Splatoon Raiders' Pudyin Den is one of Nintendo's toughest boss fights of all time

There aren’t many Nintendo villains that I truly fear. The kid-friendly nature of most Nintendo games means that even the toughest boss fights are still meant to be beaten. But after decades of playing Nintendo games, I have finally met my match — and in Splatoon Raiders of all games. The looter shooter features one enemy so tough and dastardly that I still can’t defeat it after over 40 hours of grinding.

No, I’m not talking about any of the campaign’s fearsome Mythic Salmonids. I’m talking about the tiniest fish in the entire game: the dreaded Smallfry of Pudyin Den.

A smallfry attacks an Inkling in Splatoon Raiders.

The fight occurs in one of the final Salmonid Dens that you can unlock during the main campaign. Most Salmonid Dens throw you into a small arena primarily full of one type of enemy. You have to collect a certain number of Power Eggs within a set time limit to clear the dungeon. Pudyin Den is a little different. You only have to defeat one single enemy and collect 10 Power Eggs. That would be simple if your enemy wasn’t a superpowered pipsqueak.

The overpowered Smallfry is basically Splatoon Raiders’ take on Tonberry from Final Fantasy. It’s tiny, but has ridiculously high HP and can splat you in nearly one hit if it gets to you. He’s hard to take down on standard difficulty, but it’s a winnable fight once you grind enough. It’s a much harder task on Ultra Spicy, which is set at Salmonid Level 76. Smallfry takes a lot of direct hits to take down, but he moves around so erratically that it’s hard to nail him. You only have 50 seconds to take it down. I’m currently at level 50 + 41 and I have only ever gotten six Power Eggs out of the sucker. It is the bane of my existence.

What’s even more challenging is that the fight is designed to work against your best battle instincts. Having tons of gadgets active can actually make it harder to see the Smallfry and land direct shots on it. Trying to clear it with a squad is an almost impossible task, too. I’ve called in a team to help me on several occasions and only gotten two eggs out of it thanks to the HP boost Smallfry gets in multiplayer. If you want to defeat it, you’ll likely need to rely on your skills — or at least boost your weapon power to an unimaginable degree.

An Inkling fights a Smallfry in Splatoon Raiders.

For what it’s worth, the Splatoon community seems as delighted by the all-powerful Smallfry as it is frustrated. It has already become a bit of a meme on the Splatoon subreddit, with some fans calling it John Smallfry. My favorite interaction I’ve seen is on a post where a player begged for advice on how to beat the fight. “Super spicy?” a reply said. “You’re cooked bro.”

While it’s certainly a challenge, it’s one that is pushing the community to think smarter about their builds. One commenter noted that they won the fight by modding a gadget to freeze enemies, and then using a weapon that does extra damage against frozen enemies. That kind of ingenuity is where you can see Splatoon Raiders’ strengths on display. It’s an action RPG that pushes you to create smart solutions to hard problems rather than just brute forcing your way through a dungeon.

If you can beat Pudyin Den on Ultra Spicy, you are a true master of Splatoon Raiders. I’m not worthy yet, but I will not give up until I destroy John Smallfry.