Jeff Highwind
Smash Ace
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
- Messages
- 762
Well with the scores of people trying to "get Intense Boss Mode over with" and just choosing the most imba characters for the mode and following the same strategy over and over. In an attempt to prove something to myself, I decided to go about my own path of beating all the boss modes with Snake and Snake alone. While the effort was borderline maddening, my work paid off after pulling off the final Axe Kick against the hardest Tabuu possible and getting that Galleom Tank statue. With all the patterns I observed in the process of this, I figure why not help other Snake players that want to one-up all those Charizard abusing peons.
I figure I might as well tell right now the one important fact of this guide: You WILL Die. Intense mode is called that for a reason, and at times the speed and frequency of every bosses attacks can at times overwhelm Snake in terms of speed and also make you throw the controller in a blinding rage. Having a heavy amount of practice would help, but the hard part is memorizing the split-second tells of each boss.
In terms of Attacks, here's a list of effective and completely useless attacks for the Boss Rush.
Effective Attacks:
-FTilt: Absolutely devastating, little to no cooldown lag allowing one to evade after connecting.
-NAir: Snake's mid-air Kung Fu is a godsend against the flying boss if all 4 kicks connect.
-Utilt: Same as Ftilt, but faster and somewhat weaker.
-Uair: Same as Ftilt, but in the air and weaker than Nair
-The Snakedash/Mortar Slide: Allows for amazing mobility against key bosses.
-The Cypher: Well DUH. Plus it saved me from being Battlefielded once by killing Ridley before my doom.
-Teh Crouch: Snake can duck under A LOT of enemy attacks. Not a real move but it's worth mentioning.
Okay, but not recommended attacks
-C4: On some stationary enemies, it's good for when you wanna peck someone when retreating. Too slow to use frequently though.
-Nikita: Same as C4, but some enemies like Ridley (HAHA!) are weak against it.
-DSmash: Power's not really worth justifying using it. Csticking it though can make it work somewhat fast
-Dair: More powerful than the Nair, but has bad lag at the end. Useful against Tabuu.
-Bair: Uair has more damage, but if you want smoke em if you got em
-AAA: Ftilt blah blah more power blah blah.
NEVER USE
-Dtilt: Every attack has more power than it. If you are crouching to evade, DO NOT use this to get in an extra hit since it doubles Snake's vertical hit zone.
-Grenade: Unless you unleash a full mastery of Psycho ******'s Grenade Dance, Dont use it. Not worth the time since the A moves are much more powerful.
-Fsmash: Weaaaaaaaaaaaaak Sauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce, despite how evil it looks
-USmash: If you arent Solid Sliding with it, worthless.
With that out of the way, time to further elaborate on strategies and also show off my aperture skills with the...
Boss Specific Strategies Section:
Before I go into the specific boss strategies, I would first like to state a few tips that I felt helped me get through the boss rush:
-Always heal before Duon or Pokey. They suck for Snake...actually more like everyone.
-Unless you are in the 150% and becoming fatiuged, Dont heal when fighting either of the Hands, Petey, and if you've practiced against him Meta Ridley.
-Bosses get exponentially faster and stronger after the 5th boss kill. If you manage to somehow fight Porkey, Duon or Galleom in that half of the Rush then play much more defensively so they dont overwhelm you.
-Variety may be the Spice of Life, but in Boss Rush repetition is the key to survival. Figure out what attacks and dodging methods fit for you and stick with them. Practice makes perfect.
-Sidestepping is your friend!
-Unless you can powershield easy, don't shield against any enemy attacks. 99% of the time they will shatter it.
OKAY, now for the boss specific strategies.
Master & Crazy Hand
Ah the Hands, Master and Crazy hand are fairly easy in boss rush since they now have the burden of that HP meter instead of the Stamina Mode thing they usually have in classic. Hope you brought your Air Game for these guys, you're gonna be fighting high. Your typical attack pattern should be NAir > UTilt during each hand's down time, and be sure to Air Dodge the majority of the Hands attacks. Goes without saying, but stay under them. Also, if they do their Drill trick, at least try to power shield it; in doing so you either preserve your shield or manage to have enough to get pushed aside and take no damage.
For Master Hand, his attacks have a bit more punch. He'll either start the fight with a fist slam or his hand beams. Start the battle by running in, if he does the Fist Slam you can air dodge but if he does the hand beam you can exploit the position you ran in and get off 3-4 NAirs while he's trying to taze you. One last tip, you can duck his Bullet hit without consequence.
Crazy Hand has less power in his attacks but they are more flashier and for a lack of a better term, bigger. For being Crazy, he's really predictable. He'll start the battle with either Spider Walk or Fist Slam, then immediately follow up with Finger Poke. If he does Mine Drop or Palm Writhe, hit him with a Nikita. Aside from that, he's also got less stamina than Master Hand so it's an easier fight.
Ridley:
Another air game for Snake. When Ridley's in his downtime, use one Nair and roll away just in case he does the quick body swipe. DO NOT get hit by Drill Tail since it can pile up 100% damage easy, but you can also jump above it and pelt Ridley with a Uair. If he drops to the ground then flies up, he's either gonna drop back down wherever you were a second after he leaves the screen, or copy Master Hand and do a background tackle. Air Dodge to avoid both. If he starts flapping his wings roll on the ground and Utilt him, you should get about 4-5 hits off since rolling isnt affected by the gale force winds. His Electric Tackle move, you can duck it. :D
Warning: If you fight Ridley in the second half of Boss Rush, use Uair instead of NAir, he becomes ALOT Faster.
Meta Ridley:
This is one hell of a gambit fight. You can easily beat this fight with 0% damage, or you can lose without any effort on MR's side. Dont get frustrated if you die here, you need practice in order to predict his attacks.
He always starts the fight by either bashing the Great Falcon, or swiping a wing across the lower hull for 30% damage. Double Jump & Air Dodge to avoid both. After that head to the back wing, this is where you will be partaking in the rest of the fight. When Ridley is in cooldown stance you can get off a few Nairs, but the more damage he takes the farther left his cooldown stance is so be sure to compensate. When he's near death, Nairs may not even cut it so you gotta pull off the Uair or Bair to reach him safely.
His attacks are rather muddling. He has 2 wing swipes, one where he flies off screen and gashes the entire Great Falcon, or where he roars while in the middle and wing swipes the lower hull. His Fireball carpet bomb is easy to dodge if you stay on the rear wing like I recommended, he gives you ample warning time to jump off and do a edgeguard and avoid the attack completly. If he hangs off the back of the Great Falcon, run to the front side and wait for the 2nd fireball; if he jumps off then stay where you are, but if you become magnified pull out the cypher to avoid the 3rd fireball and more importantly DEATH. His most frustrating attack is where he body slams the Great Falcon, killing you if you are standing on it. You jump to avoid it, but it comes out fast so you gotta watch out if he flies straight up. His last attack is a gigantic fireball of doom, but if you are to the far left you are safe.
Galleom:
Note: No image, he shoryuken'd my camera. ._.
Galleom's pretty beastly, he either starts the battle with either a volley of bullets or does a great leap to crush you. He does small leaps at times to bury you and pile up damage, he has a shoryuken that KO's at 80%, he has a tornado move that piles on 120% easy, he has an Air Slash that ruins shields and he can go into tank mode and mess with you further. All his attacks can be avoided with air dodging, but there's a better way to go about beating him: The Mortar Slide! Yes if you use this you can deal a great amount of damage to him and run laps around him, effectively dodging a fair amount of his attacks. Just be sure to watch out for the shoryuken and the tornado, those have more priority against the solid slide.
If he's in the 2nd half of Boss Rush though, the Mortar Slide becomes strikingly less effective. Opt out for the Ftilt so you can sidestep the barrage of attacks he throws out and you should be cool.
Duon
Say hallo to Snake Nightmare #1. Duon's quite a pain because he can be fairly tricky and unpredictable. What's guarenteed is that he will start the battle with a 3 hit slash combo or a blazingly fast tackle, dodge in accordance to the situation. From there you have to fight in accordance to what side you are facing: if it's the blue side stay close and use Utilt in order to have time to spot dodge any of his epic slashes, if it's the pink side use Ftilt and get ready to roll when he preps for a point blank shot or a head beam shot (He's a bit slower on the pink side).
He does have a few set reactions though, but they dont happen all the time. If you stay far when facing the blue side, he will always charge tackle you. If you are close when fighting the Pink side he will do either a spin in which you can roll out of or do a great leap where you can respond with the Mortar Slide. If the pink side launches missiles, be sure to stay close and wait for the missiles, if they all hit Duon it'll make your life a lot easier.
If he's part of the second half though, he gets borderline frustrating. In this instance, play more evasively and only do one attack max before implementing defensive measures. If you get sent flying, use the time coming down to do a Dair for good damage. It really all comes down to luck though, if he fires the missiles your life got much easier.
Porkey (Tch Porkey, I grew up with Pokey. >:[ )
Say herro to Snake Nightmare #2. Pokey's got a wide variety of powerful attacks, and if you get caught in any of them you'll be lucky to get back on the ground. First and most important fact, you can bait out Porkey at the beginning of the fight. If you stay idle he'll do a lightning fast tackle that deals 40% damage and sends you rocketing into a world of hurt. If you get in close though, that tackle becomes either a moderate stride that damages at the feet or his 100 thrust attack. You can duck the 100 Thrust attack, but you gotta be real lucky to do so.
He has short cooldowns, but in that time you can pull off a Mortar Slide to gain mobility or confuse him. Be sure to do it only after he cools down from the Doom Beam because if he pulls it out while you are doing hit it's game over. On the topic of Doom Beam, you can dodge it if you are lucky: when he starts puffing black smoke Dash immediately in the direction away from him, and when the tip of the beam gets near Jump and Air Dodge then upon landing immediately spot dodge. Doing so will either evade the attack completly or mitigate an immense amount of damage. In terms of offense, spam Dtilts or Mortar Slides to chip away at his health during his cooldown.
His other attacks are unimpressive and easy to dodge. Porkey Mines can be dodged by cyphering, and you can punish Porkey by planting C4 when you pass him and blowing it up. His cautious walk where the feet deal damage, just cypher up and drop a C4. If he does a Lightning Strike, be sure to Roll just before he executes the strike. His great leap, just jump and air dodge. You can stand on top of Pokey and spam Dtilts, but I wouldn't recommend it since a fair amount of his attacks have a hitbox that cover that platform on his head. The main problem lies with his Doom Beam, 100 Thrusts, and Rage Tackle which he spams all three frequently. If you can dodge those then you're in the clear.
Petey Piranah:
Easiest fight you will ever have, just pick a cage and stand near it and spam Utilt. Dodge any attacks by jumping and air dodging. Dont get hit either, his cages do 20% and his butt slam does 40%.
That's it. He's that easy. xD
Rayquaza:
Rayquaza is deceptively annoying, mainly because he has completely predictable or wimpy moves, and he has moves which will make you angry at the people who designed him.
First off, the offensive strategy. Get in close and Ftilt 1-2 times then get ready to dodge. Spot dodge or Air Dodge, whichever you like works but I prefer spot dodging since you can just go right back to Dtilting him to deth. Dont use Mortar Slide, you'll slide off the screen and if he retaliates with Tail Spin or Doom Gaze you lose.
Next his techniques that cause you grief. One main problem I have with him is when he does the horizontal screen slide. Apparently you can duck it under very odd circumstances (His ears count as hitboxes, hence why ducking is awkward), but if they arent met it's a ticket to near KO. His Lightning attack comes out fast, and I mean FAST. You can shield to block it and risk a broken shield, or you can roll away and mitigate most of the damage. Last but not least, Tail Spin is easy to avoid if you are expecting it but if he pulls it out of nowhere it's a KO at 100%+ so keep an eye open.
Now for his unimpressive techniques. Both his lightning balls cause a fair amount of damage but if you have a brain stem you can just double jump to avoid them since sadly Snake doesnt have a shine. The opening animation for Dig may hit you but it cannot KO you, so just roll his reentries. If he dives in from above just run straight in a random direction and you can dodge it. Doom Gaze can KO, but it's easy to Power Shield or roll out of.
His main grief comes from when he comes out in the second half of the boss roster. He attacks blazingly fast so you may have to resort to just half of the Dtilt before having to implement defensive maneuvers. Also just as a fun fact, try to kill him with a Utilt. It looks awesome.
And finally...
Tabuu
Now fair warning, unless you have previous experience with Tabuu in Intense you are gonna be frustrated when you encounter him the first time...and the second...and the third. The main problem fighting Tabuu is that Snake is just too **** slow to keep up with Tabuu's cliche anime teleports across the screen. You have to react to where he is and respond with specific moves. If he's EVER in the air, Fastfalling is your best friends since he pulls out moves at the most inconvenient times. If he's at ground level and not attacking, use Ftilt or the more powerful Dair in order to take a chunk out of his health before he poofs away. You can also use the Solid Slide but he may poof away before the mortar hits. If he's in the air, Uair if he's up HIGH or Bair if he's at a medium height. You will probably only get one hit out, he's that fast.
Now for the main problem nearly everyone has with Tabuu: the Red Rings of Death (RRoD's). The main problem you may have is timing the first wave in the RRoD's, if you do the sidestep too early Snake's sidestep has some slight lag so you will die if you pull it off early. If you time it right though, it's easy picking since his sidestep frames coincide with the tempo of his RRoD's. If you are in the air when he activates the RRoD's, Fastfall and shield because you have a 2-3 second window to get out of the air. Sadly there is no safe spot in Intense, the RRoD's spell doom if you mess up slightly.
If you survive his RRoD's, then it's just a test of endurance and evasion. Tabuu has a fair amount of HP so you're gonna be there a bit. The main problems you may have is with his Golden Gate Slam and the Golden Tether Slam; Both come out quite quickly and have the problem of actually eating both your hops in the process so you have to use your Up B to recover. His Buzz Saw throw and Rainbow Lance Dive can be dodged by pulling out the cypher but cant be punished. You can duck the move where he transforms into a spear head and rushes the stage. If he comes in close and uses the Rampage Slash or Electric Field attacks you can DI out before he pulls out the KO hit. If he just shoots out small glimmers of light, Cypher immediately so you have some breathing room away from the explosions. His DoppleBombs are a pain to dodge but it is possible, just dont let them pinball you to your death. Eye Beams are probably the best place to wail on Tabuu with Utilts, but dont let any hit you if you have 100%+ damage or else they act as a RRoD and catapult you to hell.
If you are patient and cool enough to survive and beat Tabuu then congratulations, my guide has served it's purpose. Hope you enjoyed this tower of text and pictures. Btw, if you have other strategies or see some flaws with mine be sure to post them.
*******
Thanks goes to:
-PwnyRide, for encouraging me and tolerating my ranting
-GerkIIDX, for being a jerk to the point where it motivated me to beat this.
-Psycho Mantis for discovering the Solid Slide and making Galleom and Duon so much easier
-The members of "Les Enfants Terribles" for being patient while I brushed off their practice sessions, sorry guys.
-And finally, anyone who helps me develop this guide.
Happy Smashing.
I figure I might as well tell right now the one important fact of this guide: You WILL Die. Intense mode is called that for a reason, and at times the speed and frequency of every bosses attacks can at times overwhelm Snake in terms of speed and also make you throw the controller in a blinding rage. Having a heavy amount of practice would help, but the hard part is memorizing the split-second tells of each boss.
In terms of Attacks, here's a list of effective and completely useless attacks for the Boss Rush.
Effective Attacks:
-FTilt: Absolutely devastating, little to no cooldown lag allowing one to evade after connecting.
-NAir: Snake's mid-air Kung Fu is a godsend against the flying boss if all 4 kicks connect.
-Utilt: Same as Ftilt, but faster and somewhat weaker.
-Uair: Same as Ftilt, but in the air and weaker than Nair
-The Snakedash/Mortar Slide: Allows for amazing mobility against key bosses.
-The Cypher: Well DUH. Plus it saved me from being Battlefielded once by killing Ridley before my doom.
-Teh Crouch: Snake can duck under A LOT of enemy attacks. Not a real move but it's worth mentioning.
Okay, but not recommended attacks
-C4: On some stationary enemies, it's good for when you wanna peck someone when retreating. Too slow to use frequently though.
-Nikita: Same as C4, but some enemies like Ridley (HAHA!) are weak against it.
-DSmash: Power's not really worth justifying using it. Csticking it though can make it work somewhat fast
-Dair: More powerful than the Nair, but has bad lag at the end. Useful against Tabuu.
-Bair: Uair has more damage, but if you want smoke em if you got em
-AAA: Ftilt blah blah more power blah blah.
NEVER USE
-Dtilt: Every attack has more power than it. If you are crouching to evade, DO NOT use this to get in an extra hit since it doubles Snake's vertical hit zone.
-Grenade: Unless you unleash a full mastery of Psycho ******'s Grenade Dance, Dont use it. Not worth the time since the A moves are much more powerful.
-Fsmash: Weaaaaaaaaaaaaak Sauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce, despite how evil it looks
-USmash: If you arent Solid Sliding with it, worthless.
With that out of the way, time to further elaborate on strategies and also show off my aperture skills with the...
Boss Specific Strategies Section:
Before I go into the specific boss strategies, I would first like to state a few tips that I felt helped me get through the boss rush:
-Always heal before Duon or Pokey. They suck for Snake...actually more like everyone.
-Unless you are in the 150% and becoming fatiuged, Dont heal when fighting either of the Hands, Petey, and if you've practiced against him Meta Ridley.
-Bosses get exponentially faster and stronger after the 5th boss kill. If you manage to somehow fight Porkey, Duon or Galleom in that half of the Rush then play much more defensively so they dont overwhelm you.
-Variety may be the Spice of Life, but in Boss Rush repetition is the key to survival. Figure out what attacks and dodging methods fit for you and stick with them. Practice makes perfect.
-Sidestepping is your friend!
-Unless you can powershield easy, don't shield against any enemy attacks. 99% of the time they will shatter it.
OKAY, now for the boss specific strategies.
Master & Crazy Hand
Ah the Hands, Master and Crazy hand are fairly easy in boss rush since they now have the burden of that HP meter instead of the Stamina Mode thing they usually have in classic. Hope you brought your Air Game for these guys, you're gonna be fighting high. Your typical attack pattern should be NAir > UTilt during each hand's down time, and be sure to Air Dodge the majority of the Hands attacks. Goes without saying, but stay under them. Also, if they do their Drill trick, at least try to power shield it; in doing so you either preserve your shield or manage to have enough to get pushed aside and take no damage.
For Master Hand, his attacks have a bit more punch. He'll either start the fight with a fist slam or his hand beams. Start the battle by running in, if he does the Fist Slam you can air dodge but if he does the hand beam you can exploit the position you ran in and get off 3-4 NAirs while he's trying to taze you. One last tip, you can duck his Bullet hit without consequence.
Crazy Hand has less power in his attacks but they are more flashier and for a lack of a better term, bigger. For being Crazy, he's really predictable. He'll start the battle with either Spider Walk or Fist Slam, then immediately follow up with Finger Poke. If he does Mine Drop or Palm Writhe, hit him with a Nikita. Aside from that, he's also got less stamina than Master Hand so it's an easier fight.
Ridley:
Another air game for Snake. When Ridley's in his downtime, use one Nair and roll away just in case he does the quick body swipe. DO NOT get hit by Drill Tail since it can pile up 100% damage easy, but you can also jump above it and pelt Ridley with a Uair. If he drops to the ground then flies up, he's either gonna drop back down wherever you were a second after he leaves the screen, or copy Master Hand and do a background tackle. Air Dodge to avoid both. If he starts flapping his wings roll on the ground and Utilt him, you should get about 4-5 hits off since rolling isnt affected by the gale force winds. His Electric Tackle move, you can duck it. :D
Warning: If you fight Ridley in the second half of Boss Rush, use Uair instead of NAir, he becomes ALOT Faster.
Meta Ridley:
This is one hell of a gambit fight. You can easily beat this fight with 0% damage, or you can lose without any effort on MR's side. Dont get frustrated if you die here, you need practice in order to predict his attacks.
He always starts the fight by either bashing the Great Falcon, or swiping a wing across the lower hull for 30% damage. Double Jump & Air Dodge to avoid both. After that head to the back wing, this is where you will be partaking in the rest of the fight. When Ridley is in cooldown stance you can get off a few Nairs, but the more damage he takes the farther left his cooldown stance is so be sure to compensate. When he's near death, Nairs may not even cut it so you gotta pull off the Uair or Bair to reach him safely.
His attacks are rather muddling. He has 2 wing swipes, one where he flies off screen and gashes the entire Great Falcon, or where he roars while in the middle and wing swipes the lower hull. His Fireball carpet bomb is easy to dodge if you stay on the rear wing like I recommended, he gives you ample warning time to jump off and do a edgeguard and avoid the attack completly. If he hangs off the back of the Great Falcon, run to the front side and wait for the 2nd fireball; if he jumps off then stay where you are, but if you become magnified pull out the cypher to avoid the 3rd fireball and more importantly DEATH. His most frustrating attack is where he body slams the Great Falcon, killing you if you are standing on it. You jump to avoid it, but it comes out fast so you gotta watch out if he flies straight up. His last attack is a gigantic fireball of doom, but if you are to the far left you are safe.
Galleom:
Note: No image, he shoryuken'd my camera. ._.
Galleom's pretty beastly, he either starts the battle with either a volley of bullets or does a great leap to crush you. He does small leaps at times to bury you and pile up damage, he has a shoryuken that KO's at 80%, he has a tornado move that piles on 120% easy, he has an Air Slash that ruins shields and he can go into tank mode and mess with you further. All his attacks can be avoided with air dodging, but there's a better way to go about beating him: The Mortar Slide! Yes if you use this you can deal a great amount of damage to him and run laps around him, effectively dodging a fair amount of his attacks. Just be sure to watch out for the shoryuken and the tornado, those have more priority against the solid slide.
If he's in the 2nd half of Boss Rush though, the Mortar Slide becomes strikingly less effective. Opt out for the Ftilt so you can sidestep the barrage of attacks he throws out and you should be cool.
Duon
Say hallo to Snake Nightmare #1. Duon's quite a pain because he can be fairly tricky and unpredictable. What's guarenteed is that he will start the battle with a 3 hit slash combo or a blazingly fast tackle, dodge in accordance to the situation. From there you have to fight in accordance to what side you are facing: if it's the blue side stay close and use Utilt in order to have time to spot dodge any of his epic slashes, if it's the pink side use Ftilt and get ready to roll when he preps for a point blank shot or a head beam shot (He's a bit slower on the pink side).
He does have a few set reactions though, but they dont happen all the time. If you stay far when facing the blue side, he will always charge tackle you. If you are close when fighting the Pink side he will do either a spin in which you can roll out of or do a great leap where you can respond with the Mortar Slide. If the pink side launches missiles, be sure to stay close and wait for the missiles, if they all hit Duon it'll make your life a lot easier.
If he's part of the second half though, he gets borderline frustrating. In this instance, play more evasively and only do one attack max before implementing defensive measures. If you get sent flying, use the time coming down to do a Dair for good damage. It really all comes down to luck though, if he fires the missiles your life got much easier.
Porkey (Tch Porkey, I grew up with Pokey. >:[ )
Say herro to Snake Nightmare #2. Pokey's got a wide variety of powerful attacks, and if you get caught in any of them you'll be lucky to get back on the ground. First and most important fact, you can bait out Porkey at the beginning of the fight. If you stay idle he'll do a lightning fast tackle that deals 40% damage and sends you rocketing into a world of hurt. If you get in close though, that tackle becomes either a moderate stride that damages at the feet or his 100 thrust attack. You can duck the 100 Thrust attack, but you gotta be real lucky to do so.
He has short cooldowns, but in that time you can pull off a Mortar Slide to gain mobility or confuse him. Be sure to do it only after he cools down from the Doom Beam because if he pulls it out while you are doing hit it's game over. On the topic of Doom Beam, you can dodge it if you are lucky: when he starts puffing black smoke Dash immediately in the direction away from him, and when the tip of the beam gets near Jump and Air Dodge then upon landing immediately spot dodge. Doing so will either evade the attack completly or mitigate an immense amount of damage. In terms of offense, spam Dtilts or Mortar Slides to chip away at his health during his cooldown.
His other attacks are unimpressive and easy to dodge. Porkey Mines can be dodged by cyphering, and you can punish Porkey by planting C4 when you pass him and blowing it up. His cautious walk where the feet deal damage, just cypher up and drop a C4. If he does a Lightning Strike, be sure to Roll just before he executes the strike. His great leap, just jump and air dodge. You can stand on top of Pokey and spam Dtilts, but I wouldn't recommend it since a fair amount of his attacks have a hitbox that cover that platform on his head. The main problem lies with his Doom Beam, 100 Thrusts, and Rage Tackle which he spams all three frequently. If you can dodge those then you're in the clear.
Petey Piranah:
Easiest fight you will ever have, just pick a cage and stand near it and spam Utilt. Dodge any attacks by jumping and air dodging. Dont get hit either, his cages do 20% and his butt slam does 40%.
That's it. He's that easy. xD
Rayquaza:
Rayquaza is deceptively annoying, mainly because he has completely predictable or wimpy moves, and he has moves which will make you angry at the people who designed him.
First off, the offensive strategy. Get in close and Ftilt 1-2 times then get ready to dodge. Spot dodge or Air Dodge, whichever you like works but I prefer spot dodging since you can just go right back to Dtilting him to deth. Dont use Mortar Slide, you'll slide off the screen and if he retaliates with Tail Spin or Doom Gaze you lose.
Next his techniques that cause you grief. One main problem I have with him is when he does the horizontal screen slide. Apparently you can duck it under very odd circumstances (His ears count as hitboxes, hence why ducking is awkward), but if they arent met it's a ticket to near KO. His Lightning attack comes out fast, and I mean FAST. You can shield to block it and risk a broken shield, or you can roll away and mitigate most of the damage. Last but not least, Tail Spin is easy to avoid if you are expecting it but if he pulls it out of nowhere it's a KO at 100%+ so keep an eye open.
Now for his unimpressive techniques. Both his lightning balls cause a fair amount of damage but if you have a brain stem you can just double jump to avoid them since sadly Snake doesnt have a shine. The opening animation for Dig may hit you but it cannot KO you, so just roll his reentries. If he dives in from above just run straight in a random direction and you can dodge it. Doom Gaze can KO, but it's easy to Power Shield or roll out of.
His main grief comes from when he comes out in the second half of the boss roster. He attacks blazingly fast so you may have to resort to just half of the Dtilt before having to implement defensive maneuvers. Also just as a fun fact, try to kill him with a Utilt. It looks awesome.
And finally...
Tabuu
Now fair warning, unless you have previous experience with Tabuu in Intense you are gonna be frustrated when you encounter him the first time...and the second...and the third. The main problem fighting Tabuu is that Snake is just too **** slow to keep up with Tabuu's cliche anime teleports across the screen. You have to react to where he is and respond with specific moves. If he's EVER in the air, Fastfalling is your best friends since he pulls out moves at the most inconvenient times. If he's at ground level and not attacking, use Ftilt or the more powerful Dair in order to take a chunk out of his health before he poofs away. You can also use the Solid Slide but he may poof away before the mortar hits. If he's in the air, Uair if he's up HIGH or Bair if he's at a medium height. You will probably only get one hit out, he's that fast.
Now for the main problem nearly everyone has with Tabuu: the Red Rings of Death (RRoD's). The main problem you may have is timing the first wave in the RRoD's, if you do the sidestep too early Snake's sidestep has some slight lag so you will die if you pull it off early. If you time it right though, it's easy picking since his sidestep frames coincide with the tempo of his RRoD's. If you are in the air when he activates the RRoD's, Fastfall and shield because you have a 2-3 second window to get out of the air. Sadly there is no safe spot in Intense, the RRoD's spell doom if you mess up slightly.
If you survive his RRoD's, then it's just a test of endurance and evasion. Tabuu has a fair amount of HP so you're gonna be there a bit. The main problems you may have is with his Golden Gate Slam and the Golden Tether Slam; Both come out quite quickly and have the problem of actually eating both your hops in the process so you have to use your Up B to recover. His Buzz Saw throw and Rainbow Lance Dive can be dodged by pulling out the cypher but cant be punished. You can duck the move where he transforms into a spear head and rushes the stage. If he comes in close and uses the Rampage Slash or Electric Field attacks you can DI out before he pulls out the KO hit. If he just shoots out small glimmers of light, Cypher immediately so you have some breathing room away from the explosions. His DoppleBombs are a pain to dodge but it is possible, just dont let them pinball you to your death. Eye Beams are probably the best place to wail on Tabuu with Utilts, but dont let any hit you if you have 100%+ damage or else they act as a RRoD and catapult you to hell.
If you are patient and cool enough to survive and beat Tabuu then congratulations, my guide has served it's purpose. Hope you enjoyed this tower of text and pictures. Btw, if you have other strategies or see some flaws with mine be sure to post them.
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Thanks goes to:
-PwnyRide, for encouraging me and tolerating my ranting
-GerkIIDX, for being a jerk to the point where it motivated me to beat this.
-Psycho Mantis for discovering the Solid Slide and making Galleom and Duon so much easier
-The members of "Les Enfants Terribles" for being patient while I brushed off their practice sessions, sorry guys.
-And finally, anyone who helps me develop this guide.
Happy Smashing.
