The Video Game Critic

I have a yearly Fall tradition, when it comes to gaming, and that tradition involves playing as much Castlevania as time will allow!

The series has some of gaming's most memorable boss encounters. If I had to pick a personal favorite, though, it would have to be the fight against the caged one-eyed giant from Aria of Sorrow.

What's yours?

My favorite is probably the Grandfaloon from Symphony of the Night. Castlevania games are usually more spooky than scary, but that boss is genuinely horrific (especially the screaming that accompanies it). The three-part Dracula fight from Castlevania III is suitably epic; I also love the Leviathan boss from the same game (the huge goat-demon that somehow squeezes himself out of that undersized coffin and shakes the ground when he lands). The mid-level boss in Stage 1 of Bloodlines (the wolf who shatters the windows with his howl) and the giant skeleton from Minera Prison Island in Order of Ecclesia are also great.

I love the Wolf who shatters the windows in Castlevania Bloodlines. He's stupidly easy but he definitely is one of the coolest bosses in the series. The windows shattering was an awesome effect at the time. I also liked the Stage 6 boss fight in Castlevania Dracula X (Pc Engine). You get to fight the first 4 bosses of the original Castlevania game and then take on the wizard. Great times.

The wolf boss is really cool. I love how the shattered glass actually hurts you. Very well done.

I just played through circle of the moon for the first time. The twin zombie dragons boss is really cool (but incredibly frustrating to fight, way too many hits, not hard but boring).

There was a puppet boss in dawn of sorrow that had a move that slammed you in an iron maiden and instantly killed you. That boss was awesome. There was also this weird zombie t rex thing that shot a laser at you and at one point breaks the floor sending you and it dropping down a tower. That game had great bosses. I haven't played aria of sorrow yet. Does that one have good bosses too?

Dracula in Simon's Quest, for sure. 

Ok, seriously I'd say Granfaloon.  I actually played Aria of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin before Symphony of the Night, but no matter the game it's always genuinely creepy and disturbing.  It's never a huge challenge or anything but it's always a really cool encounter.  How often do you see a mass of distorted human bodies floating in the air with a giant laser-shooting monster underneath?  Great boss.

I can't remember the name of the "Shadow Beast" in Order of Ecclesia, but I thought that one was pretty cool, too.  A neat concept that turned out well.  Tough as balls, too.

Portrait of Ruin's final boss encounter with Dracula AND Death together was just beyond epic.  There is a fundamental flaw, though.  If you just use regular weapons and try your best, you're gonna be dying over and over and over again until you've mastered the patterns.  Simply put, it's too hard.  But if you went through the Nest of Evil and got the "Greatest Five" attack, the battle is too easy.  I would have liked to see a little more balance.

Thinking about it, the series is just chalk-full of incredible boss battles, one after another.  The Doppleganger fights are always cool, especially in SotN and Dracula's Curse.  And anytime the series pays homage to the first NES game, it's a total joy to play. Namely the marathon, boss rush of Vampire Bat, Medusa, Mummy and Frankenstein's monster before you fight Shaft in Dracula X: Rondo of Blood.  (Rev mentioned this one.  Good call, bro!!) And Portrait of Ruin does a similar thing for the last remixed/"nightmare" paintings that have one of those four same bosses at the end of each level.  The Medusa fight at the end of remixed Circus of Fools is absolutely fantastic.

You know, Castlevania has very very few bad boss battles.  I guess that's why it's the best series ever.

Wait, the boss battles in Simon's Quest were terrible (still a great game, though).  And remember the giant blob in Harmony of Dissonance?  That's the very definition of phoning it in.

I haven't played many Castlevania games, but I remember enjoying the headless knight in Dracula X Chronicles (PSP remake of Rondo of Blood, I think). It was hard, but surprisingly I never got so frustrated that I quit. I was determined to find a way to beat that guy!