boss day

[egypturnash]

October 16th: National Boss Day. My favorite boss?

Gunstar Green.

Also known as

At the end of a high-speed ride through a mine, you find your former partner Green.





Like each of the bosses found in the first four levels of the game, he has a gem. Your job is to take it from him. It's not easy.

Green hops off of his hovering platform, which reforms into a huge mech that runs down the shaft after you. He throws bits of himself at you, his arms extend, he ground-slides just like you do... he's not too tough, but he can easily thrash you. Especially if you get distracted from fighting him by the incredible smoothness of his animation - this is a huge boss, made up of lots of little pieces that move around fluidly.



Sadly I didn't get too many good screenshots of him. All the mech fragments blow off and there's Gunstar Green again.

But suddenly, the shaft turns, and pieces come in around him again.


And this is why he's called "Seven Force".

Urchin Force bounces back and forth at the top of the screen, then suddenly becomes a buzzsaw going down one side. Easy - as long as you dodge. Eventually he starts his second mode, where he appears mid-screen, holding balls of energy which he spins and releases.

One screenshot pretty much sums up Blaster Force.

Tails Force slithers up the center of the screen, slides around the edges, and starts spinning its spiked tail around at you. It also unleashes little hails of bullets.

Crab Force sits on the left of the screen, throwing expanding walls, bouncing laser balls, and roadblocks at you.

Eagle Force slips up the center of the screen and begins to... strike poses. If you time it right he'll move up the screen past you. If not, you get hurt when the chunks of bright blue metal slam into you.

And finally, Tiger Force. Still shots cannot convey how beautiful this thing is - it only looks vaguely like a tiger here, but in motion, it's definitely a huge mechanical feline. Who fires big chunky targeting lasers from his tail, and a highly-reflective laser from it as well.

Defeat all of Seven Force's forms, and the level is complete, you get the gem. But Green flies off, to reappear later - in the unexpected spaceship level, and in the final boss rush level. With new tricks up his sleeve each time.

The order of forms varies from game to game. You always start with Soldier Force, but the remainder of the forms come at random. They'll always alternate between ones set in vertical mineshafts and in horizontal ones, but other that that, it's different each time. And if you're playing on "easy", you only get three forms; "normal" players only get five. Only someone playing on "hard" or "expert" gets to experience the full glory of Seven Force... the best boss ever.