The Coop

To continue my tale from earlier, Wings of Wor has a second boss in it that's a real pain in the ass. It's the end boss which, like so many of the game's other bosses, is a mass of flesh that's less than pleasant looking. Its attack is very straight forward. It sits there, and ejects over two dozen of these little egg-like orbs that slowly drift towards you. As they move, they gain a bit of speed. If you dodge it, the thing comes back around and tries to hit you again. If you blow one up (which takes quite a few shots), it's instantly replaced. How's that for service? To hurt this thing, you have to hit an eye that's in the center of an opening. The opening is narrow, which makes hitting it a pain already. But, with all the eggs floating around blocking shots, and the fact that the eye only opens for about two seconds before it closes again, this makes for a frustrating battle. There will be times where you don't hit the damn thing for a good minute or so, and even then it's just one or two hits. It's a not a battle so much as it is a dodging exercise. It also takes a decent number of hits before it dies, so you better sit down and get comfy, because this battle won't end quickly. One of the few shmups that has bosses in it that just drive me up a wall. Edit: Fixed typos.

Taking a break from my finals work, I was sitting down and playing some shmups (they're good for quick game playing sessions while you wait for something to render). I popped in a game called Wings of Wor. It's a rather odd shmup, in that most of the bosses are large, ugly, and at times a bit disgusting looking bio-masses with heads. Some are tough, some are pretty easy. But there are two in this game that are quite nasty... and not because they look like mounds of guts. For now though, I'll focus on the boss for Stage 4. I don't know this thing's name. In truth, I'm not sure it was given one... even in the instructions manual. What I do know is that it's ugly, and it has a series of rather mean spirited attacks. The first one is that it attacks you with what look like red blood cells. They drift pretty slowly, with some coming up from the bottom, and some coming down from above. They're indestructible, and they become more numerous as you damage this thing. But as these things drift about, it unleashes what's both an attack, and the only time you can hurt him. This mass of corpse-like flesh, hurls it's heart around the screen. That heart is the only spot to hit him that'll do any degree of damage. It circles around the screen at a good clip, making it a hazard before it goes back behind the "body" so you can't hit it any more. It'll swing around in a steady pattern, but the problem comes from those damned red blood cells that have no real pattern. They come out steadily, and often you find yourself too busy dodging them to try and focus on hurting the heart. All of this makes for a boss that can take forever to kill. And if you run out of guys, you have to try and beat him with considerably less power as, if I recall correctly, you get sent back to the beginning of the level (resulting in considerably less power the next time you get to the boss). It's just two attacks, but they add up to one big pain in the ass.

Ever had one of those games that you can kick the ass of, but as soon as you reach the end, it decides to go ballistic and kick your ass? After a visit to a local flea market a couple months back, I've found just such a game. Captain Skyhawk for the NES is really an easy game. Sure, at first the altitude aspect takes a bit to get used to, but within an hour, you get the hang of it. I can get through the game's main stages with little trouble. I can get the best weapons lickity split, and kick the asses of those little "bonus" stages that try and mimic After Burner. But for the life of me, I can't beat the final boss. It's attacks are pretty straight forward. It fires quickly at you as you move about a stationary screen with the boss in the background, and your plane in the foreground (like a non moving After Burner). All it does, is shoot a lot of bullet streams that move pretty quick. But the controls for your plane suddenly get very floaty. Perhaps it's because you're in space, but since the rest of the game has rather crisp control, this makes maneuvering and getting out of the way of the bullets seemingly impossible. It's a rather abrupt shift in way things control. I know I have to be missing something... some trick or maneuver that would give me the upper hand. But I'll be damned if I can find it.

Okay. So I'm playing Shining Soul on my GBA (yeah, I know what the reviews said, but it's not that bad). I'm playing along, battling bosses and leveling up. Around the fourth dungeon, I think I'm a big bad stud muffin for kicking the asses of every boss thus far. Well, you can imagine what happened on this dungeon's boss since I'm posting here. I reach Michaela, sit through the slowly scrolling speech she gives, and then proceed to get my ass kicked. Her attacks are quite simple. She has four or five clones that shoot out ice, while the real Michaela shoots out a lightning bolt. If the ice hits you, you slow down for a time, and take damage. If the lightning hits you, you just take damage, but more of it. So I'm running around, trying to find the real version of this bitch. I'm swinging my charged up Axe, throwing my charged up Morningstar-like weapon... but all I'm hitting are the clones. I can never get all the version on screen at one time to see which one casts the lightning. The few times I did, I was on the other side of the screen avoiding the ice shots. By the time I got over to where she was, all the characters has moved around and I didn't know which one the real one was again. To say this was frustrating would be quite truthful. Now, after a few tried, I got good at staying alive for long periods of time. Healing my character, avoiding the ice rocks... I was doing alright. But I couldn't get to the real Michaela. It was like she was always on the opposite side of the screen from me... always. Now granted, I did eventually beat her after a long series or randomly swung charged axe attacks, but I still don't know a pattern to this boss. I know there has to be one (in theory), but I'd like to know what it is so I can go back and kick her ass just to make myself feel better, considering even the final boss was easy for me to beat.

You know, a while back I mentioned the green boss in MegaMan Zero... Harpuia I believe. Yes, it took me a retardedly long time, but I did eventually get past him/her. I was proud of myself, and that proudness lasted right up until I reached the final boss in that game. Since I know not everyone has played it, I won't ruin anything and mention the boss' name. However, I was stuck on this boss for weeks. Nothing I did seemed to really give me an edge. Oh sure, after a few days, I figured out why I was doing no damage whatsoever, but even after that, it didn't matter. I was usually lucky just to get the boss half dead. Besides being a pain in the traditional MegaMan sense (fighting every level boss again in sequence), this final boss has two forms. The first form, has this boss in a rather familiar state, with every weapon and the best armor from a piece of his past (you'll understand what I mean if you've fought him). He zips all over the place on the ground and in the air, sends varying types of long range attacks at you, and is just generally a pest. It took a good number of tries, but I eventually found a way to get past him without too much trouble. That's when I hit his second form. This, was a pain in the ass. The edges of the stage are taken out, so you can fall to your death if you're not careful. You can only damage his head, and the only way to reach his head is to do the old wall jump technique. There are no actual walls though. Instead, what you have are two hovering blocks with spikes on their tops and bottoms, and these blocks drift up and down opposite each other (when one's going up, the other's going down). Now, add in the several attacks the boss has. These consist of ringed lasers that come at where you're standing (and pin you in place if they touch you), a double shot of 360 degree laser beams, and a laser that sets the entire ground you're standing on, on fire. To this, you add in the fact that as you damage him, he starts attacking faster and with a greater number of shots for the ring laser. I announced it in the AIMMS thread in UnMod when I finally beat the bastard. I've owned MegaMan Zero for over a year, and while I haven't played it everyday, I've played it pretty regularly. Harpuia was embarrassing enough, but to then get stuck on another boss in the same game for a good while... well, that's just mean I never was all that great at the MegaMan games. I'm decent on the original games, but the "X" series and the "Zero" series... well...

Gave the Soulcube a try. I'm so used to not using it until the end (never needed it in the "Veteran" setting). Finally beat him, and blew through the rest of the game without it. Damned demons. Anyway, I was on a Capcom kick the other night, and was playing U.N. Squadron. I was having fun and doing rather well... until the second to last stage. Anyone whose played this game knows the boss I'm talking about. On the ground, there's a pair of conveyer belts that bring flame throwing machines and S.A.M launchers from both sides of the screen. Above you, is the actual boss. The thing is, it's shielded from all attacks except for those which come up from below. This mean to have to use weapons that fire upwards to do any amount of damage. How many swear words did I use? Many. I had gun pods, ceiling missiles, super bombs... I even had the best plane by then so I could have extra amounts of all these weapons. But even though the battle starts off pretty easy, as you damage the boss, more and more of those flame throwers and S.A.M. launchers come onto the screen. Then the boss starts shooting flames downward, and everything gets rather hectic. I can't tell you how many times I got the little blue orb to turn red before getting blown up. I used every ceiling missile, both super bombs, the gun pods... this thing wouldn't die. Hell, the final boss isn't as much of a pain in the ass and this ceiling crawler boss. Reminded me of the Gradius series. The bosses get harder and harder until you reach the final one... which is then simple as hell to beat. Granted, I did eventually get by this boss solely for the principle of it, but damn...

You know, in a different thread I was mentioning how well I was doing in Doom 3 on the Nightmare difficulty. I also said I was waiting for something to come along and hand me my ass after kicking the spider chick's butt. Well, that very thing just happened. I won't say who or what the game's second boss is, just incase someone hasn't played it yet or gotten that far. However, I will say this... it is damn hard when you only have 100 health that dwindles by 5 every few seconds. There's only one real weapon at the boss' disposal, but all it takes is a single hit from it to kill you. Even a tendril from the BFG shot kills you in two or three hits as it goes by when you play on Nightmare. And standing around those massive electrodes was a near instant death before... now it is instant death. I know it's a simple pattern, but trying to not get hit even once is proving to be pretty hard. I'm pumping rounds into him, trying to duck behind things, setting up shots to try and hit the BFG blast the moment it appears... it's all not working. I'm pretty sure you can kill the boss without using the BFG shot technique, but it takes a while... and lasting that while has thus far eluded me. Hell, lasting more than ten seconds has eluded me

I was playing Star Fox last night, and I was reminded of something... there's one boss in there, that I feel is the hardest boss in the game. Is it Andross? Nope. Frankly, I had no real problems with the bosses in the game... save one. In the "level 2" path, as you get near the end, there's a boss called Metal Smasher (I believe that's its name). It has a simple attack pattern. The first half of its health bar consists of it opening up, releasing several metal containers that can hit you, and then drifting towards you until it's on both sides of you... then slamming shut for big damage. The second half of it's life bar, has it opening up, and firing a barrage of ring lasers at you (I'm almost certain they're tracking shots too). As I said, simple. However, I've yet to get past the damned thing. I've almost gotten to the point that I can time slowing down so I don't get crushed, but somehow I have a hell of a time shooting the metal containers so they don't slam into me. And the ring lasers? They get me every time. I've had less of a problem with the bosses on level 3 difficulty. I don't know why, but I just can't beat that damned Metal Smasher.

You know, sometimes it's both a blessing and a curse to find something you thought you'd lost. A little while ago, I finally found my copy of Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000 for the 32X that had been missing for a while. I just kind of stumbled across it someplace where it shouldn't have been (how it got in with the Master System games, I don't know). Anyway, I played it, and came face to face with the same thing that stopped me the last time I played it... the boss at the end of level 6. See, at the end, there's the weird... rock thing. It has a head, it has hands and feet, but it has no body. The head in sitting on the ground, and the hands and feet try and either grab or stomp your ship. The boss is pretty simple to begin with, as all it really does at first is just spit out some destructible blocks, then uses the hands and feet to go after you. It's all pretty easy to avoid. Once you do enough damage, phase two begins... and that's where it gets a wee bit harder. The head rises into the air. As it does, it shoots out these tiny little homing darts that go out a certain distance, and if you're close to it, it goes after you. It does this several times, during which you can't hurt it. The head and hands then begin circling around you once it reaches a certain height. It does this twice, and then it goes a bit nuts. The head comes out from between the hands, and starts spinning around, shooting little blocks in random directions. It gets pretty close to you, so you really can't dodge much. Then the head returns, and the hands start throwing things at you while blocking you shot at the head. The hands come apart, and the head rushes you. Then it all starts again. The problem, besides avoiding all this, is finding the right weapon to kill the thing quickly before you reach it. Considering the number of weapons you can grab, this took a while... a good while actually... before I came across one that gave me a real chance at the thing. But it's easy the boss that gave me the most trouble ion that game.

This past week I decided to play some Diablo II. I haven't played it in a while, and I figured I'd have some fun. Well, "some" is the key word there. I was having fun, until I got to the end of the second set of missions with my level 23 assassin... and met up with Duriel. I must have been choosing the wrong skills to upgrade or something, as I could do virtually no damage to him. As soon as I would enter the cave, it'd run up to me saying "Looking for Baal?", hit me with a cold slap that slowed my character down, and then proceed to pummel my assassin into the ground within a few seconds. On the few times I would avoid that thing, I couldn't outrun the bastard enough to even try a ranged attack. Basically, running only prolonged the inevitable. The first time I play DII, I used the sorceress, and I kicked some righteous ass with the powered up fireball and chain lightning spells. Even then, Duriel gave me problems with his fast speed and freezing hits. I recall dying and returning a number of times, picking away slowly at its health until I finally won (and had bodies of my sorceress littering the cave floor). But this time? I couldn't do squat. Either that assassin is worthless (even though I was kicking some righteous booty with her before Duriel came along), or I really screwed up in choosing her skills. And now I know, Duriel is not the boss to get to unprepared (even Diablo himself was easier with the sorceress). Edit: Quite a few typos.

After finally achieving a victory over a certain game, I've come to the conclusion that its final boss is... cold. Quite cold actually. I am speaking of the Master System version of Fantasy Zone. Sure, it's a blindingly colorful almost "kiddy" shooter when you first glance at it. But under those pastel colors, is the dark heart of a mean spirited little game at times. You start off with nothing but a single bomb and pissy little shot. Through the course of the game, you earn money and get chances to by upgrades for your weapons. This is handy, because as the game goes along, the enemies become more numerous, and the generators take more hits. The bosses aren't too bad. Most have an easy enough pattern to figure out... until you get to the final boss. There are either five or six things you have to destroy to win the game, and they all come out of the nose of the boss. The first couple are simple to get rid of. The next two are a bit of a pain, and the fifth one is rather fast. You have to move quickly and avoid it as it goes from one side to the other. If you get it, then comes the final one. This thing, hauls ass. There is no way to shoot it fast enough to destroy it before it hits you. Even with the fastest speed upgrade, you only move a little faster than it (which by the way, makes you virtually "out of control" fast). As such, dodging it is pretty much pointless, as it'll be right on your ass the whole time and never give you a chance to turn around and try to damage it a bit more. There are no bullets to evade, no super shots to be wary of... it's just this little blue thing that moves extremely quickly. However, there is a way to beat it, and it's a weapon you wouldn't expect in the "shop" you go into. Like the final boss of Quake, once you figure this out, it becomes simplicity itself to win. But until you do, it's mind numbingly frustrating as you keep getting to the end, and losing... over and over and over.

You know, there have been a lot of Breakout clones over the years. There's one on the Genesis called Devilish, which has a number of interesting qualities. A story, decent graphics, some rather nice tunes... and one of the cheapest final bosses around. The game's hard enough since the ball doesn't quite obey the laws of physics as we know them. It might go where you're aiming, it might not. Your two paddles might be detected when the ball hits them, they may not. But when the time comes and you finally reach the big bad boss at the end (assuming you haven't thrown the game away in frustration), you get treated to a very unfair game of "try and get the ball to hurt me". So here you are. There's a big heart in the middle, and then three figures appear around it and start rotating their way around the heart. You have to get the ball between the figures to hit it. From time to time, the figures stop, and produce many balls that look like yours. Now, the whole goal is to do damage to the heart, but you have only a limited amount of time to do it. Run out of time, and you start over. 30% of the time, your ball with tap the heart once and fly away. The other 70% of the time, it hits a figure. There will be times when you don't get to do ANY battling against the boss for a good minute, because the ball is bouncing side to side off the screen edge and the figures, or off your paddle and the screen edge... and you can't get it to bounce off anything at an angle. This pretty much spells doom for you, as again, the battle has a time limit. The attack patterns of so simple it's sad, but the ball physics just eat your patience alive during this fight. Now, just for the sake of argument, let's say you somehow manage to beat the boss (it takes many, many hits to do this... pray the ball gets stuck between the heart and a figure). Then you have to hurry up and guide the ball to the exit. Run out of time as you do this? Yep... you start over. It's mind numbingly frustrating, because you're seemingly barely in control of the ball, and it'll pass through your paddles when you are in control of it. Breakout and Pong gave you more control, and they're some 15-plus years OLDER than Devilish... and they had better hit detection.

I was out and about the other day, and I decided to stop off and pick up some cough drops (an ongoing hack I have from allergies, which the cough drops stop for a little while). I'd never been in the store before, but when I went into the little lobby area just inside the sliding doors, what did I see? Karate Champ. I used to play this game pretty regularly when I was a kid. Thankfully, the moves list on the machine hadn't been completely scratched up beyond readability. So, after I bought my cough drops, I figured what the hell. I popped in a quarter, and gave the game a try for the first time in about ten years. I'll admit, I got my ass kicked by the third fight. I gave it another whirl, and eventually a third whirl. Something must have clicked into place, because I started handing the CPU character it's ass. I went through round after round, scoring full points and half points without taking a full point's worth of total damage. I was smoking... until I reached the character in the black Gi. I got MY ass handed to me. That bastard was fast, and I just couldn't adjust to the big time increase in speed over the previous fighter. He also never got a half point on me. It was always two "full point" moves and out. I gave the game two more tries, and got to the black Gi wearing character both times... and lost in ten seconds both times. It was sad, and a bit humbling. I was getting beaten by a game that was older than a good portion of the people visiting this site. But, I picked up my plastic bag, and walked away. Nothing quite like having your ego trip punctured by a heavily pixilated, black Gi wearing little douche bag. ... At least I got the high score though.

Yeah, I know. I didn't listen to more than a couple shows during this season and the previous one, as such, I have little room to say much. Blame it on my dial up connection. Being trapped in a slow stream and a heavily lagged chatroom kind of ruined the whole experience for me. But the time I got my half cable connection... well, the two seasons of being constantly fifteen-plus minutes behind what everyone else was listening to (and talking about) just got to me. As such, I ended my time listening and chatting with VGF. When I got half cable, I'd not been listening for some time, and by then I'd just... given up the show. Call me an ass, call me whatever, but there's why I rarely came around in these last two seasons. Regardless, you made quite the run Larry. The late nights I was there were usually worth a laugh in the chatroom, and you did give my remixes some air time. For that, you're efforts, and your desire to always try and make up lost time when a technical problem arose, I thank you. It's a shame to lose your show, but as the old saying goes... all good things must come to an end. So kudos Larry, and of course...

I have to admit... sometimes, the simplest and correct way of beating a boss, completely eludes me. Case in point, the second Hunter in Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil. He's a tough looking SOB, with electricity as his weapon. Now, I figured that the "Hell Time" option of the artifact needed to be used. As such, I used it. As I moved about him, blasting away with everything I had in my arsenal, minutes went by. I kept emptying shot after shot into him, dodging his electricity balls and his larger electrical attacks. I ran under the floor picking up what ammo and health was down there. I mean, this went on for good stretches of time before he'd eventually get the best of me. I was having flashbacks to the final boss in Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell... no matter how much I shot the guy, regardless of what type of weaponry I was using, nothing made him go down for the count. I spent so much time avoiding the Hunter's attacks and trying to stay alive, that I missed a very important clue about how to kill him. Now, I won't say what that clue is on the offhand chance someone's playing the game and hasn't gotten there yet. But, I will say that when I figured it out, I beat the demon on the second try. It was so simple, that I didn't see it... much like how to beat the final boss in Quake.

I still rock out to Silverhawk Legacy.... Hurry up and pick a song, old man! Thanks, but... sorry Myth. After listening to the whole soundtrack, there's one song that struck an idea in my head. However, that song's been taken. Add to that, the fact that I apparently didn't pay enough attention to all of Shael's text (the idea was orchestral, and from what he wrote, that's not an appropriate genre... especially considering the idea I got), and it looks like I'll be staying out of this one. I'll submit the idea to VGmix when (if?) it gets done. Good luck guys. Is this my Cammy track? Cause at this point, it's the only one taken... You want it? No. I wouldn't feel right causing someone to start over, regardless of how they felt about it. As I said, it's orchestral... slow orchestral, and certainly not high energy. That's not in line with what Shael described. I didn't read everything as thoroughly as I should have, and that was mistake on my part. If I had, I wouldn't have posted in here in the first place. Anyway, don't worry about it, Myth. You've got a good start going with your mix so far, and I'm not about to fuck with that

I still rock out to Silverhawk Legacy.... Hurry up and pick a song, old man! Thanks, but... sorry Myth. After listening to the whole soundtrack, there's one song that struck an idea in my head. However, that song's been taken. Add to that, the fact that I apparently didn't pay enough attention to all of Shael's text (the idea was orchestral, and from what he wrote, that's not an appropriate genre... especially considering the idea I got), and it looks like I'll be staying out of this one. I'll submit the idea to VGmix when (if?) it gets done. Good luck guys.

I appreciate the sentiment GL. While I do still feel my last remix ("Descent To The End") was one of my best pieces compositionally and emotionally, it's nice to hear my older works still get some lovin' Edit: Nevermind. That song's already taken.

An interesting project. I might be interested, but seeing as the samples at my disposal are not particularly liked, and my equalizing abilities still aren't that great, I'll have to refrain from entering this.

Who's the russian guy with the gallon of vodka next to him? He looks kinda like Boris Yeltsin, only fatter. Welcome newbies. Welcome to OCR island, where remixes and tubgirl flow daily and the goatse still run wild on the plains. But do watch the skies. There's a good chance of sarcasm showers today with spotty flame storms.

I was sitting back, relaxing with a game of Ghouls and Ghosts on my Genesis. I say "was", because it's been quite a while since I played the game last... which brought me to a certain boss in that game which I had forgotten about in regards to how brutal it can be. That boss being, the giant fly-like demon Beelzebub. It's bad enough that you HAVE to play through the game twice to get the most powerful weapon from the goddess. But trying to hang onto the best armor so that said super weapon can destroy enemy shots is a real pain... especially through the section of level five where all those skeletal dragons are coming out in large quantities. Anyway, I get to the bug boss, and what happens? I get me ass kicked... again, and again, and again. I couldn't make it to the thing with the best armor, which meant a lot of running, jumping and trying stupid things so I can keep hitting him. But all that was for nothing, because I think I must have gotten locked into some kind of vicious pattern. Beelzebub would appear in the middle of the fight area, I'd hit him a few times, and then I'd run away. The thing turns into it's long line of swarming flies, and come right at me. I'd be in the left corner of the fighting area, firing upwards because the boss formed right above me. I'd hit him a few times, and then I'd haul ass to the right. I'd reach the other half of the fight area, and that's when it'd all go wrong. Over, and over, and over again, the swarm of flies traveled completely across the screen, hitting me. If I had armor, it was knocked off me. If I didn't, the heroic knight bit the dust right there. If I was lucky enough to survive, the boss formed so high up, that the super weapon couldn't reach him. Then he'd go into a fly swarm again, and no matter where I was, he'd hit me. Stay in the corner? I got hit. Run across to the left side of the fight area? It'd travel completely across. Run the middle? It'd travel completely across, forcing me to run to the left side and die. It has to have the single most mean spirited attack pattern I can recall seeing in Ghouls and Ghosts. Loki at the end is a completely predictable and easily beaten puss compared to that damned Beelzebub when it gets going with one of it's patterns.

You know, sometimes it's amazing the difference between versions of a game. I recently found a cheap copy of Sunset Riders for the SNES. Now, I have the Genesis version, and I thoroughly kicked it's ass. And I've even gotten good at getting through the SNES version... up until the final boss. His name is Sir Richard Rose, and he's a pain in the ass to get to. First, he's behind a balcony that you have to destroy to get to him. While you're blasting away at this thing, there are four men who appear on the top left, top right, bottom left and bottom right respectively, all coming out blasting for you. If you shoot one, he's replaced a few seconds later. So now you're hopping around trying to shoot the balcony and the guys. If you get rid of balcony, then Sir Richard begins his attacking along with the continual flow of helpers he has. Now you're jumping all over the damned place. Sir Richard is blasting away at you as he jumps around, and you're trying to hit him while avoids bullets and men. Now if you're fortunate enough, you knock him down. YOU'VE WON!!! Guess again... He gets up, and reveals that he had a chest plate under his shirt. Now you get to do the whole battle all over again... assuming you still continues and guys in reserve after going through it all the first time. Don't know what the ending is like on the SNES version yet. I just can't seem to get a pattern working long enough to knock him down a second time for the win. Couple all this with the fact that there's no auto fire, and you've got a damn tired firing thumb by the time you get to end... as well as a burning hatred for Sir Richard Rose

Looks like Gray's been spawning again

I've beaten him on 8 stars. I believe you have to in order to see the full ending on SF II. If memory serves, playing "turtle" works well, in that you wait for him to attack first, then use a move to counter it (like a roundhouse kick or dragon punch if he jumps into the air). I remember getting my ass beat regularly by him when I was the one doing all the attacking. But then I switched tactics a bit, and started being patient until I saw an opening... and then attacking. Also, if you hit him out of the air or knock him down, throw a fireball so it's timed to hit him as he lands or gets up. It's a fifty-fifty chance that it'll hit him, but even if he blocks, it's at least a little more damage to him and it knocks him back a little as well. Oh... and fireballs work really well against his psycho crusher attack (the one where he dives across the screen while eveloped in blue flame). Again, it comes down to timing. Good luck As for me, I have a new story to tell, but it'll have to wait until I get back from classes later this afternoon. A definite cuss-fest inducer, this boss is. But I gotta get some sleep now. Edit: As promised... I've been playing a game by Irem called Image Fight. Not the NES version, but the Saturn port of the arcade version. It's not an easy game, but there's a boss on stage 5 that is just flat out... prickish. Remember the giant brain with an eye and claws from Life Force? It's a little like that. There's a huge body that makes it tough to move around the screen, two homing orbs that follow you as you move, and a giant set of pinchers at the top that block all shots. If the pinchers open, you can get at the eye that opens and closes on the body behind the pinchers... as long as you have orange lasers. See, there are two laser types. Blue, which only fire forward, and orange, which fire in the opposite direction you're moving. You NEED the orange lasers to have any hope, and you NEED more than one. Now, as you move about, those two blobs are out there. One is outside of the body slowly coming at you, and the other is behind the pinchers, bouncing back and forth slowly above the eye. They're indestructible, and if you shoot them, they stop right where they are and continue to block your shots. So let's say you get there with two orange lasers, dodge the body and outer blob, and get set up right above the pinchers. They open, the eye opens, and THAT is when the blob between the pinchers is right in front of the open eye. You shoot, it stays there continuing the block the shots. You wait for it to move, and the eye closes back up, followed by the pinchers. Now the outer blob has caught up to you, and you begin the whole "lure it away" thing again. I'm normally good at shmups, but I have not been able to find a pattern to beat this boss... or hit it more than a couple times before having my ship blasted apart. You need a lot of shot power to really have a chance at winning, but if you die at the boss, you get sent back a bit where there are only two shot powerups to grab... and one of them is placed in the worst spot. I've beaten every Irem R-type game, their In the Hunt submarine shmup, and several others. But this... this one boss is frustrating the hell out of me.

Look at the topic type again, these don't time out OMG THERE IT IS!!!! Huh. I hadn't noticed that. I'm so used to these few threads being stickies, it had become almost instinctual to bump them after the last couple months. Nice to see they've been given a more permanent status.