Disclaimer: Information on how to defeat these bosses are not predicated on the player having any “Death Metal,” health boosting items, mushrooms, particular weapons etc. However, any weapons or any other recommendations will be described if needed.
Max Sharp
Before you even attempt to face Max Sharp you need to make your way through his train labyrinth. Prepare to dodge strategically placed traps and enemies who are there to simply chip away at your health. I recommend taking this aspect of the level slow. It is easy to find yourself going too fast, which will likely result in losing unnecessary health or falling off the train. If you fall off, you’ll have to start back from the beginning of level…total bummer. Also, be sure to time your jumps. Since the train is actually 3 trains put together, you will need to jump across them in order to reach the boss fight platform.
Once you’ve made it to the platform, Max Sharp and yourself will exchange pleasantries before being moved to a more suitable location for your battle. You will both be place in an arena surrounded by an electrified fence. The one good thing about the fence is that it can damage him, so use this to your advantage. Max Sharp is your typical close combat boss and is similar to the COEN, the mini-boss you faced on the 3rd floor. He will try and rush you in hopes to land a heavy attack or ground-pound move with his mechanized suit. If you decide to hang back, he will launch his long-range drill attack which also deals a large amount of damage.
The best way to defeat him is to run around avoiding his heavy punches and then attack with 2 hits when he presents you with an opening. Another recommendation is to ditch the target lock-on and dodge roll. You will find that it does more harm than good, when you end up constantly rolling into the electric fence. Simply wait for your openings and try to hit him into the fence and this boss battle is as good as won!
Jackson
Alright, so similar to Max Sharp you’re going to have to do some preliminary stuff before you fight Jackson. That is, unless you’d like to risk taking his head off the grenade. There are 3 detonators scattered throughout the stage. You guessed it! You’re going to have to deactivate them in under 5 minutes. This task is not too difficult, because the detonators give off a loud pinging noise that grows more rapid the closer you get. You’ll need to defeat some enemies between each detonator, but nothing you haven’t already come to expect. After you deactivate the bombs, I recommend going around and clearing out the stragglers so they do not become a nuisance during the Jackson fight.
Following the cut scene, you can easily see that Jackson is pretty much an improved version of the Jin-Die that you fought on the 6th and 16th floor. The key to this battle is patience. Jackson has some new moves that you likely haven’t seen before in a Jin-Die, that include dropping grenades, lasers that shoot through walls, shooting an electrical honing pulse projectile which will electrocute you for a few seconds and an all out grenade launcher attack. You can easily out run or dodge roll away from Jackson’s projectiles. Personally, I am a fan of simply running in a zig-zag formation or circle. Keep an eye on Jackson, because eventually he will stop to scratch himself or reload (I can never really tell). This is the time at which you can get some free attacks on him, just be sure that you’re somewhat close to him to reduce the distance between you two. As his health begins to lower he will begin to teleport to random locations across the stage. You’ll have to track him down and deal more damage when he presents an opening. As I stated before, be patient! This was written assuming you have no Death Metal or health boosting items at your disposal. Take your time and you’ll add your second boss stamp to you book.
If patience isn’t your thing, you can try this method using the Steam Iron. It is definitely faster, but is also much riskier.
Crowley
Now this boss fight is somewhat easier than the others. Like every other boss fight with one of the four Dons, you never able to simply show up and fight them. In Crowley’s case, you’ll be dropped down into pit and forced to fight a group of haters and screamers. You will also need to avoid random lightning bolts and fireballs shot your way. Both of which are easy to avoid due to a visible cue that occurs before each attack. An easy method to this phase of the boss fight is to simply let the haters take out the other screamers, they usually are a higher level and make quick work of them.
An argument can be made for Crowley being the easiest boss fight out of the four Dons. This is due to his predictable move set, how long it takes his moves to set up, and his surprisingly low health. His attacks consist of a shooting a large exploding fireball a few feet from where he is, summoning multiple lightning strikes that are easily avoidable, a fast-moving rolling attack and a lighting/flamethrower that can only really get to you if he’s got you trapped in a corner. Attacking him is as simple as waiting for him to use his roll attack and wait until he catches his breath to hit him with a few strikes. Keep doing this until his health runs out and you will be one step closer to the last Don.
If you have made it this far in the game, I am going to assume that you have discovered a fair amount of mushrooms. One tip that I found to defeating Crowley easily is utilizing Slowmungus, Stingshroom and the Steam Iron weapon. After eating the Stingshroom and gaining an 120% damage increase, eat the Slowmungus to slow down time for 10-15 seconds depending on whether its cooked or not. During this time, you want to use as many Steam Iron rage moves as you can to take down Crowley. If you don’t kill him after using this method, refer to the guidance above.
Taro Gunkanyama
So you’ve made it this far. Congrats! Now be prepared for one of the most difficult boss fights of your gaming life. Before the fight even begins, Uncle Death is going to strip you of all your hard-earned equipment and items, because fighting the last boss of the game isn’t difficult enough, right? After the cut scene you are going to find yourself on a raised platform at the center of the stage. You will need to fight 3 haters and 1 COEN individually prior to the battle with Taro Gunkanyama. The twist with these fights is that falling off the platform presents its own challenge. If you are knocked off, sets of hands that line the bottom of the platform will shoot out to push you further away from the platform. You will need to get back to the platform as fast as you can to avoid being hit with high damaging fireballs that rain down from the sky. You should try to use this to your advantage by trying knock off the haters and COEN. Once they are off the platform they are usually as good as dead, as they are also susceptible to the fireballs. Following the part of the boss fight, the platform is lowered and you be able to open a chest with all your equipment.
Taro Gunkayma will assume the body of a U-10. An enemy that you should have come in contact with on the 32nd floor. Taro possess great speed and a large amount of health. This makes him a very difficult opponent due to his ability to track you down from across the stage and attack you from far distances by driving his tail underground and shooting you with the cannon he wears as a hat. If you want to defeat him, you need to get behind him and attack his tail. Something that is much easier said than done.
I believe that you simply cannot win this fight without assistance of specific mushrooms. The recommendation for this fight is to stock up on Transparungus and Stingshrooms prior to entering the arena. The Transparungus will grant you invisibility for up to 15 seconds, and will allow you to deal a large amount of damage unseen after gaining the 120% attack boost from the Stingshroom. A few other tips to defeating him is to make sure that you're covered in the suitable decals such as Barbells, Wolves, etc. Also, any mushroom eaten prior to entering the stage will remain in effect, even after you lose your equipment.
If you’ve found a method that you believe would be effective against any one of these Dons, feel free to mention it in the comment section below.
Good Luck!
