Final bosses in video games are usually one of, if not, the most anticipated parts in a game. You’ve worked your way through and now it’s time for the game to come to a close. While most of the final bosses in the Ratchet & Clank series were nothing to brag about, I’ve found at least five that stood out amongst fans of the series, some being my personal picks. What I’m picking are the most intense and effective boss battles that, in the end, left gamers satisfied that they have played this game and want to play the whole game again, just to fight that boss.

Also, there’s obviously going to be spoilers, so if you haven’t played all the Ratchet & Clank games, feel free to click the back button. Otherwise, enjoy my first written Top 10 list. This is my Top 10 Final Bosses in the Ratchet & Clank series.

5.) Stuart Zurgo (Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault)

Full Frontal Assault may have been one of the weaker installments in the series, but it had a decent final boss. Not really memorable, but still decent. Zurgo is the Captain Qwark fanboy from Going Commando and he wants revenge on Qwark due to the crimes he committed in the past (the Protopet incident for example). He shut down the planetary defense centers and hacked the Starship Phoenix II so it can play the Trololo song over and over again (funniest moment in the game). Now it’s time for some payback.

When you begin the boss battle, Zurgo captures two of the three characters, leaving the third character to fight by himself. From there, he engages the shields on his giant mech “like a boss” and you have to take out that obvious weak spot on his back so you can damage him. He’ll also rig the place to blow up and you have to deactivate the bomb(s) one by one. When his health bar is two-thirds of the way down, he’ll rig the place to self-destruct (I guess he’ll be missing his macaroni if he doesn’t survive) and you have to destroy him before time runs out.

The reason why I put this at number 5 is because you’ll get the full effect of the boss battle by playing as Qwark. Why? He’s the cause of this and now he has to undo what he has metaphorically created by confronting an ex-fan who wishes for his death. Though, I really question his motive: once the Q-Force is out of the picture, he’ll become a hero?

Throughout the battle, Zurgo blurts out things that happened to him while he was a fan of Qwark, like missing his prom in order to go to Qwark Cadets Fan Club (yikes, I feel sorry for this guy already). Heck, he waited three days at a convention to get an autograph from Qwark, only to realize he was arrested for kidnapping Mr. Fizzwidget. It wasn’t a great final boss, but still worthy enough to make it in the #5 spot.

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4.) Emperor Tachyon (Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction)

“Typical Lombax… So noble, so courageous, and so very dead!“

Tachyon is Ratchet’s most personal foe to date. He was responsible for the disappearance of Ratchet’s race, the Lombaxes. Near the end of the game, he steals the Dimensionator to bring back his race, the Cragmites, and causes havoc throughout the Polaris Galaxy. Fighting him was inevitable and what better place to fight him than in Fastoon, the Lombax planet. How poetic (little foreshadowing of the next boss).

Tachyon doesn’t mess around. His mech will shoot lasers lasers, unleash those small, four-legged robots that follow you until they blow up, stomp on the ground and create a shockwave, and throw umpteen missiles at you. Sometimes he’ll combine the laser and missile attack, which makes for a really challenging boss. I guess leveling up the best weapons in the game was worth it.

Even when you defeat him, you don’t really feel like you’ve defeated him, even if he gets sucked into a wormhole to Dimension A2-66. It was overall a bittersweet, but fine battle and worthy of the #4 spot.

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3.) Chairman Drek (Ratchet & Clank)

Drek piloting his mech.

I believe this quote sums it all up:

Yep, we fight on Planet Veldin, where Ratchet and Clank first met at the beginning of the game. Drek plans on blowing up Ratchet’s home planet to make room for the artificially-made Blaargian planet and you have to stop him. You start out by playing as Giant Clank for a very short time, as Drek shrinks him (it would have been too easy and monotonous anyways). For the rest of the fight, you use your weapons and gadgets (some of them) at your full disposal to make your way through obstacles and destroying Drek’s mech.

The stakes are higher when you make it to the last part of the fight on top of the De-Planetizer. He steps on the ignition switch and begins the countdown. He will throw everything he has at you as you stop the timer.

Some might criticize this boss for being difficult without the RYNO. And yes, I was one of those people who grinded for bolts in order to buy the RYNO and easily defeat him. But, it’s not impossible to defeat Drek without the RYNO.

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2.) Dr. Nefarious and the Biobliterator (Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal)

After fighting your way through several robotic Tyhrranoids, you reach the Launch Site on Planet Mylon where Dr. Nefarious is located. You start out by free-falling, dodging missiles. After you land, you start battling him. He starts throwing rays, bombs, and holographic duplicates at you. When his health is a third of the way down, he gets away and you start chasing after him. Don’t worry, it gets better.

The Galactic Rangers assisting Ratchet in the final battle? Mind… blown!

Next, you fight your way through his robot army, and the cowardly Galactic Rangers appear out of nowhere to assist you. Once you finally make it to where Nefarious is, both you and Dr. Nefarious give it all you’ve got against each other. You think it ends there? WRONG!!

[insert Transformers joke here]

Nefarious retreats to his Bio-Bliterator and proceeds to attack when Qwark drops by to help. Well, not really. He spends most of the time flying under the influence, but who cares? You board a hovership and shoot him down. It was kind of easy, but it still ends on a climactic note.

I think you all know why this is so high up on this list. Don’t tell you weren’t on the edge of your seat on this intense, spine-tingling battle. This is the definition of an epic final boss: great build-up, intense music, fair challenge, great level design, and most importantly, a satisfying and epic resolution. However, there is one more final boss battle that, in my opinion, is better.

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But first, let’s recap:

#5 was an effective boss battle
#4 was a personal boss battle
#3 was a poetic boss battle
#2 was an epic and intense boss battle

#1 combines all these characteristics, but adding one more in the process: emotion.

That battle goes to…

1.) Alister Azimuth (Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time)

After an epic battle with Dr. Nefarious (I like to use the word “epic” a lot, don’t I?), Alister rescues Ratchet and Clank at the last minute before the destruction of the Nefarious Space Station. Still eager to fix the past, Alister kills Ratchet (O_O) and proceeds to the Orvus Chamber to undo his mistakes, unaware that using the Great Clock as a time machine will destroy the universe. Clank manages to turn back time by going back 6 minutes and preventing Ratchet from being killed and the epic battle ensues.

The Azimuth battle in the Orvus Chamber.

In an unusual way, you don’t fight the main villain, but a character you have grown to love because Azimuth served as a fatherly figure to Ratchet in the game. Here, while his motives are understandable, you have no choice but to fight him, and that’s what makes it so great.
 
While the gameplay is basically to just shoot him down until his health reaches zero, there are two things that made this higher than the Dr. Nefarious boss battle in Up Your Arsenal. One is the voice acting. Azimuth keeps rambling on about his motive and also insults you for being a “traitor” to the Lombaxes by fighting “one of [Ratchet’s] own” at this moment. At the same time, he still cares for Ratchet:

The next thing that makes this battle so great is the score. I have to give Boris Salchow props for providing such an effective soundtrack. “Heroes Collide” has to be one of my favorite final boss tracks in video game history. The bells at the beginning of the track and the choir intensify this battle and keeps you on the edge of your seat. “The Clock Breaks”, which plays on the second half of the battle, is a suspense-driven track that pretty much says “You are running out of time. Get him!” In retrospect, I’m not sure how David Bergeaud would have pulled this one off if he was composing this game.

Weren’t you at least close to shedding a tear after this battle?

This is probably one of the most emotionally-driven boss fights in the game, maybe right up there with Malus from Shadow of the Colossus and the Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3. It was large in scale, had great music, great atmosphere, and had a powerful ending. None of the final boss fights in the series can match the level of this battle. It’s that great!

I hope you enjoyed reading this list. Do you agree or disagree? Feel free to leave a comment what you think about this list.