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We're into the second week, and what better way to celebrate than to ... uh ... have another topic prepared? Send in your letters!

This Week's Topic:
EarthBound features many a sweet enemy. Specifically, some really cool bosses. Of the nine Sanctuary Bosses (Carbon/Diamond seperate), which is your favourite? Least favourite? Toughest challenge? Easiest?

Of all the bosses, I have to say I enjoyed Shrooooooooom! the most. Mainly because of the funky name, but the boss made me laugh quite a bit. In terms of who I dislike, I'd have to say Plague Rat of Doom. The main reason was because it was after a huge bit of storyline when I fought it and I was getting annoyed because I hadn't gotten a new melody in a while.

To me, the first boss was the hardest. Mainly because I fought it at a low level without PK Rockin'. The easiest one was the mole dude, I forget it's name, mainly because I somehow encountered no enemies on the way to fight it, so I was at full health when I killed it with PK Freeze and PK Rockin'.

For starters, I commend you for being the first to send in a letter FIRST for the second straight week. Seriously yo, he sent in this letter maybe ... an hour after I updated the page? Awesome.

Shrooooooooooooooooom! has an awesome name, I agree. However, I still think the Mondo Mole sounds better. He's friggin' MONDO. His only downfall is his super weakness to Paralysis. He's still great though.

Favorite: Diamond Dog

I don't really have a favorite Sanctuary boss, but Diamond Dog is the coolest in my opinion. When you think about the melody, the game can seem very linear, and it's Diamond Dog that's waiting for you at the end. He has this powerful presence about him that intimidates any first time player, especially because he comes as a (very flavorful) surprise just when you think you've defeated Carbon Dog.

Least Favorite: Plague Rat of Doom

The sewer is my least favorite Santctuary dungeon (probably because of the slow treading.) Nothing ever really stands out to me in the battle with Prod* because it typcially consists of either Paula or Poo solidifying the boss every turn. It's a shame because he could've been really cool.

*I like abbreviating the names of bosses whenever possible. Tant (Titanic Ant) is the one I use most often, but I also use Prod (Plague Rat of Doom) and T&S (Thunder & Storm) as well as the nicknames Mondo (Mole) and Trillion(age Sprout).

Toughest Challenge:

Titanic Ant on low-level run:

Beating Tant at level 5 (without cheating) is possible, but very difficult without the use of save states. Bring lots of hamburgers and use Hypnosis in the beginning. It'll take lots of time, but you'll figure it out eventually.

Mondo Mole without Paralysis:

This guy is often regarded as the easiest boss because of his weakness to Paralysis, but if you ever try to beat him without the ailment, you'll be in for a thrashing. Mondo is a jack-of-all-trades and will tear you to shreds if you don't stay on your toes. Good luck keeping Paula alive.

Easiest: Mondo Mole/Plague Rat of Doom/Shroom!

Mondo is a pushover when Paralyzed and Prod is too when you're hitting him with Freeze twice every turn, but Shroom! is probably the easiest. It's no trouble getting to him (easiest dungeon in the game) and his only threat is making either Ness or Paula feel funky. I've never had trouble with Shroom!, even on low-level runs.

Great letter, Ninten. Loved it.

Diamond Dog is extremely cool. You hit the nail on the head. He scares the heck out of me everytime I get to him. Carbon Dog isn't nearly as scary because of it. Maybe that's why he is my least-favourite.

My favourite is the Mondo Mole as I stated before.

As for low-level runs, I should heavily consider doing that for next years EBFGPS07. Anyone I've talked to who has done that said it was great. Wish me luck for when I do it.

Oh, and my toughest battle is ALWAYS Trillionage Sprout. Not sure why.

Electro Specter. Sure, he's easy. But I like him for the same reason I like Evil Elemental, Soul Consuming Flame, and Squatter Demon. They are so OBSCURE. Everyone mentions Chomposaur, but how many people mention Wetnosaur..So many people mention Final Starman, but Squatter Demon is sad. Everyone loves to mention Major Psychic Psycho, but Soul Consuming Flame and Evil Elemental are LEFT. IN. THE. DUST.

Electro Specter has got to be one of the least mentioned Sanctuary Baddies in existance. And he looks awesome too. He looks like a (DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DONT LIKE MOTHER 3 SPOILERS) Clay Guy...Sort of.

SPOILERS. OH MY GOD.

Actually, I don't agree with one comment. Soul Consuming Flame got some love from my friends back in middle school.

But yes. My favourite all time Earthbound enemy was also my very first Starmen.Net forum alias: Guardian General. That's right, the guy who helps protect the Hawk Eye. And then after I started making flukes with Happyists, Tendas and Flying Men in a gang-like group thing, I switched to Carpainter. And then just last month, I switched to Carparama.

In response to my last letter- I was talking about my Animal Crossing town. I didn't know you were specifically asking for EarthBound towns only(heh). Anyway the town NeJePaPo gets its name from the first two letters of the Chosen Fours names (NEssJEffPAulaPOo). Alright.

My least favorite Sanctuary Boss has to be the one in the Cave in Happy Happy Village. I skipped that dude the first time I played through and it freaked the heck out of me(being stuck in the story with no idea where to go). Anyway, yeah, that dude...

Ohhhh. Clever name.

A lot of people forgot about Mondo Mole. In fact, before how much I realized he helps your EXP, I used to purposely skip him. No more though.

Well, the "nine" sanctuary bosses are indeed some of the most... well, original... bosses that were ever conceived in a game. Speaking from opinion, first, I'd have to start with my easiest boss: Mondo Mole. This came about during my first ever playthrough of the game, back when I first got it on console in the good ol' days. I had progressed into the game, and I found that, when I checked my Sound Stone, my second melody was missing, after I had amassed up to Thunder and Storm. So, naturally, being that I couldn't complete the game without it, I went back to Mondo Mole. SMAAASH attack, killed in one shot. Goes to show that overpowering can be pretty awesome.

Favourite boss would have to be Electro Specter. Just completely and utterly awesome. The name, the sprite, everything. And then Lumine Hall, as well. It's like a "surge" of awesome! Haha! I'm so topical and witty!

Toughest challenge and least favourite would be combined into one Trillionage Sprout. God, how I loathed him and his Tough Mobile Sprouts! It was one of those bosses where I played, couldn't beat, spent about an hour crying (I was 8 and a crybaby, shut up), then played again, and couldn't beat again. Then I wasted about a year playing other games, then I come back and beat it on the first try. Augh.

And the award for best name goes to Shrooom!

Yes.

I agree with the Shrooooooom! comment.

Yes.

I had a similar situation with Giygas. I was following the Player's Guide, and somehow missed the part about the Multi Bottle Rockets. Naturally, after failing against Giygas several times, I left it for six months. When a friend came over, he dared me to try it. I did, and beat the game. I was so pumped.

Was the only one who believed this game could not be beaten without the guide?

I liked all the bosses equally, in fact, but the Electro Specter and Carbon/Daimond Dog were both very challenging. The Electro Specter because it had that really nasty shield. The first time I fought it I whipped out Starstrom and it was hit back and destroyed everyone. I had a bit of trouble with the netrualizer and if I remember correctly, and am not thinking about another boss, it kept replacing it's shield. I was sort of struggling to lay damage because of this. The Diamond Dog was hard for another reason altogether. The little bleep kept owning me with ultra powerful attacks. A fight against the Diamond Dog is a fight against the rolling HP counters.

That is all.

I have NEVER used the Neutralizer ever.

I love the fact you like them all, and I must say, I do as well. I despise the Sprout because he is tough. If I was Giygas, I'd love having him on my crew.

I'd comment on the rolling counters, but I believe my good ol' buddy FoppyKing mentioned them too. Let's have a scroll down, shall we?

Hmm.... Sanctuary bosses...

Okay, here I go. I never really liked any of the sanctuary bosses. They were always easy and kinda disappointed me when I waded through the hordes of enemies to get to them.

My favorite one would be the Electro Specter, because its like a wrench man kinda, but electric. Recently, though, I've noticed how it could be a mutated fobby, which is neato.

My least favorite is, um, Titanic Ant. Not quite sure why, they're all pretty good, but this one seems the least appealing to me. It's grey, and an ant. By this time, though, I'm like level 9 and I incinerate the bug with Psi Special and it loses after two of those.

Toughest challenge would be the Trillionage Sprout. On my first play through I tried to rip my way trough the caves, and was at a low level. My poor party was at low health, when I got there, and only Paula and Jeff was actually allive, and Paula was mushroomized. The boss Diamondized Jeff and Paula hit herself with Psi Fire. I got it after a while though.

The easiest for me is the Thunder and Storm. It's just a waiting game to me, as the Crashing bang boom attacks reflect off my Franklin badge and kill it.

Enough about Sanctuary bosses, though, as they were boring. The truw tough bosses were Starman DX and Ness' Nightmare. I still to this day will not attempt Starman DX unless I have a Multi Bottle rocket, and in recent years Ness' Nightmare has gotten a lot easier. But they are the coolest ones, because Starmen are awesome to the max, and fighting your own dark side has got to be the toughest test of courage out there.

In conclusion, this game would be so much better if I could hit myself hard enough to erase my memory of playing it and play it again. I want back my first experience, it was so great!

Ness' Nightmare is the toughest boss in the game to me. Without a ... Pendant ... Sea? Night? One of them, anyway. I still have fond memories of the Nightmare absolutely demolishing me. :(

Starman Deluxe was also a heck of a headache, but the fact I never got the Sword of Kings until recent years.

I forgot how cool the Thunder & Storm was. And your thought of Foppy/Electro Specter is great. I love it.

And onto the final letter ...!

I have to stop for a moment and give it up for Trillionage Sprout. I'd estimate that he's tied with Frank Fly* as giving me the most Game Over's in the entire history of me playing EarthBound.

Going into the fight unprepared is what makes this fight difficult. Even if you've power leveled on Foppies (which up until a few playthroughs ago I would pass up in favor of Criminal Caterpillars, but now in my old age I've gotten lazy), the fact that Trillionage can instantly diamondize you makes this an unpredictable fight. If you're like me, you've probably forgotten to take that Cup of Lifenoodles out of Escargo Express and throw it in Jeff's inventory. So when Trillionage knocks your only healer into submission, things get hairy.

I've had two separate encounters with him in which he meets his demise by a lucky prayer. The guy's a beast.

*Many a fight with Frank has gone like this:

FK: Nah, don't want to waste that free burger I found in the trash just yet.

Frank: Knife to the face!!

FK: Nnnnn, I still have enough HP to survive another hit. Besides, he'll probably just lower my stats...

Frank: Knife to the face!!!

FK: COME ON ROLLING HP!! NOOOO!!!

Oh yeah. Pancake was the final letter last time. Oh well.

Since I'm a bit exhausted, I will copout and sey this: Frank Fly EASILY has killed me more than any other enemy in the history of the game.

(Other than Carp because I let him win. I feel so sorry for the guy. He's unbeatable if you don't the badge. Stupid badge.)

When I first played the game, Kraken owned my soul. When I started a new file, I struggled so much against Frank. My sister beat him first, and then beat Cappy Strong first. It's all good.

Carparama summarizes:

I love all nine enemies. So much. It is what gives EB its flavour for me. Just like in any game, there must be some quality enemies for the heroes to defeat. But hey. Go submit to this week's letter if you haven't already!