Awesome Bosses/Castlevania

Dracula keeps reviving, and the Belmont family and their allies keep sending him back whence he came. Along the way, they have had many awesome boss fights.

Recurring bosses

 * Dracula basically makes it his job to come up with a more awesome transformation every game. here's some that stand out:
 * Curse Of Darkness: A winged demon so big, you literally are barely the size of a FINGER to him.
 * Dracula's Curse: Your first fight him as himself, he switches into a giant, floating, disembodied, many-faced BRAIN (that drips acid, to boot!), and finally a huge laser-spewing demon.
 * Bloodlines: First his basic form, then a sort of fireball-throwing magician, and then a demon with a face on his torso, Devilman-style.
 * To clarify, Drac's "second form" isn't actually Drac; it's really his Wicked Witch Dragon (well, for Bloodlines, anyway). The English version erroneously labeled this separate character as Dracula. Same thing in that game with the Dark Lord's niece, Elizabeth Bartley, who summons Medusa but doesn't actually become her.
 * And just when fans are getting bored with this, Order of Ecclesia gives us a Dracula who, after being defeated, simply shrugs it off and starts simply walking towards you instead of standing in one place, occasionally teleporting like most encounters.
 * This version of Dracula is easily the scariest. He doesn't need some giant bat form! HE WILL CALMLY WALK OVER TO YOU AND PIMPSLAP YOUR FACE OFF. And if you try to jump over him, he'll pimpslap you. If you try to fly, he'll pimplazerslap you.
 * Oh and Portrait of Ruin. "Boy, Dracula sure will be much easier since I have two characters to fight him this ti-... DEATH? AT THE ... SAME... TIME...." Made even more awesome by the fact that, like you, they have several Combination Attacks and, when one of them's low on health, Death lets Dracula use Soul Steal on him, resulting in a fusion of the two.
 * Even better; they have Combination Attacks, including a version of Dracula's hellishly destructive Demonic Meggido where Drac turns Death into a scythe and slams him into the ground, creating a massive wave of ruination. Holy...
 * Just like Metroid's Ridley, Death in Castlevania manages to be That One Boss and Best Boss Ever in many of the games he's in.
 * Legion. Any incarnation. Aria of Sorrow especially.
 * Fighting Legion in full 3D in Curse of Darkness was pure awesome.
 * Also the battles against Isaac, especially the first one thanks to the music.

Symphony of the Night

 * Symphony of the Night has the final fight with Dracula and Alucard. It's not really the difficulty of the fight so much as the preceding dialogue between father and son and the rather heartbreaking What Have I Done by Dracula after he's defeated.
 * The miniboss fight with Fake Trevor, Sypha, and Grant is extremely enjoyable, despite being a very short fight.
 * If you don't cheese him out with a certain subweapon, the second Doppelganger fight is pretty freakin' intense. For even more fun, get rid of your cloak and familiar so that you're a perfect visual match.
 * Galamoth, probably the most difficult battle in the game, but very satisfying if you don't use Game Breaker methods.
 * . For the first time in the series, you're fighting against a, and he has all of the moves he would have if you were - and is not afraid to use them!

Aria of Sorrow

 * in the good ending. He knows every single trick, does not hesitate to use said tricks, and is nightmarishly difficult--and then starts using subweapons! Far more satisfying than the final boss. And he has awesome theme music.
 * And look closely when he's . The might of the attack is so powerful that it not only draws in Soma like a mini black hole, but when unleashed, it causes the castle in the background to start crumbling.
 * Fighting, of all things, in the true ending.
 * In that same vein, has the same effect.
 * Balore. You enter the boss room in the arena level and is greeted by the Giant Bat, a standard boss in Castlevania 1986. Suddenly a GIANT HAND comes out of nowhere and crushes the bat, and an Evil Laugh is heard as Balore fades in from the background while a different boss battle music starts to play. Totally unexpected and an epic boss battle.

Lament of Innocence

 * The Forgotten One. Even if you forget the game (which is likely), you will probably never forget this battle.
 * Joachim Armster.

Dawn of Sorrow

 * The Puppet Master, a giant wooden marionette head with four arms, constantly spitting small dolls at your, or creating a doll and trying to slam it in an Iron Maiden, at which point you switch places with the doll. Ouch.
 * Bat Company. A twist on the usual "bunch of little bats join to form one big bat" in which the group of bats are still a group of bats, and change shape constantly. Fitting that it's fought in a throwback level that's a homage to the original Castlevania 1986, where the boss was a giant bat.
 * Gergoth. A giant mutant dinosaur like boss, that slowly plods around the top of the Condemned Tower, jumping, shooting lasers, and blasting poison gas. Halfway through the battle, it smashes through the floor of the tower, and you fall all the way back to the ground floor where you started the level. And NOW it's gained speed!
 * Though they originally showed him as an Advancing Wall of Doom in the trailer...
 * Paranoia. A harlequin demon that flits in and out of the giant mirror in the background, while shooting at you from the mirrors on the sides of the arena. And when you do defeat it, it turns out you just fought its reflection, and the REAL boss fight starts up next room!
 * Abaddon. A demonic conductor who orchestrates swarms of locusts to attack you.
 * in Julius Mode is pure, classic Dracula. And the fight is accompanied by Illusionary Dance.
 * Except he surprises you by
 * Zephyr from the Clock Tower. You are facing none other than Castlevanias answer to Dio Brando'.

Order of Ecclesia

 * Fighting . Probably partly for the ...
 * The Dracula battle is pretty awesome... if just because he's That One Boss without ever going One Winged Angel, unlike almost every other Castlevania game and every Metroidvania ever.
 * , who is probably the only guy in the series besides Soma to use a gun, making this fight unique and interesting. In fact, it gets even better when you fight him as ... And the boss uses the same quotes, which make it hilarious when you realise he's addressing the wrong person, but when you discover that the flaming kick attack is his weakness, flaming kick duels ensue. Think Sanji fighting himself with his legs on fire. Awesome.
 * The Giant Enemy Crab should deserve a mention -- how many other games let you smash a crab with an elevator? Coupled with that boss being a major Wake Up Call Boss to a degree, it makes the ending soooo much more satisfying.
 * What Shanoa says makes that ending even MORE satisfying. "Go to hell."
 * Eligor deserves a spot here. It's a Giant Robot Centaur Demon with a giant sword and ballistae on it's hips. Giant as in several stories tall. The fight is a Colossus Climb of epic proportions where you have to take out the knees and ballistae before you go for the head while it very effectively tries to swat you off. Also, it is hard. Really hard.
 * Blackmore. This guy greets you smarmily, before fighting you with his own gigantic shadow. And this shadow is shaped like a WOLF. Blackmore controlls the wolf-shadow by dancing and likes to use this big black laser move on you. By now you have Nitesco, a very effect glyph that also manifests as a laser. Mega-awesome laser fight ensues.

Portrait of Ruin

 * The fight with Brauner. Mostly for his overly dramatic attack-calling. "A painting of the SOUL!" "THIS is ART!" "I'll make YOU my masterpiece!" And so on...
 * Fighting . Little breathing room. Jonathan only. The boss can and will hand your ass, but it's a wildly satisfying battle from start to finish. The music  only plays up the intensity of the fight.