RGR008 - The Bosses

Since the game is kind of repetitive (enter a room, kick and punch the kyonshi until it bursts into flames, repeat until you have the three orbs, fight the boss, repeat), I'll skip over all the unimportant stuff and just give you a run-down of the bosses:

Boss 1 - Illusionary Kyonshi

Known as Genyoshi in the manual, this boss makes large, slow hops toward you, leaving a trail of phantom images of himself in his wake. The height and speed of his jumps makes him easy to beat, as you can just stroll on under him and give him a couple of kicks from behind each time.

Boss 2 - Knife-Throwing Kyonshi

The manual calls this guy Raunshi (he and Genyoshi are the only bosses named in the manual). He acts like every other tall kyonshi, except that after each jump, he pulls out a couple of knives and throws them at you. If you stick close to him and duck when he throws the knives, he's not too tough.

Ooh, fancy.

He really does have knives. Promise.

Boss 3 - Front-Armored Kyonshi

This boss has no special attacks, but he can be a little tricky because he can't be hurt from the front. This isn't a big deal, though, as you've most likely gotten used to attacking kyonshi from behind at this point.

There are occasional flashes of lightning during the fight, but they only serve as a distraction.

Boss 4 - Floating... Guy?

The fourth boss is drastically different from any enemy you've fought up to this point. He isn't a typical kyonshi, and his attacks are more direct than the mindless hopping seen up to this point. He actually floats, and quickly charges at you (looking a bit like a lion when he does), knocking you down on contact. I got lucky in this fight, as his pattern is interrupted when the two of you are too close to the edge of the screen, and he wound up standing there stupidly as I kicked him repeatedly.

You don't look so tough.

HATE. THIS. GUY.

Boss 5 - Super-Heavy Kyonshi

This boss acts like a normal large kyonshi, but he apparently eats bars of lead when there are no people around to feed on. When he lands from a hop, the screen shakes and you're knocked off your feet, interrupting your chance to fight back. But a small, well-timed jump avoids the knockdown, allowing you to get in a hit or two before he hops again.

Boss 6 - Axe-Wielding Numbskull

This guy is kind of ridiculous. A palette-swap of boss 4, all this boss does is slowly inch toward you and swing his little axe around when he gets close enough. Your turn kick has slightly better range, though, so you can keep him at bay and just kick him until he drops. As long as you don't rush, he's laughably easy.

EARTHQUAKE!!!

The foot is mightier than the axe.

Boss 7 - Magic Fireball Kyonshi

Ugh. The difficulty of this boss makes up for the lack of difficulty of the axe guy. It all starts when you have to fight four increasingly difficult lesser kyonshi on the way to him, so that you'll tend to have very little life left when you reach him. Then, he throws fireballs. It'll probably only take one to kill you at this point, and they're tough to deal with at close range. Fortunately, like every other kyonshi, he seems to get confused when you duck, and may turn around and hop the other way. You can use this to your advantage, especially if you have the Mirage Thrust and Mirage Walk techniques, which allow you to punch and move around while ducking, respectively. The fireballs are still a threat, though, and I only finally managed to survive this fight when I got to the boss with a fair amount of life left.

Fireballs? No fair!

Here goes nothing...

The final town contains nothing but the three orbs necessary to remove the "sealenter", whatever that is, and the final boss' hideout.

As long as there are no more fireballs, I'll be okay.