List of bosses

Bosses in the Sonic the Hedgehog series are powerful enemies or battles at the end of a Zone or stage. Usually, the player character must defeat the boss in order to complete the stage, although in some instances a stage may have multiple bosses or may continue after the boss has been defeated.

Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit version)
In the original Sonic the Hedgehog game from 1991, all of the bosses (except the last) feature Doctor Eggman piloting versions of his Eggmobile, and take place at the end of the third Act of each Zone. Each boss features an Eggmobile customised with a different weapon. However, the Scrap Brain Zone does not have its own boss and the game's final boss features Doctor Eggman in a machine and takes place in its own Zone, the Final Zone.


 * Green Hill Zone: Eggmobile (wrecking ball) - The Eggmobile hovers at the top of the screen, swinging a wreaking ball back and forth.
 * Marble Zone: Eggmobile (fireball weapon) - The Eggmobile drops flames from a chute on its underside. The flames will set any platform it hits on fire.
 * Spring Yard Zone: Eggmobile (spike weapon) - The Eggmobile has a spike on its underside. Eggman uses the spike to attack Sonic, and can also destroy blocks that make up the floor of the boss arena.
 * Star Light Zone: Eggmobile (mine dropper) - The Eggmobile drops spiked bombs onto a trio of seesaws below him. Sonic can either use the seesaws to bounce the bombs back into Eggman, or use them to catapult himself into Eggman when they land.
 * Final Zone: A single room with four crushing pistons. When two of the pistons attempt to crush Sonic, he must quickly find the one holding Eggman and attack him (assuming the other piston isn't blocking the way). After the pistons, a group of electric sparks fall from the ceiling, which Sonic must avoid at all costs (he's got no Rings in this stage).

Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit version)
In the 8-bit version of the original Sonic the Hedgehog, boss battles take place in dedicated third Acts that do not contain rings or any other enemies. Again, boss battles always feature Doctor Eggman in attack vehicles (often, but not always, Eggmobiles), except for the last Zone in which Eggman is once again in a large machine. Once again, there is no boss fight in the Scrap Brain Zone.


 * Green Hill Zone: An unmodified Eggmobile hovers above Sonic's head and occasionally comes down to Sonic's level to ram him. In the Master System version, Sonic has to wait for Eggman to descend before he can attack. In the Game Gear version, the smaller screen makes it so Eggman is always in attack range.
 * Bridge Zone: A submarine that surfaces periodically to shoot a spread shot at Sonic. The Master System version has the fight taking place on a single island, which Sonic can't fall from. The Game Gear version takes place on a ramped bridge instead and is much more difficult.
 * Jungle Zone: Eggmobile that drops exploding cannonballs on a ramped vine. Sonic has to dodge the cannon ball as it rolls back and forth, all without falling off the vine.
 * Labyrinth Zone: A submarine that shoots energy bullets from below Sonic and position-tracking torpedoes from above. The fight takes place underwater, but Sonic can't drown in this stage.
 * Sky Base Zone: A ceiling-mounted cannon that launches homing energy balls at Sonic. The weak spot is Eggman's control tube, which has its own defenses as well (the Master System version uses an electric wall that flickers on and off as it sweeps back and forth across the room, while the Game Gear version uses a trio of floor-mounted flamethrowers).

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit version)
In the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the bosses (except the last) are animal robots that are more powerful than regular Badniks. Bosses are fought in a shorter, third Act of each Zone, which do not contain any rings.


 * Under Ground Zone: Arijigoku Mecha (アリジゴクメカ) - An ant lion robot that sits on the bottom of a steep hill. Balls dropped by Eggman bounce down the hill which Sonic must avoid. These balls then bounce down to damage the robot. Eventually Eggman will run out of ammo and try to ram Sonic, but if Sonic jumps out of the way, him doing so will destroy the robot.
 * Sky High Zone: Gachou Mecha (ガチョウメカ) - A very large goose robot that appears after Sonic destroys all of the bird robots and eggs. It shoots homing fireballs from its beak, but is slow and easy to hit.
 * Aqua Lake Zone: Mecha Ashika (メカアシカ) - A sea lion robot that inflates explosive balls to throw at Sonic. It cannot be jumped on because the seal will just bounce Sonic on its nose. Sonic must strike while it is inflating a ball.
 * Green Hills Zone: Mecha Buta (メカブタ) - A pig robot that somewhat resembles a sumo wrestler. It attacks by rolling, smashing and jumping. The weak point is the top of its head.
 * Gimmick Mt. Zone: Inobuta Mecha (イノブタメカ) - A boar robot with spikes on the back. It aggressively tries to ram Sonic, and if it misses it will smash against the wall and dislodge harmful debris from the ceiling. When it collides with the wall the spikes will retract which is the only chance Sonic can damage it.
 * Scrambled Egg Zone: Silver Sonic, aka Mecha Sonic (メカソニック) - A robotic version of Sonic. It uses Spin Attacks as well as a robotic arm that extends from its stomach. However, it is weakly armored and its Spin Attack can be deflected by Sonic's own Spin Attack.
 * Crystal Egg Zone: A cage-like arena with Eggman in a glass booth. Inside the booth Eggman can launch all kinds of projectiles at Sonic as well as totally electrify the arena. When this happens Sonic must jump inside a tube that runs through the outside of the arena until it is safe to go back out.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit version)
The Mega Drive version of Sonic 2 features Doctor Eggman in an assortment of vehicles. These resemble his original Eggmobile, but are far more varied in design and function. In most cases, the boss fight takes place at the end of Act 2. There is no boss in the Sky Chase Zone. The last Zone, the Death Egg Zone, features two boss battles one after the other, and contains no rings (although in Sonic Jam, rings are added in easier modes of the game).


 * Emerald Hill Zone: Drill Eggman (ドリルエッグマン) - An all-terrain vehicle with a drill in front. The drill would be fired as a desperation attack when Eggman was down to his last hit. Unlike other vehicles, the Eggmobile used to become the cockpit one uses helicopter blades.
 * Chemical Plant Zone: Water Eggman (ウォーターエッグマン) - Eggmobile that collects chemicals from the poisoned water underneath and then drops the chemicals on his enemies. Sonic could avoid being harmed by ducking, but this wasn't always easy, as some sections of the floor of the battle arena frequently rotated, which would drop Sonic into a bottomless pit if he was on it.
 * Aquatic Ruin Zone: Hammer Eggman (トンカチエッグマン) - Eggmobile with a giant hammer. The hammer hits two totem poles that can shoot arrows. The arrows can be used as platforms to reach the top of the poles and attack Eggman.
 * Casino Night Zone: Catcher Eggman (キャッチャーエッグマン) - Eggmobile with various neon lights and an electric claw coming out of the bottom. This claw drops red spike balls that explode. The fight is set in a giant pinball machine. The electric claw makes it impossible for Sonic to hit it from the ground, so he has to use the pinball-like arena to drop onto it from above.
 * Hill Top Zone: Submarine Eggman (サブマリンエッグマン). A submarine that emerges from the lava and shoots fireballs.
 * Mystic Cave Zone: Drill Eggman II (ドリルエッグマンII). An Eggmobile that drills through the rocky ceiling. This causes earthquakes that make rocks fall from above. Normal rocks do no damage, while pointy ones do harm.
 * Oil Ocean Zone: Submarine Eggman II (サブマリンエッグマンII). A submarine that alternates between shooting large spikes and deploying a mechanism which could fire lasers. It's a variation of the lava submarine from the Hill Top Zone.
 * Metropolis Zone: Flying Eggman (フライングエッグマン) - An Eggmobile surrounded by "eggs". Hitting Eggman would turn an egg into a mini-Eggman, which could be destroyed with any simple attack. When all the eggs were destroyed, the vehicle could shoot fairly large lasers.
 * Wing Fortress Zone: Barrier Eggman (バリアエッグマン) - A powerful ceiling-mounted laser controlled by a nearby computer. It moves around until it prepares to fire. There are three floating platforms (with spikes on the bottom, so watch where you jump) which allows our heroes to hit it.
 * Death Egg Zone: Silver Sonic - A robot copy of Sonic, capable of The Death Egg, an armored space station similar to the Death Star from Star Wars. The Death Egg was the final stage, where you fought the two final bosses (mentioned below). The Death Egg Zone had no Rings, to make the final bosses harder.
 * Death Egg Zone: Giant Mech - A huge battle suit shaped like Eggman, with spikes for fingers and a jetpack that can launch bombs if the hero manages to get behind it. The spiked hands make the battle suit difficult to hit. It launches the fists at Sonic, then tries to jump on top of him. However, if Sonic gets out of the way, he can hit it when its knees bend from the impact.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

 * Angel Island Zone: Fire Breath (sub-boss) - One of Dr. Eggman's flame drones. First appears about one-third of the way through Act 1, along with many others like it in the background. Reappears as a sub-boss at the end of said Act. For Sonic, it only uses it's flamethrower, and for Knuckles, it uses it's flamethrower as well as the fire bombs it launches earlier in the Act.
 * Angel Island Zone: Flame Mobile - A modified Eggmobile, with several fireball launchers attached to it.