10 Worst Multi-Phase Video Game Boss Battles
5. Vaati - The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap wraps up with an absolutely infuriating three-phase final boss fight against Vaati.
The frustration sets in before the battle even begins, though, as you're first forced to get through a series of timed challenges and also a tough trio of Darknuts.
Vaati himself consists of three phases, each more grotesque than the one before, and each requiring split-second reflexes from the player to evade his attacks.
One of the major annoyances is that each phase also contains dialogue between it, meaning that repeated attempts to beat Vaati - and you will absolutely take many, many attempts - quickly become aggravating.
Without any checkpoints to speak of and having to slog your way through a brutal prelude up to the fight itself, Vaati is an exercise in how to engineer a multi-phase boss for maximum player frustration, while showing a frankly maddening lack of respect for their time.