10 Best Final Bosses In Resident Evil History

For nearly 25 years, Capcom have been delighting and terrorizing gamers everywhere with the high-camp horror of Resident Evil.

Much like the various viruses (try saying that five times fast) that form the backbone of the series' plot, Resident Evil has constantly evolved with the times, going from survival horror to OTT shooter and back again. One thing that has remained constant amidst all this reinvention, however, is the series' ability to provide some of the best boss fights in gaming.

Resident Evil's consistency in delivering entertaining boss battles is genuinely impressive. Boss fights in games are notoriously difficult to get right, and final boss fights especially so.

Ending on a sour note can stain the player's perception of the game as a whole, (looking at you, baby reaper) so it's to Capcom's credit that they so consistently knock it out of the park.

Whether it's fighting a Lovecraftian monstrosity in the throne room of a luxury cruise ship, or using lightning to swat a kaiju-sized manifestation of Beelzebub, Resident Evil always knows how to go out with a bang.

Rather fittingly for a game presented as an origin story, the Leech Queen in Resident Evil 0 provides a quintissential example of a Resident Evil-style final boss fight. Many of the tropes found throughout the series' climactic duels are present and correct here: a tight time-limit, a mutated version of the game's primary antagonist and (somewhat irritatingly) the killing blow being delivered in a cutscene.

However, the fight does have one major gimmick to differentiate it from standard Resi fare. Unlike a normal boss battle, you aren't expected to shoot the Leech Queen until she runs out of health.

Instead, the entire fight sees you running distraction as one-game wonder Billy Coen, while Rebecca Chambers of RE1 fame runs around the arena turning valves bring in the age of aquarius and let the sunlight in. (Showing our age with that reference...)

It's an interesting take on a boss battle, and a smart use of Zero's co-op gimmick by giving both characters equally vital tasks to take the Queen down. It might not be the best fight on this list, but its smart use of its game's central hook definitely make it one of the most unique.