List of bosses

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This article is about enemy bosses in the Super Mario franchise and all related series. For general enemies, see List of enemies. For bosses organized by game, see List of bosses by game.
"BOSS" redirects here. For a level also known as "BOSS", see vs. Donkey Kong.
The bosses in Super Mario Galaxy

In video games, a boss is a powerful enemy usually fought at the end of a level, world, chapter, etc. Bosses are generally more difficult and time-consuming to defeat than the enemies preceding them, and they are usually required to be defeated to allow for the player to advance further in the game.

Bosses can be grouped into various categories:

  • Mini-bosses (also called mid-bosses or sub-bosses) - Bosses that are sometimes found in the middle of a level, world, chapter, etc., being less difficult to defeat than a regular boss but more difficult to defeat than a standard enemy. These are sometimes upgraded versions of standard enemies. An example of a mini-boss is Boom Boom.
  • Recurring bosses - Bosses that are fought multiple times throughout a game. An example of a recurring boss is Jr. Troopa.
  • Chapter bosses - Bosses that are fought in RPGs at the end of a chapter. An example of a chapter boss is Tutankoopa.
  • World bosses - Bosses that are fought at the end of a world. An example of a world boss is Lemmy.
  • Final bosses - Bosses that are fought at the end of a game, and are usually more difficult to defeat than all other enemies in the game. Defeating the final boss or bosses usually leads to the game's ending, though some games instead require an extra task to be completed after the final boss's defeat before the game ends, such as in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. An example of a final boss is Bowser, who serves this role in many games.
  • Optional bosses - Bosses that do not need to be defeated for the player to reach the end of the game. Optional bosses are mostly found in RPGs and are sometimes harder to defeat than final bosses, as is the case with Culex, The Master, and Bonetail.

The list includes all bosses that appear in the Super Mario franchise and related series, with the first game in which they appeared as a boss next to their name. Final bosses appear in bold and optional bosses appear in italics.

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