Line #43 AwesomeBosses/Castlevania


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Beelzebub_Castlevania_6646.gif]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:A giant rotting corpse hanging by massive hooks, and supported by flies the size of minivans. ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]'' is AWESOME!!!]]
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4	Dracula keeps reviving, and the Belmont family and their allies keep sending him back whence he came. Along the way, they have had many awesome boss fights.
5	----
6	[[AC: Recurring bosses]]
7	* Dracula basically makes it his job to come up with a more awesome transformation every game. Here's some that stand out:
8	** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness Curse Of Darkness]]'': A winged demon so big, you literally are barely the size of a FINGER to him.
9	** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse Dracula's Curse]]'': Your first fight him as himself, he switches into a giant, floating, disembodied, many-faced brain that turns into skulls, and finally a huge laser-spewing demon.
10	** ''VideoGame/Castlevania64'' has Dracula's servant fought the classic way. If you get the good ending, you then fight a much [[BishonenLine handsomer]] real Dracula who uses homing magic. Conquering that will have him bust out his real form, a 65-foot dragon/scorpion thing who attacks using homing fire pillars and huge explosions.
11	** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines Bloodlines]]'': First his basic form, then a sort of fireball-throwing magician, and then a demon with a face on his torso, Manga/{{Devilman}}-style. This "second form" isn't actually Drac; it's really his WickedWitch [[TheDragon Dragon]] (well, for ''Bloodlines'', anyway). The English version erroneously labeled this separate character as Dracula. Same thing in that game with the Dark Lord's [[DaddysLittleVillain niece]], Elizabeth Bartley, who [[SummonMagic summons]] Medusa but doesn't actually ''become'' her.
12	** And just when fans are getting bored with this, ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia Order of Ecclesia]]'' gives us a Dracula who, after being defeated, simply shrugs it off and starts simply ''walking towards you'' instead of standing in one place, occasionally teleporting like most encounters. This version of Dracula is easily the scariest. He doesn't need some giant bat form! HE WILL CALMLY WALK OVER TO YOU AND PIMPSLAP YOUR FACE OFF. And if you try to jump over him, he'll pimpslap you. If you try to fly, he'll pimplazerslap you.
13	** Oh and ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin Portrait of Ruin]]''. "Boy, Dracula sure will be much easier since I have two characters to fight him this ti-... DEATH? AT THE ... SAME... TIME...." Made even more awesome by the fact that, like you, they have several Combination Attacks and, when one of them's low on health, ''Death lets Dracula use Soul Steal on him, resulting in a fusion of the two.'' Even better; ''they have {{Combination Attack}}s'', including a version of Dracula's [[ThatOneAttack hellishly destructive]] Demonic Meggido where Drac ''turns Death into a [[SinisterScythe scythe]] and slams him into the ground, creating a massive wave of ruination''.
14	** ''VideoGame/SuperCastlevaniaIV'' starts with a standard Dracula battle. Then when you get him to low HP, Simon Belmont's theme kicks in as his attacks get erratic, turning it into a truly epic fight.
15	** Both the Dracula fights in ''Mirror of Fate'' are awesome, though the first gets special mention for featuring Alucard and Simon double teaming Dracula. It's as awesome as it sounds.
16	* Just like ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'''s Ridley, Death in ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' manages to be ThatOneBoss and BestBossEver in many of the games he's in.
17	* Legion. Any incarnation. ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'' especially. Fighting Legion in full 3D in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness Curse of Darkness]]'' was pure awesome.
18	* Also the battles against [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness Isaac]], [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic especially the first one thanks to the music.]]
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20	[[AC: [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]] ]]
21	* ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]'' has the final fight with Dracula and Alucard. It's not really the difficulty of the fight so much as the preceding [[IHateYouVampireDad dialogue between father and son]] and the rather heartbreaking WhatHaveIDone by Dracula after he's defeated. Also, contrary to poplar belief, ''this'' is the first Metroidvania-style Castlevania where Dracula does not go OneWingedAngel. Look closely at his battle sprite and you'll see it's not a transformation at all -- Dracula is sitting on a ''giant, demonic, pimped-out throne'' made out of flesh.
22	* The miniboss fight with Fake [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse Trevor, Sypha, and Grant]] is extremely enjoyable, despite being a very short fight.
23	* If you don't cheese him out with a certain subweapon, the second Doppelganger fight is pretty freakin' intense. For even more fun, get rid of your cloak and familiar so that you're a perfect visual match.
24	* Galamoth, probably the most difficult battle in the game, but very satisfying if you don't use GameBreaker methods.
25	* Richter Belmont. For the first time in the series, you're fighting against a [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIBelmontsRevenge playable]] Belmont, and he has all of the moves he would have if you were fighting ''as'' him - and is not afraid to use them!
26	* In the PSP port, just before Maria gives you the Holy Glasses, she fights Alucard to prove he's capable of beating Richter. While it's not particularly challenging, she can use several attacks from ''Rondo of Blood'' and demonstrates a new Item Crash when you've fought her down to her last HP. Fighting a powerful player character, especially if you've not seen it coming, is what truly makes this fight awesome.
27	* Beelzebub. Just read the caption on the page image.
28	* This game's version of Legion, a grotesque orb of flesh made up of bodies. As you attack the Legion, the bodies fall off and rise up to attack you, which is quite graphically stunning. When you attack it enough, you see the core of the Legion, which has tentacles around it that shoot '''lasers'''.
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30	[[AC: [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow Aria of Sorrow]] ]]
31	* Julius Belmont in the good ending. He knows every single Belmont trick, does not hesitate to use said tricks, and is nightmarishly difficult--and then starts using subweapons! Far more satisfying than the final boss. And he has [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic awesome]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiSo9yL59Pw theme music]].
32	** And look closely when he's performing [[LimitBreak Grand Cross]]. The might of the attack is so powerful that it not only draws in Soma like a mini black hole, but when unleashed, it causes the castle in the background to start ''crumbling''.
33	** And the dialogue after the fight implies ''he was holding himself back the whole time.'' Fitting, since, as it's been officially stated that the Belmont line grows exponentially in power with each generation, you happen to be facing ''the most powerful Belmont to have ever existed''.
34	* Fighting, of all things, [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Chaos]] in the true ending. In that same vein, Graham has the same effect.
35	* [[BackgroundBoss Balore]]. You enter the boss room in the arena level and is greeted by the Giant Bat, a standard boss in ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania\|I}}''. Suddenly a GIANT HAND comes out of nowhere and [[BaitAndSwitchBoss crushes the bat]], and an EvilLaugh is heard as Balore fades in from the background while a different boss battle music starts to play. Totally unexpected and an epic boss battle.
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37	[[AC: [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence Lament of Innocence]] ]]
38	* The Forgotten One. Even if you forget the game (which is likely), you will probably never forget this battle.
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40	[[AC: [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow Dawn of Sorrow]] ]]
41	* Despite how [[BreatherBoss easy]] and cheesable he is, Dimitri is considered to be one of the most memorable fights in the series. The main reason is that his shtick is his ability to copy powers - and the Developers [[DevelopersForesight thought of almost everything]]. As demonstrated in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTRrCkIzb_4 this]] video, Dimitri is able to copy a ''lot'' of powers - most of which you can't actually use when you fight him and are only available in a NewGamePlus. Despite the amount of ArtificialStupidity at play, he can [[ArtificialBrilliance make a few powers dangerous]].
42	* The Puppet Master, a giant wooden marionette head with four arms, constantly spitting small dolls at your, or creating a doll and trying to slam it in an Iron Maiden, at which point you switch places with the doll. Ouch.
43	* Bat Company. A twist on the usual "bunch of little bats join to form one big bat" in which the group of bats are still a group of bats, and change shape constantly. Fitting that it's fought in a [[ContinuityNod throwback level]] that's a homage to the original ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania\|I}}'', where the boss was a giant bat.
44	* Gergoth. A giant mutant dinosaur like boss, that slowly plods around the top of the Condemned Tower, jumping, shooting lasers, and blasting poison gas. Halfway through the battle, it smashes through the floor of the tower, and you fall all the way back to the ground floor where you started the level. And NOW it's gained speed! Though they originally [[DummiedOut showed him as an]] AdvancingWallOfDoom [[TrailersAlwaysLie in the trailer]]...
45	* Paranoia. A harlequin demon that flits in and out of the giant mirror in the background, while shooting at you from the mirrors on the sides of the arena. And when you do defeat it, it turns out you just fought its reflection, and the REAL boss fight starts up next room!
46	* Abaddon. A demonic conductor who orchestrates swarms of locusts to attack you.
47	* Dark Lord Soma in Julius Mode is pure, classic Dracula. And the fight is accompanied by [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Illusionary Dance]]. Except he surprises you by pulling out a Gaibon familiar and Great Axe Armor's attack rather than Dracula's traditional fireballs. Then when he transforms into the monster from Rondo of Blood/Symphony of the Night, he gets a Harpy familiar, then will use Aguni, Larva and Abbadon.
48	* Zephyr from the Clock Tower. You are facing none other than ''Castlevania''[='s=] answer to '''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Dio Brando]]'''.
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50	[[AC: [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia Order of Ecclesia]] ]]
51	* Fighting Barlowe. Probably partly for the Treacherous Advisor part of it...
52	-->HOW DARE YOU... EVEN FORGETTING... WHO RAISED YOU... YOU... STUPID DISCIPLE!
53	* The Dracula battle is pretty awesome... if just because he's ThatOneBoss ''without ever going OneWingedAngel,'' unlike almost every other game in the series and every {{Metroidvania}} ever. The very fact that Dracula begins stomping around the room in a MenacingStroll is pure MundaneMadeAwesome. He also eschews having [[NumberOfTheBeast 6666]] HP for this fight, instead having ''9999''.
54	* Albus, who is probably the only guy in the series besides Soma and Henry to use a gun, making this fight unique and interesting. In fact, it gets even better when you fight him as Albus... And the boss uses the same quotes, which make it hilarious when you realise he's addressing the ''wrong person'', but when you discover that the flaming kick attack is his weakness, flaming kick duels ensue. Think [[Manga/OnePiece Sanji]] fighting himself with his legs on fire. Awesome.
55	* The GiantEnemyCrab should deserve a mention -- how many other games let you smash a crab with an ''elevator''? Coupled with that boss being a major WakeUpCallBoss to a degree, it makes the ending soooo much more satisfying. What Shanoa says makes that ending even MORE satisfying. [[PreMortemOneLiner "Go to hell."]]
56	* Eligor ''deserves'' a spot here. It's a [[NinjaPirateRobotZombie Giant Robot Centaur Demon]] with a giant sword and ballistae on its hips. Giant as in several stories tall. The fight is a ColossusClimb of epic proportions where you have to take out the knees and ballistae before you go for the head while it very effectively tries to swat you off. Also, it is [[NintendoHard hard]]. Really [[ThatOneBoss hard]].
57	* Blackmore. This guy greets you smarmily, before fighting you with his own '''gigantic shadow'''. And this shadow is shaped like a '''wolf'''. Blackmore controlls the wolf-shadow by dancing and likes to use this big black laser move on you. By now you have Nitesco, a very effective glyph that also manifests as a laser. Mega-awesome laser fight ensues.
58	* The fight with Rusalka is awesome, especially considering the huge waves she uses to attack.
59	* Near the end of the game, you get to fight, of course, Death. While Death is almost always a combination of [[ThatOneBoss hard]] and awesome, depending on your glyphs, you can make this battle symbolically awesome too. This is the only game in the series where the main character can wield, through Shanoa's use of the ''Falcis'' line of glyphs, a [[SinisterScythe scythe.]] In fact, the ''Falcis'' glyphs are the strongest physical attacking glyphs in the game. So, to recap, Death uses a scythe. Shanoa's strongest weapon is a scythe. And you can get the strongest scythe before this battle. That's right, you can beat Death ''in a scythe battle.''
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61	[[AC: [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin Portrait of Ruin]] ]]
62	* The fight with Brauner. Mostly for his [[LargeHam overly dramatic]] [[CallingYourAttacks attack-calling]]. "A painting of the SOUL!" "THIS is ''ART!''" "I'll make YOU my masterpiece!" And so on...
63	* Fighting the Whip's Memory, aka the essence of Richter Belmont inside of the Vampire Killer. Little breathing room. [[DuelBoss Jonathan only]]. The boss can and ''will'' hand your ass, but it's a wildly satisfying battle from start to finish. And just imagine if it was the ''real'' Richter, who was widely touted as the greatest of the Belmonts. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFvTqdKvf74 The music]] (a remix of "Divine Bloodlines", which is more or less Richter's theme) only plays up the intensity of the fight. Made even better when you realize what his weakness is: The Cream Pie, a hidden subweapon found all the way back in the first painting. The Memory is weak to the darkness element, which the Cream Pie inexplicably has. The Pie also has the benefit of being extremely light on MP consumption. The result is that one of the easiest ways to beat the Memory is to throw ''infinite amounts of pie at him'' until he dies.
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65	[[AC: VideoGame/Castlevania64 and [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLegacyOfDarkness Legacy of Darkness]] ]]
66	* The 3-part battle with Dracula. Reinhardt and Carrie face three Draculas. The first one fights in standard Dracula fashion, but if you've achieved the conditions to earn the Good ending, you'll face the TRUE Dracula, as the earlier one was an impostor. Beat him, and you're transported to another dimension where Dracula shows you his giant Dragon/Centipede form and wastes no time in bombarding you from all sides with homing fire dragons, physical attacks, a flamethrower attack and proves he's a ''Mushroom Cloud-laying Drac'' by blasting you with ''atomic'' explosions.
67	* Death performs the function of being Reinhardt's exclusive rival in this game, as only Reinhardt can fight him. What makes the battle so epic beyond the actual fighting is what happens before. The Vampiric tragic beauty Rosa, who loathes her existence as a vampire, saves Reinhardt from Death's attack, and dies in Reinhardt's arms as prays for her absolution. Cue Reinhardt's RoaringRampageOfRevenge claiming he is channeling the rage of ''all humanity''.
68	* The Gardener. That word seldom would invoke feelings of paranoia and dread, but in this game, it refers to a towering Frankenstein monster-like being with a damned ''chainsaw'' for an arm who relentlessly pursues you with two stone hounds through the hedge maze. The kicker? ''You cannot win''. Both he and his hounds are immortal. Oh sure, attack them enough and they'll go down. But you will hear the spine-chilling roar of the chainsaw somewhere behind a few seconds later, and the sound of the hounds closing in on you to hold you in place for their master is no better.
69	* The Demon Bull is easily the hardest boss in the game. The reanimated corpse of a Behemoth-type monster, not only does this demonic bovine ram you like a normal bull, he also attacks you with blasts of blizzard and lasers coming from the ''eye'' within its mouth, causing enormous explosions, all the while running circles through the arena, making it hard for even Carrie's magic bullet to hit him, let alone the limited range of Reinhardt's whip. And once you start piling on the damage, it's skin ''tears off'', exposing the muscle, organs and, eventually, bones inside, culminating in a pulpy explosion of tissue straight from hell.
70	* Queen Algenie, the Queen of all the Spider-women in the Reinhardt-exclusive Underground Tunnels level, is a pretty tough boss to beat. Enter her lair, and the camera enters Boss mode, fixing itself on your position. This prevents you from looking at Algenie until you step forward. If you take too long, you won't see her already hard to dodge web attack, which she uses to drag you to her so she can try to devour you and, more often than not, ''insta-kill you''. There's a chance she'll let go before your life is completely depleted, but your best bet is to use the Cross to kill all the spider-spawn she throws at you, then attack the Queen with it until she is forced into her second form, which is far more manageable.
71	* Finally, one of the Werewolf Cornell's exclusive bosses, his personal rival, Ortega. He uses the power granted to him by Dracula in order to change into a huge flying Chimera which shoots fire, poison and stunning sonic attacks, in addition to recurring to pouncing on you at a high speed and trying to maul you. The rest of the time it will be flying over the stage, requiring the use of the lock-on feature to have a chance of hitting him.
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73
74	[[AC: [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow Lords Of Shadow]] ]]
75	* The fight against the Black Knight, a large warrior-Golem who is royally pissed off with Gabriel. His attacks are surprisingly fast and do quite a bit of damage, so this is pretty much the first fight that demands you make good use of the Light/Shadow/Focus cycle, and it is ''cool''.
76	* The first Lord Of Shadow: Cornell, Warrior-King Of The Lycans. In the first stage, he is quite tough with quick movements and deadly swings of his war-hammer. But at the second stage of the fight, he transforms into his monstruous Lycan form, and is now ''very'' fast and ''very'' tough. You will likely die a few times to him, but the almost dance-like way you have to dodge his attacks before countering them is very fun. The way you [[HoistByHisOwnPetard finish him is really satisfying as well]].
77	* The battle against The Titan in the ''Lords of Shadow 2'' demo. Climbing The Titan as the eponymous music plays is pure awesome.
78	* The final battle against Dracula in both Alucard's and Trevor's routes of ''Mirror of Fate''. The music seems to accent your attacks perfectly, and Dracula himself is on the perfect level of Challenging VS Impossible.

Context AwesomeBosses / Castlevania