My mind reeled after rolling credits of Konami’s 2025 remake of Metal Gear Solid 3. Cinematic battles break up the otherwise stealth-focused action, and The Boss’ comrades, the Cobra Unit, stood out with their unique names, powers, and personalities. Let’s take some time and rank each Cobra Unit boss battle from Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater: The Pain, The Fear, The End, The Fury, The Sorrow, and The Joy (aka. The Boss).
Author’s Note: This ranking excludes other bosses in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater to focus on the Cobra Unit.
#6 The Pain
The Pain is the first Cobra Unit boss you encounter in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, and his fight was a real…pain. You are pit against him in a cave filled with water and a handful of rocky platforms. The Pain stands at the center platform. While it would seem like an easy fight if the enemy is restricted to one location, but his control over the hornets proved frustrating.
He regularly shields himself with the hornets while alternating offensive attacks. In order to avoid taking damage, you frequently need to submerge yourself under water. It certainly can be disorienting. Another move he has is duplicating, leaving you to guess which is the real Pain. Ultimately, his fight felt repetitive in the least fun ways and less experimental than other Cobra Unit members. And The Pain isn’t easy on the eyes either.
#5 The Sorrow
The Sorrow isn’t “technically” a boss fight, but since you can die, I wanted to keep this Cobra Unit member on the list. The Sorrow has an intriguing history that you learn throughout Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. During my playthrough, I had a very challenging go at The Sorrow because I killed a lot of enemies prior to this battle. Not only did I have to trudge (very) slowly against the current and oodles of dead fish, but I had to evade throngs of dead soldiers while trying to dodge The Sorrow’s own attacks. The jump scare at the end was a chef’s kiss. Understandably, someone playing as a pacifist will have a difference experience and may feel differently about this “fight”; however, I want to credit this encounter with The Sorrow, which has way more heart than The Pain.
#4 The Fear
The Fear’s voice certainly strikes fear in my heart, but this jungle-based battle is a step up from The Pain. This Cobra Unit member primarily stalks you from the trees and shoots you with his crossbow. I appreciated the ability to move, hide, and strike during this fight, and there are various approaches in taking The Fear down ranging from faking your death then surprising him with shots or luring him with poisoned food. Overall, it was a decent boss fight; however, it was one of the easiest ones.
#3 The Fury
Aside from his neat rocket man get-up, The Fury carries a lot of stage presence. He speaks with gravity and puts his flamethrower to good use. This Cobra Unit member will stalk you through long hallways, and you need to sneak around carefully and land a couple of shots before you are completely engulfed in flames.
The Fury can inflict serious damage if you’re not careful or act recklessly. I learned that the hard way when I thought I could get just a few more shots in. The arena was cold, empty, and foreboding, not leaving much to hide behind as The Fury jets around. The thermal goggles helped me spot him before he could spot me. Therefore, with the elements of both stealth and offense as well as an overly dramatic exit, The Fury was a memorable Cobra Unit boss fight.
#2 The End
What I love about my encounter with The End is the unique format. While I’ve been running around guns blazing, and while most players are conditioned to a more traditional “fight”, this Cobra Unit member makes you slow down and think. The boss fight with The End is essentially a cat-and-mouse game where he disguises himself in the environment and will take you down with a powerful shot if spotted. He has an incredibly powerful gun that will drain your stamina significantly.
I appreciate that the fight takes place in several areas, and you can employ several strategies to whittle him down. From leveraging thermal goggles to spotting the reflection from his scope, there are ways to defeat The End without it being too easy. Granted, there is a “cheat” where you can kill The End before you encounter him in the intended boss arena, but I think that would be a waste of a fun fight. Way more fun than the alternative, which is to fight Ocelot’s unit.
#1 The Joy (aka. The Boss)
What’s The Cobra Unit without The Boss herself? I found her nickname The Joy fitting, and her relationship from beginning to end with The Sorrow was a deep and moving plot point that you learn in the game. Joy is probably one of the last things you would think about as an emotion experienced in battle, and yet, when you have that final showdown with her, the things she says prove that she is a warrior through and through.
There’s significant build up leading to this final boss fight, including the numerous times she’s beaten the snot out of Snake, and yet, ultimately shows an honorable level of restraint. She’s poised and also just as talented in disarming as she is breaking bones. As this honorable and talented warrior, it makes sense to greet her in a battlefield of flowers. It is not concrete hallways, a watery cave, or dense jungle. No. It’s an arena of beauty that also doubles as a layer of challenge when trying to spot The Boss who is dressed in white.
The boss fight with, well, The Boss, was incredible challenging and frustrating at first. She appeared to be nigh invincible with her flawless close quarter combat and ridiculously powerful gun, The Patriot. However, if you slow down and wait for certain cues during CQC, you can eventually overpower her and land a few shots in. The Boss is otherwise hard to avoid being spotted, but if you’re able to stalk her with success, more power to you. Unlike frustrating moments with other Cobra Unit members, this is one that felt worth it. I was rewarded in the end for learning patience and leaned into precision and not button mashing or brute forcing my way with bullets.
The fight is designed to fit into the narrative as well. The Boss invites you to defeat her, as there can be only one Boss. She commends you if you’re able to take her down and scoffs at you if you fail. The Boss and Snake had history together, developing the nuances of close quarter combat, and executing it in the narrow window the controls allow places an emphasis on how Snake must learn to become better than his mentor.
It may seem cliche that the final boss is the number one on my list, but for what it’s worth, I’ve been sitting here debating between The Boss and The End for longer than probably was necessary. While the battle with The End was innovative, clever, and honestly fun, I feel that the strategy required to take down The Boss as well as the poignant story beat that’s tied to it takes it just over than line. There was an immense sense of satisfaction when I defeated The Boss. Also, the choreography behind the close quarters combat was also wonderful to watch.
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Featured Image Source: Konami via i’m playing it
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