Video Game Bosses That Make Us Rage

Video games are tough, and largely have been since the beginning. Most of that difficulty comes in the form of challenging bosses who have little respect for you or your time, and are as close to the digital embodiment of human suffering as we'll probably ever see in our lifetime. Let's revisit the worst of those jerks.

Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid might be the most difficult boss in video game history, and not because he's difficult to beat in the actual game. It's how your fight with Mantis leverages the hardware of the original PlayStation—from the built-in controller rumble to the memory card on which your game save was stored.

You see, Pyscho Mantis is a mind-reader, and can predict every move you make. To defeat Mantis, you can't win by simply attacking, you have to fool the mind-reader himself—and you can do so by swapping the port your controller is plugged into. It's such an ingenious use of breaking the fourth wall that it caused many players to give up in pure frustration—until a friend (or the Internet) showed them the way.

Super Meat Boy is an incredible modern platformer that requires immaculate precision, patience, and reaction time from the player. The large majority of its levels and bosses are intricately designed and offer a joyful sense of accomplishment when surpassed.

But there's one level that lives in our memory as nothing but an emotional scar and what remains of a shattered Xbox 360 controller. Little Horn, otherwise known as the "fist-pounding" boss from early on in the game, has the delightful sole purpose of subverting players' expectations. What do we mean? Let us tell you via a short poem:

He'll slam his hands down, first left and then right,

The blow of which kills you just right.

He'll swipe them across in a direction or two,

With even the lightest of hits instantly killing you.

And just when you think you've got his typical video game boss pattern down pat? He changes it up—just for funsies. Then you die some more. So fun.

The only thing worse than trivia night is trivia night that happens in an otherwise fun video game. Sure, there are great trivia games like You Don't Know Jack, but there are also games where it simply doesn't belong: like the Rare N64 classic, Banjo-Kazooie.

Though you spend most of the game collecting jigsaw puzzle pieces (like stars in Super Mario 64), exploring wide open levels with colorful characters galore, you'll also learn a lot about the game's world. So much do you learn that the developers thought it right fun to make the game's ending challenge a night of trivia all about what you've learned.

If you get more than a few answers wrong? You start all the way over. And to make matters worse, you have to climb all the way up through the castle the game is based in, sit through all the cheesy ending dialogue, and face the trivia all over again... but in a different order. Thanks, Rare.

This Frost dude is an outright jerk. If you haven't picked up Fight Night: Champion, you really, really should. It's probably the greatest boxing game to date, and features one of the more enjoyable fighting systems and stories in a sports game yet.

But the main antagonist is seriously the worst. Not only do you have to go 12 rounds with him to win (just like Rocky), you have to take a serious beating by just playing defense to wear him out, wail on him for a round or two, then go back to defending, then take him out when the game darn well tells you to! Nothing is more demeaning or frustrating than a boxing game instructing you to not box, and punishing you if you do with a clean knockout to end the run.

Just let me hit this other sweaty dude with my sweaty dude. Please.

We can recall a myriad of fond memories from the early days of the Game Boy, most notably while Pokemon was inserted firmly in the cartridge slot. Between the adventure of exploring the lands, fighting and capturing Pokemon to progress, and taking on the Elite Four at the end of the game, it's a superb journey to experience.

But the scourge that is the game's real challenge hath no mercy on any man's soul. Mewtwo, the final Pokemon needed to complete many Pokedexes, is located in a deep cave just outside one of the game's more familiar towns, Cerulean City. Not only can he nearly smite all of your leveled Poke-friends to their very grave, he's also hyper-resistant to capture and can't be fought again if you lose. What's that? A Pokeball? Get that nonsense out of here. We hope you kept that Master Ball from Giovanni. Oh you didn't? Your little brother used it on a Lvl 2 Metapod by mistake? Time to start a fresh save!