10 Best Boss Battles In Final Fantasy History - Ranked

10. Emperor Of Hell – Final Fantasy II

The FFII story wasn't particularly compelling, the characters two-dimensional, and some of the boss fights used cheap tactics to become frustratingly difficult.

The saving grace though, was main villain, Emperor Mateus.

He is a constant threat throughout the game, intelligent, witty and menacing – sort of a less manic version of Kefka. However, unlike many villains, death wasn't the end for Mateus. After being killed, Mateus goes to Hell, challenges the Devil, WINS, and then becomes the ruler of Hell.

As you do.

He then forces his castle up from Hell into the world of the living, where he challenges your party in the final showdown.

The setup is just the half of it. The music is ominous and Mateus' design is superb. Like most final bosses, he hits hard, has high HP and has a huge range of powerful magical attacks. He also replenishes his health to the value of half the physical damage he does to your characters. He's tough, but that's what makes an epic battle!

(If that's not enough, in the Gameboy Advance remake it turns out he actually split himself into 2 when he died. While 1 conquered Hell, the other conquered Heaven, setting up for another epic showdown).