For 35 years, The Legend of Zelda has been inspiring imaginations and captivating audiences with its sprawling adventures across a land of swords, shields, and skulltulas. For the next seven days, we're looking back at its three-and-a-half decades of entertainment, and I wanted to start off this retrospective week talking about one of the best aspects of every Zelda game: the boss battles.
From its humble beginnings on the Famicom Disk System to its most recent outing on Switch, The Legend of Zelda has managed to introduce outstanding dungeon boss battles that transcend their technological restraints and graft themselves onto the minds and hearts of its fans. Aquamentus may be just a simple 8-bit unicorn dragon, but as a child, my mind painted a far more elaborate picture of how daunting this creature actually was.
As technology improved, I didn't have to fill in the gaps as much as I used to, but Nintendo has used each and every jump in processing power to create more iconic boss battles that pushed the limits of what we expect from a Zelda game. I'll never forget how my jaw dropped when I first fought Koloktos in Skyward Sword.
We all have our favorites, and with so many amazing options worth mentioning, I asked the Destructoid staff and community to help me out with this post and answer the question: What is the best boss battle in The Legend of Zelda?
