Boss Battles

Boss Battles Mode is a Unlockable Stadium mode introduced in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is very similar to All-Star Mode, except you fight all bosses rather than all characters. Boss Battles Mode is unlocked after the player completes both Classic Mode and 'The Subspace Emissary' for the first time, or in other words, has faced each boss other than Crazy Hand at least once.

Gameplay

The goal of Boss Battles Mode is to defeat every boss in the game with a single stock, or two characters in its co-op mode. When a player begins Boss Battles mode, they are immediately dropped into combat against one of the ten bosses. Once a boss is defeated, the player is brought to the rest area. The rest area displays all defeated bosses as trophies, a screen that displays the face of next boss to be fought, and has three heart containers, or five in co-op mode, which, like in All-Star, do not reappear even upon later visits to the rest area. This format continues until all bosses are defeated. This format is the same as All-Star Mode. However, the player is not allowed to continue after losing their stock, as it is a stadium mode. The battles occur in random order, except for the battle with Tabuu which always occurs last. Each boss has their own Stamina Bar as one would normally fight them in the Subspace Emissary, including both of the Hands. The player is treated with a picture of one of the bosses upon completing Boss Battles: this picture varies depending on the difficulty level chosen. You cannot use any stickers in Boss Battles.

The battles in this mode include:

• Master Hand
• Crazy Hand
• Petey Piranha
• Rayquaza
• Porky
• Galleom
• Ridley
• Duon
• Meta Ridley
• Tabuu

Tips

• Play Conservative.

You're facing 10 bosses instead of one, and have 1 life instead of 4, so you can't give a frenzy of attacks at once. Wait for the gaps between attacks, then strike briefly, then prepare to evade the next attack. Strike a single multiple hit quick attack, then retreat to shoot projectiles if possible while evading the bosses' moves.

• Abuse Powerful Moves.

Moves like Rock Smash, Yoshi's Dair, and Bowser's Forward smash inflict tons of damage. Use them, as long as they don't make you vulnerable. Kill moves like Rest and Falcon Punch work well, but use them only if you know they will defeat the boss in that hit. Kill move lag will almost surely leave you open to an attack. The lesser time it takes to defeat a boss, the lesser chance there is you'll receive damage. The best moves to use are usually those that can score multiple hits.

• Use a Character that is Effective Against or Counters at least One Boss.

Fox and Lucas are effective against Duon and Meta Ridley in that they have reflectors or absorbers. Marth is effective against many bosses in that his Counter inflicts massive damage, as does Ike's.

• Take Advantage of the Boss's Size

Some attacks like Knee Smash have very limited range and are hard to use in normal brawls. For bosses, though, it is very easy, in that you can simply be touching any part of the boss, which easily take up a quarter of the stage, to inflict damage.

• Always Dodge

Even though if it's on Easy mode, dodge the attacks of many bosses. Some attacks of the bosses give you hints of what kind of attack it will be, and others come very quick. So dodge your way to attack without being wide open to be attacked at.

Individual Character Tips

• Mario

Down Aerial

Fireball

Cape

• Luigi

Down Aerial

Fireball

Super Jump Punch

Luigi Cyclone

• Peach

Forward Aerial

Toad

Parasol

• Bowser

Side Smash

Up Smash

Down Aerial

Whirling Fortress

• Donkey Kong

Side Smash

Up Smash

Forward Aerial

Back Aerial

Giant Punch (only if charged beforehand)

Spinning Kong

Hand Slap

• Diddy Kong

Side Smash

Up Smash

Forward Aerial

Peanut Popgun

Banana Peel

• Yoshi

Down Aerial

Egg Throw

• Wario

Up Smash

Up Aerial

Corkscrew

• Link

Up Smash

Side Smash

Down Aerial hitting twice, then following up with Up Aerial

All Specials

• Toon Link

Same as above, especially for the Forward Smash

• Zelda

Up Smash

Side Smash

All Aerials and Specials

• Shiek (Zelda and Shiek are counted as the same character)

Up Smash

Down Smash

Up Aerial

Needle Storm

Transform

• Ganondorf

Up Smash

All Aerials

Warlock Punch

• Samus

Down Tilt

Up Smash

Forward Aerial

Up Aerial

All Specials

• Zero Suit Samus (Samus with and without armor are counted as the same character)

Up Tilt

Side Smash

Up Smash

Forward Aerial

Plasma Whip

Plasma Wire

• Pit

Up Smash

Side Smash

Neutral Aerial

Forward Aerial

Back Aerial

Up Aerial

All Specials

• Ice Climbers

Up Tilt

Side Smash

Ice Shot

Squall Hammer

Double Jumping and using Blizzard on the way down

• R.O.B.

Down Smash

All Aerials and Specials

• Kirby

All Aerials

Hammer

Final Cutter

Stone

• Meta Knight

Side Tilt

Side Smash

Up Smash

All Aerials and Specials

• King Dedede

Side Tilt

Up Smash

Side Smash

Vertical Aerials

Waddle Dee Toss

Jet Hammer

• Olimar

Up Tilt

Neutral Aerial

Pikmin Chain

Pikmin Order

• Fox

Forward Aerial

Down Aerial

All Specials, though Fox Illusion is not likely to be used, and Fire Fox should be your attack on ground bosses

• Falco

Same as above

• Wolf

Up Smash

Side Smash

All Specials

• Pikachu

Down Smash

All Aerials

Thunder Jolt

Thunder

• Pokémon Trainer

Squirtle's Up Smash

Down Smash

Neutral Aerial

Down Aerial

Ivysaur's Forward Tilt

Neutral Aerial

Charizard's Up Smash

Forward Aerial

All Specials for every Pokemon

• Lucario

Jump above the target and constantly use Down Aerial

Reverse Double Team

All Specials

• Jigglypuff

Same as above, save for Pound and Sing

• Marth

Side Smash

Up Smash

Forward Aerial

Down Aerial

Dancing Blade

Counter

• Ike

Up Smash

Side Smash

Aether

Counter

• Ness

Side Smash

Horizontal Aerial

All Specials

• Lucas

Same as above

All Smashes

Neutral Aerial

Down Aerial

• Mr. Game & Watch

All Aerials, especially Side Aerials

Oil Panic

• Sonic

Up Tilt

Up Smash

Neutral Aerial

Forward Aerial

• Snake

Side Tilt

Side Smash

Down Smash

Neutral Aerial

Down Aerial

All Specials

Challenges

There are eight Challenges in Super Smash Bros. Brawl involving Boss Battles Mode. Golden Hammers cannot be used to break them, except in PAL.

• First row, #1: Clear on Intense difficulty.
• First row, #10: Clear on Easy difficulty.
• Second row, #16: Clear with 20 characters.
• Second row, #26: Clear with 10 characters.
• Third row, #23: Clear on Normal difficulty.
• Fourth row, #6: Clear on Hard difficulty.
• Fourth row, #26: Clear on Very Hard difficulty.
• Fourth row, #32: Clear with every character.

Boss changes from other modes

Several of the bosses are slightly altered from their appearances in other modes.

• Crazy Hand is a boss itself, 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.
• Galleom will be fought randomly in one of his two stages.
• On Easy, Normal and Hard modes, Tabuu's Off Waves do not instantly kill a player who comes in contact with them.
• In lower difficulties, all the bosses' speed, attack power and health are greatly decreased.
• Petey Piranha's cages are empty, as when he is faced in The Great Maze stage of The Subspace Emissary.
• The individual boss themes are replaced with generic music, Boss Battle, except for Master Hand, Crazy Hand and Tabuu. They use the music Final Destination (Melee), Giga Bowser (Melee), and Boss Battle Song 2, respectively.
• Stickers cannot be used, as they only appear in The Subspace Emissary.
• Items do not appear.
• Each time you defeat three bosses you earn a rare trophy.

External Links

Boss Battles Mode in action