----------------------------------------
MEGA MAN X8 Bosses Guide (Final Version)
-For the Sony PlayStation 2 (NTSC-U)-
by Will Weaver (Team Ragnarok)
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SHORT DISCLAIMER:
For full legal information, see section 7 of the FAQ.
This FAQ may not be posted anywhere not on my permissions list without my
express written consent. If you see this FAQ anywhere else, or if you see it
with a different name at the top, please contact me at
[email protected]
so I may hunt down those responsible and have a nice little chat with them
about how stealing others' work is bad and all that (read: I stand there and
go "You idiot! What the hell do you think you're doing?!").
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Version History & Contact Information
2. Controls
3. The Mavericks
a. Noah's Park - Giant Mechaniloid
b. Troia Base - Optic Sunflower
c. Pitch Black - Dark Mantis
d. Primrose - Gravity Antonion
e. Metal Valley - Earthrock Trilobyte
f. Dynasty - Gigabolt Man-O-War
g. Central White - Avalanche Yeti
h. Inferno - Burn Rooster
i. Booster Forest - Bamboo Pandamonium
j. Jakob - Vile
k. Gateway - Copy Sigma
l. Sigma Palace - Vile
m. Sigma Palace - True Sigma
n. and o. Hard Mode Final Battles
4. New Game+ Information
5. Credits
6. Contact Information - Part Deux
7. Copyright Information & Disclaimer
------------------------------
1. VERSION HISTORY
------------------------------
0.1 - First edition. Added basic controls and strategies for the
Giant Mechaniloid and the first two Mavericks. Unreleased.
0.3 - Added strategies for Gigabolt Man-O-War and Avalanche Yeti.
Also added info on Tag Assist, Double Attack, and Copy Shot.
0.5 - Added strategies on Burn Rooster and Gravity Antonion.'
0.6 - Added note about different "modes" of Maverick attack patterns.
0.8 - Added strategies for the last two Mavericks.
0.9 - Added Vile (Jakob) and Copy Sigma strategies.
1.0 - First released edition. Finished the guide and added info on
the armors.
Final - Added copyright disclaimer and updated contact info.
This is the final version of my FAQ, so I won't be accepting any new
battle strategies. Still, if you see a problem with my FAQ, or if there
is something you think absolutely must be added, contact me at
[email protected].
------------------------------
2. CONTROLS AND TECHNIQUES
------------------------------
Here are the basic default controls for the characters:
Left Stick/D-Pad - Move the character or aim (if Axl).
Right Stick, L1/R1 - Switch special weapons
L1+R1 (at the same time) - Unequip special weapon
L2: Change characters, Tag Assist (see note), Revert (if Axl)
R2: Double Attack (see note)
Triangle: Use special weapon, technique (if Zero) or Copy Shot
(if Axl)
Circle: Dash
Square: Normal attack (X-Buster, Z-Saber, or Axl Bullets)
X: Jump
Start: Pause game, skip cutscenes and movies
Select: No function besides accessing the R&D Lab on the Stage
Select screen.
COPY SHOT
---------
Axl's Copy Shot returns in X8, and it works just like it does in X7,
only this time you don't have to charge it. Simply aim with the left
stick or D-pad and press Triangle to fire. There are only a few enemies
you can copy, and copied attacks don't work very well on the bosses.
The Copy Shot is ineffective against bosses. However, the Copy Shot
is useful in getting some Rare Metals, but that's a topic for another
guide.
TAG ASSIST
----------
You won't need to use this much in Easy or Hard Mode. You HAVE to use
it at one point in Normal Mode. Basically, if you get caught in something
(an enemy's pincer, frozen in ice, etc.), you can press L2 to call in your
other character to free you. You'll then take control of the character
you called.
DOUBLE ATTACK
-------------
As you fight your way through the stages, you'll notice a small meter
next to your characters' life bars slowly filling. This is the Attack
Gauge, and when it's full, your active character will glow for a moment.
This means you can use the Double Attack, which is an excellent way to
increase your Hunter Rank in each stage (you will also receive an "EXF"
medal at the end of the stage).
To use the Double Attack, make sure your Attack Gauge is full (it will
be pink), move toward the nearest enemy, and press R2 to send out a
small shockwave. If the shockwave hits any targets, your other character
will join you to destroy all enemies on the screen or deal big damage
to whatever boss you're fighting.
The Double Attack animation differs based on the situation you're in. Most
times, it will be green. If you're delivering a deathblow to a boss, it
will be orange.
ARMORS
------
As you play through the game (or games, as the case may be), you'll unlock
special armors for X, Axl, and Zero. You can only gain one of them on your
first play-through.
X's NEUTRAL ARMOR:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the armor you find in Dr. Light's capsules. You'll get a piece of
the armor in each capsule, although the one in Noah's Park gives you the
armor itself.
The Neutral Armor is unique in that the parts you get for it give you a
wide variety of options. You can customize the armor any way you want with
all the H(ermes) and I(carus) parts you get.
Hermes Armor: Invincible Dash (foot), 3-way charged shot (buster), X-Drive
(body - most useless part of all), and faster charge speed (head).
Icarus Armor: Jump higher (foot), powerful laser blast (buster), increased
defense (body), and jump to damage enemies (head)
I like to use a combination of the Foot Parts H, the regular buster, Body
Parts I, and Head Parts H.
X's ULTIMATE ARMOR:
The Ultimate Armor is pretty much the ultimate armor. It's the best armor
in the game and makes X really, really cheap. You can get it by buying all
of X's upgrades (raise him to 100%), beating the game, and starting a New
Game+ (see below). Here are its benefits:
- Increased dash speed and wider dash range
- Jump even higher than the Icarus Armor can
- Invincible dash
- Plasma Buster, which creates secondary bursts of plasma after it hits
an enemy
- Increased defense, even higher than the Icarus Armor
- No longer get knocked back by hits
- Nova Strike, which utterly and royally owns anything you use it against,
but you must wait for it to charge back up when you do use it
ZERO'S BLACK ARMOR:
The Black Armor is a double-edged sword, pretty much. It doubles Zero's
attack power, but halves his defense. However, it was designed to be used
with Zero's special weapons - in particular, the Sigma Blade and T-Breaker.
To get it, you just have to get Zero up to 100%. You can only get him up
to 95% in your first game, but once you buy the Sigma Blade (beat the game
to make it appear in the chip lab), you'll automatically get the armor.
AXL'S WHITE ARMOR:
This armor is really only useful in the final battle of the game. It
increases Axl's attack power by 25%, lets him hover indefinitely as long
as he's firing a weapon, increases the range of his dash, and lets him
use abilities copied with the Copy Shot indefinitely (or until you beat
the stage). Unfortunately, it halves his already low defense. To get it,
buy all of Axl's upgrades, beat the game, and start a New Game+ (see
section 4).
------------------------------
3. THE MAVERICKS
------------------------------
----------------------------------
A. NOAH'S PARK - GIANT MECHANILOID
----------------------------------
Weakness: X-Buster, Z-Saber, Axl Bullets
Weapons/Items Gained: 2500 Metals
Round 1: This is probably the easiest boss battle in the game. Your
opponent doesn't have a life meter, and its attacks aren't very strong.
It will either launch one of its pincers at you and try to grab you,
or fire some easily avoidable beams at you.
Hit it in the head with a charged X-Buster shot or a stream of Axl
Bullets to knock it down, then keep hitting it until it gets up again.
Continue to do this until the mechaniloid runs off. If it grabs you,
quickly hit L2 for a Tag Assist before you take damage.
Round 2: The second battle is a joke. The mechaniloid will attack from
behind a waterfall, and occasionally launch little crabs at you.
Kill the crabs to get items that will fill your Attack Gauge, then when
the mechaniloid peeks out from behind the waterfall, jump up and use
the Double Attack. It will run away after one hit.
Round 3: This is the real battle. The mechaniloid will have a life meter
this time, but it still isn't very strong. This time, though, it'll raise
one of its pincers up to protect its head (its only weak spot), and slowly
march toward you. If it manages to get you up against the wall, it will
continually punch you until you're dead. You won't be able to climb up the
wall because the mechaniloid will knock you down. Just dash under it to
escape.
You have X and Zero for this battle, and I prefer using X, because it's
good to be far away from the mechaniloid so you don't take damage. Charge
up the X-Buster and shoot its face. This will break the mechaniloid's
barrier, and cause it to keel over. Switch to Zero and slash away at the
mechaniloid until it gets back up and puts its barrier back up. Repeat
the process until the mechaniloid's life meter is about 20% full.
When the mechaniloid's life meter is 20% full, break its barrier, then
perform the Double Attack if your Attack Gauge is full (which it should
be). Mission Complete!
NOTE BEFORE WE GO ON: From here on out, the Maverick bosses you fight
will fight in three stages: Normal mode, where they use general battle
strategies; "Angry" mode (deplete 1/3 to 1/2 of life bar), where they'll
introduce new attacks that deal more damage or are trickier to avoid;
and "Hyper" mode (deplete 80% of life bar), where they'll use some
extremely large attack. Use the Double Attack while the bosses are in
Hyper Mode (not in the Gateway) to get a boost to your Hunter Rank and
get an EXF medal on your stats.
*QUICK NOTE* - In Hard Mode, the Mavericks go into Hyper Mode when you
deplete 50% of their life bar, as opposed to 80% in Normal Mode. They
don't go into Hyper Mode at all in Easy Mode.
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B. TROIA BASE - OPTIC SUNFLOWER
-------------------------------
Weakness: Green Spinner/Youdantotsu/Blast Launcher
Weapons/Items Gained: 2500 Metals, Shining Ray/Tenshuoha/Ray Gun
Optic Sunflower starts off by creating two platforms in the room. He'll
continually move the platforms around or make them disappear. Use them to
your advantage, as you can avoid Sunflower's attacks while on them.
In his normal mode, Optic Sunflower will either teleport throughout the
room, or fire a large vertical beam that will travel horizontally across
the room. The beam will cover some of the room on its first pass, then
cover the part it didn't cover on its second pass, so dash beneath it or
jump over it. If you can, hit Sunflower with whatever weapon you have
(X-Buster, Z-Saber, or one of Bamboo Pandamonium's weapons).
Optic Sunflower will also teleport throughout the room when he gets angry.
This time, though, he'll create a clone that will quickly disappear after
the real Optic Sunflower reappears. Don't be fooled by this, and go after
the real Sunflower. Also, Optic Sunflower will create orbs that bounce
around the room - AVOID THESE. If they hit you, you will be captured - hit
L2 for a Tag Assist. You can destroy the orbs, but it's better to avoid them
and go after Optic Sunflower, as all orbs will be destroyed when he goes
into Hyper Mode or when he rearranges the platforms in the room. Finally,
he'll also use the same beam attack he used earlier, only this time there
will be two beams, and one will move faster than the other. You can use
the same method for avoiding them.
In Hyper Mode, Optic Sunflower will call forth the Final Weapon from X4
(eh?), and fire massive lasers at you. There will be targeting lasers that
will follow you around - when they come together, MOVE! The laser attacks
will cause big damage if they hit you. Avoid all the laser attacks, then
continue attacking Optic Sunflower until he's finished. Don't forget to
finish him with the Double Attack when his life bar is down to around 20%.
----------------------------
C. PITCH BLACK - DARK MANTIS
----------------------------
Weakness: Shining Ray/Tenshuoha/Ray Gun
Weapons/Items Gained: 2500 Metals, Shadow Runner/Rasetsusen/Black Arrow
Dark Mantis isn't very difficult if you can avoid him. He starts out by
running around and slashing at you with his claws. Hit him with the
weapon you got from Optic Sunflower. After he takes some damage, he'll
start throwing easily avoidable Shadow Runners at you. Dash to the other
side of the room to trap the Shadow Runner on the side you were on, then
hit Mantis again.
When he gets angry, Dark Mantis will climb the wall, jump across the room,
then fire six Black Arrows at you. These are slightly harder to avoid, but
don't do too much damage. Avoid them or just get hit, and continue hitting
Dark Mantis with light weapons.
In Hyper Mode, Dark Mantis jumps up to the center of the room and attacks
with two HUGE scythes that do a ton of damage if they hit you. Fortunately
for you, they're easily avoided. He only attacks with just those two
scythes, so continue attacking him when he comes back down, and he should be
finished in no time.
Axl is a good character to have here because you can constantly spray
Dark Mantis with Ray Gun fire and interrupt a lot of his attacks.
------------------------------
D. PRIMROSE - GRAVITY ANTONION
------------------------------
Weakness: Shadow Runner/Rasetsusen/Black Arrow
Weapons/Items Gained: 2500 Metals, Squeeze Bomb/Juuhazan/Spiral Magnum
Gravity Antonion starts by immediately summoning a large block to fall
on you. Get out of the way quickly and hit him with the Shadow Runner or
other shadow weapons you might have. He'll then run up the walls and try to
fall on top of you, but you can just run out of the way.
When he gets angry, Antonion will seem to do nothing different. However,
when he runs up the walls, he'll create a large gravity well in the center
of the room, and he'll attack you with a sword if you get too close to
him (he uses the Juuhazan move). This move deals quite a bit of damage.
He'll also rotate the room. This means that if you're standing next to the
big block he created, get out of the way before it crushes you. When he
enters Hyper Mode, any blocks that are created are destroyed.
In Hyper Mode, Antonion gets REALLY mad. He'll summon a storm of giant
blocks to fall and crush you, and they are very difficult to avoid. If
for some reason you have X's invincible dash, use that to your advantage,
otherwise just try to take as little damage as possible. When he becomes
vulnerable again, continue hitting Antonion with shadow attacks and finish
him off with the Double Attack.
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E. METAL VALLEY - EARTHROCK TRILOBYTE
-------------------------------------
Weakness: Squeeze Bomb/Juuhazan/Spiral Magnum
Weapons/Items Gained: 2500 Metals, Crystal Wall/Rekkyoudan/Bound Blaster
As soon as the fight starts, fire a Squeeze Bomb or Spiral Magnum at
Earthrock Trilobyte. This will destroy his armor and make your life a
whole lot easier. He'll also become afraid, and his attacks won't be
as frequent.
When he does attack, Trilobyte will call forth some Crystal Walls, which
can't hurt you unless they fall on you. You can't shoot through them, so
just climb over them. Other than that, he'll shoot Bound Blasters at you.
Jump over them until they dissipate, then let Trilobyte have it with
Antonion's weapon, which takes off a CHUNK of his life bar when you
use it. Two hits will send him nearly into Hyper Mode in Hard Mode.
When he gets angry, Earthrock Trilobyte will fire THREE Bound Blasters
at you. Oooh. Hit him with another Squeeze Bomb to send him into Hyper
Mode.
In Hyper Mode, Trilobyte will constantly send large Crystal Wall
formations at you. Normally, you'd have to climb over each one, but I'm
here to save you the trouble. Stand just to the left of the center of the
source of the Crystal Walls that move along the floor. When they rise from
the ground, you won't be pushed out of the way, and you'll be free to hit
Trilobyte when he becomes vulnerable. If you're playing on Normal Mode,
just hit R2 as soon as he becomes vulnerable and he'll immediately be
killed by the Double Attack.
-------------------------------
F. DYNASTY - GIGABOLT MAN-O-WAR
-------------------------------
Weakness: X-Buster, Z-Saber, Crystal Wall/Bound Blaster
Weapons/Items Gained: 2500 Metals, Thunder Dancer/Raikousen/Plasma Gun
***IMPORTANT NOTE***
If you're playing a New Game+ and have X's Ultimate Armor,
DO NOT USE THE NOVA STRIKE! More often than not, you will launch yourself
right off the narrow platform and die.
Gigabolt Man-O-War is weak against Trilobyte's weapons, but if you're
using X, the Crystal Wall is too cumbersome to use against him, and
you'll likely run out of weapon energy for it before you can get him
into Double Attack range. If you're using Zero, the Rekkyoudan is
utterly useless, but the Z-Saber deals more damage than the X-Buster
does. So it's a good idea to have Axl or Zero on your team, or to use
an Axl/Pallette or Zero/Layer team if you can. The Bound Blaster can be
used infinitely, and of course, so can the Z-Saber and Layer Rapier.
Man-O-War starts out by flying around the platform you're on. He'll
occasionally stop to fire off a blast of lightning, which is easily
avoidable. He's vulnerable during these attacks, so hit him with the
Bound Blaster or a charged X-Buster shot.
When Gigabolt Man-O-War gets angry, he'll call forth six smaller
jellyfish-like blobs. Knock these out as soon as possible, as they will
merge into a larger blob that will get in your way. Hit the larger blob
with an X-Buster or Bound Blaster shot to separate it into the smaller
blobs. The Z-Saber will destroy the blobs completely.
He'll also move to the top of the screen and shoot off his arms to
make a sort of "barrier" to keep you from reaching him - if you have Zero,
get under him and slash away at him until he stops.
In Hyper Mode, Man-O-War will move to the top of the screen and fire
down massive bolts of electricity. You'll get a warning of where
lightning will strike, so get away from those areas of the platform before
you get blasted and take serious damage. He'll do this three times before
reverting to his previous attack patterns. Continue blasting him and
keeping the jellyfish blobs apart, and use the Double Attack when his
energy is low, and you should come out on top.
---------------------------------
G. CENTRAL WHITE - AVALANCHE YETI
---------------------------------
Weakness: Thunder Dancer/Raikousen/Plasma Gun
Weapons/Items Gained: 2500 Metals, Drift Diamond/Hyouryuushou/Ice Gatling
Avalanche Yeti is easy with any team if you know what to do. Early in the
fight, he'll just try to tackle you, or shoot shards of ice at you to both
hit you and keep you from hitting the walls - you can destroy the shards
easily with any weapon, and Yeti will destroy them himself if he touches
them. Simply get close to him and use the Thunder Dancer or Plasma Gun,
or use the Raikousen.
When he gets angry, Avalanche Yeti gets trickier. He'll burrow under the
snow, follow you around, and then perform a Shoryuken-like punch that deals
quite a bit of damage. This attack is very hard to avoid, and X's invincible
dash comes in handy here. He'll also jump into the air and dash at you. If
you get hit by this dash, you'll be frozen solid. Call for a Tag Assist
before he's able to hit you again. Continue hitting the Yeti with more
thunder- based attacks or skills until he goes into Hyper Mode.
In Hyper Mode, Avalanche Yeti causes snowflakes to fall from the sky.
They're difficult to avoid, and cause some moderate damage if they hit you.
To make matters worse, the Yeti is a lot faster now, and uses the
freezing dash and Shoryuken attacks far more often. However, he also seems
to take more damage. If you get frozen, use the Tag Assist to your advantage
and get some hits in, and don't forget to use the Double Attack to finish him
off.
-------------------------
H. INFERNO - BURN ROOSTER
-------------------------
Weakness: Drift Diamond/Hyouryuushou/Ice Gatling
Weapons/Items Gained: Melt Creeper/Enkoujin/Flame Burner
NOTE: I don't list the 2500 Metals under "items gained" because you have
to climb out of the Inferno after you defeat Burn Rooster, and the metals
are your reward for doing that.
Burn Rooster is PATHETICALLY easy, especially with Axl. If you don't hit
him at all, Rooster will use some insanely fast dash attacks, and he'll try
to limit your freedom of movement by setting parts of the floor on fire.
However, any ice attack will stop his string of attacks. Continue hitting
Burn Rooster with ice until he retreats to the background.
In Angry Mode, Burn Rooster will only cause the floor panels to move up and
down, but doesn't change his attack pattern. Continue hitting him with ice
until he goes into Hyper mode.
In Hyper Mode, Burn Rooster will set the walls on fire. Wait for him to
finish his tantrum, then blast him with more ice and use the Double Attack.
Or, for a laugh, stand behind him after he sets the second wall on fire,
then hit R2 as soon as he becomes vulnerable. He will immediately die.
This only works on Normal Mode.
Another thing to note is that if you have Axl, you can climb the left wall
and spray the entire room with the Ice Gatling. You'll always hit Burn
Rooster if he's in the foreground, and those hits are all free until he
goes into Hyper Mode, when you'll have to get off the wall.
--------------------------------------
I. BOOSTER FOREST - BAMBOO PANDAMONIUM
--------------------------------------
Weakness: Melt Creeper/Enkoujin/Flame Burner, Ride Armor
Weapons/Items Gained: 2500 Metals, Green Spinner/Youdantotsu/Blast Launcher
Bamboo Pandamonium is easy, but his attacks deal a huge amount of damage, so
you'll want to avoid them. Fortunately, I'm here to tell you what he's gonna
do and how you can deal with it.
Pandamonium will start by firing a huge missile at you, then causing four
large bamboo pillars to shoot up from the ground. The tops of the pillars
are pointed, so avoid hitting them or you'll take damage. After the pillars
come up, Pandamonium will charge at you and knock the pillars down. Jump up
the nearest one to your left, then air-dash over him to avoid the attack.
Hit him from behind with the Melt Creeper or another fire attack.
Every time you hit Pandamonium with the Melt Creeper or any other fire
attack, he'll retaliate by launching bombs at you. Avoid them, or you'll
take some moderate damage. While he's doing this, he'll become vulnerable
again. Hit him again.
In Hyper Mode, Pandamonium will use only one new attack. He'll try to punch
you. AVOID THIS AT ALL COSTS, because the punch does BIG damage. After you
avoid his punch attack, keep hitting him with fire attacks, and he should
go down in a little while.
As a side note, if you were able to get your Ride Armor here safely, you
can just pound Pandamonium into dust with it, or at least deplete his life
bar significantly before it gets destroyed.
---------------
J. JAKOB - VILE
---------------
Weakness: Drift Diamond/Hyouryuushou/Ice Gatling
Weapons/Items Gained: 2500 Metals
Vile will use the same strategies he used in your mini-boss battles with
him. Since I didn't cover those, I'll go into detail here.
At the start of the fight, he'll shoot balls of electricity at you. Avoid
them and hit him with any ice weapon. Once you've hit him, he'll start
firing the electricity balls three at a time. Jump over or dash through
them, and keep hitting him with ice weapons until he gets "angry".
When he gets angry, Vile will continue to use the same strategy as before,
but now the energy balls will home in on you. Dash around to avoid them,
as they also do a bit more damage now, and hit Vile again.
Vile will also start firing flame pillars at you. The pillars rise and
fall, so jump over them when they're low to the ground. Eventually, he'll
go into Hyper Mode, where the battle gets really tricky.
In Hyper Mode, Vile will fly to the center of the room and fire lightning
bolts all over the room. The lightning bolts will then rotate, and some
will occasionally disappear. I hope you have X's invincible dash, because
it comes in handy here. You can dash through the lightning bolts without
taking much damage. Otherwise, time your moves carefully and avoid the
lightning bolts.
After Vile does the same move (the bolts will rotate in the opposite
direction) again, he'll become vulnerable. Finish him off with ice attacks
and the Double Attack, and he'll run off.
-----------------------
K. GATEWAY - COPY SIGMA
-----------------------
Weakness: Shadow Runner/Rasetsusen/Black Arrow
Weapons/Items Gained: 2500 Metals
Sigma fights with a beam saber, just like in X1. And also like X1, it does
a ton of damage, so use the walls to avoid it. After he lunges at you with
the beam saber, he'll fly up and charge up a large shockwave attack that
also does big damage. You can interrupt the attack by breaking his barrier
in any way. Be careful, though - once he falls to the ground he'll lunge
at you again.
When he's using his beam saber attack, hit him with the Shadow Runner or
other darkness-based attacks, then be ready to break his barrier. He'll
get angry after you do this once or twice.
When he gets angry, Sigma will start performing a devastating upward slash
attack. Avoid this by dashing over him before he begins to move upward.
He'll also fire four small bullets that reflect off the walls and off you,
which means the small damage they do will add up if you don't avoid them.
In Hyper Mode, Sigma will set the floor on fire. He'll also continue to
use his beam saber attack, and he'll fire some small bullets that reflect
off the walls. This makes it hard to get close enough to him to do a
Double Attack. Stay on the right wall and keep hitting him with Shadow
Runners, then either wait for him to come to you or dash to the left side
of the room and use the Double Attack when you reach the left wall to
finish him.
NOTE: Bring Axl with you when you go to Sigma Palace. If he's the one who
finishes off the final boss, you'll see an extra scene after the end
credits.
----------------------
L. SIGMA PALACE - VILE
----------------------
Weakness: Drift Diamond/Hyouryuushou/Ice Gatling
Weapons/Items Gained: None
Ah, don't you remember the good ol' days? Muscle cars, drive-in movies,
classic diners, and Vile in Ride Armor? Well, the good ol' days are back
again, as Vile's got his trusty Ride Armor, and he's itchin' to use it!
Fortunately, it's not much of a threat. It only jumps around and uses
the same charged-up punch attack you probably used in your own Ride
Armor back at the Booster Forest. Hit Vile with anything that breaks
barriers to knock him out of his armor.
Once he's out of his armor, Vile will fight just like he did in your
mini-boss battles with him and on the Jakob, except he never goes into
Hyper Mode (because he has no life bar). Just Nova Strike him and move on,
or use ice attacks to freeze him. After a while, he'll retreat to his
Ride Armor. Repeat the process until Vile finally explodes.
NOTE: If you're playing on Hard Mode, switch to the character you're best
with, because after defeat Vile, there'll be a cutscene where your other
character gets attacked by Vile. After this scene, you're on your own until
the middle of the next battle.
----------------------------
M. SIGMA PALACE - TRUE SIGMA
----------------------------
Weakness: X-Buster, Z-Saber, Ray Gun
Weapons/Items Gained: New Game+ Mode (if on Easy Mode)
NOTE: This is the last battle of the game in Easy Mode. The game ends
without much of an ending after this fight.
This is the REAL fight with Sigma, and he's pretty hard, especially on
Hard Mode, where you won't have a backup character for a while.
Sigma starts by shooting huge ring-shaped beams at you, which can be
avoided by climbing up the wall or jumping over them (if you can jump
high enough). He'll then teleport, then try to drop down on you from
above. Avoid this attack, as his sword does some huge damage if it hits
you. The battle changes when he goes into Hyper Mode.
No matter where you are in the room, Sigma will grab you and bring you
to the center of the room. In Normal Mode, you MUST do a Tag Assist to
escape, but in Hard Mode, your backup character will appear with full
health and save you. The battle will then resume. Switch to Axl if you
haven't already and equip the Ray Gun - this'll make your life a whole
lot easier.
Sigma will teleport away and set the left wall on fire, which will make
his beam attacks more difficult to avoid. After the beam attacks, he'll
try to slash you from above, only much faster and several times.
During this part of the battle, Sigma starts shooting rotating rings at
you - these are much easier to avoid, just jump over them. After taking
some more damage, Sigma will get angry.
And boy, is Sigma EVER angry. He'll immediately teleport to one side of
the room and make his way toward the other by jumping and slashing down
at you. These slashes do HUGE damage, so climb up the walls to avoid him.
When he finishes up, he'll quickly teleport to one side of the room and
fire off a huge beam that will also do huge damage if you don't avoid it
somehow (use the invisible dash). He'll then repeat the same procedures
for the rest of the fight, only most of the time he'll have a barrier up
- break it to damage him. After a while, Sigma will finally go down.
NOTES:
If your energy is low and you don't want to use a Sub-Tank now, let the
next boss kill you. You'll start there and won't have to fight Sigma
again. This only works if you have Retry Chips left.
If you're playing on Easy Mode, you'll see a cutscene, and then the
credits will roll. Not much of an ending, eh? Save your data into Normal
or Hard Mode and start the game again. Only your metal count and Hunter
Rank will carry over to the new game - you won't get to keep any upgrades.
There'll be a more detailed explanation later in the guide.
