Stepping into the teleporter brings us to a fog-shrouded area called Trans Dimension. As soon as we reach the central platform we encounter Dark Phantom, who still uses Hyde's stage-speak even though he's apparently not Hyde. Since we've opened the portal to our dimension for him, he no longer needs us. After a line about how we just changed our future into one of destruction it's battlin' time.
Dark Phantom IF
HP: 2200
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Stick Sword – Dark Phantom swipes the panel in front of him with his staff for 200 damage.
- Phantom Claw – Dark Phantom shoots a clawed arm down one column for 220 damage.
- Phantom Slash – Dark Phantom twirls around, striking Geo's row with his cape for a total of 250 damage.
Dark Phantom IF can be dangerous because he is quite fast. Phantom Claw not so much but Stick Sword and Phantom Slash come out really quickly with little warning, and Stick Sword in particular he likes to use in rapid succession. His HP is considerably less insane than Taurus Fire IF though, so that's a little easier to manage.
Dark Phantom laughs as he blows up, saying that he just sealed up the warp that's directly behind him. Now if we want to get to Apollo Flame we'll have to defeat his seven warriors. What he means by this, is that radiating from the area's hub platform are seven teleporters that lead to other areas like Alternate Echo Ridge, and each one has another boss to defeat. Counting Dark Phantom there are eight IF bosses in this area total, so it's a lot like the boss rematch chambers in the platform Megaman games, only with more footwork. Before we do that though, there's a Guide Hertz with some goods for sale:
- HP Memory 20 – 10000z
- HP Memory 20 – 15000z
- HP Memory 20 – 20000z
- Great Axe – 8000z
- Atomic Mine 3 – 15000z
- Guardian – 18000z
- Double Cross – 20000z
- Giga Mine – 25000z
- Gemini Thunder – 50000z
Gemini Thunder's Giga card no. 3, featuring Gemini Spark's signature attack. Saurian has Ox Tackle and Ninja has Gorgon Eye. Yeesh, and I still haven't bought the Giga card that's at Big Wave yet...
We'll go around this area clockwise. The first teleporter leads to Alternate Wilshire Hills. Every Alternate area is entirely unchanged from their regular-world versions, just monochrome and you can't walk to adjacent areas. Alternate Wilshire Hills is entirely unpopulated other than a fallen Hertz that has Solo's wallpaper on it. The advertisement board ES can still be accessed though, and inside is a Trader Ticket and what should be the final Blank Card of the game.
The boss is one a large wave road platform at the opposite side of the area. It's Harp Note, and like Taurus Fire she doesn't recognize Geo at all. All IF bosses have a short exchange with Geo, though they're not very interesting as they all follow the basic format of “Who are you?! I'm (boss name)! Leave or I'll delete you in the name of Apollo Flame!”
Harp Note IF
HP: 2600
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Shock Note – Two speakers appear on the unoccupied panels of Harp Note's row before she shoots music notes out of them that deal 180 damage and paralyze.
- Machine Gun Strings – Harp Note shoots strings from her guitar down one column to ensnare Geo, after which she sends several music notes down in for a total of 160 damage and paralysis.
- Pulse Song – Harp Note fires a heart-shaped sound wave at Geo's row that deals 240 damage and either confuses, paralyzes, or blinds depending on the color.
Hm, nothing too special here.
After defeating the boss we're not automatically warped back to the Trans Dimension hub, we have to walk all the way back to the teleporter ourselves. The next teleporter leads to Alternate Loch Mess 2. Cancer Bubble's the boss here, down at the area's deepest point, and he thinks we're here to pollute “his” loch.
Cancer Bubble IF
HP: 2800
Element: Aqua
Attacks:
- Bubble Pop – Cancer Bubble drifts back and forth, shooting bubbles down each column. If hit, Geo is temporarily trapped inside. Occasionally crabs will be trapped inside the bubbles, and upon release will scuttle down the column. Both components of the attack deal 180 Aqua damage.
- Boomerang Cutter – Cancer Bubble shoots his claws in sequence down one column and up the other for 200 Aqua damage.
- Tidal Wave – Cancer Bubble calls up a giant wave to hit Geo's row for 240 Aqua damage.
This little bugger can be quite deadly. Aside from his disproportionally-high HP his main attacks are very fast and hard to avoid, especially if you happen to pop the bubble with the crab hiding inside. The key is to counter, counter, counter, and luckily there are Base Sniper viruses in the loch that drop Mad Vulcan 3's.
Cancer Bubble says that he's going to take us down with him as he explodes but that threat doesn't amount to anything. Our next teleporter brings us to the Alternate Black Diamond Run, which is very unremarkable since it's literally a straight shot to the boss, which happens to be a reprisal of the scenario battle earlier in the game.
Yeti Blizzard IF
HP: 3200
Element: Aqua
Attacks:
- Snowball Fall – Whenever Yeti Blizzard moves snowballs fall on random panels for 200 Aqua damage.
- Snowball Rush – Yeti Blizzard smashes the ground causing a volley of snowballs to fall on the field, targeting Geo's position for 200 Aqua damage per hit.
- Big Stamp – Yeti Blizzard tries to stomp Geo for 260 damage.
- Avalanche – Yeti Blizzard starts beating his chest, causing a wave of snow to move down the entire field, dealing 220 Aqua damage.
Out of all the bosses I've fought so far, this asshole gave me the most trouble by far. His massive HP pool isn't as much of a problem as Taurus Fire IF's because my folder has a number of Elec cards, what is a problem are those snowball attacks of his, which fall very fast, very often, and really hurt. What's worse, the waves of snow that Avalanche sends forth are sturdy enough that it's impossible to fully buster them away, so unless you have an Invisible on hand or are able to counter or stun Yeti Blizzard out of the attack (as he does not recoil when struck normally) there's no way to avoid getting hit by it. It took me quite a few retries before I was able to put him down. I mean, I guess I could have used a Wave Command to ease my life, but I want to hold off on them at least until I beat Apollo Flame.
Our next stop are the Alternate Whazzap Lines, and this place is pretty terrible. You have a lot of ground to cover as the boss is on the wave road and the starting teleporter is located as far away from them as possible. Add to the fact that the wave road are super-compact to artificially prolong your journey. Finally, many of the virus battles along the way feature holy panels, artificially prolonging those too. There are a number of new cards to get from viruses, so you have to tough it out anyway.
The boss here is Gemini Spark. Curiously their personalities don't seem to have changed. Spark White is still restrained and morose, while Spark Black is still the leering, violence-loving one.
Gemini Spark IF
HP: 1800 each
Element: Elec
Attacks:
- Rocket Knuckle – Gemini Spark fires one of their oversized arms down one column for 180 Elec damage. If Spark Black is the only one remaining his fist will generate a three-panel-wide explosion if it hits the back row.
- Elec Sword – One of the Sparks slashes the panel in front of them with a sword that deals 180 Elec damage and paralyzes. If Spark White is the only one remaining his slash will expand to three-panels-wide.
- Gemini Thunder – Both Sparks leap onto the field's center panel and fire a massive blast of electricity into Geo's row that deals 240 Elec damage.
I said that the battles with Gemini Spark's regullar base-EX-SP forms were my favorite battles in the game. This one is not. The twins move insanely fast, and Elec Sword's paralysis lasts long enough that you will get hit with another attack or be unable to throw up the shield in time. The Dance Fire 3's and especially Fokx-Fu 3's you can get on the Alternate Whazzap Lines are quite helpful, but I still found this to be a really difficult battle.
As Gemini Spark blows up Geo actually expresses concern for Pat even though he didn't seem to care about blowing away Harp Note and Taurus Fire and Omega telling him that that's not Pat in there. Now to walk all the way back to the teleporter...or just pulse out like I did. I figured that I really should stock up on a few Dyna Energies, because at this point I've been losing a lot of HP in battle.
Teleporter #5 leads to the second area of IFL Tower's wave roads, so after the maze of the Whazzap Lines the pathway to the boss is refreshingly linear. The only thing that gave me grief during my travels was getting a Grabaklone to drop a Black Hole 3 for the library. The boss, however, is another story...
Queen Ophiuca IF
HP: 2600
Element: Wood
Attacks:
- Snake Legion – A nest of snakes swarm down random columns of the field for 200 Wood damage per hit.
- Quick Serpent – Queen Ophiuca swiftly slithers down two columns for 240 Wood damage.
- Gorgon Eye – Queen Ophiuca fires a piercing laser beam down one column that deals 200 Wood damage and paralyzes.
So this is the third IF boss in a row that gave me a ton of trouble. Snake Legion's damage is horribly unbalanced considering that it's a random multi-hitter that doesn't inflict Mercy Invincibility. If you want to survive you better memorize the patterns of the snakes and time your shield usage accordingly. Thank god she doesn't have the Super Armor passive like she did in the previous game, otherwise this fight would be practically impossible.
Only two more to go. The penultimate teleporter leads us to Alternate Mess Cove, where we can access an ES that's coming out of the windmill for an HP Memory 10. Plesio Surf is the boss here.
Plesio Surf IF
HP: 3000
Element: Aqua
Attacks:
- Thunder Breath – Plesio Surf breathes electricity down one row, dealing 210 Elec damage and paralyzing Geo.
- Aqua Fang – Plesio Surf dives beneath the stage and tries to repeatedly bite Geo from below, dealing 210 Aqua damage per hit.
- Torrent Wave – Plesio Surf sends a tsunami down the field that deals 250 Aqua damage. It will pick up any obstacle on the field and those parts of the wave will gain the break attribute.
Every IF boss has one attack it seems that their amped-up speed transforms into That One Attack, and here it's Aqua Fang. But at least he didn't give me anywhere near as much trouble as the last few bosses did.
Finally, we're brought to the second area of the Whazzap Ruins, where we find the final ES of the game with a Recovery 300 inside coming out of some flowers. Last but not least, the boss is Terra Condor.
Terra Condor IF
HP: 2600
Element: Wood
Attacks:
- Bird Missile – Three missiles are launched down the field for 180 Wood damage. Green ones can be destroyed or blocked, while black ones cannot.
- Wing Laser – Terra Condor faces Geo head on and fires lasers down each row from his mouth and wings for 200 Wood damage.
- Flying Impact – Terra Condor dives at Geo, clipping a two-column-wide section of the field twice for 260 Wood damage per hit.
- Missile Bird Barrage – After performing Flying Impact Terra Condor will sometimes randomly fire a whole barrage of missiles down the field for 180 Wood damage per hit.
I have some good Fire cards in my folder like Taurus Fire SP and Dance Fire 3, so he was a refreshing Breather Boss to end the gauntlet with. It's actually really easy to counter him when he's about to use Wing Laser.
With that, all eight of the IF bosses here have been deleted and the warp in the center of Trans Dimension 1 becomes active. Before stepping into it though we can open three security doors now that we've beaten the IF bosses for a Radar Missile 3 *1, Ice Grenade *1, and Atomic Mine 3. Then I go and blow almost all of my money on the merchant's Gemini Thunder.
But we're not done just yet! Waiting for us on the other side of the warp is a new boss, General Auriga. Despite not being from outer space, at least as far as I know, he's another one of Star Force's constellation-derived bosses, in this case Auriga the Charioteer. He's barring the way, so he has to go.
General Auriga
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HP: 1800
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Army Attack – General Auriga rolls down the field with soldiers flanking his adjacent panels for 180 damage.
- Roll Ram – General Auriga revs up and rapidly dashes down a two column range several times for 220 damage per hit.
- Color Army – A horn sounds and an army of multicolored soldiers charge randomly down the field for 180 damage per hit of the corresponding element.
- Spiked Steamroller – General Auriga slowly pushes a giant destructible steamroller down the entire field for 300 damage.
Finally, an Alternate Future boss without an insane HP total. All of General Auriga's attacks have the break attribute and look intimidating but they're really not. The soldiers he uses during Army Attack are not very durable and the attack itself is slow enough that you can easily destroy one of them to slip through the gap. His low speed kills a lot of his challenge – the only attack you really have to look out for is Color Army.
With General Auriga down we can open a fourth security door to get the Guardian chip and then it's onward to Trans Dimension 2!
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