At the end of a long adventure, the story’s hero typically defeats the villain. This action restores peace in the world as nobody is around to threaten it. However, not all villains go peacefully into the night. Video games are filled with antagonists who continue to oppose the heroes time and time again. Some of these are immortal lords who can only be sealed for a time. Others tend to come back with a grudge.
Regardless of how often they’re defeated or destroyed, these monsters don’t know the meaning of the word quit. So, let us discuss some of these baddies who return in nearly every game of their series to ruin the peace these protagonists had fought many tough battles to achieve.
9 Dr. Wily
The counterpart to Dr.Light, Dr. Albert Wily, is every bit as intelligent as his former colleague while lacking all of his compassion. The main villain of the original Megaman series, Dr. Wily’s only goals are to be recognized for his scientific achievements and to rule the world.
To do this, he deploys his robot masters to do battle with the blue bomber time and time again, regardless of how often they’re reduced to scrap metal. Despite the many chances Megaman and Dr. Light have given Wily to turn his life around, this mad scientist refuses to give up.
8 Dracula
The Belmont clan is known far and wide for their ability to hunt the creatures of the night. Above all manners of ghosts, werewolves, and demons lies the Dark Lord, Dracula. Once human, Dracula would fall to madness after losing his first wife, becoming the immortal vampire we know him as today.
With his new powers over darkness, Dracula would create his fortress, which was home to many monsters. This castle was the location of his battles with various Belmonts. Due to his status as an immortal, Dracula would rise again no matter how often he was struck down, always ready to plunge humanity into eternal night.
7 Dr. Neo Cortex
One of the rare cases where a villain created their nemesis, Dr. Neo Cortex, is a mad scientist who experiments on animals. Introduced in the original Crash Bandicoot for the PlayStation, Cortex planned to take over the world with an army of mutated animals he had created.
Everything was going swell until a malfunction in his machine led to the creation of Crash, an orange bandicoot who has been hard at work fighting the doctor ever since. Cortex never stays down for long, finding several magical masks, crystals, or minions to assist him in his many rematches with Crash and his friends.
6 M. Bison
The big boss of the Street Fighter series, M. Bison, is the leader of the crime syndicate Shadaloo. Desiring world domination, Bison has hosted several world tournaments, acting as the final boss of each while wielding his devastating psycho power. Though this power would be his undoing as his body would be unable to handle the strain.
With this revelation, Bison has searched for a new body to transfer his mind into. Many world warriors, like Ryu and Chun Li, have vowed to stop him, yet Bison always found a way to return, though in a weaker body than before.
5 Ridley
While Samus Aran has slain several aliens throughout the Metroid series, there is one who always seems to find his way back. Ridley is the leader of a group of space pirates who have spent years terrorizing the galaxy. This included murdering Samus’ parents when she was a little girl.
Though she overcame her trauma and killed Ridley, he wouldn’t stay down for long, returning in various ways. From becoming the mechanical meta Ridley during the Metroid Prime trilogy to being revived as an X-parasite clone in Metroid Fusion, this scourge of the galaxy is never down for long.
4 Albert Wesker
A man with loyalties to nobody but himself, Albert Wesker led the S.T.A.R.S team during the original Resident Evil. This was a cover, however, as he was working with the Umbrella cooperation the whole time. This didn’t last long, as this psychopath would soon sink into the shadows and begin preparation for his plans to infect the global population.
Wesker was always scheming, jumping ship when it was convenient to further his goals. Coming to a head in Resident Evil 5, Wesker took center stage against Chris Redfield as the true maniac he always was.
3 Dr. Eggman
Dr. Ivo Robotnik, also known as Eggman, has been terrorizing Sonic and his friends for years. As brilliant as he is full of himself, the not-so-good doctor has made it his life’s mission to destroy all manner of wild life and take over the world. His large ego comes with a good case of perseverance as Eggman has been bested by Sonic more times than can be counted.
Even has Eggman had nearly achieved victory like launching Sonic into space in Sonic Adventure 2 or capturing him in Sonic Forces, the blue blur came back stronger to win. Despite these failures, Eggman is always scheming, ready with a new robot.
2 Ganondorf
Holder of the Triforce of Power, Ganondorf’s grudge against Link and Zelda is eons old. Ganondorf embodies Demise’s curse to forever oppose the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero. This combined with his immortality has led him to rise up multiple times, always with the same goal of taking over Hyrule for himself.
Despite this thirst for power, Ganon is locked into this cycle by the gods, unable to free himself from always meeting a violent end at the hands of Link’s Master Sword. Come the events of Breath of the Wild and Ganondorf is nothing more than a living calamity.
1 Bowser
If there were any villain known for getting back up and continuing to oppose the heroes no matter what, it’d be Bowser. The iconic King of the Koopas has been attempting to kidnap Princess Peach for the last 35 years and each time, the Mario brothers are always there to stop him.
While his exact motivations change from game to game, Bowser doesn’t seem to know the meaning of the word quit as he has survived all manner of lava, supernovas, and explosions to come back and make another play for the Mushroom Kingdom.
