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Well, Halloween is rolling in, and I figured I might as well celebrate a bit with a couple of lists related to one of my favorite video game franchises of all time: Castlevania.
Originally conceived as (and still essentially) a tribute to both Greek Mythology and, more especially, the classic Universal Monsters, Castlevania’s humble beginnings as a spook-tacular, side-scrolling, action-adventure platformer took off into a massive series of games that have become just as iconic as the ghouls and gods they pay homage to. There are many things the game is known for, many of them on a technical level: they are renowned for their music, renowned for their gameplay…and, perhaps more than anything else, renowned for their boss battles. Castlevania is well-known for its many challenging and creative bosses; video game battles so colorful and tough that it would be hard to find a list of great game bosses that DOESN’T include at least one battle from the Castlevania franchise.
I’ve talked about these games a lot, and with the recent release of the Netflix series based on the franchise (not bad, by the way), it seems that this Halloween season is the perfect time to once again turn our gaze their way. Now, the franchise can basically be split into two different categories, as far as I can tell: there’s the “classic” Castlevania games, which, unless you count slot machine games, ended with “Portrait of Ruin,” and then there’s the somewhat controversial “Lords of Shadow” reboot/trilogy. For now, let’s focus on the oldies-but-goodies; the original games that started it all, from “Portrait” and backward. Grab your whip and a pork chop: these are My Top 12 Favorite “Classic” Castlevania Bosses!

12. Count Olrox, from Symphony of the Night.
Count Olrox is a somewhat underrated boss, in my opinion. This was always my favorite boss from the Castlevania classic “Symphony of the Night.” Not much is known about Olrox, except that he is a vampire general under Dracula’s command, and has a special section of the castle all his own. When Alucard meets him, he immediately challenges the young dhampir to a battle. Okay, so, first of all, I love the design of this character. His name and appearance are based on Count Orlok, the Dracula surrogate from the famous film “Nosferatu.” As a huge fan of the film, I highly approve of this design. Olrox actually works a little bit like Dracula, whom we fight (in a classic manner, I should say) earlier in the game as our first boss. The battle starts off with Olrox facing us in his humanoid form. The vampire is able to “strafe” across the ground with incredible speed, and almost seems able to defy the laws of physics. He hardly moves an inch, yet flies around with such speed and ease it’s a little alarming. He darts around the room, sometimes even teleporting, making getting a hit on him slightly tricky. You have to be close and you have to be quick. All the while, Olrox blasts you with fiery skulls, laser beams, pillars of Hellfire, and can even summon a horde of vampire bats to swoop at you. Once you knock out his humanoid form however, Olrox resorts to his “true form,” which resembles a giant lizard. In this form, Olrox moves much more slowly, but his strength - both in terms of his health/endurance and his attack power - has increased. In this form, Olrox tries to snag you with his reptilian claws, and can shoot white-hot beams and fireballs from his mouth. This is the form that gives people more trouble (it certainly was problematic for me), but both stages are fun and tricky in their own ways. It’s a memorable boss I actually look forward to whenever I choose to revisit this game.

11. Legion, from Curse of Darkness.
Legion, sometimes referred to as “Granfaloon,” is a popular boss who appears in several games throughout the series. Legion is basically a giant ball of rotting corpses all tangled and mangled up together. As you attack the orb, the corpses fall off...at which point they attack you as zombies. The whole goal is to reach the blobby, tentacled nucleus of the thing, which is essentially the real monster, so you can destroy it. Generally speaking, Legion is battle from the outside...but what makes the battle from Curse of Darkness (one of my personal favorite Castlevania games) so interesting is that we actually get to go INSIDE this disgusting little death-blob. The battle is vaguely reminiscient of the final battle against the Blot from “Epic Mickey” (though that would come much later), wherein we have to go inside the monster and essentially move through its guts, facing zombies and enemies all along the way to reach its heart. It’s about as disgusting as it sounds in Legion’s case, but also a lot of fun.

10. Forgotten One, from Lament of Innocence.
Speaking of disgusting: the Forgotten One is easily one of the nastiest and most gory boss battles in all of classic Castlevania. An ancient demon kept in the Prison of Eternal Torture (which essentially explains itself), this busted-up behemoth is held up by meat hooks, has been skinned alive, and among other gruesome attacks, he can send out a horde of maggots, and his very blood is toxic and diseased. Some of his organs have been exposed, and those are your targets. It’s a stomach-churning boss, as well as a VERY difficult one, as the battle can take a while and the Forgotten One’s abilities can overwhelm you or knock out your health pretty quickly, but it’s also easily one of the most memorable. Also, thankfully for us, it’s only an optional battle, so if it sounds too much for you - either in terms of difficulty or how morbid it is - you don’t have to bother him at all.

9. Albus, from Order of Ecclesia.
A battle against a brother is always tough, especially one as loyal as Albus. By the time our protagonist, Shanoa, is forced to face Albus in the game, the rogue agent of the titular Order they both are part of has been established as basically her adoptive brother. However, in his quest to try and stop Count Dracula’s impending resurrection, Albus was consumed by the evil power of the One-Ring-esque glyph called Dominus, and it is in this possessed state we encounter him as a boss. Albus’ primary weapon is his magical gun, which he can use in a couple of different ways, but he can also attack you with a flying and spinning kick, and use his glyph for a special attack of his own. However, it’s the personal struggle that makes this so engaging, since Albus is, again, basically Shanoa’s brother, and isn’t really fully aware of his actions, as he has been possessed and corrupted by the evil of Dracula. This makes the already intense showdown even more so, and a boss that can affect you as a player as well as a character is always good.

8. Barlowe, from Order of Ecclesia.
The battle with Albus is essentially a battle about redemption and hope; you can save Albus at the end of the fight. He doesn’t have to give in to Dracula and Dominus forever and completely. The battle with Barlowe is a bit different: this is a hopeless fight, in some ways, because this battle isn’t about loyalty and love. It is about betrayal. Barlowe has been your mentor and father figure through much of the game, but near the end, he reveals everything you’ve sought to do has been done for the OPPOSITE reasons you believed: he doesn’t want to destroy Count Dracula, he wants to bring him back! As the man who taught us pretty much everything we know, Barlowe is a tough customer, and his cruel taunts and angry sneers during the fight only add to the pain and anger both we and Shanoa feel during the battle. Barlowe’s primary weapon is his spellbook, and he has a variety of magical abilities he can pick out from it. He can also zip across the stage (not unlike Count Olrox), trying to punch you, shouting at you at the top of his lungs, and even having the AUDACITY to act as if HE has been betrayed! Hypocrisy, thy name is Barlowe.

7. Chaos, from Aria of Sorrow.
Chaos is the final boss of one of the more...interesting Castlevania titles, “Aria of Sorrow.” The story follows a young man named Soma Cruz, who is revealed to be a reincarnation of Count Dracula himself. His journey is one of trying to stop the evil within from consuming him, changing him from the righteous Soma to the malevolent Dracula forevermore. The final battle represents this struggle delightfully, as he battles the God of Chaos itself, which is depicted in a two-stage showdown. In the first stage, Chaos takes the form of three angelic statues, spinning on a large stone wheel. The statues have stolen the souls you use to power your weapons, and each one has a different ability. One of the statues will detach (transforming into a gargoyle-like beast) and fly at you, another will leech your magic points, and another will fire deadly crystals at you. Once you destroy the three angels, and retrieve your souls, you move on to the second round, where Chaos manifests itself as a rather disturbing pair of vaguely insectoid figures, with bulging red eyes, with a black hole in the center of the arena. Chaos summons a bone dragon and bombards you with all sorts of magical attacks to keep you from attacking this black hole. Both of these stages live up to their name, as the attacks can be difficult to avoid or counteract in both cases, and the loss of your souls in the first stage only makes things a bit trickier; even if you reclaim them in the second stage, you’d have to be a master to reach that stage without losing at least a small portion of your health. Like most great Castlevania battles, it’s difficult, but creative, and never feels like it’s cheating or going too crazy with what it’s doing...then again, it IS Chaos, so the question must be asked: how crazy would “too crazy” even be?

6. Julius Belmont, from Aria of Sorrow.
If Chuck Norris became a Castlevania character, it would be Julius Belmont. One of the oldest and toughest members of the Belmont clan, Julius is, in a single word, AWESOME. Though already nearing sixty by this time in the story of the games, and suffering from a curious strain of amnesia, he still retains a strong sense of duty, honor, and determination as a monster hunter. Having destroyed Dracula once before, it is his sworn oath to smite the King of the Vampires should he ever return. Over the course of “Aria,” we come to know Julius really well, and become fairly good friends with him...but once it’s revealed that Soma may become Dracula, Julius feels he has no other choice but to kill us. The battle that follows is one of the best for a lot of reasons. Much like the battles with Albus and Barlowe, it’s a personal struggle; we don’t want to fight Julius and, truth be told, he doesn’t really want to fight us. Soma isn’t the enemy...Dracula is. But, unfortunately, since Soma basically IS Dracula, what else is there to do? The other reason is Julius as a character; through much of the game, we hear of Julius’ accomplishments, but we never get to see just how powerful a warrior he is...until we fight him here. And my GOD is he powerful. The third and probably most interesting reason this is such a good boss is because, in a way, you’re fighting yourself. Almost everything Julius uses are skills and weapons players in previous games, as other Belmonts especially, have used to fight with. If you’re familiar with the series, every attack Julius uses is familiar in some way or another, usually as something YOU would to fight your foes yourself. It’s an odd turn of events: instead of playing a Belmont fighting Dracula, you are, more or less, playing Dracula fighting a Belmont. Add a kickin’ soundtrack to the mix, and you have one of the most delightful bosses in the entire franchise, easily.

5. Shaft, from Dracula X Chronicles.
This dark priest and acolyte of Dracula has appeared in a couple of games, with a couple of bosses. The best and most interesting of them all, however, came in Dracula X Chronicles. DXC is a remake of the Japanese-only title “Rondo of Blood,” and the bosses follow their Japanese forerunners pretty closely. Shaft is one of the most fun and enjoyable Boss Rush Battles of all: the dark priest doesn’t fight you at first. Instead, he summons A series of “mini-bosses,” all classic and recurring enemies from throughout the franchise, to face you. First comes the Giant Bat, which spits out fireballs, and can drill into the ground, sending debris flying. Next comes Medusa, who can blast you with a petrifying beam (of course), whip you with her serpentine tail, and can shoot out small snakes that act like boomerangs. (...Okay…) Third in the running is The Mummy, who can extend his arms to double-punch you, sends out bandages that swarm you like locusts, and can create ancient magic blocks that will fly at you. In a flash of lightning, the Frankenstein’s Monster comes fourth, who can shoot bursts of electricity at you, will swipe at you with his huge hands, and can ground-stomp, causing rubble to fall from the ceiling. After all four of these classic monsters have been defeated, you then face Shaft directly: he leaps around the room after summoning two mystical orbs, which will swirl around the room. These orbs will hurt you if you touch them, and that pain only gets worse when they engulf themselves in lightning or flames. The overall result is a fantastic, multi-level boss that will make any classic horror fan extremely happy, and many a Castlevania fan even happier.

4. Grim Reaper, from Super Castlevania IV.
As the secondary antagonist of the entire franchise, the Grim Reaper (a.k.a. Death), has been a constant menace. There have been many battles with the Reaper over the course of the series, so choosing just one solo duel was not an easy task. The battle from “Lament of Innocence” is often considered the best by most fans...but I am not most fans. It’s an amazing battle, don’t get me wrong, but not my favorite. The one from Curse of Darkness was no small fry, especially with its most epic boss theme, not to mention the excellent battles from Dracula X Chronicles and Symphony of the Night. Ultimately, my choice may be something of a surprise among major fans, but...I’m going with the battle from the single oldest Castlevania game I, personally, have ever played: Super Castlevania IV. Despite its title, this game was a remake of the very first Castlevania game, and it lives up to its title when one says “Super.” The Grim Reaper battle, my modern standards, is not especially difficult...especially for a Castlevania boss...but what it lacks in difficulty it makes up for in presentation. The music (which has the very strange title of “Room of Close Associates”) is dangerous and forbidding, and the Reaper itself is realized gruesomely: a faintly greenish, almost rotted-looking skeleton with glowing, green eyes, in a ragged purple robe, wielding that infamous scythe. The battle begins as the Reaper fades into the room dramatically, other versions of Death forming together to create the boss, then it floats around the room in a ghostly manner, phasing in and out. Death can hurl miniature, boomeranging scythe blades at you, strike you with a downward, scooping sort of slash, and can send his own large scythe spinning around the room like a whirling dervish, slashing up everything in its path. And, once Death is destroyed, with a thunderous BOOM, he explodes into flames and tiny scythe blades...and then vanishes without a trace. It’s not the most challenging battle in Castlevania history, but in my opinion, it’s the most iconic battle with the Reaper the entire franchise has ever unleashed.

3. St. Germain, from Curse of Darkness.
Curse of Darkness is one of my favorite games in the entire Castlevania franchise. And my favorite character in the game is, hands down, St. Germain. St. Germain is basically the Doctor (from Doctor Who) in a Castlevania game: an eccentric time traveler who isn’t all he seems. Dressed like a circus ringmaster, this well-mannered but very odd man pops up throughout the game warning our protagonist, Hector, of his impending showdown with his rival, the psychopathic Isaac. At one point in the story, St. Germain gets trapped by Zead (a dark priest who - spoiler alert - is really Death in disguise) at the Eneomaos Clock Tower. When Hector arrives, St. Germain challenges him to a fight, not out of a desire to kill or even harm him, but because, in his own words, “by fighting you, all that I need to know will be revealed.” St. Germain proves to be a talented swordsman, and a crack shot with a flintlock pistol...but these aren’t what truly make him a deadly opponent. St. Germain can directly affect the passage of time. He can speed it up, slow it down, turn it back and forth, and all with varying effects on both the player and the arena around them. It’s a dazzling battle with a fun and memorable character, and pretty dang tricky to boot. It’s easily a highlight boss in the pantheon of Castlevania battles.

2. Count Dracula, from Dracula X Chronicles.
The King of the Vampires. The Prince of Darkness. Every hundred years, this Dark Lord rises from the dead to plague mankind, one way or another. His methods are many, his power supreme, and his name infamous and eternal: Count Dracula. As the primary antagonist of the Castlevania franchise, many a battle with the Count has been waged, and much like with the Grim Reaper, choosing just one was difficult to do. The two-part battle from Curse of Darkness was fun, to say nothing of the first boss from Symphony of the Night, or the final boss from Circle of the Moon or Order of Ecclesia. Ahh, but the one and only choice for the best Dracula battle MUST be from DXC. Now, the first two stages of the battle are what I suppose you could call your classic Dracula fare for this franchise: the Count teleports around the room, unfurling his cape to launch small fireballs and spheres of dark energy at you. Once you deal enough damage there, he takes on his true form: a dragon-like beast that stomps around the room, shaking it and trying to crush you, and can shoot huge fireballs out of its mouth. However, once you defeat this true form, this is where things get truly interesting: Dracula returns to his more humanoid form, but his cape transforms into a curious set of wings as he flies around the arena, which changes from the castle throne room into a dark, limbo-like void of floating debris. At this point, Dracula lashes out with his FULL power, and it is both glorious and terrifying all at once. He launches spirals of flame at you; can turn into a wolf and charge at you; he tosses large blood red orbs at you; he can send out a shockwave to knock you back; he can summon swarms of bats and burning geysers...and just to top it off, HE CAN LITERALLY MAKE IT RAIN BLOOD. Ladies and gents, to say this is the ultimate showdown with the ultimate evil is a heavy temptation…

...But there’s actually one Classic Castlevania boss that’s even better…

1. Count Dracula & Grim Reaper, from Portrait of Ruin.
I’ve talked about this boss before on two different lists, so I’ll just make this quick. At the end of Portrait of Ruin, as usual, you manage to make it to Dracula’s throne room, and prepare to do battle with the King of the Vampires...only for the Grim Reaper to pop up and offer his services to his lord and master. The two decide to take you on together. As well as just being an incredible experience in facing both of the series’ main antagonists at the same time, the battle also plays up to the strengths of the gameplay: not only are our enemies working together, but our protagonists are a duo as well, who need to work together to defeat this boss. The Grim Reaper mostly works from the sidelines, just sort of slashing down every now and again while Dracula does most of the dirty work with his classic array of attacks...but when Dracula chooses to assume his true form, he merges with the Reaper as well, creating an abominable gargoyle that wields both of their strengths and few of their weaknesses, and can quite literally CRUSH you if you aren’t careful. It’s wild, it’s epic, it’s utterly batty (ha ha), and it is satisfying in so many ways. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is my favorite, and the best, battle in the Classic Castlevania series.

And what of the Lords of Shadow reboot? That is another story...

Honorable Mentions Include…
Brauner, from Portrait of Ruin.
His boss was a little too easy for my tastes, but the character, design, and aesthetic thematics (using artwork as a weapon was a pretty inventive and fun idea) made it a highly memorable battle. Brauner is also one of my favorite characters in the franchise, so that helps a lot.

Dancing Spectres, from Super Castlevania IV.
Again, an easy boss, and a little on the silly side, but still a lot of fun. You’re basically fighting Haunted-Mansion-style waltzing ghosts, how cool is that?!

Other Honorable Mentions Include…
Doppelganger, from Symphony of the Night.
Joachim Armster, from Lament of Innocence.
Aguni, from Dawn of Sorrow.
Succubus, from Symphony of the Night.

Description

Well, Halloween is rolling in, and I figured I might as well celebrate a bit with a couple of lists related to one of my favorite video game franchises of all time: Castlevania.
Originally conceived as (and still essentially) a tribute to both Greek Mythology and, more especially, the classic Universal Monsters, Castlevania’s humble beginnings as a spook-tacular, side-scrolling, action-adventure platformer took off into a massive series of games that have become just as iconic as the ghouls and gods they pay homage to. There are many things the game is known for, many of them on a technical level: they are renowned for their music, renowned for their gameplay…and, perhaps more than anything else, renowned for their boss battles. Castlevania is well-known for its many challenging and creative bosses; video game battles so colorful and tough that it would be hard to find a list of great game bosses that DOESN’T include at least one battle from the Castlevania franchise.
I’ve talked about these games a lot, and with the recent release of the Netflix series based on the franchise (not bad, by the way), it seems that this Halloween season is the perfect time to once again turn our gaze their way. Now, the franchise can basically be split into two different categories, as far as I can tell: there’s the “classic” Castlevania games, which, unless you count slot machine games, ended with “Portrait of Ruin,” and then there’s the somewhat controversial “Lords of Shadow” reboot/trilogy. For now, let’s focus on the oldies-but-goodies; the original games that started it all, from “Portrait” and backward. Grab your whip and a pork chop: these are My Top 12 Favorite “Classic” Castlevania Bosses!

12. Count Olrox, from Symphony of the Night.
Count Olrox is a somewhat underrated boss, in my opinion. This was always my favorite boss from the Castlevania classic “Symphony of the Night.” Not much is known about Olrox, except that he is a vampire general under Dracula’s command, and has a special section of the castle all his own. When Alucard meets him, he immediately challenges the young dhampir to a battle. Okay, so, first of all, I love the design of this character. His name and appearance are based on Count Orlok, the Dracula surrogate from the famous film “Nosferatu.” As a huge fan of the film, I highly approve of this design. Olrox actually works a little bit like Dracula, whom we fight (in a classic manner, I should say) earlier in the game as our first boss. The battle starts off with Olrox facing us in his humanoid form. The vampire is able to “strafe” across the ground with incredible speed, and almost seems able to defy the laws of physics. He hardly moves an inch, yet flies around with such speed and ease it’s a little alarming. He darts around the room, sometimes even teleporting, making getting a hit on him slightly tricky. You have to be close and you have to be quick. All the while, Olrox blasts you with fiery skulls, laser beams, pillars of Hellfire, and can even summon a horde of vampire bats to swoop at you. Once you knock out his humanoid form however, Olrox resorts to his “true form,” which resembles a giant lizard. In this form, Olrox moves much more slowly, but his strength - both in terms of his health/endurance and his attack power - has increased. In this form, Olrox tries to snag you with his reptilian claws, and can shoot white-hot beams and fireballs from his mouth. This is the form that gives people more trouble (it certainly was problematic for me), but both stages are fun and tricky in their own ways. It’s a memorable boss I actually look forward to whenever I choose to revisit this game.

11. Legion, from Curse of Darkness.
Legion, sometimes referred to as “Granfaloon,” is a popular boss who appears in several games throughout the series. Legion is basically a giant ball of rotting corpses all tangled and mangled up together. As you attack the orb, the corpses fall off...at which point they attack you as zombies. The whole goal is to reach the blobby, tentacled nucleus of the thing, which is essentially the real monster, so you can destroy it. Generally speaking, Legion is battle from the outside...but what makes the battle from Curse of Darkness (one of my personal favorite Castlevania games) so interesting is that we actually get to go INSIDE this disgusting little death-blob. The battle is vaguely reminiscient of the final battle against the Blot from “Epic Mickey” (though that would come much later), wherein we have to go inside the monster and essentially move through its guts, facing zombies and enemies all along the way to reach its heart. It’s about as disgusting as it sounds in Legion’s case, but also a lot of fun.

10. Forgotten One, from Lament of Innocence.
Speaking of disgusting: the Forgotten One is easily one of the nastiest and most gory boss battles in all of classic Castlevania. An ancient demon kept in the Prison of Eternal Torture (which essentially explains itself), this busted-up behemoth is held up by meat hooks, has been skinned alive, and among other gruesome attacks, he can send out a horde of maggots, and his very blood is toxic and diseased. Some of his organs have been exposed, and those are your targets. It’s a stomach-churning boss, as well as a VERY difficult one, as the battle can take a while and the Forgotten One’s abilities can overwhelm you or knock out your health pretty quickly, but it’s also easily one of the most memorable. Also, thankfully for us, it’s only an optional battle, so if it sounds too much for you - either in terms of difficulty or how morbid it is - you don’t have to bother him at all.

9. Albus, from Order of Ecclesia.
A battle against a brother is always tough, especially one as loyal as Albus. By the time our protagonist, Shanoa, is forced to face Albus in the game, the rogue agent of the titular Order they both are part of has been established as basically her adoptive brother. However, in his quest to try and stop Count Dracula’s impending resurrection, Albus was consumed by the evil power of the One-Ring-esque glyph called Dominus, and it is in this possessed state we encounter him as a boss. Albus’ primary weapon is his magical gun, which he can use in a couple of different ways, but he can also attack you with a flying and spinning kick, and use his glyph for a special attack of his own. However, it’s the personal struggle that makes this so engaging, since Albus is, again, basically Shanoa’s brother, and isn’t really fully aware of his actions, as he has been possessed and corrupted by the evil of Dracula. This makes the already intense showdown even more so, and a boss that can affect you as a player as well as a character is always good.

8. Barlowe, from Order of Ecclesia.
The battle with Albus is essentially a battle about redemption and hope; you can save Albus at the end of the fight. He doesn’t have to give in to Dracula and Dominus forever and completely. The battle with Barlowe is a bit different: this is a hopeless fight, in some ways, because this battle isn’t about loyalty and love. It is about betrayal. Barlowe has been your mentor and father figure through much of the game, but near the end, he reveals everything you’ve sought to do has been done for the OPPOSITE reasons you believed: he doesn’t want to destroy Count Dracula, he wants to bring him back! As the man who taught us pretty much everything we know, Barlowe is a tough customer, and his cruel taunts and angry sneers during the fight only add to the pain and anger both we and Shanoa feel during the battle. Barlowe’s primary weapon is his spellbook, and he has a variety of magical abilities he can pick out from it. He can also zip across the stage (not unlike Count Olrox), trying to punch you, shouting at you at the top of his lungs, and even having the AUDACITY to act as if HE has been betrayed! Hypocrisy, thy name is Barlowe.

7. Chaos, from Aria of Sorrow.
Chaos is the final boss of one of the more...interesting Castlevania titles, “Aria of Sorrow.” The story follows a young man named Soma Cruz, who is revealed to be a reincarnation of Count Dracula himself. His journey is one of trying to stop the evil within from consuming him, changing him from the righteous Soma to the malevolent Dracula forevermore. The final battle represents this struggle delightfully, as he battles the God of Chaos itself, which is depicted in a two-stage showdown. In the first stage, Chaos takes the form of three angelic statues, spinning on a large stone wheel. The statues have stolen the souls you use to power your weapons, and each one has a different ability. One of the statues will detach (transforming into a gargoyle-like beast) and fly at you, another will leech your magic points, and another will fire deadly crystals at you. Once you destroy the three angels, and retrieve your souls, you move on to the second round, where Chaos manifests itself as a rather disturbing pair of vaguely insectoid figures, with bulging red eyes, with a black hole in the center of the arena. Chaos summons a bone dragon and bombards you with all sorts of magical attacks to keep you from attacking this black hole. Both of these stages live up to their name, as the attacks can be difficult to avoid or counteract in both cases, and the loss of your souls in the first stage only makes things a bit trickier; even if you reclaim them in the second stage, you’d have to be a master to reach that stage without losing at least a small portion of your health. Like most great Castlevania battles, it’s difficult, but creative, and never feels like it’s cheating or going too crazy with what it’s doing...then again, it IS Chaos, so the question must be asked: how crazy would “too crazy” even be?

6. Julius Belmont, from Aria of Sorrow.
If Chuck Norris became a Castlevania character, it would be Julius Belmont. One of the oldest and toughest members of the Belmont clan, Julius is, in a single word, AWESOME. Though already nearing sixty by this time in the story of the games, and suffering from a curious strain of amnesia, he still retains a strong sense of duty, honor, and determination as a monster hunter. Having destroyed Dracula once before, it is his sworn oath to smite the King of the Vampires should he ever return. Over the course of “Aria,” we come to know Julius really well, and become fairly good friends with him...but once it’s revealed that Soma may become Dracula, Julius feels he has no other choice but to kill us. The battle that follows is one of the best for a lot of reasons. Much like the battles with Albus and Barlowe, it’s a personal struggle; we don’t want to fight Julius and, truth be told, he doesn’t really want to fight us. Soma isn’t the enemy...Dracula is. But, unfortunately, since Soma basically IS Dracula, what else is there to do? The other reason is Julius as a character; through much of the game, we hear of Julius’ accomplishments, but we never get to see just how powerful a warrior he is...until we fight him here. And my GOD is he powerful. The third and probably most interesting reason this is such a good boss is because, in a way, you’re fighting yourself. Almost everything Julius uses are skills and weapons players in previous games, as other Belmonts especially, have used to fight with. If you’re familiar with the series, every attack Julius uses is familiar in some way or another, usually as something YOU would to fight your foes yourself. It’s an odd turn of events: instead of playing a Belmont fighting Dracula, you are, more or less, playing Dracula fighting a Belmont. Add a kickin’ soundtrack to the mix, and you have one of the most delightful bosses in the entire franchise, easily.

5. Shaft, from Dracula X Chronicles.
This dark priest and acolyte of Dracula has appeared in a couple of games, with a couple of bosses. The best and most interesting of them all, however, came in Dracula X Chronicles. DXC is a remake of the Japanese-only title “Rondo of Blood,” and the bosses follow their Japanese forerunners pretty closely. Shaft is one of the most fun and enjoyable Boss Rush Battles of all: the dark priest doesn’t fight you at first. Instead, he summons A series of “mini-bosses,” all classic and recurring enemies from throughout the franchise, to face you. First comes the Giant Bat, which spits out fireballs, and can drill into the ground, sending debris flying. Next comes Medusa, who can blast you with a petrifying beam (of course), whip you with her serpentine tail, and can shoot out small snakes that act like boomerangs. (...Okay…) Third in the running is The Mummy, who can extend his arms to double-punch you, sends out bandages that swarm you like locusts, and can create ancient magic blocks that will fly at you. In a flash of lightning, the Frankenstein’s Monster comes fourth, who can shoot bursts of electricity at you, will swipe at you with his huge hands, and can ground-stomp, causing rubble to fall from the ceiling. After all four of these classic monsters have been defeated, you then face Shaft directly: he leaps around the room after summoning two mystical orbs, which will swirl around the room. These orbs will hurt you if you touch them, and that pain only gets worse when they engulf themselves in lightning or flames. The overall result is a fantastic, multi-level boss that will make any classic horror fan extremely happy, and many a Castlevania fan even happier.

4. Grim Reaper, from Super Castlevania IV.
As the secondary antagonist of the entire franchise, the Grim Reaper (a.k.a. Death), has been a constant menace. There have been many battles with the Reaper over the course of the series, so choosing just one solo duel was not an easy task. The battle from “Lament of Innocence” is often considered the best by most fans...but I am not most fans. It’s an amazing battle, don’t get me wrong, but not my favorite. The one from Curse of Darkness was no small fry, especially with its most epic boss theme, not to mention the excellent battles from Dracula X Chronicles and Symphony of the Night. Ultimately, my choice may be something of a surprise among major fans, but...I’m going with the battle from the single oldest Castlevania game I, personally, have ever played: Super Castlevania IV. Despite its title, this game was a remake of the very first Castlevania game, and it lives up to its title when one says “Super.” The Grim Reaper battle, my modern standards, is not especially difficult...especially for a Castlevania boss...but what it lacks in difficulty it makes up for in presentation. The music (which has the very strange title of “Room of Close Associates”) is dangerous and forbidding, and the Reaper itself is realized gruesomely: a faintly greenish, almost rotted-looking skeleton with glowing, green eyes, in a ragged purple robe, wielding that infamous scythe. The battle begins as the Reaper fades into the room dramatically, other versions of Death forming together to create the boss, then it floats around the room in a ghostly manner, phasing in and out. Death can hurl miniature, boomeranging scythe blades at you, strike you with a downward, scooping sort of slash, and can send his own large scythe spinning around the room like a whirling dervish, slashing up everything in its path. And, once Death is destroyed, with a thunderous BOOM, he explodes into flames and tiny scythe blades...and then vanishes without a trace. It’s not the most challenging battle in Castlevania history, but in my opinion, it’s the most iconic battle with the Reaper the entire franchise has ever unleashed.

3. St. Germain, from Curse of Darkness.
Curse of Darkness is one of my favorite games in the entire Castlevania franchise. And my favorite character in the game is, hands down, St. Germain. St. Germain is basically the Doctor (from Doctor Who) in a Castlevania game: an eccentric time traveler who isn’t all he seems. Dressed like a circus ringmaster, this well-mannered but very odd man pops up throughout the game warning our protagonist, Hector, of his impending showdown with his rival, the psychopathic Isaac. At one point in the story, St. Germain gets trapped by Zead (a dark priest who - spoiler alert - is really Death in disguise) at the Eneomaos Clock Tower. When Hector arrives, St. Germain challenges him to a fight, not out of a desire to kill or even harm him, but because, in his own words, “by fighting you, all that I need to know will be revealed.” St. Germain proves to be a talented swordsman, and a crack shot with a flintlock pistol...but these aren’t what truly make him a deadly opponent. St. Germain can directly affect the passage of time. He can speed it up, slow it down, turn it back and forth, and all with varying effects on both the player and the arena around them. It’s a dazzling battle with a fun and memorable character, and pretty dang tricky to boot. It’s easily a highlight boss in the pantheon of Castlevania battles.

2. Count Dracula, from Dracula X Chronicles.
The King of the Vampires. The Prince of Darkness. Every hundred years, this Dark Lord rises from the dead to plague mankind, one way or another. His methods are many, his power supreme, and his name infamous and eternal: Count Dracula. As the primary antagonist of the Castlevania franchise, many a battle with the Count has been waged, and much like with the Grim Reaper, choosing just one was difficult to do. The two-part battle from Curse of Darkness was fun, to say nothing of the first boss from Symphony of the Night, or the final boss from Circle of the Moon or Order of Ecclesia. Ahh, but the one and only choice for the best Dracula battle MUST be from DXC. Now, the first two stages of the battle are what I suppose you could call your classic Dracula fare for this franchise: the Count teleports around the room, unfurling his cape to launch small fireballs and spheres of dark energy at you. Once you deal enough damage there, he takes on his true form: a dragon-like beast that stomps around the room, shaking it and trying to crush you, and can shoot huge fireballs out of its mouth. However, once you defeat this true form, this is where things get truly interesting: Dracula returns to his more humanoid form, but his cape transforms into a curious set of wings as he flies around the arena, which changes from the castle throne room into a dark, limbo-like void of floating debris. At this point, Dracula lashes out with his FULL power, and it is both glorious and terrifying all at once. He launches spirals of flame at you; can turn into a wolf and charge at you; he tosses large blood red orbs at you; he can send out a shockwave to knock you back; he can summon swarms of bats and burning geysers...and just to top it off, HE CAN LITERALLY MAKE IT RAIN BLOOD. Ladies and gents, to say this is the ultimate showdown with the ultimate evil is a heavy temptation…

...But there’s actually one Classic Castlevania boss that’s even better…

1. Count Dracula & Grim Reaper, from Portrait of Ruin.
I’ve talked about this boss before on two different lists, so I’ll just make this quick. At the end of Portrait of Ruin, as usual, you manage to make it to Dracula’s throne room, and prepare to do battle with the King of the Vampires...only for the Grim Reaper to pop up and offer his services to his lord and master. The two decide to take you on together. As well as just being an incredible experience in facing both of the series’ main antagonists at the same time, the battle also plays up to the strengths of the gameplay: not only are our enemies working together, but our protagonists are a duo as well, who need to work together to defeat this boss. The Grim Reaper mostly works from the sidelines, just sort of slashing down every now and again while Dracula does most of the dirty work with his classic array of attacks...but when Dracula chooses to assume his true form, he merges with the Reaper as well, creating an abominable gargoyle that wields both of their strengths and few of their weaknesses, and can quite literally CRUSH you if you aren’t careful. It’s wild, it’s epic, it’s utterly batty (ha ha), and it is satisfying in so many ways. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is my favorite, and the best, battle in the Classic Castlevania series.

And what of the Lords of Shadow reboot? That is another story...

Honorable Mentions Include…
Brauner, from Portrait of Ruin.
His boss was a little too easy for my tastes, but the character, design, and aesthetic thematics (using artwork as a weapon was a pretty inventive and fun idea) made it a highly memorable battle. Brauner is also one of my favorite characters in the franchise, so that helps a lot.

Dancing Spectres, from Super Castlevania IV.
Again, an easy boss, and a little on the silly side, but still a lot of fun. You’re basically fighting Haunted-Mansion-style waltzing ghosts, how cool is that?!

Other Honorable Mentions Include…
Doppelganger, from Symphony of the Night.
Joachim Armster, from Lament of Innocence.
Aguni, from Dawn of Sorrow.
Succubus, from Symphony of the Night.