Appears as a boss in:

Darius Gaiden (1994)


Relatives: Dual Horn, Tough Spring.


Crusty Hammer, the second boss in the sixth tier of Darius Gaiden, is as big a mouthful of a boss as the other sixth-tier boss, Deadly Crescent. Whether it's a burnt-out city or the open sea, he alway comes bouncing, curled up in a ball.


Not shown in pictures: the bouncing, charging attack.

Tips:(Attacks may vary from zone to zone, but they all follow the same basic pattern)On unfolding, Crusty Hammer rears up like a startled horse, and fires lasers from each segment of his body, both up and down. Not too terrible. After a bit of this, he curls up again, spins and fires straight lasers (which don't spin). He then bounces up and down the screen (and here you can't hurt him) and charges towards you and out of the screen. Watch out for the first charge; when he comes back into the screen it's easier to dodge.



When Crusty Hammer unfolds, he rears up again and SLASHES out at you with his claws! Stay as far as you can from him, or more importantly, put as much distance between him and his head. In addition to this, he fires a stream of lasers from the segments closer to his head. After a few of these attacks, he rears up fully and fires several slightly dumbifre lasers from his segments. These attacks cycle a bit. Here as well as later, the lasers can be avoided with practice by fooling them into moving into another general direction in the screen and then making your way through and past them.



When he's taken enough damage during these attacks, Crusty Hammer curls up once more, but this time he stays curled up. He floats around, cycling between four attacks. These are (in no real order): (i)The same slash with the claw as before; this is either preceded or followed by (ii) the little orbs bursting into bullets, (iii) several heat-seeking missiles from his main segments and (iv) a lot of lasers in your general direction (duck, weave, duck, weave...get the drill?). Eventually, you may suddenly see him spin more than usual. Don't worry, it means he's dead!

Rating:

Colour Scheme: 79%
Design: 95%
Attacks: 84%
Name: 82%


Real-like inspiration: The mantis shrimp, or monhana. You learn something new every day! Also called the 'sea locust' or 'thumb splitter' (by scuba divers), with club-like claws which make the thing's front end look like a praying mantis. These can generate forces in excess of 500N - about the same kind of force required to draw a longbow (strong enough to pierce chainmail armour too!); for a wee beastie that's bloody powerful. You can read more about it here and here (more detailed). Originally called Twilight Rascal (oh well...).



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