Titanic Lance



Titanic Lance is the boss of Zone M in Darius Gaiden. Since you fight it during the entire duration of the stage after a brief meteorite section, it can be said that Titanic Lance is Zone M itself. It is regarded as one of the hardest (if not THE hardest) bosses from the Darius series.

Details
True to it's name, Titanic Lance is a gigantic battleship, comprised of various individual phases, which must be taken down one by one. Each of it's phases have it's own weaponry.


 * In the first phase (the ship's tail), it uses three retractable claws and a thin laser beam that is difficult to avoid. Once the tail is destroyed it releases parts of it's shell and fires homing lasers;


 * In the second phase, it uses two regenerating turrets and two small laser guns that fire straight. It will also fire a small pod that explodes and releases some homing rockets. After this phase is destroyed, Titanic Lance will release a large pod that explodes into a circular bullet pattern;


 * In the third phase, it will release various indestructible magnetic mines. A good portion of the ship will detach and split in half, attempting to crush the player;


 * In the fourth phase, it will release various drones and fire a volley of homing rockets. The drones back off after shooting, making them tough to destroy;


 * In the fifth phase, it will release fish drones which will spam bullets, then release the last portion of the shell, revealing a large cannon on it's back;


 * The final phase is Titanic Lance's main body. The various portions that make it's tentacles will detach and start shooting, but they can be easily destroyed. It's weak spot lies behind the small shell on the head, and once exposed it will start firing it's last weapons: it will use homing lasers (much like the ones from the first phase) and also fire twin lasers from it's frontal cannon.

Trivia

 * Titanic Lance is shaped after a orthocerida, an extinct nautilod mollusc which lived during the Ordovician period.
 * The stage picture for Zone M shows three shadows resembling Titanic Lance, which means there are more of it.