Day 19: Fracktail
As far as the first bosses from the Mario platformers go...they kind of suck. Honestly, Bowser from Super Mario 3D World and maybe King Bob-omb from Super Mario 64 are the only first bosses in Mario platformers that I consider to be truly good. The rest are just a little bit too simple for my liking. I know they're first bosses and they're not meant to be super hard, but at least challenge the player a little bit.
Anyway, I'm pleased to say that if the platformer's first bosses aren't doing it for you, there's an alternative in the form of the Mario RPGs. Which brings me to the boss we'll be talking about today: Fracktail from Super Paper Mario.
Before we begin, I just want to say that I am aware we fight O'Chunks before Fracktail. I'm only talking about him over O'Chunks because I personally view O'Chunks as a mini boss rather than a full-fledged boss battle, so he doesn't count.
Fracktail here is the guardian of Yold Ruins' Pure Heart who was corrupted by Dimentio so it could do battle with Mario, and after he has a hilarious breakdown, the fight begins.
Fracktail will fly around in the background before trying to swoop down on you. When that doesn't work, Fracktail will fly over to the other side of the arena and try to eat you. You need to dodge this attack by flipping into 3D and then jump on his back so the real fight can begin.
Atop of Fracktail's back, it'll spawn little enemies known as Frackles that you need to pick up with Thoreau and throw them at the antenna on its head. After a while, Fracktail will try and throw you off of its back by doing an aerial loop, and you need to time your jump just right in order to land back on his head, otherwise you're back on ground level and have to get back on his back again.
Hit Fracktail's antenna enough time and you win.
This is yet another easy first boss, but I can overlook its difficulty, or lack thereof, with its overall fun factor. Besides, Fracktail is more difficult than Petey Piranha from Super Mario Sunshine or Dino Piranha from Super Mario Galaxy, that should at least count for something, right?
Also, at least Mario has it better with first bosses when compared to his blue blur rival...Oh yeah, wait until tomorrow when we take a look at Sonic's track record with first bosses.