Super Mario Odyssey: Ranking Every Boss Encounter From Worst To Best
The baddies are just as diverse as the game's locations, but which boss is best?
Over the years, Mario has encountered some fearsome foes, and his most recent adventure, Super Mario Odyssey, is no different. Whilst travelling far and wide to rescue his precious Princess Peach, the moustachioed hero of the Mushroom Kingdom must battle creatures great and small in order to reach Bowser.
Super Mario Odyssey features some of the most diverse locations the series has ever seen, with each of the game’s 14 main levels featuring at least one boss fight. The new capture ability, which allows Mario to take control of the enemies around him, means that a lot of the boss battles feature unusual and unique mechanics, making them far more memorable than your average Mario boss.
In a game where the primary collectable - Moons - can literally be found around every corner, those received by beating boss battles don’t feel all that special. As such, it is the experience of the fight which players will most remember about the bosses; the joy of working out a weak spot and finally defeating a particularly tough adversary. Of course, some bosses are vastly superior to others, but luckily Super Mario Odyssey contains some real corkers.
10. The Broodals
These villainous rabbits were hired by Bowser to plan his wedding to Princess Peach. The Broodals are a recurring thorn in Mario’s side throughout Odyssey and are each fought multiple times over the course of the game. The main problem with the Broodals is that they’re extremely uninspired, with mundane and stale designs. This wouldn’t be a problem in a spin-off Mario title, but Odyssey is a spiritual successor to Mario 64, so surely the character artists could have done better?
It wouldn’t be so bad if the Broodals were at least fun to fight, but these boss battles are repetitive and dull. Mario simply has to dodge the rabbit’s attacks, hit them with Cappy, jump on their head and repeat ad nauseam.
There’s no need for these characters to exist at all; the Koopalings from Super Mario Bros. 3 have become increasingly popular in recent times, with appearances in Mario Kart 8 and the most recent Smash Bros. These existing characters could easily have been used instead of the Broodals, who are repetitive and add next to nothing to the Mario canon. In a game with such original boss fights, the Broodals deliver nothing not already seen a million times before.