Retro Sonic Week! Day Three: Bad-Ass Bosses (Eggman's Best)

Today's segment focuses on the most brutal machines Eggman has ever unveiled against our brave hero.  I have listed the top 8, counting down from the bottom.  Pictures are from Sonic News Network; the names are not official, I made them up as I see fit.

8) Blizzard Blaster

From Sonic 3's Ice Cap Zone comes the Blizzard Blaster add-on.  Eggman flies high above the ground, extending a spiked platform that shoots freezing gas at Sonic.  The bottom of the Eggcar also shoots gas as Sonic has to hit Eggman from the bottom by jumping on the platform.

One of Eggman's best as his attacks are unpredictable and hard to avoid in close quarters.  It also takes two jumps to get one hit on Eggman at the risk of being frozen.  When damaged the platform drops off, leaving just the Eggcar leaking gas in its last gasp.

7) Sphinx Armor

Pulling no punches at the end of the ever-long Sandopolis Zone, Eggman has fully armored his egg car with pyramid-type stones.  It is tall, featuring spikes, claws and a laser gun at on the head.  To hit Eggman, Sonic must peel away the armor by hitting the face of the armor.  Again, this is often a two-jump affair, leaving Sonic vulnerable to the spikes and the laser.  Eggman slowly advances to pin Sonic against the far wall.  Its size is intimidating, but it has the weakness of being quite slow, leaving Sonic enough time to destroy it.


6) Piston Puncher

The final boss of Sonic the Hedgehog is quite a doozy.  Hiding between four pistons, Eggman attempts to crush Sonic with two at a time.  As Sonic must correctly guess Eggman's location as well as avoid getting crushed, this boss is half-fight, half-puzzle.  After Eggman has retreated, he attempts to shoot Sonic with energy balls coming from the walls.

The Piston Puncher is unique in that it attempts to instantly kill Sonic for its main attack rather than simply hit him.  However, with no rings in Final Zone, the difference is negligible.

5) Shielded Eggcar

The second most well-known boss in the series is from Sonic 2's Metropolis Zone.  In this dangerous machine, Eggman rapid spins egg-shields as a defense while rushing at Sonic. When Eggman is hit, a shield is depleted, attacking Sonic in bubble form (for some reason!) while Eggman retreats.  Knuckles' shorter jump makes this fight difficult with the Sonic 2 & Knuckles expansion.  When critically damaged, Eggman reveals a large laser gun that he shoots rapidly in his last-ditch effort.



4) Lasertrap I

Catching Sonic off-guard, Eggman lures him into a force-field protected trap in Sonic 2 aboard the villain's Winged Fortress.  Three rotating spiked platforms emerge and float around while a large laser attempts to fry Sonic from the ceiling.  A very dangerous contraption as Sonic music use the spikes as platforms to gain access to the laser.  In such a compressed area, it becomes difficult for Sonic to use his speed to his advantage, instead requiring his jumping/dodging prowess.



3) Invincible Lava Armor

Eggman created this spiked monstrosity for swimming around at the bottom of a volcano.  It is well-protected and completely impervious to Sonic's attacks.  It launches mines into the distance, the tilts the flow of lava--including Sonic and the mines--towards Eggman.  The only way for Sonic to emerge victorous is to survive while Eggman hits himself with his own mines.  With only a few small platforms that continuously get crushed by the armor, Sonic must be quick and accurate with his jumps as everything in the area--aside from the platforms--will hurt him.  Notably, this machine takes more than 8 hits to destroy.

2) Deathgripper

Sonic 3's final boss comes in this well-designed form.  Sporting spiked protection and rocket-boosted movements, Eggman equips a pair of large, powerful arms.  The suit is designed so Sonic may only approach it from a narrow angle without getting spiked or slammed.  His main attacks are grabbing and slamming the hedgehog and "swimming" at the bottom of the screen, displaying only his spikes that Sonic must avoid.  Already a behemoth, the Deathgripper has one other notable characteristic: it is one of the only things that can even stun Super Sonic!

Ready...?

1) Eggbot I

Aboard the Death Egg (in Sonic 2) Sonic faces off with a giant Eggman robot.  While Eggman recreates the robot to be even larger in Sonic & Knuckles, this version steals the show.  It is a shocking boss, the first of the series to be so much larger than Sonic and immediately following a dangerous fight against Silver Sonic.  His only weak point is his chest, which  is at about the peak of Sonic's jumping ability.  Sporting rocket-deployed spiked arms, bombs and flying capabilities, Eggman attempts to stomp on Sonic, first by walking, then by flying high into the air and falling.  Upon his descent, Eggman shoots his arms like boomerangs at our hero.  The worst part?  You have no rings.  Oh wait, it gets worse!  You hit him 8 times?  The Eggbot I withstands up to 12 attacks from Sonic, making him the most powerful boss in the series when he debuted.