Day 9: HMS Windbag
One thing I like about the opening to Pac-Man World is how it pretty much gives you a hint as to what almost every level and proceeding boss battle will be like.
For example, when Professor Pac-Man gets kidnapped, he gets abducted by what seems to be a UFO. The world you find him in just so happens to be a space level, and the boss fight in that world is against King Galaxian.
But now we talk about Pac-Man World's first level and boss. In the opening cutscene, Baby Pac-Man and Pooka get snatched up by an anchor to a pirate ship, suggesting that the world you find them in...or just Pooka for some reason...and the boss you fight in that world is pirate themed. And, yeah, they pretty much are.
But let me ask you, when you were about to fight the boss of the first world did you ever think you'd be going up against a whole pirate ship, because that's exactly what the battle against the HMS Windbag entails.
In the first part of the battle, the HMS Windbag is chasing you down on a long stretch of dock, shooting at you with a vast sum of cannon fire. As you run, the docks behind you fall apart due to the cannon fire, making this part of the fight a fast-paced chase. Normally this would be a good time to use Rev Roll but given there are gaps in the dock and loads of barrels that you need to jump over, Rev Rolling probably isn't a good idea.
Keep running away from the HMS Windbag until you reach the end of the dock and the real fight begins.
With the HMS Windbag having you trapped where he wants you, it begins to shoot at you with more cannon fire. It'll also occasionally drop some cannon balls from above and you need to find the safe spot on the arena, usually indicated by a fruit that'll also drop down from above, to dodge it.
You need to fight back by using these switches that are placed all around the arena. Pressing one will put up a shield that you can use to bounce the HMS Windbag's cannon balls back at it. As the HMS Windbag keeps taking hits, it'll move faster, and you need to time your hits just right if you want to secure victory. Keep reflecting its cannon fire back at it until the fight is over.
This is a simple fight, but also a really fun one, and the actual fight itself can have some difficulty when it comes to the timing of when you need to hit the switch to bring up the shield combined with the dodging of the HMS Windbag's cannon fire.
A fun and fast paced first phase combined with a fun and fast paced second phase, the HMS Windbag is a ship that I very much look forward to sinking every time.