10. Darth Malak In the groundbreaking epic by Bioware, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Darth Malak was the epitome of what a Sith Lord could be. He was cruel, evil, and would commit mass murder on a whim. But, he was also cold, calculating, and was willing to do anything to complete his goals. While he started out as the apprentice of Darth Revan, Malak took his shot at his Sith Master as soon as he could. He even managed to turn the most promising Jedi Padawan in the galaxy, Bastila Shan, to the dark side. When a Jedi strike team, led by Bastila, boarded Revan's flagship, Malak took full advantage of his Master's distraction, and ordered his ship to fire on him. While you could get your revenge as Revan, or try as hard as possible to turn him back to the light side, Malak wouldn't go down without a fight. He used the dead Jedi from the Dantooine Enclave as a power source, and continually restored himself off their life force. Smart players quickly learned to either destroy the capsules containing the Jedi, or to use them as a source of power for themselves. Ultimately, the decision was up to you if Revan would rise again, or if peace and justice would be restored to the galaxy. 9. Dr. Wily The eternal rival of the original Mega Man, Dr. Wily was originally Dr. Light/Dr. Wright's assistant. However, a laboratory accident twisted him to evil. He stole Dr. Light's first 6 robots, reprogramming them for destruction and mayhem. After Mega Man defeated these six robots, Dr. Wily would build many more, forcing Mega Man to take them on again and again. While his tactics would shift from simple brute force, to deception, to black mail, to out right fraud, he would always appear as the puppet master pulling the strings behind all the action. Some would consider his kidnapping of Dr. Cossack's daughter and forcing him to build 8 robots to destroy Mega Man to be his greatest possible plan, but others would disagree. He even created a counterpart to Mega Man and Rush, in the form of Bass and Treble. Since Capcom has been purposely unclear about the connection between the Mega Man Classic series and the Mega Man X series, beyond the creator of Zero, we may never know how far down the rabbit hole goes with this Mad Scientist. 8. Mother Brain While the Mother Brain was left completely out of the Metroid Prime games, there's no doubting her influence over the Metroid series. Unlike most games of the NES generation, the Mother Brain had one surprise left when you beat her. Her death triggered a fail-safe device that incinerated the entire surface of Planet Zebes. Samus had only a scant few minutes to escape the planet or be caught in the explosion. With the Mother Brain taking a break in the Game Boy sequel, she had enough time and energy to craft a whole new set of surprises and traps for Samus on her second visit to Zebes. When Samus defeated her in the same manner as the first time, the Mother Brain sprung her trap. A massive mechanical body had been built for her, taking up almost the entire screen, easily 5 times bigger than Samus. After she toyed with Samus for a while, the Mother Brain played her trump card; a beam weapon derived from the power of the Metroids, sucking away Samus' power suit reserves and neutralizing all her weapons except her arm cannon. But, before the final blow could be struck, the Metroid Hatchling, which had been mutated to massive proportions, attacked the Mother Brain, and stole her beam weapon. It then tried to transfer all the absorbed power back to Samus. Before it finished, the Mother Brain's mechanical parts restored her to life, and she began to pound on the Metroid, trying to kill it. When the Metroid Hatchling was killed, its final act was to give Samus its power absorbing ability. Using this new beam weapon, Samus devastated the Mother Brain. But, the Mother Brain had once again set up a fail-safe in the event of her defeat. Samus had to evacuate Zebes, as the fail-safe bomb this time took out the entire planet. With her escape, the Mother Brain's plans to use the Metroids to conquer the galaxy were dashed, and peace was restored to the galaxy. 7. M. Bison (Vega) Depending on what part of the world you played the original Street Fighter II in, the final boss' name was different. However, the anger and frustration were almost identical. Capcom made the final boss extremely difficult. He could jump higher than anyone else, hit harder, and when he used the Psycho Crusher, he had invincibility frames, making it impossible to counterattack. The main frustration was that characters like Zangief, Dhalsim, and E. Honda had an annoyingly hard time beating Bison/Vega, because of their slow speed and limited move set. In fact, to this day, E. Honda is still the only fighter of the original eight who doesn't have an effective counter to projectiles. The dirty little secret of Bison/Vega's near unbeatable fighting skills was something that would come to be used again and again in fighting games, even today. Capcom programmed Bison/Vega to be able to read your input commands, and be able to counter them almost before your fighter even executed them. Many players of the arcade just looked at it as another example of the opponent cheating. However, when this programming was ported over to the home consoles, some gamers reacted with outrage. With the basic Genesis controller, with only three buttons, you were already at a severe disadvantage against the CPU opponents. Having the CPU being able to read when you were switching from punch to kick commands was insanely wrong. 6. William Birkin/Mr. X Resident Evil 2 was one of the rare games where the improved graphics actually did make for a better game. The amount of detail and realism added to the psychological horror of being alone and running for your life. With the addition of several, very well animated cut scenes depicting the cause of the city-wide T-Virus outbreak, the ultimate cause and victim of the plague was revealed. William Birkin, a genius scientist in the area of biogenic research was betrayed by his benefactor, the Umbrella Corporation. With the complete failure and destruction of the Spencer Mansion in the Arklay Mountains outside Raccoon City, the Umbrella Corporation moved to secure the experimental G-Virus; which was even more powerful and potentially more destructive than the T-Virus, by any means necessary. Two squads of shock troops were sent in to get the G-Virus, with orders to kill anyone who got in their way, including Dr. Birkin. With Dr. Birkin refusing to hand over the G-Virus, a stand-off ensued. One shock troop with an itchy or nervous trigger finger accidentally shot and mortally wounded Dr. Birkin. But, unbeknownst to the shock troops, or even his wife, Annette, William had kept a vial of the G-Virus with him in a syringe. Knowing the virus had regenerative properties, William injected himself, and become the first victim of the G-Virus outbreak. While it did save his life, it turned him into a raging, unthinking beast. He immediately killed all but one of the shock troops, and smashed all the vials containing both T-Virus and G-Virus samples. After that, the genetic imprinting designed into the G-Virus took over, and William was compelled to spread the infection to other living creatures. In Claire's first game, he did this by impregnating his own daughter, Sherry, with an embryonic egg that would take over her body. Depending on whether you were playing the character's first or second quest you would face William Birkin up to four times in combat. The battles culminated in a final fight on the train trying to escape the doomed city. Birkin had mutated into a living wall of flesh, with tentacles and eyes sprouting from all angles. Birkin was finally killed when the Umbrella Complex and half of Raccoon City was destroyed by the self-destruct system built into the complex. Mr. X, on the other hand, was added in as an extra challenge for a player going through the second quest. He was less dangerous, to a degree, because most encounters with him could be avoided entirely, simply by running past him or escaping through a door. In the final confrontation, though, Mr. X revealed his true form, that of a Tyrant MKII. Unlike the Tyrant from the first Resident Evil, this Tyrant was completely finished, and was a relentless killing machine. Even being dropped into a vat of molten lead wasn't enough to stop him. The player finally had to destroy him using an RPG, aka a rocket propelled grenade launcher. While not as dangerous as William Birkin, Mr. X was designed to be the cherry on the **** sundae. If you could manage to kill him without using the in-game cheats or a gameshark, you were damned good. 5. Dr. Robotnik/Eggman The final boss in almost every single Sonic game, Dr. Robotnik, as he was named in the original American release, was a genius scientist in the area of robotics. He used his intelligence and his 300 IQ to build giant machines designed to conquer and rule the fictional planet of Mobius with an iron grip. He did this by collecting seven rare emeralds, alternatively called chaos gems and chaos emeralds. In his plans to build a utopian civilization of robots and high technology, Dr. Robotnik discovered the power of the chaos emeralds. He attempted to use them to conquer South Island. Unfortunately for him, this was also the home of Sonic the Hedgehog. After being stopped by Sonic the first time, Dr. Robotnik returned with his battleship, which he christened the Death Egg. Sonic, with the help of Tails, managed to stop him once again. In his next foray, Dr Robotnik created a robotic clone of Sonic, and named it Metal Sonic. He then traveled to Little Planet where he tried and failed to take possession of the magical stones there that would give him the power to control the flow of time. In his final attempt during the Genesis generation, Dr. Ronotnik's Death Egg crashed-landed on Angel Island, a mysterious island floating in the sky. Here, he stumbled upon Knuckles, an anthropomorphic Echidna, which he tricked into thinking that Sonic was attempting to steal the master emeralds. Believing Dr. Robotnik, Knuckles ambushed Sonic and stole the chaos emeralds from him. However, Dr. Robotnik eventually revealed himself as the true villian, and betrayed Knuckles, stealing the master emeralds so he could repair his Death Egg battleship. Knuckles, realizing he had been tricked, helped Sonic to take down Dr. Robotnik again. In his final act of villiany on a Sega console, Dr. Robotnik stumbled upon the legend of Chaos, the true guardian of the chaos emeralds, and the master emerald. Dr. Robotnik shattered the master emerald, releasing Chaos. He then attempted to take over the world again, by feeding Chaos the chaos emeralds, which increased his power each time he consumed one. However, Chaos became too powerful, and turned on Dr. Robotnik. Sonic was forced to defeat Chaos, stopping him from destroying the world. As the Sonic games continued, Dr. Robotnik would eventually be pushed to the side, as flashier and more menacing villians attempted to take his place. Most people consider Sonic Adventure to be the height of the Sonic games. If this is true, then Sonic's slow fall is tied inexorably to Dr. Robotnik's disappearence from the scene. 4. Lavos The ultimate villain in the game Chrono Trigger, Lavos was a force for change and destruction throughout the entire game. While the player was introduced to him early on, it took until almost two thirds of the game had been completed to understand the depths of his impact on the world, and the entire storyline of the game. While the writers took a few liberties, ie, putting cavemen in the year 65 Million B.C., the overall storyline was a parallel reality to our own, with magic and high technology being discovered far earlier than in real life. In the mythical 1,000 A.D., the technology was comparatively similar to our own at the time of this game's release, the mid 1990's. During a war between the cavemen and a mythical race called the Reptites; humanoid, sentient reptiles, Lavos crashed onto the planet, wiping out all the dinosaurs, and altered the planet's climate. By the next time period, 12,000 B.C., the Earth was a frozen wasteland, populated by only a few small settlements. However, mysterious structures resembling temples were found by the player. These structures teleported the player to a floating continent above the eternal clouds, where sunlight still reached. Here, the Kingdom of Zeal reigned, and used the people on the surface, known as the Earthbound Ones, as slaves. Unbeknownst to the player, the magical kingdom was being sustained by siphoning off the power of Lavos, using a device called the Mammon Machine. When the machine was brought too close to Lavos, he awakened, and once again unleashed devastation across the planet. The floating continent was destroyed, and the eternal clouds were finally removed. But, the world had been drastically altered. When the floating continent crashed into the ocean, it flooded almost the entire world, leaving only a few small islands left. From here, the timeline jumps all the way to 600 A.D., where a member of the Zeal royal family had been stranded by a time portal. Adopted by a race of magical beings called Mystics, Janus, who would later take on the name Magus, used his knowledge of the arcane magics to rise to power as the leader of the race. While his second-in-command, Ozzie, followed him believing he was attempting to conquer the humans, Magus was secretly planning on summoning the creature Lavos to exact his revenge on it. In order to further his, Ozzie's, plans, Queen Leene of Guardia Castle was kidnapped. However, events 400 years in the future would complicate her rescue. A young man named Crono (Chrono in the JAP format) is chosen by destiny to defend the Earth from the threat of Lavos. However, the flow of time could not be altered linearly. In the year 1999 A.D., Lavos awoke from his 14,000 year slumber, and once again decimated the planet; this time throwing it into a permanent nuclear winter. Finally, in the year 2300 A.D., the player discovers the true scope of the threat to their future. The heroes then decide to attempt to alter history, in the way they did to save the female lead. After going forward and backward in time on many occasions, they finally came face to face with the creature. After defeating what they think is Lavos, they venture inside the shell, and discover the true horror of its existence. The Lavos creature is merely a shell/ship for a parasitic humanoid being, who uses forced disasters and genetic tampering to guide the evolution of a planet for its own needs. Once the planet reaches a certain state, the being begins to suck away at the very essence of the planet, leaving it a withered husk incapable of supporting life. Once this deed is done, the being leaves and begins the process anew on another planet. In a climactic fight outside of time but somehow connected to all the previously visited time periods, the player takes on Lavos in a fight to the end. If the player wins, the Earth is saved. If the player loses, the Day of Lavos occurs in 1999 A.D., and the Earth is doomed. 3. Ganon The eternal villain of Hyrule, Ganon has taken on many forms, disguises, and puppets in his schemes to conquer all. In the first game, an unknown hero named Link is tasked with defeating Ganon and rescuing Princess Zelda. Before Zelda was captured, she shattered the Triforce of Wisdom and hid the eight pieces across the width and breadth of Hyrule. Link had to enter the dungeons containing the pieces and recover them. But, even a piece that small still possessed awesome power. Monsters of all sizes were drawn to it, and soon the dungeons were filled with them. Link defeated all the monsters, traps, and puzzles, and found all eight pieces of the Triforce. He then went on to challenge Ganon. After finishing him off with the silver arrows, Princess Zelda was rescued. However, this was only one of the many portions of the legend that Ganon was involved in. While Ganon wasn't a part of Link's next adventure, he was an ever present threat. If Link dies, Ganon's minions would sprinkle his blood over Ganon's corpse, and be revived. It was a haunting game over screen for it's time. In Link's next adventure, Ganon used a puppet named Aghanim to earn the trust of the king and the people. Then, he slaughtered the king and took over the castle. Ganon had been sealed into The Golden Land; now called The Dark World, in a climactic battle centuries ago. Now, through his puppet, he was attempting to break the seal, and conquer Hyrule, which was now referred to as the Light World. Link struggled valiantly, but was unable to prevent his puppet, Aghanim, from breaking the seal. With his death, Aghanim broke the seal, and cast Link into the Dark World. In order to restore the balance, Link had to rescue the seven maidens, who were the ancestors of the seven sages that had cast the seal. While most of their power had been drained, together they could give Link a fighting chance against Ganon. After he had saved the seven maidens, Link would finally challenge Ganon in one on one combat. Using the silver arrows, Link defeated Ganon again. But, unknown to the player, there was still one final story to be told. The origin of Hyrule, and of the eternal struggle to keep Wisdom, Courage, and Power in balance. In this game, Link began as a small child, barely 10 years old. Also at this time, Ganon was not the major threat he was destined to become. He was a simple Thief-King of the Gerudo, named Ganondorf. But, when Ganondorf heard of the power hidden away in a legendary, almost mythical realm, he had to possess it. Princess Zelda was too young to fully grasp the consequences of attempting to enter the Sacred Realm. Ganondorf followed our young hero, and when the Sacred Realm was opened, took the Triforce in his hands. But, the Triforce had a legend. If a person with a pure heart claims the Triforce, he or she will be granted its unlimited power. But if their heart is not pure, then the portion of the Triforce that most reflects their desires will be given to them. He or she must them look for two others who will have been selected by Fate to be the bearers of the other two portions. Ganondorf, who was wicked and craved only conquest, received the Triforce of Power. Princess Zelda, who was selected by Fate, received the Triforce of Wisdom. Finally, Link, the hero, was entrusted with the Triforce of Courage. But, Link was far too young to take on Ganondorf, so the Triforce sealed him away for 7 years, until he was old and strong enough to confront the King of Evil. However, Ganondorf used those 7 years to fortify his stranglehold on Hyrule. Only by awakening the 5 other sages could Ganondorf be defeated. After Link had conquered the five Temples, and awakened the 5 sages, he confronted Ganondorf in a fight to the end. However, with his last breath, Ganondorf cast a spell that caused his entire castle to collapse. Link and Zelda barely made it out alive, and thought the battle was finally won. But it was not to be. The Triforce of Power could not be stopped. Filled with Ganondorf's malevolence, the Triforce had become corrupted. Using its power, Ganondorf revived himself. But, as a result, he was transformed into a hideous beast. He was now Ganon, the Unholy King of Evil. After a long and brutal struggle, Link was finally able to subdue Ganon and Zelda and the other Six Sages imprisoned him in the Sacred Realm. While there are more stories of Link and Zelda's struggles against Ganon, this should be a good indication of why he is so high on the list. 2. Bowser Mario's eternal rival, Bowser, or King Koopa, as he's known in Japan, has been the main boss or nemesis in almost every Mario game ever made. His modus operandi has always been fairly simple: Kidnap Princess Toadstool. However, his strategies to combat Mario have changed over the years. In his first attempt, he cast spells on his minions that disguised them as clones of himself. It wasn't until Mario made it all the way to the end and entered Bowser's Castle that he finally confronted him, face to face. Bowser put up a valiant fight, but he still fell before Mario's skill. In his next attempt, Bowser used his children to cause unrest across the Mushroom Kingdom. While Mario was distracted dealing with the schemes of his kids, Bowser once again kidnapped Princess Toadstool. However, this time, Mario was not so lucky. Bowser had fortified his castle and the path to it. Mario had to go through multiple stages with massive amounts of enemies and ammo being tossed his way. Once he finally won through to Bowser's Castle, he was in for a surprise. Bowser had set a trap for him, and when Mario entered his chamber, Bowser attempted to smash him flat. When Mario was able to outsmart him yet again and rescue the Princess, Bowser tried a different tack. He kidnapped the Princess yet again, but this time fled to the remote area Dinosaur Land, in an attempt to have his troops and the natural dangers of the land kill off his nemesis. Mario managed to succeed only with the help of one of the residents of Dinosaur Land, Yoshi. In the final battle, Mario had to clobber Bowser using his own mechanical minions, mechakoopas. Once Mario beaned him six times, Bowser lost, and the Princess was rescued. In his next attempt to overthrow Princess Toadstool and conquer the Mushroom Kingdom, Bowser initiated a surprise attack on Peach in her royal residence, the Princess' Castle. Mario, who had a received an invitation from Peach a short time earlier, arrived just after Bowser had conquered the castle. He then had to rescue Peach and her Mushroom Retainers by finding all the Power Stars that had magically protected the castle. Bowser had scattered them all over, and given them to his many minions, who used them to create massive worlds inside the castle's paintings. Unknown to Bowser, Peach and her Retainers had also managed to secure or hide away some of the castle's many stars during the attack. Once Mario found all the stars, he conquered Bowser in a climactic fight to the finish by hurling him into several precariously placed bombs. Bowser was defeated, and Peach and all her Retainers were freed from their prisons. Bowser would launch more attacks and raids against Mario and Princess Peach, but these are the ones that immediately come to mind when most people mention Mario and Bowser. 1. Kefka While many people consider Sephiroth as the ultimate villian from the Final Fantasy series, he doesn’t even hold a candle to the evil that is Kefka. While they do have some similarities, ie, both were the result of experimental techniques that ultimately went terribly wrong, they diverge radically from there. Sephiroth was a soldier in Shinra's Merc Army. He never attained a high rank, other than being in the highest eschelon of said army. Kekfa was a General in the Imperial Army, and for the first half of the game, was Gestahl's right-hand man. Sephiroth eventually went insane on discovering the horrible secret of his birth, and an imagined connection to his "mother," Jenova. Kefka, from all appearances, was utterly insane from the get-go. He only served under Gestahl because he was unable to muster enough power to overthrow him. Sephiroth viewed all other humans as thieves who had stolen the planet from him and Jenova. Kefka viewed all other life as insects to be crushed beneath his heel, and thought nothing of using tactics and techniques that went beyond brutal; for example, when he poisioned all the inhabitants of Doma Castle, including some of his own soldiers who were being held in the castle dungeon. As soon as his chance presented itself, Kefka turned on and killed Emperor Gestahl, using the power of the Goddess Statues. He then used their power to alter the very face of the planet, and declared himself a god. The story picks up one year later, with one of the player characters awakenening from a coma. Kefka now ruled the planet as a god on high, punishing all those he felt had wronged him, or just for his own sick amusement. The Returners had to regroup, one person at a time, and complete a series of quests to ready them for their final challenge. They then entered Kefka's Tower, and traveled through a confusing maze of twists, turns, and traps. Before they fought Kefka, they had to challenge the Three Statues, which were the source of all magic in their world. The Returners had feared that destroying the statues would also remove all magic, but Kefka had drained the Staues of all their power, making him the source of all magic. When they finally reached Kefka, he tried to stop them by pitting them against several horrific and unspeakable magic beasts. When the Returners defeated them, Kefka himself challenged them in a fight to determine the outcome of the entire planet. In a long and drawn-out battle, Kefka finally fell, but at a price. All magic disappeared from the world, and Terra, the lead female protagonist, lost her innate magical abilities and become purely human. In the end, the world was saved, and peace reigned. In the annals of video game history, no mere villian has accomplished so much, and as such, Kefka is Number One on my list of Top 10 Baddest Final Bosses of all Time.