10 Hardest Bosses In Resident Evil History
Stock up on magnum ammo. You're going to need it.
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00:00 Now when it comes to Resident Evil, a lot of people think zombies first and foremost,
00:04 but come on, let's face facts. We're here because of one real reason, and that is the
00:09 over-the-top and deliciously devious boss battles that you have in the games.
00:14 Now if we're being honest, not all boss battles in the Resident Evil franchise are brilliant,
00:18 but boy howdy are some of them incredibly difficult. And that's what we're here to
00:21 talk about today. As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are the 10 Hardest Bosses in Resident
00:26 Evil History.
00:28 Number 10. Yawn - Resident Evil and Remake
00:32 It seems only appropriate that we kick things off with the very first boss that players
00:35 encountered way back in 1996. During your ill-fated excursion through the Spencer Mansion,
00:41 you had to collect all manner of keys and items to open up new pathways full of certain
00:45 death. Eventually, you had no choice but to explore the incredibly foreboding attic, and
00:50 lo and behold, you were greeted by the gargantuan serpent known as Yawn. For those who were
00:55 still struggling to get to grips with the tank controls, Yawn posed quite a challenge.
00:59 Its strikes are fast and has a tendency to fill up a fair chunk of the arena, often trapping
01:04 you in a corner before sinking its fangs into you. It's entirely possible to simply dash
01:08 to the end of the room and grab the key, but unless you're able to pull off some pretty
01:12 pro-gamer magic, Yawn will trap you, and you will likely die. Play it safe, however, and
01:17 it can be toppled, providing you've got enough ammo to take it out.
01:21 Veterans of the series might scoff at this inclusion, but just cast your minds back for
01:25 a moment to your first trip to this attic. I bet it was pretty bloody terrifying, wasn't
01:30 it?
01:31 9. Alexia Ashford – Resident Evil Code Veronica
01:34 Resident Evil Code Veronica was something of a weird step for the Resident Evil canon.
01:38 For what was meant to be the next evolution in the Resident Evil franchise, it wallowed
01:42 a little too heavily in the past, and any steps forward it did take went straight into
01:46 the realms of pretty over-the-top and unbridled frustration. One of its saving graces, though,
01:51 is the wondrously over-the-top villain, Alexia Ashford.
01:54 This platinum-blonde, stereotypically English virus queen didn't seem like too much of
01:59 a threat on the surface, but underneath, she is one tough customer. Her humanoid form is
02:03 fairly tricky, with her ability to create walls of flames to bottleneck you into certain
02:08 positions, as well as her one-shot immolation attack that can spell an instant game over
02:12 if she manages to touch you. But it's her final form that really makes one's piss
02:16 boil.
02:17 Now in the form of a gigantic insect queen, she fills up most of the arena and rains poison
02:22 down upon you, alongside spawning parasitic babies. Get past that stage, and you'll
02:27 still have to shoot her down once she sprouts wings and begins spewing acidic blood at you,
02:32 all the while zooming around the arena and evading your attacks. It's truly infuriating
02:37 stuff.
02:38 8. Super Tyrant Mr. X – Resident Evil 2 Remake
02:42 Throughout the first chunk of the Resident Evil 2 remake, you'll be pursued by the
02:45 pasty-faced beefcake known as Mr. X. He's an incredibly intimidating presence. But imagine
02:51 our surprise, however, when we realised that despite his imposing nature, he's fairly
02:55 easy to evade, and even easier to incapacitate if you've got the right weapon. Considering
03:00 he's a pushover throughout most of the game, it came as quite a shock to many when he returned
03:04 at the tail end for one last hurrah, complete with a giant claw that he plans on using to
03:08 liberate your organs from their rather fleshy prison.
03:12 Like many other bosses on this list, you'll have to fight this uber-version of Mr. X in
03:16 a confined space, one that only gets more claustrophobic as debris begins to fall around
03:21 you. And said rock and rubble can be useful for evading his instant death attack, but
03:25 more often than not, you'll find yourself stuck between a rock and a muscle man, as
03:29 he'll rain his fury down upon you like nobody's business. After a couple of tries, you'll
03:33 become aware of his tells and how best to avoid him, but it's highly unlikely that
03:37 you'll come out of this battle unscathed the first time.
03:40 7. Skag Dead - Resident Evil Revelations
03:44 For what was essentially just a handheld spin-off to the main series, a great amount of care
03:48 and attention went into Resident Evil Revelations. In particular, its vast array of gruesome
03:52 oceanic monsters that wanted nothing more than to eat your face. Case in point, the
03:57 Skag Dead.
03:58 Unusual for a Resident Evil game, in that the arena that you fight the Skag Dead is
04:02 fairly large, giving you plenty of breathing room as well as a hefty smattering of gas
04:05 canisters for you to utilise if he gets too close, it was still incredibly difficult.
04:10 Because in most cases, these additions don't count for the fact that the Skag Dead moves
04:14 rather quickly and puts intense pressure on you at all times. This forces you to think
04:19 on your feet and fire shots off in the small windows of opportunity that you're granted,
04:22 because if you let the Skag Dead invade your personal space, well, you're gonna get hurt.
04:26 He hits like an armoured truck, and the malformed chainsaw that he brandishes on his right arm
04:31 will absolutely decimate your health bar. Throw in his ability to lay traps, as well
04:35 as the few base enemies that fight alongside him, and you've got one of the most exhilarating
04:39 boss battles in the entire series.
04:41 6. The Infected Bat - Resident Evil Zero
04:45 Capcom tried to have their cake and eat it with Resident Evil Zero. They kept the fires
04:49 of the classic Resident Evil burning, i.e. the tank controls and fixed camera angles,
04:53 but also piled on a bunch of new mechanics that completely shook up the formula, most
04:57 notably being the ability to control two characters simultaneously. The results are somewhat mixed,
05:02 and often hinder the experience, especially when it came to boss fights, but none are
05:06 as egregious as the dreaded Infected Bat. Flying enemies have been around since the
05:11 very first game, and their increased manoeuvrability always felt at odds with the tank controls,
05:15 and this fight is the absolute peak of that tragic flaw. The highly mobile and erratic
05:20 movements of the Infected Bat make it difficult to position yourself to attack, which either
05:24 means you'll miss entirely, or put yourself directly in its path of destruction. Even
05:28 when you do manage to find a stable position to unload your hot-leaded fury, you'll be
05:32 besieged by a swarm of smaller bats that will slowly whistle away at your health bar, which
05:36 feels kind of like an extra kick in the nethers on top of what is already fairly generous
05:40 nether kicking to begin with.
05:42 5. The Ivan Twins - Resident Evil The Umbrella Chronicles
05:46 Chances are that unless you're a Resident Evil superfan, you've likely never played
05:50 the spin-off titles The Umbrella Chronicles or The Darkside Chronicles. These games throw
05:54 away the series' third-person mechanics in favour of an on-rails shooter that recapped
05:59 key plot points from earlier games, as well as expanding on the backstories for some of
06:03 the more interesting side characters. For long-time fans, these games were a special
06:07 treat, giving us a lot of new lore to sink our rotten teeth into, but with new lore comes
06:11 new monsters to tackle. Say hello to the Ivan Twins.
06:15 Superpowered tyrant variants that sadly make their appearances only in these games, the
06:19 Ivan Twins are not as bulky as their predecessors, but still these regular-sized lads are hyper-mobile
06:24 and astonishingly aggressive. Even though you play the fight as Wesker and are able
06:28 to pull off all manner of wall runs and slow-mo dodges, the Ivans are perfectly capable of
06:33 keeping pace with you. The fight itself is incredibly demanding, requiring players to
06:37 have tiger-like reflexes for dodging and a keen eye for headshots to stop them in their
06:41 tracks. They tend to mix up their strategy throughout the fight as well, utilising the
06:45 environment and an unfortunately placed rocket launcher to make your life a living hell.
06:49 4. Wesker - Resident Evil 5
06:52 Say what you will about Resident Evil 5, but the truth is, it is a wonderfully fun game.
06:58 The diverse enemy types, ridiculous set-piece battles and incredible roster of boss monsters
07:02 make it one of the most enjoyable games in the series. Plus, it gave fans a chance to
07:06 finally lay some serious smackdown on bastard-man extraordinaire Albert Wesker. Most encounters
07:12 with him across the game's meaty campaign pose a significant challenge, but it is the
07:17 final battle inside a volcano that really pushed players to their limit. Not only does
07:21 he deal tremendous damage if you allow him to get close enough, but more often than not,
07:26 players would have expended most of their ammo in the preceding fight, leaving them
07:29 with little to no hope of finishing the job. This would mean having to replay earlier levels
07:33 to amass enough ammo to jump back into the final battle, making the whole thing into
07:36 an exercise in tedium. The lack of ammo situation aside, those who decided to play the game
07:41 solo automatically found themselves at a disadvantage, as Sheva's very wonky AI is just not suited
07:48 to this battle, adding an extra layer of challenge to what is an already rather gruelling affair.
07:53 3. Jack Norman, AKA Ultimate Abyss – Resident Evil Revelations
07:58 We're back to Revelations once again, and yet another oceanic nightmare of titanic proportions.
08:03 Mr Jack Norman, or as he's known in his inhuman form, Ultimate Abyss, is the final
08:07 boss of the game, and as you'd expect, he's one tough cookie. This guy embodies all of
08:12 the hallmarks that you'd associate with the usual tyrant enemies, but with a much
08:16 bigger bag of tricks. Not simply content with stomping towards you like his predecessors,
08:21 he can teleport around the room at an alarmingly fast rate, forcing you to completely rethink
08:25 your positioning and leaving you with very little time to fight back. He's also capable
08:30 of creating clones of himself, which, if you're truly unlucky, can lead to you being sandwiched
08:34 between them in the prime position for a world of hurt. Ultimate Abyss is a genuinely challenging
08:39 fight that asks a lot of the player, but the sweet satisfaction you get from taking him
08:43 down is nigh on unparalleled in the rest of the series.
08:47 2. Nemesis - Clock Tower Battle Resident Evil 3
08:51 Generally speaking, any encounter with this staple-faced creep could have qualified for
08:55 this list, but we've got to give it to the skirmish outside the clock tower for being
08:59 the most hellishly difficult. Unlike all of your previous encounters with Nemesis where
09:02 you could just outrun him, this one is mandatory and escape is impossible. You're confined
09:07 to a small courtyard with no choice but to throw everything you've got at him, because
09:11 that's exactly what he's going to do to you. Nemesis is arguably at his most aggressive
09:15 here and will not allow you any time to breathe. Your only hopes of beating him are to have
09:19 a decent amount of grenade launcher and magnum ammo, as well as a keen grasp on the game's
09:23 somewhat unreliable dodge mechanic. Even with those helpful additions, you'll still be
09:28 hoping and praying that every shot you fire will be the one that takes him down. You can
09:32 make this fight a little easier by making different choices earlier on in the game,
09:35 which will result in Nemesis not having his rocket launcher for the fight, but even with
09:38 that extra advantage, you're still going to be down for one hell of a scrap.
09:43 T78 – Resident Evil Code Veronica
09:46 At first glance, the T78 doesn't seem any more threatening than any other inclusion
09:50 on this list, but you know what? I can assure you that no other boss in Resident Evil's
09:54 history has caused so many first-time players to throw in the towel. Not only is this tyrant
09:59 variant a hyper-aggressive damage sponge that you must fight in an aircraft's confined
10:03 cargo bay, but you also run the risk of falling out of the exposed hatch. You also can't
10:08 rely on bullets to defeat him, as the only way to successfully win is to knock him out
10:12 of the plane using a rigged-up cargo crate, and you can only do that once you've weakened
10:15 him enough. All of that amounts to an incredibly challenging fight, but there's one extra
10:19 little detail that pushes things over the edge. You see, the T78 has an incredibly large
10:24 health pool, meaning that you need a lot of firepower in your inventory to take him down.
10:29 If you reach this section of the game and you're underpowered, you literally stand
10:32 no chance of winning. And if you're one of the unfortunate who didn't have enough
10:35 ammo and decided to save directly before entering the boss room, you literally can't progress
10:40 and have no choice but to start the whole game again. Seriously, screw this guy.
10:44 And there we go, my friends. Those were the 10 hardest bosses in Resident Evil history.
10:47 I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in
10:50 the comments section below. As always, I've been Jules. You can go follow me over on Twitter
10:54 @RetroJWithAZero, or you can swing by Live and Let's Dice, where I do all of my streaming
10:58 outside of work, and it'd be great to see you over there, my friends. But before I go,
11:01 I just want to say one thing. Hope you're treating yourself with love and respect, because
11:05 you deserve all of the best things in life, and do not let anything or anyone else tell
11:08 you otherwise, alright? The bosses that we talked about today may try to beat you around,
11:12 but don't take any of their noise and send them right back to the nether. And then go
11:15 out there and enjoy the rest of your day doing what you do to the best of your abilities,
11:19 my friend, because you can do this. I believe in you. As always, I've been Jules. You have
11:23 been awesome. Never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.