No More Heroes 3 certainly has its fair share of wild characters to meet and the bosses are no exception. Some of these fights can be a little tricky to overcome, so here are some tips on getting the better of your opponents on your climb up the galactic rankings.
Obviously, beware that there’s plenty of spoilers below this point!
Basic tips
In most cases, once unlocked, the Death Slow ability is going to be your friend, giving you ample time to lay some big hits on your opponent. Combo this with Death Rain for added damage and finish up with a Death Kick for extra pain. You’ll also want to perfect dodge when possible because it’s a free time slow.
It goes without saying that energy management is key, so if you’re a little low, get some space and do a quick charge before going back in. Getting a Killer Slash in is key as it triggers the Slash Reel, which in turn gives you the chance to get Full Armour Mode. Finally, don’t be afraid of dying, each death makes that retry wheel go slower so if you are having a difficult time, you can eventually just select the health replenish option (Jeane) and get right back in the action.
Mr. Blackhole
This fight is fairly straightforward as a lot of Mr. Blackhole’s moves are telegraphed. An attack to avoid is the portal that shoots a blue laser followed by Mr. Blackhole firing himself like a cannon. Running left or right to stay out of harm’s way is advised. If you’re feeling brave, you could always try a perfect dodge, but it’s not really worth it.
When he starts punching through mini portals, avoid them all until the last one where he gets his arm stuck, letting you get a few hits in. Whenever you see black energy falling from the sky, prepare to dodge and once he lands you’ll have a moment to get a few hits in. Occasionally after this attack, he will also charge up for a blast attack which you can just run away from. Getting hit does big damage.
When his health is lowered, he places blackholes on the floor that will seriously damage you if you fall in one. The only other change to his attacks is that his blast attack now emits a wave that you will need to jump over.
After getting him down to zero health, you are teleported to a different area where you need to find Mr. Blackhole. Follow Jeane through the stars until you get to three black holes and your opponent is in one of them. It’s trial and error here but when you eventually find the right one, you’ll be fighting Mr. Blackhole in Full Armour Mode. This fight is very easy, just let your missiles auto lock on the weak points and let rip. When it’s charged, use your Megadeath Particle Cannon by pressing ZL, aiming for Blackhole’s head.
Gold Joe
Gold Joe is incredibly easy with only a few things to watch out for. It goes without saying that you need to watch out for the electrified edges of the arena. The gimmick part of this fight is managing your polarity. Early in the match, Gold Joe will try and suck you in towards himself. By matching his polarity, done by stepping on the same colour tile as him, you will instead force him away into the barriers knocking him down. Later, his polarity will push you away from him. Here, you will want to step on the opposite color tiles to push him away. He is very vulnerable to Death Kick which will send him flying into the barriers.
Native Dancer
So, one of the first boss fights is not what you expect it to be. The Native Dancer will turn up and obliterates Black Knight Direction before challenging you to combat. The first part serves as a tutorial for your new skills where you run around town finding him, and then he teaches you a new skill. Once you have all your skills, it’s time to take him on.
Native Dancer’s attacks are fairly telegraphed and have clear tells before he comes at you. All can be perfect dodged and counterattacked. In phase two, his wall run has a chance to turn into a ground pound that you should just run away from. It cannot be dodged or blocked. Finally, don’t be afraid of his Night Reaper Mode, his clones are easily dispatched.
Kimmy Love
Another boss that’s a complete swerve. Kimmy dispatches Vanishing Point before fighting you to the death on stage. You can block or dodge most of her attacks so there is not much strategy required. Half way through, she will occasionally start to disappear from the stage and then light it up stage with pyrotechnics when she returns. Teddies with laser eyes get added to this attack as her health is lowered so make sure you dodge those, too. When she inevitably gets you in a headlock, you need to mash the A button to release yourself.
Finally, towards the end of the fight, a drone will capture the in-game camera and change the perspective. If you wish, destroy the drone to return the camera to normal.
Velvet Chair Girl and Ohma
Your eyes do not deceive you, you literally have to play musical chairs with Velvet Chair Girl. The idea here is to hit the on screen prompts in time to the music, speeding your movement up as you go. Failing prompts makes you stumble and lose speed. When the music stops, the more prompts you hit, the faster you will be able to move towards the chair. This is vital during the last one on one against Velvet Chair Girl.
The next part of this unique boss fight involves fighting the “tiny” alien Ohma.
Ohma’s laser is a one hit kill so the tip here is to stay behind it at all costs. Once you master that it’s a straightforward fight and can be assisted with time slow to stay behind it longer. Occasionally, Ohma will fly up and shoot a laser down which you can easily move away from. As you pile on the damage, Ohma will shrink in size until the final blow.
Midori Midorikawa
Don’t be afraid of this first part. It’s quite linear and if you are going the wrong way, it teleports you back to the right path. Just keep following the green flame and eventually you have to light up three lights by searching nearby rooms and defeating grunts. Simples!
Once the door is open, head inside and prepare for the actual fight with Midori.
At this point you gain access to ‘Full Green Mode’ which is Travis’ Ground Combat Assault Type Full Armor. In this mode, you have your usual repertoire of attacks as well as two extra specials. Firstly you have the Tiger Attack which teleports you to your enemy, unleashing a powerful close-range attack. Secondly you get Multi-Missile which requires you to lock onto your target before unleashing a long-range attack. These do a lot of damage.
You’ll need to duck and weave most attacks, getting in close to deliver your strikes. One of the main things to watch out for is her wind dome ability in phase two. She will surround herself in a dome of wind which you will need to get far away from, dodging the wind blasts she throws at you. Finally, she also gets a large fire tornado which you just need to give a wide berth.
Destroyman
Sniper Lee? No thanks, mate. Destroyman is your foe, here.
The first stage has you fighting waves of regular style clones of Destroyman. There really is no strategy here aside from using all your skills to make this fight quicker.
Once all the clones are taken care of, you’ll be fighting Destroyman True Face. His attacks in phase one are fairly easy to dodge; just make sure you are running away and around the arena when he uses the Destroy Cannon. Phase two adds a couple of new attacks with a modified Destroy Cannon (which you avoid in the same way), and the destroy Buster, which you need to just run away from to avoid getting hit.
Sonic Juice
The first part of this fight is just a bit of fun. You can mess around with the options, but you won’t really get anywhere unless you select ‘fight’ and target the System Window, Status Window, and Command Window. Once the windows are destroyed, the fight goes back to traditional combat.
Run away from his Legendary Water attack, it’s fairly slow. Get in close, dodge his attacks and whale on him. Here, his attacks are fairly telegraphed and easily dodged. In phase three, the large wave attacks can be avoided by going to the appropriate side of the screen and getting to the gap. The other attack he gets is a series of three exploding rings of water. Move between the rings before the water explodes upward, get in close and attack until finish.
Henry Cooldown
During the battle against your brother, you need to prioritise dodging over blocks, as his multi hit attacks will drain your energy.
In the first phase of the Henry Cooldown boss battle in No More Heroes 3, your brother performs three different moves. The first two are basic sword combos. His projectile attacks are easy enough to avoid and this whole fight is just a case of dodging his telegraphed attacks. These get more aggressive as the phases carry on.
In the final phase, his ground strikes move will cause a series of rotating spikes to appear. run around them to avoid them. Another new move he gets is a long range series of sword swipes that you either need to block or jump over.
Prince FU
Prince FU is unfortunately the worst in the game, as you are only able to attack him during brief windows. FU is defended from damage when the eyes that cover him glow, so you have to wait until he performs certain attacks that stop them glowing and give you a chance to get in a short combo.
His grab attack is one of the most painful attacks, but if you dodge when he goes for it, you can hit back immediately with a light attack short combo. Meanwhile, when at distance, he creates golden ground spikes and flying hair spikes that you need to dodge by moving left and right.
In phase two, you must run from his energy balls and charge up attack. Keep a distance until it’s over and you can survive to phase three where two more attacks are added to his repertoire. The first is a move where he suspends himself in the air and uses his hair to try and spike you from underfoot. The second move is his teleport strike which is very difficult to dodge – block it where you can.
It goes without saying, but take advantage of Death Slow, widening the attack window to lay the smackdown. If you’re quick enough with your opening strike, you can get into a long combo to deal even more damage, but the timing has to be right.
The final part of this fight is utterly laborious as you are teleported into a domed arena and have to fight his arms. The arena is surrounded by portals and clear cues are given as to which portal the arm is going to fly out of. When it does, dodge the punch and attack the arm. I found Death Kick to do the most damage quickly in this fight as the normal attacks you have time for don’t do much damage. Perfect dodges increase your attack time so try to perfect those to get a precious slow down.
In phases three and four, lasers will accompany the hands you need to fight, which is very much the same, just with the added requirement of dodging the lasers.
Damon
The final fight against Damon is a bit of fun. The first part takes place during the credits and is just on screen slashes. However, the second phases changes all that up.
The second phase shifts to fighting on a 2D plane, similar to Smash Bros.. You can just whale on Damon, while dodging attacks until the meter reaches 100%. Then, he will be toast. It’s a very simple fight with little strategy required.
Well, that’s it, congrats for beating the game and become the #1 ranked assassin… again! Now go and enjoy that ending.
