Some Resident Evil final boss fights are so good that they just stick with you. Others are, well, not as good. Below, we’ve ranked the Resident Evil final boss fights from the worst up to the very best.
Resident Evil 6 - Derek Simmons
Because Resident Evil 6 lets you play multiple campaigns, it also has multiple final boss fights. Ultimately, we went with the final boss that you face twice. Namely, Derek Simmons, who is the final boss of Ada Wong’s campaign, as well as Leon’s. You’d think that for Capcom to use the same character as the final boss twice that he’d have to be interesting, but you’d be wrong. There’s really nothing new nor scary about Derek Simmons. Even when he turns into a dinosaur-looking creature, he’s more of an annoyance than anything else. It also certainly doesn’t help that fighting against him is pretty straightforward since all you have to do is to shoot at him constantly. To make matters worse for Derek Simmons, Ada gets a helicopter to help her take Derek out. Finally, as far as final bosses go, Simmons doesn’t exactly have a good motivation. All he really wants is to clone Ada Wong and have one for himself. This desire led to him killing a lot of people in the process, including himself.
Resident Evil Biohazard - Evelyn
Make no mistake. Eveline’s backstory as a villain is as tragic as it is interesting. She was essentially bred to be a bad guy. Eveline was cooked up in a lab by mad scientists to become the ultimate bio-weapon. Unfortunately, while she did get enhanced mental abilities, she also ages rapidly each time she uses it. This is why she is as sold as she is when you finally get a chance to meet her in Resident Evil Biohazard and piece things together. The reason why we ranked Evelyn so long in our round-up of Resident Evil boss fights is that the encounter stands in stark contrast to the game’s emphasis on survival horror. Had Resident Evil Biohazard been more like Resident Evil 6, we would have probably ranked Evelyn higher. But, it’s not. Instead, Biohazard was supposed to be the series’ return to its root. For the most part, it succeeded. It’s just a shame that the few moments where Biohazard strayed are during your final encounter with Evelyn. Your encounter against Evelyn literally requires no more than pumping her grotesque blob-like body full of lead.
Resident Evil 2 - William Birkin
If we’re being honest, we were actually quite tempted to use the encounter with Mr. X in Leon’s campaign here. That particular boss fight would have ranked so much higher. However, it wasn’t technically the final boss fight in the Resident Evil 2 remake. On the other hand, the encounter with William Birkin is. During the “true” ending of the Resident Evil 2 remake, Claire encounters Birkin as he drops down from the ceiling as the two square off inside a relatively sealed area. Lucky for Claire, she’s got her trusty minigun with her. There’s no denying that William Birkin is a compelling villain and one that looked utterly horrifying as he burst into the train that was going to carry Leon and Claire, as well as Sherry, to safety. Unfortunately, the battle against him was far less memorable. In fact, all you literally had to do was to shoot William Birkin in the mouth. Eventually, as you do damage to Birkin, you’ll trigger a cutscene and that’s pretty much it. If it’s any consolation, defeating Birkin does unlock the true ending to the Resident Evil 2 remake.
Resident Evil - Tyrant Model T-002
The original Resident Evil was a difficult game by design. The limited camera angles, jump scares, scarce ammo, and healing items were all deliberate design choices meant to create a sense of dread and paranoia. This is why anyone who’s ever played the 1997 classic survival horror title is smart enough to run away from encounters more often than not. Unfortunately, the final boss fight in Resident Evil involves fighting against the early version of Umbrella Corporation’s Tyrant. The T-002 could easily kill you in 1-3 hits and took a long time, as well as a lot of bullets, to take down. Your first encounter with it is going to be quite memorable and we highly doubt you were able to defeat the T-002 in one try, if at all.
Resident Evil 5 - Albert Wesker
Is Resident Evil 5 the worst Resident Evil game ever released? Not really. It’s right up there though, and even if Resident Evil 5 was a bad Resident Evil game, it wasn’t without its redeeming qualities. One of those is the final boss fight against Albert Wesker. The giant mutated version of the double-crossing virologist was a pain to take out. To make matters worse, you had limited ammo and opportunities to reload. Not to mention, defeating Wesker requires being quick on your feet as the only way to kill him is to hit a small area that was exposed every time he prepared to use a long-range attack. Resident Evil 5 might not be the most memorable Resident Evil game, but it wasn’t for the lack of effort on Wesker’s part.
Resident Evil 3 - Nemesis
If we’re being honest, Nemesis from either the original Resident Evil 3 or its remake, was far scarier when it was just pursuing you throughout the game. In fact, we ranked the encounters with Nemesis as the scariest moments in all Resident Evil games. However, the final boss fight against Nemesis was less scary and more satisfying. As Nemesis takes its final form, the tentacle-filled slimy blob definitely made for quite the harrowing sight. This is why taking Nemesis down, finally, after a series of events, was such a huge sigh of relief.
Resident Evil Village - Mother Miranda
In a way, Mother Miranda is the reason for all the events in the Resident Evil games. Why? We recommend reading our previous coverage to find out. With that said, Mother Miranda was a fitting final boss fight for Resident Evil Village. After building her up as a deity-like being throughout the entire game, she certainly did not disappoint during the final encounter. Although you can get gun happy in Resident Evil Village provided you had the means, Miranda wasn’t so easily taken down by just shooting at her. You really had to know when to avoid getting hit and when to hit back.
Resident Evil 4 - Osmund Saddler
Among all Resident Evil boss fights, what makes Leon’s encounter with Osmund Saddler unique and the “best” is that there are multiple ways to go about it. Not to mention, there’s also the factor that Saddler looked every bit like a pushover that was supposed to be easy to take down. After revealing that he’d been behind the events of Resident Evil 4 all along, Saddler transforms from an old man to a scorpion-like monstrosity, which is when the real fun starts. Unfortunately, Resident Evil 5 and 6 fell in love too much with the gigantic monster trope that started with Saddler. But, at the time of Resident Evil 4’s release, seeing the creature drag the human form of Saddler as you have to go from one platform to another to try and get as much distance between Leon and him as possible, made for quite the nightmarish ordeal. We can only imagine just how horrific the encounter with Saddler will be in the upcoming Resident Evil 4 VR remake.
