User:Shokora/guard

A guard is a mechanical creature faced before each of the four main bosses of the game Virtual Boy Wario Land. It can be found on Stages 4, 8, 12 and 14 respectively. Their apparent ears act as points where it unleashes many of its attacks, such as missiles and flames. Its method of attack varies between the stage, with the difficulty rising as the game progresses. The defeat of the guard is required to face the main boss seen on the same stage. Each guard is able to be defeated in the same way: by striking their exposed underside twice. They will then return to the block they began on, and as the guard disappears, the block will become a jump transporter. This will grant access to the boss of that stage.

First encounter
The first encounter of the guard is seen in Stage 4. It's seen residing on a used block, beginning to flash it's eyes as Wario approaches. The guard then begins to attack by repeatedly propelling itself in the air, perform a U-turn and then falling upside down with its spikes pointing downward: this has been described as a "dive-bombing attack". If Wario is standing underneath, he will be harmed. If Wario isn't standing underneath the guard as it hits the ground, its weak flashing underside will be exposed for a brief amount of time. Wario is able to jump on the underside and inflict damage on the guard. The process will repeat until Wario hits it a second time. After being defeated, the guard will grant access to the door of Dinosaur Fish.

The method of rising and falling used by the guard is also seen in all other encounters, along with an additional attack which is unique to that encounter.

Second encounter
The guard in Stage 8 first matches up to Wario's height by extending itself, before attacking with a missile that travels in a straight line across the screen. After launching three missiles, the guard will perform its "dive-bombing attack", giving a chance for Wario to strike its underside. The guard then returns to launching missiles until it's hit a second time: defeating it will grant access to the door of Sand Fish.

There are two pools of quicksand on either side of the battle area. The guard will never dive-bomb near the quicksand area, even if Wario is standing close to its edge.

Third encounter
The third guard is seen in Stage 12. As soon as Wario approaches, it begins releasing jets of flames from its ears. These flames quickly move horizontally across the screen, harming Wario if he comes into contact with them. The guard will extend its height to match up with Wario's, before releasing the flame jets. If Wario happens to be ducking or is Small Wario, then the guard shoots the flames along the ground. Once three rounds of flames have been shot, then the guard will "dive-bomb" once, before attacking with flames again. Once the guard is defeated, the guard will grant access to the door of Tank and Operator.

Fourth encounter
The final encounter of the guard takes place in Stage 14, which is also the final stage of the game. As Wario first approaches the guard, it releases a missile proportional to Wario's height. Unlike the missile seen previously in the guard's second encounter, this missile will home in on Wario at high speed, and continually stops at every wall, flip around and re-launch towards Wario's direction until it hits him. The homing missile can be destroyed without any harm by jumping on top of it while it's flying horizontally, or hitting it from below. Only one missile can be seen on the screen at any given time. The guard will continually perform the "dive-bombing attack", launching more missiles as the previous ones are destroyed. Defeating the guard will give Wario access to the door of the Demon Head, the final boss of the game.

Trivia
During all encounters, if Wario is underneath the guard as it falls to the ground, both he and the guard will be harmed. Using this method, it is possible to win while only striking the guard's underside once (as using this method twice will cause Wario to lose a life).