Early on, Nintendo quickly established the importance of a great video game villain– in fact, the company’s first big hit, Donkey Kong, was literally named after that game’s antagonist. The company continued on that track, partnering each of its new heroes with an equally iconic villain.
And while Bowser is kind of a doofus most of the time and Mother Brain didn’t stay Metroid’s big bad for long, The Legend of Zelda saw the introduction of a villain that would quickly earn his permanent place in the pantheon of all-time recurring video game antagonists: Ganon. In the 34 years since Ganon’s debut, he has taken on Link in some of the most memorable battles in gaming history, and trying to rank battles that have all been great was no easy task.
10 Oracle Of Seasons/Oracle Of Ages
9 The Legend of Zelda
Here’s where the gaming world first learned of a hero named Link, a princess named Zelda, and a pig-like beast named Ganon. Though not very impressive now, in 1986 The Legend of Zelda felt like a Skyrim-sized adventure that kept a generation of kids busy for literal years, and seeing Ganon was just as exciting the second, third, or tenth time. Mechanically, the fight is nothing special and was quickly eclipsed by subsequent Zelda sequels, but it was still a watershed moment for video game boss fights.
8 Four Swords Adventures
For the most part, the GameCube-to-Game Boy Advance “connectivity” that Nintendo tried to push for a few years in the early-2000s was a bust. But if you could manage to gather the proper number of systems, games, and cords (so many cords), Four Swords Adventures was a blast to play, a fun co-op-based spin on the classic Zelda formula. And those that actually made it to that game’s Ganon fight were treated with something special… something that far too few people actually got to see.
7 Link’s Awakening
Sometimes a 3D upgrade serves an old-school game well, as it did for the Switch remake of the Game Boy classic Link’s Awakening. Among the many ways that the graphical upgrade made for a superior experience was in the boss fight against a shadow version of Ganon– not technically the real deal, but close enough to be considered for this list. Either version is memorable, but we give the edge to the one from the remake just for what the increased fidelity does for the creepiness factor.
6 A Link Between Worlds
After the lukewarm reception that Skyward Sword (Wii) and Spirits Tracks (DS) received, Nintendo realized that it was time to do something of a refresh on the Zelda franchise. This was most obviously felt in Breath of the Wild, but credit for injecting new life into the series must also be shared with A Link Between Worlds for 3DS, including a unique battle with hybrid beast Yuga Ganon that has the distinction of being the only Ganon fight to take place in both 2D and 3D space.
5 A Link To The Past
Unless you were there to experience it firsthand, it’s hard to put into words what a revelation A Link to the Past was when it hit the SNES in 1992. Often mentioned as one of the few games ever made that approaches perfection, LttP is just an expertly-crafted, meticulously-polished adventure that thrills from its rain-soaked beginning to its heart-racing battle against Ganon, one of the toughest fights with Hyrule’s greatest menace that Link has ever had to endure. We dare you to try it today without resorting to save states or rewinds and we guarantee you will be humbled.
4 Ocarina of Time
So many people are so used to answering “Ocarina” to the question of “What’s your favorite Zelda game?” that you’d be lucky to even get the full question asked before you got that response. And a big part of why Link’s first foray into 3D won over the hearts of millions of gamers is in Ocarina’s brilliant, multi-part Ganondorf/Ganon battle– so well-designed and so popular that its set-up and mechanics have served as the basis for multiple Ganon battles– and boss battles, period– ever since.
3 Twilight Princess
Though the world warmed up to Wind Waker once they finally gave it a chance, gamers were initially disappointed the first GameCube Zelda game had bright, cartoony visuals rather than the dark, gritty look teased in early tech videos for the system. Nintendo eventually made good on that promise with Twilight Princess, still the most “adult” game in the franchise, with a gloom rivaled only by Majora’s Mask’s doomsday scenario and a Ganon fight that ranks among the most powerful moments in the franchise’s history.
2 Breath of the Wild
People sometimes accuse Nintendo of resting on its laurels and playing it safe with its big franchises, and that might have been true for a time, but the company proved that it still had plenty of tricks up its sleeve and a willingness to go big & take risks by way of the revelatory Breath of the Wild. Quickly hailed as one of the greatest games ever made, BotW shocked and delighted at every turn, capped off by an epic final battle with a massive, otherworldly Ganon that has to be seen to be believed.
1 Wind Waker
When people saw the first images and videos of Wind Waker, they assumed it was going to be a light, fluffy affair– and for the most part, they were right. That is, until they met a surprisingly sinister Ganondorf and eventually engaged in a pulse-pounding battle with him, ending in one of the most gruesome and violent moments ever seen in a Nintendo-made game– so violent, in fact, that we couldn’t even show an un-obscured shot of it. The fight itself might not have quite been #1-worthy on its own, but the finish definitely gets it there.
Next: The Legend Of Zelda: 10 Most Frequently Recurring Enemies In The Franchise, Ranked
