It’s easy to see why anime video games are so popular. They give fans new content from their favorite franchises while allowing fans to directly control the action, letting them immerse themselves in the world and get a fresh perspective on the characters. Of course, the transition from one medium to another is often tricky, and nowhere is this better seen than with anime game boss fights.
While there are many fun and memorable anime boss battles, there are also many unreasonably hard ones. While it could be argued that this makes sense for games based on shonen properties, this doesn’t calm the nerves of players who have tried to beat these encounters, likely feeling tempted to snap their controllers in the process.
10 Blue Knight (Astro Boy: Omega Factor)
Released on the Game Boy Advance in 2004, Astro Boy: Omega Factor is famous for its surprisingly high quality and unorthodox gameplay. The title does several very unexpected things, including having an exceptionally high difficulty level for a game aimed at children.
Blue Knight is the best example of this, as rather than using the skills you’ve learned previously, this boss battle throws you into a series of sudden quick-time events hampered by less-than-stellar button detection. If you fail even once, you must start from the beginning of the level, making this a frustrating experience.
9 Gecko Moria (One Piece: Unlimited Cruise)
It’s hard not to feel for devs working on One Piece games. Turning the manga and anime’s strange powers and fast and chaotic battles into something playable is no easy feat. Because of this, even the best One Piece games tend to feature at least one controller-breaking boss battle—but Gecko Moria from One Piece: Unlimited Cruise 1: The Treasure Beneath the Waves might take the cake.
Gecko Moria constantly runs away from you, firing attacks that knock you backward while summoning hordes of minions, making it hard to get in attack range. This is all made even worse by his instant kill attack, which can easily catch you by surprise and force an unexpected restart.
8 Hollow Ichigo (Bleach: Soul Carnival 2)
Bleach is full of powerful characters, so it makes sense that any game based on the franchise would feature some tough fights. It makes perfect sense that a new version of the series protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki would be challenging, but the PSP’s Bleach: Soul Carnival 2 takes this to the next level.
Most of the Hollow Ichigo fight’s difficulty comes from Ichigo’s burning attack. This move is hard to dodge and takes off a big chunk of your life bar if you get hit. Because of this, one misstep can turn your perfect run into a humiliating loss that will leave you seething.
7 Crocodile (One Piece Odyssey)
2023’s One Piece Odyssey shows that the tradition of One Piece games having overly demanding bosses is far from over, as this game is packed full of tricky foes. Of these foes, Crocodile is the one that will make many players reach for a guide.
While he sounds easy on paper, Crocodile’s strength is the biggest hurdle, as he can easily knock off massive chunks of a character’s life bar with a single hit. This means that if players don’t manage their healing carefully, they can quickly become overwhelmed—especially if players didn’t stock up on healing items before this fight and are stuck relying on weaker abilities.
6 Arale (Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3)
The Dragon Ball video games have featured many unexpected characters. However, one of the most memorable is Arale from Budokai 3, as Arale is the protagonist of Toriyama’s other famous manga Dr. Slump.
In Budokai 3, Arale she becomes one of the universe’s most deadly fighters. In the What If saga, players take control of Goku to fight her. While it might seem like an easy-win battle on paper, Arale’s skill with blocking and her exceptionally long combos can be a massive problem, as she can lock players down and take off a large amount of life.
5 Deidara (Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution III)
The Naruto anime and manga are famous for their fights, as the heroes frequently have to defeat powerful and dangerous foes. This carries through to the games, but some boss battles are hard enough to make even the real Naruto quit. The final story mode fight against Deidara is the perfect example, as this Explosion Corps member doesn’t go down quickly.
During the fight, Deidara doesn’t flinch from attacks and can easily trap players in a loop with his animal projectiles, making it hard to even get into attack range. Even if a player gets close enough to attack, they’ll quickly learn that Deidara has many powerful combos that can quickly end the fight.
4 Rouge (Ranma 1/2: Battle Renaissance)
Ultra-hard bosses in anime games are not a new trend, as shown by 1996’s Ranma 1/2: Battle Renaissance. Players who get to the end of this game’s story mode will find themselves fighting Rouge, a character who, in the series, was hunting down Pantyhose Taro.
However, in this game, Rogue is the cheapest fighter to ever walk the Earth. While controlled by the computer, she throws out a constant barrage of projectiles with infinite range, making dodging them nearly impossible. Plus, if players get close enough to attack her, she has a special force field attack that throws players across the screen, making a win a tricky challenge.
3 Knight Gundam (Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3)
The Dynasty Warriors franchise has always been known for its intense difficulty, while Gundam is famous for its massive, awe-inspiring battles. When the two are put together, it makes sense to expect an epic challenge. The final mission of Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 pits players against the unique-looking Knight Gundam.
While the Knight Gundam’s powers are not as out-of-the-box as some other Gundam mechs, its sheer attack strength means that even a single wrong move or mistimed attack can send players right back to the start of the mission, leading to a very frustrating fight—doubly so if players have been upgrading their mech to focus on crowd control rather than one-on-one battles.
2 Hollow Seigen (Bleach: The 3rd Phantom)
Released on the Nintendo DS in 2009, Bleach: The 3rd Phantom is a fascinating adaption of the popular anime series, as it’s a tactics game rather than a fighter or action game. Despite its tactics-driven nature, the game’s uniqueness doesn’t detract from its difficulty.
Hollow Seigen, the game’s final boss, has many powerful abilities. They can ignore the game’s main mechanics, grant themselves extra turns, and summon minions to slow players’ progress. Even if players can get through all of this, they’ll find that Seigen has a massively powerful and wide-ranging attack that inflicts a status effect, making this battle a test of wits and patience.
Queen Metalia is a bonus boss exclusive to the Sega Genesis port of Sailor Moon. If players can successfully complete the game’s hard mode, they’ll be taken to a one-on-one fight with the evil overlord.
However, this fight is hard, as Metalia takes up half the screen and attacks by shooting energy balls. These balls are massive, have an unpredictable pattern, and have surprisingly big hitboxes, meaning that even pro players will take unexpected hits. Plus, the sheer amount of balls means players can often get hit two or three times in a row, quickly whittling down the health bar.
