: if you destroy the laser and are pinned against the floor by the pissed-off hand's long-range whirling attack, you will ''die instantly'', rings or no rings. Run out of lives against this cheap monstrosity, and it's back to Act 1 of an already long and frustrating zone. Fun!

* The original ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' has the Labyrinth Zone boss, where Eggman simply flies up through a vertical passageway and you have to give chase. If you're savvy, then yes, it's as deceptively easy as it sounds. It's a tight corridor jam-packed with spear traps, fire hazards, and constantly filling up with water to slow you down. Should the rising water overtake you, [[SuperDrowningSkills there are no stops anywhere to replenish air]]. One false move, and you're as good as dead - and God help you if you die and have to try again without a single ring.

** The Wing Fortress boss is very tricky. It's a laser gun in the ceiling, too high to hit without using the spiked platforms that move around, fast, in unpredictable paths. The gun is only vulnerable when it opens up. So you have to keep your eyes on the gun ''and'' the platforms, or you'll get hit by one or the other. Oh, and the small arena means it usually only takes a couple of hits before all your rings fall outside the lasers and you can't retrieve them.

** ''Advance 2'''s Egg Saucer has got to be a major contender for poster child of this trope. It's equipped with a laser gun that can be very hard to dodge at times, and a metal fist that can smack at you from a distance. You can destroy the gun, but that also makes the fist (which, naturally, is ''invincible'') [[TurnsRed become faster and harder to dodge]]. Because of these two weapons and the constant spinning motion of the machine, the window of opportunity to hit Eggman is very small. Now then, for the punchline: if you destroy the laser and are pinned against the floor by the pissed-off hand's long-range whirling attack, you will ''die instantly'', rings or no rings. Run out of lives against this cheap monstrosity, and it's back to Act 1 of an already long and frustrating zone. Fun!

** For Sonic, the Graviton Mobile if not using Insta-Shield or Lighting Shield, Robotnik drops a big green ball, does a lame attack that takes forever, then comes down to pick up the ball, the only window of opportunity to hit him before waiting all over again. It has tendency to take a long time to defeat, right after what's also [[MarathonLevel the longest act in the game]], leading to a lot of deaths when players ran out of time. Even worse, if you die to damage (due to desperately trying to win before Time Up), the timer is set to what it was when you crossed the last checkpoint (whereas it resets to 0:00 if killed by time).
** When playing solo as Tails, Drill Mobile is surprisingly tough: Unlike Sonic's version, where Tails is carrying Sonic through the air while you hurl Sonic at Drill Mobile, Sonic himself is a no-show, meaning the only way for Tails to damage the boss is to ram at it from underneath with his propeller butt. 50% of Robotnik's movement patterns make this a tall order to say the least. The safe approach is to simply dodge around him until he flies across the screen horizontally, which alleviates the frustration but turns it into a MarathonBoss.

* The antlion boss of Underground Zone, from the 8-bit version of ''Sonic 2'', is almost more infamous than the game itself. You can't damage it on your own, you can only win by dodging the barrage of boulders that come bouncing downhill from the other side of the screen. And since you don't get any rings, failing to dodge even one hit kills you. Did we mention that this is just the ''first'' boss?

** For Sonic, there's the Carnival Night Zone Act 2 boss. Robotnik drops a big green ball, does a lame attack that takes forever, then comes down to pick up the ball, the only window of opportunity to hit him before waiting all over again. It's a very time-consuming boss, right after what's also [[MarathonLevel the longest act in the game]], leading to a lot of deaths when players ran out of time. Even worse, if you die to damage (due to desperately trying to win before Time Up), the timer is set to what it was when you crossed the last checkpoint (whereas it resets to 0:00 if killed by time).
** When playing solo as Tails, Marble Garden Zone's second act boss is surprisingly tough: Unlike Sonic's version, where Tails is carrying Sonic through the air while you hurl Sonic at Eggman's flying robot, Sonic himself is a no-show, meaning the only way for Tails to damage the boss is to ram at it from underneath with his propeller butt. 50% of Robotnik's movement patterns make this a tall order to say the least. The safe approach is to simply dodge around him until he flies across the screen horizontally, which alleviates the frustration but turns it into a MarathonBoss.
** For Knuckles, the already aggravating Ice Cap Zone second act boss becomes merciless: As it is, the boss sprays instantly freezing gas all over itself, and it's really hard to predict his patterns. But the worst part is that the platform you have to use to reach the boss isn't only under constant freeze gas, but it actually lifts up and down every second, meaning the timing of your attack must be dead on or you will be hit. And during his [[TurnsRed kamikaze run]], Knuckles can't jump over it, so you'll have to land the two last blows fast enough or be killed.

** Toy Kingdom's boss is nothing to sneeze at either. Located on a small platform surrounded by BottomlessPits, the boss is a big jack in the box containing Eggman and Gemerl, which you defeat by pushing the jack-in-the-boss off the stage on the right side. The only way to move the box is by hitting Eggman, who appears occasionally on the left side. Nothing too bad. But while you're waiting for Eggman to show his mug, you have to avoid the boss's attacks-aside from occasionally tossing out groups of toy badniks that are hard to dodge, Gemerl is either launched as a rocket, which then without warning crashes down on the player's (then-)position (which creates a large explosion) or tossed out as a giant chained spiked ball. This ramps up the difficulty by making it extremely easy for your players to get hit-and if you're not careful, you could easily end up with your lead player being knocked back by an attack into the nearby bottomless pit. And as if that wasn't enough, the boss (which, mind you, has to be moved off the stage in order to be defeated) is placed very close to the left end of the platform ''and'' occasionally edges back to it's original position if you haven't attacked it long enough. This ultimately leaves the player facing off against a boss that can not only make short work of your lives, but is also a drag to destroy.