One of the greatest things about video games is after all your hard work and time spent playing, staring into the bosses’ beady little eyes as you finally reach it. It may not even be the end game boss, but even sub bosses can be a challenge and a half and take a whole lot of effort, and sometimes frustration, to drop. Everyone knows Tyrant from Resident Evil or the CyberDemon from DOOM, but what about those killer bosses that people forget about or don’t know about? This list is a look at some of the bosses and sub-bosses that fly under people’s radar as some of the most kick ass and interesting out there. Without further delay, here’s a list of 10 underrated bosses that kick some underestimated ass!

The Dahaka:

In the Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, the Dahaka is a constant thorn in the prince’s side. Since the prince is supposed to be dead, it is the duty of the Dahaka to make sure the Prince ends up that way. Not a typical boss that you face at the end of a level or at the end of the game, but rather, every once in a while he will pop up and give you a hectic chase. Being that he cannot be hurt at all and if his tendrils touch you, you die, he is one bad mutha to stay away from. All is not lost though, as you do eventually get your chance to let him have it. If you choose to pick up the sword at the end of the game, you will see the Dahaka get his just desserts in the final game cut scene.

Piggsy:

What’s creepier than a guy that dresses up in a pig suit? A guy dressed up in a pig suit with a chainsaw. Piggsy is the sub boss at the end of Manhunt who creeps and skulks around an abandoned apartment building while you need to sneak up on him and give him the shank from behind. Once you do it a few times, the creepy hog runs and tries to escape only to fall to his grisly death allowing you to use the chainsaw on the final boss. If the guy in the rabbit suit earlier in the game didn’t wig you out, Piggsy and the roar of his chainsaw definitely will.

Psycho Mantis:

One of the oddest battles ever to take place in a console showdown was found in Metal Gear Solid. When the showdown with Solid Snake and Psycho Mantis started, Psycho would brag about how he could read your mind and know your attacks before you did. Strangely enough, he was telling the truth. When you went to attack him, he would easily dodge your attacks before they came even close to hitting him. It truly seemed impossible after getting yourself infuriated time and time again, wondering how the hell you were going to beat him,. Eventually smarty pants gamers out there figured out that by plugging your controller into the second control port, he was unable to “read your mind” and then it was him that became confused, irate and quickly dead.

Desann:

Desann was a Jedi in training until he was declared unfit to wield the powers of a Jedi. Turning to the dark side afterwards, along with his apprentice Tavion, Desann made it his life goal to become a major pain in the ass to all Jedi Knights. When you first run into the purple skinned, armor wearing Dessan in Jedi Knight Outcast, he gives you a world of hurt and there isn’t a darn thing you can do about it. Later on however, when you meet him again at the end of the game, you can return the favor and give Desann a taste of some of his own medicine. Desann is a mean looking, half man – half dinosaur creature, with a lightsaber and a hot chick on his side, and a smart ass attitude. All these things combined make Desann one true bad ass and underrated boss.

Alma:

Before the creepy little girl in F.E.A.R. made her appearance, there was another Alma that put the heebie jeebies into people. Alma from Ninja Gaiden has to be one of the toughest bosses around, not to mention one of the oddest as well. When the very large and very pink Alma isn’t kicking you in the face or charging at you, she’ll be tossing rubble and debris to take you down at a blindingly, prompt pace. The only way you can lay a hurting on this hard-hitting chick is to keep moving constantly and whittle away her life bit by bit when she seems to get bored with you. As if that battle wasn’t tough enough, after you do finally defeat her, you get to face her again later on in the game in a different, less appealing, and much larger form

Lusca:

If you are flying around Independence Port in City of Heroes and happen to see a giant octopus thrashing its tentacles about, wave back and say hi to Lusca. Lusca is a massive octopus that terrorizes the dock hands in Paragon City and is more than a handful for overzealous heroes to face. To take down this bad boy, you’ll need at least 8 heroes, preferable 16, with a few defenders thrown in for good measure, to take down each of its eight tentacles and then finally to lay a pounding on to its bulbous noggin. One whip from its tentacle and it will lay a major hurting on you and its ink squirts will finish you off in no time. It’s not unheard of to see a pile of bodies surrounding it at any given time and many other heroes standing around scratching their heads.

Del Lago:

After Leon leaves the village in Resident Evil 4 and hops in the little boat to cross the lake, little did he know that the little lake had one huge occupant. When you meet the large fish in the lake, no dinky fishing rod is going to be able to hook it. Thankfully you have a quick moving boat and a harpoon gun and spears to give it a stinging. If you aren’t quick enough however, you’ll find yourself wet behind the ears and defenseless against the huge fish as you tread water. If you don’t scramble back to the boat on time, you’ll find yourself being the worm on the hook and a quick meal. When you’re not being dragged around the lake anymore, get ready for it to come at you. Luckily you’ll have a warning where it is coming from, but that won’t help you in actually hitting it as it zips towards you.

Tidal Wave:

Easily the largest Transformer and easily one of the most gargantuan bosses in any game ever made. When you first face Tidal Wave in Transformers, you actually run around and play inside him in his aircraft carrier form. Once you have defeated the decepticons found within him and completed your objectives there, he begins to transform and you need to high tail it out of him. When you reach the shore and turn around, you see the stalking behemoth trudging after you and the only way to take him down is to use the snipe scope to nail him, way, way up on his head. It really is a long way up there, but as they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Ragnaros:

For those World of Warcraft addicts out there, Ragnaros will be a familiar name. The final boss of Molten Core is no simple bugger to reach and even more difficult to defeat. No less than a team of 40 players is need to meet him and many less than that will be on their feet at the end of the battle. There are nine bosses on the way to Ragnaros, so you can imagine it won’t be a walk in the park when you finally reach him. Ragnaros has more than a few attacks to whisk away pesky attackers with such as Lava Splash, Wrath of Ragnaros and Hammer of Ragnaros. Keeping on your toes and keeping your team working together is the only way to see this oversized matchstick get snuffed out.