Summary
Final Fantasyis a video game series that needs no introduction. After Square decided to incorporate elements of D&D with a twist of their own, 1987 saw the release of the firstFinal Fantasygame that was a massive commercial hit and paved the way for this company to become one of the biggest players in the video game industry. With the advent of the PlayStation and its improved hardware, Squaresoft poured their heart and soul into the development ofFinal Fantasy 7, and the rest is history.
A huge part of whatmakes theFinal Fantasygames so much fun to playis the many cinematic boss fights players can engage with during their grand adventure. A lot of these bosses are built up well and become the focal point of encounters that most people expect, but there are times when certain boss fights come out of nowhere to bamboozle the player. If executed well, these encounters are quite memorable, but the inverse is true of bosses who don’t earn their battle and end up being a chore to fight.
Updated on July 26, 2025, by Ritwik Mitra:Final Fantasy is one of the most iconic JRPG franchises of all time that fans can’t stop raving about. Despite an identity crisis that has affected the series in recent times, there’s no denying that each Final Fantasy game has played its part in letting fans enjoy some tantalizing gameplay, including several boss fights that can be a pain to deal with. Sometimes, the most memorable bosses in Final Fantasy are the ones that come out of nowhere, surprising the player as they’re forced into an encounter that they might not be able to overcome when they’re caught unprepared.
Using the submarine to explore the underwater depths ofFinal Fantasy 7’sworld is a welcome change of pace, even if the areas that players can explore are limited. However, this wonder will soon turn into horror when players see a massive figure lurking around that can crash into them and initiate a boss fight when they least expect it.
Emerald Weaponis a daunting foe who has become one of the most infamous superbosses in the history ofFinal Fantasy. This boss punishes players who have too many materia equipped, and players who don’t have the means to breathe underwater will need to finish this fight in twenty minutes or less. Given how most players had no idea how powerful this foe was, it’s easy to see why this encounter became even more surprising when players are bombarded with high-damage attacks that will take out their party on the very first turn, or maybe the second turn if they’re lucky.
Final Fantasy 16does a great job of paying homage toFinal Fantasy’shistory despite moving the series into the realm of real-time combat. Acquiring the powers of several Eikons and using their skills in battle is something that players will have a great time with, but the trials and tribulations they must overcome to acquire Odin are way harder than anything fans would expect from this title.
Before players even have a shot at taking out Barnabas, they must deal with his trusted subordinate, who turns out to be none other thanSleipnirhimself. A character who has appeared as a steed for Odin more often than not here assumed a human form and could be created at will by Barnabas. This led to two surprising encounters, where the first one reveals Harbard’s true identity, while the other pits Clive and his allies against multiple copies of Sleipnir who can be a pain to deal with.
6Aranea Highwind
A Mercenary Who Ambushes Noctis When He’s Assaulting An Imperial Base
Aranea Highwindis one of the best characters inFinal Fantasy 15, initially appearing as a boss before switching sides and helping Noctis and his friends in their conflict against the Imperials. There are many reasons why players love this character, with her epic introduction certainly helping things.
Just when players think they have it all figured out while sabotaging an Imperial base, Aranea swoops in out of nowhere and ropes players into a boss fight that is as epic as they come. Fighting against this dragoon makes for one of the most memorable moments inFinal Fantasy 15, and it helps that she eventually joins the party to let players enjoy the brief time when they can team up with this amazing character to beat down their foes.
Final Fantasy 9is one of the best games in the series that fans can’t stop talking about to this day. There are very few missteps in a title that harkens back to the roots of the series with a bunch of modern advancements to make the best of both worlds. However, despite being largely brilliant throughout its runtime, the finale drops a boss that comes out of nowhere and serves as the biggest lowlight in an otherwise stellar experience.
The idea of the heroes having to fight god at the end of a JRPG may be a hilarious meme, butgames likeFinal Fantasy 9show why this joke exists. After defeating Trance Kuja and assuming that the final fight is wrapped up, a divine figure by the name ofNecroncomes to steal the main antagonist’s thunder, bombarding players with status effects and leaving them dissatisfied with a climactic boss encounter that did not deserve to close out the game.
Exploringthe body of Sinand encountering Seymour and Braska’s Final Aeon makes for two of the best boss fights inFinal Fantasy 10,and leads into the grand finale. In fact, most fans were surprised that the kaiju version of Tidus' dad did not serve as the final boss. It’s a shame since what eventually ended up being the last battle in the game was a fight where players couldn’t lose, with the encounter being more of a cinematic showcase as Yuna sacrificed all her aeons and stoppedYu Yevonin his tracks.
Even if there were hints throughout the game that Yu Yevon pulled the strings to impose a horrible fate on Spira, there were better ways to display his threat than to shoehorn him into a final battle with no stakes. In a near-perfect experience, the final fight inFinal Fantasy 10is one of the biggest negatives. Thankfully, the conclusion is emotional and satisfying enough to make up for these faults.
The firstFinal Fantasyis a revolutionary title that set the stage for this franchise to dominate the JRPG genre and become its poster child. Many people don’t remember the first iteration of this title, which was hard as nails and forced players to strategize their encounters if they didn’t want to be taken out in a random encounter that was a bit too tough for their liking. However, people who thought that the random encounters of the originalFinal Fantasycouldn’t get harder would be singing a different tune after encounteringWarmech.
Superbosses have become aFinal Fantasytradition, with Warmech being the first example of an imposing foe that is tougher than the final boss and requires a high-level party with the best equipment and a near-perfect strategy to come out victorious. This boss can be encounteredon a bridge in the Flying Fortressleading to Tiamat, one of the four Fiends. It has a 1/64 chance of appearing, and players who had no knowledge of the existence of this foe will find themselves bamboozled when this mech comes out of nowhere and obliterates their party in a single turn.
Final Fantasy 6’sWorld of Ruin is one of the best overworlds inFinal Fantasyhistory, replacing the World of Balance after Kefka disturbs the Warring Triad in a bit to subjugate the world to his will. As Celes, players must explore the world and help the band of heroes reunite before staging one final assault on Kefka’s Tower. Almost all the content in the World of Ruin is optional, including a boss that lounges about in the sky and can’t be seen unless players bump into it with their airship.
Deathgazecan be a challenging encounter, especially early on when fans have no idea about this boss' existence and end up fighting it with an under-leveled party. Once players are aware of their existence, they must painstakingly scour every inch of the map with their airship to find this hidden boss and slowly whittle its health down before it’s finally defeated. If players want to eliminate this headache for themselves, then theconsole version ofFinal Fantasy 6 Pixel Remastershows the boss' location on the overworld as a floating dark orb. Players can crash into this void with the Falcon to initiate this encounter, making it easier to acquire the Bahamut magicite.
MostFinal Fantasybosses are amazing cinematic encounters that show the strengths of their respective titles and set up a bombastic conclusion.Final Fantasy 5is no exception, with the final fight againstExdeathbeing a battle that has been built up for quite some time. Instead of his usual avatar, players battle a version of Exdeath that hasreverted to its original form of a treeused to seal the world’s evil. The fight makes for a great time with players taking out this boss after a lengthy challenge, only for another phase to be revealed out of nowhere.
After his defeat, Exdeath falls into the void and merges with it, becoming the ultimate form of destruction that players must defeat by any means necessary. It’s a twist that players love, allowing them to take out a souped-up version of Exdeath that can decimate party members in no time, to the point where an alternate ending is unlocked if the boss is defeated but one of the characters was KO’d at that point.
