RGR010 - The Red Blaze

I was warned that the Naga's Path, which leads to Rushifell's palace, was a series of traps, where only one path entrance was the correct one. Fortunately, I was also told that the correct entrance was the fifth one down, from the north. The area is quite a bit larger than the Game Boy's screen, though, so I had to guess a little. Fortunately, I found the right one quickly. On the other side, I entered Rushifell's palace and confronted him, but he wanted to test my powers before fighting me directly. I think he was really just trying to tire me out to gain an advantage.

So I was instead dropped into a gauntlet of long flights, spike-lined floors and wall-mounted drills. The stage was actually surprisingly difficult, since the game's hit detection made avoiding the drills nearly impossible at times, and the drills do 2 points of damage, leaving me unable to take two hits without dying. After countless deaths and continues, though, I was able to reach Rushifell's throne room.

Fifth Boss: Rushifell

Unlike the previous bosses, Rushifell doesn't fly or teleport around the room; he doesn't move at all. He sits nearly motionless in his throne in the center of the room, letting his magic do the work for him. Small platforms dot the room, and Rushifell occasionally fires bolts of magical energy at them, but his main method of attack is the homing spark, a ball of energy that slowly trails you, forcing you to stay on the move. His weak spot is his head, but it's often blocked by his arms as he fires his magic bolts around the room. With patience, though, he's not too difficult; just keep moving in circles around the room, and open fire when his arm is down on your side.

Upon defeat, Rushifell happily gave me the Eternal Candle, recognizing me as the true Red Blaze. At that point, the full potential of my power was unlocked, including jump and flight upgrades, as well as the power of Darkfire, my most powerful weapon.

Wow, his palace is as nice as Darkoan's!

Have come. Past participle. I'm here now.

Put your hand down so I can hit you!

I can't believe he actually did it.

You're a nicer guy than I expected.

Ooh, I'm at least five times more awesome now.

With my powers fully awakened, I exited the back door of Rushifell's palace to find it led directly to Breager's. Inside, the palace was tower-like, and included paths that looped into each other; however, as long as you concentrate on the ascent, it's easy to stay on the right path. Thanks to the power of the Eternal Candle, I now have unlimited flight capability, and with the Power of Claw, I was easily able to scale the spiky walls of the palace and reach King Breager's throne room.

Breager was obviously afraid of me, as he tried to convince me to join him instead of fighting. But that's an old trick that goes back at least as far as the first Dragon Warrior, so I'd never be fooled that easily. With no other choice, King Breager prepared himself for the final battle.

Final Boss: King Breager

Like Rushifell before him, Breager was suspended motionless in the center of the room, attacking me with homing sparks and other projectiles. However, with the heft of his armor and pattern of his attacks, Breager's head was a much more difficult target to hit. If I managed to outrun a homing spark and force it off-screen, he would throw his hands up in order to create another one; this meant that I had to keep the spark close in order to ever have a chance of an opening. In addition, King Breager is only vulnerable to my newly-acquired Darkfire, which is a larger and more cumbersome fireball, and of which only one may appear on-screen at any time. This made the assault slow and frustrating, since I had to avoid the homing spark, draw it close, then jump up to line up a shot at Breager's head; and there was a good chance he wouldn't let his guard down until after I was forced by the homing spark to break away and move to the other side.

Several attempts later, I finally managed to defeat King Breager, after which I was whisked away to King Darkoan's throne room. Amidst the cheering monster-things was the little imp I defeated earlier, waiting to congratulate me. With Breager destroyed, King Darkoan was able to regain his remaining power, and he offered me the entire Earth Realm to rule if I could conquer it. I doubt it'd be much trouble at this point.

Everyone hired the same palace-building company.

It's on, Breager!

Ha, did you think I'd fall for that?

Bring it!

Oh, so Rushifell was practice for this.

And it paid off!

You'll what?

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Or at least until the sequel.

Was there ever any doubt?

The whole earth? Sweet!

This story is happy end.

That's it for Gargoyle's Quest! See you next game!

What game, you ask? Well, here's a hint: it's the sequel to a game I've played through recently. Very recently.