Boss Stages Hints and Tips
Oddmar Guide
Boss stages in the game are always the 6th and last stage of the chapter. They usually do not have nay level objectives like the other normal stages aside from actually surviving the challenge and beating the boss. Aside from the first boss stage (the troll in the forest), where you have to mainly outrun him and outpace the collapsing platforms, the three boss stages basically have a common framework.
Initially, you'll have to simply dodge all attacks of the boss, and then when a chance arrives to get a hit, a trigger item will spawn within the battle and upon successfully getting to it, will hit the boss, which temporarily incapacitate it for a short duration -- where you do actually hit it. Take note of the remaining health points of the boss - when it reaches zero, you win the challenge.
Below are key points that you might be interested in learning before you battle the bosses in the game:
Chapter I Boss: Troll
During the Troll boss stage, you'll basically have to outrun the troll and try to dodge all his assaults. If you get caught by the impact or if you are on the platform that he hits, you'll lose a lifepoint. Make sure you get those extra shield lying around the platforms as they generally grant you extra hit chances. Be wary though as falling from a pit will automatically kill you. Make sure to get to save points as fast as you can too.
Due to the lush color of the stage, you might have difficulties with seeing the narrow corners that you need to squeeze in with the use of your mushroom. This is probably the most difficult aspect of the entire challenge as you can easily get trapped and ultimately die from being outpaced by the troll (as depicted on the image below).
Instead of bothering about the background (where the animation of the troll is), be cautious of the actual platforms and the physics involved when they are falling especially when going towards a particular direction as it can easily mess up your calculations of landing etc. Additionally, always remember to use your mushroom to extend you jumps as this boss stage usually have overly extended gaps between the platforms which could easily lead you to falling and dying (see the image below).
Even without prior experience with platforming games, a casual gamer can easily finish the challenge within a few trials as long as Oddmar's jumping and clinging skills are fully utilized. To prepare for this stage, try the scope and limitations of Oddmar's jump, as well as the combinations of moves he can do to climb or get in and around narrow spaces. Do this on free areas on the normal stages while playing.
This is pretty much the standard boss fight in the game onwards so make sure that you familiarize yourself with its pertaining mechanics. As we've mentioned above, the usual sequence on dealing with bosses are to evade all the attacks first, and wait for the chance that the game gives you to actually hit the boss. By default, you need to do this process 3 times to finally defeat the boss.
With the Kraken, you'll start with trying to escape the battle first. You start inside a wrecked ship and trying to find your way out. First you'll be tasked to get to the right end of the ship, but as soon as you get there, attacks would suddenly come right from that general area - which will result to having you go back all the way back to the starting point and out the deck of the ship. What you basically have to do here is to hit the limbs of the Kraken when they block the path. Make sure you don't get caught by the one from behind you as it damages your hitpoints.
After getting out of the ship, this is pretty much where you actually start the actual battle with the Kraken. As mentioned, you'll have to do a lot of dodging n the first phase of the battle as the Kraken has its tentacles crawling all around the screen. Use the launchpads to get you to higher areas and avoid getting hit by its limbs. You'll pretty much have to go back and forth the two high areas to dodge the attacks as seen on the image below.
When the button at the middle of the platform lights up, you're then given the chance to actually attack the Kraken. This is a catapult of the ship that is aimed at the Kraken. To use it, you,ll simply have to jump and force dive towards the button (using your mushroom for make you jump higher) to activate it. You can hit it twice if you are fast enough, but if you only manage to do 1 attack per given chance, you'll have to hit it a total of 6 times. Below is the image of Oddmar - when he activates the catapult (Take note that activating the button usually spawns minions of the Kraken, so be extra cautious).
