There are many bosses to face in Final Fantasy VII and they present the toughest challenges in the game. There are also many bosses that are just downright odd, either in appearance or their general nature.

The Final Fantasy series is no stranger to strange foes and this game has some of the weirdest. Monsters that are spliced together, soldiers twisted into horrible forms, and a hostile penguin are just some of the things you’ll find in this strange game.

10 Jenova – LIFE

As the team is traveling to Costa Del Sol on a cargo ship they are attacked by this monstrosity. Described as a squid dragon with fleshy moose antlers by some fans this serpent-like entity has powerful lasers and the infamous Stop ability that can destroy the entire team.

It was created as part of the Jenova experiments to forming a hybrid between man and Jenova. Jenova – BIRTH is one such iteration of these hybrids. It’s a taste of the horrific monstrosities that await the player as they progress through the bizarre story.

9 Shake

This large penguin confronts the player in the Wutai Village and is an optional boss. He’s a large macaroni penguin that has a large red mohawk with green spiky hair on the sides. His flippers are covered in spines and he has a large Japanese symbol on his chest that symbolizes anger.

It’s easily the weakest boss on this list and far from being the scariest. It’s one of those opponents that demonstrates while Final Fantasy is capable of horror and dark themes, it’s not afraid to get weird for the sake of weird.

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8 Chekhov

Another creature found in the Wutai Pagoda, Chekhov is another optional boss and the third one encountered. He’s a spindly character that stands on a tail with four wavy arms and six eyes stacked on top of each other.

It stands as tall as the player and is supposedly meant to represent magic but has no magical capabilities of its own.  It does not pose a significant challenge but is definitely strange.

7 Lost Number

Another creature resulting from the mysterious Jenova experiments, Lost Number is encountered in the Shinra Mansion after the player successful cracks the safe found there. It appears to be the halves of two separate monsters conjoined together down the middle.

The right half is a purple and green monster with smooth skin, a large arm, and a small mouth with teeth. The left half is a red hairy monster with an arm that ends in a point rather than a hand with fingers. Its leg is similar in that it has no foot or toes. The purple is a physical attacker while the red is magically gifted. When it loses the majority of its health one side will take over making it one of the harder bosses in the game.

6 Aps

Aps is a monster that appears to be a chimeric hybrid of multiple creatures. It has the face and snout of a pig, a forked tongue, human arms and hands, demonic horns, scorpion tail, goat hooves, and a hunched back.

The creature is found living in the sewers below the mansion of Don Corneo. It seems to be a reject that was cast aside by those that experimented on it. Part of this may be because it’s massive back is a major weak spot for the creature.

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5 Demon’s Gate

Demon’s Gate appears to be a demon stuck inside a massive wall with only it’s torso and arms free. It’s encountered in the Temple Of The Ancients and very strongly resembles a Xenomorph from the Alien franchise albeit with tan coloring instead of the familiar black.

It’s a tough boss and players will often have to retreat to previous areas to grind a little further before facing it. Many players theorize that creatures like this are placed within the walls surrounding hell and form a type of defensive perimeter.

4 Helletic Hojo

Helletic Hojo is proof that the early experiments to combine human and Jenova DNA did not go as planned. It’s a slender creature with a vaguely humanoid torso with a mouth full of long fangs, an arm that ends in a trident, another arm made of tentacles it walks on, and the entire body appears to be emanating from a shell it uses as a foot.

It only appears after players defeat Hojo in his human form where he will undergo a grotesque transformation into this hideous monster. It almost makes you want to let Hojo win in his human form so this aberration never exists.

3 Bizarro – Sephiroth

It turns out that Sephiroth was part of the Jenova experiments and like Hojo has some of the DNA in his body. Fortunately for Sephiroth the process went better, but it still results in some alarming transformations like this one.

It resembles Sephiroth conjoined to the neck of a larger Sephiroth with long horns, massive arms that expand into wings and legs that have expanded into a thick stubby tail that he stands on.  It’s a powerful form and is the first one Sephiroth takes on in the final battle.

Related: 10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do In The Original Final Fantasy 7

2 Sample H0512

Sample H0512 is one of the few Jenova hybrids that’s still relatively humanoid, though this is a loose interpretation of humanoid. It stands upright on two legs ending in clawed feet, with what resembles a harlequin head, its left arm is a bulky appendage ending in a broad claw, the right arm ends in a three clawed hand with a giant mouth serving as the shoulder.

It’s almost as if the mad Professor Hojo just grabbed leftover parts from a box and put together this Frankenstein horror. It’s easily one of the weirdest looking monsters on this list and a close runner up to number one.

1 Jenova – SYNTHESIS

The final Jenova boss before facing Sephiroth is a disgusting sight. Encountered in the Northern Cave this monster appears to be the torso of a mostly naked woman with two tentacle-like appendages for arms a large purple leaf shaped growth from her head. All of which is embedded in a hollow ball of flesh that houses a large heart inside.

What’s interesting about this boss is that depending on how the battle goes the fight with Sephiroth will be affected. For instance summoning Knights of the Round during this fight will give Bizarro and Safer – Sephiroth increased health. Not only is it super weird in appearance, but the game mechanics are also weird.

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