Day 34: Vex
Remember what I said towards the beginning of this marathon about how sometimes the main villain can make an appearance as the first boss? How about for today we talk about an even more relevant example than Bowser from Super Mario 3D World? This is Vex from Sackboy: A Big Adventure.
In the beginning of the game, this Jack Skellington/Dimentio hybrid has basically kidnapped all of your friends and family so they can build his Topsy-Turver Machine and you just couldn't wait until the end of the game to kick his ass for being a constant thorn in your side. But to the player's surprise, you fight Vex multiple times throughout the adventure with one of these instances being him as the game's first boss.
The fight takes place on two treadmills that are rolling into a spike trap. In the first phase of the fight, Vex will throw bombs onto the treadmills that Sackboy has to throw back at him in order to do damage.
After taking enough damage, Vex will kick off the second phase by setting the treadmill in reverse as spikes rise up from the treads in an attempt to finish Sackboy. You must jump over these spikes as they come. After a while, Vex will return the treadmills back to normal and will proceed to attack with his giant hands and even throw multiple bombs at once. Like before, take these bombs and throw them right at Vex until he reverses the treadmills again and brings up the spike traps.
The third phase is pretty much the same as the second one, with Vex attacking you with giant hands and bombs ranging from singular to multiple. Keep throwing bombs at him until the fight ends.
This is a good first boss as it keeps you on your toes when avoiding Vex's attacks and worrying about falling off the treadmills and into the spike traps/pits below. This is also a good way to show the players what Vex is capable of in battle as later fights with him follow the same format as this one but with noticeable changes that make it more difficult.
Good show Vex, let's hope there's a sequel to this game so we can see what other tricks you have up your sleeves… Then again, given Sony is known to sleep on its franchises as bad as Sega does, it might be a while before we see a legitimate sequel. Oh well, fingers crossed.