20 Best Boss Battles From Recent Video Games

Last year's consensus Game of the Year winner, Astro Bot, is an endlessly creative platformer which also serves up a bevy of fun and inventive boss fights, enough that it really isn't easy to pick just one.

But we just have to go with Lady Venorama, the boss of the game's third world, Serpent Starway.

This is a classic case of a boss that just throws a whole lot of everything at you - minion-filled eggs, devastating tail swipes, laser breath, and even a drill attachment to its tail.

Even when it seems like the fight is over, it continues for a frantic ride through a jungle where you need to travel along Venomara's body, avoiding myriad obstacles, before giving her one final clip on the chin.

None of Astro Bot's boss fights are massively challenging, but Venomara can absolutely get one over on inattentive players given the sheer force of her attacks, how scarcely her tail swap is telegraphed, and how little room we're given to manoeuvre.