Spectre

Spike Arm

Ground Skater

Thanatos

Green Bender

Cross Blade

Geo-Bite

Shadow Blinder

Chaos Queen

BOSS NAME: Spike Arm

Hovercraft -> Water Strider Mech

Boss Strategies

The only real threat by this boss is when it launches mines into the water that explode into starbursts of large bullets. Fortunately, you can destroy these mines before they explode and release their payload.

Spike Arm AVI movie (2620 KB)

Spike Arm's first attack phase after being launched involve spread shots from its feet and scattered spread of yellow bullets from the center of the body (this is not the blue orb yet). The shots from the feet are aimed at you. This attack becomes nearly impossible to avoid if Spike Arm is the boss you encounter in Mission 3 or Mission 4. The feet shots have more spread and travel faster, and the central scattered yellow spread repeats the same number of times as your current mission (2 times if on Mission 2, etc.).

The best way to avoid this mess is to start off on either side of the bottom of the screen and tap the joystick slowly in the other direction to hoard the feet shots. Then, time the yellow spread shots so you can avoid the four-way spread that is fired downward. The spread shots make a noise. Use that audio cue to time your movements. All during that time, you should move in one direction (left or right) in order to give yourself the largest margin of error.

Alternatively, if your fighter has enough speed, you can move and overlap the boss in the area marked with a red "X", then to the very top of the screen. The barrage of bullets here will completely miss your fighter.

Finally, there is a small enough hole between the convergence of these bullets to go straight through the middle. Be careful not to sideswipe any bullets. It is easy to mess up here.

When Spike Arm reveals its blue orb, it will shoot off three concentric spirals of large bullets each at quick intervals. Be waiting on the right half side of the screen at this point. The pattern will rotate clockwise. After the first interval of spiral shots, move your plane left towards the blue orb. The orb will turn red. Shoot it now!