When most people think of Pokemon, you think a person vs another Person with teams of Pokemon. Sometimes, Pokemon will switch it up and give us battles against non-traditional foes such as humans or robots. Sometimes, Boss Fights have a trick up their sleeves. Sometimes, a Boss battle holds more meaning than others.

Today, I'm going over 10 of the most unique Boss Fights across all the Pokemon games.

Clearly this list will feature primarily newer/post 2010 Pokemon games as the earlier Pokemon games lacked heavily in the creativity department as it was much more streamlined, lacked Boss battles and most battles were trainer vs trainer.

1. Ultra Lusamine-Pokemon Sun & Moon

There's a reason why this Fight was listed first. During the events of Sun & Moon, Lusamine is abducted by an Ultra Beast called Nihilego and they fused to make an alien-human monstrosity whereas Lusamine has lost all sense of reason & acting on the Ultra Beast's behalf like a puppet. Throughout this fight, the player is facing off against Lusamine's team of Pokemon before actively attacking Lusamine in this beastly state. It isn't until Lusamine's health bar is depleted that she finally regains her senses and the Ultra Beast releases her. This fight would mark the first time in Pokemon history that the game actively requires the player to attack another human being but also the first time that a human and pokemon fused together.

2. Nate Vs. Robo Groudon-Pokemon XD Gale Of Darkness

I've talked about this Boss fight once before and I'm doing it again. A running gag in the game Pokemon XD is that Dr. Kaminko's lab assistant, Chobin, has such poor eyesight that he can't recognize a familiar face. Therefore, when the player character, Nate, comes to Kaminko's lab for the 3rd time to inquire about a vehicle with the ability to brave a monsoon, Chobin doesn't recognize Nate and automatically acts on the defensive. How you might ask? Within a cinematic cutscene, Chobin enters and operates a gargantuan sized robotic Groudon and proceeds to attack Nate. While technically you don't fight this Groudon Robot, rather Chobin pilots the robot while sending his own team of a Gyarados & Sunflora to fight on his behalf, but still. This fight was unique & caught me by surprise as it was one of the highlights to playing Pokemon XD.

3. The True Volo Fight-Pokemon Legends Arceus

Yeah, this Boss fight was one for the history books. The second to last Boss fight in Legends Arceus happens in the Post Game. After Volo manipulates the Player into obtaining all of Arceus' elemental plates, he reveals himself as the true mastermind of the game. Volo, having quite literally making a deal with the devil, he confesses to all his wrongdoings then commands Giratina to fight on his behalf. You fight Volo's team of six Pokemon before he sends out Giratina as his seventh Pokemon. That's not the part that got the fanbase going though! After defeating Giratina, the player assumes the fight is over until... Until Giratina revives itself and takes on a second and stronger form. Pokemon Boss Fights DONT have phases by the way, so when Volo technically had 8 Pokemon to fight, two of which were Giratina & its multiple phases of combat, it blew the entire fanbase away and went down in history as one of the hardest Boss battles in Pokemon history.

4. Koraidon/Miraidon's Awakening-Pokemon Scarlet & Violet

The plot of Pokemon Scarlet & Violet revolves around how Koraidon/Miraidon was passed down onto the player by Arven & his parents, the regionally Professors, after the legendary Pokemon mysteriously was stripped of all its powers and abilities. Throughout the game, the player and Arven work together to restore Koraidon/Miraidon's abilities. Come the climax of the game, when the player & Arven try to turn off his parents time machine & fight a combat equipped AI, all faith is lost when the AI restricts the use of Pokemon that DONT belong to the Professors. Therefore, the player cannot fight back against the AI anymore. That's until the game makes a mysterious pause, allowing the player to try and send out Pokemon or use items only to be met with a repeated text window claiming you cannot act. That's when it dawns on the player, they technically don't own Koraidon/Miraidon. The player and company encourage Koraidon/Miraidon to enter battle & save the world prompting the legendary to FINALLY enter battle & fight against a clone of itself in a fiery passion and finally putting a close on the game. As much as I thought this Boss battle was irritating as it took me a LONG time to realize I needed to prompt Miraidon to enter battle, it was still a cool and unpredictable twist to close out the game. It's miles better than most Pokemon games where you could optionally choose to capture the box legendary & use it in a Boss battle.

5. Adaman & Irida Face Their Gods-Pokemon Legends Arceus

These two Boss battles iritated the heck out of me because of how difficult they were. The final two missions in Legends Arceus features the leaders of the Diamond & Pearl clans, Adaman & Irida. These two missions were foils of one another, being that Adaman and Irida both question if they're worthy of leading their clans. They both then prompt the player to face them one on one in battle facing the very gods they worshipped. Irida prompts the player to a battle her with only a Palkia on your team. Adaman prompts the player to a battle with only Dialga on your team. Adaman and Irida are insanely difficult to defeat by the way!!! After you defeat Adaman and Irida with the very gods they worshipped, the two of them share a heart to heart with the player over their newfound confidence & how they plan to be the best leader their clans ever had. I especially like these two Boss Fights for the reason that you're battling Adaman & Irida with the gods they worship. The battles were very significant & sentimental on a personal level for a change rather than a battle for the sake of 'winning'.

6. Wes Vs. Miror B-Pokemon Colosseum

Miror B, an icon in the Pokemon Community. Miror B is the very first Boss battle of the game Pokemon Colosseum. Throughout the game, Wes is investigating the mysterious phenomenon of Shadow Pokemon and it leads him to a run down town of thugs and crime called Pyrite Town. Here, Miror B has the town within the palm of his hand and is conducting crime with no repercussions. He's illegally distributing Shadow Pokemon to winners in the Pyrite Colosseum so Wes enters the Colosseum and wins prompting Miror B to reward Wes with a Shadow Pokemon. Until, Miror B recognizes Wes and goes into hiding. We're then told that Miror B had taken the mayor's Plusle hostage, hence why the mayor wasn't taking action as precaution towards his Pokemon's safety. Therefore, with no other choice, Wes hunts Miror B down into his private dance studio in a mineshaft beneath the town where Miror B is dancing all content with an army of Ludicolo. After prompting a fight with Miror B, you soon realize that this fight is one to remember as Disco music blasts on the speakers and Miror B has a team of 5 dancing Ludicolos to defeat. This Boss battle was so much fun & unique and it carried over into the sequel: Pokemon XD, where Miror B makes another appearance with, once again, an army of 5 Ludicolo.

7. Red Vs. The Ghost of Lavender Town-Pokemon Red, Blue, Yellow, Leafgreen, Fire Red, Let's Go Pikachu & Let's Go Eevee

God Damn, I didn't realize just how many remakes Pokemon Red & Blue have😅 Surprisingly, for being the very first game in the series, it features one of the most unique experiences across all the games. Lavender Town is iconic both to fans of the Pokemon series as well as to those who haven't touched a Pokemon game a day in their life. That's just how iconic the town is. Lavender Town is known for its unsettling music & how the town is home to a HUGE seven floor graveyard purely for departed Pokemon. A main story quest takes Red, the original main character, where he investigates the Lavender Town Graveyard where there's been sightings of a mysterious ghost that's been terrorizing the inhabitants of Lavender Town. Upon entering the Graveyard and interacting with the Ghost for the first time, you realize just how unsettling of an experience it is as the Ghost ISNT a known Pokemon and you CANT attack it as each move does not land. This leaves the player with no choice but to survive each interaction with the Ghost and escape when possible. This Ghost attacks relentlessly as the player must traverse all seven floors of the graveyard. Upon reaching the final floor, the player must face off with the Ghost one final time whereas, like before, you cannot attack it. The player must survive a set amount of turns before the Ghost reveals itself as a deceased Marowak who had not come to terms with its own passing before bidding farewell with its living Cubone offspring. This is quite literally the first time in Pokemon history where an opponent was impossible to defeat on top of how it was a mysterious ghost for 90% of the time. I'll be honest, I haven't touch a Kanto game in over 15 years but I still vividly remember this fight!

8. The False Dragon Titan-Pokemon Scarlet & Violet

Yup, I'm talking about Scarlet & Violet again as this game did feature so many Boss Fights you wouldn't find in any Pokemon games prior. The False Dragon Titan of Scarlet & Violet was rightfully a talk amongst the fanbase when the game came out earlier this year. The game had the player repeatedly fight a fleeing Dondozo, the 'False Dragon Titan'. The second phase of this Boss fight had Dondozo CONSUME a Tatsugiri mid fight, rightfully eliciting confused yet terrified reactions out of the player as well as the player character & Arven of whom are fighting said Titan. When you finally defeat the Dondozo, the consumed Tatsugiri will then crawl out of the Dondozo's mouth and the entire fight enters phase 3! Now dubbed as Tatsugiri the TRUE Dragon Titan, the player & Arven work together to defeat it thus ending the Boss battle for good. Afterwards, Arven talks to the player about just how crazy that fight was and how a tiny Tatsugiri wound up being the real Titan in the end. This Boss battle had so many twists and was so ridiculously difficult too that the entire time I was both astonished yet cracking up by just how uncanny everything wound up being. This Boss fight is one for the books for sure!

9. Player Vs Hau Vs Gladion Vs The Masked Royal-Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon

This is a Boss fight that you actually don't need to win oddly enough. About half way into Ultra Sun & Moon, Hau is geeking out about how a celebrity, the Masked Royal, was currently partaking in Colosseum matches. Soon enough, the Masked Royal's match end and Hau as well as the player meet him. They poke fun at him claiming they know Royal is in reality Professor Kukui but he was adamant as ever that he wasn't lol. Hau begin to beg the Masked Royal for a fight when the Masked Royal suggests a Four way match instead. Yes, a fight in which four trainers battle at once. In need of a fourth opponent, Gladion happened to be passing by and got sucked into the chaos. Hau uses his Decidueye, Royal uses Incineroar & Gladion uses Type: Null. This battle is just a unique and fun one for this list to be honest. Everything about the experience between the actual battle and the cutscene before it was admittedly all filler but it was fun no matter how you looked at it.

10. Team Star Starmobiles-Pokemon Scarlet & Violet

Yes, I'm featuring Scarlet & Violet for a third time. They had quite a series of bosses to fight. One of the biggest things when it came to the promotional material for Scarlet & Violet was that the cars or 'Starmobiles' that the Team Star leaders drove are actually sentient Pokemon. Yup, the Team Starmobiles are in reality Revavroom's built into a car's frame and are capable for both transportation AND combat. What made every Starmobile Unique was that every Starmobile had a different typing depending on which leader it belonged to. For Mella, it was a Fire-Steel type. Eri, Fighting-Steel. Ortega, Fairy-Steel. Giacomo, Dark-Steel and lastly Atticus' Starmobile was Poison-Steel type. The fact that each Starmobile was unique to each leader and that the player was actively attacking a literal car made this one for the books.

Which Boss fight was the most memorable? Weird? Difficult?