Shinobi-anigans, second 2 bosses: Vaguely Hindu Matryoshka Dolls + Samurai Lobster!

Last week, my ongoing exploration of Tengen's unlicensed Shinobi port covered Boss 1 and 2 (KEN OH and BLACK TURTLE, respectively).

If you thought the towering immobile KEN OH and the fabulous helicopter with the funny name were amusing, well! -- uh, Bosses 3 and 4 are also kind of goofy. Actually, it's pretty much a lateral move. I've kind of over-hyped it, and I'm sorry.

Boss 3: MANDARA!

What with his big horns and/or extra arms, MANDARA's dossier profile looks a little bit like a Hindu deity.

Method of Attack: When you meet the deity himself/themselves, he/they first manifest as a stack of golden statues. They gradually slide towards you, until you are either bumped to death by them, or by the electric field on the far left of the screen.

Weakness: Each statue takes a bunch of shots before it disappears, then the statue above it falls down to take its place. Even without powered-up attacks, it is possible to destroy all the statues before you run out of space (see Special Tips!)

Of course, after you've finished off the statues, then you reach Mandara's second form...

MANDARA, Form 2: Slidin' Spittin' Face! He scoots up and down the wall as meatballs tumble from his giant open mouth. Shoot him a bunch whilst not getting hit.

Special Tips: The Stacking Statues form is really the challenging one. Because you can't shoot again while your first projectile is still on the screen, you'll want to get quite close to the advancing statues to increase your rate of fire. I leave slightly less than 1 empty statue-length of space between me and the advancing statues, then back up right before they're about to hit me, and repeat.

I haven't had too much trouble with the Giant Face form; I generally stay about mid-screen or slightly closer to the right wall, and super-jump while shooting. That way you usually get a chance to shoot at it on your way up and down, and only get meatball-hit once every jump or two (because the meatballs tend to stay pretty low on the screen).

Fun Facts: This is the only boss with two completely separate forms. Case closed!

Boss 4: LOBSTER!

It wasn't a Samurai... it was a SAMURAI LOBSTER!

Method of Attack: He strolls towards you, wobbling his big sword. You can't jump over him, and he always just advances towards you, so unless you defeat him (see "Weaknesses!"), he'll back you into the corner.

If you let him read the left side of the screen, you're going to lose that life. But if you want, you can delay your death indefinitely by ducking and letting him wave his sword over your head (unlicensed game fun!)

Weakness: Jump in the air, shoot slightly before/after the apex of your normal jump, and hit him in the general top-of-the-head/eye/helmet region (just like KEN OH!). If you hit the right spot, not only is he injured, but he also bounces backwards...so this fight is less a race against time than MANDARA's pile-of-statues form.

Special Tips: If you start hitting him early and rapidly, you'll bounce him to the right far enough to see this lovely background decoration. Yes, for some reason they made this stage scroll-able, but because the boss blocks your way, you have to interrupt his approach quickly and consistently, or he'll never get pushed far enough back to scroll the screen so you can see it!