Grim Guardians: Demon Purge Boss Cheats
Bat Demon (Stage 1)
The Bat Demon cycles around a series of attacks fairly predictably, with each attack having a clear cue to watch out for. Most bosses in Grim Guardians: Demon Purge work this way, so this is a good opportunity to familiarise yourself with the conventions of these encounters.
Bat Swarm: The Bat Demon will split into bats and fly off the screen. A string of bats moving in a sine-wave motion will then come in from one of the sides of the screen, either high or low — usually high at the start of the fight, then low thereafter. As Shinobu, shoot the high arrangement from underneath for some free, easy damage.
If a low arrangement is coming in, switch to Maya and position yourself where a “peak” in the sine wave will appear. Activate her Shikigami subweapon and hack and slash at the passing bats as they raise up and over your head, correcting your position slightly if necessary. This should deal a decent amount of damage.
Bat Shot: The Bat Demon will coalesce into its full form, usually after a Bat Swarm, and move to one side of the screen. While there, it’s wide open to damage, but it will also fire bats at you, particularly during the “hard mode” encounters from second time around and beyond. Stand back as Shinobu and fire repeatedly; if you have her upgraded shot, crouch down while firing and the missiles will take care of the bats before they get anywhere near you. Stay ducked as he’ll charge for you at the end of this move.
Swoop: The Bat Demon will coalesce at the top-middle of the screen, then disappear off the top. It will then swoop several times across the screen. This is easily avoided simply by starting to walk in one direction before it appears. Don’t be tempted to try and get some attacks in, just let it finish.
Big Glowy Ball Thing: Usually after a Swoop, the Bat Demon will reappear at the top middle of the screen, fold its wings and turn into a big glowy ball thing and crash down to the ground, shooting out bats to the left and right. Position yourself to either the left or right before the ball crashes down and simply jump over the bats.
Sword Drop: Only seen in the “hard mode” encounters, the Bat Demon will coalesce in a top corner and move across the top of the screen, dropping red gooey things on the floor that form into spiky blades. Simply destroy these blades as Maya to get them out of the way. If you have time, use Shinobu’s rocket launcher to deal a bit of cheap damage in the process, too.
Desperation Move – Kidnap: Most of the bosses in Grim Guardians: Demon Purge have a “desperation move” that they use when you deplete their life bar completely. These are generally a last-ditch attempt to finish you off, so be prepared for them! In the case of the Bat Demon, it will move to the top of the screen and a demonic mouth will appear from inside its bigger mouth. It will then grab whichever character you are playing as, either Shinobu or Maya, and the game will automatically switch to the other character while the Bat Demon attempts to squeeze the life out of your partner. Simply hit it a couple of times to free your pal and clear the stage.
Rabbit Demon (Stage 2)
After entering the boss room, you’ll drop down from some chandeliers onto the stage of the Ceremony Hall and be faced with the Rabbit Demon, who is well and truly ready to rock. This is probably one of the more straightforward fights in Grim Guardians: Demon Purge, but you need to be paying attention.
Shred: The Rabbit Demon will open the fight by blasting three power chords at you, which you’ll need to jump over while ensuring you don’t bang your head on the diagonally-firing waves. This is easily avoided, but pay attention for this move returning periodically throughout the fight, usually while you’re dealing with additional enemies. After the three chords, the Rabbit Demon is left wide open for a second or two, so charge in with Maya and give it a good slashing.
Bunny Bounce: The Rabbit Demon will begin cartwheeling and will bounce around the screen, firing sets of four large shots while it does so. These alternate between firing in a “+” and an “X” pattern, so position yourself accordingly to easily avoid these. There’s another brief opening to deal some damage after the Rabbit Demon lands.
Hop, Skip and Jump: The Rabbit Demon will jump several times, heading for a wall. When it jumps off the wall and into the air, it will crash down onto the stage from on high, throwing floorboards up that will deal damage if you’re too close. This will also coincide with several additional enemies being summoned. The easiest way to deal with this is to switch to Shinobu, get well out of the way of the Rabbit Demon crashing down, and keep firing to quickly take out the new enemies, which are all very weak.
After jumping in the air, the Rabbit Demon will use Shred again, regardless of whether you’ve cleared out the enemies, and the cycle will simply repeat until you’ve emptied its HP bar.
Desperation Move – Chandelier Crash: When you’ve beaten down the Rabbit Demon sufficiently, it will summon a series of chandeliers to crash down on you from above. Do your best to avoid as many of these as possible by simply moving left and right, and when the large one appears, move to either far edge of the stage for it to miss you altogether. When it comes down and makes a sticky mess, you’re done.
Pirate Demon (Stage 3)
This can be a challenging fight, so stay on your toes, and be prepared for the fact that this boss has two health bars to deplete before you’re done. To make up for this, he doesn’t have a desperation move in the same way as the prior bosses; his “reincarnation” is his desperation move.
The first encounter with this boss unfolds in an icy cavern, but the second takes place in a lava cavern where you’ll have to change up your tactics a little to avoid taking unnecessary damage, since the floor between platforms is no longer safe.
Split and Charge: The boss will slam his sword into the ground, raising some platforms to different heights, then split in half. Stand on the middle-height one and duck so that his split body passes safely over you, then immediately after he passes drop to the lowest level and duck to avoid his spinning sword. There’ll be a good opening to deal some damage after this move; just take care not to attack his shield, as this will deal no damage.
Cannon Fire: The boss will raise his sword in the air and roar, causing the pirate ship in the background to begin firing cannonballs at you. These are telegraphed well before they land, so get well out of the way. Take care on the “hard mode” version of this boss, as cannonballs that land in the lava will send up some fireballs that you’ll also need to avoid. You can deal damage while all this is going on, but it’s best to concentrate on dodging.
Beam Shot: The boss will slam his sword into the ground again, raising platforms to different heights. He will then point his sword across the arena and it will vibrate, firing a wide beam shortly afterwards. This is usually best avoided by getting on the middle-height platform and ducking, though on the “hard mode” variant he sometimes fires the beam low or high. Look at where he’s pointing his sword if you have time, and get out of the way.
Note that in the second phase of the fight, after you’ve depleted his HP bar once, he will often fire a beam low and then move upwards. If this is the case, quickly move to the uppermost platform to stay safe, or jump with good timing to avoid the beam before it expires. Maya’s umbrella can be handy here to stay airborne for longer.
Incoming!: The boss will summon four projectiles (fireballs in the “hard mode” encounter, pictured) which, after a moment’s pause, will fire directly at you. Move to the side and jump over them to avoid them.
Fire Rain: The boss will summon a line of fiery spirits from above. There will be a clear gap in the arrangement, so position yourself under this, but be aware that the spirits will rain down diagonally rather than vertically, so move with them to stay safe.
