Day 5: Buzz
You ever just look at the arena you fight a boss in and listen to the music that accompanies the oncoming fight and think to yourself, "Yeah, this is the final boss," but in realitya you're actually going toe-to-toe with the game's first boss? That's pretty much what the fight against Buzz from Spyro Year of the Dragon is like in a nutshell.
I mean, look at the arena you fight this wussy green toad in. It's a platform surrounded by boiling lava and dark skies are looming above you. The music even gives off a feeling of fear and dread that says, 'You're screwed!' I'm dead serious when I say if you show this fight to someone who has never played Spyro 3, and make them listen to the music, they could easily mistake Buzz for the final boss. But apparently Insomniac decided this is good enough for first boss material and now we have to judge it as such.
So, already the fight against Buzz has amazing atmosphere and music, but what about the fight itself?
This fight is separated into three phases.
In the first phase, you simply have to push Buzz off the platform and into the lava surrounding it. Be careful though, as Buzz will try to do the same thing to you, and given he's a large toad monster and you're a tiny dragon, he can and will send you flying. Also, make sure you charge into him while he's standing still as if you charge into him while he charges into you he won't really go anywhere, so there's actually a bit of timing involve in your attacks.
Anyway, upon pushing Buzz into the lava, Sheila the Kangaroo will deliver a Mario style ground pound on his head, doing damage to him. But as soon as that happens, you better have your hands on the analog stick and charge button like your life depends on it because Buzz will harness his inner Miltank and try and roll over you for a little while. Once Buzz is done rolling around, repeat the process five more times and you win.
The method of defeating Buzz doesn't really change, but each phase gives him a new attack that you need to be aware of.
The second phase gives Buzz a fire shield, and you need to wait for it to die out so you can continue attacking him, while the third phase gives Buzz a fire breathing attack and can either wait for Buzz to stop the attack, or more effectively, jump and glide over the attack to push him closer to the lava.
So charging, jumping, and gliding come into play during this fight, eh? It's almost as if Buzz is a test to see how well you know the game's basic controls, and that's a good thing for first bosses to do. The only basic control that doesn't come into play during this fight is Spyro's flame breath.
In conclusion, Buzz, while another easy first boss, is a fun fight with great atmosphere and even better music, that test your skills with the game's basic controls.