12 Most Painfully Disappointing Video Game Boss Battles

10. Bowser In A Bathtub - Super Mario Sunshine

JOKER ARKHAM ASYLUM
Nintendo

Super Mario Sunshine - a game so laid-back its final boss can't be bothered getting out of the tub to fight you.

No, really - the entire fight is you breaking the bath to drain the water and flush Bowser out. Which sounds like a humourous prelude to the actual fight, but nope, that's your lot.

It's hard to see what Nintendo were trying to achieve here. Bowser has never been the most effective villain, but this felt like a the company making a bad joke at our expense - "You'll beat him anyway, so we don't need to make him appear threatening". Portraying your villain as a joke is never a good idea, as it makes the player's journey feel pointless.

Nintendo made up for this with the Galaxy games' epic planet-hopping Bowser battles, but even 18 years on Super Mario Sunshine's final boss feels like a bizarre mis-step from its creators.

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Hello! My name's Iain Tayor. I write about video games, wrestling and comic books, and I apparently can't figure out how to set my profile picture correctly.