I love the feeling when I discovered I could use the skyward strike in the lightning. Because all of a sudden you feel just as powerful as Demise, and the final blow where Link jumps high up into the air and does a spin while getting a lightning charge to finally land in Demise’s chest is so satisfying.
Say what you want about Skyward sword but that finishing blow is not just the coolest in Zelda history but maybe the coolest in video game history as a whole.
The sand song was the worst because they change the time signature in it with no real way of knowing otherwise. I had to watch a video of UA-cam when I realized it.
I litteraly had to close my DS because i got dizzy after trying it and failing many times, and it wasn't just because you had to blow a lot, you also had to move the damn flute perfectly and the game never tells you if you messed up so you had to hold on to the end of the song only to be told that you have to do it again from the beggining and guess what you did wrong.
Imagine a zelda game where the roles are switched and you play as the angry gerudo king ganondorf and you go on a lust for power as to be the next king of hyrule. Now imagine Link as the final boss
Honestly, the fight against Majora, WITH the Fierce Deity mask has a powerful feeling to it for me. You spent the entire game in a world of perpetual suffering. You saw people at their very lowest, ready, or terrified of death. You had to pull people from the depths of despair, madness, and in a way even death for a few. Now, the monster that made it all stands right in front of you, and in your hands is the power to make it suffer, to unleash the combined fury and anguish of every person you saved. Murdering Majora is never boring for to me, it is catharsis.
Can we talk about how badass Link is when taking down Demise? Like, the jumping up high, then the spin followed by the lightning strike charging up the Master Sword just to end it off with him burying the sword deep into Demise's chest That whole move just looks cool as hell
I know you posted this a year ago... but here I am. I wanted to say, well, agreed, but also, that entire boss fight is stunning. It feels like the artists and designers for the game sat down and asked, "What should it look like when Link defeats the thing that causes all these timelines to even exist?" And the only way they could do it justice was by putting them in a seemingly empty void. While empty, the thing that always rings out to me are their reflections below them. As though to symbolize every other self after this point, in every timeline, every universe, every persons' held game. The only thing that would have made it better, is if the reflections showed a slightly different ending that only keen eyes would have spotted.
@@jjcymbolic Then after having that long discussion about how amazing and breathtaking they can make this final boss fight that sets off the rest of the games in the time lines, one man speaks up and says something that changed everything: "What if we make Demise easily distracted...by the bug net."
I most recently played Skyward Sword almost a year ago now, and I actually used up all of my fairy bottles against Demise. I was almost dead when I landed that lightning charged fatal blow on him. Needless to say, amazing boss fight.
Something I just wanted to throw out there: you can actually jump over Darknuts using the Roc's cape, which makes it considerably easier to hit them from behind.
@@decimation9780 It worked quite well for me, actually helped me finish them considerably faster than any other method. I'm not saying that it'll work for everyone, but I like it quite a lot.
@@decimation9780 It's all about timing and execution. I know what that Anika person is talking about because that's my strategy against Darknuts. Maybe it does not work with you because the Roc's Cape in Minish Cap is a bit different from the one in the GB games, but another strategy is to do a zig zag jump to get behind them. The zig zag helps you evade a strike and put you in position to strike.
I bought the game guide when I pre-ordered the game, so I ruined a lot of surprises and beat the game really quickly and easily. I wish I could go back and play through it for the first time again without that. I'd probably like it more than I already do.
@@Zaxh01 Yeah, its a shame. TP was such a good game visually and the gameplay was very, very good. But oh boy was it easy. Even the water temple was easy. I even like it!
Demise is probably my favourite final boss of the series so far. The buildup and music was really great. I also found it a bit harder since I didn’t bother getting the hylian shield at the time
Agreed! I haven't played all the Zelda games, but it had been the hardest boss fight I'd ever gone into. Every other boss in the game I managed to fight without preparation, but Demise I had to prepare for. First the final battle with the Ghirahim and then Demise himself, I actually had to purchase potions for the first time in the entire game. Not to mention that I struggled with the motion controls throughout the whole game, especially that final strike. But it was sooooo satisfying when I beat him I actually jumped up, threw my control on the ground, and screamed. Definitely one of the most memorable boss fights I've ever had.
On that note, I think I would have replaced the Demise fight with the Ganon fight from the first Zelda game. I found him very difficult to beat because he's invisible and fires energy balls at a fast pace. Not to mention he moves extremely quick. Landing a hit was a massive pain and it requires the hunt and peck technique as I like to call it. At least with Demise you have an opportunity to prepare yourself against him by buying and upgrading potions and obtaining fairies, which considering you have an opportunity to get multiple bottles, you should be in good hands against Demise. Ganon you only get one bottle to fill with medicine and a lot of times I have to use both doses to bring that big blue boar down.
I love Vaati as a character though I don't remember ever beating him legitimately due the time restriction. He really needs a 3D appearance if you ask me. I also never beat Zelda 2 legitimately.
The oracle games could take up half the list by themselves. Also, the good news about Dark Link is that if you game over to him you don't have to fight Thunderbird again. You will have to venture through the Great Palace again, but if you've done it once you can do it again.
Agreed, I have no idea how you’re supposed to dodge that laser. And I couldn’t figure out how to damage him! I wish they would give you a hint or something
Arguably, it's almost _too_ much like an instrument; if you're more of a brass than a woodwind (like me), the plot-mandatory flute sessions are impossible. I tried it for hours without success because my brother wasn't home at the time.
Always loved Demise's fight. Just a climactic final showdown in (what I assume to be) the Sacred Realm. No tricks, no gimmicks, just a straightforward duel to the death with a god. Friggin awesome.
Interesting tale regarding the shadow link fight in Zelda 2, I beat him with angry relentless drunken attack spam. I probably spent around 30 minutes in failure trying to fight him strategically. In frustration, I downed an alarming amount of whiskey and let loose my unhinged assault, which worked very easily.
Thanks for talking about Zelda II! It's one of my favorites in the series and I think it deserves more love (even tho it's the most difficult video game I've ever played and I spent most of my playthrough exclaiming that I hate it)
it deserves a sequel; because the state of Hyrule after Zelda II is just to interesting to avoid: Two Princess Zelda's. One of 'em, the one from the very first game, not a direct descendant/reincarnation of the goddess; and the second Zelda, just woken from eternal slumber, that very direct descendant, a Zelda who had no issue immediately tying the wielder of the entire triforce to her. Cue the civil war. The possibilities in that setting are endless; whether directly behind Zelda II, or a few years down the line, or a lot of time down the line; maybe even explore/bring back whatever dark forces crushed the kingdom of Hyrule in the first place; we don't who they are/were, we don't know what they wanted, we don't know if they even cared about the Triforce at all; did they capture the Triforce of Wisdom and lose it; or did they never bother; we don't know if they were defeated by the family/person who crowned themselves king; or whether they just left on their own, and the new royal family reforged the kingdom in their absence. You could even make a Zelda game where you do not play Link; it makes eminently sense for Link to be an NPC; and not just for him, but also the quest of the non-Link hero there are endless possibilities. Is he still with Zelda, is he king over their half of Hyrule, is he not king, just stuck in the middle of two warring Zeldas, did either of them do anything to hurt his trust, or maybe he just immediately peaced out and is sitting on a mountain as a wise sage, training anyone in any weapon, or magic if they come to him. Maybe you get training from him, maybe you have to convince him to pick a side/forge a true peace, maybe you have to defeat him. Set the game a century after and see what the fall out of the civil war was; just as many awesome possibilities, and each and every one of the options would produce an awesome game and story. I suppose it's why they went with a reboot / alternate timeline in the first place; after Zelda II; what the hell do yo do; so many awesome options and each one consigns a 1000 other options just as awesome to oblivion; and there's the limitations of the technology and Zelda games of the time to consider. Today, Zelda games have much more story and NPC story/RPG elements; you could do it justice; but of course, you still have to pick one out of the myriad of choices, and consigning the others to never be seen. it's a daunting task.
@@williamdennis3574 Don't see much of a point for a remake; the graphics is one of the best of the 8-bit era, and hold up perfectly. A re-release though, that would be good; but then Nintendo is rather shit with (digital) rereleases and keeping them functioning.
Remember folks, like Zeltik said, Demise is a good difficulty fight if you come prepared. AND REMEMBER THAT YOU CAN PARRY. I had completely forgotten about the shield bash and parry for his fight, despite needing it on the Lanayru Desert ship for the mini-boss getting the bow in order to proceed. Your shield is your best friend in SS to beat the snot out of most enemies, don't forget you have it like I did!
My favorite boss fight is Twinrova in OT. It's really clever and tricky. The whole temple is cool, having to complete it as a child and adult. I always liked the approach to it, too: escaping the jail cell, avoiding detection, and fighting the guards, as well as traversing the desert im the sandstorm.
I don't know why so many people think that. Just because they did Link's Awakening doesn't automatically mean they're going to remake every handheld Zelda.
@@Howitchewstofeel5gum yeah but at the same time they arent going to remake one game and nothing else Nintendo above anything likes money and they are sitting on millions
Oracle games Twinrova tip that makes the battle easy: Stay close to one of them. When The other shoots a ball at you, swing your sword in rapid succession at the one you are close to. The magic ball will hit your sword and the witch at about the same time. Rinse and repeat.
remember, in a link to the past the master sword has already 2 upgrades before fighting Ganon (each upgrade doubles the damage of the master sword so at the end you end with, one swing of the golden master sword = 4 of the original) one time I tried passing the game without tempering and dropping the master sword into the fairy fountain, Ganon takes so many hits that is insane
That whole entire last palace in Zelda 2 one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in a video game. Finding it. Getting to it. Getting through it and then the fight at the end. I didn’t know you could “cheese” the Dark Link fight back then. They should remake Zelda 2. Such an underrated game.
it really is underrated. most people I know who mention it just assume its bad because no one talks about it, every time I try to mention all the things it brought to the series they brush it off. what it was trying to do with side scrolling tactical combat was honestly amazing.
For me, Vaati was pretty hard the first time I played Minish Cap, back when I was a kid. But now, it's not too hard. And I agree with all of your picks.
So funny story, I was stuck on one of the gyroscope shrines in botw for like, an hour and a half. I just could NOT get my wii u gamepad to properly respond so I threw it to the side in anger with it, and as I throw my gamepad to the side I see the ball fly off the maze and land in the pocket.
Just flip the entire puzzle over and use the flat bottom surface underneath. One of the great things about botw is how many ways u can cheese your way to victory. Hahahaha
Dark Beast Ganon is so underwhelming. The music, and the context are so epic, as well as the final blow, BUT I think this is the time where I think TLoZ did a cinematic boss very wrong. Although the entire vibe and setting is telling me to feel excited I just can't, when the boss is so such a non-threat, and the "combat" is as simple as the minigame where you pop balloons while horse riding. There have been WAAY better cinematic bosses in TLoZ before, such as Ganondorf in TP, all his phases aren't too hard, but they're not a walk in the park and the cinematic feeling is very epic, Demise from SS is very cinematic AND actually a good difficult challenge for the final boss. I hope Tears of the Kingdom makes a great improvement in this aspect too.
I remember the first time fighting ganondorf in wind waker. I was so surprised by how fast he moved and how quickly I died. It took me a couple tries but it wasn’t incredibly hard to beat him
The hardest bosses on two Zelda game titles I found out are: Thunderbird on Zelda II, and Demise on Zelda: Skyward Sword. Another tough boss on Zelda: Breath of The Wild in Ganondorf as I show it on the video on UA-cam as I saw it. Another tough boss is Ganondorf in 4 phases on Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Oh man that Ganon fight in the Oracle games takes me back. Those games are amazing and it's a shame Nintendo hasn't done anything with them lately. Wouldn't mind seeing a remaster of them.
I mean, Lynels aren't THAT hard once you get the hang of their attacks. after fighting them so often myself, I got really consistent at flurry rushing them. granted, it CAN be pretty punishing if you do get hit, but, with enough food, you can pretty easily heal back the health you lose.
@@Wolfboy107 : Yeah, they're fantastic, but once you've run through it a couple times, it's no longer much of a challenge, and I think they might have too much health. If they had less, it would be more practical to fight more than one at a time.
Majora is easily a joke if u get all 4 Great Fairy rewards as well. Half damage makes most of the attacks do like half a heart or even lower and the Great Fairy Sword is equal in damage to the Fierce Deity one
@@triforcehero3664 Thunder Blight was pretty difficult, I died to him like 10 times. but then a year later I replayed the game in master mode and beat him first try XD
@@bezoticallyyours83 Thank you! honestly, since it took me so long to beat that game, I weirdly didnt want it to end. I came to love that game and I can say it's one of my favorites in the Zelda series.
Those fights were fun, but even though it's been over a decade since I've played all the way through TP, Zant was definitely a more dynamic boss, and I only really remember the first phase of Ganon being hard in TP.
Despite its lacking in difficulty, I actually enjoy Dark Beast Ganon as a cinematic end to the story. I would have liked it to be more difficult though, for sure.
Yeah, I get really cheesed when people call it a final boss and judge it as such when it’s basically just a playable cinematic. Come on people use your brain!
For me it's the opposite. I find all that train riding so boring but I never had any problems with the flute. Also there's the annoying stylus control, the perpetually ungrateful passengers on the train and all these rabbits you have to ride by 10 times to catch 🤣 Not my favourite Zelda game
I knew going in that the Oracles' Twinrova + Ganon would be on this list, at least somewhere. I'm honestly surprised to not see Non-Fierce-Deity'd Majora's Wrath! I honestly think it's the hardest fight in the series if you don't cheese it, though maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I practiced it more. If you aren't careful, there can be a lot of attacks from both on-screen and off-screen at the same time. It's definitely the "busiest" 3D final boss, at least.
If it hasn't already been covered, I'd be really curious to see a video on the symbolism of eyes in Zelda. They're just all over the place! Wonder if there's any deeper meaning?
I mean...for bosses and monsters, it could just be more of a logic reasoning than a symbolism reasoning. It’s a giant, fleshy part of the body that is noticeably different than the other parts of the body so it can organically separate itself as “a weak spot.” Then there’s also biological, eyes are delicate and fragile. So when you have a tough spider boss with a hard outer skin, it’s eyeball is the only thing that can still be damaged. Honestly I don’t know of many eye symbols in Zelda games, except for the sheikah. I think it has to deal with seeking the truth, hence why the lens of truth is shaped as the sheikah eye. It’s mostly monsters that seem to always have big eyes. Unless I’m forgetting some more stuff.
This video in particular highlights why zelda is one of the best game series of all time. mechanics lore characters artifacts .. simply great and relatively wholesome.
just got my hands on skyward sword on wii (finally) and i gotta say, the motion controls make the fights so engaging, boss fights are a whole workout. i can't wait to fight demise and feel like i actually beat him up to death. now i have to fight the urge to shake my switch everywhere when i come back to TOTK
I remember being a kid and getting stuck on Vaati in Minish Cap. The fact that you have to use the Cane of Pacci to expose the weakness in the arms in the last form is pretty out there, I remember it took me a while to figure it out. I even looked up online what I was supposed to do, but the site I found only told me I needed to flip the arms, and for some reason I never put it together with the cane, the item that explicitly flips things. Thought I had to throw it up into the air with the mole mitts or something.
I beat ALTTP almost 30 years ago for the first time. I still play through every couple of years and for some reason Ganon seems to get more difficult, well not falling off the edge does at least.
I beat Demise after 15 attempts during my first playthrough, for one because I wasn't good at using my shield, but more significantly because I didn't know that you were supposed to use a lighting strike against him. I thought you were supposed to hit him within the split second he's exposed while he's summoning lighting down to charge his sword. I am not smart, but I did eventually beat him without using the lightning strike once, so at least I've got that going for me :/
"You think Zelda II is your ally? You merely adopted an emulator of it. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't know the cheese until i was a man, by then it was nothing to me but cheating!"
One tip I heard constantly for fighting Dark Link in OT was to use the megahammer. It doesn't work. Link has to hold it with both hands, so he can't use his shield. The hammer is too slow. And Dark Link easily avoids the blows. I found slashing at him and having bottled fairies is the key.
It kinda homes in on you, because Ganon teleports based on where you move to dodge it. I think if you start to move one direction to dodge it, then double back, you might be able to consistently dodge that trident.
0:19 I hate how everyone hates dark beast ganon, yes I know it was easy but it was more for the experience then anything else, calamity ganon was the real challenge
I’m still on Link to the Past and it’s such a cool game for a 90’s game. I need 2 more crystals from the Dark World and seeing that Ganon from LttP is on this list makes me even more anxious for the battle!! Great Video btw
I always thought the fight against the 4 Links in the GBA version of ALTTP was the hardest. It fits most of the criteria mentioned for Shadow Link here. It's optional, but technically it is a final boss since the credits play out after you beat them.
I've been playing Zelda II since I started playing video games back need it's release and I still haven't ever legitimately beaten Dark Link. I've tried and come very close, but always end up having to cheese him on my last life. Still a great game and a great boss!
I love doing a "green tunic & no Sword upgrade" run in Link to the Past. It makes the Ganon fight MUCH harder because you can't even damage him without performing a spin attack!
I thought A Link Between Worlds had a pretty hard final boss, I couldn't always avoid damage. Also DS' stylus drawing recognition made Phantom Hourglass a bit of a pain to freeze time. I think the final bosses in the games I played are generally pretty easy though.
Demon King Demise is my 2nd Favourite Zelda Boss, my 1st Favourite is The Imprisoned, and my 3rd Favourite is Calamity/Dark Beast Ganon! But, my ULTIMATE Favourite is easily A Link To The Past's Ganon! He's, as you said, easily the strongest form of Ganon!
5:48 "Secret Technique of Darkness"
*just turns off the lights*
Link: So you think darkness is your ally?
Listen, Link is technologically disinclined, he doesn't understand the complex mechanism that is the lightswitch :P
@Manek Iridius That’s Undertale, and I literally just played through it. It’s now one of my favorite games
Link: hello darkness, my old friend
@Manek Iridius Papyrus from Undertale.
I love the feeling when I discovered I could use the skyward strike in the lightning. Because all of a sudden you feel just as powerful as Demise, and the final blow where Link jumps high up into the air and does a spin while getting a lightning charge to finally land in Demise’s chest is so satisfying.
I love that fight. And even if you have a bunch of potions, you have to run away to be able to drink them, as the game doesn't pause for that
Say what you want about Skyward sword but that finishing blow is not just the coolest in Zelda history but maybe the coolest in video game history as a whole.
Almost makes me feel like Thor when I gotta do that part
@@masterspongebat2387 That I can agree with
Took me a while to figure it out. Pretty sure I just tried to skyward strike out of last resort. Definitely a good feeling.
The hardest final boss in Zelda was drawing the figure 8 in Phantom Hourglass
I literally never finished the game because my touchpad wasn't well-calibrated enough
@@bastienlafleur5838 impas house in ocarina of Time??
It was an hourglass
No, the actual Hardest boss was Drawing the Triforce in Skyward Sword
This ruined me
The Hardest boss was blowing the songs on the windpipe in Spirit Tracks into your DS's microphone
Just tap on the microphone with your finger.
The sand song was the worst because they change the time signature in it with no real way of knowing otherwise. I had to watch a video of UA-cam when I realized it.
I was just about to say that
I litteraly had to close my DS because i got dizzy after trying it and failing many times, and it wasn't just because you had to blow a lot, you also had to move the damn flute perfectly and the game never tells you if you messed up so you had to hold on to the end of the song only to be told that you have to do it again from the beggining and guess what you did wrong.
That ruined the game for me. Won’t replay it because of this.
Imagine a zelda game where the roles are switched and you play as the angry gerudo king ganondorf and you go on a lust for power as to be the next king of hyrule. Now imagine Link as the final boss
Nintendo should absolutely do this!
Hyrule warriors "kinda" has this, but I know it's not the same
Link is not a character I think I'd like to cross blades with :DDDDDDD
Fate decrees you would loose though so not really fair
@@ChaosCat942 could be downfall timeline tho
Honestly, the fight against Majora, WITH the Fierce Deity mask has a powerful feeling to it for me. You spent the entire game in a world of perpetual suffering. You saw people at their very lowest, ready, or terrified of death. You had to pull people from the depths of despair, madness, and in a way even death for a few. Now, the monster that made it all stands right in front of you, and in your hands is the power to make it suffer, to unleash the combined fury and anguish of every person you saved. Murdering Majora is never boring for to me, it is catharsis.
Yeah but making that monster die knowing it was defeated by a child is better
Using the Fierce Deity to defeat Majora is cheap
@@LITTLE1994 It is fun to play around with, however yeah the bossfight becomes insignificant with the Fierce Deity
Can we talk about how badass Link is when taking down Demise? Like, the jumping up high, then the spin followed by the lightning strike charging up the Master Sword just to end it off with him burying the sword deep into Demise's chest
That whole move just looks cool as hell
I know you posted this a year ago... but here I am. I wanted to say, well, agreed, but also, that entire boss fight is stunning. It feels like the artists and designers for the game sat down and asked, "What should it look like when Link defeats the thing that causes all these timelines to even exist?" And the only way they could do it justice was by putting them in a seemingly empty void. While empty, the thing that always rings out to me are their reflections below them. As though to symbolize every other self after this point, in every timeline, every universe, every persons' held game. The only thing that would have made it better, is if the reflections showed a slightly different ending that only keen eyes would have spotted.
@@jjcymbolic Then after having that long discussion about how amazing and breathtaking they can make this final boss fight that sets off the rest of the games in the time lines, one man speaks up and says something that changed everything: "What if we make Demise easily distracted...by the bug net."
@@Classiccdg00 how?
The hardcore sword through the skull in windwakwr looked more badass imo
I say it’s close with WW’s finish
I’m still excited for SSHD. Demise is the most badass boss of all, even defeated he still won in a way.
He didn't win, but he will never lose.
@@hozz1014 What
@@bryanlokao1 he keeps returning
Assuming the switch has a means of canceling drift on the motion controls
@@LucarioBot, We don’t need the MCs anymore.
They gave us button controls.
I most recently played Skyward Sword almost a year ago now, and I actually used up all of my fairy bottles against Demise. I was almost dead when I landed that lightning charged fatal blow on him. Needless to say, amazing boss fight.
I fought with him using infused guardian potion so i didn't need any
It’s exactly what a Zelda boss fight should be, difficult if you just do it, but can be rendered super easy if you go out of your way to power up
Something I just wanted to throw out there: you can actually jump over Darknuts using the Roc's cape, which makes it considerably easier to hit them from behind.
I tried that, multiple times. It does not work as well as you remember it working.
@@decimation9780 It worked quite well for me, actually helped me finish them considerably faster than any other method. I'm not saying that it'll work for everyone, but I like it quite a lot.
@@decimation9780 It's all about timing and execution. I know what that Anika person is talking about because that's my strategy against Darknuts.
Maybe it does not work with you because the Roc's Cape in Minish Cap is a bit different from the one in the GB games, but another strategy is to do a zig zag jump to get behind them. The zig zag helps you evade a strike and put you in position to strike.
That's my whole strategy, it makes things super easy, I've never even run into the whole running out of Time problem
@@decimation9780 skill issue
I always found Demise easy, but I found him to be the most intimidating final boss.
Yeah a simple pattern but a epic fight at that
I bought the game guide when I pre-ordered the game, so I ruined a lot of surprises and beat the game really quickly and easily. I wish I could go back and play through it for the first time again without that. I'd probably like it more than I already do.
Same
There’s a lot of intimidating bosses in twilight just because they’re all so huge. But they’re all pretty easy.
@@Zaxh01 Yeah, its a shame. TP was such a good game visually and the gameplay was very, very good. But oh boy was it easy. Even the water temple was easy. I even like it!
Demise is probably my favourite final boss of the series so far. The buildup and music was really great. I also found it a bit harder since I didn’t bother getting the hylian shield at the time
Agreed! I haven't played all the Zelda games, but it had been the hardest boss fight I'd ever gone into. Every other boss in the game I managed to fight without preparation, but Demise I had to prepare for. First the final battle with the Ghirahim and then Demise himself, I actually had to purchase potions for the first time in the entire game. Not to mention that I struggled with the motion controls throughout the whole game, especially that final strike. But it was sooooo satisfying when I beat him I actually jumped up, threw my control on the ground, and screamed. Definitely one of the most memorable boss fights I've ever had.
On that note, I think I would have replaced the Demise fight with the Ganon fight from the first Zelda game. I found him very difficult to beat because he's invisible and fires energy balls at a fast pace. Not to mention he moves extremely quick. Landing a hit was a massive pain and it requires the hunt and peck technique as I like to call it. At least with Demise you have an opportunity to prepare yourself against him by buying and upgrading potions and obtaining fairies, which considering you have an opportunity to get multiple bottles, you should be in good hands against Demise. Ganon you only get one bottle to fill with medicine and a lot of times I have to use both doses to bring that big blue boar down.
You can tell Zeltik truly loves minishcap when he goes into far more detail on that boss battle than any of the others on this list. 😆
I love Vaati as a character though I don't remember ever beating him legitimately due the time restriction. He really needs a 3D appearance if you ask me. I also never beat Zelda 2 legitimately.
The oracle games could take up half the list by themselves.
Also, the good news about Dark Link is that if you game over to him you don't have to fight Thunderbird again. You will have to venture through the Great Palace again, but if you've done it once you can do it again.
Good to know. I'm soooo close to beating the game.
Ayo, the Oracle games were the *shizz* , bro! I seriously hope we get remasters of them like they did with Link's Awakening! Clearly it's possible.
The path in the Great Palace is also super simple. The maps confusing but you basically just got down right and you're there
The hardest final boss for me was dark beast Ganon, he’s just too hard.
Agreed, I have no idea how you’re supposed to dodge that laser. And I couldn’t figure out how to damage him! I wish they would give you a hint or something
I know right he moves so quickly I can’t shoot the weak spots
Dark beast ganon was easy af bruh
@@Finley-qd8xz That’s the joke
Yes same, idk what those weird glowy circles were? I tried throwing my horse at them but it didn’t work
You know that feeling of satisfaction and relaxation you have when you watch planet earth, well, watching zeltik is the equivalent of that
"Even regular enemies can be unbelievably difficult, like the fucker..."
Me: HMM.
UA-cam: did somebody say d.e.m.o.n.i.t.i.z.e.d?
Fokka.
Peahats on OOT, those were a bitch to kill! 🤣
@@lordtullus9942 "fucker" actually, its Canon, miyamoto told me
It’s not said like that
For me it's the piece of scrap flute mechanic in Spirit Tracks. My partner had to do it, saying "It's not like an instrument."
Arguably, it's almost _too_ much like an instrument; if you're more of a brass than a woodwind (like me), the plot-mandatory flute sessions are impossible. I tried it for hours without success because my brother wasn't home at the time.
Always loved Demise's fight. Just a climactic final showdown in (what I assume to be) the Sacred Realm. No tricks, no gimmicks, just a straightforward duel to the death with a god. Friggin awesome.
Zelda 2 should probably have an epileptic warning
Zelda 2...the only boss I ever had an extremely hard time dealing with, glad to see it made #1
Weeks... literal weeks to kill that damned boss. Zelda 1 and 2 are always in my top favourite list simply for the nostalgia.
The Reflect spell in Zelda 2 actually makes Links hitbox smaller too so it’s incredibly useful against Thunderbird.
Interesting tale regarding the shadow link fight in Zelda 2, I beat him with angry relentless drunken attack spam.
I probably spent around 30 minutes in failure trying to fight him strategically.
In frustration, I downed an alarming amount of whiskey and let loose my unhinged assault, which worked very easily.
I'm so glad that the Oracle games got talked about. I feel like its often overlooked. I love the Oracle games so much.
Thanks for talking about Zelda II! It's one of my favorites in the series and I think it deserves more love (even tho it's the most difficult video game I've ever played and I spent most of my playthrough exclaiming that I hate it)
it deserves a sequel; because the state of Hyrule after Zelda II is just to interesting to avoid: Two Princess Zelda's. One of 'em, the one from the very first game, not a direct descendant/reincarnation of the goddess; and the second Zelda, just woken from eternal slumber, that very direct descendant, a Zelda who had no issue immediately tying the wielder of the entire triforce to her.
Cue the civil war.
The possibilities in that setting are endless; whether directly behind Zelda II, or a few years down the line, or a lot of time down the line; maybe even explore/bring back whatever dark forces crushed the kingdom of Hyrule in the first place; we don't who they are/were, we don't know what they wanted, we don't know if they even cared about the Triforce at all; did they capture the Triforce of Wisdom and lose it; or did they never bother; we don't know if they were defeated by the family/person who crowned themselves king; or whether they just left on their own, and the new royal family reforged the kingdom in their absence.
You could even make a Zelda game where you do not play Link; it makes eminently sense for Link to be an NPC; and not just for him, but also the quest of the non-Link hero there are endless possibilities. Is he still with Zelda, is he king over their half of Hyrule, is he not king, just stuck in the middle of two warring Zeldas, did either of them do anything to hurt his trust, or maybe he just immediately peaced out and is sitting on a mountain as a wise sage, training anyone in any weapon, or magic if they come to him. Maybe you get training from him, maybe you have to convince him to pick a side/forge a true peace, maybe you have to defeat him.
Set the game a century after and see what the fall out of the civil war was; just as many awesome possibilities, and each and every one of the options would produce an awesome game and story.
I suppose it's why they went with a reboot / alternate timeline in the first place; after Zelda II; what the hell do yo do; so many awesome options and each one consigns a 1000 other options just as awesome to oblivion; and there's the limitations of the technology and Zelda games of the time to consider. Today, Zelda games have much more story and NPC story/RPG elements; you could do it justice; but of course, you still have to pick one out of the myriad of choices, and consigning the others to never be seen. it's a daunting task.
@@3dmaster205 Or a remake. Zelda 2 was amazing and I would love to see a remake of it.
@@williamdennis3574 Don't see much of a point for a remake; the graphics is one of the best of the 8-bit era, and hold up perfectly. A re-release though, that would be good; but then Nintendo is rather shit with (digital) rereleases and keeping them functioning.
the man who made it is suprised you exist lol but have fun i guess
Remember folks, like Zeltik said, Demise is a good difficulty fight if you come prepared.
AND REMEMBER THAT YOU CAN PARRY. I had completely forgotten about the shield bash and parry for his fight, despite needing it on the Lanayru Desert ship for the mini-boss getting the bow in order to proceed.
Your shield is your best friend in SS to beat the snot out of most enemies, don't forget you have it like I did!
My favorite boss fight is Twinrova in OT. It's really clever and tricky. The whole temple is cool, having to complete it as a child and adult. I always liked the approach to it, too: escaping the jail cell, avoiding detection, and fighting the guards, as well as traversing the desert im the sandstorm.
Oracle of Seasons then Ages were my first Zelda games. Great memories of those two
Link’s Awakening DX for me, but my brother and I played Ages and Seasons A LOT too
They're good games. 👍
My first two were The Legend of Zelda and Adventure of Link
Pretty accurate list. I'd maybe go with Link's Awakening instead of Vaati.
What? Dethl is easy
You can kill is with magic powder and boomerang
@@gamercore5216 Those only do normal damage in the remake; making him much more difficult.
Yeah, the Ganon phase of that took me a bit to figure out how to hurt him. Also didnt have the boomerang
I had a really hard time with vaati 😞
Demise always wielded his sword in a way like link does, meaning he could have had a shield, in my opinion.
hes so badass nothing can hurt him he dose not need it until the mastersword came along and fucked up the hole I CaN,t bE HUrT bull shit
I hope grezzo is doing a oracle of ages/seasons remake as links awakening, its a perfect fit for this zelda year!
yes please!!
...and honestly, I’d be okay if the Linked Portion got scrapped entirely for a third game and a set Order
I don't know why so many people think that. Just because they did Link's Awakening doesn't automatically mean they're going to remake every handheld Zelda.
@@Howitchewstofeel5gum yeah but at the same time they arent going to remake one game and nothing else Nintendo above anything likes money and they are sitting on millions
@@Hirabeatz I just don't think they really care about the Oracle games all that much. I'd be happy to be proven wrong, though.
@@Howitchewstofeel5gum yeah your right they never tried the gimmick again or brought them up ever but hey Nintendo is wierd
Oracle games Twinrova tip that makes the battle easy: Stay close to one of them. When The other shoots a ball at you, swing your sword in rapid succession at the one you are close to. The magic ball will hit your sword and the witch at about the same time. Rinse and repeat.
Or cheese the whole fight from the bottom left corner and spam sword slash
Bro, so true, and you know what? My grandma beat it, fair and square on our NES when I was a kid, that boss is a beast.
Your grandma is the real beast
@@funnyteacherman man, I swear she is, after a couple years I tried re playing link's adventure, that game is tough!
That's awesome
remember, in a link to the past the master sword has already 2 upgrades before fighting Ganon (each upgrade doubles the damage of the master sword so at the end you end with, one swing of the golden master sword = 4 of the original) one time I tried passing the game without tempering and dropping the master sword into the fairy fountain, Ganon takes so many hits that is insane
That whole entire last palace in Zelda 2 one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in a video game. Finding it. Getting to it. Getting through it and then the fight at the end. I didn’t know you could “cheese” the Dark Link fight back then. They should remake Zelda 2. Such an underrated game.
I would love to see the first two Zelda games remade.
it really is underrated. most people I know who mention it just assume its bad because no one talks about it, every time I try to mention all the things it brought to the series they brush it off. what it was trying to do with side scrolling tactical combat was honestly amazing.
For me, Vaati was pretty hard the first time I played Minish Cap, back when I was a kid. But now, it's not too hard. And I agree with all of your picks.
Yeah, Vaati gave me trouble the first time too
what made his fight so hard? i’ve beaten him several times and never had trouble. i was disappointed with him honestly because of how easy he was.
It took my friend 30 minutes to defeat Demise. It took me 2 minutes. I drank a guardian potion right before the battle.
The hardest bosses: the Gyroscope puzzles from BOTW.
xD so fucking tru
One upped by Oracle's mandatory Goron Dance game
@@bezoticallyyours83 One upped by playing the songs in Spirit Tracks
So funny story, I was stuck on one of the gyroscope shrines in botw for like, an hour and a half. I just could NOT get my wii u gamepad to properly respond so I threw it to the side in anger with it, and as I throw my gamepad to the side I see the ball fly off the maze and land in the pocket.
Just flip the entire puzzle over and use the flat bottom surface underneath. One of the great things about botw is how many ways u can cheese your way to victory. Hahahaha
Demise is such a damn cool boss. I want more appreciation and knowledge of this boss, and you delivered :)
What Dark Beast Ganon lacks in a good boss fight, it makes up for with the best boss theme in the entire franchise.
Dark Beast Ganon is so underwhelming. The music, and the context are so epic, as well as the final blow, BUT I think this is the time where I think TLoZ did a cinematic boss very wrong. Although the entire vibe and setting is telling me to feel excited I just can't, when the boss is so such a non-threat, and the "combat" is as simple as the minigame where you pop balloons while horse riding. There have been WAAY better cinematic bosses in TLoZ before, such as Ganondorf in TP, all his phases aren't too hard, but they're not a walk in the park and the cinematic feeling is very epic, Demise from SS is very cinematic AND actually a good difficult challenge for the final boss. I hope Tears of the Kingdom makes a great improvement in this aspect too.
5:58 You need to stay away from the edges at that point in the battle. Try using the Fire Rod to light those torches faster and reduce your exposure.
Dude, Vaati messed me up when I played it as a kid. Still gives me flashback
I remember the first time fighting ganondorf in wind waker. I was so surprised by how fast he moved and how quickly I died. It took me a couple tries but it wasn’t incredibly hard to beat him
Gonna have to add Ganondorf from TOTK with the absurd Heath bar 😂
The hardest bosses on two Zelda game titles I found out are: Thunderbird on Zelda II, and Demise on Zelda: Skyward Sword. Another tough boss on Zelda: Breath of The Wild in Ganondorf as I show it on the video on UA-cam as I saw it. Another tough boss is Ganondorf in 4 phases on Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Nah, they are all easy. TP has an awesome final boss with 4 phases, but none of them was even a bit hard.
Zeltik: "Demise is only truly difficult if the player is unprepared."
Me: "Yeah, ARIN."
This made me laugh out loud, thanks for that X'DD
Looking back at this TOTK final boss feels like the hardest of all
Demise is difficult, it’s just the shield and the invincibility potion is absolutely op
Oh man that Ganon fight in the Oracle games takes me back. Those games are amazing and it's a shame Nintendo hasn't done anything with them lately. Wouldn't mind seeing a remaster of them.
All the hard bosses: *Claim to be hard*
Lynels: You're all pathetic!
Once you know to shoot them in the face though they're easier then Lizalfos and Bokoblin.
I mean, Lynels aren't THAT hard once you get the hang of their attacks. after fighting them so often myself, I got really consistent at flurry rushing them. granted, it CAN be pretty punishing if you do get hit, but, with enough food, you can pretty easily heal back the health you lose.
@@Wolfboy107
**Cries in Trial of the Sword**
@@Wolfboy107 : Yeah, they're fantastic, but once you've run through it a couple times, it's no longer much of a challenge, and I think they might have too much health. If they had less, it would be more practical to fight more than one at a time.
@@roguerandom2581 yeah but you get nothing
Majora is literally a joke with the fierce deity's mask
Yeah i did try to beat it normal i got pissed and then pull majoras'worst nightmare aka oni link
Yeah but he said without it
Majora is easily a joke if u get all 4 Great Fairy rewards as well. Half damage makes most of the attacks do like half a heart or even lower and the Great Fairy Sword is equal in damage to the Fierce Deity one
even without it its not that difficult
Sure, but to obtain the fierce deity's mask you need to have had all other masks before. It's a good reward according to me
Memories of having a mental breakdown when doing demise
fr
@@chxrrycuqcake9730 he's not that hard
He was so easy
Guessing it is only hard ,because of the bad motion controls
I'm having a mental breakdown trying to find the last few shrines
I broke my phone with a wii remote cause I couldn’t beat the imprison and it was the first form
I know how it feels I did that before when I kept dying to thunder blight Gannon in BOTW
@@damonmoles8306 oof
I broke many wii remotes on the actual final boss
Bruh
@@triforcehero3664 Thunder Blight was pretty difficult, I died to him like 10 times. but then a year later I replayed the game in master mode and beat him first try XD
I love your channel and hope it grows even more.
i love how in wind waker, ganondorf jumps over to zelda, puts his sword away, and just backhands her and she gets knocked out
why is she so weak
I saw the thumbnail and knew #1, you can never forget that fight if you’ve completed The Adventure of Link
I know right!? I finally beat Adventure of Link for the first time in my life last summer and I’m 33 lol
@@jondelmore3163 congrats for beating a satisfyingly challenging game. 👏
@@bezoticallyyours83 Thank you! honestly, since it took me so long to beat that game, I weirdly didnt want it to end. I came to love that game and I can say it's one of my favorites in the Zelda series.
@@jondelmore3163 Same thing happened to me. I beat it on 3DS Virtual Console, and I did not use any savestates. 52 game overs later, success!
@@jonahstein3034 all I can say about that game is, Thank god for save states lmao
I thought Twilight Princess would be here because it's 4 fights in a row.
Those fights were fun, but even though it's been over a decade since I've played all the way through TP, Zant was definitely a more dynamic boss, and I only really remember the first phase of Ganon being hard in TP.
True but they're all incredibly easy. I'd argue that none of the 3D zelda games are hard at all in terms of bosses, just puzzles
Despite its lacking in difficulty, I actually enjoy Dark Beast Ganon as a cinematic end to the story. I would have liked it to be more difficult though, for sure.
Yeah, I get really cheesed when people call it a final boss and judge it as such when it’s basically just a playable cinematic. Come on people use your brain!
Bravo! Love seeing the difference in bosses. I was an original Zelda 2 player and could not do it! That game was bloody difficult.
The true hardest thing was trying to play the damn flute in spirit tracks
I love Spirit Tracks, and I completely agree. That was easily one of the worst things about the game.
@@matthewmuir8884 yeah spirit tracks is one of my favorites and the flute was terrible 😂
@@nottrustworthy6361 Yeah. I'll defend the Spirit Train, but I will not defend the flute.
Or the harp in skyward swaod on wii.
I was literally about to rage quit because it was just so frustrating.
For me it's the opposite. I find all that train riding so boring but I never had any problems with the flute. Also there's the annoying stylus control, the perpetually ungrateful passengers on the train and all these rabbits you have to ride by 10 times to catch 🤣 Not my favourite Zelda game
I knew going in that the Oracles' Twinrova + Ganon would be on this list, at least somewhere.
I'm honestly surprised to not see Non-Fierce-Deity'd Majora's Wrath! I honestly think it's the hardest fight in the series if you don't cheese it, though maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I practiced it more. If you aren't careful, there can be a lot of attacks from both on-screen and off-screen at the same time. It's definitely the "busiest" 3D final boss, at least.
It really got painful for me after I wasted all my magic early on
If it hasn't already been covered, I'd be really curious to see a video on the symbolism of eyes in Zelda. They're just all over the place! Wonder if there's any deeper meaning?
I mean...for bosses and monsters, it could just be more of a logic reasoning than a symbolism reasoning. It’s a giant, fleshy part of the body that is noticeably different than the other parts of the body so it can organically separate itself as “a weak spot.” Then there’s also biological, eyes are delicate and fragile. So when you have a tough spider boss with a hard outer skin, it’s eyeball is the only thing that can still be damaged.
Honestly I don’t know of many eye symbols in Zelda games, except for the sheikah. I think it has to deal with seeking the truth, hence why the lens of truth is shaped as the sheikah eye. It’s mostly monsters that seem to always have big eyes. Unless I’m forgetting some more stuff.
This video in particular highlights why zelda is one of the best game series of all time. mechanics lore characters artifacts .. simply great and relatively wholesome.
For me it would be Onox from Oracle of Seasons and Dark Link from Zelda II
I remember feeling so accomplished completing the Oracle games when I was like 11. I love those games.
11:59 Dead Man's Volley? I always called it Ganondorf Tennis
just got my hands on skyward sword on wii (finally) and i gotta say, the motion controls make the fights so engaging, boss fights are a whole workout. i can't wait to fight demise and feel like i actually beat him up to death. now i have to fight the urge to shake my switch everywhere when i come back to TOTK
I have a feeling most of these are going to be from 2D games.
And you'd be right.
Always thrilled to hear more love for Minish Cap! Definitely my favorite 2D Zelda as well
So Capcom made some of the hardest bosses... I miss that 2D style games
I so appreciate the Minish cap love this channel gives
When i was a kid i have ask to an older teen to beat demise 😔 too difficult for young me shame !
I remember being a kid and getting stuck on Vaati in Minish Cap. The fact that you have to use the Cane of Pacci to expose the weakness in the arms in the last form is pretty out there, I remember it took me a while to figure it out. I even looked up online what I was supposed to do, but the site I found only told me I needed to flip the arms, and for some reason I never put it together with the cane, the item that explicitly flips things. Thought I had to throw it up into the air with the mole mitts or something.
So there is a Kirby reference in Minish Cap- you fight Dark Matter.
I beat ALTTP almost 30 years ago for the first time. I still play through every couple of years and for some reason Ganon seems to get more difficult, well not falling off the edge does at least.
I beat Demise after 15 attempts during my first playthrough, for one because I wasn't good at using my shield, but more significantly because I didn't know that you were supposed to use a lighting strike against him. I thought you were supposed to hit him within the split second he's exposed while he's summoning lighting down to charge his sword.
I am not smart, but I did eventually beat him without using the lightning strike once, so at least I've got that going for me :/
MLG skills
"You think Zelda II is your ally? You merely adopted an emulator of it. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't know the cheese until i was a man, by then it was nothing to me but cheating!"
I found that with a Guardian Potion+, Demise was simple. Satisfying, though.
i barely hear people saying good things about minish cap, which is my fav handheld zelda game. so kudos to you for having great taste!
vaati's boss fight made me rage quit more times than i can count
One tip I heard constantly for fighting Dark Link in OT was to use the megahammer. It doesn't work. Link has to hold it with both hands, so he can't use his shield. The hammer is too slow. And Dark Link easily avoids the blows. I found slashing at him and having bottled fairies is the key.
Well if you want to cheese him, Din's Fire completely destroys him.
Yuganon, man...
That f*cking floating rotating trident.
In hard mode is basically hell.
Seconded
It kinda homes in on you, because Ganon teleports based on where you move to dodge it. I think if you start to move one direction to dodge it, then double back, you might be able to consistently dodge that trident.
Minish cap was my first Zelda game and I’m glad it’s getting some recognition
I defeated Vaati with half heart on my First try. I was shaking. Great boss fight.
Boss battles in triforce heroes was fairly fun for me. The fact my whole family could take them on with me made for some amazing times.
0:19 I hate how everyone hates dark beast ganon, yes I know it was easy but it was more for the experience then anything else, calamity ganon was the real challenge
Dude Minish Cap was so good and had such amazing bosses and Vaati was definitely one of the best
Love the link between worlds background music.
I’m still on Link to the Past and it’s such a cool game for a 90’s game. I need 2 more crystals from the Dark World and seeing that Ganon from LttP is on this list makes me even more anxious for the battle!!
Great Video btw
If you don't have bigoron sword and a double magic meter ganon is a difficult fight especially when you're 7
I always thought the fight against the 4 Links in the GBA version of ALTTP was the hardest. It fits most of the criteria mentioned for Shadow Link here. It's optional, but technically it is a final boss since the credits play out after you beat them.
jesus i almost had a seizure with zelda 2 death screen
I've been playing Zelda II since I started playing video games back need it's release and I still haven't ever legitimately beaten Dark Link. I've tried and come very close, but always end up having to cheese him on my last life. Still a great game and a great boss!
You know, watching this, I realized something.
Vaati's eye when transfigured resembles the Shiekah eye to a degree.
I love doing a "green tunic & no Sword upgrade" run in Link to the Past. It makes the Ganon fight MUCH harder because you can't even damage him without performing a spin attack!
I thought A Link Between Worlds had a pretty hard final boss, I couldn't always avoid damage. Also DS' stylus drawing recognition made Phantom Hourglass a bit of a pain to freeze time. I think the final bosses in the games I played are generally pretty easy though.
Demon King Demise is my 2nd Favourite Zelda Boss, my 1st Favourite is The Imprisoned, and my 3rd Favourite is Calamity/Dark Beast Ganon! But, my ULTIMATE Favourite is easily A Link To The Past's Ganon! He's, as you said, easily the strongest form of Ganon!
I’m starting to think Oracle Ganon is a mindless beast
Mouser avatar is awesome
@@bezoticallyyours83 thank you
the game said he is
Your videos are always so well done!
I'd like to take this moment to thank you for consistently using literary present tense. 😃