Bosses in gaming are the embodiment of absolute gratification. They can be terrifying, demeaning, and utterly frustrating but they can also be simply bonkers from a design and especially a gameplay standpoint. This list may contain a number of spoilers for games such as Bayonetta and a number of others that have good surprise bosses. Without further ado, let’s countdown the top ten bosses that are just complete insanity.

10. Sif – Dark Souls

It’s a dog. With a sword. A sword that he holds in his polygonal fangs and swings at you like a cooler version of that douche from One Piece.

This entry is more badass than ridiculous but think about how the fight would go if Sif didn’t have his sword; he’d just be a big dumb oversized wolf with daddy issues.

9. Frankenstein – Glover

Glover is just one of those weird oddly-enjoyable-but-clunky-as-sin Nintendo 64 games that I had the fortune of beating (I’m not too proud of it really) and it was a fairly gimmick-based platformer.

You had a ball and you use your fairly useless magic to change the ball into a bouncy ball, a metal ball, a bowling ball, and an extremely fragile piece of glass that you have to get in the holes at the end of various levels. You can bounce and toss and roll the balls, or just fondle them like a prepubescent child and even leave the balls and go play with yourself by climbing things and hopping around in a traditional platforming fashion.

Now there’s nothing wrong with Frank himself besides his deeply unoriginal design (how did we get a green, googly-eyed shamble monster out of a story where the actual monster is pale and runs like a crack-addled Jesse Owens?), but the way you have to beat him is ground pounding a bunch of platforms to make a sort of staircase around him so you can bounce your ball up on them to get to an exit up top while he walks up to a random platform, mainly the one you’re about to pound, and electrocutes it. Did I mention Frank can also destroy your ball if it’s on a platform when he zaps it? Bleh.

8. Lavos – Chrono Trigger

I can’t really describe why I find Lavos so hilarious other than he just looks like a giant pubic louse and the fact that he looks really dumb flying through space. Other than that he just sits there as a damage sponge and shoots a laser that, without normal dramatic anime characters, could be easily avoided by running 2 meters left or right. But I guess Chrono Trigger is essentially based on DBZ logic so it’s fine, kupo.

7. Kochamara – Psychonauts

This whole level was just plain hysterical with all the Toho monster movie jabs and the height was definitely the Jet Jagga parody himself. He doesn’t speak giant monster boy language and his moves include the incredible Mighty Ram Ground Version, Overly Intricate Combination Attack (he just does two normal punches and a limp roundhouse kick) and of course, my personal favorite: Hard-to-Avoid Area Attack.

On that note, Psychonauts 2 finally reached its Kickstarter goal so I expect more of this greatness if Tim Schafer doesn’t go full George Lucas.

6. Jubileus – Bayonetta

So the end credits roll for Bayonetta and everything’s just relaxing but something still feels of-OH WAIT. Jubileus shows up out of absolutely nowhere and starts literally throwing galaxies and turning Bayo into a child, while throwing constant shmup attacks to keep players away from completing that full pure platinum run, and then to top it off Jubileus gets punched through the entire solar system. Bayo jumps on a stripper pole while another version of “Fly Me to the Moon” plays over the credits while all the evacuated fecal matter is cleaned up off of the television screen.

5. Killer Croc – Batman: Arkham Asylum

Batman is Batman, but Batman would never really be able to survive a direct fight with someone as incredibly overpowered as Killer Croc. Luckily Killer Croc is like the Wicked Witch when it comes to murder opportunities and spends this whole fight doing jump-scares and waddling after Batman instead of just chasing him relentlessly.

Croc should’ve just thrown a rock at him.

4. Majora’s Wrath – The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Wrath

Majora’s Mask is one of those games that has more underlying dark tones than the 2nd act of Pinocchio and involves repressed memories and incredibly bizarre subject matter (there’s a side quest involving a dude who lives in a toilet). Majora itself is just plain terrifying when it gets to the final act of the game and it eventually just turns into Andy Warhol’s S&M fantasies over the oddest music ever created in an N64 game.

3. Mara – Shin Megami Tensei Series

I have no words…………….wait… is that a nose?

2. Gaping Dragon – Dark Souls

Born from acute gynophobia, this monster is likely the last thing most Souls players even got to shortly after release, just from the sheer terror of its presentation, especially if they happened to see the movie Teeth before playing.

The boss itself is actually quite easy to get a hang of, but still at the expense of sleep for many Miyazaki newcomers.

1. The Great Mighty Poo – Conker’s Bad Fur Day

It’s rather impossible to top the sheer greatness of this battle, in which you toss toilet paper at the Scatman himself until he’s defeated.

His operatic vocals and brilliantly written lyrics just make this the highlight of toilet humor and in my opinion the most amazingly ridiculous boss of all time.

A huge supply of tish very much so comes from his chocolate starfish.

Who were your favourites? Let us know in the comments section.