Boss fights have always been a staple of the video game industry, right from its very inception. In the early days of gaming, bosses were used in various fighting arcade games as a means to provide a distinct and significant challenge, while on the tabletop side,Dungeons and Dragonspopularized the idea of having one supremely powerful enemy at the end of a series of dungeons. Over the years, there have been countless different boss designs, ranging from bright and colorful like those found in theMarioseries to the dark and imposing, such as those inDark Souls.Haunted Chocolatier’s newly unveiled boss definitely fits into the former category.
Developed by ConcernedApe, the solo dev behind the immensely popularStardew Valley,Haunted Chocolatierfollows a similar gameplay structure toStardew, but as opposed to a farm, the player runs a confectionary store. During the night, however, they’ll need to scrounge up a slew of ingredients, some of which can only be gathered by defeating a boss, such as the recently revealed bee boss, who is just the latest in a long line of bee-related bosses.
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A Long Tradition of Bee Bosses
Video game bosses can take many forms, from Norse gods and dragons to inanimate objects, but by far one of the prominent boss forms in all gaming is animals, and in particular, insects and other small creatures. Spiders often take up the largest presence, appearing as bosses in a variety of franchises, rangingfromThe Legend of ZeldatoLIMBO, but right underneath spiders is the unassuming bee.
Though bees are an essential part of the Earth’s ecosystem and are generally considered fairly friendly animals, the video game industry tends to paint them in more of a violent light. However, there’s no denying that bees are also pretty cuddly little creatures, so their place as a video game boss is often restricted to titles with a brighter, more family-friendly art style and stone.
Some of the most iconic bee bosses in gaming come fromtheDonkey Kong Countryseries, where the bosses all take on the form of an animal or insect. Acting as the leader of the Zingers, Queen B. isDonkey Kong Country’s third boss and takes on the appearance of a gigantic bee, with spikes along its back. To defeat Queen B., Donkey Kong needs to hit them five times a barrel, with each hit turning the bee a red color, and granting them a brief moment of resistance. The sequel,Donkey Kong Country 2, sees a bee boss named King Zing join the fray, who is defeated after the player fires an egg at their stinger multiple times.
Jumping forward quite a few years,Terrariafeatures a pretty memorable bee boss fight, with its version of the insect adopting the similar title, Queen Bee. Players cansummon Queen Beeeither by breaking bee hives in the Underground Jungle or by using the Abeemination item. Queen Bee’s defining trait is that she shoots out a barrage of poisonous stingers when attacked by the player.
More recently, the wonderfully stylishCupheadadded its own entry into the long history of bee-based bosses. Called Rumor Honeybottoms, this boss is a tad more stylized than the others mentioned earlier. In keeping withCuphead’s 1920s animation-inspired art style, Rumor Honeybottoms is an anthropomorphic bee, with a human-like face brandishing red lipstick. During the second phase of the boss fight, after the arena has filled with honey, Honeybottoms turns into an airplane and proceeds to fire rockets at the player.
ThoughHaunted Chocolatier’s bee boss is a little more cutesy, it could end up being just as memorable as these other bosses.
