Kingdom Hearts: 8 Underrated Bosses

Highlights

• Kingdom Hearts has some incredible boss battles that are often overlooked or forgotten by the community.
• Unique boss mechanics, such as Kurt Zisa’s need for different types of attacks, make these battles refreshing and challenging.
• Memorable bosses like Zexion, Demyx, and Saix provide creative and entertaining fights that showcase the depth of the combat system.

Anytime the Kingdom Hearts franchise is brought up in online discussions, people usually talk about its convoluted story or its crazy Disney elements. But there’s something else that this franchise does extremely well, and that it’s boss battles. Kingdom Hearts features some of the best bosses that an Action RPG can offer.

While most of them have already been praised countless times, there are also many other incredible bosses that have sadly been forgotten or misjudged by the community. Like most RPG franchises, each Kingdom Hearts game has several boss encounters, so it’s inevitable that some of them don’t get the appreciation they deserve. These are some of the best examples.

8 Kurt Zisa

Kingdom Hearts

The very first game has many optional bosses, and they come in different types: There are boring encounters, like the one against the Phantom, and there are some challenging clashes, like the battle against the villain of Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth. But, there’s another amazing boss hiding deep in the desert of Agrabah, and its name is Kurt Zisa.

This giant Heartless has a unique gimmick that makes its battle quite refreshing: When it uses its swords, it can only be damaged by physical attacks, and when it summons a shield, it can only be damaged by magical attacks. It’s up to the player to switch up their fighting style on the go in order to defeat it. To top it all off, Kurt Zisa has what is possibly the best Heartless design in the entire series.

7 Zexion

Re: Chain of Memories

Most bosses in Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories don’t make good use of this game’s infamous card-based combat system, as they mostly just rely on powerful sleights. But Zexion is an exception, and possibly the most memorable boss in the entire adventure, since his battle is so unique that it couldn’t be replicated in other games.

Zexion can only be faced on Riku’s side of the story. He can actually steal the player’s cards and use them in order to make copies of himself. If the player is not careful, he will only get stronger and trickier to deal with. It’s a creative fight, and it’s a shame that Zexion didn’t get a boss fight in the original Chain of Memories, only in this remake.

6 Demyx

Kingdom Hearts 2

The words “Dance! Water! Dance!” are enough to bring bad memories for most Kingdom Hearts fans. And Demyx, the ninth member of Organization XIII, is responsible for them. This is a battle that seemed hard and annoying when players were young, but it’s actually quite fun and nowhere near as hard as most fans believed.

Demyx begins his battle by summoning a horde of water clones that have to be defeated in a time limit, but this is quite easy to deal with. After that part is over, the rest of the battle is as entertaining and challenging as most encounters with Organization XIII, especially because Demyx himself is such a fun character. On the other hand, his Data Battle in Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix is actually very frustrating.

5 Saix

358/2 Days

Because of the technical limitations of the Nintendo DS, the battles in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days may not be as complex as in other titles, but there still are some bosses here that are worth fighting. One that is oddly forgotten among the fan base is Saix, who Roxas has to face when he decides to leave Organization XIII.

The entire game had been building up to this confrontation. As Roxas’ superior, Saix had belittled him time & time again. Now, he has to be defeated in one of the most satisfying boss battles in the franchise, even though Saix does put up a good fight. It’s a shame that a lot of people are not even aware that this battle exists, since it was completely omitted from the cutscene compilation in Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix.

4 Magic Mirror

Birth By Sleep

There’s always a fair number of Disney villains that the player needs to defeat in every Kingdom Hearts game, and Birth by Sleep is no exception. While there are the usual suspects, like Maleficent or Captain Hook, one of the most unexpected Disney bosses in this game is none other than the Magic Mirror, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

During the course of this game, both Terra and Aqua have to face this fairy tale icon. And how exactly do they defeat a mirror? Thanks to the Evil Queen’s dark magic, the battle takes place inside the mirror, and it requires the player to pay attention, since the Magic Mirror’s face is constantly swapping places. It’s not a challenging boss, but it is way more fun than it has any right to be.

3 Sora’s Heartless

Re: Coded

The combat system in Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded is surprisingly fluid, despite the fact that it was also released for the Nintendo DS. Sadly, because of the constant array of mini-games and worlds that are recycled from other titles, most bosses in this game are relatively forgettable, except for one that deserves to be brought up more: Sora’s Heartless.

Being able to face and defeat a powered-up version of Sora’s Heartless from Kingdom Hearts is an epic concept in and of itself, and the gameplay is also solid. The first phase plays like a typical encounter against a Darkside, but with enough differences in its attacks to make it stand out. But the second phase is where this fight truly shines, with the Heartless turning into a humanoid foe with quick and powerful attacks that show off how deep this combat system can be.

2 Anti Black Coat

Dream Drop Distance

This boss feels like it came out of nowhere, and since it doesn’t really have any further impact on the plot of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, most fans forgot it even exists. Yet the Anti Black Coat Nightmare shouldn’t be remembered because of its character, but because of the memorable boss battle it starred in.

Humanoid bosses in the Kingdom Hearts series are always some of the toughest fights, and this is no exception. With its quick movements, powerful attacks, and even some unexpected techniques (like draining Riku’s HP in order to heal itself), the Anti Black Coat feels like an optional super boss, instead of a mandatory encounter in the middle of the game’s plot. This fight is not for everyone, but those who manage to defeat it will feel the satisfaction of mastering such a strong opponent.

1 Dark Inferno

Kingdom Hearts 3

When Kingdom Hearts 3 was initially released, fans were hoping to find a powerful optional boss that would be difficult to defeat, like Sephiroth or Lingering Will from previous titles. Most of them were disappointed when they found out that the only super boss in the game was a Heartless known as Dark Inferno.

It’s a shame that it’s often remembered as the easiest optional boss in the franchise, because this fight is quite fun and tricky to deal with if the player is not prepared. Not to mention, this is an excellent way for seasoned players to test out new techniques. With the release of the ReMind DLC, there are now several challenging super bosses in Kingdom Hearts 3, like Yozora. So, now that the pressure has been taken off Dark Inferno, this solid boss deserves a second chance from most fans.