Boss Download: http://acmlm.kafuka.org/uploader/index.php?act=viewcat&id=25
Music: Energy Tank by Matt Drouin of OverClocked Remix http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01390
Amoebus may not do anything you haven’t seen before, but it’s a great take on one of my favorite types of bosses- a splitting boss. Amoebus resembles an amoeba in its appearance and its behavior. It starts off as a giant, slowly spinning circle which shoots bullets in various directions, but destroying it only splits it into two slight smaller, slightly faster spinning circles which shoot bullets in various directions. Bosses like this one which split into two smaller pieces each time a piece is destroyed have been around in games since near the beginning, but it’s not often that you come across them in shmups. There is a noticeable amount of effort put into this fight too because each of the forms moves and shoots slightly different than the previous form instead of being an exact copy in every way except size. The most efficient way to fight this boss is to focus on a single piece after the initial split in order to minimize the number of enemies you have to deal with simultaneously, but in my opinion it’s much more fun to split them evenly so you can fight a swarm of miniature foes at the end. The only downside to this boss is that the very first form significantly reduces my framerate, likely because the ‘body’ is actually made of dozens of pieces. Otherwise, this is a great, balanced fight which makes full use of the arena while successfully implementing a neat mechanic.