Again, no competition.

What’s the hardest Zelda boss I’ve battled?

Though several of bosses have been abnormally difficult, the hardest one one I’ve battled is, hands down, undisputed, no contest… from the Shadow Temple in Ocarina of Time: Bongo-Bongo.

“Not to mention how creeeepy and unsettling I look, mwahahah!”

Allow me to explain this one a bit, and defend my dignity a little. 😛

Most Zelda bosses, for all their quirks and capabilities, give you a chance to figure them out, and take you to the deep end of the pool gradually. Not so for Bongo-Bongo. You fall into the arena and find yourself bouncing. You have to hit the two hands, then use the Lens of Truth and the bow and arrow at the same time, to hit Bongo-Bongo right in the eyeball, all within a few crucial seconds before his charge hits you and knocks you straight off the drum. The moving drum. Which is moving atop a sea of acid! Or whatever the heck that stuff is!

I got knocked off that huge drum one time, and I ran straight back to the drum… which was moving directly away from me! When I went into the acid, I was fine, but when I finally managed to get out, I had practically no life left! One more hit, and I was dead!

And then this happened again! Not quite so badly, mind you, but, still, out of all the Zelda bosses I’ve ever faced, Bongo-Bongo is the only one that I needed more than two tries to defeat them.

…well, ok, I amend that statement: he’s the one I’ve needed more than two tries at since I became a teenager. The skills of my eight-year-old self needed some refinement, ya know? 😉

Furthermore, Bongo-Bongo, the annoying one that threw me into a sea of acid multiple times, was at the end of the Shadow Temple. I hated that temple! Far too scary, and filled with illusions, and everything kept surprising me! I learned very quickly that I had to proceed through the shadows with great caution. And then to have to go through it again and again just to get back to the most annoying boss of them all?

Oh, when I finally defeated Bongo-Bongo, I’m fairly certain they heard my victory cheers on the other side of the planet. 😀