~Sonic and the Secret Rings Boss FAQ~ By. FadeddreamsXXX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Version History ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1.0 - Created FAQ. 1.5 - Added "Useful Skills" section ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A. Legal Notice B. Contact Me C. Introduction D. Bosses I. Sand Scorpion II. Captain Bemoth III. Ifrit Golem IV. Erazor V. Alf Layla wa-Layla E. Useful Skills F. FAQ G. Credits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A. Legal Notice ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All information in this FAQ is copyrighted to FadeddreamsXXX, the exact date being 2/11/2007, This FAQ may only be posted on GameFAQs. If you would like to host this FAQ in any other site, contact me by e-mail at FadedFAQs5@Yahoo.com. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ B. Contact Me ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you see any errors in this FAQs or just want to talk to me about it, contact me at my FAQ e-mail at FadedFAQs5@Yahoo.com. Now, here are the things you should not e-mail me for: - Asking questions that do not concern this FAQ. Leave this for the boards please, I will not reply to your e-mail. - Flaming me. The minute you flame me or call me a troll, I will mark you down as spam and not reply. - Making e-mails in the 1337 language or the lol crap. Please do some reading people, it's good for you. - Use of inappropriate titles like "F**k you, Faded! lol", but having a proper e-mail topic. I will ignore these. - Request for credits after I have already submitted the FAQ. I will only give credit to you if you mark down any errors or help me out some more. See how I, Fadeddreams can be pretty strict. ;) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ C. Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This Boss FAQ basically covers strategies for each boss battle. It shows the HP or number of hits needed to defeat each boss, it states the main strategy on how to beat the bosses, and it has tips on how to Gold Rank each boss. Hope this FAQ helps many. ;D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ D. Bosses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes, here you can find strategies for every boss. It is formatted by Unlocked by > HP > Difficulty > Attacks > Strategy > How to Gold Rank. The bosses in this game are similar to Sonic Heroes bosses (only more fun and take more strategy to hit) in that you race in a path with the boss in front; the only exception to this is a certain little boss that is played differently. ;D Note #1: The attack names I used for each bosses's attacks are made up by me. >.> Note #2: The strategy section of each boss is based on you fighting each boss without any but the basic skills equipped, thus these strategies aren't 100% efficient if you have a bunch of Advanced skills equipped (you should be able to beat the bosses much faster with any Advanced skills equipped). ------------------------------------ I. Sand Scorpion ------------------------------------ Unlocked by: Beating Sand Oasis 7 (Beat the Clock) HP: 5 (twice on his back eye and three times on his main eye) Difficulty: */***** ======== Attacks ======== 1. Purple Missiles - Throughout the fight, he will aimlessly throw purple missiles at you. 2. Charged Tail Slam - He will charge one of his tails and attack you with it by slamming it on the ground. 3. Backed-up Tail Slam - He will move both of his tails backward without charging and slam one on the ground to hurt you. The tail will then remain on the ground, this is your chance to attack! 4. Floating Head - In phase 2, he will send his main eye flying at you (hurting you if you don't jump on it). ========= Strategy: ========= -------- Phase 1 -------- Well, this boss should be the very first boss you encounter, but you can also miss it at first. It is basically a giant Scorpion with 2 tails and 6 eyes around its body. You are set in a path where the boss is in front and you race near him (like in Sonic Heroes). This boss is overall very easy and doesn't require any specific skill to beat. During the fight, this boss will be throwing purple missiles at you, these missiles are very easy to dodge since half of the time, he aims badly. Just move left or right to dodge them. His other attack involves him slamming one of his tails at you. When you see him charge one of his tails, move left or right respectively to dodge the attack. When you see the Sand Scorpion backing up both of his tails (without charging), he will then try to slam one of his tails at you, this is your chance to attack him. When he slams one of his tails, the tail will remain on the ground and give you an opportunity to home attack on the eye located on the tail. Lock-on to the first eye and attack it, then home attack onto the next eye, and finally hit the eye in the back to damage the boss. Now just repeat everything stated above and attack the eye on the back one more time to go to Phase 2. -------- Phase 2 -------- After you hit his main eye on the back twice, the boss will turn around and you will finally get to see his face....err....real main eye. What you should do now is run close to him; when you get close enough, his head or main eye will come flying out of his body to attack you! Simply jump on it (just jump, don't home attack), you will then counter any damage and land on top of the eye. The eye will now try to back-up right back into the body, this is your chance to attack him, so try to home attack him (when the lock-on appears) THREE times before the eye attaches itself to the body again. He should be dead now. ================= How to Gold Rank ================= Helpful Skill(s): None Gold Rank Tips: 1. Do not equip any skills at all (besides the basic non-elemental ones like the homing attack and jump). 2. In the first phase when he uses the tail slam that gives you an opportunity to hit him, attack as usual to hit his main eye on the back. After hitting the eye, the red lock-on should appear again (assuming that you have no real skills equipped), so hit all three eyes again to automatically reach Phase 2 in just one assault. 3. In Phase 2, try to attack the Main eye a total of 3 times as stated in the main strategy section. ------------------------------------ II. Captain Bemoth ------------------------------------ Unlocked by: Beating Pirate Storm 5 (Rampage) HP: 4 Difficulty: ***/***** ======== Attacks ======== 1. Missiles: Throughout the fight, he will throw missiles at you. Unlike the Sand Scorpion, this guy can aim pretty well. 2. Electric Shock: If you grab one of his horns and do not pull it out on time, he will knock you out of his body and hurt you via an electrical shock created by his body/horns. 3. Water waves: Usually after you have pulled out one of his horns, he will start throwing water waves at you from one of his hands twice and later both his hands. As you damage him further, his waves will become bigger (requiring charged jumps). 4. Body Charge: When you reach Phase 2, he will start using a new attack. He will spread both his hands and then charge his body at you. ========= Strategy ========= -------- Phase 1 -------- This boss is basically a fusion of a bunch of those little Slime Djinn enemies from the Pirate Storm missions. This boss is also the captain of the ship and the second boss you should encounter. Throughout the boss battle, he will be throwing missiles at you. These missiles actually require timed movement to dodge (unlike the Sand Scorpion). To dodge them, look at the ground and you will see little red targets; the missiles will hit these targets and you if they are right in front of you. Look out for the missiles above and move left or right respectively right before they hit the targets to dodge the attacks. The missiles are easy to dodge if you move all the way to the left side of the field and dodge at least 3 by moving right and the next 2 by moving left. He fires 5 in all so keep that in mind. To damage the boss, run close enough to him, then jump to activate a lock-on. When the red lock-on appears, home attack to grab onto one of his horns. You now have to shake the controller pretty fast to pull the horn out and damage him. If you do not shake fast enough, he will summon electricity around his body, throw you off, and damage YOU instead. When you pull out one of his horns, he will turn around and throw waves of water at you; he attacks with a total of 3 waves. The first two waves he throws at you come out from either his left or right hand; basically, you have to move left or right to dodge these. He summons his third wave using both his hands; to dodge this one, you have to jump over it. When you jump over his third wave, wait a while in the air and a red lock-on should appear. If you are fast enough, you can use a homing attack and pull out one of his horns again. Note that as you grab his horns, they start becoming a bit harder to pull out. Also note that you can also BLOCK his water waves and remain undamaged if you equip Aegis Slider and slide towards them (you will go through them and not get hurt). This tactic is efficient, but you will not be able to grab one of his horns if you slide through the third wave instead of jumping over it. If you have pulled out two horns already before reaching a Dash Board in the field, then you are in luck. To pull out his third horn, run to the Dash Board in order to fly to the other side of the field; this will also get you close to the boss, so charge your jump and use the homing attack on his horn to pull it out. You should now reach Phase 2. If you have not pulled out three of his horns, then just try your best to get near him and pull the horn(s) out. -------- Phase 2 -------- After you pull out three of his horns, he will turn around, wrap his arms around his body, and become a bit tougher. First of all, his water waves turn much bigger. His third wave now requires a fully charged jump to jump over it, so do so if he uses the attack. In this phase, he also gains a new attack. He will spread both of his arms, obtain a water aura around his body, and charge at you. Try to to move left or right to dodge. If you manage to dodge, then this is your opportunity to attack him since he did us the favor of coming closer. Simply lock-on and pull out his final horn. Speaking of which, his final horn takes longer to pull out than others. His electric attack also activates a bit faster. You have to shake that controller pretty fast to finally defeat the boss. ;D ================= How to Gold Rank ================= Helpful Skill(s): Speed-up, Super Speed-up, or Hyper Speed-up *Note: You can easily Gold Rank this boss without any but the basic skills in the game (just like the Sand Scorpion). Gold Rank Tips: 1. Attack his first three horns using the methods stated in the main strategy section. Horn #1: Get close to him after dodging the missiles and attack. Horn #2: After jumping over his third water wave, stay in the air till a red lock-on appears, then use the homing attack to grab onto the second horn. Horn #3: Use a Dash Board located on the field to fly to the other side and get near the boss to get the opportunity to attack him yet again. For his final horn, you can honestly use any method (Third Wave trick, using his charged attack against him, or by simply getting close to him and attacking) to grab onto it and pull it out. 2. When using Super/Hyper Speed-up, you gain enough speed to run close to him at any time and pull his horns out one at a time. This obviously means that you can automatically Gold Rank him using these speed-up skills. The normal Speed-up skill does not really help out THAT much, but it DOES give you enough speed to get close to him a bit faster. ------------------------------------ III. Ifrit Golem ------------------------------------ Unlocked By: Beating Evil Foundry 2 (Diehard Challenge) HP: 9 Difficulty: ****/***** ======== Attacks ======== 1. Explosive Barrels - He shoots out multiple explosive barrels (that act like missiles) from both of his arms. This is also his defense from you attacking his arms. 2. Laser beam - When you are in front of his face, he will shoot a laser at your direction (right in front of you). These lasers create little fields of fire that you have to jump over. 3. Barrel Barrage - When he is near dead, he will start raising the Water level of the furnace (trapping you on a platform) and aimlessly throw a bunch of explosive barrels in your direction. These require you to know how to use the back-up skill. 4. Rapid Lasers - He will basically do the same thing as he does when using his "Barrel Barrage", but instead of explosive barrels, he will rapidly use Laser Beams on you. ========= Strategy ========= Unlike the previous bosses that are fought similarly to Sonic Heroes bosses, this one is fought in a circular field. The actual boss battle is kind of similar to the Egg Golem boss battle of Sonic Adventure 2. The boss is basically a giant fiery golem that appears in the middle of the stage (bathing in lava). When you start the battle, try to run all the way to his left arm (all the way to your right). As you head for the arm, watch out for the Explosive barrels he throws at you from his right hand (move left or right to dodge). When you get in front of his face, he will also start laser beaming your arse, so jump and home attack over the fields of fire these laser beams create in order to make it to his left arm. His left arm should have three semi-glowing bulbs that you can home attack (it also has less Explosive Barrels coming at you than his other arm), so do so. After destroying all the bulbs: jump cancel using the 2 button while in midair, and use a charge jump + homing attack to make it onto a brown platform/floor unharmed. When you destroy all three bulbs, the Ifrit Golem will flinch and back-up into the lava. When he does this, the Water level of the furnace will rise and the lava will consume the red (gated) platforms/floors, which is why I told you to go on a brown platform after destroying the bulbs. Now you should run right and use the homing attack on all the flying barrels you come across in order to reach the next platforms until you reach the Ifrit's body itself. When you are on the Ifrit's back, run all the way up to the core on his head and try to attack it using the homing attack a total of 2-3 times. When attacking his head, try to simply home attack it from the start; jumping on it will prevent you from hitting it a third time. When you damage the Ifrit enough, he should throw you out of his head and to the bottom again. When you hit the ground, try to break using the 1 button. You should be near his left arm again (which should obtain bulbs a few seconds after you land) unless you jumped on the core before attacking it (thus only hitting it twice). Before the bulbs appear on the arm, back-up (move backwards) in order to collect a couple of Rich Pearls around (which almost automatically charge your Soul Gauge). There are also Rich Rings around, so get them to get 20 rings in your ring count. When the bulbs on his arm appear, attack them using the homing attack to make him flinch again. Also remember to make it quickly to a brown platform (using the strategy from before) before the lava hurts you. Now you can do two things. You can simply use Speed Break (if your Soul Gauge is big enough from level-ups) to have Sonic race all the way to the Ifrit's core (he will run over the lava and not get hurt BTW) and damage it. If your Soul Gauge is not leveled up enough (i.e. It's small), then I recommend you use the same "flying barrel home attacking" strategy as before, but when you reach the Ifrit's core, try to get as near it as you can and use Speed break. This will damage him the same as 3 homing attacks (one which usually misses) and will not decrease your Soul gauge at all. When you land on the floor (yet again), try to make it to a brown platform ASAP and break (1 button). The Ifrit will now use his Barrel Barrage attack (this is ONLY if you have taken out 6 HP from him). He will increase the Water level on his own and start aimlessly throwing explosive barrels at you. These are easy to dodge by simply walking backward and forward respectively. When he finishes his attack, you should be near his left arm again. Wait till the bulbs appear, attack them, make it to a brown platform, make it to his core (or use Speed Break), and deliver the final blow(s) on him. ;D If he is not dead yet, then that means you have failed to deliver 9 hits of damage via homing attacks or whatever. Simply find the bulbs on either of his arms and finish the battle. If you take longer than you should, he will start using his "Rapid Lasers" attack in which he raises the furnace water level just like when using his "Barrel Barrage", but uses a bunch of laser beams instead. If he uses this on you, simply jump + jump cancel and back step to dodge the fiery fields created by the beams. ================= How to Gold Rank ================= Helpful skill(s): Homing Balance/Recovery, Fire Gaze, and/or Crest of Fire Gold Rank tips: 1. When you reach the point where there are Rich Pearls around, collect them to fill up your Soul Gauge. When you get the chance to attack the core on his head, get close to it and use a speed break on it to deliver 3 hits of damage, not waste time homing attacking, and not waste the Soul Gauge. You can also use the Speed Break the minute he is vulnerable and the lava increases, in order to have Sonic race to the core rapidly and damage it; only use this tactic if your Soul Gauge is charged high enough (or else the Speed Break might stop midway and you will get hurt by lava). 2. Using Homing Balance or Homing Recover allows you to rapidly attack all three bulbs on his arms. It also allows you to deliver more hits on his core. 3. Fire Gaze allows you to destroy all three bulbs on his arms at once if your timing is right. You can also use Fire Gaze when you attack his core as a substitute toward the homing attacks (Fire Gaze also wastes less time). Fire Gaze causes 3 hits of damage to the core. 4. The Crest of Fire allows you to destroy all three bulbs on his arms with just ONE homing attack; it also gives the Core 3 hits of damage. This obviously makes things much faster in getting the Gold Rank; the catch however is that you need a number of Silver Medals to obtain this skill. A lot of you will probably not have this skill when you try to Gold Rank the boss. D: 5. The fastest way to kill him is by combining Homing Balance/Recovery with Fire Gaze. Use 2-3 homing attacks on his core and then use Fire Gaze immediatly to deliver 5-6 hits of damage! ------------------------------------ IV. Erazor Djinn ------------------------------------ Unlocked By: Beating Night Palace 1 (Head to the goal!) HP: 25 Difficulty: ***/***** ======== Attacks ======== 1. Vertical Slash: He will spin his blade while chasing you from left or right. After he is done spinning, he will wield his blade vertically and slash straight down in a vertical line (normally near you). 2. < Slash: He will spin his blade. After he is done spinning, he will wield his blade semi-vertically and slash in a < shape. Unlike the Vertical Slash, he doesn't chase you around so accurately. 3. L Slash: He will head to the left side of the screen, spin his blade, wield it vertically, slash down vertically, and then slash to the right hitting the entire bottom screen. This attack leads him wide open for a homing attack on the head. 4. Z Slash: When you have hit him a number of times, he will start using this attack. He will go to the middle of the screen and slash a total of three times to form a Z shape. If you jump after his second attack, you can home attack his head. 5. Duel: The camera will change its view. You now have to hold down the 2 button and wait till Erazor moves forward in order to release and attack him when the lock-on appears. ======== Pattern ======== This boss uses the same attacks in the same pattern unlike all the other bosses. He only uses this specific pattern if you hit him every opportunity you get (i.e. 3 hits on his head each time): < Slash Vertical Slash L Slash (Hit him 3 times) Vertical Slash + Vertical Slash Duel (Hit him for 6 damage) Vertical Slash L Slash (Hit him 3 times) Vertical Slash + < Slash Vertical Slash Z Slash (Hit him 3 times) Vertical Slash + < Slash + Vertical Slash Z Slash (Hit him 3 times) Vertical Slash + Vertical Slash + < Slash L Slash (Hit him 3 times) < Slash + < Slash Z Slash (Hit him 3 times) After the pattern above, you will need to hit him at least one more time, so just dodge and wait for the final strike. ========= Strategy ========= Ah yes, the Main Villain himself finally decides to fight Sonic one-on-one. He is basically a genie who likes erasing pages of his own world and loves wielding a razor. Get it? Eraser + Razor = Erazor. Yup. Erazor is also the evil Sonic series counterpart of the genie from Disney's "Aladdin". :D Anywho, This battle is fought like the bosses before the Ifrit Golem, only the actual battle isn't quite as linear. This battle also consists of really spaced out Rich Rings and Rich Pearls, so try to conserve every item you obtain to maintain health and use Time Break when necessary. It is easy to miss hits in this battle, so I won't go into full detail of the battle in this strategy section, just simply tell how to dodge and attack. -------- Phase 1 -------- This battle starts out with some Rich Pearls and a Rich Ring in front, so get them. Erazor always starts out by using his < Slash, simply move to the right in order to dodge. Erazor will then teleport to the back and later teleport in front of you again to use a Vertical Slash; you can move left or right respectively to dodge this attack. Erazor's third attack is the L Slash; he will move all the way to the left side of the screen and use an L shaped slash on you that hits the entire bottom screen; dodge by charge jumping, wait till a red lock-on appears on Erazor's head, and use the homing attack on him. Try to hit him a total of 3 times! After you hit Erazor, his next attacks will be two Vertical Slashes in a row, so move left or right to dodge. After dodging, Erazor will teleport to the back and eventually the screen/camera will change views on you and Erazor; you have now reached the "duel" phase. What you must do is Charge a jump by holding the 2 button. Look at the bottom of the screen after Erazor stops blabbing to see some text in parenthesis or dialouge from Sonic. Release the 2 button the minute this text goes away in order to have Sonic jump; Erazor should charge forward right after. Wait for a red lock-on to appear on Erazor, then use the homing attack to damage him severly (6 HP of damage). After the "Duel phase", the screen will change back to normal. Erazor's next attack will be a Vertical Slash, so dodge. Continue dodging Erazor's attacks and attacking him whenever you can do so. He will also start using his Z Slash from here on; he will move to the middle of the screen and use a Z-shaped slash. Dodge this by charge jumping after his second slash (you should be on the right side of the screen before dodging). After dodging, wait for a red lock-on and try to hit him 3 times on the head. After hitting Erazor 6 times (for 15 damage in total) after the previous "Duel Phase", he will reach his Phase 2. -------- Phase 2 -------- The only real changes in Phase 2 are that the speed of Erazor's attacks increase by a lot and he now uses 3 hit combos. Another really important thing to note is that the red lock-ons that appear on his head after he uses the attacks that leave him vulnerable (the L and Z Slashes) take longer to appear, so you have to stay in the air after a charge jump for a while until it appears (i.e. don't be impatient and use a homing attack immediatly after you jump, you will miss). If you have successfully hit Erazor at every given opportunity (3 times everytime on his head and once during the duel phase), then you can use the pattern section above to figure out his attacks. If you missed any attacks, simply try to dodge all of his attacks and hit him 10 more times to defeat him. ================= How to Gold Rank ================= Helpful skill(s): H-Mega Expand, Homing Recovery, Quick High Step, Super/Hyper Speed-Up, H/S-Pearl Collector, and Hyper Surge (optional). Gold Rank tips: 1. The easiest way to do a speed run against Erazor (and Gold Rank him) is by using Time Break before he uses the L or Z Slash. To have this strategy work, equip Hyper Surge (only if you want to because it is unnecessary) to make the movement during Time Break much smoother; equip H/S-Pearl Collector to attract all those Rich Pearls around and charge the Soul Gauge faster; equip Super/Hyper Speed-Up to have Sonic move fast enough to reach the pearls faster; and equip Homing Recovery to hit Erazor MULTIPLE times. To have this strategy work, wait till Erazor uses his L or Z Slash and use Time Break before he unleashes his attack; remember to charge your jump as well. When you jump at the right moment, wait till the red lock-on appears on Erazor (while in Time Break) and then attack. During Time Break, the red lock-on stays there for much longer and gives you more opportunities to hit Erazor, so if you have Homing Recovery equipped, you can hit Erazor 7+ times (you have to wait for the red lock-on to appear at times though) and defeat him fast enough to get a Gold Rank! 2. It is always wise to have H-Mega Expand equipped. During his "Duel" attack, when he charges at you, your homing attack will have better range thanks to H-Mega Expand and thus make the red lock-on appear at a greater distance (which makes it easy to hit him during this duel phase). 3. Quick High Step is always a great skill to have equipped during this boss battle because it makes left and right movements much smoother (which makes dodging his attacks VERY easy). 4. You can also get a Gold Rank by simply following the pattern section above and hitting Erazor at every given opportunity (at least 3 times on his head each time and not failing during the "duel phase"). ------------------------------------ V. Alf Layla wa-Layla ------------------------------------ Unlocked By: Collecting all World Rings and defeating Erazor Djinn HP: 25 (<-- I'm not 100% sure of this) Difficulty: ***/***** ======== Attacks ======== 1. Purple Energy Balls - He will throw a series of energy balls at you. 2. \\ Slashes - He will zoom in toward you and slash at the screen with slashes in the shape of // or \\. 3. Giant Energy ball - He will summon a Giant ball of energy similar to a spirit bomb from DBZ. This attack is your chance of damaging him. 4. Whirlpools - He will summon a number of vortex-like whirlpools that suck you in and damage you if you stand close to them. 5. X Slash - He will use a slash in the shape of an X in the middle of the screen. Half of the time, he uses this attack as a combo mixed with another attack. 6. III + ___ Slash - He will zoom in toward you and use a triple (III-shaped) Slash and end with a horizontal slash that hits the bottom of the screen. 7. Uber Slash - During his 3rd phase, He will zoom in toward you and use a slash (after using an X Slash) that covers the entire screen in a ## type shape. ======== Pattern ======== Just like Erazor, he uses the same Attack patterns everytime you fight him. -------- Phase 1 -------- Purple Energy Balls \\ Slashes Giant Energy Ball (if you have fully charged the Soul Gauge) -------- Phase 2 -------- Whirlpools X Slash Purple Energy Balls (or Giant Energy Ball if you have filled Soul Gauge) Giant Energy Ball -------- Phase 3 -------- Whirlpools III + ___ + X Slash Purple Energy Balls (or Giant Energy Ball if you have filled Soul Gauge) Giant Energy Ball ========= Strategy ========= This is it, the final boss battle! Erazor has absorbed the 7 Seven World rings, becoming an incomplete monster in need of merging with Sonic. Sonic on the other hand has absorbed the powers of some (or all) of the world rings against his will to become, "Darkspine Sonic", his new super form for this game! It is important to note that Darkspine Sonic is nothing like Super Sonic. First of all, his rings stay the same, they do not drain like with Super Sonic. Another thing to note is that Darkspine Sonic is NOT invincible, he CAN get hit. Darkspine Sonic's main ability is to charge the Soul Gauge by simply moving (your job is to shake the Wiimote). An important thing to note about this boss battle is that Alf will use his Giant Energy Ball attack the minute you fully charge your Soul Gauge. You need to charge it quickly if you want to Gold Rank the boss. Another important thing to note about this battle is that there are many strategies on how to beat this boss. This strategy section will cover a basic strategy, while the "How to Gold Rank" section will cover two other strategies. -------- Phase 1 -------- The minute the boss battle begins, shake the wiimote up and down until you see that he is about to attack. The first attacks he uses on you are the Purple Energy Balls. You can use Speed Break to easily pierce through the balls undamaged, but you shouldn't. What you should do is simply move left and right slowly to dodge them (they will go right through Sonic and don't damage him while he is moving left and right). Right after his ball attacks, you should move to the middle of the screen and start charging by shaking the Wiimote. Alf's next attacks are his \\ slashes. The first two slashes (one is a \\ slash and the other is a // slash) will not harm you if you are in the middle of the screen, so charge the Soul Gauge while he is attacking. His third slash is a \\ slash that hits the right and middle parts of the screen; move all the way to the right in order to dodge it. Start charging the Soul Gauge on the right side of the screen because his next and final slash (a // slash that hits the middle and left sides of the screen) will not hit you there. By now, you should have fully filled up your Soul Gauge (unless you got hit, which you shouldn't have...). If so, Alf will move all the way to the back of the screen and summon a Giant Energy Ball which he throws at you. This attack cannot be dodged (even he gloats about this), but it CAN be blocked. Use Speed Break when he is about to throw the ball at you; Darkspine Sonic will ram into the ball and try to block it DBZ style. While he is pushing the ball back, shake the Wiimote until Sonic unleashes a burst of Energy (which consumes his entire Soul Gauge) and kicks the ball back to Alf (making him flinch backwards). After hitting Alf with his own attack, shake the controller until you are able to use a Speed Break, then do so. After using Speed Break, Sonic will speed onto Alf's weakpoint (revealed after smacking him with his own attack) and hurt it once (Speed Break earns you a free hit). In order to harm Alf's weakpoint (Heart?), you have to shake the Wiimote rapidly to have Sonic punch and kick it. Eventually after hitting him multiple times, a scene will start where Darkspine Sonic beats the living hell out of Alf with a series of ultra fast punches. Now starts Phase 2. -------- Phase 2 -------- In phase 2, he uses new attacks. The first thing you need to do the minute you start this phase is charge the Soul gauge by shaking the Wiimote until he summons his Whirlpools. The first attack he uses on you are his Whirlpool attacks. These "whirlpools" move toward you and if you stand close to them, they will suck you in and hurt you. To dodge them, move all the way to the right and leave the controller tilted right in order to dodge the first two whirlpools (the first whirlpool is on the left side of the screen and the second one is on the middle side of the screen). His third Whirlpool comes at you from the right side of the screen RIGHT after his second (middle) whirlpool, so after dodging his second whirlpool (by staying on the right side of the screen), quickly jump to the left in order to dodge his last whirlpool. You can also simply use Time Break to dodge them all, but this wastes your Soul Gauge which is a no-no. Right after his Whirlpool attacks, move to the left or right side of the screen and start charging the Soul Gauge. His next attack is an X-shaped slash which hits the middle part of the screen, so you can stay charging at the left or right side of the screen. If you have quick hands like me, your Soul gauge should be fully filled up by now, which means his next attack will be his Giant Energy Ball. If your Soul Gauge is not fully filled, he will use his Purple Energy Balls (which are faster in Phase 2). Dodge them by tilting the Wiimote left and right faster than before. When he uses his Giant Energy Ball, use the same tactic as before to send it back towards him and damage him right after. Now for Phase 3 (unless you have killed him by now...). -------- Phase 3 -------- Just as before, shake the Wiimote rapidly the minute this Phase begins. Stop shaking when he uses his whirlpool attack. Dodge the first three whirlpools using the same tactic as before. After those three, he will RAPIDLY summon three more in the same locations of the previous three (one on left side of the screen, one on the Middle side of the screen, and one on the right side of the screen). You can use Time Break if you want, but if you have quick hands, I suggest you dodge them by JUMPING left or right respectively. ;D Charge your Soul gauge after this attack. Alf's next attack will be a slash combo. First he use a III-shaped slash; dodge this by staying on the middle of two slashes. His next slash will be ____-shaped, jump to dodge this attack. After this, move to the left or right side of the screen and charge your Soul Gauge. His final slash is X-shaped, so it cannot hurt you while you are charging the Soul gauge on the left or Right side of the screen. After his little combo, he will either use his Giant Energy ball if you have fully filled your Soul Gauge or his Purple Energy Ball attacks if you have not. The Purple Energy balls in this phase come at you incredibly be fast, these can be dodged by tilting the Wiimote left and right quickly. When he summons his Giant Energy ball, use the same tactic as before and deliver the final blows on him! Also note that in Phase 3, if you do not charge you Soul gauge quickly, he might use a Slash Combo that consists of all his Slashes at once, including a new ##-shaped (or similarly shaped) slash which can only be dodged by moving to one of the narrow spaces in it (on the left and right side respectively). ================= How to Gold Rank ================= Helpful skill(s): None Gold Rank tips: 1. He uses his Giant Energy Ball the minute you fully charge your Soul Gauge by shaking the controller. Thus the faster you shake the Wiimote, the faster your Soul Gauge fills up completely, the faster he will use his Giant Energy Ball, and the faster you can damage him for a Gold Rank. 2. You can actually beat Alf Layla wa-Layla in just TWO phases if you are fast enough. When you get opportunities to hit his heart/weakpoint (after hitting him with his Giant Energy Ball), Speed Break towards the Weakpoint for an extra hit and shake the Wiimote as fast as you possibly can (to hit him multiple times). If you are fast enough, by his second phase, he should be dead. 3. For those that find dodging his attacks in Phase 3 hard, there is a strategy that keeps him from EVER reaching Phase 3. In order to do this, wait till he uses his Giant Energy Ball and you have an opportunity to hit him during Phase 1. Instead of using Speed Break to speed onto his Weakpoint, simply jump towards it and use a Homing Attack when the red lock-on appears (this will prevent that extra hit). Try to hit Alf only 7-8 times and then STOP. Darkspine Sonic will eventually beat the crap out of him either way. What you should notice now is that during "Phase 2", Alf will be using all his attacks from Phase 1 instead (i.e. no Whirlpools). He will start with the Purple Energy Balls and then the \\ slashes like before. Thus he did NOT really reach Phase 2. When he summons his Giant Energy ball again, only hit him 7-8 times again when you get the chance. During "phase 3", he will be using all his attacks from Phase 2 (3 Whirlpools, his lone X Slash, etc.). When you get the opportunity to hit him yet again (after the Giant Energy Ball attack), hit him as fast as you want and wait till he dies without ever reaching Phase 3. Using this method, you can get an Easy Gold Rank as long as you charge your Soul Gauge fast enough (which should not be hard because the attacks he uses on you during Phase 1 and 2 do not really interfere that much with your charging). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ E. Useful Skills ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are certain skills that are always useful to have when fighting bosses. These skills are listed below: 1. Ring Bonus - This skill is always helpful because it allows you to start each stage with 5 rings in your ring count. Nice little bonus if you ask me. 2. Homing Stability/Balance/Recovery - Why not have a skill that reduces the homing attack recovery time? These skills also allow you to hit the certain bosses a lot more times (namely the Ifrit Golem and Erazor). 3. H-(High/Mega)Expand - This extends the range of the homing attack... 'nuff said. 4. Quick Jump - It decreases the time needed for a charge jump. This is always useful I suppose (especially when dodging Captain Bemoth's water waves). 5. Quick (High) Step - This skill makes left and right movements smoother. This is really useful to use with bosses AND stages alike. Quick Mega Step is a little too insane for usage and should only be used in stage Speed Runs, in my opinion though. =P 6. (Super/Hyper) Speed-Up - Why not increase speed when fighting bosses? The only exception to using these skills would be the Sand Scorpion, where a lot of speed is a bad thing (you will end up crashing into him a lot), 7. Ring Saver - This reduces the number of rings lost when taking damage, that's useful I guess (although it'd be better to NOT get hit at all ;D). 8. Balance or Down Cancel - This is useful because if you get hit, you can press the 2 button to get back on your feet instead of flinching (and slowing down). 9. Soul Barrier - When you get hit and lose rings, your soul gauge will increase! You can also combine this skill with the "Crest of Wind" (if you want) to constantly increase your Soul Gauge a bit as you lose rings, thanks to the crest itself. 10. Soul Resurrection - Lets say a boss hits you when you have no rings; instead of dying, your Soul Gauge will decrease and you will be safe! This skill practically makes you invincible if you constantly increase your Soul Gauge (Using the Crest of Wind + Soul Barrier) until it's a little over orange. 11. (S/H-) Pearl Collector - This attracts pearls to you...what more explanation do you need? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ F. FAQ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Q. Hey you got something wrong or I have extra tips to give you! How can I contact you to warn you? A. Check the "Contact Me" section. Q. How come I didn't get credit when I was the one who invented this strategy? A. Everything I wrote on this FAQ was tested and created by me during my Playtime, if you came up with a strategy I wrote above before me, then I did not know. Q. How do you Gold Rank Alf Layla wa-Layla? A. Each boss has a "How to Gold Rank" Section. Q. Your FAQ did not help, can I recieve extra help on this boss? A. Contact me and maybe I can help. Q. Your FAQ sucks! A. That's not a question! ;__; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ G. Credits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Angnix (I kinda got those "unlocked by" parts from your FAQ) - Luigifan18 (Gave me the idea of making the Useful Skills section) - Asakura Yoh (for teaching me how to make a FAQ some time ago) - The creators of this game (for making a great Sonic game) - You (for reading this FAQ)