Can You Match The Villain To The SNES Game?
- by Scott Baird
- – on
- in The Geek Corner
The Super Nintendo is host to some of the greatest video games of all time. Nintendo are so proud of the system that they are bringing it back in the form of the SNES Classic Mini. This was the generation that introduced characters like Yoshi, Diddy Kong, the Star Fox crew, Captain Falcon and Ness. These are some of the most beloved Nintendo characters of all time and they all first found success on the SNES.
It wasn't just heroes who found their fame on the Super Nintendo. The SNES introduced some incredible villains to the video game world, which presented some of the most difficult challenges to our young minds. This was the generation where you had to fling the boss' minions right back at them, as well as defeating your foes by praying for help. You had to shoot, stab, and stomp repeatedly on these enemies if you wanted to have any hope of success. These are some of the most iconic video game bosses in history... but we aren't looking for their names. We want you to be able to identify the games that they appeared in.
If you clicked on this quiz, then you probably think that you know all of the villains that appeared in the best Super Nintendo games. The SNES was one of the greatest video game consoles of all time, which means that we have a lot of enemies to choose from. So, Can You Name The Super Nintendo Game Based On Its Villain?
The King of Koopas awaits you in his flying clown car...
The Super Nintendo launched with a Mario game, which quickly became the system seller. This game was a massive upgrade to the previous title in the series, which was Super Mario Bros. 3. The latest game in the Mario series opened up the world map and offered lots of secret paths and mysteries to solve. The final boss of this game is Mario's old nemesis, who fights in a giant floating clown head. You need to throw his minions right back at him in order to deal damage.
This eyeball rips its own flesh off and throws it at you
The Kirby series is home to one of the most disturbing end bosses of all time. Its name is Zero and it is a giant floating eyeball. During the battle against Zero, it will tear the flesh from its body and use it as a projectile against you. Zero's presence in the game actually bumped up the age rating of a later compilation of Kirby games. This is because the age rating system wasn't finalized when this game was released.
This alien wants to devour the world from within
This alien is the foe of one of the greatest video games of all time. It crash-landed on the planet in the pre-historic times until it was ready to rise in the year 1999. Its name is Lavos and its presence altered the evolutionary history of the planet that it landed on. This would turn out to be Lavos' undoing, as the residents of the planet decided to fight back. The cast of the game is made up of heroes who traverse the boundaries of time and space, in order to slay this alien menace once and for all.
This brain won't stay in its jar
The villain of the Metroid series is a big brain in a jar. You would think these wouldn't put up much of a fight... and you would be right. The series usually relies on Ridley for the tough boss battles. This brain decides to go the Krang from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles route and builds itself a giant robotic body. You will need to overwhelm this new cybernetically enhanced foe, if you are to escape from the planet Zebes with your head intact.
This face loves to float in space
Science can do amazing things. The greatest of these is creating a giant robot face in space, which can be used to fight against starships. Andross thinks the whole "giant face" thing is a great way to try and take over the universe. If that doesn't work, then he can at least unleash his armies of spaceships and robots to make the attempt instead. It won't be as fun as crushing your many enemies beneath a giant robotic face, however.
This jester became the god of magic
Emperor Gestahl wants to rule the world with the power of magic. To that end, he performs experiments on his underlings, in order to awaken their magical potential. This has the unfortunate side effect of turning one of them mad... Kefka was transformed into a mad jester by the experiments and he became twisted and cruel. He would go on to betray his Emperor and steal the power of the triad. This allowed Kefka to become the god of magic and take over the world.
This lizard loves to steal bananas
The leader of the Kremlins has a vast army of lizard monsters at his disposal. Despite this, he is constantly thwarted by a couple of monkeys. King K Rool was the villain in several different Nintendo games. He usually didn't put up much of a fight compared to the bother bosses in the game. The challenge mostly came from actually getting to him in the first place. This King could be found rapping in a horrible 3D cartoon series from the '90s.
This ninja wants to dine on turtle soup
The Teenage Mutant Turtles were originally formed to slay Shredder. This happened in the original Turtles comics, which involved Shredder blowing himself up with a grenade rather than giving up. They later adapted this comic into a cartoon, which toned down the violence. Shredder was now voiced by Uncle Phil from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and he mainly complained about the Turtles foiling his plans. A badass version of Shredder appeared as the end boss of one of the best Super Nintendo games of all time.
This two-headed monster is your final opponent in a fighting tournament
Eyedol is the final boss of one of the greatest fighting games of all time. He is a two-headed monster, who swipes at his enemies with a giant club. It is possible to play as this behemoth by selecting Cinder and inputting a special code during the loading screen. This will allow you to access Eyedol's ending, which is a violent parody of Blanka's from Street Fighter II. Eyedol's long lost mother finally finds him and he swats her away with his club.
This giant sword has taken over an entire kingdom
Smithy is a robotic engineer, who has the ability to create an army of minions. The first of these that you will meet is named Exor. He is a giant sword that can impale a castle with a single thrust. Smithy wants to remove the ability for people to wish upon a star. It is up the protagonists of the game to reclaim the lost pieces of the stars and take down Smithy and his machine gang once and for all.
This pig is trapped in an endless cycle of violence
The Zelda series involves a cycle of rebirth, destruction, and death. This is linked to the true nature of the Triforce, which is destined to always reappear in the world. It is up to Link, Princess Zelda, and Ganon to fight over possession of the Triforce. This version of Ganon comes from the era when he was always a pig. He resides in the Dark World and seeks a way to escape his imprisonment. It is up to Link to free the heirs of the Seven Sages, in order to stop Ganon's return.
This tyrant runs a secret terrorist organisation
The leader of the Shadaloo organization is an enigmatic man, named M. Bison. He uses psychic energy to aid him in combat, which allows him to levitate and fling himself across the screen. He is the leader of a group known as the Four Devas. This is a team made up of Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison. You need to defeat all four of these warriors in turn if you wish to win the tournament and complete the game.
This monstrosity was once an evil tree
This one might be a bit tricky, as he comes from a game that was never released outside of Japan. Any true SNES RPG fan should still recognize this monster, as it is one of the most baffling end bosses in video game history. The evil being known as Exdeath was created when the spirit of Enuo was sealed into a tree. This allowed Exdeath to be born. He would later break free from his bonds and seek out a way to return all of existence to nothingness.
This boxer is going to destroy you with his combos
Nintendo owns one of the greatest boxing game franchises of all time. Despite this, they have only released three games in its series. It seems that they don't have much faith in it, as this game wasn't even officially released on a cartridge in Japan. You needed to download it using a service called Nintendo Power. This boxer is called Nick Bruiser. He is the final pugilist in a game filled with vicious boxers. Bruiser will require you to use all of your skill in order to defeat him.
The lord of vampires needs a punch to the face
The undead are common foes in video games. This is especially true of Dracula, as he is instantly recognizable as a bad guy and the player doesn't need any reason to kill him other than the fact that he is a vampire. This version of Dracula needs to be struck in the head first. He will eventually shed his body and transform into a monstrous winged demon. You then need to fight this form, in order to break the vampire's curse once and for all.
The child of Bowser has gone full Titan
There are baby versions of Mario, Luigi, and Bowser. These have starred in numerous Mario games throughout the years, including appearances in the Mario Kart series. Baby Bowser's debut ended with him transforming into a giant monster. It is up to Yoshi to fire eggs at him. This was one of the best uses of the Super Nintendo's scaling technology, which allowed for sprites to be enlarged and shrunk with minimal loss to detail. The technology was used to make Baby Bowser grow ever larger as he approached you.
This thing appears out of nowhere and has no build-up whatsoever
This monster comes from an RPG. where you can travel between Earth and the Moon. The Moon is home to a race of aliens, called the Lunarians, who possess great magical power. One of these powers includes the ability to transform into a colossal insect with big blue gems stuck in its shoulders. What makes this boss so intimidating is that there is no build-up to its transformation. It just pops into existence and you have to stab it in the face... wherever that may be.
This wizard wants to destroy our realm with his evil magic
One of the cheapest ways to create an end boss in a fighting game is to just give them all of the best moves of the other characters on the roster. This was the case with Seth from Street Fighter IV, who possessed improved versions of the best moves in the game. He learned from the masters, like Shang Tsung, who had the ability to transform into any character from the game. The best way to beat this boss is to cheat. Just spam jumping kicks till he goes down.
This robotic tyrant keeps coming back for more
Dr. Wily could only keep running away for so long before he grew stale as a villain. He was replaced with Sigma, who was the leader of the Mavericks. Sigma appeared as a boss in numerous Super Nintendo games and is even appearing as a DLC character in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite for the current consoles. His presence annoyed fans, as the developers hadn't even finished announcing the free roster of characters before they started unveiling the ones you had to pay for.
This mad bat wants to fight Kirby
The Kirby series generally uses King Dedede or Meta Knight as antagonists. This wasn't always the case, however, as Kirby has occasionally battled alien threats to his world. Marx is a monstrous jester demon, whom Kirby needs to destroy while piloting a spaceship. The two of them battle among the stars, in a manner similar to Samus Aran in her ship fighting against Ridley. Kirby needs to shoot this jerk in the face with phasers until it is finally destroyed.
You need the Goddess' Bracelet in order to meet this boss
This video game pulls the meanest trick of all time. After completing one of the hardest action/platformers on the Super Nintendo, you are told to go back and do it again. In order to meet the final boss, you need to find the Goddess' Bracelet weapon and use it to reach the end of the game once more. With the Goddess' Bracelet in hand, you will get the chance to face Lucifer in battle and end his wicked reign of evil.
This...monster...feels...good...
This might be the scariest end boss in video game history. That is quite a feat, considering it appeared in a Super Nintendo game. Giygas was once an alien with psychic powers. Over time, its power grew exponentially, to the point where it became a god. All of this power took its toll on Giygas' sanity, which caused it to lose its mind. In order to defeat this boss, you need to keep praying every round and hope it doesn't kill you.
This beast needs to be slain by the Mana Sword
This powerful dragon is unleashed as part of a plan to destroy the world. In order to harm it, you need to use magic that will increase the strength of the Mana Sword. This will allow the Sword to cut through the Mana Beast's defenses. The Mana Beast involved another excellent use of the Super Nintendo's unique graphical capabilities, as it can escape from battle and fly around the arena, before returning to shoot a huge blast of fire at the party.
This demon wants to devour Firebrand
Not all video games have heroes for protagonists. There are some games which star opportunistic demons, who seek to slay their enemies in order to steal their power. This was the case with Firebrand, who became the protagonist of his own series of action games. He had previously been relegated to kidnapping the Princess at the beginning of other games. This monster is called Ultimate Phalanx. You need to battle it within an active volcano, whilst avoiding a tumble into the lava.
You can kill this king by healing him
The Dark King has three forms in battle. The first is just a green guy in a set of robes. He then gains eight arms, with each of them wielding a different weapon. His final form is that of a giant spider. You can actually defeat this boss in a few turns by healing him. Casting the Cure spell on the Dark King causes a buffer overflow, which transforms it into one of the most powerful attack spells in the game.