Boss Battles
Boss Battles is anunlockableStadium mode introduced inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl that is very similar toAll-Star Mode, except the player fights all thebosses rather than all the playable characters. Boss Battles is unlocked after the player completes bothClassic Mode &The Subspace Emissary for the first time, or in other words, has defeated each boss at least once (aside fromCrazy Hand).
Gameplay[edit]
The goal of Boss Battles is to defeat every boss in the game with a singlestock. When a player begins Boss Battles, they are immediately dropped into combat against one of nine bosses (excludingTabuu). Once a boss is defeated, the player is brought to the rest area. The rest area, which is set in a cave-like area, displays all defeated bosses as trophies, a screen that displays the face of next boss to be fought, and has limited recovery items. There are threeHeart Containers, which recover the player's damage to 0% and don't reappear upon later visits to the rest area. This format continues until all bosses are defeated.
LikeThe Arena inKirby Super Star, the bosses are fought in random order, except for Tabuu, who is always last, similar toMarx. The player receives only 0.5x incoming damage, and reduced knockback, making bosses noticeably weaker, in addition to also being slower to compensate the fact that player has only one life and nocontinues. Some boss attacks are altered in strength as well, either to make them weaker still, or to partially compensate for the resistances.
This format is mostly the same asAll-Star Mode. However, the mode must be retried from the beginning if aGame Over is earned instead of having any continues. The final three bosses before Tabuu move and attack at a faster rate (most noticeable with Rayquaza & Galleom), and boss HP gradually increases as the mode progresses. The player is treated to a picture of one of the bosses upon completing the mode; this picture varies depending on thedifficulty level chosen, starting fromPetey Piranha for Easy to Winged Tabuu for Intense.
Boss Battles also includes a co-op mode, where both characters will have a single stock and there will be three extra Heart Containers for a total of six. Both players must remain alive; if either player loses their stock, the game ends.
The battles in this mode include:
Rewards[edit]
There are eight trophies obtained by completingChallenges and oneunlockable character inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl involving Boss Battles. None of these challenges can be broken by aGolden Hammer, except inPAL versions of the game (which can break open all challenges). These trophies cannot be unlocked inco-op play. If done in co-op mode, the high scores (similar toAll-Star) are tracked into a unique reserved slot rather than being any attached to any character.
- Clearing Boss Battles withFox orFalco will challenge the player to beatWolf, and beating him will unlock him.
- Clearing Boss Battles with 10 characters unlocks theSubspace Gunship trophy
- Clearing Boss Battles with 20 characters unlocks theJyk trophy
- Clearing Boss Battles with every character unlocks the Winged Tabuu trophy
- Clearing Boss Battles on Easy difficulty unlocks theSubspace Bomb trophy
- Clearing Boss Battles on Normal difficulty unlocks theShadow Bugs trophy
- Clearing Boss Battles on Hard difficulty unlocks theDark Cannon trophy
- Clearing Boss Battles on Very Hard difficulty unlocks thePorky Statue trophy
- Clearing Boss Battles on Intense difficulty unlocks theGalleom (Tank Form) trophy
Changes from other modes[edit]
Several of the bosses are slightly altered from their appearances in other modes.
- Bosses generally have around half theHP they do in the equivalent difficulty in theSubspace Emissary andClassic Mode, with their attacks dealing half of the original damage and knockback as well.
- Bosses are additionally slower than normal, unless they're one of the final three before Tabuu.
- The maximum health can vary vastly depending on the difficulty. For example, Tabuu's HP is around 1/3 of their equivalent difficulty on Easy in the Subspace Emissary, but nearly 60% on Intense. However, inco-op mode bosses' health is still increased by 66% as in the Subspace Emissary.
- Crazy Hand is a boss on his own, rather than together with Master Hand.
- Master Hand and Crazy Hand have Stamina Bars like other bosses, rather than the usual HP shown at the bottom. Both Hands also suffer a much more severe HP drop than the other bosses, resulting in them having much less HP than the other bosses despite having above average HP in Classic Mode. Their attacks are also much weaker, even on Intense difficulty, compared to the equivalent Classic Mode fight.
- Galleom will be fought randomly in one of his two stages. His death animation will depend on when the player fights him. If they fight him as one of the earlier bosses, he will kneel to the ground, defeated (like his animation at the end ofThe Wilds I). If he is fought as one of the last three bosses before Tabuu, he will fall backwards to the ground (like his animation at the end ofThe Ruined Hall or when finished by a strong attack likeFalcon Punch).
- Additionally, while the attacks of bosses are normally slower in Boss Battles, Galleom's Uppercut attack is always faster in Boss Battles than it is on the equivalent difficulty in the Subspace Emissary.
- There is no time limit when fightingMeta Ridley.
- Almost all attacks lose their OHKO power and theirdamage is severely reduced (for example, Tabuu's Off Waves on Easy deal 22%-36% instead of 70%-78%).
- Tabuu's Off Waves on Intense is the only move that still has OHKO potential.
- Meta Ridley's Falcon Flyer Slam, Pull, and Smash are not weakened, but they are slower than in the Subspace Emissary.
- Unlike in the Subspace Emissary, Tabuu's Off Waves are notnerfed in co-op mode.
- Petey Piranha's cages are empty, as they are when he is faced inThe Great Maze. Similarly, the sky is clear rather than covered in dark clouds.
- The individual boss themes are replaced with an arrangement of Melee's menu music, calledBoss Battle, except for those of of Master Hand, Crazy Hand, and Tabuu. They use the musicFinal Destination (Melee),Giga Bowser (Melee), andBoss Battle Song 2, respectively.
- Items don't appear and stickers can't be used.
- The camera behaves as it does in normal Brawls rather than how it behaves in the Subspace Emissary.
Gallery[edit]
Below are the congratulations screens for completing Boss Battles.
Easy
Normal
Hard
Very Hard
Intense
Trivia[edit]
- The player can move while theAnnouncer is still saying "Ready?" and before he says "GO!".
- Water effects fromF.L.U.D.D. andWater Gun andpush effects fromPSI Magnet will make the color in the boss's health bar blink as it does when the boss takesdamage, even though these moves inflict none.
- The Boss Battles is similar to The Arena from theKirby series.
- InSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, the truefinal stage ofWorld of Light features a boss rush that pits the player against all the bosses (except forMaster Hand andCrazy Hand), which can be fought in any order, before the true final boss.
- If the player somehow gets KO'd in the rest area, the audience will be disappointed and the screen will fade to black as usual, but rather than causing a game over, the next boss fight will load as if nothing happened.
