7 Largest Bosses In Mario Games, Ranked

Highlights

• Super Mario series boasts unique boss battles with size as a key mechanic, providing challenging and memorable encounters for players.
• From the towering Whomp King to the planet-sized Bowser, each boss adds a new dimension of difficulty and spectacle to the games.
• Players face off against colossal foes like the Lord of Lightning and Mechawiggler, showcasing the series’ ability to innovate and surprise.

The Super Mario Bros franchise is one of the best-selling video game series. It has a vibrant selection of enemy types and boss battles that match the individualistic nature of its games. Each game features a unique style and a selling point that makes every entry feel like a new experience, including a new roster of bigger and worse foes.

Alongside the lengthy list of game-specific mechanics that bleed into boss fights, size is an often vital mechanic used to increase the difficulty of bosses, with some of the best Mario games featuring a set of the largest enemies that are challenging to defeat.

7 The Whomp King

The Biggest Whomp of Them All in Super Mario 64

The famed Whomp King from Super Mario 64 challenges the plumbing hero to a 1-1 showdown in an attempt to showcase his abilities as more than just a 2D sprite who likes to stomp up and down in Bowser’s Castle.

Players must ground-pound the Whomp King to win the battle. Admitting defeat after sustaining multiple ground pounds to the back, the boss isn’t nearly as intimidating as other entries and is basically just a hard slab of rock that can be shattered.

6 Mechawiggler

Mechanical Caterpillar Larger Than The Metro Kingdom’s Tallest Buildings In Super Mario Odyssey

Another giant boss from Super Mario Odyssey, The Mecha Wiggler, is a massive mechanical Wiggler who fights Mario atop the Empire State Building in New Donk City. Ginormous in size, Mario must jump into a tank to defeat the robotic monstrosity—firing projectiles at the Wiggler, claiming a multi-moon in what is a straightforward boss fight.

Players can rechallenge the boss for a tougher fight with harder mechanics, but doing so will be risky when one considers just how tall and intimidating this Wiggler-like machine is. A creation of the Broodals that steals electricity and harnesses it for deadly power, this is a boss not to mess with.

5 Planet-Sized Bowser

A Planet Sized Bowser Dominates in Super Mario Galaxy 2

Super Mario Galaxy 2 finds Mario as he must travel the stars to save the galaxy from the boss with the best eyebrows, Bowser. However, unlike the previous game in the series Super Mario Galaxy, Bowser is gigantic. The size of a planet, to be exact.

Due to consuming the power stars, Mario encounters a massive Bowser with the hero plumber fighting the oversized monster as the game’s final boss. During the first phase of the fight, players must dodge meteorites, fist pounds, and shockwaves. In the final stage, difficulty and spectacle are elevated, with players fighting Bowser in space, defeating him by ground-pounding large yellow balls at the enormous enemy.

4 Fury Bowser

The Colossal Fury Bowser Has Endless Rampage in Super Mario 3D World’s Bowser’s Fury

The first and only DLC for Super Mario 3D World, Bowser’s Fury follows Mario as he must team up with antagonists such as Bowser Junior in the fight against a huge Godzilla-inspired Bowser who hates Mario more than ever.

In the DLC, Bowser is on a rampage. Players must fight the boss in multiple stages to defeat him. During the first and second phases, Mario must turn himself into the giant cat Mario to defeat Bowser. In the third stage, players battle over water to stop the villain from consuming Super Bell powerups. The fight is the hardest in the Mario series.

3 Lord of Lightning

Super Mario Odyssey’s Giant Soulslike Worthy Dragon

Lord of Lightning is a boss who is the ruler of the Ruined Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey. A huge dragon-like enemy, players must traverse the beast’s various lighting attacks to stomp on its head. As more damage is dealt, The Lord of Lighting becomes progressively more dangerous, with powerful lighting attacks that the player must avoid.

The sheer size of the enemy is intimidating, and the gritty appearance of the dragon is enough to make players believe they are playing a soul-like game void of difficulty. Lord of Lightning is one of the Mario franchise’s best bosses.

2 Gobblegut

Super Mario Galaxy 2 Features A Massive Dragon With An Appetite For Plumbers

Gobblegut is a gigantic serpent dragon that Mario encounters after facing Bowser Jr in Super Mario Galaxy 2. The young Bowser’s pet seems to like nothing more than eating, even if that includes devouring Mario for breakfast.

Gameplay mechanics comprise Mario destroying the red bulging sections of Gobblegut until it is defeated. Players must beat the tall Mario boss to gain another grand star and complete the game.

1 Megaleg

Super Mario Galaxy’s Huge Robot That Will Grind Mario’s Gears

One of the first boss battles in Super Mario Galaxy, Megaleg is one of the game’s biggest. Massive in size, Megaleg is a huge mechanical robot that must be climbed in order to be defeated. Players must redirect Bullet Bills toward the enemy’s power star to break the barriers that contain it. Upon claiming the star, Megaleg is beaten.

Megaleg is the first Bowser Jr fight the player engages with, setting the stage for future giant battles in the series, and proving just how difficult these boss fights can be. Size matters when it comes to this hulking mechanical monster, and Mario might wish he was fixing toilets and sinks instead.