darkSpyro

I'm stuck on Skabb's boss battle on the GBA version. Can anybody help me?

The easy way tobeat him is by hitting the bombs fired by his pet parrot back at him, then melee him. Repeat this until he dies.

Thanks! <3

Skabb is fairly difficult on the GBA (although a lot less than on the consoles). Namely, almost every good fighting-intensive game will always have at least one "combo dummy" slayer-type boss ; a boss that cannot be defeated using the regular way and thus, will prove impossible to the rush'n'combo-to-oblivion-type player.

Skabb is one such boss.

First of all, don't bother trying to melee him constantly. He will simply block and unlike Naga, whose guard can (eventually) be broken, Skabb will block endlessly. Furthermore, while this is going on, his parrots and head-mountain cannon will constantly nail you (as you obviously can't dodge very well if you're currently busy smacking a foe).

So, how do you beat him?

Fight defensively.

Stay always a fair distance from him and on the ground. You should see only his hand on the screen. Then, act accordingly varying on what he does.

If he take out his pistol, he will fire a shot at you. His shots are significantly more powerful than that of regular Scavenger pirates and he take the time to aim at you so you will have to be precise in your dodging. Wait for the sound of the gun being fired before jumping. Technically, you must jump AFTER he has fired else, he will adjust his aim and nail you in mid-air. This is not exactly easy to do, especially on hard mode where his bullets are faster but it can be done with pratice.

A second thing that he can do is send a parrot after you. There will be no visual nor auditive cue but it will be obvious when it happens ; a parrot will fly from the right side of the screen and then start pursuing you. As with most minor small enemies, the parrots will fly just about out of reach and nail you constantly with weak attacks that stun you for a long time. On the long run, those parrots can truly prove to be an annoyance and their damage add up. Make a double jump and take them out with an aerial tail swipe as they appear.

His third attack is his downfall: his head-mountain cannon will fire a cannonball from the sky that will then fall down to hit you. When you hear the cannon being fired, pay attention at the top of the screen! If any parrots are on-screen, ignore them ; cannonballs are Skabb's most powerful attack and dodging/countering that attack is more important than getting rid of the parrots. Each cannonball's location while it's off-screen will be shown via a flashing yellow exclamation mark symbol. Look for it and make sure you're not under it so you don't get nailed. When the cannonball finally come on-screen, jump and intercept it, making sure to strike it toward Skabb.

If you successfully strike a cannonball in mid-air, it will be sent flying. If one such cannonball smashes into Skabb, he will be stunned and you will be free to come in and actually attack him so do so. Skabb, like most boss characters, cannot be thrown around so don't bother with fancy combos ; unleash the basic combo as many times as you can. Be careful however! Although Skabb can't use the pistol and cannonball attack while stunned, any cannonball that was fired but didn't land will not disappear if you stun him before it lands so watch out for them. Likewise, although stunned, he will still summon parrots to protect himself.

Skabb is fairly difficult and does require a fair amount of patience and skill but eventually, you'll manage to defeat him.

Hope it helped!

Have a nice day!

DOH! Didn't notice I wasn't logged in...

Above post is mine, by the way.