Boss

Bosses are characters in the Super Smash Bros. series that appear when certain conditions are met. These conditions range from simply clearing stages with a certain difficulty and time, to playing certain Event Modes.

There are multiple battles in the Smash Bros. series that could be considered boss battles; however, actual bosses are usually unplayable by normal means, and most are much larger than the playable characters.

Master Hand

 * Main article: Master Hand

The first “true” boss of the Smash Bros. series, Master Hand is the master of ceremonies for the Smash Bros. series. He is meant to represent the hand of a child playing with his toys and staging storyless fights between his favorite Nintendo characters (the playable characters in the game are, in fact, no more than dolls made to look like Nintendo characters). He first appeared in the introduction to the first Super Smash Bros., bringing the characters shown in the intro to life. He then appeared at the end of the 1P Game as the final boss. Going against usual Smash tradition, Master Hand has a certain amount of health that must be whittled down to 0%, as opposed to a percent that must be racked up, leading to a KO; this is due to Master Hand’s massive size, his not needing to walk on solid ground, and being unaffected by the knockback of attacks. Upon being defeated, Master Hand lets out a deep roar that almost sounds like laughing, and flies off, writhing and exploding, into the distance.

Master Hand reappeared in Super Smash Bros. Melee, reprising his role as the final boss in the 1-Player mode, now called Classic Mode. Master Hand is fought on Final Destination, which is very similar to his original stage, Master Hand's Residence. He fights essentially the same way as he did in the original game, but with a few new attacks. Upon being defeated, he leaves the stage in the same way that he did in the original game.

Master Hand also appears in the Gameboy Advance game, Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, in which he appears as a miniboss in multiple areas. Upon being defeated, Kirby can inhale him, like other minibosses, and gains the Smash ability, which is based on Kirby’s moveset in Melee. Master Hand, alongside Crazy Hand, also appears as the boss of the Candy Constellation. This is Crazy Hand’s only appearance in the game. The two, like in Melee, have conjunction attacks that they use together. Neither can be inhaled here, as they both explode upon defeat.

Master Hand has reappeared in Brawl, once again as the boss of Classic Mode.

Crazy Hand

 * Main article: Crazy Hand

The strange, twisted brother of Master Hand, Crazy Hand is meant to represent the feeling of destroying one’s own creations, as opposed to Master Hand, who is meant to represent the opposite. He was introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee as a secret boss who would only fight alongside Master Hand under certain conditions. The first of these conditions is clearing Classic Mode on Normal difficulty in less than 18 minutes; Crazy Hand will join Master Hand when Master Hand has half of his health left. Crazy Hand can also be fought in Event 50: Final Destination Match, where he and Master Hand are fought at Final Destination with 300 health each.

When compared to Master Hand, Crazy Hand can be considered to be much more erratic and, living up to his name, crazy. His idle pose is a strange, erratic movement, and he has multiple strange attacks unique to him. Many of his attacks also have side-effects, such as freezing and flowering. When Master Hand and Crazy Hand are fought together, they have multiple moves that they use in conjunction with each other, such as a high-powered clapping attack.

Crazy Hand has reappeared in Brawl, with new standards on how to fight him in Classic Mode. You must (almost) beat Classic on Hard or higher difficulty in at least 9 minutes. Then, Master Hand and Crazy Hand will appear simultaneously without you having to deplete any of Master Hand's health.

Giga Bowser

 * Main article: Giga Bowser

Giga Bowser (known as Giga Koopa in Japan) is the secret final boss of Adventure Mode in Melee. As his name suggests, he is a large, powered-up version of Bowser. With a manic expression, a darker, more malevolent color scheme, and a hulking size, Giga Bowser is surely a boss to be remembered.

Upon clearing Adventure Mode in less than 18 minutes on Normal difficulty, Bowser’s trophy, previously thrown into a mysterious abyss below Final Destination, rises back up onto the stage, and is struck by a strange lightning, transforming it into Giga Bowser. During the battle with Giga Bowser, a distorted version of the Final Destination theme that cannot be found in the Sound Test plays. Many of Giga Bowser’s attacks are powered up from Bowser’s, making him a challenge to defeat. His Down Smash attack has an icy effect, while his Forward smash has explosive properties. His Forward tilt has shadow-like effects. His Fire Breath attack never diminishes like Bowser’s.

Giga Bowser also makes a semi-playable appearance in Brawl as Bowser's Final Smash, Giga Bowser. When used, Bowser temporarily transforms into Giga Bowser, who is essentially unchanged from Melee, keeping the elemental abilities of his attacks, as well as his massive size. Also, Giga Bowser does not flinch in Brawl.

Petey Piranha

 * Main article: Petey Piranha

Petey Piranha (known as Boss Pakkun in Japan) is the first revealed boss character in Brawl, and the first “true” boss to come from another series of games, as opposed to being original to Smash. He appears as a boss in The Subspace Emissary, holding cages that contain Princess Zelda and Princess Peach. He uses both these cages, as well as his own abilities, to attack the player. The cage the player attacks more determines which cage will break when Petey is defeated and explodes. The other princess is turned into a trophy, and subsequently taken, by Wario.

Rayquaza

 * Main article: Rayquaza

Rayquaza (known as Rekkuza in Japan) is the first confirmed Pokémon creature to be a boss in adventure mode of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In the Subspace Emissary, it first appears in the jungle after Diddy Kong goes to investigate a crashed Arwing. It comes out of the water and destroys the Arwing with an energy ball, then kidnaps Diddy. As it goes back in the water, Fox McCloud comes out and attacks the aggressive beast, causing it to lose its grip on Diddy Kong. The pokemon attacks Fox with energy, but Fox reflects the attack back at the monstrous dragon, sending it tumbling back into the water. After this, Diddy Kong and Fox fights it. Its attacks are loosely based off the Pokémon games, and has it an exceedingly large amount of health.

Porky Minch

 * Main article: Porky Minch

As a one of the bosses of the Subspace Emissary and a high-ranked member of the Subspace Army, a general if you will, he sends Primids to divert him and sends in his giant statue, The Pig King Statue, that soon starts to hunt Lucas down. This statue is indestructible, so Lucas has no choice but to escape now; the giant statue destroys giant containers, barrels, enemies and even metallic buildings. Lucas finally comes to a giant marsh which seems to rescue Lucas as the statue sinks, but it soon respawns.

Lucas then stumbles, and just as the giant statue is about to crush him, someone uses a PK Thunder which causes the statue to tip over, and Ness appears. The statue once again recovers and flies into the air, this time to crush Ness. However, he uses a PK Flash and the statue explodes, revealing Porky Minch himself inside (in his bed-mecha from Mother 3). A battle then ensues. He attacks by running around and by using a variety of lasers, but he is eventually taken down. Porky is brought back by Tabuu to distract the heroes in The Great Maze.

Galleom

 * Main article: Galleom

Galleom is a large transforming robot who is fought twice: first by Marth, Ike and Meta Knight, and then by Lucas and the Pokémon trainer in the second battle.

Ridley/Meta Ridley

 * Main article: Ridley
 * Main article: Meta Ridley

Ridley is the boss of the Subspace Emissary in Brawl who fights Samus and Pikachu after scratching Samus's power suit against the wall. Ridley reappears in his cybernetic form known as Meta Ridley who chases R.O.B., Olimar, Pikachu, Samus, Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong in the Falcon Flyer and they battle him atop of the Flyer.

Duon

 * Main article: Duon

Duon is a large robot with two bodies on one set of wheels who is fought by Peach, Sheik, Snake, Lucario, Fox and Falco.

Tabuu

 * Main article: Tabuu

Tabuu is the final boss of the Subspace Emissary in Super Smash Bros. Brawl He has many devestating attacks which can throw you out of the ring. A weak spot of Tabuu is that before attacks he goes in random places and leaves himself open for attacks for a split second. You can choose six characters to fight Tabuu while playing in the Subspace Emissary, which gives you an upper hand.