Summary
Boss battles are something thatThe Legend of Zeldafranchise excels at, with Link’s multiple adventures being the scenario to some of the most challenging and spectacular encounters in video game history. But, unfortunately, these great titles have a fair share of disappointing bosses that can be taken down in mere seconds.
These games tend to present a well-thought-out difficulty curve but, sometimes, players will have to face the occasional boss that doesn’t take much effort to defeat, and thus, it may end up leaving a bad taste in their mouths. As a result, there are several boss fights inThe Legend of Zeldathat are surprisingly easy, with the following creatures being some of the most frustrating examples.
The fact that a boss fight is easy may not necessarily mean it is badly designed, as long as it’s a worthwhile experience for the players. This is exactly the case with theSeized ConstructfromTears of the Kingdom, a boss that doesn’t take much effort to beat, and not even the prospect of having the entire arena flooded with Gloom raises the stakes all that much.
The point of this encounter is to pummel this evil construct with Mineru’s Robot, which Link acquired a few minutes before. This is made even more satisfying if the player fuses it with some other items and weapons that they can get a hold of. But no matter how fun this fight is, the Seized Construct is relatively easy to defeat, and it sadly can’t even be fought a second time like the other dungeon bosses inTears of the Kingdom.
Contrary to popular belief,Legend of Zeldabosses were always good, and not just since they switched to 3D graphics.A Link to the Pastis a solid example of a game with some surprisingly challenging encounters, but theArmos Knightfrom the Eastern Palace is definitely not one of them.
The concept of fighting five enemies at the same time was not properly executed, as these knights are just too slow to even pose a threat, and Link will only have to avoid their predictable attacks and strike whenever he can. As a result of this, they can be defeated in mere seconds. The Armos Knights are so easy to beat that they were demoted to mini-bosses later in the game, inside Ganon’s Tower.
The fight againstFyrusfeatures a clever way of using the Iron Boots, as Link has to equip them so he can pull the chains that are attached to the beast’s wrists to make him fall and gain access to the weak point on his head.
Regardless of how satisfying this strategy is, it is not difficult to pull off and, since Fyrus doesn’t have many attacks, the player will have to repeat it a few times before he’s defeated. This is an intimidating boss with a unique mechanic, but the fight itself gets so repetitive that it ends up being disappointingly simple to defeat him.
Phantom Hourglassfeatureda unique control scheme that made good use of the Nintendo DS’ signature second screen. Everything Link does in this game is controlled with this touchscreen, so it only makes sense that it would have a tame difficulty curve, so players can slowly get used to it.
However, by the time they encounter the boss of the Temple of Fire,Blaaz, it’s extremely likely that they have already mastered most of these touchscreen controls. Blaaz has to be defeated by combining his duplicates with the Boomerang, something that is as easy as drawing a simple path with the DS’ stylus. While the element of having to do this depending on the ascending order of the clones’ horns (which are revealed by the map screen) is appreciated, it doesn’t make the battle any less effortless.
Even though it’s arguably one of the best games in the series, the bosses inThe Wind Wakerare nowhere near as good as in other titles. The boss of the Forbidden Woods,Kalle Demosis a perfect example of this disappointing reality.Despite its colorful and memorable design, its fight is mind-numbingly easy.
Link has to cut through its vines by using the Boomerang and then attack the weak spot on its flower, which is exposed when it falls to the ground. If that wasn’t already super simple, fans discovered that Kalle Demos can be defeated in just one hit if Forest Water is poured on said exposed flower. Curiously enough, transporting the Forest Water to its arena before it expires may be more challenging than the actual battle.
In the original release ofMajora’s Mask, the battle against Odolwa was fascinating, despite its lack of difficulty. This felt like a true and intense clash between two swordsmen. Unfortunately, most of these remarkable elements were lost in the Nintendo 3DS remake.
Majora’s Mask 3Dadded an extremely obvious weak spot to Odolwa’s head, which not only made the clash less interesting but also gave players the option to stun him by dropping Deku Nuts on his head, something that is easy to do with all the Deku Flowers scatted around the arena. Even if they decide to use the old-school strategy to fight Odolwa, it doesn’t change much, because he’s way less aggressive than he was in the original release.
InSkyward Sword, a fearsome aquatic beast attacks the Sandship dungeon with its tentacles, and Link has to slowly make his way through the level before encountering it. Sadly, the ensuing battle doesn’t live up to the hype because this boss isTentalus,who is infamous for being surprisingly easy to defeat.
Tentalus mostly fights by using its tentacles, which can be severed with little to no effort with just one Skyward Strike. After that, the beast can be knocked out by shooting an arrow at its weak point: its giant eye. Tentalus’ design is already very goofy and non-threatening, but the fact that its weak point is extremely obvious makes this entire boss fight even more unsatisfying.
SinceOcarina of Timewas the first fully 3D game in the series, it featured some spectacular and memorable bosses. But there were also some boring exceptions, with the worst one overall beingKing Dodongo, the boss of Dodongo’s Cavern. He attacks by inhaling air before shooting flames and, just like any other Dodongo in the game, he can be defeated by throwing a bomb into his mouth to stun him, which gives the player a few seconds to attack him on his head.
After that fairly straightforward strategy, King Dodongo will counterattack by rolling around the arena, which can be easily avoided. This is made even more effortless if Link has the Hylian Shield since he only needs to crouch to avoid taking any damage. This gameplay loop is a major disappointment, because the name and design of this gigantic dinosaur are intimidating in concept, but the execution completely failed it.
Creating a balanced difficulty curve in a game as open-ended asBreath of the Wildmay be a challenging task, but the developers somehow managed to make it work, seeing how surprisingly hard the initial fight against Calamity Ganon in Hyrule Castle is. However, this doesn’t explain why the following final clash againstDark Beast Ganonis so mind-numbingly easy in comparison.
Calamity Ganon’s new giant boar form is undoubtedly menacing, but the actual process of taking it down takes almost no effort at all. Link will have to run around on his horse and shoot Light Arrows at its super obvious weak spots, while Dark Beast Ganon attacks at a slow pace. While this encounter is somewhat epic in nature,Breath of the Wildis such a well-designed video game that this final battle ends up being disappointing, especially when compared to other iconic final battles against Ganon in other installments.
The common misconception that bosses in 2DLegend of Zeldagames are way too simple and easy exists for a reason, and theAngler FishfromLink’s Awakeningis a perfect example of this disappointing trope. At first glance, the concept of this boss is already uninteresting, since it’s just a giant angler fish with a generic design.
And the fight itself is equally mediocre, with the Angler Fish slowly charging at Link, and summoning weak Angler Fries that aren’t much of a threat either. To defeat it, Link will have to swim around and strike the light on its head with the sword, which doesn’t take much time, thought, or effort. The most frustrating thing about the Angler Fish is that it was already extremely easy in the original game, andthe Nintendo Switch remake ofLink’s Awakeningdidn’t improve this boss fight at all.
